Overseas Pinoy Cooking

Pakbet with Bagnet, Pinakbet Ilokano . Pinakbet or Pakbet to Ilokanos is totally different from the Tagalog Pinakbet . The Ilocano Pakbet that I grew up is made up of mostly native vegetable ingredients like ampalaya and eggplant they are smaller in size. Other ingredients that are used are patani seeds and sweet potato or kamote this will add some sweetness. Cabbage is also added when in season. Instead of the using bagoong alamang, the Ilocano Pakbet uses generous amount of bagoong na isda extracts which make the dish on the salty side. Cooking method is also totally different, Tagalog Pinakbet usualy cook by sautéing the ingredients with garlic, onion and tomato where the vegetables are stir cooked, making sure that the vegetables are just cook or half cooked. While the Ilokano Pakbet the ingredients are arrange in layers in the cooking pan, where vegetables that cook quicker are placed on top. The vegetables are the simmered with the bagoong solution at low hea...

Here is a Fresh Miki Soup Mami Style I regularly cook for our breakfast. It is simple to prepare. For the noodles I used the fresh miki available at Philippine wet markets and some supermarkets. They come in several sizes, round or flat. For the vegetables I only used pechay which goes well with the rich taste that is distinct for these noodles. Of course you could use any other vegetables that are used on a regular mami. Here is the recipe. Ingredients: 1/2 kilo fresh miki noodles, blanched, drained 1/4 kilo medium size shrimp, shelled, de-veined 1 chicken breast, boiled, shredded 2 large bundle pechay , sliced crosswise 1 medium size onion, sliced thinly 1/2 head garlic, chopped finely 2-3 stalks spring onion, chopped 1/2 cup patis salt and pepper Cooking procedure: In a casserole sauté garlic and onion. Add in chicken, shrimp and patis , stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in 6 to 8 cups of stock (from boiled chicken and shrimp shell/heads), bring to a b...

LP24: Loco over Coco This month’s theme for Lasang Pinoy is Loco over C oco . Crazy over coconut indeed coconut is a major part of Filipino cuisine being the Philippines a tropical country, coconut trees of all kinds are part our landscape. To learn more about the importance of coconut in Pinoy cooking check out Bukcaio, Kai who is hosting Lasang Pinoy 24: Loco over Coco has written an informative essay about the tree of life. Pinoy Buko Chopsuey is my entry for this month’s event, chopsuey is a very popular vegetable dish amongst Pinoy it is loved by every one young and old alike and from all walks of life. There are several Pinoy versions of this dish. I have made a post several months back, an original version I called Oriental Chopsuey and it is one of the most visited post. For my Pinoy Buko Chopsuey version I added young coconut meat and all the other ingredient are the similar, you could always adjust the type and quantities of vegetable and topping ingredients b...

Lasang Pinoy 22: Rice to the Challenge This is my second entry to LP22, see also my other entry Special Lugaw , Pinoy Special Congee posted last December 18. Included on this post is Overseas Pinoy Cooking 2007 Year End Round Up. Happy New Year to All! Lasang Pinoy 22 Rice to the Challenge, what does it mean? All the while I though I will just have to cook something out of rice as the main ingredient, write something about it and publish it anytime during the event period which is the month of December. After analyzing what it really meant I realized that there was something that is a must to it. It is not just cook, write and publish thing, It’s a challenge to cook rice food that is never tried, a novelty, unique or new at least to myself. LP22 theme Rice to the challenge is very relevant at this time of the year. Filipinos are celebrating two very important occasions, Christmas and New Year, this is the time when most Pinoys are cooking and preparing rice foods for the holid...

Lasang Pinoy 22: Rice to the Challenge Special lugaw , Special Pinoy congee. Lugaw is one my favorite traditional Pinoy merienda . It is so popular and loved by most Pinoys, this is attested by the sight of lugawan and gotohan at everyone’s neighborhood or even at malls and food courts. It is one of the most popular street food as well until it was repackage by some entrepreneur taking advantage of the popularly of these Pinoy congee, it is now sold at fast food chains. Lugaw is easy to prepare, being a simple dish it does not need any special cooking procedure to enjoy it at home. There are several variations though, it defends on what type of toppings used, the most common is goto (topped with beef tripe or pork innards) and arroz caldo (topped with chicken). Toppings can be anything as long as it goes well with the rice porridge. See my previous post on seafood l ugaw . Following is my recipe of special lugaw , remember you can use your own toppings, I used what e...

Lasang Pinoy 21, the Anniversary Edition: Cooking for Heroes My heroes : Being from Vigan my choices would be husband and wife Ilocano heroes Diego and Josefa Gabriela Silang . Diego Silang led a revolt against the Spanish government. Diego was able to expel the Spanish provincial governor of Vigan. The Spanish authorities hired Miguel Vico, a Spanish mestiso friend of Diego to assassinate him. On May 28, 1763, Diego Silang was shot in his own house in Vigan. After Diego’s death, his wife, Josefa Gabriela Silang , took over the revolt and fought courageously. From Abra Josefa led her troops towards Vigan on several attempts, but she was driven back and was forced to retreat to Abra riding a fast horse. And finally a strong force was then sent against her to Abra, this time she was captured. On September 20, 1763, Josefa Gabriela Silang and about 100 followers were executed. My food: Pakbet , the authentic pakbet cooked in Ilocandia is not a sautéed vegetable in onio...