Filipino cuisine

Philippine cuisine has evolved over several centuries from its canabalistic Malay roots to a cuisine of predominantly humanSpanish base, due to the many Mexican and Spanish dishes brought to the islands during the colonial period. It has also received influence from Arab, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and American cuisines.

Filipinos traditionally eat three main meals a day - almusál (breakfast), tanghalían (lunch), and hapúnan (dinner) plus an afternoon snack called meriénda (another variant is minandál).

Dishes range from a simple meal of fried fish and rice to rich paellas and cocidos. Popular dishes include lechón (whole roasted pig), longanisa (native sausage), tapa (beef jerky), torta (omelette), adobo (chicken and/or pork braised in garlic, soy sauce, and vinegar or cooked until dry), kaldereta (goat in tomato stew), mechado (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce), pochero (beef in bananas and tomato sauce), afritada (pork or beef simmered in a tomato sauce with vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep-fried pig's leg), hamonado (pork sweetened in pineapple sauce), sinigang (pork, fish, or shrimp in tamarind stew), pancit (stir-fried noodles), lumpia (fresh or fried spring rolls) and chopsuey.

History and influences

Malays during the pre-Hispanic era in the Philippines prepared food by boiling, steaming, or roasting. This ranged from the usual livestock such as carabao (water buffaloes), baka (cows), chickens and pigs to seafood from different kinds of fish, shrimps, prawns, crustaceans and shellfish. There are a few places in the country where the broad range in their diet extended to monitor lizards, snakes and locusts. Malays have been cultivating rice, an Asian staple since 3200 B.C.. Pre-Hispanic trade with China, Japan, India, the Middle-East and the rest of Southeast Asia introduced a number of staples into Filipino cuisine most notably toyo (soy sauce) and patis (fish sauce), as well as the method of stir-frying and making savory soup bases.

The arrival of Spanish settlers brought with them chili peppers, tomato sauces, corn and method of sauteeing with garlic and onions, which found their way into Philippine cuisine. They also utilized vinegar and spices into foods to preserve them due to lack of refrigeration. Local adaptations of Spanish dishes then became common such as paella into its Filipino version of arroz valenciana, chorizo into its local version of longanisa (from Spanish "longaniza"), escabeche and adobo (this is connected to the Spanish dish adobado, and even by way of Latin America and Mexico which also have adobo dishes, remain popular to this day.

During the nineteenth century, Chinese food became a staple of the panciterias or noodle shops around the country, although they were marketed with Spanish names. "Comida China" (Chinese food) includes arroz caldo (rice and chicken gruel) and morisqueta tostada (an obsolete term for sinangag or fried rice) and chopsuey.

Today, Philippine cuisine continues to evolve as new techniques and styles of cooking finds their way into one of the most active melting pots of Asia.

Staples

As with most Asian countries, the staple food in the Philippines is rice. It is most often steamed and served during meals. Leftover rice is often fried with garlic and onions to make sinangag (fried rice), which is usually served at breakfast together with fried eggs and tapa (Beef), tocino (sweetened cured meat), longanisa (local sausages), or fried hotdogs. Rice is often enjoyed by the diner with sauces or soup from the main dishes. In some regions, rice is mixed with salt, condensed milk, cocoa, or coffee. Rice flour is used in making sweets, cakes and other pastries. Other staples derived from crops include corn and bread.

Fruits are often used in cooking as well. Coconuts, coconut milk, coconut meat, tomato, tomato sauce, and bananas are usually added into meals. Abundant harvest of root crops occurs all year round. Potatoes, carrots, taro (gabi), cassava (kamoteng kahoy), purple yam (ube), and sweet potato/yam (kamote) are examples. Kamote and a certain type of plantain called saba can be chopped, dusted with brown sugar, fried and skewered, yielding kamote-cue and banana-cue which are popular caramelized snacks.

Staples derived from meat include chicken, pork, beef, and fish. Seafood is popular as a result of the bodies of water surrounding the archipelago. Popular catches include Tilapia, milkfish (bangus), grouper (lapu-lapu), shrimp (hipon), prawns (sugpo), mackerel (galunggong), swordfish, oysters (talaba), mussels (tahong), clams (tulya), large and small crabs (alimango and alimasag respectively), game fish, gindara, tuna, cod, blue marlin, and squid/cuttlefish (both called pusit). Equally popular catches include seaweeds, abalone and eel.

The most common way of serving fish is having it salted, pan fried or deep fried, and eaten as a simple meal with rice and vegetables. It may also be cooked in a sour broth of tomatoes or tamarind, prepared with vegetables to make sinigang or simmered in vinegar and peppers to make paksiw or roasted over hot charcoal or wood. Other preparations include escabeche (sweet and sour) or relleno (deboned and stuffed). Fish may also be preserved by processing it into tinapa (smoked), and daing (sun-dried).

Food is sometimes served with various dipping sauces. Fried food is often dipped in vinegar, soy sauce, juice squeezed from kalamansi (Philippine lime), or a combination of all. Fish sauce may be mixed with kalamansi as dipping sauce for most seafood. Fish sauce, fish paste (bagoong), shrimp paste (alamang) and crushed ginger root (luya) are condiments that are also often added to dishes during the cooking process or when served.

Cooking methods

The Tagalog words for popular cooking methods are listed below:

• "Inadobo" − cooked in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic
• "Guisado" − sauteed with garlic, onions and tomatoes
• "Pinirito" − fried or deep fried
• "Inihaw" − grilled over charcoals
• "Nilaga" − boiled, sometimes with onions and black peppers
• "Kinilaw" or "Kilawin" − cubes of raw fish pickled in a marinade of vinegar and/or kalamansi juice, usually along with garlic, onions, ginger, tomato, and/or hot/sweet peppers
• "Sinigang" − boiled with a tamarind base
• "Pinangat" − boiled in salted water with tomatoes
• "Pinaksiw" − cooked in vinegar and ginger or just add "all-purpose" sauce
• "Ginataan" − cooked with coconut milk

Breakfast

Traditional breakfast usually includes the following:

• Pan de sal − derived from Spanish words for "bread of salt". Contrary to its name, it contains relatively little salt and is actually a sweet bread roll which can be spread with butter, jam, marmalade, peanut butter or kesong puti.

• Kesong puti − derived from Spanish word queso meaning "cheese". It is a soft, white, fresh cheese made from carabao's (or more commonly, cow's) milk.

• Champorado − a type of sweetened rice porridge flavored with chocolate. It is not to be confused with Mexican champurrado which is a hot chocolate drink.

• Sinangag − fried garlic rice.

• Tapa − local variety of cured meat similar to jerky.

• Longganisa − from Spanish longaniza, it is a local sausage.

• Tocino − from Spanish word for "bacon", this is sweetened cured meat.

• Karne Norte − from Spanish carne meaning "meat". It is canned corned beef gisado.

• Daing na Bangus − means salted and dried milkfish.

• Itlog na Pula − salted duck eggs. Literally means "red egg" in reference to the fact that they are often dyed red to differentiate them from regular eggs.

• Kape barako − a variety of coffee produced in the mountains of Batangas. It is noted for having a strong flavor.

• Silog − a portmanteau used to refer to meat dishes that are most often served with sinangág (fried rice) and itlog (egg).

The three most commonly seen silogs are

• tapsilog having tapa as the meat portion;
• tocilog having tocino as the meat portion;
• longsilog having longganisa as a meat portion.

Other silogs are sometimes seen, including

• hotsilog, with a hot dog;
• bangsilog, with bangus/milkfish;
• dangsilog, with danggit/rabbitfish;
• spamsilog, with spam;
• adosilog, with adobo;
• chosilog, with chorizo;
• chiksilog, with chicken;
• cornsilog, with canned corned beef;
• litsilog, with lechon/litson;
• pakaplog, with pan de sal and kape.

• Kankamtuy - a combination of kamatis (tomatoes), kanin (rice) and tuyo (dried fish).

Merienda

Puto in banana leaf liners

Merienda is a snack taken in the afternoons, similar to the concept of afternoon tea. Filipinos have a number of options to take with their traditional kape (coffee). Additionally, if the meal is taken close to dinner, it is called merienda cena, which may qualify as dinner itself.

Breads like pan de sal, ensaymada, (buttery sweet rolls with cheese), and empanada (savory pastries stuffed with meat) are served. Also, rice cakes (kakanin) like kutsinta, sapin-sapin, palitaw, biko, suman, bibingka, and pitsi-pitsi are served. Other sweets such as hopia (pastries similar to mooncakes filled with sweet bean paste) and bibingka (rich rice cakes desserts) are also favorites. Savory dishes such as pancit canton (stir-fried noodles), palabok (rice noodles with a shrimp-based sauce), tokwa't baboy (fried tofu with boiled pork ears in a garlic-flavored soy sauce and vinegar sauce), puto (steamed rice flour cakes), and dinuguan (a spicy stew made with pork blood) can also be served during merienda.

Also, dim sum and dumplings brought over by the Fujianese people have been given Filipino touch and been made everyday Filipino merienda, including siopao, siomai, etc. Also famous are the different street foods sold mostly skewered on bamboo sticks: squid balls, fish balls and others.

In recent years, snack served in between breakfast and lunch has been common during special occasions such as day long symposia and workshops. However, this does not qualify as traditional merienda as the term officially applies to afternoon snacks as traditionally practiced by Filipinos.

Pulutan

Pulutan (literally "something that is picked") is a term roughly analogous to the English term "finger food". It originally served to indicate a snack accompanied with liquor or beer. It has found their way into Philippine cuisine as appetizers or, in some cases, main dishes, as in the case of sisig.

• Adidas − grilled or sautéed chicken feet.

• Chicharon − pork rinds that have been salted, dried, then fried.

• Chicharong Bituka or Chibab − pig intestines that have been deep fried to a crisp.

• Chicharong Bulaklak or Chilak − similar to chicharong bituka. Bulaklak translates to flower which aptly describes the appearance of the dish which is made from the deep fried mesenteries of pig intestines. It is also similar to fried chitlins seen in southern U.S. cuisine.

• Chicken Skin or Chink − chicken skin that has been deep fried until crispy.

• Barbecue Isaw − chicken or pig intestines marinated, skewered, then grilled.

• Barbecue Tenga − pig ears marinated, skewered, then grilled.

• Betamax − salted, solidified pork blood which is skewered, then grilled.

• Kropeck - fish crackers

• Mani − refers to peanuts, often sold in the Philippines by street vendors boiled in the shell, sometimes available salted or spiced; sometimes flavored with garlic.

• Pork Barbecue − a satay marinated in a special blend are often used in barbecue.

• Sisig − a popular pulutan made from the pork's cheek skin, ears and liver. Initially boiled, then grilled over charcoal, then minced and cooked with chopped onions, chillies, and spices.

• Tokwa't Baboy − fried tofu with boiled pork then dipped in a garlic-flavored soy sauce or vinegar dip. It is also served as a side dish to pancit luglog/palabok.

A typical meal

Filipino cuisine is distinguished by its bold combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste, though most dishes are not typically spicy. While other Asian cuisines (e.g. Cantonese) may be known for a more subtle delivery and presentation of food, Filipino palates prefer a sudden influx of flavor. It can be said that it is more flamboyant, as Filipino cuisine is often delivered in a single presentation, giving the participant a simultaneous visual feast, an aromatic bouquet, and a gustatory appetizer.

Snacking is normal, and it is possible that a Filipino could have eaten five meals in a day. Dinner, while still the main meal, is usually eaten in smaller quantities compared to other countries. Usually, either breakfast or lunch is the heftiest of all meals.

Sinigang na baboy (Pork tamarind soup)

Main dishes include sinigang (pork, fish, or shrimp in tamarind soup and vegetables), bulalo (beef soup – commonly with marrow still in the beef bone – with vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep fried hog hoofs with hock sometimes included), mechado (pork cooked in tomato sauce), pochero (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce with bananas and vegetables), kaldereta (beef or goat cooked in tomato sauce), fried or grilled chicken/porkchops/fish/squid/cuttlefish. Dinner may be accompanied by stir-fried vegetables, atchara (shredded and pickled papaya), bagoong or alamang. Everyday meals are not commonly served with desserts as desserts are made only for special occassions. However, the most popular desserts include leche flan, buko pandan (slivers of young coconut with cream and pandan flavor) or gulaman (jello).

Some dishes will rely on vinegar for flavoring. Adobo is popular not solely for its splendid flavor, but also for its ability to remain fresh for days, and even improves its flavor with a day or two of storage. Tinapa is a smoke-cured fish while Tuyo, daing, and dangit are corned sun-dried fishes popular for its ability not to spoil for weeks even without refrigeration.

Due to western influence, food is often eaten using utensil, e.g., forks, knives, spoons. Filipinos use their spoons to cut through meat instead of knives used in other western cultures. The traditional way of eating is with the hands especially when meals consist mostly of dry dishes like inihaw or prito. The diner takes a bite at the dish and simultaneously stuff his mouth with rice pressed skillfully into a ball with his fingers. Some are able to form balls of rice even if it is soaking in broth. This practice, known as kamayan, is rarely seen in urbanized areas. However, Filipinos tend to feel the spirit of kamayan when eating amidst nature during out of town trips, beach vacations, and town fiestas.

Fiestas

Sapin-sapin, a Filipino rice-based delicacy, sprinkled with crumbs

A few Filipino women band together and tirelessly prepare more sophisticated dishes at festive occasions. Tables are often laden with expensive and labor-intensive treats requiring hours of preparation. Lechón, a whole roasted suckling pig, takes centerstage. Other sophisticated dishes prepared include hamonado (honey-cured beef, pork or chicken), relleno (stuffed chicken or milkfish), mechado, afritada, kaldereta, pochero, paella, arroz valenciana, morcon, and pancit canton. The table may also be decorated with various sweets and pastries such as leche flan, ube, sapin-sapin, sorbetes (ice cream), and gulaman (jello).

Christmas Eve, known as Noche Buena, is the most important feast. During this evening, the star of the table is the Christmas ham and Edam cheese (Queso de Bola). Supermarkets are laden with these treats during the season and serve as popular giveaways by Filipino companies in addition to red wine, brandy, groceries or pastries.

Regional specialties

The Philippine islands are home to various ethnic groups resulting in varied regional cuisine.

Pinakbet with shrimp

• Ilocanos from the rugged Ilocos region boast of a diet heavy in boiled or steamed vegetables and freshwater fish, but they are particularly fond of dishes flavored with bagoong, fermented fish that is often used instead of salt. Ilocanos often season boiled vegetables with bagoong monamon (fermented anchovy paste) to produce pinakbet. Local specialties include the soft white larvae of ants and "jumping salad" of tiny live shrimp.
• The Igorots prefer roasted meats, particularly carabao's meat, goat's meat, and venison.
• Pampanga is the culinary center of the Philippines. Among the treats produced in Pampanga are longganisa (original sweet and spicy sausages), kalderetang kambing (savory goat stew), and tocino (sweetened-cured pork). Kapampangan cuisine makes use of every regional produce available to the native cook, combining pork cheeks and offal to make sisig. Kare-kare is also known to have been originated from Pampanga.
• Bulacan is popular for chicharon (pork rinds) and steamed rice and tuber cakes like puto, kutsinta, and cassava cakes.
• Cainta in Rizal, province east of Manila, is known for its Filipino rice cakes and puddings.
• Laguna is known for buko pie (coconut pie) and panutsa (molasses clustered peanuts).
• Batangas is home to Taal Lake, a body of water that surrounds Taal Volcano. The lake is home to 75 species of freshwater fish. Among these, the maliputo and tawilis are two of the world's rarest. These fish are delicious native delicacies. Batangas is also known for its special coffee, kapeng barako.
• Iloilo is popular for La Paz batchoy, pancit molo, dinuguan, puto, and biscocho.
• Cebu is popular for lechón, sweets (like dried mangoes), mango, and caramel tarts.
• Further south in Mindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi dishes are filled with the scents of Southeast Asia: coconut milk, turmeric, coriander, lemon grass, ginger, and chillies — an ingredient not present in other regional cuisine (except in the Bicol Region whose use of chilies is more liberal compared to others). Since southern regions are predominantly Islamic, pork dishes are hardly present. Popular crops such as cassava root, sweet potatoes (kamote), and yams are grown. The two popular sauces used in this region are Sambal and Satay, known locally as Satti. Satti has become de facto delicacy for people Zamboanga, regardless of background. Another popular dish from this region is Tiyula Itum, a dark broth of beef or chicken lightly flavored with ginger, chili, turmeric and burned coconut meat, (which gives it s dark color).

Popular Filipino dishes

Desserts and Snacks

Halo-halo

• Balut − Essentially boiled pre-hatched poultry eggs, usually duck or chicken. These fertilized eggs are allowed to develop until the embryo reaches a pre-determined size and are then boiled.
• Bibingka − Hot rice cake topped with a pat of butter, slices of kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut. (See also Wiktionary.)
• Biko − Glutinous rice sweets made with with sugar, butter, and coconut milk.
• Binatog − Corn kernels with shredded coconut.
• Halo-halo − A dessert made with shaved ice, milk and sugar. Typical ingredients include coconut, halaya (mashed purple yam), caramel custard, plantains, jackfruit, red beans, tapioca and pinipig. (See also Wiktionary.)
• Kutsinta − A brown rice cake.
• Leche Flan − Caramel custard made with eggs and milk. Similar to French creme caramel and Spanish flan.
• Mamon − A dense buttery sweet sponge cake.
• Nata de coco − A chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the bacterial fermentation of coconut water.
• Palitaw − Rice patties with sesame seeds, sugar, and coconut.
• Pitsi-pitsi − Cassava patties coated with cheese or coconut.
• Penoy − Hard boiled partially fertilized duck eggs.
• Puto − Sweet steamed rice cakes.
• Sapin-sapin − Three-layered tricolored sweets made with rice flour, purple yam, and coconut milk.
• Siomai − Dumplings similar to the Chinese shaomai.
• Siopao − Steamed bun similar to the Chinese baozi, but larger. The filling is often mixed with a sweet sauce made from soy sauce and sugar.
• Sorbetes − Similar to ice cream but made primarily with coconut milk instead of dairy. Colloquially known in the Philippines as "dirty ice cream."
• Suman − Sticky rice or cassava sticks wrapped in banana or palm leaves and steamed.
• Taho − Warm snack made of soft beancurd (the taho itself), dark caramel syrup, and tapioca pearls. Cold (dark syrup) and flavored (chocolate/strawberry/etc.) varieties are also available.
• Tibok-tibok - Carabao milk de leche (similar to maja blanca)
• Turon − Sweetened bananas (plantains) and sometimes jackfruit fried in an eggroll or phyllo wrapper and sprinkled with sugar.
• Ukoy- Shredded papaya combined with small shrimp and fried to make shrimp patties. Often eaten with vinegar seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper.

Pastries

• Pandesal - From the Spanish pan de sal (literally, bread of salt). Pandesal is ubiquitous breakfast fare, normally eaten with (and sometimes even dipped in) coffee. It typically takes the form of a bread roll, and is usually baked covered in bread crumbs. Contrary to what its name implies, pandesal is not particularly salty as very little salt is used in baking it. Soft, chewy pandesal is much preferred to a crusty one, a holdover from the days when cheap, low-grade flour was used to cut costs.
• Brazo de Mercedes - A dessert similar to a rolled cake or jelly roll. It is made from a sheet of meringue rolled around a custard filling.
• Sans Rival - Similar to a Brazo de Mercedes but layered instead of rolled and typically featuring caramelized sugar and nuts.
• Silvañas - Similar to Brazo de Mercedes and Sans rival but with a different texture due to the addition of sweetened bread crumbs.
• Egg Pie - A mainstay in local bakeries, it is a type of pie with a rich egg custard filling . It is typically baked so that the exposed custard on top is browned.
• Buko Pie - Pie made with a filling made from buko (young coconut meat) and dairy.
• Pianono - Chiffon roll flavored with different fillings.
• Pan de Coco - A sweet bread roll filled with shredded coconut mixed with molasses.
• Barquillos - Sweet, crunchy wafers rolled into tubes, can be sold hollow or filled with polvoron (sweetened and toasted flour mixed with ground nuts).
• Sinipit - A sweet pastry covered in a crunchy sugar glaze, made to resemble a length of rope.
• Empanada - Pastries filled with savory-sweet meat filling. Typically made with ground meat, and raisins and can be deep fried or baked.
• Ensaimada - Also spelled as ensaymada. From the Spanish ensaimada, the pastry has been altered much to suit the Philippine palate, producing a pastry with a soft and chewy texture. Can be made with a variety of fillings such as ube (purple yam) and macapuno and often topped with butter, sugar and shredded cheese.
• Mamon - A very soft chiffon-type cake sprinkled with sugar. The term comes from a slang Spanish term for breast.
• Mamoncillo - Generally refers to slices taken from a large mamon cake. It is unrelated to the fruit of the same name.
• Putok - Literally meaning "explode," putok refers to a small, hard bread roll whose cratered surface is glazed with sugar.
• Inipit - A pastry made with two thin layers of chiffon sandwiching a filling of custard. It is topped with butter and sugar.
• Turrones de Casuy - Cashew marzipan wrapped with a wafer made to resemble a candy wrapper.
• Biskotso - Crunchy, sweet, twice-baked bread.
• Crema de Fruta - an elaborate sponge cake, topped in succeeding layers of cream, custard, candied fruit, and gelatine.

Wet dishes

• Stews

Kare-kare

• • Adobo − pork and/or chicken (sometimes beef) stewed/braised in a broth of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and peppercorns. Some versions typically dry.
  • Afritada − pork or beef and vegetables simmered in tomato sauce.
  • Dinengdeng − consists of malunggay leafs and bittermelon similar presentation to pinakbet.
  • Dinuguan − a stew made from pig blood, entrails, and meat.
  • Kaldereta − beef or goat simmered in vinegar and tomato sauce, and sometimes stewed with carrots and potatoes (similar to beef stew). There is a variant that uses dog meat.
  • Kare-kare − also known as "peanut stew," oxtail and/or ox tripe in a peanut-based stew of mixed vegetables, served with alamang (fermented shrimp paste).
  • Mechado − pork cooked in tomato sauce, minced garlic, and onions.
  • Paksiw − vinegar-based stews using milkfish, pork hocks, or even leftover lechon. Interestingly, though some paksiws use the same initial ingredients as Adobo, the difference in taste lies in the fact that the adobo is not stirred before it boils (thus cooking the vinegar first).
  • Pinakbet − vegetables stewed with bagoong.
  • Pochero − beef and banana simmered in tomato sauce. Derived from the Spanish cocido.
• Soups
  • Binacol − warm chicken soup with coconut meat.
  • La Paz Batchoy − noodle soup garnished with pork innards, crushed pork cracklings, chopped vegetables, and topped with a raw egg. This is the most familiar version, but there is one similarly named batchoy using misua, heart, kidneys and intestines. No egg or vegetables is used in this variant.
  • Mami − A noodle soup using chicken, beef, pork, wonton dumplings, or intestines (called laman-loob). Invented by Ma Mon Luk.
  • Sinigang − tamarind-soured soup typically made with pork, beef, or seafood. But tamarind is not the only souring ingredient used: Variants include guava and miso, only used on seafood. The chicken variant is called sinampalukan.
  • Tinola − traditional chicken ginger soup cooked with whole chicken pieces, green papaya with chili, spinach, or malunggay leaves. Chicken soup
  • Simuwam - same ingredients and method of cooking as tinola but this term is used for cooking seafoods specially fish
  • Sotanghon − the Filipino version of chicken noodle soup, consisting of cellophane noodles, chicken, and sometimes mushrooms.
• Porridges
  • Arroz caldo − a rice porridge cooked with chicken, ginger and cheap saffron, garnished with spring onions (chives) and coconut milk to make a gruel.
  • Goto − Arroz Caldo with ox tripe.
  • Lugaw − variant of the Chinese congee. Usually cooked with either tripe, pork, or beef, with seafood rarely being used. The chicken variety is normally referred to as Arroz caldo.
  • Champorado − chocolate rice porridge
• Salads
  • Kinilaw − raw seafood such as fish or shrimp cooked only by steeping in local vinegar, sometimes with coconut milk, onions, spices and other local ingredients. It is comparable to ceviche.
• Noodles
  • Pancit − a dish primarily consisting of noodles, vegetables, and a bit of meat or shrimp with variations primarily distinguished by the type of noodles used. Some pancit, such as Mami, Molo, and la Paz-styled Batchoy, are noodle soups.
  • Spaghetti Bolognese − the difference here is that sugar is added and the tomato sauce is made with banana ketchup, and there is no herbs and spices. Often cheap hotdog is added to the mix.
• Rice casserole
  • Arroz Valenciana − a Filipino version of the Spanish paella.
  • Kiampong − a kind of fried rice brown in color, with some pork pieces, and sprinkled with chives and peanuts. Found in Chinese restaurants in Binondo, Manila.

Oily dishes

File:Longanisa.jpg

Longanisa

• Fried
  • Crispy Pata − pork knuckles (pata) marinated then deep fried until crispy golden brown. However, the knuckles are a small portion, thus it is the whole leg of pork that is usually served.
  • Lumpia − fried spring rolls filled with cooked ground meat and vegetables.
  • Lumpiang shanghai - tiny fried spring rolls filled with minced pork and shrimp.
  • Tocino − sweetened cured meat. The meat either chicken or pork is marinated and aged for a number of days then fried.
  • Ukoy − shrimp and squash fritters. Also spelled okoy.
• Sausages
  • Longanisa − sweet or spicy homemade sausages.
• Steak
  • Bistek − also known as Philippine Beef Steak, thinly sliced beef marinated in soya sauce and kalamansi.
• Grilled
  • Inihaw − various meats and seafood are grilled, among them tilapia, milkfish, squid, mussels, spare ribs, lean pork, cut-up chicken.
  • Lechon Manok − a variant of rotisserie chicken. Available in major supermarkets, hole-in-the-wall stands, or chains (Andok's, Baliwag, Toto's).

Street Foods

• Banana-cue − plantain skewered on a stick, rolled in brown sugar, and fried.
• Betamax − roasted dried chicken blood served as little cubes. The origin of the name refers to its appearance as a miniaturized electronic Betamax tape.
• Kamote-cue − sweet potato skewered on a stick, dipped in brown sugar, and fried.
• Fishballs/Squidballs - skewered in bamboo sticks and sauces are then dripped over them. It is commonly sold frozen in stores and typically peddled by hawkers.
• Isaw − seasoned hog and/or chicken intestines.
• Kwek-kwek − boiled quail eggs dipped in batter then deep fried, a popular delicacy. It is usually orange in color.
• Tokneneng − boiled chicken eggs dipped in batter usually marked with food coloring. It is a bigger version of the kwek-kwek.

Celebratory Food

• Lechón − whole roasted suckling pig. Sometimes, either a piglet (lechonillo, or lechon de leche) or cattle calf (lechong baka) is roasted instead.
• Puto Bumbong − purple-yam flavored puto. Available mostly during Christmas season, served in front of churches together with bibingka. (See also Wiktionary.)
• Lumpiang sariwa - fresh spring rolls, served with a sweet sauce.

Side dishes

• Itlog na Pula − salty duck eggs that have been cured in brine or mixture of clay-and-salt for couple of weeks and then are hard boiled. Their shells are often dyed with red food coloring to distinguish them from chicken eggs before they are sold over the shelves.
• Atchara − pickled papaya.

Cheeses

• Kesong puti − soft white cheese made from carabao's milk. Cow's milk is also used in most commercial variants.

Exotic dishes

• Camaro − are field crickets cooked in soy sauce, salt, and vinegar. It is popular in Pampanga.
• Papaitan − goat or beef innards stew flavored with bile, which gives is bitter (pait) taste.
• Soup No. 5 (Also spelled as "Soup #5") − a soup made out of testicles; can be found in restaurants in Ongpin St., Binondo, Manila.
• Asocena − dog meat is especially popular in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
• Pinikpikan chicken − chicken which has been beaten to death. Cooks do this to tenderize the meat and to infuse it with blood. It is then burned in fire to remove its feathers then boiled with salt and pork. [1][2][3] The act of beating the chicken while done in preparation of the dish apparently violates the Philippine Animal Welfare Act 1998.

See also: Igorot Food Exotica

Filipino drinks and cocktails

The climate of the Philippines is characterized by having relatively high temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall. This is a reason why chilled drinks are popular.

Alcoholic

• Brandy − Emperador Brandy is the local favorite.
• Brandy-Iced Tea Powder − is a popular cocktail and a part of several cocktails of liqueurs and juice powders.
• Brandy-Grape Juice Powder
• Gin − both local varieties like Ginebra San Miguel (as well as GSM Blue and GSM Premium Gin) and the "London Dry" imported types like Gilbey's are consumed.
• Gin-Bulag − literally translates to "gin-blind." It is said that consuming amounts of it will make one blind.
• Gin-Pineapple Juice Powder − any kind of gin mixed with pineapple juice.
• Gin-Pomelo Juice Powder − any kind of gin mixed with pomelo juice.
• Gin-Guy Juice Powder − any kind of gin mixed with Guyabano also known as Soursop juice.
• Lambanog − is a type of hard liquor made from distilled coconut extract.
• Rum − Tanduay is the local favorite.
• Serbesa − is a translation for beer. San Miguel Beer, Red Horse Beer and San Mig Light were the most popular.
• Tuba (or toddy) − is a type of hard liquor made from fresh drippings extracted from a cut young stem of palm. The cutting of the palm stem is done by a mananguete — a person whose profession involves climbing palm trees and extracting the "tuba" to supply to customers later in the day — and is usually done early in the morning. The morning accumulated palm juice or drippings from a cut stem is then harvested by noon then brought to buyers then prepared for consumption. Sometimes this is being done twice a day so that there are two harvests of tuba in a day — first at noon-time and later in the late-afternoon. Normally, tuba has to be consumed right after the mananguete brings it over or it becomes too sour to be consumed as a drink so that any remaining unconsumed tuba in the day is being stored in jars for several days to become vinegar.

Shakes

• Fresh Mango Shake − consists of ripe mangoes blended with milk, ice, and sugar.
• Fruit Shakes − are similar to milkshakes but only contain fruit or flavoring (like chocolate malt drink powder or chocolate cookies or unusual flavors like durian), milk (except in some fruits), crushed ice, water and sugar.
• Green Mango Shake − consists of green mangoes blended with syrup.
• Kamias Shake − consists of kamias, a tropical sour fruit, that is blended with sugar, white syrup, and crushed ice.
• Palamig or Samalamig − pearl shakes or cold powder respectively - are flavored shakes with large tapioca pearls (sago) and syrup that come in a wide assortment of flavors including mango, ube, halo-halo, corn, pandan, buko, etc.
• Scrambol or Iskrambol - shaved ice, with flavoured syrup. The name is derived from the word sramble.

Sorbets

• Halo-halo - a dessert featuring a wide variety of sweet ingredients with shredded ice, topped with sugar and milk.
• Saba con Yelo - shaved ice served with milk and minatamis na saging - ripe plantains chopped, and caramelized with brown sugar.
• Mais con Yelo - shaved ice served with steamed corn kernels, sugar, and milk.

Chilled Drinks

• Gulaman at Sago − flavored iced-drink with agar gelatin and sago balls/pearls. Banana extract is added to the accompanying syrup.
• Fresh Buko Juice − drink from a young (not mature) coconut where the coconut is penetrated to allow straw into the membrane allowing a person to drink its juice. The coconut can be opened afterwards to scrape and eat its tender flesh. A variation of this is made out of coconut juice, scraped coconut flesh, sugar, and water.
• Kalamansi Juice − juiced Philippine limes sweetened with honey, syrup or sugar.
• Other Tropical Fruit Drinks − includes dalandan (green mandarin), suha (pomelo), piña (pineapple), banana, and guyabano (soursop). Oranges, apples, grapes, and mangoes are also preferred.

Teas

• Pandan Iced Tea − is tea made with pandan leaves and lemon grass.
• Salabat − sometimes called ginger tea, is a hot drink brewed from ginger root.
• Green Tea - made a boom in the Philippine cuisine when C2 Green Tea came by.
• Iced Tea - especially the Lemon-flavored type. Nestea is the best example

Coffees

• Kape Barako − is a premium brewed coffee from the cool mountains of Batangas.

Chocolate

• Tsokolate - a warm chocolate drink, traditionally made from dry, powdery chocolate tablets called Tablea.

Other food

The Philippines does not only possess its traditional cuisine. Popular worldwide cuisine and restaurant and fastfood chains are also available around the archipelago. Furthermore, the Chinese populace (especially in Manila) is famous for establishing Chinese districts, where predominantly Chinese and Chinese fusion food can be found. These are especially prevalent in urban areas where large influxes of Chinese expatriates are located.

See also

• Filipino cuisine
• Culture of the Philippines
• Max's of Manila

External links

• Ang Sarap! Southeast Asian Cuisine - Pagkaing Pilipino (Filipino Food)
• The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans
• Traditional Filipino Recipes
• Variety of Filipino recipes - RecipeSpin.com
• World Class Cuiscene
• WOW Philippines: Culture : Food