Filipino Food
Most tourists from abroad have their first contact with Philippine cuisine after arriving in the archipelago. Filipino Food is worldwide not that famous as other Asian cuisine and one may not find a Filipino Restaurant in most cities around the globe. However, after trying it, most will say that it is really delicious.
Filipino food often pairs something salty with something sweet or/and sour. Cooking with vinegar is also very common. One of the reason is that this dishes can be stored longer. Of course, a portion of rice is always present. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are the three main-meals. However, a snack in between (or multiple snacks) are also very important. There is no gathering where there is no pica-pica on the table. An afternoon without merienda equals an incomplete day.
Eating with the fingers is the traditional way to go. However, this is mainly practiced in the countryside, while in the restaurants and eateries of villages and cities you will get a fork and a spoon. Don’t wait for a knife, most dishes have no use for that anyway, and if one really needs to cut something, the side of a spoon will do.
Filipino Food in Dumaguete
The following Philippine dishes are all found in Dumaguete. We went to restaurants, eateries and food stalls to get our guests from abroad an idea what they can expect here. Some may be a bit skeptical as the appearance is not always like out of a cook book, however, don’t be afraid to give it a try. You will be surprised how delicious most Filipino dishes are.
Filipino Snacks and Starters
Palabok
Noodle dish (rice noodles) topped with shrimp, pork, chicharon, tinapa flakes, tofu, scallions, hard-boiled eggs and fried garlic mixed in shrimp sauce and garnished with green onions and calamansi
Fried Lumpia
Fried Lumpia are also called lumpia shanghai; mixture of ground chicken or pork, chopped carrots and onions rolled in spring-roll wrappers and fried
Bam-i
Noodle dish (pancit canton and sotanghon) with chicken, pork, shrimp, Chinese sausage, carrots, peas (chicharo) and cloud ear mushrooms garnished with green onions and calamansi
Arroz Caldo
Chicken and rice congee with hard-boiled eggs seasoned with onion, garlic, ginger and fish sauce garnished with fried garlic, green onions and calamansi juice for added flavor.
Puto
Steamed rice cake made from ground rice and coconut milk, sugar,food coloring, and sometimes with some slices of cheese.
Bibingka
Rice cake made from milled glutinous rice, coconut milk, margarine and sugar, poured in clay pots lined with banana leaves and cooked inside an oven with hot coals at the top and bottom and topped with sliced salted duck eggs, grated cheese, margarine/butter and sugar.
Sapin-sapin
Made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar and water and layered in different colors topped with coconut flakes
Biko
Glutinous rice partially-cooked by steaming and later fully-cooked in coconut milk and brown sugar and topped with latik (coconut cream boiled until it turns solid and golden-brown in color)
Cassava Cake
Mix of grated cassava, coconut milk, eggs and butter baked and topped with custard or coconut cream and condensed milk mixture.
Maruya
Sliced or mashed saba banana in a batter of flour, sugar and egg, deep-fried and dusted with white sugar
Palitaw
Small flat rice cake made of glutinous rice flour dough cooked in boiling water until it floats and rolled in mixture of toasted sesame seeds, sugar and coconut flakes
Turon
Mix of grated cassava, coconut milk, eggs and butter baked and topped with custard or coconut cream and condensed milk mixture.
Pansit Bihon
Noodle dish (rice noodles) with shrimp, chicken meat, pork hamonado or Chinese chorizo, carrots, celery and cabbage garnished with green onions and calamansi.
Leche Flan
Made of eggs, caramelize white sugar and milk and steamed on containers lined with caramel syrup; also called caramel custard.
Peanut Brittle
A slightly hard confection of caramelized sugar and peanuts, boiled together then poured flat on a baking tray to cool.
Adobong Adidas
Chicken feet marinated and boiled in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves.
Pork Barbecue
A pork marinated in soy sauce, garlic, onion, kalamansi, and brown sugar, grilled, serve in a barbecue stick.
Baked Talaba
A oyster retained in its half-shell, topped with melted butter and sautéed garlic and baked in oven, with grated cheese, if desired.
Isaw Barbeque
A grilled marinated chicken intestines, served in barbeque stick.
Kinilaw na Lato
A seaweed salad using lato or ar-arosip, a seaweed with tiny green bulbs, mixed with sliced tomatoes and onions, vinegar, salt pepper.
Inihaw na Pusit
A grilled squid sometimes stuffed with tomatoes and onions
Pork Sisig
A considered as appetizer or main dish composed of chopped pig’s face and ears and chicken liver
Lumpia
A egg rolls ground pork, carrots, cabbage and mung bean sprouts cooked together, placed inside springroll wrappers and fried
Fish Kinilaw
A raw fish in vinegar, lime or calamansi or all three combined with chopped garlic and onions, cubed tomatoes, crushed and chopped ginger and thinly sliced onion leaves or chopped celery
Karyuka
A glutinous or sweet rice flour with shredded coconut and coconut milk, mixed together, formed into balls and deep-fried, usually served on barbecue sticks and coated with sauce made of coconut milk and brown sugar
Lomi
A noodle soup dish (thick egg noodles) with chicken, pork, shrimp, meatballs, cabbage, and carrots with beaten egg and cornstarch for thickening the soup
Adidas Barbecue
A marinated chicken feet on barbecue sauce, grilled and served in barbecue stick.
Maja Blanca
A coconut pudding made from coconut milk, cornstarch and sugar, sometimes with corn and strips of coconut meat blended in and topped with roasted grated coconut
Cassava Balls
Boiled Colored cassava balls deep in young coconut meat and white sugar.
Bud-Bud
A glutinous rice partially cooked in coconut milk, salt and sugar then wrapped in banana leaves, tied in pairs and steamed until fully cooked
Suman Kamoteng Kahoy
A sweeten glutinous cassava , wrap in banana leaves and boiled on coconut milk
Kutchenta
A steamed rice cake with a sticky, chewy consistency made of rice flour, brown rice and lye water topped with grated or shredded coconut
Bananaque
A banana (saba variety) deep-fried in hot oil with caramelized brown sugar and served on barbecue sticks, usually 2 bananas per stick
As you probably saw are some of the dishes also a fully grown main dish. Filipino Food makes no difference to the cuisine from other countries. Some dishes can be a starter or a main course. It often dpends on the people you are with. Eating in the Philippines is often a “family-affair” and the families are not limited to relatives. All friends or colleagues become pretty quick a part of a big family. The best is to order many different kinds of Filipino food and eat your way through until you are “busog” (full).
Pork Dishes – Baboy
Lechon Baboy
A whole pig fully roasted over charcoal. Stuffed with bay leaves, bundles of lemon grass, garlic, spring onions and large red onions, it is roasted on all sides for several hours until done. It is the center-piece of most celebrations.
Menudo
Stew of pork meat with cubed pork liver, carrots, potatoes and bell peppers in tomato sauce
Adobong Baboy
A pork marinated and boiled in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves
Bola-bola
A pork meatballs ground pork mixed with chopped onions and eggs, formed into balls and deep-fried and deep in sweet in sour sauce.
Pork Sinigang
A sour soup with pork, cabbage, radish, long beans, eggplant, kangkong stalks and leaves and tamarind as the souring ingredient
Menudong Atay ng Baboy
A stew of pork liver, with carrots, potatoes and bell peppers in tomato sauce
Lechon Kawali
Boiled then deep-fried part of a pig, usually the pork belly
Paklay
A sour, mildly spicy stew of pork meat and internal organs.
Inihaw na Baboy
A marinated pork on soy sauce, onion garlic, kalamansi, cooked over charcoal
Pork Dinugu-an
A stew of pork offal (kidneys, intestines, ears, and heart) cooked in pig’s blood, vinegar and other spices
Crispy Pata
A pork leg made tender by boiling in water then deep-fried until crispy.
Pork Kare-Kare
A stew of pork, banana flower bud, pechay, string beans eggplants in thick peanut sauce.
Sizzling Pork Sisig
Dish composed of chopped pig’s face and ears , selected spices and chicken liver served usually with an egg on top on a sizzling hot plate.
Pork Pochero
A tomato based soup pork legs boiled until so tender with potatoes, saba banana, cavage, pechay, onion, garlic, tomatoes and tomato paste.
Pork Chops
A stew of pork, banana flower bud, pechay, string beans eggplants in thick peanut sauce.
Pork Langganisa
Pork sausage bigger and longer than Chorizzo; casings are made from pork intestines with onion, garlic and sweetness taste.
Pork Afritada
Stew of pork meat with wedges of potatoes and carrots and slices of red and green bell peppers in tomato sauce
Pork Chorizzo
Sweet pork sausage; casings are made from pork intestines shorter and smaller than Longganisa best when it is spicy.
Chicken Dishes – Manok
Chicken Barbecue
Grilled marinated chicken parts. Often served on barbecue sticks
Fried Chicken
Deep-fried marinated chicken parts. There are different regional preparation techniques and cooking styles.
Adobong Manok
A stew of pork, banana flower bud, pechay, string beans eggplants in thick peanut sauce.
Chicken Halang Halang
Soup of chicken in coconut milk with ginger, papaya and green leaves with chili peppers
Atay ng Manok Barbecue
Grilled marinated chicken liver served on stick.
Sinampalukang Manok
Sour soup of chicken, with ginger, garlic, onions vegetables and tamarind broth.
Adidas Barbecue
Marinated chicken feet on barbecue sauce, grilled and served in barbecue stick.
Ginataang Manok
Chicken sautéed in garlic, onion and ginger and boiled/stewed in coconut milk
Balon Balonan Barbecue
Chicken gizzard marinated in soy sauce, onion, garlic, kalamansi or lemon, ground black pepper, grilled, serve on the barbecue stick.
Fish and Seafood Dishes
Fried Fish
Deep-fried fish marinated with salt. A Filipino favorite.
Fried Talangka
Deep-fried small, soft-shelled crabs coated in cornstarch.
Daing na Bangus
A stew of pork, banana flower bud, pechay, string beans eggplants in thick peanut sauce.
Adobong Pusit
Squid, onion and garlic simmered in vinegar and soy sauce
Inihaw na Isda
Grilled fish marinated with salt
Paksiw na Dilis
(Smelt fish)– fish cooked and simmered in vinegar, with onion, garlic and salt.
Eskabetche
Fried fish in sweet sour sauce with vegetables, usually carrots, red tomatoes, red and green bell peppers.
Ginataang Alimasag
Sand crabs cooked in creamy coconut sauce with vegetable added, usually long beans and squash
Relyenong Bangus
Deep-fried milkfish that was deboned, flaked, and stuffed with its own meat (previously separated from its skin and added with carrot, raisins and boiled egg)
Tinolang Isda
Clear fish soup with crushed ginger, lemongrass, chili pepper, chopped onions and tomatoes, with leafy greens added after turning off heat.
Ginisang Bagu-ong
Sautéed Shrimp paste made of very small shrimps salted and fermented for a few weeks, sauté on onion, garlic, red tomatoes, brown sugar and lemon.
Ginataang Bangus
Milk fish cooked in coconut milk with long green peppers, eggplant, onion,garlic, ginger, black pepper and string beans added
Ginisang Alimango
Mud crabs, cooked in sautéed garlic, onions ginger, stirring constantly until its gets cooked reddish.
Ginataang Daing
Dried salted fish cooked in coconut milk with cubed young jack fruit, squash, chili leaves or beans.
Sinigang na Sugpo
Sour soup dish with tiger prawns as main ingredient, string beans, long green chili peppers and radishes in tamarind broth
Beef Dishes
Kare-Kare
Stew of meat (ox tail, tripe or pork leg), banana flower bud, pechay, string beans eggplants in thick peanut sauce and served with shrimp paste.
Bistik Tagalog
Tender beef thinly sliced and cooked in a sauce of calamansi, soy sauce and onion rings
Beef Bulalo
Soup or stew of beef shanks with bone marrow inside the bone with cabbage, pechay and corn.
Vegetable Dishes
Pinakbit
Mixed vegetables (eggplant, squash, string beans, bitter melon, okra) simmered with pork slices and shrimp paste
Ginataang Langka
Soup or stew of beef shanks with bone marrow inside the bone with cabbage, pechay and corn.
Tortang Talong
Eggplant omelet wherein eggplant is immersed in beaten egg and fried
Ginisang Ampalaya
Sautéed bitter melon added with ground pork garlic, onion, red tomatoes and beaten egg, if desired
Adobong Kangkong
Water or swamp spinach simmered in garlic, vinegar, soy sauce and other spices
Chopsuey
Chicken, chicken liver, pork and shrimp cooked with cabbage, red and green bell peppers, cauliflower, snow peas, carrots
Ginataang Monggo
Sautéed onion, garlic, water spinach eggplant, squash, bitter melon, pork, shrimp, cooked in coconut milk added salt and pepper to taste.
Ginisang Talong
Chicken, chicken liver, pork and shrimp cooked with cabbage, red and green bell peppers, cauliflower, snow peas, carrots
Laing
Spicy dish of sweet red potato leaves in coconut milk and small chili pepper
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You have not been to the Philippines if you did not try Balut !!!
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