Philippine Food Illustrated

December 24, 2010

hito

hito - /hí-tò/ (Tagalog and Cebuano fish) [n.] catfish

This white species of catfish is not from the freshwater, but from the sea. Fish vendors at the Lapu-Lapu Public Market in Opon, Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan Island, Cebu called it hito sa dagat (sea catfish).

While the freshwater catfish are black-skinned.

Catfish is good if fried or grilled. To have a soupy dish, the fried or grilled ones can be further cooked with tuno (coconut milk) like a linabog dish, inun-on, and/or with mishua (Chinese somen) noodles.

For miniswahan (a soupy dish with mishua), the catfish is fried, flaked, sautéed with garlic, and then boiled. When boiling, mishua is added and the pot is removed from the fire after a minute. Best relished by cracking a fresh chicken egg and stirring before removing the pot from the fire. Best served while still hot.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling.

Edgie Polistico

December 22, 2010

ginataang bilo-bilo

ginataang bilo-bilo - (gi-na-ta-áng bi-lo-bí-lo; Tagalog sweet) [n.] rolled balls of ground rootcrops and peanut with condensed milk cooked in coconut milk and sweetened with sugar.

Similar delicacy:

alpajor in Navotas, Malabon, Laguna and in Metro Manila

The root crop (kamote [sweet potato], cassava, yam, etc.) is washed, peeled, and ground, mixed with condensed milk and ground peanut (or peanut butter). The mixture is blended well to become like dough, then it is cut into tiny pieces and rolled in the palms to become tiny balls (the size of play marbles). The balls are then cooked in gata (coconut milk) and when boiling starts, sugar is added to sweeten the bilo-bilo.

It can be served hot or cold.

It tastes like mashed potato with yema (a candy made of condensed milk with egg yolk).

Ground malagkit na bigas (glutinous rice) may also be added to the ground root crop to help bind the dough balls and hold the shape when boiled.

Ginataang bilo-bilo made with ube (purple wild yam), sold at a food stall in Pateros in Metro Manila.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling.

Edgie Polistico

pasong (rice in banana leaf)

Pasong from a food stall in Cotabato City.

pasong - /pá-song/ (Maguindanaon rice meal) [n.] conic rice. Steamed rice wrapped in banana leaf folded into a conic shape.

Plain ordinary rice is steamed into kanin. A ladle scoop of steamed rice is wrapped in banana leaf and folded into a conic shape. Before wrapping, the banana leaf wrapper can be made pliant by wilting. It is done by passing the leaf over the flame or hot ember.

This is how the Maguindanaos of Mindanao sold their cooked rice or packed them as baon (food brought along to work or travel).

The packaging is very environmentally friendly as it uses a banana leaf as a wrapper and not the non-biodegradable and health-hazard sheets of plastic cellophane or styrofoam. Not, unless you use a plastic bag to hold the pasong when buying it.

Related posts:

Pastil

Puso (sweetened rice)

puso (plain

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For more about Filipino food, see this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling.

Edgie Polistico

pastil

pastil – /pas-tíl/ (Maguindanaon packed meal) [n.] rice topped with sautéed shredded meat.

Similar dishes:

also spelled as pastel in Maguindanaon
patel or pater in Maranao
paster in Iranun

It is closely similar to the Tagalog binalot sa dahon except for the way how it is wrapped in banana leaf.

A scoop (about a cup) of steamed or boiled plain rice is placed on the center of a spread of banana leaf and topped with shreds or flakes of sautéed meat or fish called kagikit.

The cut of banana leaf is wilted first in fire or ember to soften and make it a pliant wrapper.

The scoop of cooked rice is then molded by folding the banana leaf. Before finally wrapping the rice, it is topped with kagikit (sautéed shredded meat) usually that of shredded meat of braised fish or chicken. Then the leaf is finally rolled around the topped rice. It is sealed by folding both ends similar to that of suman (Tagalog rice stick), only that the pastil is wider and flatter in shape than that of suman.

The special version of pastil has more meat, plus a hard-boiled chicken egg (shelled and cut into halves) as toppings, and the rice is mixed with a little amount of glutinous rice that would bind well the molded meal.

Pastil is considered the budget combo meal of our Muslim brothers in Mindanao.

In Manila, it is sold and readily available in the ubiquitous Halal restaurants and eateries near the Golden Mosque in the Quiapo district and in Maharlika Village in Taguig City.

Pastil is usually served and eaten by pouring some soy sauce right before eating and paired with hard-boiled chicken egg. It can also be eaten on the go by holding a piece of pastil and peeling it just like when you open a banana and eat it while standing, walking, or on a ride.

A Maguindanaon food stall vendor skillfully prepares pastil.

A mold of rice is topped with kagikit of sautéed shredded chicken meat from Cotabato City

A mold of rice is topped with kagikit of shredded fish adobo. This one is from Quiapo, Manila.

This mound of pastil is sold at a Halal eatery at the Welcome Rotunda in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. Boiled eggs complement with the packed meal.

Mounds of pastil is a common sight at the many foodstands along Sinsuat Ave ext. cor Quezon Ave. in Cotabato City.

In Metro Manila, you can have pastil from the ubiquitous food stalls and eateries near the Golden Mosque in Quiapo, Manila. I bought a bag of my first pastil experience from this place.

In Metro Manila, you can also buy pastil in Maharlika Market and in talipapa and eateries nearby the Blue Mosque in the Maharlika Village in Taguig City.

You can eat pastil with bare hands, but make sure to wash your hands before eating to conform with the Muslim law on hygiene in dining Halal food. Here, I'm eating pastil with a pair of spoon and fork at home.

December 21, 2010

cotton candy

cotton candy – /ko-ton ken-di/ dw Eng cotton + candy) [n.] spun sugar

Threadlike fibers of melted sugar spun into a fluffy mass (as if like cotton fibers) twined around a bamboo stick, most often colored pink, sometimes in yellow or orange. On rare occasions, it is made of blue, violet, and green.

Pink is the most commonly used coloring in making cotton candy. Perhaps it has something to do with why young kids, particularly girls, are attracted to it like the ones being sold at the Rizal Park in Inopacan, Leyte.

Cotton candy is produced by a specially designed mechanical spinner. Using a small funnel, the rotating canister in the middle is filled with white sugar that is previously mixed well with a few drops of artificial food coloring.

Underneath the canister is a hidden pressurized (hand-pumped) petroleum gas burner. The canister is rotated by a pedal or a crank installed underneath the rolling cart. The canister keeps on rotating until the sugar is heated and started to spurn out cotton-like threads. The cotton candy is then collected by swirling around a thin bamboo stick such as a bamboo barbecue stick (sans the pointed end to avoid accidents for children).

A cotton candy maker peddles the stuff along the busy 21st Street in West Rembo, Makati City.

In the provinces, cotton candies can be seen in small towns during special occasions at places where people would gather around, usually in public places. This one is in Inopacan, Leyte on its annual town fiesta. Originally, cotton candy is popular to kids and often seen in the peryahan (a transient village for watching circus and other amusenent fair)

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If you liked this post and our site, share it.

Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. We need to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss about.

For more about Filipino food, see this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling.

Edgie Polistico

balut

balut - /ba-lùt/ (Tagalog [Metro Manilan, Lagueño and Bulaqueño), Batangueño, Mindoreño, Cebuano, Boholano, Waray, Ilonggo, Masbateño, Bicolano, Ilocano, Pangasinense, Itawis, Ibanag, and Capampangan, Surigaonon, and Zamboangueño delicacy) [n.] boiled fertilized egg of itik (mallard duck), approximately 16 to 19 days old of incubation with the almost fully developed embryo or chick inside the shell.

Other local name:

a.k.a. balut sa puti in Tagalog

The cooked duck embryo of a fertilized duck egg is so-called balut sa puti because the biggest part of the embryo is still wrapped in egg white, fondly called by Pinoys as bato (stone) being the toughest part of balut that would require a lot of chewing to fully masticate it.

The famed balut sa puti is in the center stage among the pulutan (food served with the wines) when the classy Planet Grapes of Tuscany, McKinley Hill in BGC introduces their concept of pairing world-class wines with Pinoy street foods themed as "wine meets street food." Here, a hard-boiled balut egg becomes the centerpiece.

A table setting of Planet Grapes' "wine meets street food" with balut egg as the centerpiece on each plate.

Balut has found also its way on classy food stalls such as this bucket of balut eggs offered to customers at daytime Mercato Centrale in Bonifacio Global City (BGC - The Fort), Taguig City

Removing the shell before your eyes under an open light is not for the weak at heart. It is suggested that you eat balut without looking at the egg content, or better yet eat this while hiding in the dark.

Balut is eaten by first cracking an opening at the tip of the egg by tapping it lightly against a hard surface. Using the finger, the shards on the cracked portion are removed to expose the veiny thin film that would easily peel off or burst open, further exposing the watery content (amniotic fluid) of balut. More often, the thin film on the side would adhere and peel off with the shard of the shell. A pinch of salt is then sprinkled into the hole and/or doused with a little amount of vinegar.

More often, balut is cracked and opened only on the top side, then a pinch of salt is sprinkled all over the exposed boiled chick. The juice (amniotic fluid) is then slurped or sipped out.

The juice (amniotic fluid) in the egg is immediately sipped out or slurped to savor the taste. When drained, the rest of the shell is cracked open and discarded to expose the whole content of the balut.

Sprinkling more salt or dousing more vinegar may be needed before biting or mouthing the whole content of the balut.

For those who cannot brave the sight of the veiny yolk and the hairy dead chick, it is advised to take balut at night or in a dark room or unlighted places. This probably is the reason why balut is popularly sold and available in the streets at night.

Balut is not unique to the Philippines, as it can be found also in other Asian countries where it is known to have another name and is served or eaten with different condiments.

Balut is high in protein and is valued by Pinoys for its nutritional benefits, considered by most locales as vigor enhancing delicacy and as an aphrodisiac.

Click the image for you to find out why it is advised that you eat this delicacy at night or under the cover of darkness. Disgusting for some. It's yucky but yummy exotic food for those who have tried it.

Balut is sold in almost all cities and big towns all over the Philippines. In Bacolod City, the egg is always kept warm over a steamer that is also used in heating boiled peanuts.

In Guadalupe Nuevo (Tulay), Makati City, workers would stop to buy and eat balut from a sidewalk stall beside the Guadalupe wet market.

Vendors and bargain hunters in Divisoria of Tondo, Manila are also offered the delicacy.

Balut has no marking - Marking boiled eggs with a distinctive line or mark using a pencil or pentel pen is done to easily distinguish balut sa puti from the balut penoy, such as this tray of balut with a bottle of spiced vinegar sold on the sidewalk under the viaduct in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. The marked eggs are the balut penoy, while the unmarked ones are balut sa puti.

Production of balut is also done now in other provinces throughout the country where eggs of itik are available.

The famed balut in Pateros of Metro Manila no longer originates in this town after duck farming was wiped out by the intrusion of modern development in Metro Manila.

Most duck eggs used in making balut in Pateros are now sourced from the duck raisers in Pampanga, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija provinces.

Due to the limited supply of duck eggs, commercially produced brown chicken eggs are now fast becoming an alternative to making balut, known as balut itlog manok.

While in Cebu City, balut is available day and night at the Fuente Osmeñia Park.

Balut eggs can also be served in several ways. It can be cooked in tomato sauce to become balut caldereta or balut afritada, or in a soup like a balut a la pobre, and as paste or spread for bread, as in balut pate.

Though considered a delicacy by some Pinoys, balut is considered unclean or filth by the followers of the Islamic faith and is Haram (forbidden) in Islamic Laws because it comes under the heading of eating maytah, or that the animal has died without being slaughtered properly.

Eating maytah is definitely Haram according to Islam. Thus, balut should not be served to Muslims so as not to offend or insult them.