These days there are a lot of cooking shows popping up everywhere. Some are competitions, and some are documentaries. I remember back in the day the most popular shows were the ones where they teach you how to cook certain dishes. I remember shows that taught Chinese recipes and another about Filipino dishes. I don’t think I’ve seen those types of shows anymore. I’d love to be able to learn from shows like that again. As much as I love food from other countries, there are a lot from here in the Philippines that are my favorites. Allow me to share some of them here on the blog. I hope that if you haven't heard about them yet you can go out and try them too!
Lately, I’ve seen that there are international shows that feature more Asian dishes. I'm happy that some of them even featured Filipino food. I’ve seen these shows feature balut, sisig, and adobo so far! I was very excited to see other people from other cultures try the types of food I grew up loving. If you love food, I know you'll understand how it feels to want to share food you love!
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| Photo by Andrea Piacquadio |
Many videos I've seen feature Jollibee when they feature Filipino food. It seems this is what people associate Filipinos with lately. As happy as I am about that, it would be nice if we become known for more than that. There's so much to discover if one is willing to explore all the types of Filipino food out there.
An episode of the Fandesals Podcast talked about some of my favorite Filipino foods. If you're interested, I have the episode embedded at the end of this post. Because of that episode, I thought it would be nice to write about some of those types of food I like and grew up knowing. A lot of these are the ones I would love to see more people discover and enjoy. There is so much more to Pinoy food than what is currently out there and I want to share my personal favorites!
Here are some of my favorite Pinoy dishes and why I would love for everyone to discover them. Click on the links to watch video recipes!
Adobo Sa Puti
Filipino adobo is usually chicken and/or pork adobo. This is a meal cooked with soy sauce and vinegar among its main ingredients. While I love this type of adobo, I am a big fan of what they call adobo sa puti. With this one, the dish does not have soy sauce. It uses vinegar and garlic as the main ingredients to give this meal its flavor. I love it when they use this with pork ribs, but any type would do. The flavor of the sauce combined with the type of meat makes this a tasty dish.
Pancit Malabon
There are a lot of different types of pancit (noodles) in the Philippines. It can be confusing when people say they have tried pancit because there are variations of it. Out of everything, my favorite has always been Pancit Malabon. This is different from most types of pancit because the noodles are thicker. The sauce is different too. The flavor base is shrimp broth and it has tinapa (fish) flakes, sometimes it also goes with some crab paste.
Pinoy Ice Cream
This is also known as Dirty Ice Cream or sorbetes. Pinoy Ice Cream is different in flavor from regular ice cream. It has a lighter flavor and is not as creamy as the ice cream you can buy in stores. I heard that it is usually made with coconut milk, which may be the reason for that difference. It is not as dirty as the name implies – they only call it that only because they sell it on the streets on a cart.
Bibingkang Alsa
This is a baked rice cake cooked on banana leaves. It is usually topped with salted egg, and cheese, and served with grated coconut. This is often available during the Christmas season. It's one of the reasons that I look forward to the arrival of the “ber” because it also means bibingka season! This is different from other types of bibingka made from sticky rice. I like this one better because it is not that heavy to eat.
Bulalo
This is a soup made of beef shanks and bone marrow. I love it when they cook it so well to the point where the fat and the collagen from the beef melt into the broth. They serve this with leafy vegetables and corn on the cob and paired with fish sauce for extra flavor. This is the best kind of soup to have during cold weather! This is why I love ordering this when I am in Tagaytay, where the weather is cooler. Bulalo is also a Tagaytay specialty, so it's always a good meal to have when you're there.
Sinigang
I love sinigang because of the sour flavor that comes from tamarinds. You can have this with pork, beef, or seafood, but my favorite is always beef. Sometimes people make this with watermelon or kimchi, but you can also use guava. I don't get to have it often, but the guava one is a favorite. It reminds me of my childhood at my grandmother's house for some reason.
Laing
This is a dish made from taro leaves with meat, coconut milk, and chili. The meat is very minimal, with some making some without it at all. The thing with laing is that preparation is crucial. You can make this and have it taste good or it could be terrible. People from Bicol, where this dish is from, usually make this the best!
Gising Gising
Gising Gising is like laing. It is also made with coconut milk, meat, and chili. This time, instead of taro leaves, you use green beans. I love having it on its own, but it is also perfect with rice. I don't get to have it often, so whenever I do, I make the most of it!
Pinaputok na Tilapia
I love stuffed tilapia wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed to perfection with some soy sauce. Once it's cooked, you unwrap the leaf and get to enjoy the tomatoes, onions, and ginger stuffed in the fish. It's so light and easy to eat and I enjoy this so much! A version of stuffed tilapia steamed with coconut milk is another good option too!
Kinilaw
This is raw fish prepared with a lot of vinegar and souring ingredients such as calamansi and kamias. It is also served with onions and chili. This is finger food or pulutan for Filipinos when drinking alcohol but it is also an appetizer. I've tried a tuna version of this but the tanigue (mackerel) version is the best one for me.
Halo Halo
A list of Filipino food will not be complete without Halo Halo! It's a shaved ice dessert topped with ice cream, ube, and leche flan. Sometimes some versions have only one or two ingredients, but if you want to go all out, you can have so much in it! Among the things that could be in any typical Halo Halo would be sweet bananas, jackfruit, beans, and corn. These can also have tapioca pearls, coconut gel, and jelly. All that flavor with milk mixed in! You can get so full by having one glass!
If you're wondering why I did not mention that many dishes that feature seafood, there's a reason for that. I love them and there are a lot of dishes I would recommend, but I don't have them as much. I am allergic to seafood (particularly the shelled ones) so I have never been able to enjoy those types of dishes. I love fish and I can have that, which is why I was able to share some fish dishes in this post.
Filipino food has been gaining international attention lately, which is amazing. I hope more and more people get to discover and love it. Who knows? These dishes I shared may soon be part of fusion dishes with other types of food! As long as they get out there and become known to the rest of the world, I don't care if it is in fusion form. It would be nice for people to know that there is more to Filipino food than what they are aware of. There is still so much more to love and enjoy!
What are your favorite dishes from the Philippines? If you haven't tried any, which ones are you the most curious about? Leave me a message in the comments and share your thoughts! I would be happy to recommend places to visit if anyone wants more information! Let's share the love for food on this post!
For more on Filipino food, here’s the episode of the Fandesals Podcast I mentioned. If you can understand Tagalog and love (or want to discover) Filipino food, you'll like this one. It's also a mukbang episode for those interested in those types of videos. If you like it, share some love for the Fandesals in the comments on the video. Enjoy!
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