World Class Chefs
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Ramilo (Ram) Villaluna
Ram is a budding chef from Iloilo City (Molo). He gained his training in Culinary Arts at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies under food guru Gene Gonzalez, Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kumpps) in New York. He took up bread making, and he studied food styling under Delores Custer of the Culinary Institute of America. It all started in Antique where his father owned a restaurant many Antiquenos learned to love. He continued the culinary legacy of his father and now, Ram owns a catering business, Cindy\'s Catering. Food is Ram\'s life, seriously speaking. I am short in saying that he is married to the food industry that, he spends most of his time teaching and mentoring at the Department of Culinary Arts at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo. If one cannot find him in the classroom, Ram will be on the road crisscrossing Iloilo and Antique having first hand in the management of his thriving businesses from both provinces. He also has a once-a-week TV show in GMA 7 \"Food Trip\". I met with Ram once before and he exudes perfectionism, the character that will beam him up to the limelight of culinary arts. At present time, Ram is extremely busy in Manila. I believe he is one of the finalists in The National Food Showdown 2010 sponsored by ABS-CBN. We wish you all the luck, Ram! Maybe, after this showdown, Ram will have the opportunity share favorite recipe here at ILONGGO LIVING.
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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Just the Basics (Victoria Day)
May 24, 2010
Nothing much satisfying in life than to have a dinner with just the basic meal among close family friends. And, the best part of it all, the guests prepared the meal for us! One does not get this kind of a treatment all the time so, my chef and I tried to relax and enjoy while the guests cooked dinner for us. Hey, is there something wrong with the picture here? Should not be the host prepares the food for dinner and try to entertain the guests? Actually, no! I mean, yes, the guests prepared the dinner for us alright. Really! Check out the foods they prepared for the Victoria Day celebration… just the basics!
Seafoods Sinigang was quite a variation as they added okra and eggplant (we usually don't). Shrimps and salmon head was the main ingredient.
Would you believe that this fried chicken was fried on its own with no added salt, as well? What a fried chicken it was!
Who would have guessed after adding shredded apples, cucumber and two kinds of cabbages becomes a sumptuous coleslaw loaded with fibers and antioxidants?
Special pancit with combination of pancit sotanghon and pancit canton. If you are lucky to find it, they added potatoes as well. Interesting!
HAPPY VICTORIA DAY to one and all! Thank you very much to our guests, Elma, Jay, Melissa and Eddie for preparing our Victoria Day dinner.
Menagerie of Native Desserts
May 17, 2010
After a grueling two-hour drive to Scarborough yesterday to attend a birthday party, we were rewarded with an uncompromising array of native desserts. We almost gave up going to the party halfway through as we got rerouted to downtown Toronto due to road construction. For some reason, I dislike driving around Toronto, not to mention driving parallel to the rail-tracks of streetcars. My stereoscopic sense prefers smooth driving surface as opposed to uneven surfaces such as rail-tracks. I out-rightly despise it! No regrets, albeit, pursuing our way to the party despite of the driving challenges as enticing desserts awaited us. Check this one out!
As soon as we went inside the house, my eyes was taken by this big server-full of native desserts. Never mind the main dishes, native desserts captured me!
Up close, can you name them one by one? I bet this is a good test for Pinoys!
Tropical fruits galore!
First round of desserts, one of each kind: (left-right) cassava cake, ube halaya, espasol, biko and bibingkang sapin-sapin. The one at the bottom is the irresistible buko pandan salad!
Now, who can refuse for another load of desserts, this time with colored puto, chicken macaroni salad, brazo de mercedez, biko with toppings, leche flan and some fresh fruits to balance it out.
Finally, as if those rounds of dessert were not enough, my chef cooked Vigan royal bibingka later that night as she has the cravings. Whew! What a day of desserts it was, indeed!
Fridays’ Sweet Treats
April 16, 2010
Nowadays, preparing native delicacies here in North America is a breeze. Once you gather your ingredients and armed with a recipe then, one is good to go! It is also exciting to prepare them, especially if it’s your first time. It may not turn out the way you want it to be but, as one keep preparing them, then one becomes an expert… eventually (hopefully). Some native desserts are a bit labor intensive to prepare them compared to others but, the thing is, you set your goal and go for it. No matter what! Let us see what my chef is up to in the kitchen on a Friday afternoon.
Ah! An Ilocano favourite, the BINATOG.
Binatog is simply fresh corn, boiled to almost overcooked. Then one adds evaporated milk and white sugar. Just before eating them, add grated coconut. Yes, as simple as that, it is also simply a delicious snack. There are few variations in preparing binatog: some, they add only salt and a bit of butter and, some; they add salt, butter and black pepper. It should be eaten warm though.
Kalamay Hati or Bibingka? Have a guess.. This native delicacy did not turned out to be what it was supposed to. BUT, the flavor was fantastic! It is a cross between kalamay hati and bibingka.
Dinner in Bacolod- Part 1
April 9, 2010
It has been ages since I set foot in Bacolod City and, to make it more exciting, I got the chance to visit my siblings whom I have not seen for quite sometime. Needless to say, I did a “two-birds-in-one-stone” adventure of the said city. No denying here as food was partially the main instigator for my visit. My niece, Evita, has been brokering this visit of mine since we met in Facebook last year. She promised to pamper me with seafoods as it’s quite abundant in their area. That was quite enough encouragement on her part to keep my seafoods quest alive. To say that I was very excited was an understatement. I was super thrilled! Today, I will be posting the sea foods portion of that dinner and, next time, the other half of it. Okay, let’s check it out, shall we?
Alimango (crabs) topped the list of them all! Its got to be crabs as the ones here in North America are quite different from the ones in the Philippines. Now, that is a fact!
Sugpo or lukon (prawn) and large-size shrimps followed the list. Because they are all fresh seafoods, the flavor was exquisite!
Grilled pisogo fish (baby red snapper) tasted so good! Beyond compare to the one we get here in Canada.
Chicken for the Road
March 25, 2010
“Why did the chicken cross the road?” Some people may ask this quite familiar riddle and one gets varied answers to it. But, majority of the people will tell you that because there’s food across the road! That’s exactly why my cousin Darling from Quezon City and I decided to booked our mini-family reunion the last time I was in Manila. Remember what I said about Pepe Thai Restaurant in Iloilo? Never mind ambiance as long as food is great… an exception from the rules I set for a great restaurant. Judging by its name, one won’t suspect that it’s a name of a restaurant, CHICKEN FOR THE ROAD RESTAURANT in Pasig City, just a stone throw away from Edsa-Ortigas area. I was briefed by my cousin that their chicken is fantastic and comparable to some “popular brand name” chicken in town. Let’s check it out and be my judge. Thank you to my cousin Darling Bulosan for facilitating our mini-reunion and for each and everyone who showed up.
FOR COMPARISON, this is chicken from Savory is undeniably delicious.
But look what we had at Chicken for the Road... a load of similar chicken at a lesser price! I would say, they perfected the cooking (roasting) and tasted so scrumptious that if it was a blind taste test, one will have difficulty distinguishing them from the other popular brand of chicken.
Chicken and tofu combi with estofado sauce.
chicken fritters, a good hand food or pulutan.
Fried chicken a la Chicken for the Road. Very comparable to other name brand of fried chicken.
Vegetable Egg Fu Yong and fried rice.
My cousin Ching brought this bibingkang sapin-sapin for dessert.
Part of the Hibionada family in Manila.
The other side of the table, my first time to meet a few of my relatives.
Special Enseymada (Home Made)
March 23, 2010
Not too long ago, my chef used to scramble around for enseymada (sweet bread) recipe. She started experimenting different proportion of ingredients until she perfected it, one day. Now, she shares this recipe to everyone who wants to try making this sweat bread. With the availability of ingredients and technology, making enseymada is a breeze.
My chef uses two bread machines for convenience, no kneading necessary when one is using this gadget. One needs 4 Cups of white Flour, 4.5 tsp .dry yeast, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup evaporated milk, 1/2 cup butter/ margarine, 6 egg yolks. The flour mixture is placed in the bread machine and let the gizmo do its job by programming it to the desired settings. The process of letting the dough rise is about 30 minutes. Here, about 27 minutes flat, the bread machine does the mixing, kneading and rising of the dough.
Divide dough into small pieces as shown (about 5 tbs.) and placed on a shallow greased pan.
On that same pan, roll the dough into long pieces and flatten it. Place shredded old cheddar cheese in the middle, seal both edges and then, roll it back again.
Place the roll inside the muffin pan brushed with butter or mazola sparay. Bake it @ 325 degrees C fo 10-12 mins.
Take it out of the oven, let it cool a bit. In a separate bowl, add half cup granulated white sugar, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Dip the top portion of the enseymada to the sugar mixture and shake off excess sugar mixture.
Add grated old cheddar cheese for finishing touches. SERVE warm is you prefer!
HOME MADE SPECIAL ENSEYMADA! This special enseymada reaches as far as New York City and Florida.
Part 3: Dinner (Panyapon)
March 19, 2010
Looking forward for dinner time is an exciting part of the day. It’s got to be a well-planned activity as space might be limited especially if one is planning to eat out. Nonetheless, home made dinner is still the best, as usual! Check this one out as this is the last installment of my series on Ilonggo’s meal for the day.
Chicken Inasal dinner at Jo Inato's.
I learned that Jo Inato's chicken is Dumaguete's style chicken barbeque. Up close, one cannot tell exactly the diffrence between Jo's and Mang's. Nonetheless, both are my favourites and chicken tasted great.
Chicken Binakol (chicken stew in coconut juice). I have tasted quite a few chicken binakol style before and, so far, this is the best tasting one I ever had (considering it's a restaurant-cooked native cuisine).
Buko-halo for dessert. A fancy-looking halo-halo as it's served in a real buko shell with real buko meat inside for people to enjoy during or after finishing the treat.
Home made dinner of bestek and binurong bilong-bilong. Thank you very much to my sister-in-law, Bebet, for preparing the meals during my recently-concluded vacation to the Philippines.
Rabanos (radish) salad with onions & tomatoes, vinegar with extra drizzle of kalamansi juice for a zing!
Sinugba (grilled) bukaw fish. What a delightful comeback for me as I have not tasted this fish for a long, long time.
Fish… As You Like It
March 13, 2010
Fish is such a versatile food that one can prepare them in so many ways. Let alone fish can be consumed in one’s three square meals (my Caucasian friends are quite stupefied by the fact that we eat fish at breakfast time). Iloilo is so blessed with sea foods that procuring your favorite fish is as easy as going to the wet market or just wait for the rolling vendors by your front house. In it’s freshest form, one can have them daily. In contrast, here in North America, it’s next to impossible to have such a convenience. Most of the time, we get them either fresh frozen or frozen, especially ocean fish. With lake fish, such as trout, we have them fresh from the tank all year round. Or, one can go fishing at summer time to catch bass and pickerel fish.
Baby Bangus (baby milkfish) in PAKSIW form.
Baby Makerel, fried first and, then GUINATAAN.
Tanguegue STEAK. Grilled (Breakthrough Restaurant)
SUSHI & SASHIME style. At the back, eel fish and front, mackerel fish.
KINILAW na tuna (Marina Resto)
Plain SINABAWAN (Ilonggo style).
PINAMALHAN na salmonete (Ilonggo style)
FRIED bilong-bilong fish.
SINUGBA (GRILLED) pisogo or bisogo fish (baby red snapper).
ESCABECHE, grouper fish.
POACHED bulgan fish.
SINIGANG na Bangus
BINURO na abo fish
I hope some of you must have noticed at this point that, we Filipinos loves to prepare our fish WHOLE. Meaning, heads & tails intact. Our Caucasian friends prefer not to see the head nor tail of their fish while eating them, rather in fillet form. Here's a typical fish & chips meal, usually cod fish or halibut.
KBL Special
March 09, 2010
Kadyos-Baboy-Langka or popularly known as KBL among Ilonggos is, in itself a special soup concoction of pigeon peas, pork and cooking jackfruit respectively. In addition, a souring agent called batwan is added to make up the final flavor of the dish. Since batwan is not readily available here in North America, we substitute it with sinigang mix. Now, what made this dish EXTRA SPECIAL is what I will be blogging about.
For my North American friends who has not seen batwan yet, here they are. I was fortunate enough during my recent visit to the Philippines to take some few shots of batwan. They are called batwan because this fruit from a tree are rock solid hard. A cross-section of batwan will reveal a whitish-yellow pulp mostly made up of seeds. Some Ilonggos eat this sour fruit dipped in salt or, as souring agent with peculiar flavor no other agents can duplicate. Usually they are sold by the takal of 1 empty evap milk can. Furthermore, Ilonggos are fond using batwan on any recipe calling for souring agent.
KBL is a very popular dish among Ilonggos that, it ranked second to La Paz batchoy as FOOD BANNER OF THE PROVINCE.
Looking up closely, one can easily identify the green jackfruit (langka), pigeon peas (kadyos) and the pork chunks (baboy). This pork is no ordinary pork as it is LECHON KAWALI (roasted pork) leftovers added to the dish. Lastly, my chef added saluyot (jote leaf) to make the dish unique or some form of fusion cooking. There you go, why it's EXTRA SPECIAL? Because lechon kawali was used and saluyot was added. There you go, KBL SPECIAL!
Nang Palang’s Revisited
February 28, 2010
Since I got hooked up with buko pie of Nang Palang’s (thanks to Jorp of Flavours of Iloilo), it has been my personal quest finding the closest one that would match the gold standard I have set. There’s got to be one around and it’s just a matter of finding it. El Ideal of Bacolod came very close during my recent vacation to the Philippines but, not quite exactly what I have been looking for (flavor & texture). A lot of my avid readers suggested buko pie from Laguna whom twice failed me (Orient Bakeshop and the latest one, Lety’s buko pie). Just recently, u8mypinkcookies of Manila suggested Tagaytay’s buko pie (Amira’s or Rowena’s). Well, that has to be reckoned with in my next trip to the Philippines. So, the quest continues. As I have mentioned just recently in one of my posts, Nang Palang’s made some changes in their packaging of their buko pie. And I praise them for doing such a marketing move to make their buko pie more competitive. Next move, would be to export their buko pie as what other competitors does.
Old packaging of Nang Palang's, a memory of the past, a humble beginning.
The "new look" of Nang Palang's! More vibrant and competitive.
A very positive leap by the owner making their products more attractive. On your left is their regular buko pie and, on your right, is their buko-pineapple pie. I just love their combination pies.
The same quality of pies they make, just a change in packaging. Their trade secret is, more of the buko strips rather than cornstarch filling. So, one notices Nang Palang's buko pies ARE NOT thick or overfilled with fillers. Just plain buko and other combi ingredients, making it creamy and flavorful. Should I say yummy?
Selections are varied ranging from regular plain buko pie, to pandan buko and pineapple buko. They also carry ube pie.
UPDATE ON BUKO PIE QUEST: Lety’s Buko Pie from Los Banos, Laguna. I got this pie from the frozen section in one of the Vietnamese stores here in Hamilton. I was ecstatic to learn that this is a direct import from the Philippines. Why not Nang Palang’s think of this for their next move? A good idea anyways!
Packaging is very important in marketing.
Looking closely to its lid, the buko pie is made in Los Banos, Laguna. PRODUCT OF THE PHILIPPINES!
It comes frozen and hermetically-sealed as this is the ONLY way it could reach North America or other parts of the world. It has to be thawed for 3 hours and reheated in the oven.
Again, looking closely inside the pie, I was convinced it's loaded with buko strips alright.
But the taste says it all. No, it did not pass my scutiny. Factors to be considered are: because it was frozen and reheated, maybe? Or kind of buko used? Or proportion of buko-cornstarch & other ingredients? Or the crust?
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