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 ‘Pinoy foods’ Category
Tinuom
For almost two years now, I have posted a few times some unique way of cooking food. Tinuom is one of them. This kind of cooking is so unique and popular in our province of Iloilo that, one of the towns there (Cabatuan) celebrate Tinuom Festival every year. Now, what is tinuom? It is a special way of cooking any kind of meat or vegetables or combination of them wrapped in banana leaves. The second element are the spices one uses in it, namely: ginger, onion, tomatoes garlic and lemongrass. And lastly, the manner it is cooked, that is, grilled in an open charcoal pit or the modern way, baked or in a barbeque grill. Let’s check out some few foods one can utilize tinuom for.
TINUOM NA MUSHROOMS. Here, one can use a variety of mushrooms, depending on the season.
I utilized cello or portabello mushrooms as they are available all year round.
TINUOM NA POMPANO. This kind of fish is one of the favorites people want to make tinuom with. Again, the elements are the spices used, namely, tomatoes, garlic, onions, ginger and lemongrass. This one here, was wrapped in aluminum foil if banana leaves is not available.
Another fish one can use for tinuom is the tilapia fish. This fish is quite common now here in North America. One would notice that there is some missing element though it was grilled or baked with banana leaves.
Pancit Palabok – Canadian Style
When someone is far away from their native land, they try to pacify their homesickness by preparing native foods. As some ingredients may not be readily available, they try to modify the recipe. And that’s precisely what my “chef” did to her Pancit Palabok. Canadianized, for the lack of a better word to describe it. Incidentally, the word fusion comes into play or nouvelle to be precise. Okay, enough playing of words! The reason why I call it “Canadianized” Pancit Palabok because, a decade ago, we have no access of ready-made palabok sauce like Mama Sita’s and the like. We have to be innovative! So, my chef used Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup as base for her palabok sauce. The next hurdle is, what type of noodles to use? She decided to use spaghetti despite coaxing her to use pancit bihon noodles. She carried on doing this recipe up to this day as Filipinos and white Canadians alike loves the taste of her pancit palabok, something original. Check this out and if interested with the recipe, just let me know, I’ll post it at DocStoc sidebar widget.
PANCIT PALABOK. Long time before the advent of popular brand ready-made sauces, my chef has been preparing this palabok sauce from scratch. She adds cream of mushroom soup after sauteeing shrimps and pork. Since spaghetti noodles are readily available at that time, she substitutes pancit bihon/ palabok with this kind of noodle, as well. One can garnish the palabok with wedges of hard boiled eggs, lots of toasted garlic, crushed pork rind (chicharon) and chopped green onions or chives.
So, here it is, PANCIT PALABOK, the Canadian way! I believe this is an original recipe and it is worth trying.
Paksiw na Sea Bass
Fish comes every Friday here at ILONGGO LIVING! It wouldn’t be a surprise to my regular readers to see fish dish every Friday. Let us start off with the fish my chef and I recently loved devouring with… the sea bass! This fish came to a surprise as my chef is not that adventurous enough try different kinds of fish (for a change, for crying out loud!). With enough prodding, I convinced her to try just once and see how it will go. Luckily, we liked it and, hopefully you have some good experience with sea bass, as well.
PAKSIW NA SEA BASS. One of the many ways one can prepare this kind of fish is paksiw or sinigang. We opted for the latter ! Albeit, we have not tried deep frying this kind of fish, another way of cooking them, maybe, is escabeche. Sea bass comes fresh at your local Asian market. As the name implies, sea bass is a salt water fish. The closest fish I can compare sea bass with is the Idaho trout or the wide mouth bass, though the latter two fishes are lake fish. They somewhat taste differently than the sea water or ocean fishes.
Smothered with vinegar, onions, red hot pepper and ginger, the paksiw is a sure fire to a cool evening. Just watch out for the fish bones, just like our bangus. Not a good predicament once those nasty bones lodges to one's throat. Overall, sea bass is so delicious and refreshing as it lacks that fishy aftertaste.
Pochero
As the name of the dish implies, pochero is the Philippine adaptation of the Spanish dish, cocido. Pochero itself has so many versions or modifications as every region in the Philippines prepares them differently. In my hometown, Iloilo, we prepare them with just one kind of meat, which is pork. The other versions I tried uses four different kinds of meat. Sometimes, simple way of preparing this dish is more satisfying than an intricate one. Let’s check it out why.
POCHERO. This dish can be prepared lavishly with four kinds of meat. But, the Ilonggo version uses only pork as the main meat. As I have reiterated earlier, the simple the better will be the outcome of the dish. However, one may opt at choosing pork belly or shoulder to make pochero more flavorful.
The basic vegetable used for pochero are cooking jackfruit or langka, cabbage and saging na saba or plantain. When one wants to be more creative, you can add sweet potato (kamote) and sweet pepper. Spices used are bay leaf, pepper corn and, of course, hot green pepper as an option for people who wants to add zing to the dish.
Escabecheng Red Snapper & Skate Fish with Tausi
Today’s dish is fish! No doubt, I have been looking forward preparing these two popular Spanish and Chinese-influenced dishes today. I would say, preparing Escabeche is as easy as one, two, three! And, so is with fish with tausi. One just got to fry the fish and then add the sauces which are basically made of onion, garlic and ginger. That is all to it! I used to remember my mother prepares these two dishes in a jiffy, especially when all of the ingredients were at hand. There are quite a few favorite kind of fishes that will match the recipe. Depending on the availability, especially here in Canada or North America for that matter, grouper or red snapper are the choices for the escabeche and tinausihan. An alternative are sea bass, blue fish, carp and today, I will be using skate fish for the latter dish. Okay, let’s check it out!
ESCABENCHENG RED SNAPPER (Sweet & Sour Fish). I opted for red snapper as the flesh is much firmer when fried. Thereby, less chances for the fish to disintegrate while frying. Not to mention coating the fish with cornstarch for non-stick frying.
The veggies used with this dish are: carrots, celery, pepper, and inoke mushrooms to give it a flair!
SKATE FISH WITH TAUSI (fermented black beans). This fish belongs to the family of stingrays. They are cartilaginous kind of a fish and are good for frying. Aside from tausi, I added fried tofu or firm bean curd for extra garnishing and flavor. A good combination in Asian fusion cooking.
Uncooked skate fish. A mildly flavoured fish, inexpensive and good for frying. This photo was taken from Wikimedia Commons (Wikipedia).
So, here they are, the two stars for Friday's dish... Escabecheng Red Snapper and Skate Fish with Tausi. A double treat for the weekend.
Suam na Tulya
Since summer is now officially over here in Canada, soups season is on. I said soups season because, temperature starts to stumble down in the upper teens for the past few days. So, having a special soup will warm the heart and help usher fall season. This soup is so tantalizing and is loaded with ingredients that fits fusion cooking.
I stumbled upon Suam na Tulya (Corn & Clam Soup) recipe originated from Pampanga in one of the back issues of the FOOD magazine (Dec. 08-Jan. 09 issue). Kapampangans are known for their haute cuisine and, I am quite impressed by this scrumptious soup recipe. Check it out as I prepared this soup with a bit of a twist as I am a firm believer of fusion cooking.
SUAM NA TULYA (Corn and Clam Soup). But with a bit of a twist! I added morel mushrooms to make it more tantalizing and intriguing!
Cherry stone clams, fresh sweet corn, spinach and morel mushrooms are the main ingredients. The clams are always available at your local Asian store and sweet corn are now in season.
The morel mushrooms are wild mushrooms that are ONLY available fresh during springtime here in Northern America. If one is lucky, one can get them fresh at your specialty grocery stores or order it on-line. Otherwise, one has to contend with dried ones from your local supermarkets. Just rehydrate them before cooking.
Fish Sinigang
TGIF! And thank goodness, I can enjoy fish during Fridays, especially after some heavy red meat binging this week. It has been (and will always be) a tradition in the Philippines to have fish on a Friday. Looking back, there is a cultural and religious background to this practice. Nevertheless, eating fish is healthy, fish is superb source of protein. Nowadays, people are more conscious of what they eat. I am short in saying fish is the perfect food for today’s lifestyle. Speaking of variety of fish in the market, one has the choice of getting them fresh or fresh frozen. I love the ones that contains most of the omega-3 fatty acids because I believe this fish oil help prevent some malady. And today’s fish dish is the most easy and healthy way of preparing them. Let’s check it out!
SINIGANG NA SALMON (salmon soup). This is the most easy way of preparing one's fish without using any cooking oil. One only needs sinigang soup base (sour soup), few slices of fresh salmon, couple of veggies and, voila! a perfect meal. Here, my chef added string beans (sitaw), pechay, gabi (yam), ripe tomatoes and radish.
The salmon we use here is the Atlantic farmed salmon, the most popular and readily available than the Pacific wild salmon. But, if we get the chance to get hold of the latter, we prefer it over the former. Flavorwise, wild Pacific ones tastes better than the farmed Atlantic salmon. Again, this is my own opinion, I might contradict other people's opinion. Maybe, in the near future, I might blog about this topic... Wild Pacific Salmon versus Farmed Atlantic Salmon. It will be exciting to deal with this controversy next time.
And of course, our national fish, the bangus or milk fish, is another kind of fish suitable for making sinigang. Not much of the omega-3 fatty acid with bangus but, the flavor is so good and very distinct! Here, we utilized kamote tops or fronds, added more fresh tomatoes on top of the sinigang mix we already used to make it more sour and flavorful.
Ilocano Favorite Dishes
Ilocano dishes has so many virtues that it is hard to know where to start listing them. Effortlessly, my chef will categorize Ilocano dishes into meat, particularly goat’s meat and, at the other end of the scale, vegetables. In between, one could fit in other food stuff such as bagoong and other sea foods. Just like other regions of the Philippines, Ilocanos has its own favorite dishes that appears to be their signature foods. The most popular ones are, pinakbet, dinengdeng and the pinapaitan. Lets dig it!
PINAPAITAN. In its truest form, pinapaitan is usually made of goat's meat, entrails and the papait or apro. For those who does not fancy goat's meat, my chef prepares this dish with regular beef in lieu of and, substitute papait (extracted intestinal juice) with apro or apdo (bile juice). Personally, I detest papait because of its strong fecal smell and prefer apro to give the dish its distinctive "pait" or bitter flavor. As one would notice, there are three distinct kinds of meat in it: the beef, tripe and goat's skin (dark). Ilocanos prepares them meticulously to mask the smell by adding onions, ginger and vinegar or lemon. Overall, I enjoy eating this Ilocano dish ONLY when prepared by my chef or her brother.
DINENGDENG. This is a very healthy Ilocano dish as it is made of mostly local vegetables. The sagpaw is usually grilled or fried fish and the soup base is made of bagoong.
PINAKBET. This dish is of Ilocano origin. As the dish became popular throughout the archipelago, each region prepares them differently. Again, personally speaking, I prefer my pinakbet Ilocano style. This unique dish stands out as purely vegetable dish concocted with bittermelon (ampalaya), string beans (sitaw), eggplant and okra.
Desserts All the Way!
Today’s post is solely dedicated to the desserts served during the parties we had lately. I intentionally did this to give desserts some recognition against its partner, the main courses. Such a sweet repose having desserts after a heavy meal. No doubt, some people skip the main course to give way for the irresistible and mouth-watering desserts. Checkout the parade of desserts!
This tantalizing dessert is strawberry cheesecake ice cream cake. By the way, this birthday cake was for our friend Luz Burton!
Fo those who are calorie-conscious, a plateful of fresh summer fruits were available. Here we have healthy berries of different kinds: blueberries, cherries and strawberries.
A plateful of tropical fruits were also at hand. Fresh watermelon and pineapples slices are so luscious.
This dessert was mindfully prepared by our friends from Toronto, the Lorenzana family. Almond-flavored Nata de Coco and fresh lychies chilled perfectly to enhance the flavor.
Ah, finally, a native delicacy! The popular puto cochinta, home made at its best with freshly grated coconut!
The birthday cake for our friend Edna, from Jacksonville, Florida. Raspberry Cheesecake Ice Cream cake! Very rich-flavoured ice cream cake.
Pinoy Party – Part 3
My last installment for this episode on Pinoy Party happened just recently here in Stoney Creek, Ontario. Our visitors were from Jacksonville, Florida, one of my chef’s closest friends from USA. It was a good-sized party and everyone had pitched in for a Filipino dish. We opted to prepare my specialty, the arroz a la Valenciana and ampalaya con carne. The rest of the foods were ushered in by close friends and family members. Better check them out!
Everyone looked forward for this dish, the ARROZ A LA VALENCIANA. It is sometimes dubbed as poorman's paella.
Ampalaya (bittermelon) is one of my favorite vegetables. Ampalaya con karne is so delicious that, the bitterness of the melon is so mild one can hardly notice it.
rEmbutido/morcon or meatloaf is another dish Filipinos loves to have at a dinner table.
Pinakbet, any style one prepares them will surely be sold out.
Pancit bihon mixed with pancit canton. An ever present dish at a Filipino party!
Fresh calamansi goes well with pancit of any kind.
THE PARTY TABLE
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