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 May, 2009
Dinuguan – Ilonggo styled
May 31, 2009
It has been years since I cooked or tasted dinuguan prepared Ilonggo-style. My “chef” likes her dinuguan Ilocano-style, dry and blackish in color. In contrast, Ilonggo-style is brownish in color, more soupy and the very distinct flavour of lemon grass. Not too long ago, I stumbled at a recipe of an Ilonggo-styled dinuguan in Inday Hami’s blog, I Love Iloilo. It’s called “Lola Sayong’s Dinuguan with PInaklay nga Tambo” contributed by Jen Lorenz de los Santos. Interestingly, the recipe calls for lemongrass and libas leaf (Kaffir lime leaf, a close substitute) to give that distinct Ilonggo flavor. That shifted my attention momentarily to Thai cooking, wherein they use combination of lemongrass and Kaffir lime leaf to give a fantastic blast of flavor to any Thai food that calls for it! Indeed, that’s the main reason why Ilonggo-styled dinuguan stands out among the rest! The pinaklay na tambo serves as food filler. Recipe available upon request. So, as promised to fellow foodie bloggers, here it is… DINUGUAN, Ilonggo version!
The Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass works in tandem to give that distinct Ilonggo flavor of dinuguan.
The finished product!
Delish version of Dinuguan... Ilonggo-styled!
Exotic Fruits of the Tropics
May 30, 2009
I have been eyeing on the tropical fruits at the supermarket for quite a while now. Price withstanding, my hesitation was, what if I won’t like it and the taste won’t conform with my taste buds and it will just end up in the garbage. Anyhow, I broke that hesitation yesterday and purchased a few just to try taste them. No regrets! I love the taste of PASSION FRUIT, GRANADILLA and TAMARILLO, in descending manner. Each one of them has its own distinct flavor and aroma but the common feature is, the tiny seeds are coated with fleshy gel. The first two belongs to the species of passion flowers and the latter belongs to the tomato family. It’s good idea to wash the fruits first, cut it into halves and scoop out the seeds and juices with a teaspoon. You can either chew the seeds or spit it out after you extract the gel portion. If you are that daring and adventurous type, try adding them to your drinks, ice creams and sauces or in combination with other fruits. It’s your choice! ENJOY!
Granadilla (yellow) and Tamarillo (red)
Passion Fruit (Maracuya)
Passion fruit is the most expensive and FRAGRANT of the three. The exquisite aroma is heaven, no wonder why they call it "PASSION"! The tarty-sweet taste is good for sauces and one can find passion fruit-flavoured drinks and the like.
Granadilla (grenadia) is the SWEETEST of the three but not as aromatic as passion fruit. Seeds/grains are bulkier than the two. The granadilla flavor can be found in various drinks and cocktails.
Tamarillo belongs to a different family (tomato) compared to passion fruit or granadilla. Tamarillo is the FLESHIEST of the three and can be added to meat sauces enhancing the meat flavor.
ALL THREE IN HALVES!
Chinese Foods on the Go
May 28, 2009
Thank goodness, Chinese foods can be found wherever one goes. That’s exactly what we have in mind today! Chinese foods for dinner. It’s been raining all day today, so, a trail of appetizing Chinese foods from one of our favourite restaurants will surely brighten our day. Crystal Dynasty along Cannon Street West in Hamilton [905-308-8208] serves Dim Sum and other favourite Chinese foods.
Jar Do Chicken
Beef Tendon with Satay sauce
Steamed Chives Dumpling with Shrimps
Shanghai rolls
Winter is Back!
May 26, 2009
I spoke too soon yesterday! Nature was just teasing, letting us taste of what is YET to come. It has been unseasonably colder since last night. The temperature was hovering at 6 degrees Centigrade when it’s supposed to be 16 degrees already. I was caught unaware this morning while I was on my way to the car. A blustery windchill factor of -2 degrees sent me back to the house scampering for my jacket. For now, all I can think of is soup… a parade of soups that I have posted previously to make me warm! Have your pick!
Chili con Carne
Nilagang Baka (Bulalo, Kansi)
Pansit Molo
Barley Soup
Chicken Noodle Soup with Fiddleheads
Tinolang Manok
Prawn Sinegang
Sinegang na Salmon
Sinegang na Baboy
Kardis Soup (KBL)
Almost like summer!
May 25, 2009
It has been gorgeous for the past few days here in southern Ontario! It’s hard to believe that spring is almost over now and summer is just around the corner. We are finally experiencing the warmth of the sun! No more sweaters and cumbersome winter jackets and long johns has been tucked away. At least for the next 4 to 5 months. Our central AC started to kick in as well as it becomes humid inside the house. Our choice of foods started to shift as well to more grilling/barbequing and green salads. That’s exactly what I will be posting today. Let’s start off with baby arugula salad with yellowfin tuna, main dishes of afritadang bangus, cordon bleu chicken and for dessert, custard pie and coconut cream bread. Check this out!
Baby Arugula with yellowfin tuna and fresh figs. Great combination with creamy Cesar's salad dressing.
Afritadang Bangus. We modified Noel's recipe from Overseas Pinoy Cooking blogsite.
Cordon Bleu Chicken. Ham, Swiss cheese, Blue cheese tucked inside chicken breast and then baked.
Custard Pie.
Cream Coconut Bread
Special Dinengdeng and Sauteed Blood Shell Soup
May 22, 2009
I call it Special Dineng-deng because my “chef” placed 2 different meats instead of just one sinagpaw. Ilocano cooking will only dictate one kind, but she broke the rule by adding fried fish on top of shrimps. Truly special, indeed, as she loaded it with alukon as well. I prepared the much-awaited Blood Shell I bought at the Vietnamese store. I just simply sauteed it with onion and ginger and throw in some chives that came from our backyard garden. As usual, my three sons are not too keen with Filipino foods, so I prepared 3-cheeses lasagna for them.
Special Dinengdeng (in many respect, it's similar to Ilonggo's Laswa)
Shrimps dominated the dinengdeng scene
Sauteed Blood Shells
Blood shell (litog?) with chives
Three cheeses lasagna
Lasagna topped with parmigiano-reggiano cheese from Italy
Chocolate Crinkles from Baguio
Beef Afritada and Olive Oil-Braised Baby Artichokes
May 21, 2009
It is such an exciting day today as we are experiencing summer weather temporarily. Thanks for the “imported” warm breeze from southern U.S. (Gulf Stream)! To celebrate summer breeze, my “chef” prepared beef afritada and I prepared olive-braised baby artichoke with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. For dessert we have fresh figs and again, we are lucky to have lengua de gato from Baguio. Thanks to my wife’s niece Emely for the pasalubong from the Philippines.
Beef Afritada
Fresh Baby Artichokes
Olive Oil-Braised Baby Artichokes with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
Fresh Figs
Lengua de Gato
Delicious, buttery-tasting Lengua de Gato
Ampalaya con Carne and Bistek + Tinuno
May 19, 2009
It has been a while since we had ampalaya (bittermelon) dish. My “chef” used both pork and shrimps to enhance the flavour of ampalaya. This variety of ampalaya is actually not as bitter as the ones we used to have back in the Philippines. Also, an Ilocano favourite, Tinuno beef and pork, will grace our dinner table. For the kids, they will have Bistek as they don’t fancy ampalaya that much. Turon na Saging (banana) will be our dessert.
Bittermelon (Ampalaya, Amargoso in Ilonggo)
Ampalaya con Carne with Shrimps
Tinuno (pork & beef)
Bistek (Beef Steak)
Turon na Saging (Plantain Banana)
Victoria Day (Canada)
May 18, 2009
Today is a national holiday! So, we either catch up with housework or, just maybe, I will do my tour of the different waterfalls around the areas of Hamilton-Halton and Niagara. The weather is great for doing such activity! We will see, I will just update my blog with some non-food topics later. But for now, I will just lazily move around the house, giving myself a break from work. Last night, they have fireworks all over the place to celebrate pre-Victoria Day. We had mixed beans stew and for the kids they had, guess what? Spinach pizza! Mind you it tasted good and at the same time, they got their vegetable shot! What a fantastic way of getting their veggies in a pizza form. For dessert, we had Halo-Halo, just a prelude for summer. YES! We are looking forward for summer already.
Mixed Beans Stew with Pork
Spinach Pizza
Fried Rice with Smoked Cheddar Cheese Sausage (Sinangag or Kalo-Kalo in Ilonggo)
Sweet Mangoes are so abundant here right now just on time to quench our longing for it!
Halo-Halo
This is just a "test drive" to check if our ice crushing gizmo still works. And it does!
Saturday Special
May 16, 2009
Today, I prepared an unusual but unique dish, Asadong Pugo (Quail). The quail, locally known as pugo, is a kind of a small game bird belonging to the pheasant family. The Japanese quail is farmed for their eggs. Both the bird and eggs are favourite main ingredients in some Asian dishes. It’s a rather versatile material for gastronomy that I have to consult Noel (ut-man) from Overseas Pinoy Cooking . He recommended Chicken Adobo recipe and wished me luck! It held me back for a while since my first attempt years back with adobong pugo was a failure. But lately, he posted Chicken Asado recipe in his blogsite. My “chef” reviewed the recipe and I got her affirmation right away! I modified the recipe a bit by adding saffron and soy sauce during the final cooking. This time, it was a SUCCESS! Thanks Noel for the recommendation, your blog comes very handy! Initially, my three boys were adamant eating pugo but once they tasted it, they loved it! To match the asado, I prepared Skate Fish with Wild Mushrooms in Pearl Sauce since wild mushrooms are pretty abundant this time of the year. This is the first time I have prepared skate fish and the choice was perfect! For dessert I steamed some ready-made Taro Buns and some fresh cherries. Bon Apettit!
Asadong Pugo
Whole fresh dressed pugo is available in Chinese-Vietnamese stores.
Skate Fish with Wild Mushrooms in Pearl Sauce
It's springtime here in southern Ontario, so, fresh wild mushrooms are abundant. I used porcini, chanterelle and hon shimeji mushrooms.
Sweet Taro Buns for dessert
Fresh Cherries
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