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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Posts Tagged ‘bittermelon’
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
Ampalaya All the Way
April 12, 2010
Ampalaya (bitter melon, bitter gourd or Balsam pear) is a favorite vegetable among Asians. Lately, this wrinkled fruit invaded the North American supermarkets and has steadily increased in popularity. First time consumers may raise their eyebrows as to what it is and how it is prepared. Basically, ampalaya has a bitter taste that make some people shy away from preparing it, even among the Asian community. The native ones, especially, has the most bitter flavor but, thank goodness, the ones they sell at the supermarkets are of milder variety. The bitterness of this favorite vegetable challenges some people’s taste buds and usually is, an acquired taste.
Now, for the first time user of this vegetable, one has to learn how to extract the bitterness out of the ampalaya. First, slice the fruit lengthwise into halves and scrape off the inner pit including the seeds with a spoon. Then slice thinly, perpendicularly or julienne-style, sprinkle salt and try mush it up with bare hands until it becomes watery. Finally, squeeze out the bitter juice and dump the fluid and the vegetable is ready for cooking. One might repeat the process if using the native variety to remove the bitterness further.Let’s go check them out.
These are the native variety, for the brave and pro in bitter taste. They are usually smaller in size, pear-shaped and tightly knitted wrinkles. This kind of ampalaya are usually available at your local Asian stores.
In comparison, the "North American" variety are huge, elongated with larger wrinkles. They are way less bitter than its native counterpart. Needless to say, this variety are available all year round at your favorite supermarkets and Asian stores alike.
The most favorite ampalaya dish is guinisang ampalaya con carne. A very popular dish in the Philippines. One has to sautee garlic, onions and tomatoes with either pork or shrimps or both. Then, optionally, one can add beaten egg at the final stage of cooking.
Another popular dish where one can add ampalaya is the pinakbet. The bitterness of ampalaya balances the other flavor of the dish.
The easiest way to prepare ampalaya is, the ensalada or salad type. Here, one can just simply add freshly sliced tomatoes, onions and drizzle it up with lemon. A very healthy way of preparing them. By the way, ampalaya is packed with nutrients such as vitamins and iron.
Pinakbet with Gata, Anyone?
March 01, 2010
I posted about PINAKBET a few months back, trying to compare the Ilocano-style against the Tagalog-style of preparing them. Lo and behold, during my recent trip to the Philippines, my sister-in-law in Iloilo prepared yet another style which I’m proud to label it as Ilonggo-style pinakbet. And who would have guessed that gata (coconut milk) may be added to a basic pinakbet and call it Ilonggo style? NOBODY! Incidentally, my friend Sachi Villareal of Namit ah! just posted an Ilonggo dish, Inubaran nga Manok with gata, as well! Can someone please tell me when did Ilonggo foods married to gata or coconut milk? I thought the Bicol region is known to be the most avid user of gata (and hot pepper) in almost all of their foods. Well, count Iloilo in, as well.
Here it is, the Ilonggo-style pinakbet! With coconut milk and it tasted so good.
The Ilocano-style of pinakbet, distinctively different from the rest and I love this style of.
Another Ilocano version of the pinakbet, with play of colors and veggies. The secret is: bagoong base soup with vinegar.
And of course, the popular Tagalog-style of pinakbet. With alamang as its soup base.
Pinakbet- Part 2
October 26, 2009
It seem like we can never have enough of the Ilocano dish, PINAKBET. Quite frankly, my chef prepares this dish regularly, more so when fresh vegetables are abundant this time of the year. Fresh harvest of vegetables from friends and relatives abounds this past few weeks. So, my chef decided to prepare pinakbet, Ilocano style. As I have mentioned in my previous entries, Tagalog style of pinakbet is a little bit different than the Ilocano style.
Pinakbet – Ilocano Style
September 22, 2009
Today is the first day of autumn or fall. To be precise, it arrived today at 5:18 this afternoon, so summer is over now officially! And I did not even wholesomely enjoyed it here in Canada, darn! To make it more convincing, just look around and one will see the telltale signs lurking … such as, temperature dropping to single digits at night, and speaking of nighttime, it’s growing longer compared to daytime. And if you’re not convinced yet, just drive around and you’ll see leaves of trees starts turning to different colors and hues. Don’t forget people starts to wear long-sleeves shirts, sweaters and light jackets. Cold weather totally beats me up. But, don’t get me wrong, I love the first part of fall, wherein, leaves changes its colors and then falls off to the ground.
Speaking of colors, a food in mind is pinakbet. One of my avid readers, Natie from Jersey, just reminded me about pinakbet and, for sure it’s one of my Ilocano favourite foods, as well! Ilocanos prepares their pinakbet differently from Tagalog. So I was told by my chef. Ilocanos do not use garlic nor alamang in their pinakbet and they don’t saute their spices. They just prepare it with bagoong, vinegar, water, eggplants, ampalaya, okra and onions. That’s it!
One of the basic veggies for pinakbet is ampalaya (bitter melon).
Eggplant is the second "must have" ingredient. Eggplants can go solo in pinakbet! Just plain eggplant pinakbet with oil added. Yummy!
Concoction of different veggies in bagoong and vinegar soup makes up pinakbet.
Voila! Pinakbet- Ilocano Style!
Foods of the World – Part 2
March14,2009
Today is market day in Hamilton. I’ve been waiting for this day as the Farmer’s Market is always teeming with wide variety of foods, including Asian foods. I just learned it today that there are 2 Filipino stalls in the market now.
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