BANANAQUE

Bananaque, a popular Filipino street food and a favorite afternoon snack, is skewered fried banana with brown sugar coating.
Saba, or Saging na Saba is used, which is the most common cooking variety of banana in the Philippines.

MINASA

BUSTOS, Bulacan—”Minasa,” an original food delicacy the rich exclusively prepared for them and their guests and was told as a product borne out of Spanish-inspired houses of the wealthy folks here during the old times which recently have been one of the Overseas Filipino Workers and Balikbayans most favorite Bulacan sweets pasalubong will take center stage recognition during a Minasa Festival here was started last Jan. 16.

BUKO PIE

One of the all-time favorite “pasalubong” is the Buko pie. This sweet and rich pie is made from young coconut meat which is locally known as “Buko” meat. “Pasalubong”, on the other hand, is a gift for a family member or friend bough by a traveler returning from a trip.

STRAWBERRY TAHO

When you’re in the Summer Capital of the Philippines, Baguio, never ever miss to try their famous “Strawberry Taho”. Yep, it's Pinoy's all time favorite “Taho” with a twist - made from soya beans (fresh soft/ silken tofu), topped with sago pearls or tapioca and sweetened with generous amount of strawberry jam instead of the usual arnibal or caramelized sugar syrup.

LECHON KAWALI

lechon kawali. This boiled and deep-fried pork belly is perhaps the best example of just how well Filipinos know their pork.

The exterior is salty and extra crispy, while the interior is tender and moist with fat and juicy meat. It's a rich combination that pairs extremely well with the mild tartness of cane vinegar, which cuts through the fat just enough to make eating a whole plate of fried pork a dangerously simple task.

PHILIPPINE ADOBO

Philippine Adobo is a popular dish and cooking process in Philippine cuisine that involves meat, seafood, or vegetables marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic, which is browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade. It has sometimes been considered as the unofficial national dish in the Philippines.

HALO-HALO

A popular Filipino dessert, halo-halo (literally means “mixed together”), is a surefire hit during these hot days of summer. With its mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk and a concoction of everything you can actually think of – boiled sweet beans, bananas, jello, sweet preserves and other fruits – it’s a perfect way to beat the summer heat. Anthony Bourdain even described it as “oddly beautiful”, having tasted one during a visit to the famous Filipino fastfood Jollibee branch in Los Angeles, USA.

BIKO

There are a couple of ways to make biko. One method is steaming the glutinous rice first until partially cooked and then finishing it off in a coconut milk-sugar syrup. The second method which I use is cooking the rice straight in the syrup. This method results to a biko that is richer in flavor as it gets to absorb more of the coconut milk during cooking. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 caps glutinous rice
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil(from making latik)
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• Latik

For the Latik

• 2 cups coconut cream 

Instruction

1. Wash glutinous rice and drain well.
2. Grease bottom and sides of a baking dish with coconut oil. Set aside.
3. In a wide pan over medium heat, combine coconut milk, water and rice. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender. Add more water in ½ cup increments if rice mixture is drying before rice is cooked.
4. When rice mixture begins to thicken, add sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved and fully incorporated. Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until mixture is very thick and sticky. Biko is ready when it is already very difficult to stir and it pulls away from pan.
5. Spoon biko into prepared baking dish and pat down to flatten. Allow to cool and set. Lightly brush top with coconut oil and top with latik. Cut into portions to serve.

For the Latik

1. In a pan over medium heat, add coconut cream and bring to a boil. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid starts to thicken. Lower heat and simmer. As oil starts to separate and solids begin to form, regularly stir and scrape sides and bottom of pan to prevent from burning. Continue to cook and stir until curds turn golden brown. Drain latik from the oil.

GRILLED PORK BARBECUE

These grilled pork barbecue skewers define nearly every Filipino party. There has never been a time when guests refused these char-grilled pork bits on bamboo skewers. Whether I’m here in the States or back in the Philippines, when these pork BBQ sticks are served, they are gone in a few minutes. Guests dive for it quickly. Nothing is left. The slightly burnt, empty bamboo sticks are seen laying vacantly on finished dishes, probably right next to leftover tendrils of pancit (noodle dish) or strays of a lumpia wrapper (vegetable wraps). This is the typical scene at any Filipino-hosted party.

BAGNET SISIG IS THE ANSWER!

Pork Sisig is a popular appetizer that originated from the culinary capital of the Philippines : Pampanga. This delicious dish can also be categorized as a main dish. Pork Sisig was invented by the late Lucia Cunanan. She is popularly know as Aling Lucing – the sisig queen. Originally, pork sisig is composed of chopped pigs face (snout included) and ears with a generous amounts of chicken liver. Hundreds of sisig variations are available today ranging from the original pigs face (maskara) ingredient to a more healthy seafood concoction such as squid, tuna, milkfish (bangus), and mussels.

Delicous Beef Kaldereta

One of my favorite Filipino dishes is the Kaldereta or Caldereta. It is a hearty meat dish using chevon (goat meat), beef, or pork combined with potatoes, carrots, tomato sauce, and liver spread or liver paste. This is a popular dish served during special occasions and a regular in every Filipino cookbook. My Family loves Beef Kaldereta and preparing something like this takes some time and patience but it is all worth the wait. I would recommend the presence of a pressure cooker though to save some time in making the meat tender.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef, cubed 
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped 
• 1 onion, finely chopped 
• 2 cups beef broth 
• 1 small red bell pepper, sliced 
• 1 small green bell pepper, sliced 
• 1 cup tomato sauce 
• ½ cup liver spread or liver paste (processed using blender) 
• 1 tsp. crushed chili or red pepper 
• 3 large bay leaves 
• 2 cups potatoes, sliced 
• 2 cups carrots, sliced 
• ¼ cup cooking oil 
• ⅔ cup green olives 
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

1. Heat the cooking oil in the cooking pot or pressure cooker. 
2. Sauté the onion and garlic. 
3. Add the beef. Cook for 5 minutes or until the color turns light brown. 
4. Add the dried bay leaves and crushed pepper. Stir. 
5. Add the liver spread. Stir. 
6. Pour-in the tomato sauce and beef broth. 
7. Cook the beef until it becomes tender (about 30 minutes if using a pressure cooker, or 1 to 2 hours if using an ordinary pot). 
8. Add potato and carrots. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes. 
9. Put the green olives and bell peppers in the cooking pot. Stir and continue to cook for 5 minutes more. 
10. Add salt and pepper to taste 
11. Serve Hot. Enjoy! 

Or just watch a video created by PanlasangPinoy.com

It's delicious and mouth watering.

THE FAMOUS BICOL EXPRESS

The outcome of this Bicol Express Recipe can be described as pork cooked in coconut milk with shrimp paste and chilies. No wonder the name of this dish was derived from a Philippine region (Bicol) wherein Coconuts are abundant and the use of chilies is emphasized in most local meals.

Ingredients

• 3 cups coconut milk 
• 2 lbs pork belly, cut into strips 
• ½ cup Shrimp Paste 
• 1 tbsp Garlic, minced 
• 6 pieces Thai chili or Serrano pepper 
• 3 tablespoons minced ginger 
• 1 medium onion, minced 
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil 
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat a pan and then pour-in the cooking oil.
2. Saute the garlic, onion and ginger.
3. Add the pork and then continue cooking for 5 to 7 minutes or until the color becomes light brown.
4. Put the Shrimp Paste and Tai Chili or Serrano Pepper Stir.
5. Pour the coconut milk-in. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 40 minutes or until the pork is tender.
6. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste.
7. Serve and Enjoy!

Or you can watch a video by PanlasangPinoy.com

That made our super easy and affordable Bicol Express.