Balo balo, known better as burong hipon is a popular Kapampangan fare that is best paired with blanched bitter veggies and leaves like mustasa (mustard) and ampalaya (bitter gourd). With grilled fish, its a good alternative to soy sauce and in this case, the inihaw na hito was perfect.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups cooked rice – boil rice with 10 cups of water till cooked; you come up with a soft kind of cooked rice; cool rice thoroughly
• 500 grams very fresh shrimps – alive if possible, the 2-inch long size; do not peel. In Sydney where you do not find shrimps that are alive, I use small, fresh prawns that are peeled and sliced in half – lengthwise. If you want to use fish, I use filleted fish and slice into 1/2-inch cubes or in small strips. In the Philippines, you can use whole small fresh gurami or tilapia, de-scale, debone and cut into finger sized strips. Do not use head of tilapia. Some even use the mud fish for this.
• 250 grams young, fresh bamboo shoots – sliced very thinly and blanched for 5 minutes in hot water and drain well and cool down
• 1/2 cup salt

Procedure:

1. Get a well washed, dry, 1 to 2 gallon glass jar.
2. Rinse the shrimps/fish with water and drain well. Pat dry to ensure dryness.
3. In a large bowl, place shrimps and sprinkle with the salt, and mix thoroughly.
4. Using rubber gloves, spread cool rice in a large bowl.
5. Mix the bamboo shoots with the shrimps.
6. Mix the shrimp/bamboo with rice using gloved hands.
7. Put the mixture inside the jar, in layers, packing well each layer. You want to avoid air pockets in the jar.
8. Cover the mouth of the jar with a clean sheet of plastic and close with lid.
9. Some times it is hard to find glass gallon jars and I use a glass bowl that has a lid.
10. Set aside in a cool place and let ferment for three days. In temperate countries, fermentation may take longer. What I do is on the third day, I smell the mixture and see if it’s smelly enough for me.
11. The smellier it is, the more sour the sauce becomes. So watch for it. Also, the whole tiny shrimp and fresh fish, ferments faster than peeled prawns or filleted fish.
12. If you want to cook the fermented shrimp mixture after three days, it will not be too smelly.
13. If you let another 2 days go, keep it in the refrigerator so that it does not ferment too fast.

Dinakdakan is an Ilocano dish that is made of grilled and boiled pig parts—it works as a delicious and tasty appetizer, too! The pig’s head, ears, and brains are some of the ingredients incorporated so as not to waste any part of the animal. Cooking methods such as grilling and boiling are used in making this dish because it makes the preparation of the dish much simpler. Adding chili also gives it a bit of a bite, making it the perfect pork dish to eat with loads of rice.

How to Make Dinakdakan

Panutsa, or also called as “Peanut Brittle” in English Dialect, is a delicacy that is a favorite in the Batangas region of Philippines. It is usually sold in stalls around Batangas and in buses for inbound or outbound trips to the province.

Panusta is very easy to prepare and to cook, even a 5 year old child can cook it. With its very simple ingredients and procedures, you will never imagine that this is a very mouth-watering treat for your family and friends.

It’s Bebs from Foxy Folksy here once again to bring you yet another goodie from our Filipino kitchen. Today I am sharing with you this delectable Buko Pie recipe.

Buko pie is a Filipino-style coconut pie made of fresh, tender young coconut meat combined with a creamy filling and enclosed in a flaky pie crust.

The pie is a favorite pasalubong item mostly bought from the area of Laguna where it’s known to have originated. Stores such as Colette’s and Lety’s have become iconic destinations for this scrumptious pastry, but few people are even aware that none of these establishments is the original creator of the famous Laguna buko pie.

This recipe requires glutinous rice and coconut milk and the wrap is made from buri or palm leaves. The word “Ibos” pertains to the buri leaves or palm leaves that are used to hold the ingredients. This is the counterpart of banana leaves in other suman recipes.

The challenge in preparing suman sa ibos is not in the cooking process, but in preparing the container. You will need to swirl the buri leaves over a mold to make individual containers. This needs to be locked properly to hold its form. The mixture of glutinous rice, coconut milk, and salt is scooped to each container. These are boiled for several minutes before serving.

Suman sa ibos is best eaten with ripe mangoes. I also like it with granulated white sugar.

Try this Suman sa Ibos recipe. Let me know what you think.

Ingredients

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

Puto is a type of steamed rice cake usually served as a snack or an accompaniment to savory dishes such as dinuguan or pancit in Philippine cuisine and believed is to be derived from the Kerala dish puttu.

Who doesn’t love this favorite snack that every Bicolano loves to eat during merienda time? Bicolanos love to eat sinapot or sometimes called maruya because of its crispy texture. Sinapot literally translates to dinikit-dikit in Filipino, because the sliced up bananas are skewered side by side with a cleaned out coconut leaves spine before cooking.

The sinapot are usually made from saba bananas. In the Bicol version, it does not “fan” the bananas. Instead they are simply sliced lengthwise before frying in batter. If you want to know how to make the sinapot, this is the recipe:

The Bicol region is consist of six provinces namely Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon. Not only will you find here one of the world’s most photogenic volcanoes, the Mayon Volcano, but also some of the most popular dishes in the country.

Bicolanos are known for using coconut milk and siling labuyo (hot chilies) in their cuisines. So here are a few of their dishes that are known throughout the country.

Ingredients

Cooking Procedure

Bukayo  is a Filipino version of coconut candy, it is made with strips of mature Buko meat (coconut meat) and dark brown sugar.  In this version we added Muscovado sugar to make the taste less sweet compared to the traditional Bukayo you can buy in the market and this one is soft and chewy.   If you have diabetes, this Filipino dessert is not good for you because of high sugar content and consume it in moderation.

Bukayo candies come in different shapes, some are round in ball form, another in a flat circle shape and some are cut into square shape. Bukayo is believed to have been originated from Lingayen, Pangasinan.

• 3 cups Buko meat (coconut)
• 1 ½ cups Brown sugar
• ½ cup Muscovado sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoon Buko juice or Water
• 3 pcs calamansi (optional)
• Sesame seeds (optional)
• Banana leaves

• In a large saucepan, combine Muscovado sugar, dark brown sugar, and the Coconut juice then apply heat and bring to a simmer.
• The fire must be the lowest heat possible and cook for about 1 minute until the all the sugar dissolves.
• Add-in the Buko (coconut) strings and calamansi juice.
• Mix well, make sure to evenly coat the buko strings with sugar , then cook until the sugar syrup thickens and becomes caramelized, it will take about 15 minutes of cooking.
• When the Bukayo mixture becomes very sticky enough to hold its shape, then you are done.
• Turn off the heat, let it cool for a minute or two, then form the mixture into a flat circle on top of a greased banana leaf, repeat the process until you’re done with the rest of the Bukayo mixture then set aside to completely dry.
• When the Bukayo is completely dry, you can now serve it or store in a jar.