Overseas Pinoy Cooking

T uron na Saging. I had some plantain banana or Saba that came from our farm in Laguna . I have already cooked some of as Nilagang Saging the other day some was was cooked as Minatamis na Saging with Kalamansi Zest . I was surprised, the bananas were extraordinarily sweet, probably because the fruits were harvested when they are about to ripen.                     I thought the remaining bananas would be good as fried Turon , the size of the bananas were small which should be ideal as plain Turon na Saging . Because the bananas are already inherently sweet I only added sugar sparingly. I had to fill in something as I do not have the sweetened langka and makapuno I used on my previous Turon, Fried Banana Roll , instead I settled for plain sugar. My Turon na Saging is not your usual Turon that you usually buy from street vendors or at your favorite supermarkets, that are loaded with caramelized sugar. My Turon na S...

Chicken Feet Arroz Caldo. What is the difference of Lugaw , Arroz Caldo and Goto ? This is my own opinion you may have another description but this is how I find the difference of the three rice soup dishes. Let’s go back a couple of decades ago where food fusions were not as prevalent as today. And cooking was simpler during those times to understand what are the difference of the three. Lugaw is traditionally boiled plain rice, most of the time it is unseasoned but at the minimum seasoned with salt. The truth is it was serve whenever someone got sick, and with usually boiled egg. The rice is soupy but not runny. Arroz Caldo as the name suggests in Spanish, it is translated as rice soup, However the Pinoy Arroz Caldo it is a chicken ginger rice soup. Arroz Caldo to most Pinoy , there must be a chicken on the rice soup . The rice soup is made up of a mixture of plain rice and glutinous rice . I am from Vigan we have Arroz Caldo version made up  with pure ...

Minatamis na Saging with Kalamansi Zest . I wanted to add a little zest to the traditional Minatamis na Saging . Minatamis na saging is very easy to cook, and definitely simply delicious, I mean simple to cook. By tweaking the recipe, by adding a rind of a kalamansi make a lot of difference to the already yummy Pinoy merienda . The addition of zest to the Minatamis na Saging makes it refreshing. In my opinion my, Minatamis na Saging with Kalamansi Zest is better serve warm, the sweetened bananas is serve with the zesty syrup. But I try to have it chilled and see the difference. As I have already mentioned making my Minatamis na Saging with Kalamansi Zest is dead easy, in fact there is no hard rule with the quantity of ingredients. The quantity of sugar actually defends on how much sweetness you want. For this recipe I use less sugar, I wanted to have the flavors of the bananas not being overpowered by the sugar. The bananas should not be overripe, it sho...

Pansit Bihon with Vigan Bagnet . Some of our regular readers may already know that I am from Vigan , I grew up in Vigan . And I strongly telling everyone, one of the must foods you must have while visiting Vigan is the Vigan Bagnet . Bagnet is the Ilocano version of lechon kawali in the simplest description. Large chunks of pork leimpo, belly or pork sides, deep fried for at least two times until crispy. It is serve with chopped tomatoes and onions with bagoong na isda , or with Iloco vinegar and hot chili dip . On my recent trip to Vigan I brought home with me several kilos of the Vigan Bagnet . Today I will use some of the bagnet for my Pansit Gisado , Pansit Bihon with Vigan Bagnet , I did not use any other meat or seafood ingredients just plain Vigan Bagnet and the usual Pansit Guisado vegetables. Cooking is straight forward and very quick, all it takes is stir-fry the ingredients. I did not even used cooking oil, The Vigan Bagnet is already full of fat...

Insarabsab is an Ilokano dish made up of quickly broiled or grilled pork strips, then sliced to serving pieces. The pork is then tossed with finely diced ginger and onion with Iloko vinegar . The dish is similar to dinakdakan another popular Ilokano dish except that dinakdakan is made up of grilled pre-boiled pork face and ears while insarabsab could be any other choice of pork cut but usually the pork belly. Insarabsad literally means quickly seared in open flame, this is prepared during the slaughtering of a pig during feast or fiesta celebration, wedding reception or other especial family event. Those persons involved in the slaughtering and cooking would usually cut off slices of the very fresh pork meat and quickly sear it in open flames, sliced or dice then toss as I previously mentioned with chopped or diced garlic and ginger, vinegar is then added to further cook in vinegar the half cooked pork. Insarabsab is enjoyed with a local gin, whiskey or rum by th...