Recipes From Cagayan – Region II

The Cagayan Valley region is composed of 5 provinces, namely, Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino. Quite an odd combination to form a region but one of its exquisite gourmet prides is a dish delicacy which comes principally from fish which is seasonally found in Cagayan (Ludong). Another exotic dish is one garnished with Himbabao flowers.

But here goes for your feastful delight.

NILANEG WITH FISH AND LIVER

6 pieces fresh fish, cleaned
½ cup cubed pork liver
1-1/2teaspoons salt
3 cups water
2 tablespoons bagoong sauce
1 cup cubed squash
2 cups cut string beans (2” lengths)
1 cup cut eggplant, (slice diagonally)

Salt fish and liver; broil, and set aside. Boil water and bagoong in a saucepan. Add squash, broiled fish and liver. Cook 3 minutes. Add stringbeans, eggplant and cook 5 minutes longer. Serve hot. Six servings.


LININTA

2 cups fresh dulong
2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
2 tablespoons sliced onion
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups water
Banana leaves about 7” x 12”
6 pieces kalamansi

Mix first 4 ingredients together. Place ¼ cup of the mixture on two layers of banana leaf. Wrap in the form of a square and tie with a piece of string. Put wrapped fish in pan and add 2 cups of water. Cover and boil 30 minutes over moderate heat. Serve with kalamansi juice. Six servings.


BEEF STEW

1/3 kilo beef chunks
¼ cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 pieces medium-sized onion, quartered
5 medium-sized potatoes, quartered
3 medium-sized carrots, quartered
½ cup water
¼ cup tomato sauce
½ cup sweet peas
½ cup celery, sliced.

Coat meat with mixture of flour, salt and pepper. Slowly brown in cooking oil in a large skillet, about 20 minutes. Add water and tomato sauce. Cover. Simmer until almost soft for about 1 hour. Add water, bring to a boil and add all the vegetables. Cover and cook 15 minutes longer until tender. Six servings.


SINIGANG NGA LUDONG (FISH)

4 pieces tamarind
6 cups rice washing
1 small onion, sliced
½ cup sliced tomatoes
6 pieces fresh ludong, cleaned
2 medium eggplants. Sliced
1 cups sliced stringbeans
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups kamote tops

Boil tamarind in 1 cup rice washing. When soft, mash fruit. Strain and add juice to the remaining rice washing. Cover and bring to a boil. Add onion, tomatoes and fish. Cover and cook 3 minutes. Add eggplant, stringbeans and cook for another 3 minutes. Season with salt. Add kamote tops and cook 4 minutes longer. Serve hot. Six servings.


OVED (BANANA HEART) WITH FISH

6 pieces fresh fish, cleaned
1-1/2teaspoons salt
2 cups water
2 cups sliced banana heart
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
½ teaspoons chopped ginger
2 teaspoons sliced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2cups fish and vegetable broth
½ cup sliced tomatoes
Banana leaves, cut 1” wide

Parboil fish with salt in 2 cups water to facilitate flaking. Boil banana blossom in the fish broth for 2 minutes. Drain and chop finely. Reserve broth for cooking fish balls. In a bowl, mix together flaked fish, banana blossoms, garlic, ginger, onion and salt. Form into balls 2” in diameter. Tie with banana leaves. Boil broth and tomatoes in a saucepan. Add fish balls and cook 15 minutes. Serve hot. Six servings.


BLACK-EYED BEANS WITH PORK & HIMBABAO FLOWERS

4 cups water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons sliced onion
½ cup sliced tomatoes
1 cup sliced pork
1 cup dried black-eyed beans, cooked
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups himbabao

Heat water. As soon as it boils, add beans and cook 2 minutes. Set aside for 1 hour. Sauté garlic, onion, tomatoes and pork. Add beans including broth. Boil, then simmer until almost soft. Season with salt, cook 4 minutes. Bring to a boil once more and add himbabao flowers. Cook 7 minutes longer. Serve hot. Six servings.


SINABALO (SUMAN)

2 cups malagkit rice
1-1/4cups thick coconut milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 pieces green bamboo tube, fresh
Banana leaves, wilted

Soak malagkit rice overnight. Wash and drain. Add coconut milk and salt and cook until malagkit is half done, stirring the mixture to avoid sticking at the bottom of the container. Divide the mixture into two and wrap each portion in banana leaves. Insert inside a freshly cut bamboo tube. Broil bamboo tube over hot charcoal, rotating it slowly until bamboo tube gets burned. Eight servings.

Recipes From Ilocos – Region I

Responding to a moderately sustained interest as shown by hits to this blog, we are continuing our round-up of food recipes categorized according to the different regions of the country, clearly delineating clear diversity not only in customs, mores, and yes, dialects, but also in cuisine.

But first a formal attribution to the recipes highlighted as representatives of the respective regions.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute of he National Science Development Board has been continually developing menus and recipes for over 30 years. It is the country’s leading scientific center on basic and applied researches on food and nutrition. It has provided the springboard of present–day actively sustained community nutrition programs.

Region 1 is comprised of the following provinces Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan, all clustered and cradled in the northernmost tip of the big island of Luzon. This bloc popularly would be the land of the Ilokanos and their most distinctive and uniquely identifiable cuisine.


KILAWEN NGA KALDING

2 tablespoons cooking fat
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon sliced onion
1 teaspoon narrow ginger strips
½ cup cut goat’s intestines (crosswise ½ “ lengths)
½ cup sliced goat’s tripe
¼ cup sliced goat’s heart
¼ cup sliced lapay
¼ cup vinegar
6 cups water
3 teaspoons salt
Dash of pepper
¼ cup sliced liver
1 teaspoon bile juice

Saute garlic, onion and ginger. Add intestines and cook 3 minutes to extract a little fat. Add tripe, heart and lapay. Continue cooking 2 minutes longer. Add vinegar and bring to a boil before adding water. Simmer until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add liver and bile juice and cook 15 minutes longer. Six servings.

PINAKBET WITH SITSARON

1 cup sliced pork liempo
1 large ampalaya, sliced
4 small eggplants
5 pieces okra, sliced
1 teaspoon sliced ginger
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
½ cup sliced tomatoes
¼ cup sliced onion
3 tablespoons bagoong isda, strained
1 cup water


Cook pork in ½ cup water, uncovered, until all water has evaporated. Continue cooking, stir constantly until pork pieces turn golden brown, (sitsaron).

Arrange vegetables in a saucepan, add bagoong, water and simmer until vegetables are just crisp-tender.


PANCIT GUISADO ILOCANO

6 medium-sized dried pusit, sliced
½ cup cooking oil
1 head garlic, minced
1 medium-sized onion, sliced
1 cup sliced boiled pork
1 cup sliced sausage
½ cup sliced sayote
1 medium-sized sweet pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup sliced Baguio petsay
4 cups meat broth
1 cup atsuete extract
1 kilo bihon
Salt to taste

Soak dried pusit in water to soften and slice thinly. Set aside. Fry minced garlic until golden brown; set aside half the amount for garnishing. To the remaining garlic saute onion, pusit, boiled pork and petsay Baguio. Add meat broth, atsuete extract and bihon. Season, with salt. Garnish with fried garlic and serve with kalamansi.


DINALDALEM

½ cup cut leaf lard (small pieces)
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
½ cup sliced lean pork
½ cup sliced pork heart
¼ cup water
½ cup chopped boiled pork lungs
1 cup cubed pork liver soaked in ¼ cup vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup green sweet pepper strips
¼ cup red sweet pepper strips

Heat leaf lard and water in a frying pan and cook until fat is extracted. Brown garlic in fat. Add lean pork and pork heart. Saute 5 mintues. Add water. Cover and cook 15 minutes over low heat. Add lungs and pork liver and cook 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add green and red pepper and cook 5 minutes longer. Six servings.


SINANGLAW

6 cups rice washing
1 tablespoon sliced ginger
1/3 kilo goat’s spareribs
1 tablespoon salt
½ cup sliced goat’s liver
4 pieces okra, sliced
3 cups eggplant, sliced
2 cups sitaw tops

Boil rice washing with ginger. Add spareribs, and season with salt. Cook until meat is tender. Add okra and eggplant and cook 2 minutes. Put in sitaw tops and let boil for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.


PATA WITH CARDIS

2 cups half-cooked kadyos
1 medium-sized pata, sliced
3 tomatoes, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons bagoong
Peppercorn
Salt to taste

Simmer pata and kadyos, add boiling water if necessary and cook until tender. Add tomatoes, onion and bagoong. Cook for a few minutes. Season with bagoong, salt and pepper.


TAMALES NGA IPON

2 cups fresh ipon (small fish found in North)
2 teaspoons ginger, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sliced onion
3 teaspoons salt
2 cups water
Banana leaves about 7”x12”
6 pieces kalamansi

Mix first 4 ingredients together. Place ¼ cup of the mixture on two layers of banana leaf. Wrap in the form of a square and tie with a piece of string. Put wrapped tamales in pan and add 2 cups water. Cover and boil 30 minutes over moderate heat. Serve with kalamansi juice.