Kinilaw – the Pinoy Sashimi

Kilawin or also known as Kinilaw is a native Filipino dish of amazing freshness made from raw seafood soaked in vinegar. Some food experts said that Kinilaw resembles the Ceviche of Central America for the bathing of seafood with citrus juice. However, the ceviche is cooked after soaking for long hours in sour juice, kinilaw is really eaten raw. Kinilaw could be best compared with the Japanese sashimi.

Kinilaw can be varied in style (Photo courtesy of marketmanila.com)

Even though various types of vinegars are best souring liquid for Kinilaw, you can also use calamansi and other lime juices. Spices such as onion, ginger and siling labuyo are also added in the bathe to balance out the sour taste. Some varieties have kamyas and green mangoes for extra sourness.

For the sea food main ingredient, it seems that every known sea food in the Philippine marine dishes can be prepared for a kinilaw. Even raw shells bathed in vinegar or calamansi is a variety of kinilaw.

Even though fresh raw sea food are the most famous type of kilawin, there are other raw food that can be easily soaked in vinegar and can be classified as kinilaw.

For instance, vegetable kinilaw can be made from ampalaya or puso ng saging. There are also kinilaw for pork, beef and goat.

Try this basic recipe for Fish Kinilaw

Serves 2-4 for appetizer

½ cup sukang maasim (white vinegar) or any kind of souring liquid you prefer

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

2-4 chili, sliced diagonally

11/2 tsp sea salt or table salt

Black pepper for added spice

1 kilo fish (tuna, tanigue or yellow fin)

Calamansi for extra souring

Cooking procedure

In a large dish, mix the vinegar, ginger, chili, salt and pepper. Cover then store in the fridge for later use.

Cut the fish into medium pieces or about ¼ inch thick

Once ready for serving, place the fish into the dish with the vinegar mixture and toss for bathing. Put all the contents into a serving plate and serve with rice or lots of beer. 

Bubbly Belekoy

Belekoy is a sweet treat that is believed to have came from Bulacan. This is made from flour, sugar, vanilla and covered with sugar bits. I have tried a variety of belekoy covered with sesame seeds and they are really yummy.

I have learned to love this just recently when my yobo got his childish craze over sweet delights particularly this treat. 

However, I am having difficulty in looking for belekoy in the market that is why I buy tons of belekoy whenever I see it in stores.

Belekoy a Bubbly Treat! (photo courtesy of peter albert)

Belekoy is gooey or sticky similar to the western nougat. Probably this is the characteristic highlighted in the expression “makunat ka pa sa belekoy” referring to a person who is very serious in penny pinching. 

The Philippine Native Chicken

The Philippine Native Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a breed of chicken wildly thriving in the Philippines. However, today they are raised in yard farms as utility bird for their tasty meat and eggs.

Darag is a common type of Philippine Native Chicken (Photo courtesy of DOST)

There are 4 common breeds of Philippine Native Chicken

• Banaba
• Joloanon
• Parawakan
• Darag

These breeds are usually raised for cock fighting but there are several activists who condemn this practice. In rural villages and farmlands, native chicken are mainly raised as food source. They are easy to raise since even if they are not fed regularly, they will look for their own food such as scraps in the ground.

Recently, there are breeders who have tried to cross the native chicken with foreign breeds such as the Cantonese chicken and the sunshine chicken. These fowls are similar to the American breeds particularly the Rhode Island breed. The primary goal of the cross breeding is to boost the mass of the native chicken for more food source.

Native Chicken are also noted for their laying abilities. Even though they can somehow be obstinate at times, they can give up to 250 eggs every year. A healthy layer can give more. This is noted if the native chicken are provided with premium quality feeds.

Try this tasty native chicken tinola

Ingredients

1 kilo native chicken

1 cups of young papaya

½ cup dahon ng sili

2 liters water

¼ cup ginger, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large onion, julienned

¼ cup cooking oil

¼ cup fish sauce or patis

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Heat oil in a large pot and stir fry garlic, onion and ginger

Add the native chicken and water

Simmer over medium heat, allow to boil for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender

Add patis, salt and pepper to enhance the flavor

Put in the young papaya, and simmer for about 15 minutes

Put some dahon ng sili when ready to serve

Serve with rice

Lumpiang Shanghai

Lumpiang Shanghia is a Filipino dish that is primarily made from pork or fish, chopped onions, carrots and other vegetables with the mixture filled in rolls.

Food historians trace the origins of lumpia in China and said to be originally called as lunpia. It is believed that Immigrants from Fujian Province (not Shanghai?) had brought with them this crispy roll.

Lumpiang Shanghai is not really from Shanghai but from Fujian, China (Photo courtesy of Goldilocks)

Today in the Philippines, Lumpia is a customary dish during special events such as fiestas, birthdays and also best any day you want. This is best combined with sukang maasim or catsup.

Try this Lovely Lumpia recipe

Ingredients:

1 kilo ground pork

½ cup shallots

1 cup carrots, minced

1 cup onion, minced

3 tsp soy sauce

2 raw eggs

3 tsp black pepper

11/2 tsp salt

Lumpia wrapper

Cooking Procedure:

Combine all the ingredients with the meat or beef.

Wrap the mixture using lumpia wrapper in tight fillings

Deep fry every roll. Drain on paper towels. Make sure these are evenly cooked and golden brown in color

Serve with sweet chili or sweet and sour sauce.

Superb Sapin Sapin

Sapin sapin is a sticky rice and coconut dessert in the Philippines. Sapin sapin is literal term for layers. Each layer is colored, usually the bottom layer is deep ube color, the middle a golden yellow and the top is white or any order.

Sapin Sapin means layered in Filipino (photo courtesy of filipinofoodstore.com)

Sapin sapin is said to originate from the northern part of the Philippines particularly the province of Abra. This treat is very sumptuous and has been popular for many decades now as a common kakanin in Philippine delicacy.

Ingredients:

3 cups malagkit rice

1 cup galapong

1 cup white sugar

6 cups cooked ube

Shredded coconut

2 cups rich coconut cream

2 cans condensed milk

Food coloring

Instructions

Mix all ingredients excluding mashed ube and food colors Divide this into three parts. The first part should be added with mashed ube. To enhance the color, add some violet food colors. Stir well. For the second part, add yellow coloring, stir well. For the third part, don’t add anything this will remain white.

Add oil to a round baking pan. Place with greased banana leaves. Then, add the ube mixture. Smear evenly. Steam for about 25 minutes or more until tender. You should take note to cover the baking pan with cheese cloth before steaming. Add the 2^nd layer on top of the cooked ube layer. Cover again then steam for 25 minutes. Pour in the 3^rd layer then steam for 25 minutes. While steaming, stir fry shredded coconuts until brown and smother into the sapin sapin. Let this cool down before serving. 

Terrific Taho

Taho or sweet soy bean curd is a sweet Filipino dessert or snack and a usual street food in the morning. The Philippines is said to be the sole country to make this unique delicacy for soy bean curd. There are soy yogurts in the west but this is really similar to yogurt since the taste is similar to yogurt and use soy milk instead of cow’s milk.

The well-loved taho is now part of a business franchise (photo courtesy of watimbox.com)

Meanwhile, taho is comparable to Japanese tofu but softer and breaks easily. This is gelatinous street food and sweetened by sugar syrup or arnibal and sometimes added with vanilla, macapuno and sago.

How to Make Taho

Ingredients:

1 kilo soybeans

7 liters water

4 bars gelatin

500 grams brown sugar

Tools needed:

Blender

Stove

Whisking spoon

Cheesecloth

Kitchen thermometer

Plastic bowl

Sieve

Instructions:

Pick fresh and premium quality soybeans. You can see that the soybeans are fresh if they don’t have spots and free from any stains. Rinse them, and then soak the soybeans overnight. After soaking, rinse the soybeans and clean them thoroughly. You will notice that the soybeans have expanded to at least three times its original size. Drain the beans then remove the hulls.  Blend the beans and make a puree. In the same way, place the puree for the bean curd into a bowl and stir with water gradually, using only a liter of water. With the cheesecloth, sieve the soy puree to get soya milk.

Preparing the gelatin

Put the gelatin bars in a liter of boiling water and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the water reaches 80 degrees Celsius. In this level of temperature, allow the soymilk to simmer for another 7 minutes or until the bean grains disappear.

Put and combine the absorbed gelatin into the simmering soya milk. Discard the foams on top of the milk. Remove from the stove then allow enough time for cool down. With the cheesecloth, sieve the soymilk and eliminate the remains of the gelatin bars. Then pour into a baking pan or a prepared mold.  Reserve this for cool down and let it solidify for about an hour. While waiting, you can prepare the syrup and sago.

To prepare the syrup, heat a liter of water and melt 500 grams of brown sugar. When the soya milk hardens, get several scoops, add sago, pour the syrup then serve while hot.

Kapeng Barako

Kapeng Barako is a variety of coffee grown in the Philippines specifically in Cavite and Batangas. It is really a variety of Coffea liberica. Barako is a Filipino word for a male animal and is strongly associated with the image of a tough man.

According to annals of history, the First Barako tree was originated in Brazil in early 1800s and grown in Barangay Punagtung in Batangas by an Illustrado Family – the Macasaet. Kapeng Barako has aromatic and strong flavor. All coffee native in Batangas is now known as Barako.

In the 1880s, the Philippine coffee industry was heavily experienced setbacks due to a condition called as coffee rust added with a stiff competition from more experienced coffee cultivators in the Americas. This has lead to growers of coffee to make the shift to other more lucrative crops.

Kapeng Barako is prepared using a drip brewing device or simply by adding hot water unto the grounded coffee beans and sieving the mixture. Barako is best served with honey or brown sugar. This is also best in making espresso and other coffee drinks.

Kape Barako is prepared using a drip brewing device, French press, or by simply pouring hot water unto the grounds and filtering the mixture using a piece of cloth. Barako is best sweetened with honey or brown sugar. Barako can be used to make espresso and other espresso-based drinks.