5 VEGGIE LEAVES ILOCANO LOVE TO HAVE IN THEIR TABLE

 

Serve it as it is, or a main ingredient to their recipes? These vegetable leaves are really in every day’s meal of the common Ilocano or the people living in the Ilocandia provinces. Why? Because these leaves are just commonly grown in the farm field, in the bushes, in the mountains, in the creek, or just in their backyard.

Two, mostly recipes make these leaves special. One, as a salad; second, as pinaksiw. Either of which, these recipes are elementary way of cooking the leaves.

So, what are these leaves?

1.  Saluyot (jute) leaves. Cook as pinaksiw (vinegar as the main ingredient added with garlic, onion, a little bit of pepper, sometimes ginger, salt and a little bit of msg). The green leaves turn into a brownish color. Traditionally, they harvest young leaves in the farm field, cook it in clay pot, first layering it with banana leaves. Oh no, the dulas thing will be minimized already.

2. Ampalaya (bitter gourd) leaves. Cook as salad and paksiw. Not just the ampalaya leaves you buy in the market, these are not preferred because they are usually not organic. The ampalaya (or paria in Ilocano) I’m talking about are those wild ampalaya sprouting and thriving in the bushes or in the hills. Yes, the native variety. Smaller in sizes and the bitter is stronger, but you know what, you’ll gonna love the bitterness. The wild ampalaya leaves are more bitter but there is something you will love to have it again. How? Simple boil a water in the pan and then add the taste ingredients then add the leaves. Bring it out of the pan and serve. Enjoy.

3. Sayote leaves. The leaves alone are for so many recipes: salad, paksiw, stir fry, among others. Any of which, the leaves are just so cool to have for lunch and dinner. Well, Ilocano have it also in their table. But sayote don’t grow in low land areas, they usually thrive in cold places and usually in highlands. But does not mean not to have it in the salad as salad or stirred fry. People just love to buy the leaves they usually called “ugsa” or “uggot ti sayote”, in translation, sayote tops.

4. Kangkong (horse radish) leaves. Preferre as salad. Yeah, yeah, this is not just an Ilocano leaves. It is for Filipino table. But we cannot neglect the young leaves and stems because of the good taste when salad and even paksiw. So abundant during the rainy reason where they usually grow in the fields. During summer season they are also abundant in the creeks, ponds, farm fields where there is water. And yes this is a cheap vegetable.

5. Kalunay (spinach) leaves. Cook as salad. This is not so common unlike the first 4 above. Ilocano want kalunay leaves for their pig’s feet (or kukod) recipes. But this is also good for salad. There is the wild varieties which smaller, when sprouted from the field you have to harvest it, as small as that. The bigger varieties are usually grown in the field though it is usually sprouting in the backyard. There is also the variety with thorn. But all of them can be a good menu for salad, you bet.

Have You Tasted Pipian?

Pipian, Ilocos dish

Yeah I can hear you, pipian dont ring the bell on you. Its not popular and most of the people may not have heard of this recipe.

But if you are Ilocano and live around Vigan City Ilocos Sur,  maybe you already tasted the dish. Or you went to Vigan and was served with the colored yellow food. Actually the pipian dish is somewhat known as Vigan dish, yes just like empanada, okoy and sinanglaw.

Have tasted it but cannot say I like it. Maybe because I'm not fan of sour tasting foods. Or maybe it just not for me.

It is a chicken dish, lots of chicken meat and the glutinous rice plus the sour ingredient we call kamias. There are other ingredients but these are the main parts to make the dish.

One cook I asked said the glutinous rice need to be roasted and then adding lots of water, yes just like lugaw or congee but the difference is that pipian is yellowish while lugaw is whitish,  of course it become brownish when you add cocoa to become champorado.

Pipian is not for merienda or snacks, it is usually serve during special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, family gatherings and get together. Not for bigger occasions like weddings.

It can be for breakfast and dinner.

The taste is sour because of the fruit kamias. I don't know if citrus fruits like lemon can be used because mostly its kamias.

Have not tasted pipian? Maybe next time when you visit Vigan City try to ask the hotel you are staying if can cook pipian for you. I have not heard any restaurants or turo-turo selling the dish. Sinanglaw and okoy are everywhere but not pipian.

3 Filipino Genuine Wines

Filipinos have no grapes to produce what European wines can do. But that doesn’t mean we cannot produce our very own wine from our own indigenous ingredients.

We have the sugarcane, coconut sap and the rice grains to have our identity of wine. In fact, early Filipinos have been consuming this. Actually they are part of the traditions and customary activities. Early festivities, fiestas, thanksgiving and new year celebration involved the wines of our own.

Weddings, offerings, baptisms among other significant occasions needed the wine in the ceremonies.

Thanks to the abundance of the sugarcane, coconut and rice the wines of Filipinos are produce. Of course, these are aside from the fruits wines usually made from fermenting process.

One thing in common from these wines, they are all organic. Organic but they are strong and tough. Of course, some maybe sweet for the women added with organic ingredients to make it sweet.
So, what are these wines?

BASI. The sugarcane extract that is cooked and aged to become one of the most favorite wine of the lowland Ilocanos. Added with some ingredients like bark of the tree called “kariskis” or the leaves or bark of “samak” tree. Usually the sugarcane juices were put on a clay jar the cover and let it unopen for few months. Some dug it to the ground and wait for years. The more age it has the better the spirit.
There is a war in Ilocos erupted just because the Spaniards tried to monopolize the “basi” wine. This happened during the Spanish colonization to the Philippines in 1800’s.
Now, basi are still produce by few villagers in the rural areas. But numbers of farmers of sugarcane drastically declined and so with the makers of basi. Still, it is still one special wine being produce by the Ilocanos.

TAPEY/BINUBUDAN. The wine that is made from rice grain. Igorots are known to be the expert of these wine. Also the different tribal communities in northern Philippines. Tapey are made by cooking the rice and then fermented and extract the rice juice and made into wine. The juice is called tapey and the cooked rice grain is called binubudan.
Tribal communities use the tapey and binubudan in many of their ceremonies and festivities. Also with their special occasions of their lives. Tapey might be common in upland municipalities but it’s hard to find in the lowland areas.
Because tapey and binubudan is from rice the taste is somewhat not too sour or bitter. In fact, there is a sweetness especially when made by the old women of the certain village.

LAMBANOG. Thanks to the abundance of coconut trees in the southern Luzon of the Philippines the wine called lambanog were produce by the Tagalogs especially in regions 4 and 5 of the country. The wine is made from coconut sap and then age to become a very strong wine. Still very popular in that regions that it is still widely produced by the locals.
Lambanog have been part of the camaraderie and bonding of the villagers during the early times. It is still part of their unwinding and relaxing time.
Lambanog is far the strongest among the tree, marking the tapey as the sweetest.
There are still other kinds of wines in the Philippines because a region and places got their own distinction of wine but these are the most popular one.

FRUIT WINES YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE EXIST

Thanks to the fermentation magic, almost fruits can be turn from sweet bite to bitter wine.
The Ilocos have the One Town One Product or OTOP to make a kind of indigenous product that can be only identified to that town or village. And because fruits are everywhere, most of them come up with the fruit wine products.
But unlike those early days that can only come with the fruit wine put in the bottle and expense it after few months, now got the level-up. Coming with the processed product with the cleaned bottle and the good labeling and branding.
What’s good with fruit wines, they are organic.
To name a few of these fruit wines, here it is:
BUGNAY WINE. Bugnay is a kind of tree bearing small cherry fruits. Early stage of fruits are green turning into red and sour but when it is already ripe and turning the color into black the fruit taste become good and sweet. Usually it is being consumed by the birds because of its small size (the size of mongo beans) but kids usually can handle just a few. When local people got the idea making it into wine, it is a hit that during the trade fairs and bazaars Bugnay wine are being displayed to sell.
CALAMANSI WINE. Calamansi is a citrus fruit well known for the vitamin C. The extract is popular to calamansi juice just like orange juice. During the season so many fruits that people think of idea by turning it into other products like wine and vinegars. Since it is sour so you might expect a sour vinegar. But no because it is a sweet kind of wine just like champagne.
CHERRY WINE. Of course we all know cherry—the sweet and reddish kind of fruits that we usually find at the top of the cake. Well, it got another purpose in life—to become a wine. And yes, it is sweet and bubbly kind of wine. Good wine as lady’s drink.
SANTOL WINE. Santol is a tropical tree usually bearing fruits during the later parts of summer. I didn’t even have the idea that this can be made as wine until I saw the attractive bottle with label as “santol wine”.
COFFEE WINE. If you think all coffee is good every morning, forget it, this one is not good idea consuming every morning because it’s a wine. At least this is a good level-up for the coffee that we only know in our Dad’s mug. Now it will be a good company at dawn when you want to get some spirit and the coffee wine can do the thing.

There are other kinds of fruits wines, so many of them, in fact any fruits can be made into wine if you want to. But these fruit wines are the most popular now.

5 COLORS OF THE RICE

Rice will always be a part of Filipino table… and traditions.

Ilocanos, so dependent on every meal from morning to lunch to dinner. But not only in those important meals but also in siestas like snacks.

More than that, all special occasions will not be complete without the delicacies made from rice. You know, like, patupat, imbagkal, suman, kalamay among others.

It will not be a trivia that, we, Filipinos of the north got so many kinds of rice varieties. It differs colors. Each variety colors have also their own characteristics and purpose.

It also grown not in the same kind of lands. Some were grown in rice fields but others are in slopes, hills and marsh lands.
Speaking of rice colors and varieties in the Philippines, these are few.
WHITE RICE

Of course it’s the most common among all kinds of rice. It’s the mostly used in every day meals. Be in the regular cooking rice or the glutinous one, white rice is so regular among all kinds. Of course, this is also the kind that got so many varieties according to geographical locations, planted, prepared, studied among others. And there are also kinds of hybrid, inbred and glutinous one. There are kinds that are so smooth, fragrant and really taste good.
BROWN RICE

Said to be the most nutritional kind of all the rice, well according to some literature that have been written. Brown rice is also common in Ilocos because farmers from upland towns plants this kind of rice. It is usually planted at the slopes of the hills or mountains. It is also more pricey than the regular rice. Though its healthier but according to many when it comes to taste the white kind are still better compare to brown rice. But maybe, it’s just how you cook and putting it into recipe. No known kind of glutinous from brown rice in this place.
BLACK RICE

We call it “ballatinaw”. Black rice is known to be glutinous one. Mainly preferred for rice delicacies because of its color, texture and taste. Occasions like Christmas, birthdays, fiestas and even All Saints day will not be complete without the delicacies from black rice like the patupat, kalamay, imbagkal and many other kinds of rice delicacies. Ballatinaw has been here long time ago, in fact this was our old folks rice when thanksgiving ceremonies among other festivities are held.
RED RICE

The harder kind of rice to find in the region. The red color is just brighter kind of brown rice. This kind is not glutinous so it is also like white and brown rice cook for daily meals. You can’t buy them in the market but usually being sold during agricultural fair and trade fairs in the region.

Special About Kardis

Kardis, or the pigeon pea, is very special food for Ilocos. It is Ilocano food that can be one of the favorites in our dulang or table.

The dried or fresh can be the best in every recipe it may have. Fresh beans are good for dinengdeng with the local vegetables like parda, squash blossoms, utong, among others.

Dried are kept for rainy season during the early times. Especially in upland villages when season of typhoons and floods isolated these places and people can't go to market or in other places, kardis is the solution for every meal.

So you can see in these places the kardis plants growing in every areas. This is how they prepare for lean season.

Back to recipes, there are two kardis cook that Ilocano really love, the dried kardis with meat and the fresh karding in dinengdeng.

In dried kardis with meat, the beans are intensely cook until it soften. It will took hours because dried iis hard to boil. Then you have also to tender the meat. It take hours for them to tender. When the beans are already soft that was already in boiling water, add the meat and other ingredients like ginger and vegetable leaves like kalunay or marungay and the salt and seasoning. This will give a big burp.

Then the fresh kardis beans in dinengdeng.  Dinengdeng as you know it is synonymous to Ilocos cuisine. Dinengdeng cannot be dinengdeng without the bagguong or fish sauce. And when kardis beans are in this recipe, its magic. Meal can only have two food for us, rice and this dinengdeng kardis.

Of course this comes also with other ingredients like the vegetables I've stated above.

This is why pigeon pea is very special food for us.

Squash Crunchiest

We have the squash crispies and then the squash shoestring.

Sounds weird but both are nutritious and delicious. Because these are made from squash, fried into crispness and crunchiness.

Crispies are sliced into thin flakes and fried to become an awesome snack.

Shoestring is not used for shoes but are actually  pringles like squash snack, sized into sticks and fried to become a good food.

Both are vacuum fried-- the process of frying without the cooking oil. So the real taste, color and smell are all intact and not altered by this process of cooking.

That means the power of vitamin A and all other vitamins and minerals in this favorite vegetable fruit are all in there.

That also means squash is now also for snack and not only for our pinakbet and dinengdeng dishes.

Level up for our yellow vegetable fruit. And it is crunchy and crispy just like our junky snack food.

Of course kids now will love squash. No more forcing them to eat the yellow fruit because its good for their eyes.

And thanks to Department of Science and Technology For such innovations they are introducing to the community.

Squash now can be a nice treat to our family.