Chicharrón is a dish generally consisting of fried pork belly or fried pork rinds. Chicharrón may also be made from chicken, mutton, or beef.
Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Filipino cuisine are from the food traditions of various ethnolinguistic groups and tribes of the archipelago, including the Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayan, Chavacano, and Maranao ethnolinguistic groups. The dishes associated with these groups evolved over the centuries from a largely indigenous base shared with maritime Southeast Asia with varied influences from Chinese, Spanish, and American cuisines, in line with the major waves of influence that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago, and adapted using indigenous ingredients to meet local preferences.
Kare-kare is a Philippine stew that features a thick savory peanut sauce. It is generally made from a base of stewed oxtail, beef tripe, pork hocks, calves' feet, pig's feet or trotters, various cuts of pork, beef stew meat, and occasionally offal. Vegetables, such as eggplant, Chinese cabbage, or other greens, daikon, green beans, okra, and asparagus beans, are added. The stew is flavored with ground roasted peanuts or peanut butter, onions, and garlic. It is colored with annatto and can be thickened with toasted or plain ground rice. Variations of kare-kare can be made with seafood, such as prawns, squid, and mussels, or exclusively from vegetables.
Ngo hiang, also known as heh gernglor bak or kikiam is a unique Hokkien and Teochew dish widely adopted in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand; in addition to its place of origin in southern China.
Mang Tomas is a condiment brand owned by NutriAsia. Its core product is lechon sauce. The brand was developed by Hernan Reyes in the late 1980s after he purchased the lechon sauce recipe of Aling Pitang lechon shop located in Quiapo, Manila. Reyes named his sauce "Mang Tomas Sarsa", after a popular lechon shop located in Santa Mesa, Manila. In 1991, the brand was acquired by Southeast Asia Food, Inc.. The product is presently sold as "Mang Tomas All-Around Sarsa" in the Philippines and as "Mang Tomas All-Purpose Sauce" in export markets.
Inihaw, also known as sinugba or inasal, are various types of grilled or pit-roasted barbecue dishes from the Philippines. They are usually made from pork or chicken and are served on bamboo skewers or in small cubes with a soy sauce and vinegar-based dip. The term can also refer to any meat or seafood dish cooked and served in a similar way. Inihaw are commonly sold as street food and are eaten with white rice or rice cooked in coconut leaves (pusô). Inihaw is also commonly referred to as Filipino barbecue or (informally) Pinoy BBQ.
Crispy pata is a Filipino dish consisting of deep fried pig trotters or knuckles served with a soy-vinegar dip. It can be served as party fare or an everyday dish. Many restaurants serve boneless pata as a specialty. The dish is quite similar to the German Schweinshaxe.
Bagnet, also locally known as "chicharon" or tsitsaron in Ilocano, is a Filipino dish consisting of pork belly (liempo) boiled and deep fried until it is crispy. It is seasoned with garlic, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and salt. First, the meat is boiled, and, then allowed to thoroughly drain excess moisture overnight before frying, to achieve its characteristic chicharon-like texture. Bagnet can be eaten on its own or with white rice. It can also be used as an ingredient or paired with other dishes like pinakbet and dinardaraan.
Paksiw is a Filipino style of cooking, whose name means "to cook and simmer in vinegar". Common dishes bearing the term, however, can vary substantially depending on what is being cooked.
Ginisang munggo is a Filipino savory mung bean soup. It is made with mung beans, garlic, tomatoes, onions, various vegetables, and patis. It is cooked with pork, tinapa, daing, or other seafood and meat. It is also commonly garnished with chicharon. The name means "sauteed mung bean", though the dish ends up being a soup. The name is in reference to the first step of the cooking process where the spices and the secondary ingredients are sauteed before water and the mung beans are added.
Stir-fried water spinach is a common Asian vegetable dish, known by various names in Asian languages. Water spinach is stir-fried with a variety of vegetables, spices, and sometimes meats. It is commonly found throughout East, South and Southeast Asia; from Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine in China, to Indonesian, Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Malaysian, Singaporean, and Vietnamese cuisine in Southeast Asia; to Sri Lankan cuisine and Bengali cuisine in South Asia.
A suckling pig is a piglet fed on its mother's milk. In culinary contexts, a suckling pig is slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is traditionally cooked whole, often roasted, in various cuisines. It is usually prepared for special occasions and gatherings. The most popular preparation can be found in Spain and Portugal under the name lechón (Spanish) or leitão (Portuguese).
Crispy kangkong, also called kangkong chips, is a crispy deep-fried Filipino appetizer made with water spinach (kangkong) leaves coated with an egg and flour batter. It is eaten dipped in various sawsawan dipping sauces or mayonnaise. A vegetarian or vegan version of the dish can also be made by removing the egg component.
Lumpiang gulay, also known as vegetable lumpia, is a Filipino appetizer consisting of julienned or cubed vegetables with ground meat or shrimp in a thin lumpia wrapper made from rice flour that is deep-fried. A notable variant of lumpiang gulay is lumpiang togue, which is made mostly with togue. Its origin is of both Spanish and Chinese influenced. Lumpiang gulay is a Filipino version of chimichanga.
Lechon manok is a Filipino spit-roasted chicken dish made with chicken marinated in a mixture of garlic, bay leaf, onion, black pepper, soy sauce, and patis. The marinade may also be sweetened with muscovado or brown sugar. It is distinctively stuffed with tanglad (lemongrass) and roasted over charcoal. It is typically eaten dipped in a toyomansi or silimansi mixture of soy sauce, calamansi, and labuyo chilis. It is paired with white rice or puso and commonly served with atchara pickles as a side dish. It is a very popular dish in the Philippines and is readily available at roadside restaurants.
Binagoongan is a Filipino cooking process consisting of vegetables or meat sautéed or braised in bagoong alamang, garlic, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Some recipes also add pineapples, chilis, or coconut cream to balance the flavors. The dish is characteristically quite salty with a strong umami flavor, which is why it is always paired with white rice and never eaten on its own. It is very similar to pinatisan which is cooked with patis, one of the by-products of fermenting bagoong.
Vigan longganisa, also known as the Ilocano longganisa, is a Filipino pork sausage originating from Vigan City, Ilocos Sur. It is a type of de recadolongganisa. It is made with ground lean pork, ground pork fat, brown sugar, garlic, onions, bay leaves, soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper, and salt to taste in hog casings. Chili flakes may also be added. The sausages are celebrated in an annual "Longganisa Festival" in Vigan City.
Pilipit is a traditional Filipino deep-fried twisted doughnut. It is made with flour, eggs, milk, salt, and baking powder. It is made mostly identically to the shakoy doughnut, except for its crunchy and hard texture and its smaller and thinner size. The word pilipit means "twisted" in Tagalog.
Philippine asado refers to two different Filipino braised meat dishes. The name originates from Spanish asado ("grilled"), a reference to the original dish it was applied to, the Chinese-Filipino version of char siu barbecues usually known as pork asado. However, the Filipino versions have evolved to be braised, not grilled. The other Filipino dishes also known as asado are asado de carajay and asado matua. Unlike the Chinese-derived version, they are savory rather than sweet.
