Among numerous popular Asian nations like Indian, japan, china and Thailand, there come Philippine also. Here, there are various islands and beautiful landscapes. Missing a chance to visit this country is actually a folly. When to go and when not is all on you but by providing a little information in prior, I will try to make your future trip bit easier.
I am going to write about the thing that you may not do first on visiting a country but definitely do on the first day i.e. having its cuisines. However, what to order and what not in a completely alien country is quite a mystery therefore, I am going to mention about its cuisines so that whenever you visit Philippine, you never meet with such problem. One thing that you must keep in mind is that Philippine was colonized by the Spanish for over 300 years, so there is no surprise to find Spanish or some international feel in the Philippine cuisines.
Here Are The 8 Popular Philippine Cuisines You Must Never Miss:
1. Chicken Adobo
It is because of the huge population of Philippine fond of chicken adobo that it makes to the top and also as the national food of Philippine. Like other countries, even Philippians love to have chicken centered cuisines. Adobo also mean “marinade” in Spanish is a dish in which chicken or pork is marinated in the mixture of vinegar and soy sauce. There are other ingredients as well but they differ according to the region and the recipe.
2. Balut: Street Food Snack
Well, you might not have heard of such food earlier but this one has duck embryo boiled and then eaten in the form of a snack with a little splash of vinegar. This probably makes the most popular Philippine cuisses sold at almost all the corners of the street. The same dish you will also find in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Well, duck meat is served in many countries but this one differs a little therefore order only if you are fond of duck meat a can have its embryo.
3. Kare Kare
Similar to Balut, this one also differs a little in terms of meat. Kare Kare also mean as the oxtail stew is made with ox tripes and oxtail combined with lots of vegetables, ground roasted peanuts, garlic and onion. Philippines love to have this dish with shrimp sauce and spice it up with calamansi juice and chilli sauce. Now going back to its history the dish is influenced very much from Indian Curry however, nowhere in India is cooked such stew. Along with time, this dish has emerged as the comfort food of Philippians & favorite in local as well as overseas.
4. Lechon
Lechon is actually a common Philippine pork dish also served in many other countries of the world but mostly in Spain. In this recipe, the suckling pig is roasted and then served. There are other ingredients as well but they may differ according to the cooking method.
5. Pancit Palabok
Although, people all over Asia love to have chicken but there is something that is even popular than chicken i.e. noodles and no one can deny it. From young to old, every generation seems to like it. Perhaps among the chicken based dishes, it is the only noodle dish that seem to bind Philippine with the rest of the Asia. The noodles are made from rice flour and are cooked with eggs, shrimp, garlic, crab sauce, veggies, squid, and chicharon. Finally it is seasoned with lemon juice and various other ingredients. It is not to be eaten with rice because it is so good to enjoy it like this only.
6. Kinilaw
The dish if expressed in English can be said as the raw fish salad. In this dish, the raw fish is served with acidic juice mostly Filipino lime and meat which act as heat for meat and melt it lightly. Kinilaw in Philippine means, ‘eaten fresh’. The other ingredients that Philippines use with this dish are pepper, chilli, garlic, onion and ginger. However, like all other dishes, the flavor and the method of cooking differs slightly.
7. Siniganag
With dishes having Philippine names, it is very difficult to understand what type it is of and how it might taste therefore, to make it simpler for you, it can be called as the ‘sour meat stew’. It can also be a soup with lots of meat and vegetables and coconut milk as well. The ingredient used to bring sour taste is generally tamarind also called Sampalok in Philippine. The other ingredients used to render sour taste are tomatoes, guava and Filipino lime. When it comes to meat, pork is very common but people now a days have started using beef, fish and chicken as well.
8. Lumpia
Lumpia are the Philippine pastries originated in china and are very similar to the spring rolls of Indonesia. Recently, because of the availability of so many versions of Lumpia, Philippians seems loving it. Among various versions of Lumpiang, the common one are Lumpiang Sahnghai, Lumpiang Ubod and Lumpiang Sariwa. This is not it, because need you to step in Philippine to find more versions.
