Fiesta Filipino

Filipino cuisine has a knack for imitating and improving on foods from the many countries that have influenced this international nation. Look through restaurant menus and through cookbooks and you can see the flavors of Spain, the United States, Japan, Indonesia, China, France, Italy, and many Middle Eastern and Asian countries.

Many traditional Filipino flavors are reflected in "fiesta" food. Most towns have a long history of a yearly fiesta with foods made from local and internationally traded ingredients. According to Leonard Belmonte, writing in Philipine Fiesta Recipes (National Bookstore, Manila, 1987), "Filipinos have a passion for good food. The early Filipinos used simple cooking methods, such as broiling over an open fire, boiling, and roasting. With frequent trade, herbs and spices were introduced, as were different cooking techniques. This gives us the unique Filipino cuisine that we have today."

A basic Filipino food taste is that of offering sweet and sour in one dish. The sour can come from cooking with vinegar, tamarind, or kamias (a sour native fruit). If foods aren't cooked with these, then condiments, such as chili-spiked vinegar, lime or lemon juice, or sour fruit (green mango, guava) are often served as accompaniments to prepared items. Adobo, probably the most popularly known Filipino dish, is made by marinating meat or fish in a mixture of palm vinegar, garlic, and cracked peppercorns. (We've tried it with seitan and it works!) The sweet taste can come from palm, white, or brown sugar; fruit juice (pineapple, sweet mango, papaya, rambutan a cousin of the lychee--and oranges); or from home-prepared syrups.

Saltiness is another characteristic of Filipino cuisine. The traditional ingredient used is bagoong, a fermented fish sauce. Salt, pickles, MSG, kimchi (borrowed from Korean cuisine), and miso can be used instead of bagoong for salty accents. Pancit luglug (pancit are Filipino noodles, resembling rice vermicelli; the "luglug" is said to be the sound the noodles make when drained in a bamboo strainer) is another famous dish, flavored with patis (patis is the liquid strained from bagoong). Pancit is a stir-fry of rice noodles, hard-cooked eggs, and pork that is flavored with patis, shrimp sauce, calamansi (a tart, native lemon), pepper, and garlic. We have made a close replica using hot sauce, soy sauce, fresh lemon juice, pepper, and garlic as flavoring and grilled tofu as an ingredient.

Merienda (sunset) is a Filipino tradition that we try to uphold whenever we can. Dinner is usually eaten late in the evening, so snacks (the merienda) are eaten in the early evening to tide you over. Many of the snacks are based on coconut milk, such as suman (glutinous rice, coconut milk, and palm sugar) and bibingka (a charcoal-baked sweet rice flour cake that has different garnishes depending on the season). Sliced fruit, pickled fruit and vegetables, small noodle dishes, and baked items are also served at merienda.

My introduction to Filipino fiesta food was through dessert. I immediately developed a taste for halo-halo ("mix-mix"), a texture and flavor delight. Shaved ice is placed in a tall glass or parfait dish and coconut milk is poured over the ice. Then a smorgasbord of ingredients, which can include sweet beans, palm seeds, diced fresh and canned fruit, sweet corn kernels, toasted nuts and seeds, and crisp cereal are mixed in. I have found the halo-halo portion (all the ingredients sans coconut milk, ice, seeds, and cereals) of this dessert in glass jars in many Asian markets. I suggest you stock up!

There are more than 7,000 islands in the Philippine Archipelago, some of which have traded with Malaysia, China, India, and Arabic countries, and some that have been colonized at one time or another by Japan, the United States, and Spain. For this reason, regional cuisine is extremely diverse. The Ilocanos and Cagayanos of Northern Luzon mix boiled vegetables in many of their dishes, while Metro Manila citizens may use tamarind. The Bicolanos steep ingredients in coconut milk while the Visayans cook vegetables with ginger and green onion leaves.

The Ilocano region, in the Northern part of Luzon Island, developed a cuisine known for its frugality because of the area's barren geography. One of their vegetarian items (although it is flavored with bagoong) is a vegetable stew made with eggplant, tomatoes, and ampalaya (a bitter melon). Tagalog and Pampango cooks are known for their sophisticated Spanish and Chinese influenced menus. Their dishes are spicy and colorful. Dishes that resemble paella, cocida (stew), galantines (pates), and relleno (batter-fried) can be found in these areas. The Bulacan region is known for its sweets and candies used for desserts and snacks. Sweetened red beans and garbanzos as well as chutneys are popular. Ube, a delightful purple yam (we have found frozen ube in Asian stores), is also common. Ube can be cooked, mashed, and sweetened and used as an ingredient in quick breads or muffins or as a filling for turnovers. The Bicol region is known for the use of coconuts and very hot chilies. Steamed rice dumplings are wrapped in gabi leaves (gabi is a form of taro), stewed in thickened coconut milk and seasoned with hot chilies. We've included a Bicol-influened recipe below, the coconut pudding. Visayan cooks prepare simple but elegant meals using boiling, broiling, sauteing, and stewing. Pancits are very popular in this region. There is a Muslim community in Mindanao whose cuisine shows Indonesian, Malaysian, and Indian influences. Curries are very popular, as is the use of turmeric, cumin, bell pepper, garlic, coriander, mustard seed, ginger, and almonds.

Regional and national fiestas are great times for cooking. Christmas in the Philipines stretches over three weeks. Before and after holiday masses, rice cakes are served with hot ginger tea or hot chocolate. Meals seem to begin at four in the morning and last until well after midnight.

A word about traditional Filipino cuisine and vegan dishes: there aren t a lot of them! Animal products are used as either main ingredients or as flavorings. However, the flavors of many favorite dishes can be easily carried by vegetables and grains, as you will see with the recipes we have included. There is a growing number of vegetarians in the Philipines who are adapting traditional cuisine to more earth-friendly ingredients. Many Filipino ingredients can be found canned or frozen in Asian markets and--except for a few--ingredients you have in your pantry can be used. I have enjoyed Filipino flavor for years and hope you'll join me in the fiesta!