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Filipino Cuisine

Filipino Cuisine

Filipino cuisine has developed from the different cultures that shaped its history. As such it is a melange of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Arabic, Spanish and American influences. Though it is not as renowned as Thai and lately Vietnamese cuisine, Filipino cooking is nonetheless distinct in that it is possibly the least spicy of all South East Asian cuisines. Don't make the mistake to think of Filipino food as bland, though. It is just that instead of spices, Filipino food depends more on garlic, onions and ginger to add flavor to dishes. Painstaking preparation and prolonged cooking time is also a characteristic of most Filipino dishes, and this often is what brings out the flavor of the food as opposed to a healthy dose of spices.

Filipinos usually eat with a spoon and fork, with the spoon held in the right hand and the fork used for pushing food onto the spoon but sometimes, Filipinos eat with their hands, usually on provinces and remote areas or when they are on a picnic and using banana leaves as their plates.

Rice

As with the rest of Southeast Asia, rice is the staple food of the Philippines. Some areas in the Visayas prefer corn but elsewhere Filipinos would generally have rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Uncooked rice usually comes in 50kg sacks but can be bought by the kilogram at the wet market or at neighborhood rice dealers. Single servings of rice are readily available at fastfood restaurants or eateries.

Mains

Filipinos usually serve at least one main course accompanied by rice for lunch and dinner. At times you would have two with a vegetable dish accompanying a meat dish. On special occasions such as fiestas, several main dishes would be served. Soups are also often the main course apart from being a starter. It is not uncommon for Filipinos to douse their rice with the soup and eat the meat that came with the soup alongside. Here are a few typical Filipino dishes:

• Adobo - chicken, pork or both served in a garlicky stew with vinegar and soy sauce as a base.
• Pansit - chicken, pork or shrimp mixed with rice noodles with variety of vegetables i.e. carrots, cabbage, celery, peapods etc.
• Sinigang - soup soured usually with tamarind (but can also be by guavas or kamias), can be served with pork, beef, chicken, fish or shrimp.
• Lengua - roasted beef tongue marinated in savory sauce
• Nilaga - literally means "boiled", can be beef which in certain places is served with its marrow (bulalo), pork or chicken.
• Calamares - fried shrimp/squid wrapped in breading.
• Kare-kare - peanuty stew of vegetables and meat simmered for hours on end, usually beef with tripe and tail and eaten with a side of shrimp paste (bagoong). There is also a seafood version of kare-kare with crabs, squid and shrimp instead of beef.
• Camaron Rebusado - the Filipino version of tempura.
• Lechon de leche - slow-roasted baby pork, usually served during larger occasions. The crispy skin is delicious and is often the first part that is consumed.
• Daing na bangus - fried dried milkfish, usually served for breakfast with garlic fried rice and fried egg.
• Pakbet - a traditional meal of mixed vegetables usually containing cut tomatoes, minced pork, lady finger, eggplant, etc.
• Dinuguan - a dark stew of pig's blood mixed with its innards. Usually served with a big green chili and best eaten with puto.
• Bopis - pork innards, usually served spicy.