Shrimp
Banana Blossom with Shrimp
Stuffed Eggplant
Sautéed Corn with Shrimp
Filipino Spinach and Egg Salad
Chapter 7
Cuban Rice with Ground Beef
Kapampangan Paella
Filipino–Style Seafood Paella
Fried Rice with Egg
Rice Porridge with Chicken
Fried Rice Noodles
Noodles with Shrimp and Tofu
Sautéed Bean Thread Noodles
Chapter 8
Sweet Coconut Milk Delight
Champorado (Chocolate Rice Porridge)
Sweet Purple Yam Pudding
Sweet Rice Cakes with Fried Coconut Topping
Pulburon (Toasted Butter Cookies)
Egg Yolk Treats
Sweet Banana and Jackfruit Rolls
Bibingka (Coconut Sponge Cakes)
Halo-halo (Mixed Fruits and Shaved Ice Parfait)
Filipino Hot Chocolate
Rice Cakes with Sweet Coconut Filling
Iced Tapioca Pearl and Jelly Drink
Sweet Mango Juice
Tangy Green Mango Juice
Healthy Ginger Tea
Filipino Leche Flan
Filipino Cooking:
Asia’s Best-kept Culinary Secret
My adventure with Filipino cooking began when I lived in Manila and in rural Iba (in Zambales Province) for about a year in the 1990s. I had always loved the country and the people of these tropical islands; however, it was only after living there for several years that I discovered and grew to love the amazing variety of foods that the Philippines has to offer. When I met and later married my Filipino husband, my love of the cuisine was further strengthened since he was from the province
of Pampanga in Central Luzon, which is considered by most Filipinos to have some of the best cooking in the nation.
Kapampangans—as the people from Pampanga are called in Filipino—are skilled cooks and spend a great deal of their time preparing fine dishes and sharing sumptuous meals with relatives and friends. When not cooking, the Kapampangans are generally thinking about what to prepare for their next meal. This great passion for food and attention to detail means that my husband loves to spend time in the kitchen, and even when I am cooking he likes to interrupt me and often offers to take over, especially if he feels I’m not doing things correctly the “Kapampangan way.” Due to this, I can truly say that his Kapampangan food culture has thoroughly rubbed off on me over the years.
Even though we have lived in many other countries of Asia and Europe and now live in America, I prefer to cook Filipino dishes whenever we entertain because I find that everybody loves the food. Over the years I have scribbled enough recipes to fill up several notebooks. For many years, I tried to find a cookbook of Kapampangan and other regional Filipino recipes that would satisfy the discriminating tastes of our Filipino friends and relatives, but I could never find one. I ended up asking my foodie friends and relatives for their favorite recipes, trying them out whenever I could, and, through trial and error, compiling a large collection of recipes that seem to exemplify the best dishes and flavors from all parts of the archipelago. Thus, this cookbook, the result of that effort, reflects the very best of Filipino cooking, and the recipes encompass a large selection of traditional and authentic dishes that can be enjoyed by anyone on any occasion and are accessible to Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike.
Filipino cuisine is one of the best-kept culinary secrets in Asia. Unlike Japanese, Chinese or Thai food, its dishes are not readily available in restaurants. Filipinos love to entertain in large groups and have a tradition of throwing large and loud parties at home. And so it is only in Filipino homes—wherever they are around the world—that can one find truly authentic Filipino cuisine.
Like other cuisines, Filipino cooking reveals a great deal about the history and geography of the place from which it sprang and the people who created it. The dishes were not developed in the kitchens of royal palaces or by wealthy aristocrats, and nor is there a long tradition of dining out in restaurants. The food is instead the creation of the common folk. In short, Filipino cuisine is the everyday “people’s food.” Its dishes are prepared to be enjoyed by everyone whenever there is a reason or occasion to gather and celebrate. Filipinos view food primarily as a means of connecting with family and friends rather than an end in itself.
One of the things I love about Filipino cuisine is its simplicity. By and large, the dishes do not require any special utensils, there are no complicated techniques, and it does not use many exotic or expensive ingredients. Most of all, preparation times are short since it’s often too hot and humid in the Philippines to spend very much time in the kitchen!
The ingredients required to make Filipino dishes are, for the most part, very easy to find. Expatriate Filipino communities, and markets catering to their needs, have sprung up in many urban areas around the world. In addition, a large number of Filipino ingredients originally came from the New World (brought over by the Spanish from Mexico) and can now be found in most large and well-stocked supermarkets (see pages 12–17 for a list of Essential Filipino Ingredients).
The Filipino national cuisine is an amalgamation of many different regional styles from the various islands as well as many historical influences from abroad. The Filipinos themselves describe their cuisine as sari-sari (varied) and halohalo (mixed) because of the wide array of influences found even within a single meal. Filipino cooking can truly be considered a melting pot, deeply influenced by over 100 different island ethnic groups as well as by settlers from all parts of Asia, and by the Spanish and American colonizers.
The native inhabitants
