pinapaitan a kalding, goat intestines stew

This is goat intestine stewed, literally, with its own juice--the extract of the masticated grass inside the intestines. It's a savory, bitter soup favored by Ilokanos. And goat's is prized for this kind of exotic dish, called "pinapaitan", aside from that of beef or carabao (water buffalo). It's not really an exotic one as this is so common in the Philippines especially in the Ilocos region, or where the Ilokano people have settled for good.

Cooking this kind of exotic dish (well, a delicacy of some sort) is simple as doing the usual pinapaitan. Just boil it. Until tender enough. Spice it with lots of onions, garlic, ginger, black pepper. Add some meat and liver pieces. Optionally, you can add a little sourness like that of pias or salamagi.

Now here's the boiled and tenderized whole intestine being cut into bite pieces:

Gorgeous!

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More pinapaitan and kalding tales:

• Imbaliktad soup
• Pinapaitan, the really bitter original innards stew 
• Kilawen a kalding, goat skin, meat, and liver "salad"

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dinengdeng nga uong ken kabatiti ken balang a paria, straw mushrooms soup with patola and wild bittermelon

Mushrooms, mushrooms! And what’s more delicious than those growing and picked from the wild, like these gorgeous straw mushrooms (locally called uong garami or uong saba):

And paired with these equally wild or “native” vegetables for a truly exotic veggie delicacy—wild bittermelon (balang a paria) shoots and fruit, and patola (sponge gourd, kabatiti):

Small but insanely bitter vegetable fruit to challenge or tantalize your palate:

Cooked in the traditional Ilokano dinengdeng way, here’s the eventual result—all that mushroom flavor with the double dose of exotic wild paria bittery goodness and sweetened by the native kabatiti, all in fusion with the essence of bugguong (fish paste/sauce). And no, if you cooked it right and rightful, the kabatiti will not make it the more bitter but its sweetness as fruit veggie will magically moderate the pait of the paria. The end result is just so amazing and a beauty to behold:

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See more mushroom treats and recipes:

Uong ken lantong-utong, wild mushroom with young bean stalks/shoots

Dinengdeng nga uong-mais ken uggot-marunggay, wild mushrooms and marunggay leaves

Dinengdeng nga uong-bunton ken balang a paria, wild mushroom soup with bitter melon leaves

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kilawen a kalding, goat skin, meat, and liver "salad"

This is "kilawen a kalding" ("kilawing kambing" in Tagalog) or goat's singed/burnt skin and grilled meat and liver chopped and spiced and made into a kind of "salad." An Ilokano dish, it is kind of "exotic" to others but is a popular goat dish throughout the Philippines. What's distinctly Ilokano about it is that Ilokano folks, used to bitterness, err, bitter food, usually season it with the goat's bile or the pespes (extract of the undigested grass) itself.

Let's take a look at the mystery of this authentic Ilokano delicacy... Here's the goat's skin/hide, its hair singed, cleaned, this is slightly boiled to tenderize the hide:

And this is the meat and the liver, slightly grilled and so it's succulent and sweet:

Chopping time!

Chopped goat goodies:

And spiced with onions, ginger, salt, some vinegar (calamansi juice is more preferred), chili if you prefer it really spicy, and pour in some bile or pespes and thoroughly mix the whole lot and it's ready. This is the best for pulutan or finger food for drinks!

Related dish:

• Pinapaitan, the really bitter original innards stew

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pinapaitan a kamanokan, "native" chicken bitter soup

To continue on our kamanokan series on native free range chicken Ilokano dishes (lauya, dinardaraan, adobo), we'll conclude here with yet another kind of "exotic" dish that delights most Ilokanos: it's pinapaitan a manok! This is a rather unusual chicken soup and I bet some may frown at the idea or are not aware that, of course, your favorite tasty kamanokan can also have its own pinapaitan; not just the usual pinapaitan that you know (kalding, baka, nuang).

Pinapaitan a kamanokan.

This is part of the chicken giblet set aside for dinardaraan and pinapaitan: cut batikuleng (gizzard), dalem (liver), puso (heart), bara (lungs), some silet or bagis (intestines), and the "bittering agent" which is the apro (bile).

Here's what we're going to turn into an absolutely delicious pinapaitan. I added some strips of meat and skin. And that's the apro in the little red square bowl:

Sauté it in little cooking oil with lots of bawang, lasona and the laya, season with salt or patis and pepper; stir fry it until it oozes its yellowish own fat and the meat and skin and the rest of the giblet turn brown:

Pour in enough water for your soup, simmer for a few minutes and then add the apro. Don't put in all of the bile though, moderate bitterness by having a taste of the soup. Put in more bile if you prefer a really bitter pinapaitan. Put off fire and serve it hot and steaming. The resulting soup will be like this:

The kamanokan broth will turn more yellow with the apro, more golden, which is just so absolutely gorgeous and insanely delicious bitter soup so tasty and savory:

Optionally, if you're a really pinapaitan connoisseur, you can add more pait into your pinapaitan by adding paria leaves (a tinola with paria leaves or fruit is great as well).

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More about kamanokan (native free range chicken):

• panangisagana iti mailuto a kamanokan, native chicken preparation
• lauya/tinola a kamanokan 
• "native" chicken adobo
• nadigo a dinardaraan a kamanokan, "native" chicken blood stew/soup

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