dinengdeng nga uong, papait, kabatiti, patani, nasagpawan iti kaluit (kumukusay)

This particular dinengdeng might somewhat be a weird for some, but this is it, I've done it, just so to prove/show the versatility of the dinengdeng or an Ilokano way of preparing and presenting and designing available vegetables and pair or combine it with almost everything edible, palatable, tasty, easy.

And here's a dinengdeng with a shellfish called kaluit or kalwit (also called sikadsikad, maninikad, aninikad, kumukusay). This is the plicate conch (scientific name: Strombus labiatus) which is abundant along reef coastlines. Its shell is kind of hard and its "meat" wedged deep spirally inside its whorl and spire you have to use a "pick" like that of a pomelo thorn to gouge it out. Some just resort to cracking the shell and simply gather the meat and cook it in a savory soup. But like agurong, suso, leddeg, bisukol, picking/extracting out (sultop or tudok) the meat is a thing to enjoy. Cooking this shellfish is simply boiling it with the usual tomatoes, ginger, onions, lemon grass like that of the usual freshwater clams and mollusk.

But here, it graced my dinengdeng of uong (those are straw mushroom buttons), papait, patani, and kabatiti (what an unusual bunch!):

What a mix! The broth is so tasty, it brings forth the aroma of the sea, the reefs, the seaweeds, and the dinengdeng is heavenly, as it were, as  the kaluit essence is enhanced by the umami of the straw mushroom, the sweetness of the kabatiti, the starchiness of the patani, and the inevitable bittersweetness of the papait.

My rice, please!

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More dinengdengs:

• Dinengdeng, glorious dinengdeng!
• Dinengdeng/inabraw, more, once more
• Dinengdeng once more, because one can live in dinengdeng alone
• "The Dinengdeng Debate: Authencity and Cuisine"
• Dinengdeng a bunga ti singkamas, jicama fruit stew
• Dinengdeng bunga ti singkamas a naalseman iti palali
• Dinengdeng a sabunganay, banana blossom stew
• Dinengdeng a mais, white corn stew/soup
• Dinengdeng a marunggay with kaggo, marunggay leaves and clam soup
• Langka/jackfruit and pallang/winged bean dinengdeng
• Dinengdeng a saba! banana/plantain stew
• Karabasa & utong, squash goodies and string beans stew
• Fresh veggies for dinengdeng in casantolan
• Dinengdeng nga aba, stewed taro leaves/stems/roots
• Kalalaki nga alukon, "male" alukon
• Dinengdeng with tinapa (smoked mackerel)
• Dinengdeng with fried paltat
• Dinengdeng nga uong-mais ken uggot-marunggay, wild mushrooms and marunggay leaves
• Saluyot and rabong variation--with bulong-sili, kalunay and utong
• Buridibod a kamangeg nga addaan pallang ken kalunay sa nasagpawan tinapa
• Red/purple katuday

For more Ilokano vegetable dishes, you can follow Ilokano Food page on Facebook and enjoy more sumptuous photos of dinengdeng and other vegetable dishes plus more veggies! 

Follow also Ilokano Food @ Instagram and subscribe to Ilokano Food YoutTube channel for more photos, videos, and stories about Ilokano food, cooking, cuisine, and culture.

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pinakbet a nakaparparia

What makes an Ilokano pinakbet or a pinakbet preferred by Ilokanos is that it is ,and it should be with, and not just with, but full of, paria or bitter melon. Because the Ilokano is known by its food preference for pait or bitterness, the more a pinakbet has paria, the more it is a sumptuous and delightful feast of bitterness and saltiness (of the preferred condiment bugguong--salt-fermented fish and not shrimps, of course!).

I always like my pinakbet to be nakaparparia, nakapapait, full of this beloved Ilokano veggie fruit--the native and wild variety is a must, too, for more bitterness to be rendered, endured, and enjoyed.

This is my recent pinakbet a nakaparparia, as a proof of pinakbet concept and life, the patneng nga Ilokano way:

And here are the ingredients from which I designed this perfect, well, almost, vanity pinakbet:

These are freshly picked/harvested bitter goodies from my container garden. Ilocos species of a paria kind, not the native one, though, but a hybrid of sort.

Some of the obligatory and faithful paria company for a pinakbet: kamatis, tarong, okra, and utong. Sili is not available at the time. And of course no karabasa here ever as it's a no-no for an Ilokano pinakbet to have a karabasa (only Tagalog 'pakbet' variations, with an awkward shrimp paste, has it)

This is it, once again, the by-product:

And this here is my own labay, pardon my gluttony, but this is pinakbet with lots of paria, so, let me just indulge:

And pardon, this is me not bragging about an Ilokano gourmet food but me inviting you to "mangantayon, apo, pagan-anusan ti adda!" let's eat, folks!

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More, about pinakbet:

• Pinakbet a nadumaduma
• Pinakbet ingredients
• Various authentic, exotic, Ilokano pinakbets
• Pinakbet with kaggo
• More pinakbet from Ilokanos around the web

For more Ilokano vegetable dishes, you can follow Ilokano Food page on Facebook and enjoy more sumptuous photos of dinengdeng and other vegetable dishes plus more veggies! 

Follow also Ilokano Food @ Instagram and subscribe to Ilokano Food YoutTube channel for more photos, videos, and stories about Ilokano food, cooking, cuisine, and culture.

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lauya a kamanokan & darangidangan a kapapayaan, native chicken soup with partially riped papaya

One of the most delicious, most savory, most gorgeous chicken soup or stew, for me, is of course, that of the "kamanokan" or free-range native chicken cooked/stewed for almost an hour in moderate fire to let its insane aroma and tasty fat to ooze out, turning the broth golden and thick. The beloved lauya a manok or tinola a manok. And of course, with the obligatory add-on, the distinct and essential green papayas and chili leaves or paria leaves or marunggay leaves.

But I adore more the almost ripe green papaya to complete my favorite lauya, for its obvious sweetness that enhances the soup/broth more and turns it more golden and delicious.

This is it:

A perfect labay!

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More "kamanokan" dishes:

• Native chicken adobo
• Lauya/tinola a kamanokan
• Pinapaitan a kamanokan, "native" chicken bitter soup

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imbaliktad and other favorite ilokano meat soup dishes

Here are some delicious (to ogle, reminisce, crave for, and contemplate upon) photographs of the Ilokano favorite meat soup dish called imbaliktad.

For more Ilokano meat dishes, you can follow Ilokano Food page on Facebook and enjoy more sumptuous photos of pinapaitan, sinanglaw, imbaliktad and others!

Follow also Ilokano Food @ Instagram and subscribe to Ilokano Food YoutTube channel for more photos, videos, and stories about Ilokano food, cooking, cuisine, and culture.

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More meat soup dishes:

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

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idi naglutoak iti imbaliktad idi 2005

 This is from my old/defunct web log (blog), where I blogged about a variety of things, a miscellany of stuff, and but mostly accounts of my work and escapades in writing and of course, cooking and food. I want to preserve the original here so this is in Ilokano, on how, one time, I cooked my own version of imbaliktad, a kind and sort of quickie meat dish popular among Ilokanos to go with steamed rice and with drinks, naturally, or most specially.

(Original content source: https://mannurat.blogspot.com/2004/11/imbaliktad.html)

pumodblag (foodblog) tay' man met. daytay man la nalaka ken daras a lutuen. isu daytoy imbaliktad. apagluto, halfcooked, a karne ti baka (wenno nuang, wenno kalding, depende iti adda), ibalibaliktadmo laeng iti sumagmamano a daras, ayosen, kakang! express kunam man.

ipakpakaunak, diak a sanay wenno diak (pay) kabisado ti mangiparang iti resipe a daytay binsaek amin a rukod wenno kaadu-kabassit dagiti ramen (kas pagarigan no mano a kutsara wenno kutsarita a manteka, toyo, suka, wenno no mano kapirsay a bulong wenno tasa a bukel wenno no mano kangipen a bawang wenno kabukel a sibuyas wenno kapitpit a laya, kdpy), isu a kas iti daydiay namay-ak iti panaglutok iti pinakbet, ibagak lattan dagiti ingrediente ken panglakagan. agduduma ti servingna, depende iti no mano ti expected a mangan, makaammon a mangkarkulo no mano ken kasano ti bilang wenno kaadu ti lutuen.

ngem daytoy linutok ita ditoy nga imbaliktad, mabalin a good for 3 wenno 4 katao ngata. mabalin met a good for 1 laeng no maimasan, hehe!

dagiti masapul: kalalainganna a kadakkel nga iwa ti lomo ti baka (maysa wenno kagudua kilo, depende iti kaadu ti iserbian), bawang, laya, sibuyas wenno lasona, pamienta, manteka, asin wenno patis, vetchin (optional), ken oyster sauce.

[iti rekado, i prefer dagitay native a bawang ken laya a saan a dagitay dadakkel a naggaput' taiwan. nakapsut ti ingel ken banglo ken gasang dagitoy bawang-taiwan wenno dadakkel a laya. kapintasan dagitay netib a bawang-ilocos. kasta met laeng iti sibuyas. dayta pamienta, optional kaniak. ken dayta oyster sauce, isut' kangrunaan a pangpananam ken pangparamanko saan laeng nga iti imbaliktad ngem uray dadduma a lutuek a karne wenno igisak a natnateng--uray pinapaitan a baka wenno nuang, patedtedak no kua iti oyster sauce ta kayatko 'tay sumam-it a nananam a savorna ken 'tay sabali a textura ken maris nga itdenna.]

pamay-an: ilgaten ti karne iti babassit (cubes, bite-size). pitpiten ti bawang ken laya, galipen ti sibuyas. sa igisa dagitoy iti manteka agingga nga agbrownish ti bawang ken sibuyas. ikabil ti nail-ilgat a karne, kiwaren. ituloy a kiwkiwaren (balibaliktaden) sa asinan ken iwarakiwik ti napitpit a pamienta. pattogan iti kalalainganna a kaadu ti oyster sauce (saan unay met a kaaduen, pangramanan lang) kabayatan a balibaliktaden. no saanen a nalabaga ti karne, mabalinen nga iddepen ti apuyna ken adawen. aluadan a masobraan a lutuen ta kumulbetto no kuan ti karne (saanton nga "imbaliktad" ti lutonan no kua. no nasobraan, diguamon ilayonmon a lambongen, hehe!). galipan iti naganus a lasona iti rabawna (dayta picture dita ngato ket inarkosak laeng iti nagalip a babassit a lasona ta awan dadakkel), ipasango a napudot.

no dadduma, no adda available, laokak pay iti dalem ti baka wenno nuang ti imbaliktadek. naim-imas manen. no dadduma pay, gumatangak iti nayonna a liblibro wenno tualtualia (tripes) ket ilaokko iti imbaliktadek. sa no dadduma, dumawatak iti apro wenno pespes iti aglako ket laokak ti imbaliktadko. kinapudnona, adda papaitna a kastoy ti kaaduan nga imbaliktadda iti ilocos. ammoyo metten, mahilig ni ilokano iti napait, papait, pinapaitan. naim-imas manen no adda papaitna ti imbaliktad, timplaem iti kayatmo a kapaitna (daytay saan met unay a nakapapait, a). nagimas no daytay pespes, awan dumana met laengen no kua iti pinapaitan ti imbaliktadmo, awan laeng digona nga arub-ubem. nupay kasta mabalin met a diguan bassit ti imbaliktad no managdigoka wenno managlabayka. ngem di unay kaaduen, a. saan met a talaga a didiguan ti imbaliktad.

perfect match iti agyelyelo a serbesa daytoy imbaliktad, para kaniak. no kua aglutuak laeng iti para-pulotanko. ken no kua ikkak iti naartem a silina ken timplaak iti sangkabassit a suka tapno maymayat ti siludna. wen, no kurusunadam, mabalin met nga alsemam ti imbaliktad. ngem samonto la timplaan iti alsemna (a suka wenno kalamansi/dalayap) no naadawmon. no igiddanmo bayat a lutlutuem, kumbet ken kumulbet ti imbaliktadem.

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padpadol: bunga ti sabidukong

Padpadol is the fruit or pod of the sabidukong or bagbagkong vine (Telosma procumbens, tonkin jasmine, latok (Tagalog)), a plant with so many local names. The fruit is primarily called "padpadol" in Ilokano because it resembles "padol" or stake. In Tagalog, it is also called "puso-puso" as it is somewhat kind of heart-shaped, albeit elongated. The immature pod is edible just like its more popular inflorescence or flower. For the curious and uninitiated, you may not instantly love it as a regular veggie fruit, it has a rather strong sabeng or "vegetable smell", but once you acquire a taste of it, the Ilokano veggie-loving in you will manifest--it tastes just like pallang (winged beans) and/or utong (string beans) so yes, you'll just love it as your regular nateng.

These lovely green pods are abundant on padpadol fruiting season come August to December. Usually sold after the flowering season on the local palengke. Or sold alongside the flowers as the vine continue to blossom as its fruits mature.

Cut and tenderly yours, it's ready:

For starters, let's try a dinengdeng with lotsa veggies. Padpadol with bunga ti singkamas, sabong ti karabasa, tarong, marunggay, kabatiti, pallang. utong, how about that?

Without much further ado, here's it:

Just a simple dinengdeng, by the way, where padpadol is cozy with its peers, showing its versatility and edibility as a veggie:

Well, that's for starters. Watch out for the other padpadol recipes! Padpadol with other veggies and anything great and delicious that we can do with this kind of exotic vegetable fruit!

For teasers,  how about this padpadol cooked pinakbet?

And this, padpadol on the grills, imagine:

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More sabidukong stories:

• Sabidukong/pusapusa/dukep/bagbagkong/ampupuyat, edible wild vine flower
• Sabidukong, the edible wild flower with so many names

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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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dinengdeng a kudet (kuditdit) ken paria, bracket fungus with bittermelon

You know it's kuditdit season when it rains and you see them sprouting white on dried twigs and branches and trunks of fallen (dead) trees (like mango and/or tamarind). And when you see them plenty but rarely and expensive in the market or being hawked upon by enterprising ambulant vendors house-to-house.

As per Ilokano way, kuditdit is always best paired with bitter veggies and paria tops it. And so with my bountiful harvest of this wonderful fungus, I'll have the venerable bittermelon as its partner. Here, indulge with me in this yet another gustatory experience, nay, an adventure if you may.

And so, this is it, pancit, the kuditdit:

And these are here parias in the mix:

Have washed and rinsed the kuditdit throughly, and the paria cut accordingly (thinly sliced "widthwise"):

 

"When preparing kuditdit, you have to wash/rinse it thoroughly to remove dirt, but don't squeeze it too much and just rinse it once or twice only, to preserve its natural flavor and succulence."

Here is the finished product so to speak. I don't have the step-by-step photographs because it's a simple dinengdeng process any Ilokano can do. Just boil water first and add/dilute bugguong juice, put in some slice of onions for an added aroma. If available around, add in some sagpaw (add-on, any broiled or fried fish or meat will do, dried fish and shrimps are great, too). Here, I added grilled native chicken meat. Boil the sagpaw for some time, then add the kuditdit. Boil for some minutes to tenderize it and for its natural essences to ooze out and blend with the broth. And then the paria. Do not overcook, and do not undercook, the paria so as to moderate its bitterness.

The end result is just so comforting and refreshing!

Bitterness and mushroomy flavor blending with bugguong and the grilled meat, it's a gorgeous concoction you can't refuse to taste even if you may not that comfortable with bitter food: 

This one dish so tempting for you to have second and more helpings of steamed rice:

Come. let's eat, please, I'm hungrier by the minute!

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More dinengdengs:

• Dinengdeng, glorious dinengdeng!
• Dinengdeng/inabraw, more, once more
• Dinengdeng once more, because one can live in dinengdeng alone
• "The Dinengdeng Debate: Authencity and Cuisine"
• Dinengdeng a bunga ti singkamas, jicama fruit stew
• Dinengdeng bunga ti singkamas a naalseman iti palali
• Dinengdeng a sabunganay, banana blossom stew
• Dinengdeng a mais, white corn stew/soup
• Dinengdeng a marunggay with kaggo, marunggay leaves and clam soup
• Langka/jackfruit and pallang/winged bean dinengdeng
• Dinengdeng a saba! banana/plantain stew
• Karabasa & utong, squash goodies and string beans stew
• Fresh veggies for dinengdeng in casantolan
• Dinengdeng nga aba, stewed taro leaves/stems/roots
• Kalalaki nga alukon, "male" alukon
• Dinengdeng with tinapa (smoked mackerel)
• Dinengdeng with fried paltat
• Dinengdeng nga uong-mais ken uggot-marunggay, wild mushrooms and marunggay leaves
• Saluyot and rabong variation--with bulong-sili, kalunay and utong
• Buridibod a kamangeg nga addaan pallang ken kalunay sa nasagpawan tinapa
• Red/purple katuday

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