brunch idiay santa teresita

Brunch? That’s breakfast and lunch, coined/rolled into one. Usually, that’s when you eat at 9AM-10AM. But it’s actually an early lunch. Or a late breakfast? Take your option. But this one thing we partook in Palagao, Santa Teresita, Cagayan is a legit “brunch” because we did it at about 9AM. And it’s a heavy one.

Coffee, plain white rice, eggs, and there it is–naalseman a kapiged! And that brandy (I poured some on my black coffee (not shown) and it’s so good!):

Oh my! These are Buguey kapiged (fished from the fishing town of Buguey) oozing with fishfat:

A closer look, kapiged is so oh-tasty a fish:

And here’s one that really made our gastronomic morning–jumping salad, live pasayan which we mercilessly dipped in calamansi juice with salt:

OMG, these live pasayans are so good with my brandied coffee, the sweetness and succulence of its raw flesh is all the more pronounced:

Can’t help but to... burp…!

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pangngaldaw iti STR

Some time in a visit in Gonzaga town, Cagayan, we were feted with a nabaknang a pangngaldaw, a hearty lunch,by our kind and generous hosts, right at the STR, a river resort maintained and operated by the municipal government. Well, STR is sirok ti rangtay or under the bridge. But no bridge to burn here. That's under the iconic steel-type bridge over the famous Wangag River.

That's steamed shrimps there, kilawen a sosay, and bilonak salad with KBL:

Freshly caught shrimps steamed briefly and it's so sweet and delicious, and gorgeous:

Spiced raw fish flesh, with optional dip of Kikkoman sashimi soy sauce laced with wasabi:

We were also treated with a terrific pinapaitan a baka:

Liningta a malaga was later served, as evidenced by my labay, my plate:

And of course, we washed down it all with a fine brandy (as hinted by the third photo above).

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kardis, alukon, sabong-karabasa, kalunay

Mangantayo manen! Come, let's eat, once all over again, share with me this another dinengdeng, this bugguong-flavored quartet of usual but exquisite Ilokano vegetables.

This is a pretty of veggies in that it has legumes (kardis), blossoms (alukon and karabasa), and green leaves (kalunay), stewed in fine bugguong essence and graced with dried shrimps (kuros):

So delicious, so Ilokano!

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More dinengdeng stories!

• Dinengdeng, glorious dinengdeng!

• Dinengdeng a bunga ti singkamas, jicama fruit stew

• Dinengdeng a rabong ken saluyot, bamboo shoot and saluyot stew

• Dinengdeng a sabunganay, banana blossom stew

• Dinengdeng a marunggay with kaggo, marunggay leaves and clam soup

• Fresh veggies for dinengdeng in Casantolan

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

• Dinengdeng a lalaki nga alukon, "male" alukon stew

• Dinengdeng a nalabbaga a katuday, purple katuday stew

• Dinengdeng/buridibod nga ube, purple yam stew with veggies

• Dinengdeng/buridibod nga ube (puraw), white yam stew with veggies and fried fish

• Dinengdeng with tinapa (smoked mackerel)

• Dinengdeng a katuday

• Dinengdeng a bunga, sabong ken uggot ti kabatiti, kabatiti tops, flower and fruit dinengdeng

• Solo a dinengdeng a marunggay

• Dinengdeng a kardis

• Dinengdeng a daludal, sagibsib, taro shoots/suckers

• Dinengdeng a saluyot ken tarong

• Dinengdeng a saba! banana/plantain stew

• Dinengdeng nga aba, stewed taro leaves/stems/roots

• Dinengdeng once more, because one can live in dinengdeng alone

• Baradibud a tugi, lesser yam vegetable stew

• Dinengdeng a saluyot and rabong variation--with bulong-sili, kalunay and utong

• Buridibod yet again: camote, petchay and alukon

• Dinengdeng/inabraw, more, once more

• Inabraw nga alukon/alukon leaves stew

• Buridibod, buribod, baradibod: camote with alukon and marunggay stew

• Dinengdeng a karabasa ken utong, squash goodies and string beans stew

• Dinengdeng nga uong ken lantong-utong, wild mushroom with young bean stalks/shoots

• Dinengdeng a paltong ti utong, utong tops stew/soup with dried shrimps

• Dinengdeng a langka ken pallang, jackfruit and winged bean stew

• Dinengdeng a patani ken sabong-karabasa, lima beans and squash flowers stew

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dinengdeng a mais, white corn stew/soup

Mais, corn, young corn kernel, is one of the best for soups, well, Ilokano-wise, Pinoy-wise. Well, besides being boiled and/or grilled on the cob. And the best, for me, is the small "native" diket (malagkit, "sticky") white corn. The dish is popular all over, it's called "sinuwam na mais" by the Tagalogs, the Ilokanos simply call it as "dinengdeng a mais."

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baradibud a tugi, lesser yam vegetable stew

Buridibod a tugi (click photo to enlarge)

Yet another buridibod or root vegetable stew, and this time we'll use tugi (lesser yam, Dioscorea esculenta Lour.). Tugi may not be usually used as a buridibod root ingredient as common as the usual camote or taro or ube. But it's equally good, I always make one when I chance upon some tugi in the local market. Tugi, for some, is only meant to be boiled or magettaan (cooked in coconut milk) and eaten simply as is, for a carbo snack. But for me, it's an indispensable ingredient for yet another hearty veggie Ilokano dish

Tugi (click photo to enlarge).

To go with the tugi for this buridibod, I opted for "native" pallang (winged beans), "native" kalunay (spinach, amaranth), and katuday flower.

Tugi, pallang, kalunay, katuday (click photo to enlarge).

Cook it as you would cook a buridibod, boil the tugi first until tender, and then put in the greens. Do not overcook the veggies. Here I added in some pre-fried shrimps to enhance flavor and aroma.

Tugi baradibod (click photo to enlarge).

The rest of the tugi, of course, I boiled it for merienda. Perfect with black coffee. Or an ice-cold soda, if that's what you're addicted into ;-).

Boiled tugi (click photo to enlarge).

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jumping salad

Live "salad" of shrimps literally jumping out.

Holy week. Lent. And yes, if we have to be faithful to our faith, we shun meat this week of the year. Which is just good because it's a healthy thing. So let's have some veggies and fish (like the taburkit [monamon] the other day). Or shrimps. And why not "jumping salad," the live shrimp dish preferred by many Pinoys, especially Ilokanos, specifically for pulotan with drinks. It's summer and it's also a time of picnics, usually on the rivers where some rama or puluan (a sort of fish dwelling made with small tree branches or twigs) are waiting to be "maburak" (harvested) for a bountiful catch of freshwater fish, crabs and shrimps for that sumptuous lunch and drinking session by the river bank.

Freshly-caught shrimps (click photo for a larger view).

The shrimps have to be washed and rinsed thoroughly to remove any dirt (click photo for a larger view).

The secret to a real delicious jumping salad is freshly picked calamansi squeezed right on the jumping shrimps. You may use vinegar to sour your salad, but it's not as palatable and aromatic as calamansi, or lemon for that matter (click photo for a larger view).

Add some salt, cover the shrimps if they keep on jumping out, or just pick them up and dunk it straight in to your eager mouth, heheh (click photo for a larger view).

Add some young onions, spice it with chili if you prefer  (click photo for a larger view).  

Here's it's ready, pick them up and enjoy your meal or your drinks with this really "live" dish (click photo for a larger view).

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utong tops stew/soup with dried shrimps

Utong (string beans or cowpea) is one of my favorite veggie. Sumptous, delicious greens. Be it fruit stewed or in soup, or in a crisp salad (boiled/blanched young fruit) with bugguong juice and tomato slices, or sautéed, or in its adobo version; or the bukel, seeds, the beans itself boiled or napabellad (napablad) sautéed in lots of garlic and onions and garnished with paria or marunggay or kalunay or camote or bilonak (also called kubay, alugbati in Tagalog) or talinum, and virtually all green leafy veggies you can imagine or can take in.

Utong. String beans, that is. pardon, but i'm not talking about the Tagalog utong (which, btw, is equally sumptous, they say).

And utong tops or shoots, of course. I usually dengdeng, stew, string bean tops as solo, without the usual partnership of other tops and green leaves. Although I also love it as a salad (bolied or blanched and tossed with bugguong and slices of tamatis (kamatis) and young lasona (shallot) (that's KBL of the Ilokanos--kamatis-bugguong-lasona). But I love the glorious soup out of it, the inherent sabeng or pas-eng--the distinct "aroma" akin to marunggay's or alukon's "fragrance" when cooked.

And when available, I add this great dried shrimp fry (called daing a kuros) to further enhance the flavor and aroma of the broth.

Flavor it with the preferred amount of bugguong. Make it that it won't become too salty. To moderate saltiness, put in just the right amount of bugguong so you won't need to add table salt. I don't add salt or patis to my dinengdengs. Bugguong itself is salt, so why add more salt?

Don't overcook the tops. Make it just as crispy and succulent as you would with the salad version. Optionally, you can add some slices of tomato just before you serve.

Here, isn't it heavenly--ambrosial--with that golden soup?

(Originally blogged October 20, 2008)

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