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

nadigo a dinardaraan a kamanokan, "native" chicken blood stew/soup

[Warning: Images of chicken giblet/entrails and blood may be disturbing and/or unsavory to some. Please view with discretion.]

We were done with the adobo and the lauya, and here with the specially set aside ingredients from the kamanokan we butchered, we're going to cook another authentic and unique Ilokano dish made out of a kamanokan: dinardaraan!

A chicken dinardaraan is not a common dish in that mostly, a chicken is usually intended to be cooked into a tinola or lauya, adobo, grilled/barbecued, or with curry or coconut milk. And for Ilokanos, the chicken blood is a delicious add-on in a lauya, coagulated with glutinous rice, it enhances the flavor of the broth. And the more usual way to prepare a chicken dinardaraan (also called sapsapuriket) is to cook it dry, not soupy, with lots of chili and garlic and black peppers, hot and spicy, intended as a special pulotan.

But here, I am about to cook a nadigo (soupy) a dinadaraan, simply because I just want to enjoy its savory soup, and so that I have a plenty of dinardaraan to enjoy (a dry dinardaraan with  the giblet of only one chicken is just a handful but having it as a soup is filling enough).

Nadigo a dinardaraan a kamanokan.

This is chicken giblet I prepared for the dinardaraan: batikuleng (gizzard), dalem (liver), puso (heart), bara (lungs), some silet or bagis (intestines). I also included the chicken's ukel-ukel (testicles, this is a kawitan, a rooster) to add more "nanam" to the dish:

And of course, the dara (blood). I added a little vinegar into it to prevent coagulation and for an added bit of sourness later into the dinardaraan:

Cut the giblet into small pieces; set aside the apro and the ukel-ukel. Prepare the laya, lasona and bawang:

And here, it's ready...

Sauté the bawang, lasona and the laya until brown/caramelized:

Add the cut chicken giblet and stir fry it quickly in high heat. Add salt or patis (or bugguong if you prefer) to taste (and optionally, umami or those ginisa flavoring mixes). Add cracked black peppers, too, of course:

Don't overcook the chicken, taste it to see if it's partially done. Pour in the blood at this juncture:

Stir fry it and mix the blood evenly:

Add some water and simmer. Add some little vinegar if you prefer a sour soup. In this particular dinardaraan, it's somewhat sour because of the vinegar I added into the blood to prevent coagulation:

And it's done. And oh, by the way, I added sili nga aruy-oy (capsicum annuum, siling haba, finger chili) to make this dinardaraan a traditional one with sili:

The soup is so delicious, specially so when I mashed the boiled chicken testicles into the broth it resembled the tasty and sensuous "soup no. 5" (bull's penis and testicle soup):

Spice it more with chili powder or cayenne pepper or with chili fermented in vinegar for that amazing kick!

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More about kamanokan:

• panangisagana iti mailuto a kamanokan, native chicken preparation
• lauya/tinola a kamanokan 
• "native" chicken adobo
• pinapaitan a kamanokan, "native" chicken bitter soup

classic dinengdeng: rabong & saluyot

This is yet another rabong (bamboo shoot) cooking escapade, a continuation from previous various rabong dishes I've made out of a big rabong I prepared and pre-boiled. We've got rabong salad and sautéed rabong, and now we have this--the most ubiquitous and most popular of all Ilokano rabong dishes:

Yeah, right, the famous dinengdeng duo: rabong & saluyot. It came to pass that in the Ilocoslovakia, a rabong can't go alone as a dinengdeng without saluyot (although, a solo saluyot inabraw can be tolerated at least). A solo rabong dinengdeng is kind of bland and miserable without its most trusted and most preferred partner.

And here's it, a two-some--sliced and cooked rabong ready and freshly picked saluyot leaves:

I just boiled some bugguong with some onion slices in it, and then I put in the rabong, simmered it for a few minutes and then I put in the saluyot, simmered until it's done:

This for me is the most delicious saluyot & rabong dinengdeng--simply just the two of them and no sagpaw or add-on of whatever fish grilled, broiled, fried or smoked. The classic Ilokano dish in all its essential goodness:

What more could you ask for? This simply is luxury, frugal but glorious:

But of course, rabong sometimes can live, too, without its beloved saluyot. I also tried partnering it with other leafy greens and veggies and it's equally sumptuous and phenomenal. Here, in a lovely variation, I used bulong ti sili, kalunay and utong fruit, and yes, I added a fried galunggong:

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