In ancient times before the outside world had added its ingredients to the primeval Filipino cooking pot, the food of the Philippines was a simple affair of whatever nature provided: food from the sea and forest and rice from the paddies.
Over the centuries, foreign traders and invaders introduced new ingredients, new cooking styles and new food combinations to indigenous Filipino food staples and methods of food preparation. But despite these outside influences on Filipino culture and diet, modern Filipino cuisine has developed its own distinct characteristics.
What makes them Philippine? The history and society that introduced and adapted them; the people who turned them to their tastes and accepted them into their homes and restaurants, and especially the harmonizing culture that combined them into contemporary Filipino fare.
Traditional Filipino Food
Chicken Adobo is cooked in vinegar and garlic with soy sauce flavoring.
Kare-kare is an oxtail stew in peanut butter sauce, served with bagoong (preserved anchovies) or shrimp paste
Pancit is an Asian-influenced noodle dish with sautéed shrimp, it can be served as a vegetable dish or mixed with sautéed strips of pork, beef, chicken or savory sausage
Rellenong Manok is Baked chicken often stuffed with ground pork, ham, frankfurters, pepperoni, onion, garlic, raisins, hard-boiled eggs; stuffing ingredients vary among regions
Pork Inihaw are pork chops or spareribs marinated in white vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and red hot peppers, grilled and served with a vinegar dip
Halo-halo (from "halo" = mix) is a favorite Filipino dessert or snack. It is basically a mixture of sweet preserved beans(red beans, chick peas), coconut meat (macapuno), jackfruit (langka), pounded dried rice (pinipig), sweet yam (ube), cream flan (leche flan), shreds of sweetened plantain (saba), filled with crushed ice, milk (or coconut milk) and topped with ice cream. The halo-halo basically is sweet, creamy, and a filling dessert.
Bibingka is a rice cake similar to the Western pancake in appearance. In taste, texture and way of cooking, however, they are very much different from each other. Bibingka is made from galapong, baked in a special clay pot, lined with a piece of banana leaf, with live coals on top and underneath. It is topped with slices of kesong puti (white cheese) and itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs). The newly-cooked bibingka is spread with butter and sometimes sprinkled with sugar then served with niyog (grated coconut). Galapong is glutinous rice soaked in water then ground with the water to form either a batter or a dough, depending on what the cooked dish is supposed to be.
