Philippines Cuisine

You will notice a rich medley of Chinese, Malay, Spanish, Mexican, American, and Indian cooking in Philippine cuisine. Filipinos eat a variety of delicacies ranging from a meal of fish and rice to lechon (whole roasted pig), Longanisa (native sausage), Torta (omelette), Pan de sal (bread rolls), Kalderetang Kambing (rich goat stew) and many more. You can also try out popular dishes like Pancit (stir-fried noodles), Lumpia (fresh or fried spring rolls) and Halo-halo (a fruit dessert).

Cuisine in Philippines has undergone several phases of evolution. In the initial days, meat of pork, fowl, bayawak (water monitor lizard), dog, fish, clams and other shellfish were roasted or boiled and eaten with rice. Other main ingredients of Philippine cuisine are toyo (soy sauce) and patis (fish sauce), fruits like coconut milk and bananas. Vegetable like Potatoes, carrots, taro ("gabi"), cassava, purple and sweet yam, seafood like Tilapia, milkfish, shrimp, mackerel and crabs are also eaten.

Some cooking methods are:
Nilaga # boiled sometimes with onions and black peppers
Prito # fried or deep fried
Guisado # sautéed with garlic, onions and tomatoes
Ginataan # cooked with coconut milk
Inihaw # grilled over coals
Inadobo # cooked in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic
Sinigang # boiled with a tamarind base
Pinaksiw # cooked in vinegar and ginger
Kinilaw or Kilawin # raw fish is marinated in vinegar until the fish naturally cooks