15 Delicious Ilocano Dishes you must try when visiting the Great North.
Must Try Ilocano Dishes
If your time is limited in Ilocos we recommend that you absolutely try these three must try Ilocano dishes.
- Vigan Longganisa. This is a typical breakfast sausage, abundantly laced with garlic and spices, and is bound to start off your day with a kick. In-fact. this yummy sausage is well known for its aftertaste. It is so strong that you will be tasting this garlicky sausage, days after you have actually eaten it!
- Bagnet with KBL. Bagnet is the most indulgent thrice cooked pork belly you will ever taste. The process of cooking this mouth watering meat dish can take up to one day. The meat is boiled, then sun dried, then fried , then fried again! The perfect accompaniment to KBL (Kamatis-Bagoong-Lasona). In English, Tomato, Onion Shallots and fish paste.
- Empanada with Sukang Iloko. This bright orange crispy pancake made of rice flour and filled with unripe papaya, beansprouts, egg and sausage meat if often eaten as a “merienda”, or snack, but is hearty enough for an entire meal. Season with sukang iloko, a spiced can vinegar to tantalize your taste-buds. Check out our video of the skilled empanada makers in Batac.
Vegetable Ilocano Dishes
Looking for something more healthier? Try this vegetable Ilocano dishes.
- Pinakbet. A native vegetable dish, sauteed with fish bagoong (fish paste) and bagnet. Vegetables commonly used are squash, eggplant, bitter gourd, string beans and winged beans.
- Poqui-Poqui Roasted eggplant and tomatoes deliciously combined with eggs.
- Dinengdeng. Another Ilocano vegetable dish, similar to pinakbet, but with more of a soup base. The soup stock is fish bagoong based.
Exotic Dishes
Looking for something a bit more exotic? Try these dishes to tickle your tastebuds.
- Papaitan. This is probably one of the most “exotic” dishes, but definitely one of our favorites. Its a hearty clear soup, made of beef innards, tripe, liver, kidney, heart, pancreas and intestines, flavored with bile! The dish’s name “Papaitan” comes from the word pait, which is “bitter” in English. The added bile, gives the stock it’s distinct bitter flavor. But don’t be put off with the ingredients. This is dish will surely give you a unique culinary experience.
- Sinanglaw. Similar to papaitan, but without the pait. Its a clear broth soup, still using bile for flavor but more diluted. And the meats used are less adventurous, such as brisket and tendon. Sinanglaw also uses a fusion of tamarind, chili and ginger flavors to give the broth an extra kick of flavor.
- Igado. Sauteed pork tenderloin and liver, with bell pepper and green peas.
- Insarabasab. Thinly sliced grilled pork-loin, flavored with salt and vinegar with red onions.
- Okoy Crispy shrimp fritters, served with Sukang Iloko.
- Dinardaraan. A savory stew of pork offal and/or meat simmered in a rich, spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili, and vinegar. “Dara” is the Ilocano word for blood or “dugo” in Tagalog. Dinardaraan is the Ilocano version of dinuguan, is drier with a more intense flavor.
- Pancit Miki Noodles with a distinct red soup base colored with achete (annatto) powder. Dinakdakan. Another fantastically exotic dish, bound to tickle your taste buds. Boiled and grilled pork parts such as the cheek and ear, with a pig brain mayonnaise, flavored with vinegar, chili, onions, ginger and calamansi.
For more details on Ilocano dishes, check out Panlasang Pinoy
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