They call their league of extraordinary women: The Kulinarya Cooking Club. They’re like Oprah’s Filipino cuisine book club (if ever there is one). I have been jumping from one blog to another and it feels like i’m left out with all these women blabbing about their food; How they cook it, what memories it brings and what they want to do next. I picture them on the table, devouring the food that they have just made, yet talking about what’s the next thing to cook. These women are the Filipino cuisine’s Nigellas, Rachel Rays and Julia Childs. Here’s what they say about their league:

“Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it’s colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with our family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.”

Last May 2010, the monthly feature focused on different kinds of noodle or Pancit dishes of the Philippines. Each one had their own version of Pancit, Pancit Canton, Pancit Bihon and every crawling pancit in the Filipino vocabulary… even Filipino noodles that are actually dimsums. If you can’t figure it out, then ask why men can’t understand women. Before I start running around like a confused husband, here are the women and their naked thoughts on the different kinds of noodle or Pancit dishes of the Philippines.

Sotanghon by Malou

from http://www.impromptudiva.com

As a Filipino Tradition (as to its origin, I’m not quite sure), the birthday feast should always include a noodle dish… which signifies long life.  Any kind of noodles is acceptable: spaghetti, chow mein or rice noodles.  Guests are expected to have some of the noodle dish, and somehow this simple act of eating expresses to the celebrant:  Here’s to more birthdays to celebrate and we wish you to have a long and happy life!

That said, imagine how many times I’ve eaten noodles this month?  Hahaha!  And for my husband’s birthday, the noodle dish I prepared was Sotanghon Guisado… read more

Pancit Bihon by Trish

from http://sugarlace.com

Pan-what?

Pancit. Noodles. You know, that Chinese ingredient that represents long life and is perfect in soups, stir fried, or somethings even as filling in spring rolls Vietnamese style! But we’re not talking about China or Vietnam, we’re here for good old Las Islas Filipinas! Pancit was first introduced to the Filipino by way of the Chinese merchants who immigrated to the Philippines to trade business with the country. The Chinese brought with them different cultural influences that over time were adopted by the Filipinos – may it be in cuisine, language, practices or beliefs.I myself am a product of this multi-racial, bi-lingual heritage: my grandfather was a refugee from China who was exiled to the Philippines. There he met my grandmother, a full blooded Chinese but was born in the Philippines…. read more

Pansit Palabok by Cherrie

from http://www.sweetcherriepie.com

For this month’s theme, I asked for help.  Who else better to ask, than my mum. I knew straight away that I was going to make Pancit Palabok as this is my mum’s specialty.  She is well known amongst the Filipinos around town for her Palabok. When I was in my teens, mum and dad used to have a stall at the Melbourne Philippine Fiesta.  In fact, they had a stall at the very first Fiesta back in 1982. In those days, it was a small affair and there were only a handful of stalls, mostly all selling food.  My parents sold Longganisa, Tocino, Chicharon to name a few. The week before the Fiesta, the house would be full of wonderful smells from all the preparation for the big weekend. … read more

Pancit Molo by Trissa

from http://trissalicious.com

Pancit will usually refer to noodles in Philippine cuisine. This is however, another type of pancit which comes from a province called Iloilo. Unlike most of the pancit you will see this month, this one is a dumpling soup. This soup is full of light, almost cloud like chicken and prawn dumplings. The broth is flavoured with homemade chicken stock, a smoked pork bone and annatto powder. The dish is made even heartier with the addition of shredded chicken, slices of ham and a soft boiled egg. It’s comfort food in its truest form… read more

Pancit Canton by Olive

from http://www.latestrecipes.net

Pancit canton is equally delicious in my book. In college, my sisters and I thrived on instant pancit canton. There’s a particular local brand here that’s became our favorite; when I got married, it’s also what my husband and I love to eat for breakfast and for snack. As much as I love that brand of instant noodles, I said goodbye to it when I learned how to make pancit canton from scratch, you would too because the taste is way better than instant and it’s definitely healthy… read more

Pancit Bihon Guisado by Caroline

from http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com

Noodles signify long life and so they are served on birthdays as part of the celebration. My youngest son turned six this month so there were plenty of pancit cooked and enjoyed. There are many types of pancit in the Filipino cuisine based on the type of noodles used and the region a pancit dish originated. Pancit Bihon, noodles made from rice, is the type usually thought of when one talks about pancit so I decided to make them here… read more

Pancit Canton by Cusinera

from http://www.busogsarap.com

Filipinos have this forever love affair with “Pancit” (Noodles) since the Chinese introduced it to the Philippines Cuisine.  Different regions of the country have Pancit specialties that they proudly call their own.  Filipino Pancit dishes ranges from soupy, sticky to dry.  My two favourites from all of them are the Pancit Bihon and Pancit Malabon.  Pancit can be served as a snack or a main meal, always present during Filipino birthday celebrations as it symbolizes long life…. read more

Pancit Bihon by Asha

from http://www.forkspoonnknife.com

I have to tell you, I have an intense carnal love for noodles. Out of the blue, an image, of me twirling noodles with chopsticks, pops into my mind and refuses to budge. There are times when I crave these thready, slurpy satisfaction so much I tend to display withdrawal symptoms if I don’t get my fix! My love began during my childhood in Bangalore, when we would eat out at an Indian Chinese restaurant, Rice Bowl, once a year for my birthday. I never ordered the fried rice, always the chopsuey which I would douse with the chili vinegar and spicy sauce. I loved it and I pigged out. I was happy at the end of a huge bowl of those flat thready stuff… read more

Pancit by Annie

from http://anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com

I encounter dumbfounded looks when I mention that these are Chinese in origin. Much of Filipino home cooking traces its roots to Chinese ingredients, cooking methods, and seasoning. The influence of the Chinese came with the traders (from Fujian and Canton), who brought noodles, ducks, duck eggs, soy sauce, soybeans, sausages, and other affordable, accessible foods that could be eaten on a daily basis”… read more

Pansit Canton by Dahlia

from http://energychef.blogspot.com

I celebrated my birthday this month which meant I was able to share the pancit to people at work, perfect–because, I don’t think pancit can be cooked in small quantities–it is meant to be shared and eaten with a lot of people, hence it is the perfect party food in my humble opinion. I’ve never really thought much about cooking pancit because it’s always been there. It’s not something I cooked during parties because there are more than enough pancit experts among family and friends. But this time, I had to do it on my own. There are so many choices for noodles but I chose pancit canton… read more

Lola’s Pancit by Jen

from http://jen-at-work.blogspot.com

Here’s my very first challenge for Kulinarya Cooking Club, and I already have a confession to make: I’m a rice girl!  I love rice and from time to time love things eaten with bread or with pasta, but I hardly look forward to eating asian noodles.  Only in the last few years that I’ve been cooking noodles, because I’ve been exposed and drawn to the spicy and flavoursome Malaysian/Singaporean noodle dishes, like laksa, char keow teow, mamak mee goreng and mee siam.  My children, on the other hand, love ALL noodles, so I’ll post here my mom’s pancit that she cooks for my children…. read more

Pancit Sotanghon by Pia

from http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com

There is an array of pancit dishes that i can’t decide which one. So i narrowed it down to our favorites, i opted to choose sotanghon which is a staple in my pantry along with bihon. I have blogged a bihon dish a while back which is also one of our favorite CRISPY PANCIT. My family is a minimalist when it comes to pancit. The less meat and veggies the better hence my calling this my minimalist version… read more

And if you think there are just a few of them, think again. Here’s the rest of the team:

Kath – http://www.acupcakeortwo.com/

Trisha – http://sugarlace.com/
Trissa – http://trissalicious.com/
Olive – http://www.latestrecipes.net/
Caroline – http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/
Ninette – http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/
Peach- http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/
Althea- http://www.busogsarap.com/
Asha – http://forkspoonnknife.blogspot.com/
Malou – http://www.impromptudiva.com/
Cherrie – http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/
Acdee – http://acdee.blogspot.com/
Valerie – http://www.acanadianfoodie.com/
Sheryl – http://crispywaffle.com/
Divina – http://www.sense-serendipity.com/
Anna – http://www.anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
Dahlia – http://www.energychef.blogspot.com/
Joy – http://joyjoycreativeoutlet.blogspot.com/
Maribel – http://www.foodgeek.webs.com/
Jen – http://www.jen-at-work.blogspot.com/
Pia – http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com/

Ladies and gents of the world, above are the women who embody the inspiration of every single testicle in the Philippines.

On a personal note, I am really happy that these women decided to form Kulinarya Cooking Club as the global awareness of Filipino food has not walked the world’s palate yet. So all of us, including this website are on a hike, taking Filipino food to the summit. We want the world to know about Filipino food and maybe someday include these different kinds of Pancit on their Friday night eat-outs. Filipino food tastes really good I tell you… ask anyone who’s had Filipino food before, they always come for seconds. As for Filipina women, let’s have the ladies answer that.

-Ziggy

MYRABELLA’S BAM-I RECIPE

What is the one thing we take with us, when we migrate away from our beloved Philippines …. any guess from the readers???? Yes, it is our unique and savory Filipino dishes. For most Filipinos, the time they move out away from their parents, is the very time they learn to live independently. No more moms and house helpers to do our foods or to even wash our clothes. In the real sense of the word, we mature and learn.

From my experience, cooking is really a bizarre thing for me. As a child, my mom used to delegate household chores between my sister and myself. My mom or my sister do the cooking, while I do the gardening and cleaning of the house. In short, I’m only good at eating food served on the table. Cooking didn’t interest me at all on my teenage years.

Life is indeed full of surprises. Luckily I got married to a man, who LOVES cooking. Of course,  that is cooking food that is foreign to our native tongue, but IT gives light to a new hobby, of which I intend to keep. Cooking is not my cup of tea during my teens, but here I am giving it a PUSH as an adult.

One of my favourite is Bam-i, a combination of sotanghon and pansit noodles. A very easy recipe which has the following ingredients:

500grams prawns
300 grams mussels
4 pcs. Carrots ( slice elongated)
50 grams sitaw (slice diagonal)
5 stalks Celery
1 big white onion
5 gloves garlic
1 Knorr cube
1 bottle (the smallest one) oyster sauce
5 tbs. sesame oil
300 grams sotanghon (asian vermicelli or thin rice noodles)
300 grams pansit (egg noodles)

Cooking Process:

Boil the pansit, drain and set aside. I do this so that the pansit, itself will not be overcooked. Which is usually the case when cooked direct to the stir fried prawns and other ingredients.

Let the sotanghon soften in the water for about 6 minutes.

Saute your ingredients beginning with garlic, onions, carrots and sitaw (green beans).

Cover until the vegetables are tender.

Add the prawns and mussels. Add 1 knorr buillion ( its up to you if you like beef, pork or chicken) and 150ml oyster sauce. Cover it for 2 minutes.

When the prawn, mussels and celery are cooked well, add the boiled pansit and sotanghon, along with  5 tbs.  of sesame oil ( if you like it spicy you might as well add some dried chilli seeds before you add the noodles). Stir fry for 5 mins until the sotanghon is cooked. When it is done, so your Bam-i is ready to be served.

By: Myrabella T.

This recipe is part of the series, History of Filipino Food focusing on Chinese Influence

Here’s another noodle dish – La Paz Batchoy

Picture this: You are a Filipino, you are hanging out with your friends, you get hungry, would it be unusual if you suddenly tell them, shall we have Filipino food? What do you think? If you are in LA or San Francisco it ain’t unusual.

The world already knows that there was an explosion of Food Trucks in LA since that Korean Food Truck sensationalized street food more than Anthony Bourdain can. Filipinos jumped in on the craze and spat out 3 trucks that give LA Filipinos ease whenever they want Filipino food, either for themselves or to share with their friends, then start talking about how wonderful our cuisine is.

It’s a FTW (for the win) for every Filipinos not only in LA but everywhere. So here are 3 of the Filipino Food Trucks that broke the news hymen and are taking over the streets of Barack Obama.

Filipino Food Truck the THE MANILA MACHINE

The Manila Machine: Filipino Food Truck Rolls Out By Amy Scattergood from LAWeekly blogs

Marvin from Burnt Lumpia and Nastassia from Let Me Eat Cake, both Filipino food bloggers did a fantastic job. The truck looks like a massive dirty ice cream stroller because of it’s out-there color. I don’t even know what to say now because these guys walk the talk from their blogs. If you go to the links section and go through all the Filipino food bloggers in US and Canada there are a few that resonate this success in their entries. Everyone got excited with the news. Even me. I don’t even know these people. But I love them now.

Filipino Food Truck SENOR SISIG

There’s A New Filipino Taco Truck in Town. Meet Senor Sisig By John Birdsall, SFWeekly blogs

See that pig on the emblem of the truck. That my friend is a proud hog. These hip-hoppers make me proud too. They dropped sisig like it’s hot! I like their logo so much that whenever I look at it, i want to chop some pig’s head (that’s not really right). Don’t forget to watch the video. Burrito Sisig sir? Massage? I think they do all that. Just go read the article, watch the video and if you are around San Francisco, go munch on a pig’s head.

Filipino Food Truck the WHITE RABBIT

White Rabbit Truck: Mobile Filipino Fusion Launches By Noah Galuten from LAWeekly blogs

Now I wonder where these guys got their name. A candy perhaps. The chef is going for fusion which I think is way too early for Filipino Food. But if the business calls for it, i don’t care, I love it, they have a subtext in the truck that says, FILIPINO in huge fonts.

These Filipino Food Trucks are, I reckon, a beginning of more revolution on Filipino Food. If you are thinking of putting up a Filipino food business, I say go for it papi! You can do it!

Watch out for more articles about these Filipino Food Trucks!

From baycitizen.org

By ODETTE KEELEY AND RENE CIRIA-CRUZ, NEW AMERICA MEDIA

If everyone… anyone who’s had Filipino food say it is absolutely, fantastically, unbelievably, ethereally, delicious why then is Filipino food not famous? Why then is Filipino food unheard of by species who don’t speak Filipino? Beats the peanuts out of me. That is why Filipinos from the Bay area will hold a Filipino Food Festival this coming Independence day to push awareness. That is heart-warming.  The article also mentioned that the Department of Tourism, Philippines is doing an awareness drive called Kulinarya Food Trips (which sounds like it will happen somewhere in a Spanish speaking country). The drive attracts fans of the Travel Channel or that bald guy that eats worms and gets exercised by a quack doctor wherever he goes. As far as i’m concerned I already memorized the Malaysia Truly Asia and India Incredible India TV spots but I haven’t seen a single shadow of Philippine Tourism ads on TV.

Dear Department of Tourism,

How can I help?

Love,

Seigfred

Red Cross aids drought-hit Philippines

From AFP via Google

You can just imagine how happy the people are in the Philippines when the month of June has graced them with rain again because for the past three months everyone were jumping like monkeys because of the raving, ravishing heat. The fact is, Philippines is still a 3rd world country and most of the time, it has to depend on heaven to piss on it, literally, to grow its produce. That’s why the fatality of the past sweltering season are the crops, the farmers and their families, the cracked earth from which its abundance reach for the heavens. But alas! The heavens is the culprit of this annual slaughter. The rapture of the grub! Now before I go ballistic and write a Greek tragedy, you can drop by The Philippine Red Cross Organization website if you want to donate to these drought-stricken families.  My grandmother is singing in the website so don’t forget to say hi. You can’t shut her up too.

Freedom food

From Business World Online

BY JUDITH S. JUNTILLA

I have nothing against Fusion Food. In fact, I have nothing against any food. But is it too soon to go Fusion on Filipino food? I mean the naked Adobo is still a stranger to the world and then suddenly it gets haute couture. I think I need to write a whole stabbing article as this page won’t contain the gushing of vinegar and soy sauce all over it. For the time being, I will master how to make Boeuf Bourguignon while I let my naked Adobo sleep in its own fat. Whatever that means.

From Global Nation

I suggest you read the article first before reading my love letter to White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford below.

Dear White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford,

I adore you. But when is Filipino food going to become as huge as the universe? When will the denizens of this planet include Filipino food in their choice of Italian, French, Japanese or Chinese (or Filipino, yes let’s do it) for dinner?  Or at least a to-go choice? Why is Filipino food not famous? Do you have any plans on world domination that includes feeding everyone with Filipino food and Filipino food alone?

I love syllabicating your title and name by the way. White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford. It sounds really awesome. White House Executive Chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford.

Love,

Seigfred

P.S.

Those people from Iron chef don’t know what they are missing for not making you an Iron Chef. Please kiss Morimoto for me.

You voted, we tallied: The Pinoy national dish is-‘sinigang’

From Inquirer Lifestyle

I have asked a lot of Filipinos this: If you die tomorrow what would you request for your last meal? I would mostly if not always get Sinigang as an answer. I myself would have Sinigang na Bangus (Milkfish in Sour Soup) to pass through my ventricles before my heart stops beating. I think almost everyone in the Philippines would have Sinigang after a nasty break-up.

As for the article itself, I thought Sinigang was the subject of the article. It actually did not say anything about Sinigang. You should have changed the article’s title to the said event. Anyway, thank you for a long list of advertisements in the guise of acknowledgements. I am listing it down because I will visit all of those restaurants. I will also learn how to fly tomorrow.

Symposium Ponders Future of Local Filipino Cuisine. Could It Be Vegetarian?

From SF Weekly Blogs

Uhm. No.

This is a one whole roasted cow sniffing something from a foil. Looks familiar junkie?

Charcoal grilled tuna fillets. Absolutely beautiful.

I would have wanted to post more if I had more but alas, two pictures are the most that I can salvage. Good thing there’s Kris and her blog My Food Notebook to remind me of what a loser I am because Salcedo Market is just around the corner from where she is. Here are a few bits from her post:

“It was our very first Salcedo Market experience. I say “the first” for two reasons. One, that we will be back there a lot more times. Two, going to Salcedo Market is truly an experience. The sights and smells of the place is just amazing. And while I can’t share with you the smells of Salcedo Market, I can most definitely give you the sights…”

Here you go with the sights. I have no words. Tell us if you’ve been there too.