Dive-Monster Rhoody

Food is a big thing in the Philippine Islands. During the last few years I tasted a lot of strange things. Many dishes were over delicious. I never found a list if local dishes and even the following is for sure not complete. It gives a rough overview about the local philippino street-cuisine.

The spelling is also different from region to region, my research is more based in the Visayas and Luzon. I will update the list from time to time when I get more stuff through my stomach. You can find this stuff at many local restaurants and street kitchens.

Dictionary of Philippine street food

Abnoy – unhatched incubated duck egg or bugok which is mixed with flour and water and cooked like pancakes
Adidas - chicken feet, marinated and grilled or cooked adobo style
Arroz caldo – rice porridge or congee cooked with chicken and kasubha; see also Lugaw
Atay – grilled chicken liver
Baga - pig’s or cow’s lungs grilled or deep-fried and served with barbeque condiments
Balat ng manok – see Chicken skin and Chicharon manok
Balun-balunan – grilled chicken gizzard
Balut – hard-boiled duck egg with fetus
Banana cue – deep-fried saba (banana) covered with caramelized brown sugar
Barbeque – marinated pork or chicken pieces grilled on skewers
Batchoy – miki noodle soup garnished with pork innards (liver, kidney and heart), chicharon (pork skin cracklings), chicken breast, vegetables and topped with a raw egg; origin traced to La Paz, Iloilo
Betamax – curdled chicken or pork blood, cubed and grilled
Bibingka – glutinous rice flour pancakes grilled with charcoal above and below in a special clay pot
Biko (also Bico) – glutinous rice cake with grated coconut topping
Binatog - boiled white corn kernels, sugar, grated coconut and milk
Bopis – minced pig’s heart and lungs sauteed with garlic and onion and seasoned with laurel, oregano, bell pepper and vinegar
Botsi – chicken esophagus, deep-fried or grilled
Calamares – deep-fried squid in batter
Calamay (also Kalamay) – glutinous rice cakes; varieties all over the country
Camote cue – deep-fried camote (sweet potato) covered with caramelized brown sugar
Carioca (also Karyoka, Karioka) – deep-fried glutinous rice flour cakes served on skewers
Cheese sticks – deep-fried cheese wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper
Chicharon baboy – pork skin cracklings, made from pork rind boiled and seasoned, sun-dried and deep-fried
Chicharon bituka – pork or chicken intestine boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
Chicharon bulaklak – pork omentum boiled, seasoned and deep-fried
Chicharon manok – chicken skin cracklings
Chicken balls – balls made with chicken meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
Chicken skin – chicken skin battered and deep fried
Cutchinta - see Kutsinta
Day-old chicks – literally day-old chicks deep-fried to a crisp, served with sauce or vinegar
Empanada (Batac) – pork longganiza, egg and grated green papaya in a rice flour shell, deep-fried and served with vinegar
Fishballs – balls made with fish meat, most often from pollock, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
Goto – rice porridge or congee cooked with beef tripe
Halo-halo – translated as “a mix of many things” or “an assortment,” it is a dessert topped with shaved ice that may contain sweetened saba (banana), camote, macapuno (young coconut), kaong, nata de coco, pinipig (rice crispies), gulaman (agar), sago (tapioca balls), brown and white beans, garbanzos, ube (purple yam), and leche flan (creme brulee), with milk and sugar
Helmet – grilled chicken head
Hepalog (also Toknonong) – hard-boiled duck eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried
Isaw – collective term for different types of grilled chicken and pork innards; varieties include isaw manok, isaw baboy, atay, goto, botsi, balun-balunan, and tenga ng baboy
Isaw baboy – grilled or deep-fried pork intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce
Isaw manok (aslo IUD) – grilled or deep-fried chicken intestines on a skewer, served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; also referred to as IUD because it resembles an intra-uterine device
Iskrambol (also Scrambol) – frostees; shaved ice, diced gulaman, sago and condensed milk
IUD - see Isaw manok
Kakanin – collective term for snacks made with kanin (rice), particularly malagkit (glutinous) rice; varieties include puto, kutsinta, calamay, sapin-sapin, suman, palitaw, biko or sinukmani, and espasol among many others
Kalamay – see Kalamay
Kamote cue – see Camote cue
Kikiam – the special ones are made of ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd sheets, deep-fried and served with sweet, sour or spicy sauce; those in the street are seafood-based, usually made of fish meat and cuttlefish
Kudil – deep-fried pork skin
Kutsinta – steamed bahaw (boiled rice) with lye and brown sugar; has a gelatinous consistency
Kwek kwek – see Quek quek
Lomi – noodle soup made with thick fresh egg noodles or lomi
Langoniza – pork sausage grilled or fried on a skewer
Lugaw – rice porridge or congee; varieties include arroz caldo (with chicken and kasubha) and goto (with beef tripe)
Lumpia – spring rolls; varieties include lumpiang basa; lumpiang hubad – fresh spring rolls wothout the wrapper; lumpiang prito; lumpiang sariwa – fresh srping rolls; lumpiang shanghai; lumpiang ubod; and turon
Mais – boiled sweet corn seasoned with salt, butter or margarine
Mais con yelo – sweet corn, milk and sugar topped with shaved ice
Mami – noodle soup
Manggang hilaw – green mango served with bagoong (shrimp paste)
Mani – peanuts either boiled, roasted or deep-fried and seasoned with garlic and salt
Maruya – banana fritters
Nilupak – mashed kamoteng kahoy (cassava) or kamote (sweet potato) with brown sugar and served with butter or margarine
Palitaw – glutinous rice flour pancakes topped with grated young coconut, sugar and roasted sesame seeds
Panara – deep-fried crab and grated green papaya empanda sold in Pampanga during Christmas season
Pancit – noodles; varieties are batchoy (Iloilo) – see Batchoy; batil patung (Tuguegarao) – local noodles topped with hot dogs, chicharon, ground meat, fried egg, and vegetables; pancit bihon; pancit canton – a kind of pancit guisado flavored with ginger and soy sauce; pancit guisado, pancit habhab (Lucban) – sautéed miki noodles served on and eaten straight from banana leaf sans utensils; pancit lomi – see Lomi; pansit luglog (Pampanga and Tagalog Region) – it has a distinct orange shrimp-achuete sauce and is topped with chicharon, tinapa, wansoy and shrimp; pancit malabon (Malabon) – made with thick rice noodles tossed in shrimp-achuete oil topped with shelled oysters, squid rings, suaje or hipong puti and wansoy; pancit molo (Iloilo) – clear chicken broth with wonton, garlic and crushed chorizo; pancit palabok; pancit puti (Manila); and pancit sotanghon among many others
Pandesal (also Pan de sal) – breakfast roll; rounded bread
Pares – translated as “pair,” means the pairing of rice with beef; beef pares is characterized by very tender meat, usually with a lot of litid (ligaments)
Penoy – hard-boiled duck egg without fetus
Proven – hard portion of chicken entrails that is either marinated and grilled, battered and fried or cooked adobo style
Pusit – squid grilled on skewer
Puto – steamed rice cake
Puto bumbong – purple glutinous rice snack cooked in a special steamer
Quikiam – see Kikiam
Quek quek (also Toknanay) – hard boiled chicken eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also used for quail eggs but some say the correct term for the quail egg version is tokneneng; the balut version is sometimes referred to as hepalog
Sapin-sapin – layered glutinous rice and coconut milk cake usually topped with grated coconut and latik (residue from coconut oil extraction); different flavor per layer such as ube (purple yam), macapuno (young coconut), kutsinta and langka (jackfruit)
Scrambol – see Iskrambol
Sinukmani – see Biko
Siomai – steamed pork dumplings
Siopao – steamed pork buns
Sisig – roasted pig’s head, chicken liver, onions and chili, chopped and flavored with calamansi served on a hot metal plate
Sorbetes (also Dirty ice cream) – street ice cream made with local fruits and ingredients; common flavors include ube (purple yam), mango, avocado, queso (cheese), chocolate, langka (jackfruit), buko or macapuno (coconut); strawberry is common in Baguio City
Squid balls – balls made with squid or cuttlefish meat, deep fried and served in skewers with a sweet, sour or spicy sauce
Suman - glutinous rice snack steamed in banana or coconut leaves; varieties include binagol (Leyte) made with glutinous rice, gabi (taro), coconut milk and chocolate; budbod sa kabog (Tanjay, Negros Oriental) which uses millet instead of glutinous rice; Taho – bean curd snack topped with arnibal (liquefied raw sugar similar to molasses) and sago (tapioca balls)
Tenga ng baboy (also Walkman) – marinated pig’s ears grilled on skewers; see also Kudil
Toknanay – see Quek quek
Tokneneng – hard boiled quail eggs dipped in orange batter and deep-fried; also called kwek kwek by others
Toknonong – see Hepalog
Tupig (also Itemtem) – glutinous rice, grated mature coconut, coconut milk and molasses rolled in banana leaves and grilled; varieties in Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte (Batac) and Isabela
Turon – saba (banana) with with sugar and sometimes langka (jackfruit) wrapped in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper and deep-fried
Walkman – see Tenga ng Baboy

enjoy your meal

Rhoody