Location: Southeast Asia
Population: 114.2 million
Capital: Manila
Geography: An archipelago of well over 7000 islands
Language: Filipino, English
Signature flavours: Chicken, seafood, pork, coconut, egg, soy sauce, garlic, bitter melon, ube

The Menu

I have had Filipino food exactly once, at a little restaurant in Toronto. At a table covered with banana leaves, we were served a hefty portion of garlic rice topped with grilled seafood. We ate with our hands — Filipinos call this style of eating Kamayan– and it was an incredible meal. For this assignment, I had a fantasy about recreating that experience somewhat, this time in my own kitchen.

Filipino cooking is defined by four flavour families: sweet (tamis), sour (asim), salty (alat), and spicy (anghang). I created a menu that I felt showcased all four, with garlic rice at the centre of the culinary experience. As a pescatarian, I had no trouble finding dishes I could eat, but I did want to include common Filipino vegetables in my chosen dishes, so I took a bit of creative liberty here and there.

Suwam na Halaan: A simple, flavourful broth of ginger, onion, and fish sauce, loaded with clams.

Prep and cooking time: 40 min
Difficulty: 1/5

Puto: Steamed dumplings made from rice flour and coconut milk, and lightly sweetened with sugar for a snack that can be enjoyed as a sweet or a savoury.

Prep and cooking time: 20 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Sinangag: Jasmine rice absolutely loaded with fried garlic and garlic oil.

Prep and cooking time: 60 min
Difficulty: 3/5

Tofu Adobo: Thin tofu steaks marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic before being fried to a golden brown. I served this dish with fried Chinese eggplant.

Prep and cooking time: 60 min + marinating time
Difficulty: 2/5

Ginataang Hipon: Juicy shrimp in a spicy coconut milk and garlic sauce. I added chunks of roasted acorn squash to temper the spice with some sweetness.

Prep and cooking time: 45 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Squid Sisig: Squid rings sauteed in garlic, shallots, soy sauce, and hot peppers. I added green beans to this dish for some added colour.

Prep and cooking time: 30 min
Difficulty: 2/5

Ginisang Ampalaya: Bitter melon fried with onion, garlic, fish sauce, and egg.

Prep and cooking time: 15 min
Difficulty: 1/5

Avocado Milkshake: A velvety milkshake full of rich avocado and sweet coconut milk.

Prep and cooking time: 10 min
Difficulty: 1/5

Halo-Halo: Meaning “mix-mix”, this is a popular dessert on a bed of shaved ice soaked in condensed and evaporated milk, topped with red beans, young coconut, nata de coco, palm fruit, ice cream, and ube jam.

Prep and cooking time: 15 min
Difficulty: 4/5

The Shopping List

I had so many things on my ingredient list that were simply not going to turn up in my local grocery store in rural Ontario. I headed to fantastic international market Centra and found everything I needed, including fresh seafood, bitter melon, and halo-halo toppings. All the (copious amounts of) garlic came from my garden.

The Meal

Was my menu ambitious? Yes. Was the kitchen a disaster? Yes. Was it all worth it? Absolutely.

It was a group of six of us that gathered around the banana leaf-covered dining table for this Filipino feast. We started our meal with sips of decadent avocado milkshakes — perfect for cooling our palates once the spice started coming. The clam soup was the only dish we used cutlery for (we all loved the gingery broth and those juicy clams, which had absorbed the garlic and ginger and added something of their own to the soup).

I put a pile of garlic rice in front of each person, and set dish after dish on the table. The rice itself was garlicky and oily and fantastic as the backdrop against which all the other savoury dishes were set. The shrimp and acorn squash was sweet, earthy, and brought a little heat. The bitter melon was, as its name suggested, very bitter, but somehow extremely pleasant, and I kept going back to it between other dishes. The tofu adobo was maybe my favourite dish — salty and sour — with its eggplant accompaniment. The squid was also great, with a pleasant spiciness tempered slightly by the green beans.

The halo-halo gave me the most trouble, mostly because the internet had assured me that shaved ice was easy to make in a blender. It was not. After ten minutes of struggle, I was soaked, the floor was pooled with meltwater, and my blender contained one ice chunk that had previously been many ice cubes. (The difficulty of 4/5 is simply a reflection of my conflict with the ice and the blender.) I should have abandoned the project and served everything over the ice cream instead, but I’m stubborn, so I smashed ice with a meat tenderizer and served that. Texturally it was wrong, but the toppings made up for it. Halo-halo is, in a word, decadent, with its coconut four ways, its various milks, and its sweetness. It was delicious, sweet and refreshing, and Eric and I have gone back to the toppings a few times (over vanilla ice cream, since I won’t be attempting shaved ice in a blender again anytime soon).

I loved this assignment. I loved the variety of flavours and ingredients I got to play with, I loved how the dishes came together, and I really just enjoyed the meal. It was great fun to share with friends.

Links
Quintessential Filipino Cooking by Liza Agbanlog
I Am a Filipino and This is How We Cook by Nicole Ponseca and Miguel Trinidad
https://www.hungryhuy.com/puto-filipino-steamed-rice-cakes/
https://plantbasedonabudget.com/easy-tofu-adobo/

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional chef. I’m just a passionate cook with a curiosity for flavours I’ve never tried. For great recipes from gifted local cooks, follow the links above.