World of street foods and exotic cuisine: 01 August 2010

8.05.2010

they called helmet....crispy chicken head

Helmet and Adidas:

Chicken head respectively. Marinated and grilled or barbecued of course.

Dirty Ice cream

Refers to locally made ice cream, nobody really knows – or cares – if it’s dirty or not. The local kids thrive on it, anyway. It’s usually available in three exotic flavors: Mango, Cheese and Purple Yam.

sago't gulaman and fish ball cart...

One of the beautiful things about the Philippines is the love for food everyone has. You can walk around local markets and find street food vendors offering drinks and snacks. Many times you will find vendors huddled close together with their moveable food cart serving hungry lines of mouths just waiting for a bite to eat. Having a moving restaurant helps their business stay close to crowds.
With the heat and humidity on full blast, you could always use a drink to cool off. A nearby vendor that specializes in Cantaloupe Juice and Sago’t Gulaman was just the answer to the heat.

The Melon is sweet. Strips of the cantaloupe meat float around your cup, so you get some with each sip you take. If you finish all of the juice, the cantaloupe strips are layered right in the bottom of your cup, all ready to be snacked on.
Sago’t Gulaman is a mix of sago and agar agar in a sugary caramelized liquid. This dark colored refreshment is sweet to the taste and filling with all of the sago and gelatin like cubes.

Right next to the beverage cart was a fish ball vendor. Fish meat that has been pressed and shaped into small balls are fried here. Other freshly fried goodies from chicken balls, squid balls, and tofu were available. Take your skewer and poke at what you want. Dipping sauces are there for your picking. Some sweet and spicy, while others are tarter like a vinaigrette.
Of course this is only a small sample of what street food is available. Just about every corner you turn, you are sure to find something else to snack on.

Pongko pongko or pungko pungko

Pongko pongko or pungko pungko literally translated means to sit around on a simple stool. The term, for Cebuanos at least, suggests hanging out, shooting the breeze, and usually having nothing better to do. Apparently, it now also applies to a particular of street dining as in sitting down on a basic wooden bench on a sidewalk to have lunch, merienda or dinner. In several parts of the city, these makeshift sidewalk restaurants spring up pong2during the day and while they do a brisk lunch time turnover, the late afternoon or early evening business is probably much stronger… A customer walks up, sits on a simple wooden bench facing an array of typically deep fried viands such as lumpia (spring rolls), ukoy (shrimp fritters), tuyo (dried fish), hotdogs (?!), fried fish, etc. He or she typically purchases one or two puso or rice cooked in young coconut leaves and a viand or two, and in a plastic bowl covered with a clear plastic bag, eats his or her meal with one’s hand in a plastic bag. Vinegar with chili is free. Cost of a typical meal? One viand at PHP6-8 pesos each, one or two puso at PHP2 each and a softdrink at say PHP6 a bottle. It amazes me that for PHP10 or about 20 U.S. cents one can get a meal without the hassle of cooking or cleaning up. Of course the vast majority of viands are deep fried and thus are able to sit around for hours with minimal risk of food poisoning. I must say that the overall hygeine of this sort of set-up is enough to make many a squeamish mother shiver… but you have to admit, it is economical!

siomai sa tisa...

Very popular food! You can see this in almost all places of Cebu.....But for me, I always go to where it all started....And yes you're right, definitely in Tisa.

I could still remember the days when the place was still called as Way Tugpahay, popular for their tasty puto and sikwti, on early hours of the morning...Now the place is dominated by siomai food vendors.

Siomai sa Tisa never gets out of customers. You barely can have a chance to have seat during evenings until early morning. A lot of avid siomai lovers come to eat, despite being from far places.

The Steaming Siomai is so tasty......with a very hot sauce.....and lemon....nom nom nom!!! 3 siomais is the basic, but most would love to add more. Truly an addicting taste...c",)

Ice candy....

When summer is hot there is no better way to beat it but by eating cold stufs. Filipinos love cold snacks like Halo-halo or Banana con hielo for they are easy to make and are definitely delicious.You can always find one at a nearby shop. Kids on the other hand enjoy ice-candy all year round. Even when rainy season comes, Ice-candy are a sure hit to children. Here’s a recipe to try;

Ingredients:

one fourth cup of sago (tapioca)

1 tablespoon of dried raisins

half a cup of shredded coconut meat

1 sweetened banana (saba in preferance)

half a cup of melon strips

half a liter of coconut juice

one fourth cup of evaporated milk

5 tablespoons of sugar

Procedure:

Mix everything in a big bowl. Taste the sweetness to determine if you want to add more or less sugar. Pour them with the help of your funnel on your ice-candy bags. Freeze them for at least 24 hours

Singapore Street Food

Singapore is Asia's melting pot, populated by Chinese, Indonesians, Indians, and Malays—a culinary dream team that makes Singaporean street food the most diverse and celebrated on earth. And the safest: All sidewalk chefs here work in "hawker centers," little open-air venues where the government enforces its strict health codes. At the Old Airport Road Food Centre, you'll find Indian-style fish head curry bubbling away at one stand and Hainanese chicken rice—stuffed with scallions and ginger, poached, and served with sticky rice—at the next. The Matter Road Seafood Barbecue stall specializes in Singapore's celebrated chile crabs, which come slathered in a garlicky, fiery, prepare-to-get-messy paste. Toa Payoh Rojak deals only in rojak, an inspired salad of pineapple, cucumber, and other fruits and vegetables dressed in a bracing syrup made with tamarind and shrimp paste. Naturally, the plethora of options has inspired some serious connoisseurs, most famously K.F. Seetoh, whose Makansutra site is a well-respected guide to Singapore's best vendors.

Arepas...

Colombia might be the only Latin American country where rice is more important than corn. But Colombians have a special place in their heart for the cornmeal cakes they call arepas. If you've never had the pleasure, imagine corn bread with a more delicate crumb that's been flattened into a pancake, filled with cheese or egg, and griddled or fried to form a brown, crispy crust. Each bite sends butter streaking down your chin and, for Colombians, inspires memories of abuela at the stove. For the best, fly down to Cartegena and seek out the Restaurante Club De Pesca in the Manga neighborhood. But you won't find them on the menu there—it's one of the fanciest places in town. Instead, head to the nearby soccer field, where a gaggle of ladies sell carimañolas (yuca fritters filled with ground beef), empanadas, and most importantly, those fabulous arepas.

Philippine Street Food

The choices to be had when it comes to street food in the Philippines are seemingly endless. While there may be a large selection for the more carnivorous diner, vegetarians have quite a few choices as well. So here is a list of my top 5 non-meaty street delicacies.

A street vendor grilling up a feast in Manila

Coming in first place is a personal favourite of mine and an overall delicious snack or meryenda called Turon. This almost dessert-like snack is made from Cavendish bananas which are halved and then rolled in brown sugar. Then some jackfruit is added and it’s all rolled up in a spring roll wrapper. This little parcel of deliciousness is then fried in oil and some more brown sugar. There are also some different variations that I have discovered recently as well, one version has chocolate sauce injected into the centre and because you can never go wrong with bananas and ice cream, there is always turon al a mode. Prices vary, but you should be able to pick up some turon for around 10 pesos a roll.
Where you find turon you are pretty much guaranteed to find another tasty snack – Banana-cue. Banana-cue is like turon without the wrapper and jackfruit. Usually you will find it as two whole Cavendish bananas on a skewer. The bananas are friend and coated in brown sugar. These again can be picked up for around 10 pesos. Sadly, both turon and banana-cue tend to be more of a lunch time snack and disappear from the majority of street stalls once it gets dark.
Want a quick nibble on your way home? Then you can pick up some peanuts steamed in their shells or fried in oil. My favourites are the fried variety and they also come in chilli and garlic flavours, however, sometimes they can be a tad too salty. Depending on how many you get and how big the bag is they’ll cost you 5 – 10 pesos.

Boiled Peanuts
Photo by Scott Allford

Fried Peanuts

Also if you’re on the run you can grab some Dirty Ice Cream. It sounds bad but it’s not really dirty. The name comes from the fact that it’s sold in little carts on the streets exposed to pollution and served without gloves. You can get it in a variety of unique flavours: ube(yam), queso (cheese), buko (coconut), and the usual chocolate or vanilla. You can stick with one flavour or mix it up. They also come in different cones: sugar cone, wafer cone, and I’ve even heard in bread buns. Prices will differ depending on how big your serving is.

Green Mangoes

Lastly, we come to green mangoes which are not my absolute favourite because of their sour taste, but still quite delicious. These are simply unripe mangoes or Indian mangoes which are green in colour. They are usually cut in half and the seed is removed and then it is placed on a skewer. A generous helping of Bagoong (shrimp paste) is then applied and it’s ready to eat. You can pick up one slice for about 10 pesos.
All of these foods offer their own great tastes and with each street delicacy comes an interesting cultural experience that doesn’t usually get a mention in the in-flight magazines. So for your next meal, get outside to enjoy the sunny weather and grab some food from the street.

8.02.2010

siomai on streefoods..

all street food in the Philippines Siomai is as close to my favorite as it gets. It is basically a small ball of pork or beef covered in a light filo style pastry and steamed. Then on the street served up in little trays with a choice of chili sauce, light sauce and soy sauce.

It’s not always easy to get, as it takes a little preparation. But once you find a little man with a stack of aluminum containers you might not want to move away for a while.

Siomai is available in many other South East Asian countries, with a local telling me it’s origins are Chinese.

In the street you can pick up Siomai for as little as 3 pesos each. While in Chow king expect to pay around 50 pesos for 3! Many Filipinos don’t like street Siomai claiming it’s not good meat. But I never had a problem, and it tastes really good.