My Top Five Filipino Foods (I Miss Them In Hollandia)

Filipinos love to eat and the Philippine archipelago is considered a melting pot of South East Asia. -Driftwood Journey

After a number of travel blog, I want to write again something about foods. Food and eating. On this blog, I will tell you my top five among Filipino foods. Foods that I wish I have it too here in the Netherlands for a day to day basis.

Siomai. Siomai also called pork dumplings. But a beef version of it in Chowking is I prefer more than pork. Siomai is traditionally cooked through steaming. But now, siomai are being served fried complimented with calamansi/lemon and soy sauce. I love siomai in a dim sum or in noodles. I never have siomai here in The Netherlands and I do not know if there is some Asian restaurants here that served siomai.

Siomai

Taho. Taho is a Filipino snack food, but for me, it served as my very light breakfast during those times that I was an office girl. In the morning, there is a "manong magtataho" in front of our office building and I have a cup of taho entering the office. When I visited my father in The Philippines last year and stayed with him in the hospital for about two weeks, I brought back my old habit: a cup of taho in the morning. Taho is made of fresh, soft, silken tofu with sweetener and flavoring. Taho vendor usually adds sago pearl (similar to tapioca pearl) but I prefer my taho just plain. The usual cup is worth 5 pesos. For satisfaction, I have worth 10 pesos.

The ordinary taho that I love.

Taho at Soya Box

Polboron or polvoron. Polvoron is a deliciously sweet short bread. I have read that polvoron or polvorones are popular holiday delicacies in Spain and Spain is its place of origin. In The Philippines, we enjoyed it the whole year round. The main ingredients of polboron are flour, sugar, milk, and nuts. There are two big bake shops in The Philippines where we can buy special polboron. The last time, I brought back in The Netherlands a box of polboron from our holiday in The Philippines. Next time, I will take home three boxes to sustain me long. If you are a coffee lover like me, try polboron, it is also a perfect match for your coffee.

wrapping polboron (photo credit: instructables.com)

next time I will make it three boxes :)

Laing. Laing or ginataang natong in Bicol dialect, is a spicy coconut based dish. This dish is budget friendly, but I can bargain a steak for laing. My mother is well known among our circle of friends because she cooks a very delicious laing. My mother's ingredients for laing are coconut milk, natong (dried taro leaves), grilled or fried fish, sili or chili. I remember one time, I bought Laing in the can at the Pinoy store in Rotterdam, to try if it can satisfy my craving. But sad, it tastes nothing. It is like they just boiled the taro leaves and then they put it in a can.

I'm telling you, I can bargain steak for laing :)

Bangus. Actually, bangus is milkfish in English and it is the national fish in the Philippines. But bangus is a versatile fish. You can feed me the entire weeks with only bangus and rice and I will surely enjoy it. Hahaha! To name bangus dishes, I can say I love fried bangus, daing na bangus (marinated), paksiw na bangus (cooked in vinegar), sinigang na bangus (cooked with many vegetables and tamarind or guava for sour taste), or just plain grilled bangus. Someone told me that I can buy bangus in a market in Rotterdam for the price that I do not know. And there is someone who told me that I can buy a daing na bangus to any Filipino store here in The Netherlands in 8-10 euro per piece. I have not tried that yet. It is a bit expensive for me.

sinigang na bangus

inihaw na bangus

my Dutch family experienced the Filipino way of eating

at Gerry's Grill with my family

You might be a Filipino reading this blog and knows well the taste, the smell of these foods that I love. Or you might be someone who has been in the Philippines or planning to visit the Philippines, you have an idea now of some of our foods. Don't be surprised to see that we, Filipinos eat three meals a day, that food is the basis of our social life. If in the western countries, it is a common thing to ask you, what do you like for a drink?, in the Philippines, because of the hospitality, we often ask our visitor or even a stranger who passed by while we are eating to come and eat with us. Many people don't understand about this in our culture, but for us it is like a simplest way of sharing our life's blessing.