Ilocano Dishes

Dinengdeng

Dinengdeng (also called inabraw) is a dish of the Ilocano people of the Philippines, similar to pinakbet. It is classified as a bagoong soup based dish. Unlike pinakbet, dinengdeng contains fewer vegetables and contains more bagoong soup base.

The dish contains the following vegetables: jute leaves, the pods and leaves of the horseradish tree, the leaves and fruits of bitter melon, the calabaza squash and blossoms, alakon blossoms, amaranth leaves, sweet potato tubers and leaves, kabatiti gourd, string beans and shoots, talinum, chayote squash and shoots, chili peppers, banana blossoms, corn, West-Indian pea blossoms, tabungaw gourd, winter melon, eggplant, okra, winged bean, parda beans, lima beans, various mushrooms like oyster mushrooms, whole taro, cassava tubers, purple yams, and wild potatoes.

Some add leftover fried fish, or other meats, to the dish.

Pinakbet

Pinakbet or pakbet is a popular Ilocano dish, from the northern regions of the Philippines, although it has become popular throughout the archipelago. The word is the contracted form of the Ilocano word pinakebbet, meaning “shrunk” or “shriveled”. The original Ilocano pinakbet uses bagoong (“bugguong” in Ilokano), of fermented monamon or other fish, while further south, bagoong alamang is used. The basic vegetables used in this dish include native bitter melon, eggplant, tomato, okra, string beans, chili peppers , parda, winged beans, and others. Root crops and some beans like camote, patani, kadios are also optionally added. The young pod of marunggay is also added. It is usually spiced with ginger, onions, or garlic. A Tagalog version usually includes calabaza. Most of these vegetables are easily accessible, and are grown in backyards and gardens of most Ilocano households. As its name suggests, it is usually cooked until almost dry and shriveled and the flavors of the vegetables are emphasized and accentuated by bagoong (shrimp paste). In some cases, lechon, chicharon, or other meats (most commonly pork) are added. It is considered a very healthy dish, and convenient in relation to the harsh and rugged, yet fruitful Northern and Ilocos regions of the Philippines. The history of this dish is derived from such.

The vegetable dish pinakbet is more than a regional cuisine. It is an enduring symbol of the Ilocano palate and a lucid display of the Ilocanos’ history of contestations and struggles with the physical and social environment. The recipe weaves intimations of the cultural productions of the Ilokanos’ transaction to their arid and less productive land. (Caday, 2009)

Bagoong monamon

Bagoong monamonBagoong monamon, bagoong monamon-dilis, or simply bagoong and bugguong munamon in Ilocano, is a common ingredient used in the Philippines and particularly in Northern Ilocano cuisine. It is made by fermenting salted anchovies which is not designed, nor customarily used for immediate consumption since it is completely raw. Therefore it is used as a cooking ingredient, upon when it is cooked alone, it can be used as an accompaniment to traditional food dishes. To most Westerners unfamiliar with this condiment, the smell can be extremely repulsive. Bagoong is however, an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces.

This bagoong is smoother than bagoong terong, however, they are similar in flavor. The odor is unique and smells strongly of fish. Fish sauce, common throughout Southeast Asian cuisine, is a by-product of the bagoong process. Known as patis, it is distinguished as the clear refined layer floating on the thicker bagoong, itself. Patis and bagoong can be interchanged in recipes, depending on personal taste and preference.

Bagoong is used as a flavor enhancing agent, in the place of salt, soy sauce, or monosodium glutamate. It is used in creating the fish stock that is the base for many Ilocano dishes, like pinakbet, or as a dressing to greens in the dish called kinilnat or ensalada. Bagoong is also used as a condiment, in many cases, a dipping sauce for chicharon, green and ripe mangoes, or hard boiled eggs.

It is similar in taste and smell to that of anchovy paste.

In other areas of the Philippines, this type of bagoong can be named for the locale they came from, eg; bagoong balayan (which is produced in the coastal town of Balayan in the Province of Batangas).

Source: Wikipedia