The Unofficial Cook

  Latik.  What is it?  The best way to describe it is fried coconut milk curd.  Pictured here is the latik as I took it off the  fire.  Leaving it in the hot oil will turn it darker…the perfect topping for a variety of Philippine rice cakes.

Here’s the round-up for Lasang Pinoy’s 20th Edition for the month of August titled, “Binalot – All Wrapped Up!” Thank you to everyone who took time off from their busy lives and sent in a contribution for this LP edition. We covered appetizers to dessert like we all planned it! I hope LP followers will [...]

This is a rice stick everyone in the Philippines knows. Filipinos like eating this with ripe mangoes, specifically, Philippine mangoes and none of the “manila” mangoes sold in the US. As every Filipino who has traveled outside the country will tell you – nothing beats Philippine mangoes for flavor and texture. And this Suman sa [...]

Muruecos is the name of a common rice stick or suman as Filipinos call it. It was supposedly my grandmother’s favorite suman. I like it too and featuring it for Lasang Pinoy 20th Edition, Binalot made the effort certainly worthwhile.

Another entry for Lasang Pinoy’s 20th Edition titled “Binalot – All Wrapped Up!”. This dish is simply called “Binalot” by Bicolanos. It’s shrimp and coconut meat wrapped in gabi leaves then stewed and braised in coconut cream and herbs and spices.

This is the first of a series for the Lasang Pinoy Edition 20: Binalot, All Wrapped Up! I’m hosting this month’s event and while I thought it might be interesting, I had no clue what I was in for! This was actually the easiest dish I made so I’m posting it first. The dishes I [...]

On behalf of Filipino food bloggers everywhere, we are proud to announce the start of Lasang Pinoy’s 20th Edition: “Binalot, All Wrapped Up!” for the month of August 2007. There are a myriad ways of preparing Filipino foods and a favorite is wrapping in leaves. The dish is referred to as “binalot” and while it [...]

    I didn’t have time to cook anything specially for this edition of Lasang Pinoy.  I’ll do the next best thing and make a list of everything I’ve already featured here.  The Philippines was under Spain for over 300 years.  The Iberian influence is evident in our everyday life yet we have become oblivious to it.  While the influence is Spanish, [...]

    The Filipino food bloggers’ event, Lasang Pinoy celebrates it’s first year anniversary this month of August. Congratulations and here’s to more participants and anniversaries!     This month’s theme, Definitively Pinoy, was not so easy for me.  I wanted to do  the Ilokano dishes “dinengdeng” or  “pinakbet” that my mother does so well.  I could,  [...]

  Lasang Pinoy, the Filipino food blogger’s event,  has a very interesting theme this month:  Distinctly Pinoy with a Twang. Pinoy Fusion. Philippine cuisine, as we know it, is even now a fusion of various influences:  Malay, European, American, Chinese and Arab influences….a veritable melting pot of the various cultures that left an impact on [...]

    Lasang Pinoy 11 has a theme that’s close to every Pinoy’s heart.  Summer was always a great time to just enjoy being a kid. I decided to finally feautre a family favorite from my dad’s side of the family.  He remembered it was usually served warm but my mother decided it was too [...]

Iska of Edible Experiments invited me to join this Filipino food blogger’s event now going on its 8th edition.  I’m honored to be invited. Before I started this blog, I was a regular lurker at other Filipino food blogs and thought the Lasang Pinoy Events were a great way to bring together virtual strangers with [...]