Achuete is a common cooking ingredient in the Philippines. It’s used as a coloring agent for a variety of popular dishes. I do think it has a flavor all its own, very subtle but distinct. For certain dishes like Pancit Malabon, kare-kare and chicken inasal, achuete is an essential ingredient.
I made some achuete oil for the chicken inasal I posted about yesterday. It’s very simple to make, just gently heat up some vegetable oil with some achuete seeds in a pan and strain for future use. For certain dishes, you can also add some hot broth or water to a few tablespoons of the seeds and swirl it around till the liquid has turned a deep orange.
Now that I’m writing this post, I was pleasantly surprised to find that even Emeril has a recipe for this Annato Oil and Paste!
Did Bacolod Chicken Inasal also put achuete on their inasal? hehe. Just wondering.
Arney, yes they do. Notice the color next time you’re there…
Did achuete actually affect the food’s taste? By the way, I like that bacolod chicken inasal.
Aries, I think it does. The best way to find out is to compare by cooking two batches of the chicken – one without the oil and one with the oil. mmm…I just might try that…
I think achuete makes the bacolod chicken inasal look yummy.