10 Famous Filipino Dishes

10. Pancit

It is difficult to point to one noodle dish and call it pancit. Pancit may be made with rice noodles, wheat noodles, or noodles derived from another source of starch. It may be served with a dry sauce, a thick sloppy sauce, or even a broth or soup. Toppings for pancit are incredibly varied, including things like hard boiled eggs, shredded meat, and finely sliced vegetables, and the flavors of this dish are quite diverse.

One common variant of pancit is pancit bihon, which is made with extremely thin rice noodles, soy sauce, citrus, sliced meats, and vegetables. Many versions of pancit incorporate multiple meats; pork, shrimp, and beef are all common. Sauces can be spicy with chilies, rich with ground peanuts, or savory as a result of the addition of soy sauce.

9. Pork Barbecue

Pork barbecue is a fast selling street food item. It’s easy to cook and convenient for the hungry customer. It is very common on the sidewalks, outside the schools, offices and you can also find this at the native restaurant in the Philippines. This dish Often serve at a house party like birthday, wedding, anniversary etc.

8. Chicken Inasal

When Spaniards colonize the Philippines they discovered this mouthwatering dish in Bacolod. They assumed that the chicken they taste was roasted so they called it “Asar”. Asar is the Spanish word for roasted. The natives of Bacolod adopted the word but they could not pronounce the word “R” at the end. So the “Inasal” word was born.

Chicken Inasal is marinated in native herbs and spices, skewered on bamboo stick, and then basted with achuete and grilled. This was always been beloved staple of the Bacolod cuisine.

7.  Kilawin

The basic ingredient of kilawin is usually pork or tuna. With several spices such as ginger, garlic and the local sili, it is then “cooked” with vinegar and/or the Philippine lemon called kalamansi. Vinegar and/or kalamansi cook the basic ingredient. The best type of kilawin is made with fresh tuna.

6. Sisig

sisig is composed of chopped pigs face (snout included) and ears with a generous amounts of chicken liver. Hundreds of sisig variations are available today ranging from the original pigs face (maskara) ingredient to a more healthy seafood concoction such as squid, tuna, milk fish (bangus), and mussels.

5. Crispy Pata

Crispy pata means deep fried pata with a crunchy rind and soft and moist meat inside. Pata is the front or hind leg of the pig. In the Philippines, that means the leg and the trotters (knuckles).

4. Kare-Kare

Kare-kare is a rich and meaty Filipino stew of oxtails, green beans and eggplant in a sauce thickened with peanut butter. Served on special occasions or as a Sunday meal, kare-kare is always accompanied by white rice and a bit of sautéed shrimp paste called bagoong alamang.

3. Lechon

Lechon is the Spanish word for suckling pig. In the Philippines it is connoted with a roasted whole pig or lechon baboy.  The process of lechon involves stuffing of lemon grass, garlic, soy sauce, salt, thyme vinegar and black peppercorn after that the whole pig/piglet is slowly roasted over charcoal. A small pig is roasted for about 3-4 hours and the larger one takes about 5-6 hours. This day-long and arduous method of roasting leaves a crispy skin and very moist meat inside.

2. Sinigang

Sinigang is a Philippine dish consisting of meat or seafood and vegetables simmered in a sour broth, often with a base of rice washing. The sour soup goes well with rice, the staple food of all Filipinos. Fish, pork, chicken, shrimp, or beef may be used for sinigang. There are usually leafy vegetables like gabi (taro), siling labuyo (red chili), or malunggay leaves, or kangkong (water spinach). Other vegetables cooked in sinigang may include okra, radish, eggplant, tomatoes, sitaw (snake beans), and string beans. The vegetables are chosen to complement the dish’s flavor.

1. Adobo

Adobo is Spanish for seasoning or marinade. The noun form describes the marinade or seasoning mix. Meat marinated or seasoned with an adobo is referred to having been adobada. Adobo relates to marinated dishes such as chipotles en adobo, which are chipotle chili peppers marinated in a rich, flavorful, tomato sauce. Adobo is prepared in regions of Latin America and Spain, and forms with the same name but with different cultural roots, are prepared in regions of Asia Pacific. Pork, spices, and especially red pepper are used.