FILIPINO FOOD 101: WHEN COOKING FILIPINO FOODS IN THE USA ARE PINOY INGREDIENTS A SECRET? [ CLICK THIS ]

FILIPINO FOOD 101:  WHEN COOKING FILIPINO FOODS IN THE USA ARE PINOY INGREDIENTS A SECRET?

If NOT, why are those ingredients so hard to find? The secret is out - allow me share what I have learned.

Did you ever get a Filipino Recipe from someone in the Philippines, you then go to the store to buy the ingredients only to get frustrated because you cannot find those ingredients here in the USA? You are not alone and it has happened to me too.

Many years ago, before Lucy and I were married, I purchased a Filipino Cook Book at the National Book Store in Cebu. I already knew that Lucy did not know how to cook so my plan was simple.  While immigrations is processing her paperwork I would learn how to prepare some of her favorite dishes and when she arrives in the USA I would already know how to cook her favorite foods for her.

Thinking ahead, I even had her mark her favorite foods in this cook book before I returned to Arizona. I was excited and knew I was ready.

In theory this idea sounded good yet I can still remember my frustration, when I got home and started making a grocery list so I could practice cooking the first recipe.  What a nightmare....

I remember taking my list of ingredients to Frys, my local grocery store and I could not find them. I was not off to a good start and began getting frustrated. Next I went to Bashas Grocery Store and they did not have them either. And I even went to Lee Lee's Oriental Market. Not there either. What the heck? Ay Naku, learning to make Lucy's favorite Filipino foods was going to be more of a challenge than I first thought.

You see, I was a bit confused about the ingredient names.

In the cook book and in the Philippines they called an ingredient by one name and in the United States we called that same ingredient by another name. How confusing.

Thank God I knew some Filipina here who know how to cook and they helped me prepare this list. Since we first made this list it has grown and grown. Today, after 11 years, I will share this list with you.

This list has helped me over the years and I hope this will prevent any of you from being confused about what the Filipino ingredients are called in English.

Here are some Filipino or Tagalog words used in Food Recipes and their corresponding English translation, definition, or meaning.

ON THE LEFT:     I provided some popular Filipino ingredients

ON THE RIGHT:     I put what they are called here in the USA.

I hope this list helps you as it helped me.

Achuete or Achiote – Annatto seeds (red seeds used to color food)

Adobo - braised meat; cooked over slow fire using vinegar, water, and black peppercorn, with soy sauce for color and saltiness, or with achuete for red color; may be considered the national food in the Philippines

Alimasag - salt water crab; blue crabs

Alugbati – Malabar Night Shade or Spinach

Ampalaya – Bitter melon or Bitter gourd

Asin – Salt

Baboy – Pork or Pig

Baka – Beef

Bagnet - Crispy deep fried pork belly - great for adding to pinakbet.

Bagoong alamang – A condiment made from fermented salted fish or shrimp paste

Bagoong isda – Fermented salted anchovies

Baguio beans – Green beans

Banana leaf - the leaf of the banana plant that has many uses in Filipino cooking such as wrapping food, as cover and underliner, or for packaging.

Bangus - milkfish, considered the national fish of the Philippines

Bawang – Garlic

Bihon – Rice noodles

Bigas - Rice

Binagoongan - cooking with bagoong

Buko – Young coconut

Bulalo – Beef shanks

Buntot ng baka - Ox tail

Calamansi – Filipino lime, a Philippine citrus fruit and souring agent “Lemon” is the best substitute

Canton – Egg noodles

Chicharon – Pork rinds

Chorizo - general name for Spanish sausage

Dahon ng gabi - taro leaves

Dahon ng sili - chili leaves

Daing - dried fish or picked fish, usually cut butterfly-style

Dilis – Anchovies

Dugo – Pork, Beef, and Chicken blood used for cooking

Estofado - Braised in soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar

Gabe – Taro = Root or Leaves

Galapong - Rice dough made of glutinous rice

Galunggong – Round Scads or Mackerel Scads

Gata – Coconut milk obtained from the pressing of grated mature coconut meat mixed with water

Giniling na baboy - Ground pork

Gulaman - Gelatin

Halayang ube - purple yam jam

Hamon – Ham

Hipon – Shrimp

Hugas bigas - water obtained from washing rice grains and used as broth base for sinigang

Inihaw - charcoal-grilled or broiled

Isda – Fish

Itlog na maalat - Salted duck egg (related to Balut)

Kabute – Mushroom

Kakang gata - pure coconut cream obtained from the first pressing of grated mature coconut

Kalabasa – Pumpkin or Squash

Kangkong – Water Spinach or Swamp Cabbage

Kamias - bilimbi, green acidic fruit from the cucumber tree used for souring dishes

Kamatis – Tomato

Kambing - Goat

Kamote – Sweet potatoes or Yam

Kamoteng Kahoy – Cassava or Yuca root

Kangkong - morning glory, swamp cabbage, water spinach

Kaong - sugar palm seed

Kesong puti - white cheese made from carabao or water buffalo milk

Kinchay / Kintsay – Celery or Chinese Leeks

Kinilaw - cooked by steeping in vinegar

Kutsay – Leeks

Labanos – long white cylindrical radish native to Asia – Daikon

Labong – Bamboo shoots

Langka – Jackfruit

Latik - coconut curd, the brownish residue obtained after oil is extracted from boiled coconut milk

Laurel leaf – Bay leaf

Lechon - roast meat usually spit-roasted

Lechon manok - roast chicken

Lechon sauce - sauce served with roast pork made of finely ground pork liver

Librilyo - ox tripe

Lomo – Beef loin

Lumpia - spring roll

Lumpia wrapper - crepe usually made of rice flour to wrap spring roll with

Luya – Ginger

Macapuno - coconut sport, a variety of coconut that has soft fleshy meat when ripe

Malagkit - sticky rice, glutinous rice

Malunggay leaves – Horseradish leaves

Manok – Chicken

Miki – Egg noodles

Miso - fermented soybean paste

Misua or Miswa – Vermicelli noodles

Misu – Soybean paste

Mongo – Mung beans

Mustasa – Mustard

Nata de coco - coconut gel usually packed in heavy syrup

Niyog -  Mature coconut

Pansit or Pancit – Noodles

Pancit molo - wonton soup that originated from Molo, Iloilo, a town in the Visayas region, Panay island in the central Philippines

Paminta – Peppercorns (Black pepper is the dried unripe berries and white pepper (ground) is from the ripe berries of the same pepper vine)

Patani – Lima beans

p\Pandan - fragrant screw-pine

Pastel - pot pie

Pata - animal trotter

Patatas – Potatoes

Patis - Fish sauce

Patola – Zucchini

Pechay / Petsay – Bok-choi, Bok-choy, Chinese cabbage

Pesa - stewed in ginger, garlic, and onion

Pigue - pork rump

Pimiento – A red pepper typically found in pickled version

Pinipig - rice crispies, immature rice, roasted and pounded until the grains are flattened

Pipino – Cucumber

Pusit – Squid or Calamari

Queso de bola - edam cheese shaped like a ball and imported from Holland

Repolyo – Cabbage

Saba - cooking banana variety

Sago - starch from the pith of the sago plant processed into flour, meal or pearl-like globes, tapioca pearls

Sampalok – Tamarind

Sayote – Chayote, a kind of tropical squash

Saluyot – Jute

Shrimp juice - juice from heads and shells of shrimps extracted by pounding, adding a little water then straining

Siling labuyo - bird's eye chili

Siling pangsigang, siling haba - green finger pepper, long green chili that is mildly hot, literally chili for sour soup, long chili

Sinangag - fried garlic rice

Singkamas – Jicama or Turnip

Sitao or Sitaw – String beans or Yard-long bean

Sibuyas – Onions

Sigarilyas – Winged Beans

Siling Labuyo – “Thai peppers” or “Birds Eye Chili”- originated from Thailand (“Very Hot!”)

Siling Mahaba – Finger peppers

Sinigang powder - Instant powder with dried sour soup ingredients using tamarind, guava, or kamias as base

Sotanghon – Transparent bean noodles, also known as cellophane noodles

Sugpo – Giant tiger prawn

Ssuka - Vinegar made from sugarcane, coconut, or nipa juice

Sukang sinamak - Vinegar dip with garlic, ginger, and chili from Iloilo, Visayas region

Tadyang ng baka - Beef ribs

Tagiliran - Beef sirloin

Tahong - Mussels

Talaba – Oysters

Talong – Eggplant

Tambakol - tuna

Tanglad – Lemon grass

Tanguige - wahoo, mackerel

Tapa - beef jerky, processed beef slices flavored with garlic, salt, soy sauce, sometimes with sugar

Tausi – Black soy beans, salted and fermented.

Togue – Bean sprouts

Tokwa – Tofu

Torta - omelet

Toyo - soy sauce

Tulya – Freshwater clams

Ubod – Hearts of palm

Upo – Bottle gourd

Wansuy – Cilantro

Mga di-binagong pangalan – Unchanged names! :-)))

Asparagus

Broccoli

Carrots

Cauliflower

Okra

Papaya

Soya

***** IF YOU FIND ANY MISSING FROM THIS LIST PLEASE SHARE THEM WITH ME.

SALAMAT


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