Iloilo in 24: A Breakthrough Dinner

[Diwal on the shell]

The last two times I had been in Iloilo, the default dinner place had been at Breakthrough, a seafood house along the beach in the outskirts of the city, courtesy of Ilonggo friends.

This trip was no exception, courtesy of the family of a colleague who are native Ilonggos.

It would have been nice to dine there during the daytime, for the seaside view and the breeze. Friends and I once had lunch at default inasal place Tatoy's, which is directly across Guimaras island and by the same stretch of beach as Breakthrough's. It had been nice burrowing toes in the sand and watching people ferry to and from Guimaras while waiting for our orders to cook.

[Roasted diwal, or angelwing clam, Pholas orientales]

At Breakthrough, the waves breaking through the beach was a constant presence, though only in the auditory sense. I wondered why no lamps had been hung outside the restaurant, to illuminate the sea. As it was, you'd forget you were so close to the water dining there in the evenings, as outside the bamboo rails of the open air restaurant everything was jet black. Not even the seafoam was visible.

Nonetheless, it has always been a satisfying experience eating at Breakthrough. Fresh seafood, expert cooking, fast service, convivial atmosphere, and an extremely relaxed ambience make for a fine meal. And Breakthrough showcases the best that the seas around Western Visayas can offer.

[Live diwal just out of the water]

There were no diwal at the public market when I went there hours before dinner. It reportedly sells for Php350 per kilo, which is a hefty price for seashells. But baskets of them, live, were lying at the bottom of Breakthrough's water "well." Inclusive of cooking and serving charges, the price was a lot more steeper at Php750 per kilo. We had them simply grilled, without any sauce of any kind (they're usually served slathered with garlic and butter) to fully appreciate their briny sweetness.

I've had diwal before, during my first trip to Iloilo in the early 1990s. They were served at the home of a friend, and at the time diwal was as common as ordinary clams. They disappeared afterwards, and it is only now that they are slowly making a comeback.

Plump and juicy, very sweet, very fresh scallops, with fried garlic and butter. To die for.

Grilled lokus (squid), stuffed with sliced onions and tomatoes

Crabmeat, sauteed with butter, onions, potatoes and bell peppers, served on a sizzling plate

Butterflied and grilled managat, a local fish (red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus). The fishheads went into a refreshing soup soured with batwan.

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Breakthrough Seafoods & Restaurant
Sto. Nino Norte, Arevalo (Villa), Iloilo City
Tel. No. (633) 3373027

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Iloilo in 24 Hours
Lunch: Nora's
Baye-baye
Public Market
Roberto's Siopao

Related Post
Panaderia de Molo

Mango Charlotte

Cake of the Month
As the family marks my third child’s progress onto her first year, I will be celebrating her monthly birth day in this blog by featuring a cake. Lined up for the next twelve months, and hopefully on afterwards, are old-time favorites, reliable standards, as well as new discoveries, as I go on a quest for the best cakes around the country.

I love mangoes.

Filipinos love mangoes.

We eat it as is, which is the best way to have it. Nowadays, though, with the explosion of the restaurant scene, mangoes are incorporated into a lot of desserts and pastries.

One very popular way of using mangoes is in cakes, as I've mentioned in an earlier post. But due to mangoes not taking to cooking/baking real well, mangoes are used fresh. This limitation delegates mangoes to just being cake topping, and/or as filling in tortes and other layered, cream-based cakes. And even then, these desserts only last a day or so, as mangoes tend to spoil easily.

My problem with these cakes, though, is they tend to be very sweet, the highlight being the nougatine/caramel layers, not the fruit. Good mangoes are honey-sweet, and they are more than enough to sweeten cakes. Caramel overpowers this sweetness.

For me, the best accompaniment to mangoes is chocolate, preferably dark, because the bitterness of the beans brings out and enhances the sweetness of the mangoes. Finished with slightly sweetened whipped cream, it should be the perfect cake for me.


But alas, for this series, I source my cakes from bakers who accept orders, or from commercial bakeshops, as I don't have the time to make one. And so far, I haven't been successful in sourcing a mango-chocolate cake in Metro Manila. So for the meantime I had to be contented with this Mango Charlotte (Php1,100 for an 8" round cake) by Sweet Bella. The baker's charlotte is better known with strawberry topping, but at this time strawberries are not in season.

I haven't tasted the strawberry variant, but this is a good showcase for mangoes, although it has the same defect as with all other mango floats and tortes and trifles I've tried - the nougatine layer is overly sweet. Perhaps the nougatine was tailor-made for strawberries, but it doesn't work very well with mangoes. Or at least with the mangoes on the cake I had.

[In a freeze - the day after]

The mangoes were prettily arranged enough as topping. It wasn't strictly a charlotte - it only had layers of nougatine, with crunch provided by cashew nuts, and sweetened whipped cream, which was also used as "icing." It was more of a torte, or a free-standing mango float.

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Sweet Bella

1730 Banyan Street
Dasmariñas Village, Makati City

Sweet Bella Cafe
Burgos Circle, The Fort
Taguig City

Tel. Nos. (63-928) 5025027, (632) 844-0680/392-7571
Email: sweetbellacakes@yahoo.com
Website

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Cakes of the Month
Divine Chocolate Cake, by Divine Sweets (Puerto Princesa, Palawan)
Cakelines, by Jon-Rhiz (Cavite City)
Dayap Chiffon Cake, by Kiss Cafe (UP Diliman, Quezon City)
Belgian Chocolate Cake, by a La Creme (City of San Fernando, Pampanga)
White Chocolate Mousse, by Gateau de Manille (Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City)
Mango Cake, by Red Ribbon (with outlets all across the country)
Ube Cake, by Goodies N' Sweets (several locations across Metro Manila)
Strawberry Shortcake by Vizco's (Baguio City)
Almond Chocolate Fudge Cake by Malen's (Noveleta, Cavite)
Caramel Cake by Estrel's (Quezon City)
Marshmallow Birthday Cake by Estrel's (Quezon City)

Iloilo in 24: Lunch at Nora's

[Alimusan (marine catfish) in lemongrass-infused curry sauce]

I believe that, more than any other fancy, or the most revered, or the most popular, restaurant in any place, the local karinderyas / carinderias (streetside eateries) reflect the true cuisine of a locale.

Fare in these usually open-air affairs is not gourmet, nor are expectedly fine dining, nor even cooked well. But they are closest to experiencing home-cooked food if you happen to have no local host around to prepare a meal for you. The food is not festive, but represents what locals eat during ordinary days.

So even if I never eat at carenderias in my province and in Metro Manila, anywhere else I let my hair down and throw caution to the winds. It is good that I have developed a gut that can stomach (a pun for fun!)all the purportedly germs and diseases associated with these kinds of eating places, so I can eat anywhere I want to across the country, and even drink the water in rice terraces if need be (been there, done that!).

So for my first meal in Iloilo City I let myself be taken to Nora's Eatery, a nipa stall by the port area, at the side of the immigration building. The host for that meal was a native of Antique, and he related that Nora's is a very popular eatery in the city for those who come from all the provinces of Panay island.

It was a greatly satisfying meal. As there were five of us, we were able to order a host of dishes to try, yet cost only so much.

That slice of sea catfish in the most delicious curry sauce was just Php50. With five cups of rice and four bottles of softdrinks, our total bill came to Php423, or roughly Php85 per person. A deal like no other. As economical as eating in a house.

[Grilled slice of sibigan (tanigue, Php120)]

[Pork with red beans, Php40]

[Apan-apan, or kangkong with guinamos, Php20]

[Linutik na Kalabasa, squash with malunggay leaves in coconut milk, Php20]

Iloilo in 24 Hours
Baye-baye
Public Market
Roberto's Siopao
Dinner: Breakthrough

Related Post
Panaderia de Molo

Iloilo in 24: Public Market

I went to Iloilo on a Thursday. I arrived mid-morning, proceeded to the office, and was done by mid-afternoon. I had a morning flight the next day, and even though it wasn't very early, I had to consider the travel time to the airport, which was about 30-45 minutes away from the city, and the required check-in time of the airline.

So the best time for me to check the public market was on Thursday afternoon. It didn't seem to be market day (I forgot to ask when), as there were very few ambulant and semi-stationary (those seated with goodies spread on the pavement or heaped on bilaos) vendors, though all the leased stalls were open.

The wet market was also open, but only one line of stalls were occupied. I didn't see any meats, just seafood, and nothing extraodinary was being sold, just your usual marine staples (lapu-lapu, samaral, parrotfish, bisugo, tuna, shrimp, squid, etc.). No seashells, too, so no diwal (a kind of angelwing clam, Pholas orientales) sighting for me.

The dried fish and seafood section was like any other daing place in the country - heaped with danggit, squid, dilis (anchovy), tuyo, etc., though considerably lower in prices. But what immediately caught my eye were these mounds of salted fermented krill, guinamos, in varying hues of pink, lilac, brown (photo above).

As you buy, the mound is scraped downwards, from the front, so the result looks like a piece of hill that has been quarried.

This was interesting for me. I come from the land of bagoong and alamang, and salted fermented anchovies and salted fermented krill are permanent fixtures of Pangasinan public markets. But ours are of the wet kind - the resulting brine from the salting process is an integral part of these condiments, and they are sold in deep bins. It looks like in Iloilo, guinamos is strained of its brine after fermentation.


The importance of tanglad - lemongrass - in Ilonggo cooking is evidenced by the proliferation of the aromatic stalks across the market, all bunched up and ready to stuff into chicken inasal, or drop into the cooking sauce.


Kalamay - muscovado sugar - the sugar cane "grits" or powder before they are processed into sugar crystals. Used in kakanin (concoctions of rice cooked in coconut cream), but can also be used like ordinary sugar. Dry sugar in its most unrefined form. Php15 per small can (about 1 1/2 cups).


I consider as my greatest discovery this budyawe, fruits of the buri palm* (Corypha Elata Roxb.), which I've never tasted before. They are similar to the unripe aratiles fruit in color and size, but they are sold boiled, at Php10 per measure of a tall plastic cup.

A measure is quite a handful, as these are tiny fruits. In photo below, they are shown sitting in a Chinese soup spoon.


The outer cover is fibrous, but the fruit inside is white and chewy - very, very fun to pop out and chew. It has the texture of a slightly undercooked sago (pith palm pearls, or "bubbles") so is slightly unyielding, with the subtle flavor of water chestnuts, or even toge.

*Further research suggests that budyawe, or budjawe, is not actually the fruit of the buri palm, but of the anahaw, a main source of nipa hut roofing material.

Related posts
Iloilo in 24 Hours
Baye-baye
Roberto's Siopao
Lunch: Nora's
Dinner: Breakthrough

Related Post
Panaderia de Molo

Other Public Markets Around the Country
Puerto Princesa
Seashells - sikad-sikad, sikuray, alimporos
Sea Urchin
Fresh Fish
Daing na Tahong - dried mussels

Baye-Baye

I had been slated to go to the Bacolod branch of the agency I work for, and I had looked forward to eating cansi in situ, and buying batwan, fresh napoleones, and a host of other special pastries. But there was a change of plan, and I was sent to Iloilo instead.

My department sends people around the country throughout the year, and work assignments usually take about a couple of weeks per location. However, my status as a mother, most especially with an infant, is mercifully taken into consideration. So I get the short ones.

As in really short. I had half a day in San Fernando City, Pampanga, and this time I had roughly 24 hours in Iloilo.

What could one do, and more importantly, eat, in a city in 24 hours?

Fortunately, the cities of San Fernando and Iloilo are not new to me. I had explored Pampanga. And I had been to Iloilo several times, via various means of transportation (plane, ferry, fastcraft), and from various places (Manila, Bacolod, Antique), either arriving in or departing from it.

So I had the time then to extensively explore the city, even going as far as UP Miag-ao. I was actually able to go around the entire Panay island, visiting all of the provinces and its capitals, with pre-electrified and pre-partified Boracay as the final destination.

Of course, being in a new or different place and exploring it entails partaking of local delicacies, too. So, again, been there, done that. So this time it was a matter of renewing my acquaintance with Ilonggo food, and probably looking at some new things that have come up between now and the last time I was there, which was almost a decade ago.

The question was, can I cram up all the region's offerings into 24 hours?

Well, the answer is, yes.

But it is a conditional yes. Literally, the must-eats cannot be eaten within 24 hours. But as I did in San Fernando, and what I had been doing for all of my traveling life (practically my entire lifetime), I took home more than half of my Iloilo food highlights.

And this was the last thing I bought that was included in my overweight luggage - baye-baye, a delicious kakanin that is an Ilonggo specialty.

But I did it on reverse - baye-baye is what actually first greets visitors to Iloilo, as kiosks of it line the provincial road in the municipality of Pavia, from the airport going into Iloilo City.


From the comments section of my post on lamud, an anonymous commenter from Bacolod (yes, that's you, YGC!) introduced a Bacolod special and ubiquitous kakanin, including the recipe, and it is - yes, it's baye-baye.

My colleagues in Iloilo told me baye-baye is a specialty of Pavia. Or maybe the translation was not exact and they probably meant Pavia makes the best baye-baye. I don't know if Bacolod or any other town in Negros could claim the origins of baye-baye. Anyhow, Negros Occidental and Iloilo share the same ethno-linguistic characteristics, and it would be easy to imagine baye-baye crossing the channel between the islands of Panay and Negros.


Questions on origins aside, baye-baye is a popular, handy kakanin to munch on. It is very much similar, in looks, taste and texture, to the Tagalog espasol that is a specialty of the province of Laguna. Baye-baye, though, is naked - no white powder coating - and softer (not as tightly-packed).

It is a roll made of toasted glutinous rice (malagkit, or pilit in the Hiligaynon language) that is ground, mixed with sugar (muscovado and brown) and coconuts, and pounded until well blended and sticky. My Iloilo hosts said they also like the corn variant.

In the lamud post all commenters agreed that making baye-baye is back-breaking work. But its price in Pavia does not seem to reflect the amount of labor making it entails. One pack of five pieces cost Php20, or Php4 each.

I bought five packs and gave Php100. The vendor said he put six packs in my plastic bag. I thought he was trying to sell me more so I took out the extra pack and tried to give it back, saying I'm only buying five. But it turned out he gave away one pack free. Which pushed the price even lower, to about Php3.33 per piece. If I had known then what is involved in making it I would have insisted on giving back the one free pack, so the vendor could make more money.


In all of Pavia and Iloilo, my office colleagues said the best baye-baye is made by Liit, in a house in front of the Pavia parish church (contact number in photo, area code is 6-33), along a municipal road perpendicular to the provincial road going to the airport (to the right, from Iloilo City). They sell all the baye-baye made for the day, so you are assured of freshly-made baye-baye, not the refrigerated remnants of yesterday's batch.

As I had a morning flight we dropped by Liit's at around 9AM, but the baye-baye was still being pounded, and a lot of boys were milling outside the gate waiting for packs to sell. I didn't wait, for fear of being left by my plane, so I instead bought at the first kiosk along the provincial road, where we were given samples. The colleague who took me to the airport said it was good, and newly made. It is by Dieg's Malones, cellphone number 09062255585.

Iloilo in 24 Hours
Lunch: Nora's
Public Market
Roberto's Siopao
Dinner: Breakthrough

Related Posts
Panaderia de Molo
Baye-Baye in Bacolod

The Food at the DBP Tiangge

Tapang usa (deer jerky), the paler meat to the right is
tapang baboy damo (wild boar jerky), each at Php225/half kilo

The DBP Tiangge (bazaar or flea market), held yearly on the second or third week of November, is mainly an exporters' fair. Garments, shoes, bags and other apparel, are sold cheaply for those who are brand-conscious but who don't want to spend thousands for a name.

Mind you, these are not knock-offs, but the real thing - the vendors are the makers themselves of the products which are under toll manufacturing agreements with international brands. Only that, some did not pass quality control, or have minor (read: negligible), or the line has been discontinued or has been outmoded.

Export products include handicrafts, furniture, dining and kitchenware, Christmas decor and other knick-knacks.

While the food is not for export, it takes up about 18% of the total bazaar space, and is a hodge-podge of regional delicacies, from Vigan longganiza and bagnet to Bataan tinapa (smoked fish) to Bicol pili. All in all an exciting tour and a great source of supplies to fill up household larders. And a lavish refreshment stop after lugging bayongs of tiangge goodies.

Foil-wrapped boneless bangus on the grill

Gigantic crustaceans from crab country Roxas City (Php250/kilo)

The fluffiest, eggiest, buttery bibingka (Php40 each), which are sold alongside a yummy puto bumbong

A 1.5kg sublime piece of ham from Ben Jamon (Php480/kilo)

No, it's not sisig - it's dinakdakan, an Ilocano/Pangasinense specialty of pig jowls boiled, grilled and mixed with kalamansi, peppers, onions, mayonnaise and (!) pig brains

Kanding kaldereta (goat stew)

Pili in various forms

Also ever present are my perennial favorites, cheeseburger and diced hopia by Baker's Fare.

The 42nd International Bazaar 2008

[Zaatar-flavored crisps from Israel]

The one-day only International Bazaar, sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs, International Bazaar Foundation, Inc., and in cooperation with the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, and now in its 42nd year, was held last Sunday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Fora 1-3.

I think this is the fifth or sixth year that I had gone to this annual bazaar. I go for the charm of buying home-made goodies by embassy and consular people, or products not commercially available brought here via diplomatic pouches.

Much of the charm has worn off, as I see the same things every year, and not a lot of exciting stuff make their apperance as times go by. But it is one bazaar I look forward to going to yearly, because I have developed favorites, and it is the major source of my tea supplies.

This year's bazaar was some sort of a disappointment, though, not because there were no teas again for me. In fact, this year yielded the most variety of teas in my bazaar-going life. But because this year turned out to be a very commercial one.

There were still the home-made goodies and duty-free products not found here, but there were a lot of booths by importers, so much so that it would have been appropriate to have renamed it the importer's bazaar. I mean much of the products on sale were available in groceries, just sold a few pesos cheaper, and the sellers were representatives of local distributors.

And lunch was nothing spectacular, as all outlets were manned by local restaurants specializing in international cuisines. I did get the name of the Vietnamese restaurant I raved about last year, and for a change the lady-owner was very gracious, aside from being very pretty, and she did not bring with her the infamous obnoxious server.

The restaurant is Nam An, and we were happy to get the scrumptious shrimp and beef fresh spring rolls, and the hearty noodles in soup.

I went home with a heavy heart, but also with heavy bags, as I did buy lots of stuff that had been favorites ever since I started going to the bazaar, and are available yearly.


Flavored traditional butter cookies, under the brand name Elsa's Story, from Israel. The best among my loot. Orange-filled, orange-almond, strawberry yoghurt, brown-sugared. The last flavor to die for. All kosher.


Mochi, the traditional Japanese delicacy of sticky rice balls filled with bean paste. This one is a modern version, with chocolate.

Swiss fondue cheese

Challah and sesame loaf (Israel), panettone (Italy)

I was there before the gates opened, because I wanted to get hold of my precious Rooibos tea from South Africa, which I missed out on last year since the embassy only brings a few boxes. Theirs was the first booth I visited, and true enough, there were only four boxes. Between me and my friend who sponsored my entrance ticket, we got three, with complimentary tin tea boxes.

The raspberry-echinacea herbal infusion was from England.


I missed out on Ceylon teas last year, too, but I made up for it this time, by buying black teas from all the famed six tea-growing regions of Sri Lanka - Dimbula (smooth, mellow and golden), Uva (rich and distinctive), Udapusselawa (light, bright and rosy), Nuwara Eliya (delicate and fragrant), Kandy (bright and exotic), Ruhunu (strong and robust).

[Green teas from Sri Lanka]

Bottled olives, capers, and white wine vinegar, plus jars of white chocolate spread which were sold on a buy 1 take 1 basis, because they are a month away from their expiry date. I saw lots of representatives from restaurants and bakeshops buy bags and bags of these. Hope they get to use everything up before the middle of December!


The Switzerland booth sold the same bars of chocolates as last year, and I liked them a lot I bought more, plus energy bars for the hubby from England. Also tried a piece of praline and a small bar of Belgian chocolate made locally by Belgian expat Benoit Nicolay. Nothing fancy, and tasted like local chocolates.

Non-food items which caught my fancy included paper parols (star lanterns), onyx mini lamps from Pakistan, Turkish silk rugs, colorful kids toe-socks, kids dresses. All the more reason to go back next year.

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Elsa's Story
P.O. Box 719
Nahariya 22106
Israel
Tel. No. 972-4-9521215
Avaliable in most local groceries/supermarkets

Nam An
118A Circle Road
Santos Village
Zapote, Las Pinas City
Philippines
Tel. No. (632)3857569, (632)8730442
email rmb1971@gmail.com
Dining is by appointment only
2 days advanced notice recommended

Benoit Nicolay, Chocolatier
Tel. No. (632)8226995, 63-9173271877
email info@chocolatesbybenoit.com
website

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Related Posts
41st International Bazaar (2007)
39th International Bazaar (2005)

Bibingkoy

Fiesta was celebrated these last two weekends in Cavite, though I don't really know for what, as this was the third fiesta that had been observed this year.

I'm not yet privy to what Cavitenos serve for fiesta, because I waited in vain for invitations to partake of home-cooked fare. It is the husband who has social relations with locals, while I'm closeted with neighbors who are transients themselves and come from all parts of the country. Since the hubby is out of town, there had been no opportunity for house-hopping around town.

I observed the fiesta, though, in the public market. It was abuzz with vendors who were offering premium items, and shoppers who were lugging more than the usual market basket. There was karaoke singing, and lots of prawns, tangigue, albacora, plus an inordinate amount of fresh mountain vegetables.

And there were new things at the kakanin corner, foremost of which is this bibingkoy. The name sounds hybrid, like a combination of bibingka and tikoy. But what's more interesting is that it looked like a combination of at least three different kakanins that I know.

It's a bibingka, the kind made with ground glutinous rice and baked in a sokugan or lasong, which is a thick, shallow earthen pan. It is also buchi (or butse-butse in Pangasinan), because the center is filled with mashed balatong or monggo (mung beans). Plus, it is kiniler (rice balls, bananas, jackfruit, kamote and other rootcrops in coconut cream, or ginataang bilo-bilo), too.


The vendor had a bilao (woven wooden winnowing tray) of mongo-filled bibingka, and a large tin container of ginataang sago.


The bibingka was a novelty for me, and it was what drew my attention. We had fried round doughs filled with mashed monggo in Pangasinan, but not this kind of bibingka. The vendor made a sales pitch by saying she'd give me lots of sauce to go with the bibingka.

Sauce?

It turned out that what I mistook for two separate products were two components of one special kakanin. The bibingkoy is eaten with the ginataang sago spooned onto it as topping.

It was grand. And it was festive. That is, only if it were cooked well. As it was, everything was bland. If enough sugar had been added, both to the mashed beans and to the ginataan, it would have been a fairly lavish piece to serve on a fiesta. Which goes to show that good kakanin is best cooked at home.

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Baked Buchi
Lugadang Dilis
Ginataang Halo-Halo
Kasilyo
Robinson's Tamales
A Weekend in Chinatown

Champurado

Champurado, or champorado, is common fare that has attained the status of comfort food. It is perfect for breakfast for the approaching cold months, though it is eaten any time of the year. Tsokolate, the native (local), hand-made chocolate, and champurado are actually festive fare that are associated with the Christmas season.

The best way I can describe it is that it is a chocolate porridge. It is glutinous rice boiled with chocolate until thick and mushy, then milk is swirled onto it before serving.


Ordinarily, left-over steamed rice can be used for champurado. It is put in a bowl, a chocolate beverage is poured on it, and mixed, much like having cereals in the morning.

But the special kind is made with tablea, the native chocolate that is gritty and grainy, with hints of tang and zest, and smells and tastes of roasted cacao beans. And to be especially thick and viscous, glutinous rice is used.


I eat champurado warm, mixed with a cup of evaporated milk, and topped with a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon. It brings back memories of cold misty dawns and blinking parols (star lanterns) in a myriad of colors, and the sound of tolling church bells vibrating in the air. And of a general feeling of euphoria, of a spirit shared by everyone who's kinder, more patient, more gracious. Of a world more hopeful.

I like to cook the tsokolate thoroughly before adding the glutinous rice - fully dissolved, and preferably beaten for a silky smooth chocolate. I put an entire roll of tablea, about a dozen pieces, for 2-3 cups of glutinous rice, for an intense chocolate flavor. I follow the standard 1 tablea:1 cup water ratio. When the chocolate has been beaten, I add the rice and stir until cooked.

Others eat champurado with flakes of tinapa (smoked fish), or tuyo (salted dried fish). The contrast in flavors is polar - smoky-sweet, salty-sweet.

I prefer a monochromatic effect, though, so it's a simple chocolate-milk-cinnamon mix for me. When I am in the mood I mix in fruits - sliced bananas, grated apples and pears, which provide a slightly different shade of sweetness, highlighting the fruitiness of the chocolate.

Related Posts
Tsokolate
Tsokolate Batidor

Batidor

I grew up drinking hot chocolate made by my family, the entire process of making it performed in our very own home - in the backyard, front yard and kitchen. This chocolate - tsokolate tablea, chocolate tablets - is made specifically for drinking, and the process has been handed down from generations of ancestors.

But this process of chocolate-making is not exclusive to our own family, nor even to my hometown, nor even to my province. This kind of chocolate can be found all over the country, with a specific culture surrounding it in each region - what is added to it, what form does it take, how it is served (what implements, utensils are used), what is eaten with it, when it is drunk, how else it is cooked, etc.

What is common across ethno-linguisitic cultures, though, is that it is boiled into a hot chocolate drink, and it is also used into the Filipino breakfast comfort food, champurado, consisting of sticky rice cooked in chocolate, like some sort of chocolate porridge. Again there are variations as to how this is eaten, because some add flakes of smoked fish, or salted fish.

In my family we made and drunk, drink, hot chocolate purely and simply, just add sugar, perhaps a cup of milk at the very end of the boiling. The hot chocolate is tangy and gritty, with a thin layer of bronze cocoa oil on the surface of the drink. The kids and I like our hot tsokolate with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon powder.

In other regions, though, as I've mentioned, an entire culture is involved in the drinking. And in several locations, they make use of an implement, called a batidor, or a batirol, or a mollinillo, which is part of a two-tool machinery.

The batidor is a carved wooden tool that is referred to as a chocolate beater. The chocolate drink is put in a special container shaped like a jug with a narrow opening and a bulbous bottom, and swirled and whisked by the beater.


In other regions the chocolate mixture is beaten while it is still merrily boiling in the pot or deep pan. It prevents burning of the chocolate, incorporates the sugar and milk, and helps smoothen the drink.

In both methods, the batirol is placed vertically into the pan or jug (called a chocolatera, but is also called a batirol), the carved bottom submerged in the chocolate mixture, with the handle placed between the palms. The handle is then rolled, each hand alternately pushing and pulling in swift fashion, keeping the batidor within the vicinity of the middle of both palms. I don't know if I'm making sense here, but it is akin to rolling a piece of clay dough between your hands to form a toy snake, or worm, if you prefer.

The rolling - beating - should be fast, to be done in about ten to fifteen minutes, after the chocolate tablets have dissolved and milk and/or sugar has been added (tableas are sold either with or without sugar).

Tableas should be cooked in a deep pan, because the mixture boils over. Ideally, the proportions should be one cup, or less, of water per tablea. I usually take away a cup, to be substituted with the milk later on. The tableas are put in the water and brought to a boil with the lid on. Once the mixture is boiling briskly, reduce the heat, and be on stand by to take the lid off when the mixture is starting to boil over. Let boil covered until the tableas have completely dissolved.

The chocolate mixture is now ready to be beaten. After five to ten minutes of beating, add a cup of milk, then beat again. Adjust sweetness by adding more sugar or water. Beat for about five minutes more, then serve.

Another way of doing it, which is simpler and a sort of short-cut, is letting the chocolate mixture cook completely, adding the milk and letting it boil over once, then beating for about ten minutes over low heat.

Either way, you get a smooth, milky chocolate drink, without the usual grainy/gritty texture. The traditional accompaniment is suman, a roll of glutinous rice cooked in coconut cream and steamed wrapped in coconut or banana leaves.

It is also drunk with pan de sal, the ubiquitous Filipino breakfast roll, with or without filling. A great combination would be a thick slice of kesong puti or kasilyo (the local white cheese made from carabao's milk, similar to buffala or fresh mozzarella), or any other fresh, raw cheese, sandwiched between a sliced pan de sal. If without filling, the pan de sal is nice to dunk into the cup of steaming chocolate before taking a bite.

The chocolate drink can also be had thick, either by reducing the amount of water added, or cooking and beating it longer, until about more than half of the mixture has evaporated. This is also drunk, but more as a dip for crullers. This is called tsokolate eh, for espesso.

The thinner version is called tsokolate ah, for aguado, meaning watered down. The terms came from the Spanish, from whom Filipinos imbibed the chocolate making and drinking culture.

For a time, the thinness and thickness of the chocolate drink served signified which part of the social divide the drinker belonged to. The eh was for the ruling class, the ah for the common, ordinary people. But that period has thankfully long passed, and anybody can now enjoy his or her chocolate any which way. Even just biting into the tsokolate tablea.

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*Batidors/batirols are sold in stores selling kitchenware, and in the houseware section of most department stores.

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