Cant’ get enough of Vigan Empanada? Here’s  a simple-to-follow steps in case you want to try cooking empanada at home. Ingredients: For Casing: 1 1/2 cup Rice Flour Orange food coloring (optional) 1/2 cup Water 1 tbsp. Oil (for greasing) Cooking oil (for frying) For Filling: 1 Grated Green  Papaya (blanched & squeezed with salt to extract bitter taste) 4 [...]

There are actually two kinds of the Ilocos Empanada. One is the Vigan Empanada in Ilocos Sur and the other is the Batac or Laoag Empanada in Ilocos Norte. The latter is better known as “The Ilocos Empanada” in terms of appearance and popularity, being sold in all of Ilocos Norte and including some towns in Ilocos Sur. Vigan empanada’s [...]

Tinubong  is a Vigan specialty , derives its name from its container, an internode of buho (bulo in Ilocano) with the node at one end, which is called tubong in Ilocano. With the other end of the tubong open, a wet mixture of  rice flour, sugar, and coconut milk, small strips of young coconut flesh, cheese and margarine is inserted [...]

The authentic Ilocano sinanglaw has cow’s heart, large intestines, tenderloin, lungs and skin. These parts are simmered slowly in rice-washed water, making the meat cuts tender and easy to digest. Sinanglaw (also spelled as “sinanglao”) literally means “steamed” in the local dialect. It tastes a lot like bulalo except it doesn’t have vegetables. To make this Ilocano dish even tastier [...]