【講師コラム】イジー講師No.4～Exploring Cordillera Cuisine～

In the Cordilleras, the region where I live, offers visitors a lot of delicious dishes, foods, snacks, and desserts. Not only does it satisfy the tastebuds of our dear tourists, but it also showcases them the culture of our region.

Here are the three foods that I personally enjoy:

The first one is “Pinikpikan.” It is one of our favorite dishes in our household. The main ingredient is chicken, and it is added to a broth with vegetables like chayote, Chinese chard, and potatoes. The most important process of the dish is for the chicken to be torched before adding it to the broth with vegetables. Torching the chicken brings out a taste that cannot be tasted in a dressed chicken. This dish offers you a savory taste and will also warm your belly which is perfect during cold weather in the Cordilleras.

The second one is “Inandila” which is pronounced as /ee-nan-dee-la/. The word is a shortened version of ‘sinandila’ which means ‘just like a tongue’. The name is because of its shape, the sticky rice is formed like the shape of a tongue. This is a sweet dessert and is often served on special occasions. Another interesting fact about this dessert is it is cooked using banana leaves. What makes this sticky rice sweet is its sauce which is called ‘latik’ or ‘ladek’, a coconut cream cooked together with sugar. My grandmother would sometimes cook this for us, and it would be consumed minutes after it was cooked.

The third one is ‘ube jam’ which is enjoyed with a hot pandesal or bread. This jam is made out of purple yam, a vegetable that looks quite similar to a purple sweet potato. The little difference between these two is that purple yam is sweeter and it has a more mellow taste. Ube jam is one of my favorite jams to spread to my bread. And I love eating it for my breakfast with a hot coffee.

Those are just some of the enjoyed and loved foods of the Cordilleras. Make sure to have a taste of these foods when you step into the mountains of our region.