labay, plateful, various plates of ilokano dishes

Labay means plate, the plate where you are eating right at the moment, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or the act of mixing broth or soup of your sida (viand) into you rice. Whatever, here are several instances of my own labays, showcasing various Ilokano dishes I consumed the passed days or months in different places (if my memory won't fail me):

This is lunch time in my residence in Iguig, Cagayan. I've got here boiled balatong with paria leaves, boiled cabbages with sliced tomatoes and bugguong, and fried tilapia.
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Lunch, Iguig, Cagayan. Boiled young tarong with bugguong as a dip.
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Breakfast, Iguig, Cagayan. Steamed camote tops with sliced tomatoes and bugguong, grilled okra, and fried daing.
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Lunch, Tuguegarao City. Baradibod nga ube with alukon and shrimps, pinapaitan a baka, kappukan a baka, and grilled tilapia.
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Dinner, Santa ana, Cagayan. kalkalunay salad, pakbet nga alukon, and bopis.
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Lunch, Currimao, Ilocos Norte. Paksiw a malaga, Ginettaan nga aba (laing), baradibod a bunga ti marunggay, and pork adobo.
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Lunch, Currimao, Ilocos Norte.  Pokpoklo with tomatoes, grilled bangus, and sweet golden watermelon (dessert).
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Lunch, Currimao, Ilocos Norte.  Pinakbet, dinengdeng a rabong ken saluyot, and lechon carajay.
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Breakfast, Tuguegarao City. Nabaraniwan a leddeg, and pinapaitan/sinanglaw a baka.
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Lunch, Gonzaga, Cagayan. Paksiw a malaga, steamed crab, boiled ipon, chicken tinola, pinapaitan a baka, and chopsuey.
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Mealtime in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte (not mine, photo from Pasuquin Facebook page). Dinengdeng, pinakbet, ginettaan nga aba, seaweed salas, pinakbet a paria, grilled tilapia. 
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.....posted from Bloggeroid

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ipon, fish fries/silver fish

Ipon? Ipon what? You mean hipon? Or iPhone? Yes, the tiny fish, ipon, which is a prized fish in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions, is often mispronounced, misunderstood, mistaken. Some non-Ilokano folks mistake it as hipon or small shrimps (aramang, alamang in Tagalog), due to mispronunciation or the way it sounded to them. And do you know that when you google image "ipon" much of the search results point to that pesky iPhone (Apple) luxury phone?

Fresh ipon from Santa, Ilocos Sur.

Ipon for sale in Dugo, Camalaniugan, Cagayan.

Another ipon (larger fries) for sale in Dugo, Camalaniugan, Cagayan.

This is ipon, a "tiny fish," but this is actually the fries of the goby fish, or in some instance, that of the anchovy fish. It's also called silver fish. And it's also called dulong in some Ilocos areas (not the big and rare, and as a result expensive, ludong). Ipon for some is considered an Ilokano exotic food or delicacy because of its mystery, rarity, high price, and of course of its distinct flavor favored by Ilokanos.

Ipon can be prepared and cooked in a variety of ways, kilawen (raw, with sliced tomatoes, chopped onions, diced ginger, salt), as a soup (boiled with lots of tomatoes, onions and ginger), as a tamales wrapped in banana leaf and steamed or grilled, or simply steamed or boiled dry, and many others.

Kilawen nga ipon.

Ipon in a savory soup with tomatoes, ginger, and onions.

Ipon soup.

Ipon soup (detail).

This is a real kicker! Boiled ipon with gamet (dried seaweed, nori).

Ipon with gamet (detail).

Steamed ipon with ginger and onions.

Kilawen nga ipon.

Ipon to be mixed as a kilawen.

Kilawen nga ipon and kilawen a kalding as pulotan.

Ipon is  also good with dinengdeng or the ubiquitous Ilokano medley of veggies and leafy greens in soup with the essential bugguong.

Dinengdeng nga ipon with bulong ti paria.

Ipon is also best as dried or daing to be fried or as a sagpaw, again, in a dinengdeng.

Ipon being prepared to be sundried, on a leaf and atop a galvanized iron roof.

Beautiful sun-dried ipon.

 

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More on fish and more kilawen nga ikan:

• Ipon, once more
• Kilawen a tirong, picnic by the beach
• Kilawen a bilis, raw sardine/herring
• Kilawen a sosay (tanigue, tangngigue)
• Kilawen a bilis manen, sardine/herring ceviche
• Kilawen a taburkit/munamon
• Kilawen a pusit/laki
• kilawen a talibukno

For more Ilokano dishes and others like this kilawen, you can follow Ilokano Food page on Facebook.

Follow also Ilokano Food @ Instagram and subscribe to Ilokano Food YoutTube channel for more photos, videos, and stories about Ilokano food, cooking, cuisine, and culture.

~~~~~

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the "other" seaweeds: kulot & aragan

Talking about edible and palatable seaweed, especially among Ilokanos, and Pinoys in general, the more popular fare are the pokpoklo (or pukpuklo, Codium) and the ar-arosip (lato, Caulerpa lentillifera). But there are more, like the famous gamet (Porphyra crispata, nori) which is highly prized and priced in its dried state. Also the equally popular guraman (Gracillaria verrucosa, also called "ur-urmot" because of its supposed resemblance to you-know-what, ugh!).

And there's the kulot (Gelidiella acerosa):

And the aragan (also panpan-aw, kelp, Laminaria):

These two make perfect seaweed salad with sliced tomatoes and onions, a dash of salt or a dressing of bugguong.

Preparing these seaweeds for salad is a little tricky, unlike that of pokpoklo or ar-arosip which you can consume fresh as is. Kulot and aragan are tough and it needed a quick blanch of boiling water to soften them. You put the seaweed into a bowl and pour hot water on it for a quick hot bath. Do not "overcook" it, drain immediately when you see the weeds are kind of wilted and soft. The "secret" of subtly softening the rough and tough texture of the weed is to add in some vinegar just before scalding it.

The end result is a thing of beauty and delight:

This is one great appetizer!

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pokpoklo salad

Pokpoklo (also pukpuklo). A traditional Ilokano summer seaweed delicacy (pokpoklo is abundant during summers; also popular throughout the Philippines, and in Hawaii and Japan). Best as an appetizer.

Preparing it as a salad is simple. Just wash, rinse, to get rid of any bit of dirt or sand clinging in the morsel-like weed. Then toss it with fresh tomato slices. No need to put salt as this is already salty courtesy of saltwater (seawater). You can opt to sour it more with a squeeze of calamansi, or some vinegar (some folks love to just dip it in vinegar).

You'll love this slimy, salty, worm-like longish morsels (lots of Ilokanos just love it, though many prefer the ar-arosip [lato], this is so because loving pokpoklo is a kind of labor to acquire a distinct taste of its unusual sliminess and gumminess). Perfect with steaming rice and fried/grilled fish or meat.




(Originally blogged December 2, 2009)

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