3 Ilonggo Recipes You Can Cook with Kids at Home

I love cooking, and it is one of the skills any parent would want their kid to learn. Aside from the usual fried and instant food, it is beneficial for kids to know how to cook authentic Filipino dishes that use fresh ingredients you can buy at the supermarket. In this blog, we will explore the food of Iloilo. You can get the ingredients right around your neighborhood’s market. Moreover, your family will surely enjoy these meals because the dishes are tasty, healthy, simple, and won’t require hours of prep and cooking time. 

Let’s not keep you waiting! Here are the Ilonggo dishes you can cook with your kids:

Chicken Binakol

Chicken binakol is similar to tinola, a classic chicken soup dish. The only difference is you use coconut water and coconut meat in this dish. Traditionally, Chicken binakol is prepared using native chicken and is cooked for long hours inside bamboo. But suppose you don’t have bamboo to cook with nor a native chicken. In that case, you can always opt to cook on your stove using your cooking pots, a dressed chicken and chicken broth, or washing rice and chicken bouillon for that extra flavor.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken cut into serving-size pieces
• 3 cups of young coconut water
• 1.5 cups of young coconut meat
• 2 cups chicken broth OR 2 cups of rice washing and 1 chicken bouillon
• 2.5 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 small green papaya cut into wedges
• 1 cup dahon ng sili
• 4 stalks lemongrass cut and pounded
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 knob ginger chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil

Instructions:

1. Heat your pot and add your oil.
2. Once the oil is hot, saute garlic.
3. Once the garlic is slightly brown, add onion, ginger, and lemongrass.
4. After 1 minute, add the chicken. Turn it until all sides turn light brown.
5. Add ground black pepper and fish sauce.
6. Add coconut meat, coconut water, and chicken broth or rice washing with chicken bouillon. Boil and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes
7. Add green papaya. After 5 minutes, add siling dahon.
8. After 1 minute, turn the heat off and enjoy!

Bangus Inasal

Aside from its iconic Chicken inasal, Iloilo is also famous for bangus inasal. If you are fond of using dinaing na bangus, preparing it as inasal will bring a delightful twist to your usual milkfish. If your kids are already adept at frying, they will surely enjoy cooking and eating this dish!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces boneless bangus unseasoned
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ cup of lemon-lime soda
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 chopped stalk of lemongrass
• 2 teaspoons calamansi juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ cup of banana ketchup OR 2 tablespoons of achuete oil
• Cooking oil

Instructions:

1. Make the marinade. Mix brown sugar, lemon-lime soda, calamansi juice, salt, pepper, lemongrass, and turmeric. Pour it over your boneless bangus and let it marinate for at least 15 minutes. You can opt to marinate it longer so that the flavors will stick to the fish.
2. Heat ¼ cup of oil in a pan over medium heat. Remove the bangus from the marinade. Slather ketchup and oil or achuete oil and marinade on both sides. 
3. Fry the bangus skin-side first. Cook the other side once the skin is crispy. You can also fry the fish first before slathering the ketchup mix or achuete oil mix to lessen oil splatter.

Laswa (Vegetable Soup)

As a mom, I encourage my kid to eat healthy by incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into his diet. Laswa is a boiled vegetable soup that uses various vegetable ingredients. It is similar to Ilokano’s dinengdeng dish. Often, the ingredients used in laswa are often used in Filipino dishes and are very affordable. Let’s say you have a garden in your apartment for rent in Iloilo; chances are, you can use some of them in this dish. However, note that laswa is best served with fried fish on the side.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 8 pieces of shrimp
• 2 pieces eggplant sliced
• 1.5 cups of kalabasa diced
• 15 string beans cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 cup saluyot leaves
• 2 cups alugbati
• 1 cup kulitis (Amaranth leaves)
• 8 pieces okra
• 2 pieces tomato wedged
• 2 teaspoons of ginamos or bagoong alamang
• 5 cups of water
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Boil water in a pot. Add onion and tomato. Cover and boil for 5 minutes under medium heat.
2. Add kalabasa and ginamos or bagoong alamang. Boil for 5 minutes.
3. Add in the eggplant, string beans, and okra. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Add cleaned shrimp. Cover and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add saluyot, alugbati, and kulitis (amaranth leaves.
6. Season your soup with salt and ground black pepper.

May preparing these dishes make your family bonding time more enjoyable and worthwhile! Happy eating!