Popular Philippine Dishes and Drinks

Filipinos usually serve at least one main course accompanied by rice for lunch and dinner. At times you would have two with a vegetable dish accompanying a meat dish. On special occasions such as fiestas, several main dishes would be served. Soups are also often the main course apart from being a starter. It is not uncommon for Filipinos to douse their rice with the soup and eat the meat that came with the soup alongside.

Here is a list of popular Philippine dishes:

Adobo: pork or chicken marinated in garlic, soy sauce and vinegar

Afritada: meat stew with green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and potatoes

Bagoong: fermented paste made from small fish, sometimes shrimp

Kare-kare: ox tail stew with banana blossoms cooked in a peanut sauce

Escabeche: sweet and sour fish dish

Lumpia: spring roll

Menudo: ox tail stew with chickpeas

Pansit: noodles

Pinakbet: vegetable dish cooked with bagoong

Arroz Caldo: rice porridge with chicken

Kaldereta: goat stew

Kilawin: raw fish

Daing: dried fish

Dinengdeng: boiled vegetables with bagoong

Dinuguan: blood pudding with internal organs

Embutido: porkloaf sausage

Estofado: beef stew with beans, carrots and tomatoes

Ginataan: cooked with gata (coconut milk)

Inihaw: barbecued

Laing: taro leaves cooked in gata

Longaniza: sweet-and-sour pork sausage

Mechado: beef and onions cooked with tomato sauce

Paksiw: stew of fish marinated in vinegar

Pinakbet: vegetable dish cooked with bagoong

Pochero: chicken and pork stew with bananas and vegetables

Relyenong bangus: stuffed milkfish

Sinaing: boiled rice

Sinangag: fried rice

Sinigang: sour stew (the souring ingredient usually tamarind or kamias)

Tapa: seasoned dried meat

Tinola: chicken stew with papaya

Tokwa: tofu

Torta: omelet

Ukoy: fried shrimp cakes

Drinks in the Philippines are not only a necessary complement to meals, but also help beat the tropical heat. As with their food, Filipinos often incorporate local produce into beverages to create tasty and refreshing concoctions.

Tropical fruits usually made into shakes are mango, dalandan, pomelo, pineapple, banana, and guyabano. This variety makes it possible to produce different tastes; from sweet, tangy, citrusy, along with many other unique flavors.

Filipinos also enjoy the coconut-infused hard liquor known as lambing and gin cocktails mixed with pineapple juice or citrus fruit juice.

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