Vigan Empanada

Vigan is the Philippine’s most extensive and only surviving historic city that dates back to the 16th century Spanish colonial period. But not only in architecture, Spanish heritage is also present in its cuisine. Best known Vigan cuisine  is empanada and longganisa.
Vigan Empanada is  fried to a crisp, with vegetable and meat filling. Rice flour is used for making the crust or the shell. The galapong or rice flour dough is made a day before it is used. Atchuete or orange food color, salt and oil are mixed into the rice though. The dough mixture is then kneaded as thinly as possible on a banana leaf .
Filling is made up of green papaya that is grated, toge or mung bean sprouts, monggo or mung bean and shredded carrots, one whole egg and skinless Vigan longganisa.

Vigan, declarada Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO, es el lugar de Filipinas donde mejor ha perdurado el legado español, la ciudad tiene el casco histórico más extenso y único del país que se remonta al período colonial español del siglo XVI. Además la herencia española está presente en su gastronomía, siendo sus platos típicos la empanada y las longanizas 

La empanada de Vigan tiene su origen y es de aspecto y elaboración similar a las empanadillas españolas. La masa de harina de arroz o galapong se prepara un día antes. Antes de freir, el atchuete, que dará su color anaranjado a la empanada, la sal y el aceite se mezclan con el arroz y se amasa lo más finamente posible sobre una hoja de plátano. El relleno lleva papaya verde rallada, brotes de frijol mungo o munggo, monggo o frijol mungo y zanahorias ralladas. Se añade un huevo entero y longaniza sin piel. Se dobla y cierra la masa en forma de media luna y se frie en aceite hasta quedar crujiente y se escurre. Se acompaña de vinagre con cebolla.

More posts about Food in this Blog.

More posts about Phillipines. 

Quiero mencionar y dedicar este post a Manuel Ruiz, escritor y crítico gastronómico gaditano que investigó esas recetas de ida y vuelta con Filipinas y a la chef Paloma Arranz pionera en dar a conocer en Valladolid la cocina filipina.

Scenes of Norzagaray

Life is quiet in Norzagaray. The population of this beautiful municipality of Bulacan, near Sierra Madre and fed by the Angat river, is especially welcoming and curious with me. They are not used to seeing foreigners around here. So when I take out the notebook and start drawing on the street, it is a great event for them that breaks with their serene everyday life. I love crossing the Matictic bridge, strolling through the streets between the bustle of tricycles at the time of school leaving, the smell of barbecues at food stalls, the color of fish and fruit stalls, ...

La vida es tranquila en Norzagaray. La población de esta bella municipalidad de Bulacan, próxima a Sierra Madre y bañada por el rio Angat, es especialmente acogedora y curiosa conmigo. No están acostumbrados a ver extranjeros por aquí. Así que cuando saco el cuaderno de apuntes y me pongo a dibujar en la calle es para ellos gran acontecimiento que rompe con su serena cotidianeidad. Me encanta cruzar el puente de Matictic, pasear por las calles entre el bullicio de los tricicles a la hora de la salida de los colegios, el olor de las barbacoas en los puestos de comida, el colorido de los puestos de pescado y frutas, …

Estrellita Luna

Fragment of the portrait made for my mother in law recently deceased Estrellita Luna, in 2012, Watercolor on 21x29 cm. 160g. Canson paper. inspired by the picture by the philippine painter Juan Luna, "Bulakenya".
La Bulaqueña, literally  "the Bulacan woman", also sometimes referred to as Una Bulaqueña ("a woman from Bulacan"), is the Spanish title of an 1895 painting by Filipino painter and hero Juan Novicio Luna. Bulacan is a province in the Philippines in Luzon island and its residents are called Bulaqueños, also spelled as Bulakenyos ( Bulakenya for women) in the Filipino language. It is a "serene portrait", of a Filipino woman wearing a Maria Clara gown, a traditional Filipino dress that is composed of four pieces, namely the camisa, the saya (long skirt), the panuelo (neck cover), and the tapis (knee-length overskirt). The name of the dress is an eponym to Maria Clara, the mestiza heroine of Filipino hero José Rizal's novel. The woman's clothing in the painting is the reason why the masterpiece is alternately referred to as Maria Clara. It is one of the few canvases done by Luna illustrating Filipino culture.

The original painting by Luna has been recently restored and can be visited in National Museum in Manila.