Thursday, March 09, 2006

PINOY MERIENDA

There is nothing like a snack in the middle of a day's work. In the Philippines, we just love taking snacks - nay, eating is a national passion! In fact, a typical day would consist of 3 full meals, and two snack times (merienda) . These days, merienda would normally be an order of burger and fries, coupled with a large soda but sometimes something Filipino would be nice, too. Let's all give the tired burger-and-fries a rest and sample some of our (near-forgotten) Pinoy delights!


From the makers of tocino comes another Pampanga favorite. Turrones de casoy is made of caramelized cashew nuts wrapped in delicate wafer. Hardly a heavy snack but it will do as you wait for lunch or dinner.


The ubiquitous puto, but Biñan (Laguna) style. Very dry and almost tasteless despite the cheese topping. I suggest you heat it a bit and use butter instead.

Palitaw (literally, "to show" or "to make afloat") is made delightful by coating it in grated coconut, white sugar, and toasted sesame seeds. It is made of ground rice flour and plunged in boiling water. You know it is cooked when it floats to the surface ("lilitaw") .

5 comments:

Sidney said...

He,he... you also have a sweet tooth!
Masarap!

Watergirl said...

The palitaw look unusual. Usually, we have round palitaw sprinkled with coconut and sugar and sesame seeds.

Jeruen said...

I never liked palitaw, although my sister loves it, and she buys one everytime the "manong potpot" passes by our street.

I know that Puto Binan is dry, but I once tried putting cream cheese on it, and it worked! I always eat Puto Binan with cream cheese from then.

Citizen of the World said...

Mila: Yes, it is unusual. As a kid, I have vivid memories of my Aunt making round palitaws.

Linguist: Welcome back! "Manong potpot" is a funny way of calling your friendly puto vendor. Cream cheese, eh? Hmmm, I never thought of that. Thanks for the tip!

Talking Mute: Welcome back po! How have you been? Uy, so you also grew up in Pampanga! I'd take a photo of San Nicolas cookies for you one time - a rare treat in this age of doughnuts and oatmeal cookies!

Anonymous said...

Sarap...sarap... sarap...

Comfort food for a Pinay :)