10 popular Filipino Main Dishes
While Filipino dishes seem to go over the radar by many who usually go for other more popular Asian dishes. It still stands its ground and is steadily gaining popularity due to social media, especially due to the ingredients like ube, the desserts like leche flan, halo-halo, and many more. Filipino dishes aren’t just ‘food’ it also builds a community which makes the food taste even better! Here are 10 popular Filipino Main Dishes that will surely pique your interest on how interesting and deliciously delightful Filipino cuisine can be.
What are the Top 10 Filipino Main dishes you need to try ?
The first in this Filipino Main Course Menu list is the popular “Chicken Adobo” or “Adobo” a dish that’s made with a choice of meat, usually chicken, pork, beef, or for vegetarians, eggplants or tofu. Simmered in a delectably savory sauce made of onions, garlic, dark soy sauce, vinegar, some depending on the region add chillies for some spice.
A party favorite, aside from being a favorite of many, so much so that these can be found in many Filipino Fast food chains sold as a set with rice and a drink of choice, or in bundles by 4’s, 6’s, 12’s or more. There are a lot of ways to make Filipino barbecue, the most important one is choosing pork that’s not too meaty, but has a slight amount of fat that’ll keep the dish juicy even when grilling/roasting. Brushing this in a marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, garlic, ketchup, oil, salt, pepper, with some even use soft drinks to help tenderize the meat and add some sweetness.
Sinigang is the most popular soup in the Philippines. Each region or family has their own version of the dish to make that “Filipino main dish with a twist”. But this always stays true to the savory and very sour taste. The sourness comes from either pre-packed powders you can easily find at the grocery stores, to ‘all natural’ dried or fresh Tamarind or Kamias (cucumber tree / tree sorrel) some might have at their backyard, or just the addition of vinegar. It’s a colorful dish that uses fish, beef, pork, or other seafood mixed with a good amount of leafy vegetables, radish, tomatoes, and sometimes chilies.
A dish that one might first think of when going to a Filipino party, festival, almost every celebration, or at a buffet. A long standing favorite by many fellow Filipinos. It’s brought into the party as a whole roasted suckling pig, roasted, fried, or go for the smaller ‘relative’ the crispy pata or lechon belly roll which can be made fried, baked in an oven, turbo, or easily roasted at home. The tender pig is seasoned with salt and pepper, sometimes some lemongrass is added inside or used as a brush to spread the ‘gravy’ using the pig innards, vinegar, garlic, onions, and some sugar that helps create that nice crispy flavorful skin.
Another fragrant and hearty cozy soup that many look for during the colder months. Tinola is a dish that makes use of the whole chicken, sliced to pieces, or using any part of your choice. Simmering it with wonderful aromatics that feels like a balm that soothes the body like ginger, garlic, hot pepper leaves, with or without lemongrass. Adding in some seasonings and vegetables like malunggay leaves and green papaya to really complete the meal.
A Spanish influenced dish, Sisig is a dish that used to be made of leftover parts of the pig. Nowadays you can find full pork, fish, beef, and ‘meatier parts’ of the ‘meat’ used. There are still a good amount of the traditional ingredients such as pig ears, livers, snout, and jowl added in for the usual flavor and texture. Well seasoned, mixed with a good amount of chillies, sunny side egg or raw egg, served on a sizzling plate, thus the dish sometimes being called “Sizzling Sisig” with a side of calamansi.
Another well-known around the world in this 10 popular Filipino Main Dishes list is the usual Spring Rolls but the Filipino version of it. This dish which has been made since the Pre-colonial period of the Philippines is made with either pork, beef, shrimp, or a mix of both or all of these, with vegetables like carrots, green beans, with other fillers. There are a number of different varieties of lumpia, some fresh, with warmed floured wrappers, or wrapped in the flour based wrappers fried unto crispy golden perfection.
For spice lovers out there or for those who love the creamy, slightly sweet and nutty taste of coconut made savory with aromatics and shrimp paste, but with the addition of some or a lot of chillies to add in some heat! A dish originating from the Bicol province is made with a mix of well seasoned pork, aromatics, coconut milk or cream, adding in a good amount of seasonings, before adding red and or green chillies to creamy a fierce looking and tasting dish.
A delectably healthy Filipino stew that’s filled with vegetables, some beef or crispy pata chunks, but most of the time it’s made with oxtail, hocks, and a bit of ‘meaty’ parts, that adds up to how ‘healthy’ ( being collagen filled) this peanut-based stew can be. A dish with hundreds years of history. What makes this dish so appealing aside from its use of meats are the mix of banana hearts, eggplants, and other vegetables simmered with peanuts, peanut butter, and annatto for that lightly vibrant orange-brown sauce. A truly Filipino dish that’s comforting and absolutely Yummy!
- Arroz Caldo / Lugaw
Is a warm comforting dish that you usually find many eating for breakfast at side stalls, to breakfast options at fast food chains, to hotels. This filling flavorsome dish has Chinese origins adapted to suit the Filipino palette. Made by cooking chicken parts or boneless chicken chunks with aromatics like garlic, ginger, and onions, with a hint of fish sauce. Then add in regular rice or glutinous rice, simmered with more water or broth than needed. Once the rice has cooked, season with more salt and pepper as needed before serving it in a bowl topping it halved hard boiled eggs and chopped green onions.
Food trends might come and go but these mainstay traditional to modernized 10 popular Filipino Main Dishes that are sure to make your lunch, dinner, or breakfast time even better!
