DADA PERLA CUISINE

DADA PERLA CUISINE

          Majority of my neighborhood, relatives and the people in our baranggay my mom called her "Dada Perla". The word "dada" is a kapampangan word for aunt or eldest sister. Dada Perla is my mom. I am the eldest among her 3 siblings and only male among her children. My mom is my mentor in cooking. My grandmother in our baranggay know her as "apong belen". My apong belen tell me that since spanish time our family ancestor has a passion in cooking that's why all of us know how to cook different dishes. Our family is well known in our baranggay as one of the family who had an excellent dish especially traditional kampampangan cuisine. As far as you know that we don't have any chef in our family who finished culinary art but majority of my family and relative finished a course in public service, tourism, engineer and different medical field. Cooking is our passion, and my apong belen always tell me that " Eka dumanup kung byasa kang magluto. maski nanung akit mu king paninggalan mu pwede mung gawang ulam para magkalaman ya ing atyan mu" as she said means that if you know how to cook, and if you have any available ingredients to your food cabin, you won't be hungry. Our family's Mercado clan has large member and each family has their food specialty like the pansit bihon of my  aunt aning, the rice pudding of tita babes, the fried chicken of my aunt leah and more.

          Every occasion that we have like party's, fiesta and holiday, my mom always the one in charge to cook the different dishes together with the assistance of my aunt. When I was a kid, I always seated in my grandma's nook when they prepare the different dishes for our fiesta and I observe them Sometimes when they are not around, I handle the knife and practice to chopped like my mom and aunt or taste the food and observe the different ingredients. My mom teach me to know the best ingredients and how to choose it. But if you asked me I don't have a formal education regarding the culinary arts, just by observing and learning different cooking techniques from my mom that's why I learned how to cook different dishes. Remember that our mom is our first teacher like our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

           My mom has a great passion in cooking. She cooked a lot of different dishes in our home and sometimes she share it to our neighborhood. Here are some example of my mom cuisine that she cooked in our home

ASADO

          Asado is a dish composed of tomato sauce and marinated pork or chicken. This dish is one of the most favorite cuisine of my mom especially my relatives when they visited us from outside the country and they always requested this to my mom during some family occasion. 

CHOPSEUY

            Chopseuy is a very simple dish with mix of different vegetable stir in broth and butter. My mom favorite this dish. Every time we went to Baguio city, after we arrive at home, expected that my mom cooked chopseuy for our meal.

CLASSIC KUTSINTA

          Kutsinta is one of the most popular food in Pampanga. They used it on different occasion and you can sell it anywhere in Pampanga. This kutsinta is one of my mom specialty and we used this as one of our product in our kapampangan special delicacies business.

LECHE FLAN

           Leche Flan is a dessert composed of egg yolk, milk, lemon glaze and sugar. This is the star of our table during fiesta. Some of my relatives from abroad and Manila when they arrived during fiesta they always want the leche flan of my mom. And If you asked who's the one has the best Leche flan in our family, my apong belen has the most excellent taste leche flan.

SPECIAL PUTO

          Puto is a traditional food that served to the different table of every house in Pampanga when there is a special occasion. This special puto is my mom original recipe and this is the best seller to our business. My mom made a hundred of puto every day and we deliver it to different carenderia around Calumpit, Bulacan and Apalit Pampanga. My neighbor also when they had an occasion, they went to our residence just to buy my mom special puto. I hope you taste it foodies when you visit our town.

CLASSIC BAGOONG

           Bagoong is a classic sauce composed of small fermented shrimp and spices. This sauce is used in different dishes like dip in a mango or grilled fish. In the future, foodies I experiment rice cuisine with a twist of bagoong and shared it to you.

LECHON PAKSIW

            Lechon paksiw is a authentic dish common made by the Kapampangan and not only the Kapampangan but one of the most favorite dish in the Philippines. My mom always cook this meal after we had a left over Pork lechon and she cooked this as stew in a Lechon "sarsa" (lechon sauce).

PORK AND CHICKEN CALDERETA

           Caldereta is a traditional filipino cuisine and they use different meat on this dish. This dish is my father favorite dish especially goat and duck caldereta. If you asked me, my favorite meat on this dish was chicken. Foodies, I know this caldereta dish is also your favorite dish and you can find it anywhere in different local food store.

PORK SHANGHAI ROLL

              Pork shanghai roll is commonly seen in different birthday party and fiesta. It composed of saute meat in different spices then rolled in a flour wrapper and fried. My mom always cooked this dish because my sister and nephew love this especially when you dip this shanghai roll in a sweet and sour sauce.

GRILLED MARINATED MILK FISH (BANGUS) with GRILLED EGG PLANT

           Milk fish or also known as "Bangus" in tagalog word has popular for it's blended taste. This dish is one of my family's favorite dish. They always prepare this every time my mom went to Calumpit market. Bangus has a different way of cooking it's either grilled, broth, fried and even now some restaurant they tried it as one of their sushi. 

           Foodies, I hope you enjoy my mom cuisine. I recommend this food to prepare for your family, friends and love one. Remember, if you want to get the best smile of your special person, make them happy by preparing your best food specialty to them and the result is their happiest smile while enjoying eating their meal. Enjoy and Happy Eating..!!