Philippines

Adobo

Meat braised in vinegar, soy, garlic and bay until the sauce turns dark and sharp.

Sinigang

Sour tamarind broth with pork or prawn and vegetables, the comfort dish above all.

Lechon

Whole pig spit-roasted for hours until the skin shatters, the centre of every fiesta.

Kare-kare

Oxtail and vegetables in thick peanut sauce, eaten with fermented shrimp paste.

Sisig

Chopped pig's head and liver griddled on a sizzling plate with calamansi and chilli.

Pancit

Stir-fried noodles served at birthdays, the length standing in for long life.

Lumpia

Thin rolls of pork and vegetables, fried crisp and dipped in sweet vinegar.

Bicol express

Pork simmered in coconut milk with shrimp paste and a great many chillies.

Tinola

Clear ginger broth with chicken, green papaya and chilli leaves.

Kaldereta

Goat or beef stewed in tomato and liver sauce with olives and peppers.

Crispy pata

Pork knuckle boiled then deep-fried whole, cracked open at the table.

Longganisa

Sweet or garlicky small sausages, different in every town, fried for breakfast.

Tapsilog

Cured beef, garlic rice and a fried egg, the template for a dozen breakfasts.

Balut

A fertilised duck egg boiled and eaten from the shell with salt and vinegar.

Halo-halo

Shaved ice over beans, jellies and purple yam with evaporated milk, stirred together.

Bibingka

Rice cake baked in banana leaf with salted egg and cheese, sold before dawn Mass.

Puto

Steamed rice cakes eaten with dinuguan or on their own with butter.

Ube halaya

Purple yam cooked down with milk and butter into a thick violet jam.

Leche flan

Dense egg-yolk custard steamed under burnt sugar in an oval tin.

Taho

Warm silken tofu with brown syrup and tapioca, carried past houses at dawn.