20250401 6WAYSBINALOT FORDELIVERY

- Binalot around the Philippines!

- We like to start these episodes
with a history question

and to see if our students here
all went to local

Filipino schools.

Primary school, right? Right?

I'm the only one who did,
like, a European school.

- This one, too.

- Ah, Fil-Chi?

Not exempted.

Who were the first inhabitants
of the Philippines, kids?

- I don’t want to answer anymore
because the last time I did,

some people got mad.

- Malaysian and Indo?

- No, but close.
Okay. So you said it.

So Aetas, Negritos
are kind of like the first groups,

apparently, that were
in the Philippines.

And the first remain
of a Filipino man

was a Tabon Man which is
a long, long, long time ago.

And then after that,
you had kind of like

the Malay tribes,

not to do with Malaysians
but the Malay tribes

that came into the country, right?

And so, that's why you find
a lot of food

that's very similar
in Malaysia, Indonesia,

Philippines, and obviously
all of us with our own kind

of takes and iterations of it.

Binalot, I feel, is a very
Southeast Asian thing.

***Us in the Philippines,
unlike kind of Vietnam,

we don't use a lot of herbs
but we use a lot of leaves

in our cooking,
but not just in our cooking

but also to kind
of wrap things up.

So it's a function
that I think is really cool,

and it's also one
of the parts of our cuisine

that I don't feel like
we talk enough about,

but it's really pretty,
it's really functional,

and the banana leaf
does leave a little bit

of an aroma to it, right?

By the way, since this is going
to become a series

that we're going to keep doing,

obviously we're six
to seven people usually,

obviously we can't cover
all the provinces

in the Philippines.

The last adobo video we did,
people were like,

"Oh, why didn't you do
this one or this one?"

We can't have 81 hosts
lined up each doing

one version of adobo.

So what we try to do
is just select the ones

that we feel are
most interesting

or most representative.

- In our opinion.

- In our opinion. Correct.

And as much as possible,
because we're bringing in

resource people,
we will try to stick

to the recipes.

So when someone says
there's no onions in adobo, Seth,

you don't put onions
in your adobo.

Right?

- Easy.

- I got you guys
in the comments.

(laughs)

I'll be your anger translator.

(laughs)

- I'm sorry, guys.

- Let's get cooking.

- Hi! I'm Trish.
And today, I'm doing Tinuktok,

also known as Pinangat in Bicol.

Fortunate enough for me,
my resource person

is here with us today.

He's from Sorsogon
but he's been working

in Manila for over a decade now.

So everyone, help me
to welcome Kuya Elvis Payos!

(applauds)

Let's give him a round
of applause.

- Kuya Elvis makes Tinuktok
for my dad, and I swear,

it’s an absolute hit at home.

So, of course,
I brought him here.

See?

I brought him so he could teach us
how to make Tinuktok.

Okay, Kuya Elvis,
let’s show our viewers

what ingredients we need.

- Let’s start with the shrimp.

- Let’s start with the shrimp.

- So, you’re basically mincing it
so we can call it Tinuktok.

Keep going until it’s finely chopped.

Is this good?

- My hand is getting tired.

(chuckles)
Okay, next.

- Next, we have the coconut.

- Of course, I won’t make
our resource person

do all the work,
so I’ll do the chopping myself.

- That’s how it should be.

- Obviously, Trish!

- Chopping the coconut
is actually pretty quick. Okay.

- Yes, because we already grated it.

If the coconut were whole,
this would take forever.

- So much love
and effort going into this.

Okay. Whew. Sweating here.

- Now, let’s chop the onions.

- Do I have to pound that too?

- Yes. That’s why it’s called Tinuktok.

We’re doing everything manually,
so we’re really pounding it

with a knife.

- Crushed.

- Crushed.

***- That’s what you call it—
crushed.

There. And then,
we pound it again?

Does it have to be really fine?

(laughs)

(cheers)

- Looks like I just lost my job, guys.

- This should be good.

- This is okay?
Oh, do I mix it in? Okay.

Of course,
Bicolanos love spicy food.

Kuya Elvis, how many chilies
do you usually add?

- If it were just for me,
I’d add around ten.

- Hey, ten is too much!
Are you serious?

- That’s really what Bicolanos love—
the spice.

That’s what makes
Tinuktok delicious, the heat.

- Okay. Now that we’ve
pounded everything,

what’s next, Kuya Elvis?

- Mix it all together.

- Let’s mix it up.
First, the shrimp.

Kuya Elvis, you told me
that sometimes you include

the shrimp heads
because that’s where the flavor is, right?

- That’s called aligue.

- Garlic, onions, chilies,
and ginger. Salt.

Then, just mix it all together, right?

- Yes. In Bicol,
Tinuktok is always on the menu.

It’s something people
always look for.

Here are two gabi leaves.
Kuya Elvis said

you need to double it
so that it won't easily tear.

- Like this?

- That’s too much.

- Oh, is it? There. Perfect.

After this, I can finally
make this for my dad.

- Fold it like this.

- It’s just like wrapping a gift. Yay!

- Now, we have lemongrass leaves.

These will be our ties
for the shrimp Tinuktok.

- There you go!
That’s how it looks.

- We’ll also put some lemongrass
underneath.

- Okay.

- The purpose of this is
to prevent burning.

- Then, we pour in the coconut milk.

This is our Tinuktok!

So, Kuya Elvis, why is there
a bit of oil on the edges?

- That means the coconut milk
is fully cooked.

This is the best way
to cook Tinuktok with shrimp.

- Oh, that’s how it works.

So, it has to release oil—
that’s how you know

your dish is ready. Okay.

Since it’s just the two of us,
if we taste it, of course,

we’d be biased
and say it’s good.

So, we’re going
to call our friend, Chef Martin.

- Hey!

- Here. I heard
this is your favorite.

- Pinangat?

- Yes.

- Or...?

- Shrimp Tinuktok.

- Because the sound is...?

(laughs)

So, it really has to release oil.

I know exactly who cooked this.

- Hey!

(laughs)

- It's so good.

- That's how my dad likes it.

I could use a little bit
of spiciness

but that was really good.

You're very good, Kuya Elvis.

- So what did you do today?

- That! Chef, I'm the one
who cooked this.

Guys, promise.

- So, guys, if you want
to taste authentic Bicolano cooking,

this is the best shrimp Tinuktok.
Cooked by Ma’am Trish.

- Oh, he said I cooked it!

- I don’t believe that.

- I will be making pastil
or pater,

something that has gained
a lot of popularity

in the last mid-year or so,
and something that's initially made

by the Moro people,

most specifically people
from the Maranao

and the Maguindanaoans.

- When we say "pater,"
it’s basically rice with toppings.

Like a value meal.
It’s affordable—budget-friendly.

- So you know we have
a long, long history

of Islam in the Philippines.

They were actually here,
I think, 400 years

before the Spanish.

This is one of the dish
that for those Moro people

is very important to them.

And so, it has to be made
in a Halal way.

So when someone started
making pork pastil,

it kind of didn't
make sense anymore

'cause it loses that religious
and cultural context

and it just becomes a binalot
which is interesting

in kind of how
these things work.

And so it is just usually "kagikit"
is what they call kind

of the fillings.
It's usually chicken, fish,

or beef cooked
in various spices.

Soy sauce is an integral part
nowadays in kind

of more modern iterations
of the dish.

Obviously came through trade.

And then, all of that
is placed on a mix

of jasmine rice
and usually some sticky rice

to hold it up together
and it gets wrapped

in a banana leaf.

First thing we're going
to do is shred our chicken breasts.

So this has been poached
simply in some water

with some salt.

So it doesn't have
to be fully cooked,

just enough so that
you can kind of just

pull away the shreds.

We're going to chop
our aromatics,

very simple.

We've got some white onions.

This is all going
to be cooked down

so you can just go ahead
and cut it however you want.

For this recipe, we're also using
some palapa

which is a spice mix
using your sakurab

which is part of the Allium family

which means you're already going
to have a lot

of that kind of bright
oniony flavor coming out of that,

plus some spice,
some ginger that's in there,

some chilis.

Sometimes in garlic as well.

So that's already going
to carry so much flavor

in this whole dish.

Oil in your pan.

Even though palapa
is already cooked,

I'm also going to add it
to my pan here just

to toast it up a little.

I'm going to add quite a bit of it
'cause I love this flavor.

Another fun kind of modern way
you could do this

is you could use
the palapa as an extra kind

of paste or sauce
or condiment when assembling.

So you could do like your rice,
your kagikit,

and then your palapa on top
or in between,

kind of like
how you would use wasabi.

Like, that'd be another fun way
of kind of layering textures.

But here, I'll put it all together.

I'm doing something
quite traditional here.

But you could really
have fun here in terms

of different flavors
and things that you want.

What makes pastil a pastil
is basically how the rice

is wrapped in the banana leaf.

Obviously kind
of the original trios

of fillings that you would have.

But after that, you know,
I do feel people should feel

very comfortable
getting creative

when it comes to Filipino food.

And as such, you can play around
with the different types

of flavors in there.

You know, I've seen
some beef rendang pastils

being made.

There are new kind
of restaurants in CDO popping up

that we featured
where you could see

kind of pater being
not wrapped in banana leaf

but served in a banana leaf
with lots of condiments.

I think fried eggplant
is one of the main components there,

so this dish will evolve

but it's always great
to kind of know

where something comes from.

Chicken goes in.

Turmeric powder.

I like to put it in my mix.

A bit of broth just to help
bring all the flavors together.

Some soy sauce.

And some oyster sauce.

Now, we just have to wait
for kind of all that moisture

to dissipate.

You want a nice dry mix.

Banana leaves.

So this should be,
obviously, run through

some fire to get it nice
and hot like that.

Then, we have our rice mix.

So you can use just
a traditional kind

of like short grain rice here,
but if you want

to do something different
to kind of help things bind

a bit more, you can use
a mixture of both sticky rice

and regular rice as well.

So obviously when these are sold,
the price difference

usually is just based
on the amount of protein

that goes in there.

You can find kind
of like tomatoes sometimes

on here, cucumbers.

It's really up to you
but that's kind of like

the most traditional-looking pastil
that you'll have.

I'm joined by our wonderful Nica.

- Hey!

- One of the reasons is
because Nica grew up in...

What's the gang sign?

- Northern Mindanao.
- North Min.

(laughs)

She grew up in Northern Mindanao,

specifically from Ozamiz City.

So you get a lot
of Moro culture,

Moro food, stuff like that.

So you grew up
actually eating pastil.

- Yup.

- And when you eat this,
you eat it with a spoon

or just straight?

- Actually, hands.

- Ah, okay. So you open it
like this,

and then you kind of go at it.

- And then, just...

- Ah.

And you're mentioning...

So I put the palapa inside,
but you're mentioning

palapa usually is also served
as a side?

- A condiment on the side.

- Is that pretty similar?

- Actually.

- Is this something people
would make at home?

Not really, right?

- Not really.

It’s usually sold in
what we call "pater houses."

- Okay.

- And luckily for me,
there's a pater house

outside the school,
that's why I always eat it,

'cause it's convenient.

- Yeah, okay.

- It's also affordable.

It's only just around Php15 before.

- Per piece?

- Yes, per piece.

- Were you shocked that
there's no pastil?

- Actually, yeah.

- Right? I feel like
some provinces,

especially you grew up there,
you're like,

"Oh, this is a regular
everyday thing."

And here, you have paresan...

- Actually, there are a lot of foods
that surprise me

because they’re not common here.

- Everyone understands that
depending on where you live

in the Philippines,
you have a very different

lived experience.

But it's something
that we don't necessarily

talk about.

- Yeah.

- 'Cause everyone has
this idea of a united Philippines.

- What is up, guys?
My name is Seth.

If you haven't already heard,

you know
what we're making today,

we're making Junay.

It has the burnt coconut taste,
it has a lot of ginger,

some garlic.

And if you guys have
different ways of making

your Junay, please feel free
to comment below.

We are very open to learning.

Let's get started.

About a tablespoon of ginger.

So a good indication
that your coconut is hydrated

and a lot of the flavor
is on there is that

when it starts to come up
with moisture

and you get all of the juices
from all of those vegetables

and aromatics over here.

Next, I'm going to go in
with our glutinous rice.

I'm just going to shake that on.

Really toast this.

Coconut milk.

I'm going to lower the heat.

Not too high.

You don't want to get
the milk too toasty

because you already have
burnt coconut on there,

so it's just going
to be a layer on layer on layer.

You want to make sure
that you're really stirring.

This is also where
you can start seasoning.

I have here some banana leaves.

I'll make about six.

I'm just going
to layer it on here.

It's nice and sticky.

So here, I'm going to wrap this.

Go for another.

Seal it tight.

I'm going to fold it on itself.

Steam this for about 10-15 minutes
depending on how much rice

you put inside.

Once those banana leaves
have fully discolored,

you know that it has
already imparted and done

its job to the dish.

Okay. So here we have our Junay.

I'm going to be calling
our pickiest eater—

Ms. Trish—to join us.

- Am I really that picky?

- She's really, really picky.
She doesn't eat seafood.

So here, I have Junay.

This is burnt coconut,
some aromatics,

some ginger, garlic, onion,
and some glutinous rice.

- So there's no protein... Ooh!

- Yeah. It's very fragrant.

- Yeah, it is.

- Right?

Let's give it a try.

- Okay.

- It smells like coconut curry.

- Kind of.

- Right?

- It kind of smells like
the suman that has the ginger.

You know that one?

I can also imagine pairing it
with like a protein.

- Yeah.

- Like a saucy meat.

- And I really like the flavor
that the burnt coconut

really gives it.

Having it on the go
all the time,

already having it wrapped
is like a nice little...

- Snack.
- Yeah.

It tastes amazing.

- It tastes good.

- Really good.

- Next up, we're going
to cook Sinaing na Tulingan

from Batangas.

All right. First up—Tulingan.

Of course.

We actually got this recipe
from Tatay Victor from Batangas.

- Okay. So...

You're going to put kamiyas.

- So we're going to cut
across the body like this.

Both sides.

Then, we'll squeeze it out.

Like so.

Banana leaf.

Dried kamiyas.

So, the reason why
we're flattening it is

so we can fit more
into our clay pot.

And the reason why
we're wrapping it like this is

to prevent the head
and body from falling apart.

So with Tatay Victor's recipe,
he uses oil.

There.

But traditionally,
more people really use pork fat

to further enhance the flavor
of Sinaing na Tulingan.

If you like it
on the healthier side,

you can choose
to disregard the pork.

But if you like to do it
the more traditional way,

you can always use pork
as it also gives a lot of flavor

to our dish.

We're going to layer the fish.

Press down if you need to.

- Season with vinegar.
Magic Sarap. Add everything.

- Optional, you can add kamias.

Then, water.

Just enough to cover.

We're going to cook this
for about an hour or so

until our fish softens.

Okay. For today's taste tester.

- Mustard!

- Resident Batangueño.

(laughs)

- Hey. Fun fact—

my dad once ran
a port in Mabini, Batangas.

Shout-out to the people
of Mabini. What's up?

(laughs)

And so, I did spend a lot
of my childhood

in Mabini, Batangas,
not eating this dish.

- Okay.

(chuckles)

- Go.

So this has been cooking
for how long?

- For an hour.

- Ooh.

- This is insane.

- That's tasty.

It is actually really tasty.

You get a lot of the vinegar
but not in your face.

It feels like it's more briny
than it is kind of like

your more vinegary paksiw
which I actually appreciate.

It's not too acidic,
not too aggressive, right?

Actually, this is really tasty.
Thanks, Sam.

Good job.

Who's next?

- All right. Game.

My friends.

- Bringhe is a unique dish
because, originally,

it’s a Kapampangan dish.

It’s usually served
on special occasions—

Christmas, fiestas,
or when there are important guests.

I’m sautéing the onions and garlic.

- I'll lower my heat just
so it doesn’t burn.

- For the chicken,
make sure it’s well sautéed,

so all the blood comes out.

Some people
also add chicken liver—

that’s for when it’s really special.

- Now, we add the glutinous rice.

To make sure it cooks
evenly and faster,

I soaked it in clean water
for about 30 minutes

before we started.

- Sauté the washed glutinous rice.

Mix it well and add fish sauce.

We use yellow ginger.

And now, since it is
very convenient,

we use turmeric powder instead.
That’s what we use now.

- Then, I add my coconut milk.

Then, if you just want,
you can add chicken cubes

to make it more tasty.

Raisins add sweetness.

It's a bit dry
if you eat it as is.

But once it rehydrates
from the coconut milk,

you'll get why they put it in.

- Now for the vegetables.
It has red and green bell peppers

to make it more colorful.

- Then over low heat,
let's just cook it.

- While cooking, keep the fire
very low so it doesn’t stick.

- There. It's fully cooked.

If we want to wrap it,
we’ll have to wait for it

to dry up a bit.

- To garnish it,
you can add raisins

and also hard-boiled eggs
or quail eggs

for a better presentation.

You can cook it in a kawa (wok).

Since food tends
to stick more in a kawa,

banana leaves are placed
inside to prevent that.

- All right. So, for all
the Bringhe fans out there,

my binalot is done.

I call on my good friend Sam,
all the way from Dumaguete

to Manila, to taste my dish.

♪ A flower is not a flower
until they bloom

- Boom.

- That's my gift for you.

- There.

There.

There!

There!

Oh, no.

- Bringhe.

- This'll be delicious.

Do they actually sell this
in a binalot style?

- Some.

- Wow.

- Cheers again.

Wow. It's delicious.

Done.

- That's good.

It's really different
when you use sticky rice.

- Yeah.

- And it's kind of creamy.

- It holds everything together.

- Yeah. I like it.

Do you like liver?

- Yeah. So much, man.

Even if I have gout.

(chuckles)

LOL.

Wait till you're thirty.

- So today I'm going
to be making Tupig,

a rice cake from Ilocos,
but this can also be seen

in Pangasinan and Tarlac.

So, the recipe
I’m making today is actually

from Tita Bing Alonso.

- Tupig is a native delicacy
which we call "Kankanin" here

in the Ilocos region.

Tupig, when it was not yet
sold commercially,

it was a native delicacy
that was prepared only

during the Christmas holidays.

- First up, we're just going
to mix our dry ingredients.

- Two cups of glutinous rice flour.

One half cup of sugar.
You may either use white or brown.

One-fourth teaspoon of salt.

One-fourth teaspoon
of baking powder.

- Now that our dry ingredients
are well-combined,

we're going to gradually add
our coconut milk.

So just gradually
until we're able to form a dough.

So as you can see,
I added the coconut milk gradually

because sometimes
you need to just adjust

your recipe until you get
the desired consistency.

So we've formed a dough.

To this, we're going to add
our coconut

or young coconut meat.

So actually, Tita Bing told me
that the coconut meat

is really just optional,
so you can omit the coconut

because, apparently,
this is what makes it spoil faster.

Now, it's time to assemble.

- Spread a thin layer of water
or margarine

on the banana leaf.

Divide the dough
into small portions.

Then, wrap each portion,
holding the leaves

to form a square
or rectangular shape.