Sweet and Spicy Anchovies (Dilis)

Sweet and spicy dilis packed on traditional paper bag.

Sun dried anchovies is a common food found almost everywhere. It's a type of food that almost everyone reading this post grew up eating sun dried anchovies (dilis) as a part of normal  Filipino cuisine.  A fish known for its ridiculously small size requires no complicated preparation.  You basically cook everything with the gut, gills,tail and head intact. Frying it requires proper timing and right amount of heat from the stove. Removing it from the frying pan too early will make the "dilis" tough or gamy. Frying it further will also make it taste bitter. 

This is a P10.00 sweet and spicy anchovies measured on a jigger glass

Aside from being part of main meal, the sun dried anchovies (dilis) is also a common snack sold along the streets. I bought a sample of sweet and spicy anchovies (dilis) from the same food cart that sell sweet and spicy squid at Maceda St. Since the sweet and spicy anchovies is sun dried, you would expect a texture that's quite dry and gamy after it cooled off from frying. It's sweet from the caramelized brown sugar with a mild bite of spice from the chili at the end. The sample of sweet and spicy anchovies that  I bought is perfectly done with no bitter aftertaste. It has less odor than its dried squid counterpart. 

A closer look at the sweet and spicy anchovies

Pork Barbecue

A TV host from a cable TV show once said, that, there’s nothing more delectable than a scent of a meat that turned brown. I definitely agree with that. Starting at 3P.M., Blumentrit  and P. Florentino St. becomes smoky avenue. Scent of grilled meat, fat and innards ascend in the air signaling customers that the barbecue stand is open for business.

I didn’t try grilled innards this time. I bought one piece of pork barbecue on each barbecue stand in Blumentrit and in P. Florentino St corner Tacio St. The pork barbecue at Blumetrit traditionally grill their barbecue sweet compared to the pork barbecue sold at P. Florentino St. corner Tacio St. which has dominant soy sauce, garlic and a bit of spicy taste. You can check my previous post on Isaw to see how the meat and innards is prepared.

 

(Top) Pork Barbecue sold at Blumentrit for P10.00 per stick. (Bottom) Pork Barbecue sold at P.Florentino corner Tacio St. for P12.00.

There’s no perfect barbecue around my place. You can’t have the size and the taste you want on the same stick. Gravy and dipping enhances the taste of the barbecue. Unfortunately, spiced vinegar is the only option bundled with your grilled meat on both barbecue store.

Twinkee

This treat is just in time for hot days. As of this writing, it is literally rainy season here in my country but it can be quite hot on an ordinary days. Having this delight is a sure way to cool you down. Twinkee is a pile of  vanilla sundae with bitter-sweet thick chocolate ripple and loads of toppings of your choice. I ordered my Twinkee for P25.00 on a blue cup with Cookies and Cream as toppings.

I did have countless of Vanilla Sundaes before at Ministop, but this Twinkee, as they call it, is a reinvention of the traditional vanilla sundae mixed with sweet toppings. Every scoop promises a gratifying experience. The vanilla sundae itself is creamy and not so sweet and the cookie bits, well, it's kinda hard to tell if it's a cookie crumb. I scooped every bit's of my cup in less than 10 minutes without caring much on describing what I ate.  I just relaxed and enjoyed the pleasure of eating it just like first time five year old would do.

Isaw (Chicken's Small Instestines)

Almost all around the world has it's own way of turning animal innards into something appetizing. After all, small intestines is still protein and fat like common meat. Only two barbecue stand offers grilled meat and intestines in my neighborhood. They only sell this product late in the afternoon starting at 3PM and closes late at night or when the the stock of the grilled meat is sold out.

(Above) Isaw bought at Tacio St., corner P. Florentino St. (Below) Isaw from Blumentrit corner P. Floreitno St.

The grilled Isaw is clean from the two barbecue stand mentioned from the picture above. There are ways to determine if the Isaw you ate is unclean if: it has an ass-like odor, tasted a bit bitter from the food and enzymes from the chicken's last meal, it has a bit of gritty feeling while chewing it. I never had any problems eating Isaw for the past couple of years bought at the stores that I've mentioned.

Here's what makes the Isaw have a bit of a nutty flavor.

The barbecue stand at Blumentrit carefully prepares their meat prior to grilling. They first marinate the meat then allowing it to simmer in a few minutes at a low flame with a mixtures of soy sauce and other spices. After the process of marinating and simmering, they skewer each meat and innards on a thin bamboo stick then placed over a hot charcoal while brushing a sweet sauce mixture on each side. And the result? The flavor gets through every strand of the meat and innards. Another reason why they meticulously prepares the meat and innards, is because, they want to eliminate the odor and taste that comes along with the small intestines.On the other hand, the barbecue stand at Tacio St. only marinates their skewered meat and chicken innards before grilling.

So, if you want your Isaw sweet and with flavors that seeped thoroughly inside the meat, the barbecue stand at Blumentrit is right for you. Though the size of the Isaw on it's stick is quite smaller for P3.00 than the ones sold at Tacio St. for 5.00. But if you want something that's not so sweet with light soy sauce taste, go visit the barbecue stand at Tacio St.