Now I get it. Marcos named his political party KBL (Kilusang Bagong Lipunan) because it was also the acronym for famous dishes both up North (Kamatis, Bagoong at Lasona) and down South (Kadyos, Baboy at Langka), and food is a more powerful vote getter than pure politicking. With the other half of the fresh kadyos (pigeon peas)I got from the markets last weekend, I decided to attempt our first KBL, Southern style. The first dish with chicken, turned a ghastly purple and while bizarre to look at, it tasted rather good. And btw, it got featured on the Guardian Unlimited’s food blog (the second time Marketmanila has been picked as a “fave”). I turned to this Ilonggo cookbook called “Namit Gid” that was compiled by the St. Sholastica’s Academy-Bacolod High School Class of 1980. They had a nice basic sounding KBL recipe and I had all of the ingredients in-house so off to the stove we go…
In a medium sized pot, boil some water and add some pork cubes, say 2 cups worth. If you are worried about floating scum, parboil the pork cubes for 2 minutes or so then drain and rinse and return to a fresh pot of boiling water, say 6-7 cups worth. I am always afraid I will lose pork essence or flavor, but I tried this trick last night and it turned out very well. Next, add about a cup or more of freshly peeled kadyos and boil until it is almost tender. Add slice unripe jackfruit and boil this until cooked. Add some batwan/batuan (I used some bottled batuan), say 2-3 tablespoons or more and one large stalk of fresh tanglad or lemongrass and season with salt or patis to taste. Boil until just done and serve in a large bowl. Our version was more ulam (viand) than soup, and it was DELICIOUS! It had the nice flavor of slightly sour batuan married nicely to a gentle hint of lemongrass, then it had the starchiness of the kadyos, some meat for depth and it was gobbled up in no time. Really fantastic. And the color of the dish was a lot more appealing than the purple chicken dish I featured a few days ago. I am definitely doing this again the next time I find fresh kadyos… now if only my uric acid levels weren’t already off the charts!
P.S. The Namit Gid cookbook cautions against adding the batwan BEFORE the langka is tender, apparently the batwan prevents langka from getting tender… I followed this advice and had a terrific dish…
37 Responses
Namit gid — is the right comment to this dish. This is the dish of my childhood in Iloilo and then to the growing years in Manila. All Ilonggos like this.
This is a comfort food for me. The pork cuts I usually use for this are pata or assorted bones.
I love this dish..we always use pata for the pork and pair this dish with a sawsawan of patis and kalamansi…truly truly YUMMY!
in iloilo we don’t use patis only salt. if ever we use patis it is the soy sauce that we put. as you see patis in manila is soy sauce here. patis is rufina patis here.
I havent seen this “kadyos” in my whole life. Ang kilala ko lang ay green and sweet peas, patani, bataw. I thought of “kadyos” as the name of the viand or soup itself when I used to hear kadyos back in the Philippines, only here in MarketManila that I learned that it is a type of pea. Thanks for educating me on our local produce, MM.
You know what’s even nicer, broil the pork or pata on charcoal first until all the sides are just brown but not really cook inside, we call it “tapahan”.If the skin is a bit charred just scrape and wash it a bit on running water. Then just follow MM’s steps and you will get this wonderful aroma from the pork that’s just so appetizing (at least to me)….oh boy,my mouth is watering while thinking about KBL.
I think this dish originated from the town of Miag-ao, Iloilo. This seems to be their specialty. Friends from the place cook this a lot. And I think this is the kind of dish they would usually serve guests in their homes. But then again, i could be wrong.
Love this!! I just don’t chance upon kadyos beans in our market, so unlucky me. Thank God for Ilonggo Grill. True-blood Ilonggos like me will never say no to kadyos!
KBL is the meat and potato of the Southerners! If you cannot find young green langka you can use “kamansi†for this dish. When I was in college, my landlady is from South so KBL was a regular feature in our lunch or dinner. Yes bethp is totally right pata is a great addition to KBL with its mighty and powerful fat and bones for flavor and jellying effect. I guess the fiber in langka and kadyos is enough to mitigate the damage of pata fat. I like the way you coiled up the lemongrass and its use is twofold as a flavor enhancer and garnish. I only use the white part of the lemongrass and little do I know the green part is also useful.
Wow, namit guid! And what a coincidence. We were just talking about this during dinner last night. My brother expressed missing this particular dish, especially since he’s a seaman and he’s at sea for the majority part of the year. We’re planning to cook this dish in the next few days. Can’t wait…
Just a brief comment on why your previous chicken dish turned purple and this one did not — the acidity of the batuan made all the difference. You are probably familiar with the American side dish of red cabbage… they add a dash of vinegar to it to prevent it from turning unappetizing blue, or even worse, gray. This is actually a great chemistry experiment.
Namit gid ini kaayo. Brins back many happy memories sa Bago City, where I grew up. Thanks MM for featuring our famous KBL!
the ilocano name of kadyos is “kardis”
mom used to make a dinengdeng she calls “buridibud” which includes kamote, kardis, upo, alukon, samsamping and then topped with bagnet or fried/grilled fish. a simple dish bringing pure eating pleasure everytime.
thanks for posting this recipe, MM. i’m nostalgia mode right now.
I tasted this for the first time (and loved it!) some years back in New York City of all places, where our landlady was an Ilonggo lady and she always had kadyos brought in from Iloilo every time someone came to visit. I’ve always wanted to try it, so thanks for this post! Now I have no excuse NOT to try it.
I meant try making it…
Manamit na, tukar pa ang rayuma! Pagkaon nga malapit sa panabor kag tagipusuon sang tanan nga Negrosanon kag Ilonggo.
No. I will not translate. haha.
Wow! My mom’s family is all Ilonggo so I was introduced to this dish relatively early in life…and we all love it! They would be beyond impressed if I made it! Where did you get your Namit Gid cookbook?
joey, the cookbook was sent to me by a reader, probably an alumnae of St. Scholastica’s Bacolod. And it has a lot of nice basic recipes, Ilonggo and Western ones as well…
Ay grabe, what sublime torture. MM, your chicken and kadyos post made me crave for KBL so bad, pinatulan ko talaga yung KBL in MarketMarket… NOT THE SAME. No batwan, no tanglad. (sigh) It hit the spot somewhat, lopsidedly.
Just this morning, Lee dragged me to see this KBL entry and it makes me so much more homesick. You got it down pat! The weather is so apt for fragrant, savory KBL. Wala na, indi na ko ka ubra kay sige na lang handom sang pagkaon. No translations as well. :)
glad you featured another ilonggo specialty… time to visit Region 6 MM. :)
Wow…makes me miss Bacolod. Our cooks makes this dish very well and it is my favorite comfort food. That Namit Gid cookbook is so useful, especially now that I live overseas.
Another favorite!!! When I was still based in Singapore, I would request Mama (our yaya/cook since I was a baby) to cook this for me everytime I go home to Iloilo. When I got married and moved to Negros, this is one of the first recipes I put in my “family tradition” list. I like mine with a healthy dose of batwan. Claude Tayag also featured a recipe of KBL in his book, Food Tour, A Culinary Journal.
Oh wow! Being from Bacolod I miss kadyos and baboy. I would get my fix from the Ilonggo Grill when I was in college in Manila. My aunt (herself a chef!) is from SSA Bacolod class 80, and has some family recipes in the cookbook! Her mom’s cheese pimiento sandwiches are so yummy.
Any truc for preserving the colour of sweet bell peppers intact? You know those vivid new fangled genetically diddled purple bell peppers that turn a uniform dove grey after cooking.
There was a time when you can only get Asian radish in Asian stores here so we used those tiny red round radish to take the place of labanos such as in kilawing librillo which turned it a lovely shade of pink. But oh beets, you forget you have had them until dread and dismay overtake you at the washroom.
Apicio, I get the “dove grey” as well on purple peppers but the yellow, red and white are okay… Hahaha on the beets, I know what you mean. Ditto, by the way for eating cookies with too much red food coloring (like for Valentines)….
Apicio, OMG how I miss kilawing librillo with labanos!!!! Why’d you have to bring it up!!! I don’t know how to cook it and my beloved Yaya who knew how passed away. I miss her (and her kilawin recipe) so bad!!!
As for KBL, my relatives from Molo used to cook it using salted pork (the rib part with bits of fat and cartilage. Ay, ka namit gid!!!!!
Thanks a lot on your comment on the recipe KBL in your column. I am a member of SSA Class ’80 and it surely was a pleasant surprise for me to read your article especially since my aunt, Celina C. Ledesma, our inspiration behind the cookbook passed away just 2 weeks ago. She would surely have been so proud of it. Thank you very much for making her memory still alive for us.
By the way, I saw the picture (I am assuming that was it) of the KBL you cooked. I saw the langka had shredded. I don’t know if you like it that way but here in Bacolod it still comes out in whole slices. So the langka may have been overcooked? But that is really according to preference.
Again, thanks so much for the review. It is people like you who have made the endeavor of putting the book together worth while.
Hi MM,
Hope you can check out in iloveiloilo.com what a student of mine wrote about the Kadyos in Miagao. Don’t worry, she was careful not to plagiarize. I actually referred her to your site which she enjoyed reading. I think her discoveries regarding the kadyos in Miagao can be a useful info for all kadyos lovers.
it was so great dish i”ve ever tasted. It was also my favorite food…
how i missed negros, hidlaw n ko s pagkaon nga ilonggo ilabi na ang inasal kag batchoy, gusto k man lutoon ni pero wla man k di baklan batwan s cebu. thanx sa pag feature sa mga ilonggo dishes. try also laswa, you’ll going to love it.
Yummy!!!
do you have a recipe for “Bechuelas”? I don’t know if that’s the right title but my Lolo Miguel always had our mayordoma prep this when he was still alive. I think it was a home made version of pork and beans. I miss that too. Tani Kabalo ka!?
KBL was one of my first entries in my blog and most of the time i keep “bumping” it to the first page. hahaha
Its my all time favorite Ilonggo cuisine.
try this for bechuelas: In a slow cooker boil an average size pork pata, 1 cup bechuelas (white haricots) with some salt. Set aside when tender. In a wok using olive oil sautee garlic and onions then add slices of chorizo bilbao, or those chinese chorizos, and or slices of ham. In a big pot mix these with pata and bechuelas, add canned dice tomatoes,and or a big can of tomatoe sauce, carrots, poatatoes and olives, add salt, pepper,a dash of sugar to taste, garnish with green bell pepper (optional), and enjoy
dont you put tomatoes and onions?
When parboiling pork, you can add ginger and leeks (onion leaves)….to get rid of the pork smell
I tried cooking this last week and it was indeed manamit. even my Belgian husband loved it…most of all, it gave me once again a taste of Iloilo …. thanks
im a pure bloodied ilonggo but is residing in cebu now…pirme gid ko hidlaw sa ilonggo nga pagkaon…kun magluto ko kbl i use red beans as substitute for kadios and ida for batwan….namit man gyapon ah…