28 Mar2009
We brought home some unripe batuan fruit from Bacolod, so I was eager to use it in a few recipes. The first experiment was with a KBL or Kadios Baboy at Langka, with the wonderful secret ingredient… batuan. This recipe was based on one from the cookbook “Namit Gid” that a reader, Maddie, sent me a couple of years ago. You will need a generous cup of kadios (I used the purple ones, freshly peeled) that is rinsed in water, then boiled in fresh water for roughly 10 minutes, drained and rinsed again. Meanwhile, boil a pot filled with 7.5 cups of water, then add about 1.5 cups of pork, in small cubes, and boil for some 15 minutes or so. Add the kadios back into this pork broth and cook until the kadios and pork are tender.
Add a half kilo of sliced unripe langka and continue to cook until the langka is done. The cookbook warns to make sure the langka is cooked before adding the next ingredient, batuan. I added around 6-7 medium sized batuans to the pot and let this simmer for several minutes until the taste permeates the broth and aroma in your kitchen is nice and fragrant. Add a tied up stalk of tanglad or lemongrass to the pot and sesaon with sea salt. Serve hot. This was FANTASTIC. And yes, it needs the batuan to really take it over the top. I have tried a few other kadios dishes in the past, but none of them were as incredibly simple and satisfying as this one. I even did a KBL before, but without batuan. This latest version was definitely a hit for me. Now if only I can get a reasonably reliable supply of batuan!
COMMENTS:
bearhug0127, United States says:
Yes,MM . kbl with batuan is simply the best.
Mar 28, 2009 | 6:58 am
Maria Clara, United States says:
Your photos look like an Italian anti pasta salad to me with the langka passing as rolled cold cut meat and the batuan looks like green olives to me looking at the pictures. The culinary mighty power of batuan makes everything palatable through the last bite.
Mar 28, 2009 | 7:00 am
kakusina, Philippines says:
i remember my ilonggo mom used pork pata in making KBL.
Mar 28, 2009 | 7:48 am
sister, United States says:
Is batuan like a tamarillo?
Mar 28, 2009 | 8:03 am
zena, Philippines says:
I keep hearing about kadyos and I’ve never tried it! It’s like an elusive thingamajing that is out of reach. Hay.
Mar 28, 2009 | 9:48 am
jun b, Singapore says:
hi MM, I guess you have to plant batuan at your garden. I wonder if batuan is easy to grow? was there any special way to cultivate them. this should be one ingredients that should be part of our national dish to promote since it is indegenous to phil.
Mar 28, 2009 | 10:30 am
lee, Philippines says:
there can only be “but one” (batuan) souring ingredient for the perfect KBL.
Mar 28, 2009 | 11:17 am
MrsS, New Zealand (Aotearoa) says:
This is my all time favorite dish!!! The picture is making very hungry. Wish I could have this right now plus ginisa na bagoong on the side.
Mar 28, 2009 | 11:37 am
MrsS, New Zealand (Aotearoa) says:
Sister, batuan is totally different from tamarillo? Can’t think of any that is similar to batuan.
Mar 28, 2009 | 11:39 am
Sheryl, Philippines says:
Namit! Love that soup.:-)I’m gonna get me a copy of that recipe book “Namit Gid”. I wonder if you can ask someone from Bacolod/Panay to send you a bunch of those via LBC? :-)
Mar 28, 2009 | 12:21 pm
Sheryl, Philippines says:
I do that when I need my fix of Piaya and biscocho :-)
Mar 28, 2009 | 12:22 pm
Marketman, United States says:
Sister, best described as a sour mutant cousin of an immature mangosteen… :)
Mar 28, 2009 | 3:14 pm
Ariel, United States says:
Looks so healthy.
Mar 28, 2009 | 4:30 pm
Trish, Philippines says:
A staple dish in our home. We also make another dish — langka, kadyos, pork slices, gata and sili. Yummy!
Mar 28, 2009 | 5:58 pm
britelite, Philippines says:
MM–you can make your unripe jackfruit a littel bigger–
Mar 28, 2009 | 10:39 pm
maddie, Philippines says:
Woohoo! Now you’ve got the perfect KBL!
Sheryl, yes you can order the “Namit Gid” cookbook and have it sent to you. I’ll email you the contact person and her email address so you can order directly from Bacolod.
Mar 29, 2009 | 2:51 am
Homebuddy, Philippines says:
Thanks Marketman for the batuan tip, I know there was something wrong in the kadios I made but could not identify the missing link, hehehe.
What about par-boiling the jackfruit before adding to the dish?
Mar 29, 2009 | 8:15 pm
Sheryl, Philippines says:
Hi Maddie, thanks! Please email me at gabriellez21{at}yahoo.com.
Thanks gid!
Mar 30, 2009 | 12:13 am
Cynthia, United States says:
Mr. MM, I tried cooking KBL here in Mnaila minus the kadios but it doesn’t taste as good as the one soured with kadios. I used instant sinigang mix, and the sourness is not as good as the kadios…
I made mine extra hot as my hubby, a pure Bicolano loves chili-flavored dishes so almost all my cookings has sili as main ingredient.
Pata ng baboy is the best for KBL, btw.
Mar 30, 2009 | 10:48 am
vina, Philippines says:
Hi maddie! can i also have the email adddress for the namit guid cookbook? i’m going home to bacolod for a vacation on the 3rd week of april and i hope i can get it by then. thanks!
Mar 30, 2009 | 3:38 pm
maddie, Philippines says:
Hi Vina. In Bacolod, you can purchase a copy of the “Namit Gid” cookbook at Pendy’s along Mandalagan, the other side of Lacson Street, highway that leads to the north.
Mar 30, 2009 | 4:28 pm
maddie, Philippines says:
A friend of mine checked out “batuan” and here’s what he found: Garcinia morella is a species of tree in the Clusiaceae family. In Tamil it is called ireevalsinni (இரேவற்சின்னி) and on the Philippines it is known as batuan.
Mar 30, 2009 | 4:37 pm
maddie, Philippines says:
Hello again Sheryl/everyone. MM, I hope you don’t mind if I do a little shameless plugging here. The “Namit Gid” cookbook is going to be available within the week in Manila at the JT Manukan Grille branches located at Sgt. Esguerra St. (in between ABS-CBN and GMA-7), Gilmore cor. Valencia St. (near Greenhills), and Malugay St. Makati. Very limited supply only although if stocks ran out, we can replenish. All proceeds of this cookbook go to the charitable causes of our highschool batch in Bacolod, mainly medical missions of our school’s foundation as well as as our alumni association. Thank you MM.
Mar 30, 2009 | 11:18 pm
faye.astorga, United States says:
:) you’d have to add the batuan in the end with the tanglad then? i like my langka a little bit chunkier/bigger, better if you use a pressure cooker, less time to cook. i need to get me some batuan back home!
Mar 30, 2009 | 11:49 pm
Angie from NY, United States says:
Hello MM, another version is to saute garlic, onions and lots of tomatoes in oil,when cooked, add the tanglad bundle then add the pork slices (with fat or you can use pork hocks)until its half cooked then add all these to the boiling tender kadyos. In NY since we dont have the batuan I use a packet of the Knorr sinigang mix, lastly add the sliced langka (Canned -wash and drain first) season with salt and pepper. Serve HOT!
Mar 31, 2009 | 1:50 am
Mai Mai, Philippines says:
What timing! I’ve been looking for a kadios recipe for my friend because it reminds him of his childhood. Thanks for posting this, MM. :)
Apr 2, 2009 | 8:12 pm
pnyorker, United States says:
Coming from an ilonggo, i can go on and on…talking about KADIOS and while doing that i have to stop for a few and wipe my drool. I grew up eating and loving the KBL. I remember we always have the soup the day after each fiesta or handa-an. You know why? The next day, when the visitors are gone, the pig legs that where sat aside from the feast/handa and where grilled and left hanging on top of the pugon(wood burning stove)becomes the center of the attention. It is very important that the legs where grilled just medium well or maybe rare–just enough to have grill marks and let it hang for a day. I dont know why but it helps the meat taste better. Then we throw in the tomatoes, onion, water, KADIOS, LANGKA and BABOY together. The souring agent is batuan or “LABOG”(i can also talk forever about this too) and some patis to taste. Stop–i have wipe my drool.
I live so far away now that it’s hard for me to find all this ingredients especially the LABOG–wala talaga dito. i can find KADIUS in some Filipino Stores. Also, i have to go to a Spanish or Asian store for the certain cut of pork legs. and for the souring agent BATUAN, is no where in sight too. So..tadah!!!—Sinigang mix ang substitute. I go a mile or 20 for my KBL. Call me crazy but i do. CrazyIlonggo.
Jun 7, 2009 | 5:16 pm