Manok at Kadyos / Purple Chicken With Pigeon Peas

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Several times in the past five or more years, Mrs. Marketman has mentioned a dish of Kadios/Kadyos with chicken and sliced banana hearts that her yaya (and later family’s major doma) prepared when she was growing up. I had never seen nor tasted this particular dish so I had no clue what I was trying to replicate. I wrote about kadyos or pigeon peas earlier this year, but failed to attempt to replicate the childhood dish that Mrs. MM was nostalgic about. Yesterday, however, I spotted these utterly beautiful, deep purple kadyos at the market and bought about 200 grams peeled and another 1/2 a kilo unpeeled. They had this utterly intense auergine or dark purple color and shine that just shouted “I am fresh, buy me!”, so I did.

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Back at home, we peeled all of the kadyos and decided to experiment a bit, figuring it would take several tries to come up with something nice. Oh, I forgot to mention that I also stopped by the Salcedo Market and asked Tita Cely Kalaw for some pointers on how she might prepare the kadyos. This is the outcome of our first experiment. In a medium sized saucepan, saute some ginger and garlic in oil, before adding several chicken drumsticks (you can use any mixture you desire of chicken pieces) which you can brown slightly. Add some patis. Next add some water from washing your rice grains into the pot. Add the freshly peeled kadyos and cook until done, not very long if the beans are fresh… Adjust saltiness by ading patis or salt, add cracked black pepper if you desire.

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The result was this stunningly purple hued dish. Stunningly purple. It is unusual that you get purple food, with the exception of ube, maye blueberries and perhpas bluish potatoes. We didn’t have banana hearts in the house but I can see why they would make a nice addition to the dish. It was an interesting dish…I didn’t instantly think it was brilliant, but Mrs. MM was munching on it with gusto so it must have hit some of the memory triggers. It was a bit starchy but lighter than monnggo, and it had a flavor that is a bit difficult to describe, almost a touch sweetish and starchy. The Kid, who is usually a bit wary of totally new dishes, waited for us to eat our portions before she gave it a try and then went on to take second servings, so I guess the initial attempt was a success. Now if I find some baboy and green langka, I will have to try the KBL that so many folks from the south seem to adore…

P.S. Many vegetables that are naturally purple to begin with such as purple broccoli and purple beans turn GREEN once cooked. Oh, and I should have named this dish Chicken a la Katrina instead, since she has a serious thing for purple…

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54 Responses

  1. My lola cooks the same dish as Mrs. Marketman describes… “Kadios kag ubad” in Ilonggo(ubad is the heart of the banana stalk. The ubad gives it a nice added texture… Yum! Got Rice?

  2. Kadyos, a favorite vegetable.
    1. with chicken and banana stalk hearts.
    2. with pork (or beef)and langka.
    3. with suso, gabi and gata (coconut milk).
    4. with shrimp, and various laswa (vegetables) like green papaya, malunggay, saluyot, okra, squash, string beans, puso ng saging (fruit).

    Simply delicious.

  3. Fortunately my dad planted lots of banana trees in the vacant lots beside our house. we can get ubad anytime we want.

    Think onions in French onion soup, the onions have given up all its flavor to the soup and all it gives in the end dish is a little bit of texture which is essential (the onion soup experience isn’t complete without strips of onions dripping down to your chin)

    Exactly the same with this dish. when cooked, it gives the same texture and, for me, the ubad is essential.. in fact, in my family’s recipe the chicken is added to just add flavor… the real stars are the kadios and ubad.

    excuse me while i go cut down a banana tree… now where is my bolo?

    :-)

  4. siopao, that is so interesting. We had some ubad recently in a salad that Ms. Fores prepared for MM’s birthday dinner. But I have never come across this ingredient in its raw form…

  5. dear mm, kadyos n ubad is common here in iloilo. come over so we can let you taste it breakfast, lunch and dinner :) by the way what is your top 3 restaurants in serendra, fort bonifacio? am in manila next week and i plan to eat there.

  6. john, I haven’t eaten at even half of the restaurants at Serendra, but of those, I did like Mamou, Chelsea (which is getting very mixed reviews), Gaudi and I hear Mezzaluna is pretty good.

  7. MM,

    If you can send me a small pack of kadyos, I’ll send you a jar of kimchi, gochujang and dwenjang paste in return. I miss kadyos from my college years in Bacolod. Kanamit guid!

    Doddie

  8. Doddie, these ones are fresh from the pods…I don’t think they would pass customs in any strict country. I understand they come dried as well but I haven’t seen them in that form. MRJP, I have to admit, the color was unusual.

  9. hey MM – diff topic do you want some of the Lindt 75%, 80% and 99% chocolate? will be home in 10 days and would be happy to bring you home some!

  10. isagarch, that is very kind of you, but I am trying to hold back on the calories with the holidays coming up. I appreciate the offer, but to stay below 200 lbs, I need to exercise self restraint! Thanks. Geez, never thought there would be a 99% cacao solid chocolate, does it taste like eating a bean??? :)

  11. Kadios was a favorite dish of my late dad and was cooked deliciously by their ilocano cook…but i heard that it’s an ilonggo dish or is it not? anyway it was always prepared with pata or any regular pork and with dahon ng sili…the addition of chicken is something new and looks yummy. Using fresh kadios(the green ones)with langka is also very yummy but most of the time hard to come by. Thank you to mrs. mm for the wonderful tip on the chicken kadios!

  12. Cafe Bola’s special for the past 2 months or so is kadios and ubad either with chicken or pork (they offer both). Its not available daily for they get their ubad from Bacolod so you have to call them beforehand. Its one of the best kadios/ubad preparation I have had and I come from the South. I have been buying 4 orders or so at a time to be stored in my fridge. The best comfort food ever, in my opinion.

  13. Sorry to sound like wet blanket here but this dish doesn’t look very appetizing… it must be the unusual purple hue… I’m willing to try it though as many say it’s wonderful(:

  14. Long and early acquaintance seems to be the requirement to enjoy this dish, same as the bulk of dishes enriched with coconut milk such as camansi and laing that turn out invariably pale grey but are actually great dishes were not for their looks. I tried cooking coq au vin once and it came out looking like it was camouflaged in beet juice. Guests need unquestioning trust in the cook to try and taste anything new or odd looking dishes.

  15. Apicio, my coq au vin always gets this sickly sheen, somewhat akin to death warmed over, I would imagine. But it nevertheless tastes good…

  16. Kadios with langka, pork and batwan is how we do it at home in Bacolod. It’s so good with rice! I’ve never tried it with chicken though. Have to try that some time.

  17. WHOA!!! Someone up there must like me, because after several ube posts on Burnt Lumpia, then another on Margaulicious, now this unusual kadyos dish on MarketManila!

    I don’t think I’ve ever tried kadyos, and certainly not any dish that looks remotely like this one. I’m sure I would’ve remembered.

    Now, I am inspired to assemble my perfect purple meal. For now, I would have:
    Ube shake from C2
    Camote soup from Cafe by the Ruins (a bright purple hue!)
    Ube gnocchi by Burnt Lumpia
    Kadyos at Manok by Marketman
    BlUBErry ice cream by Burnt Lumpia

    If I ever organized an all-purple-food dinner party, I wonder if anyone would show up and actually eat? ;-)

  18. being ilongga, you know what a thrill seeing something so close to home like kadyos appear here is an absolute heartwarming thing!!! kadyos with ubad….yum….when we are lucky to get some of it, we serve it at cafe bola…..more powerr as always…M

  19. Kadyos and Ubad with native manok, how I missed thee, damn it MM, now you made me crave for this and it’s 10:35 pm here in Belgium! =)), another ilonggo dish to recommend is manok with labog and green papayas. I don’t know what’s the tagalog term for “labog” there are two types that I knew, the red colored labog and the green one, it’s a vine and a bit thorny and the leaves are the one we use as a souring agent.Maybe we can call it our own ilonggo version of sinigang then.

  20. MM thank you for this wonderful entry! I come from Iloilo and this brings me back home. I miss KBL(kadios,baboy,langka).I keep looking for fresh kadyos here in the Northwest pero wala talaga. I don’t know where I can get dried ones that I can use. Sana magkaroon ng Pinoy company na mag package nito para sa mga Ilonggo na miss na miss na talaga ang kadyos. Oh well. For now I guess I just have to reminisce using your entry. Cheers MM!

  21. My roots are in Iloilo so I LOVE kadyos!!!! Home made is best but Ilonggo Grill serves a passable one. Namit gid!!!

  22. MM, there is almost always a small chunk of fresh ubod at Gil Karandang’s stall. If my need can’t wait til saturday, Guadalupe Market always has some tall timbas full of huge, fresh, floating white chunks…

  23. Myra, it isn’t ubod as in heart of coconut palm, rather ubad as in heart of banana trunk and not the banana heart…that would be great if there is ubad…

  24. @bethp

    Labog? is that what it’s called? I found this plant growing at my lola’s house years ago which has leaves that actually resemble, well, marijuana. but my lola said it was for cooking is that it?

  25. Aha, learn something new everyday :) Never knew what banana trunk hearts were called… Btw, at which market did you spot the kadyos?

  26. Hahaha I just noticed that MM has lots of ilonggo readers. It’s great to know. And ilonggo dishes are truly uber yummy. My husband is now getting used to ilonggo food and he loves it. Even the laswa that some tagalogs dont like because it’s slimy…he eats and loves! He likes the KBL too…funny, i never thought it was a weird colored food. We cook it with langka most of the time, but in parties in Iloilo, the cooks cook it with both ubad and langka.:)

  27. I’ve tried kadyos at my friend’s house. They are from Bacolod. I am never hesitant to try new dishes but this one made me pause. I only had the pork version not the chicken though. Love it! Her mom cooks it everytime I find time to visit them. To me they taste like obese lentils. Thanks for the post MM. Time to check when I can visit my old friend.

  28. @Siopao
    Yes, that’s “labog” heeee, it’s true it resembles like marijuana! well it’s kinda addicting also, in a good way of course. =))

  29. hey bethp, thanks!

    Hahaha! no wonder I always felt like I had the “munchies” whenever I’m in Lola’s house. her food was quite addicting ;-)

  30. I have a friend here in Houston who is from Bacolod, I will ask her about this as I am very much fascinated in the KBL. I am a little advance “home” cook and that I can taste the dish by just knowing what the ingredients are put in, and I cannot imagine how interesting the fusion is of the veggies in this dish; most of all I did not know “ubad” or inner trunk portion of the banana is edible. A lot of us Asians/Orientals in Texas grows banana trees for ornaments since, with the short/long or rather unpredictable change of weather disable the tree from ripening the banana blossoms into its fuller harvest of fruit; comes winter time, the tree has to be cut down or you’ll be left with ugly brown-dried dormant trees and summer comes, new shoots comes out and one ends up with forested ugly looking patches of banana. Well, now that I know there is this edible part of the trunk, I will have a good use when I cut down my trees.

  31. Never have had this but looks very interesting – it is naturally colorful and very good protein diet chicken and beans. The saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” applies here.

  32. Kadyos! Oooh I feel so homesick for a taste of KBL! Looks good, MM. Ubad and some tanglad would make that dish more awesome.

  33. is this edible.. it appears to be torn between afritada and halo-halo.. i agree this is can be a great Halloween treat. (though Im not really sure about eating it, i hope it tastes good)

  34. thanks for the plug ruth!!!!! will keep trying the best of bacolod to all of you in manila….coming soon ,,,takway,,,pitaw…pinangat….etc….

  35. We got a pack of kadios from a friend at work, we cooked it KBL style and it was delicious!!!! We never tried chicken thou we always use pork. If any one has other good recipes, please email me to MARIONE2628@YAHOO.COM

    P.S.

    Try this recipe: kadios, with taro (gabi) stalk w/leaves, batuan, with coconut milk, shrimp sauce or patis(optional). Cook the same as you would KBL. Yuuuummmmyyyyyy!!!!!!!!

  36. I must say that kadios is comfort food of all Ilongos. Those who will not try it just because of the color is missing a lot in life. Nothing comes close to it especially when fresh. All the talk of ubad and kadios is making me feel very homesick. The Ilongo Grill version is a far cry. You can count the number of beans, good heavens!!!!!!!!! Home cooked kadios is loaded when the delicious bean. Batuan, another souring agent so alien to most Tagalogs. Yum! Thanks for bringing us back to memory lane.

  37. mmmm! just guisadong kadyos with pork bits, gabi and flavored with bagoong isda. delish! i remember my sister and i fighting over this when we were younger. hahaha!!! brings back fond memories…

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