Sinantolan with local bacon called Kinuday

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

MANILA, Philippines — Of the two, Kinuday and Sinantolan, Sinantolan sounds more familiar to metro folks. This is because we are pleasurably exposed to Bicolano cooking, whose roster of gata (coconut cream and coconut milk) based dishes include Bicol Express, Laing, Pinangat, Tinumok, and Sinantolan have become top favorites among lovers of good Filipino food.

While Bicol Express anchors its flavors on sili with pork, and Laing, Pinangat and Tinumok are variations of the explosive gabi (taro) and gata combination, Sinantolan is grated santol cooked in gata with garlic, onion, siling haba (green chilies), bagoong (shrimp paste), and some shrimps or meat until flavorful and oil separates.

Kinuday, meanwhile, is more of an ingredient than a dish. It is a traditional smoked meat, specifically pork, naturally cured with salt and smoked in guava wood by the Ibaloys of Benguet. It is local bacon.

So, in the Kinuday Sinantolan dish featured in a recent cooking demonstration organized by The Maya Kitchen and FEATR, which is a food storytelling platform that documents Filipino culinary traditions and regional ingredients, FEATR founder Erwan Heussaff made Sinantolan and used Kinuday in place of meat and/or shrimps. The Kinuday gave the dish a smoky flavor and took it to another level. He added Podpod, a traditional Waray smoked fish patty from Eastern Samar, and the dish turned out to be pure magic. 

Kinuday Sinantolan

Ingredients: 

100 grams Kinuday (cured and smoked pork) 

2 pcs. onions, chopped 

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

50 grams guinamos (krill bagoong) 

1 kg. grated santol 

2 packs podpod, toasted and chopped 

2-3 cups gata (coconut cream or ?rst extraction, and coconut milk or second extraction) or more, if needed 

Chilies, as needed 

Black pepper, as needed 

Procedure: 

1. Cook pork belly in a wide pot until fat renders and pieces lightly brown. 

2. Add onions and garlic, and cook until soft. Stir in guinamos until well mixed. 

3. Add grated santol and podpod. Cook, uncovered, until liquid evaporates and acidity mellows. 

4. Add coconut milk, chilies, and black pepper. Simmer until thick, creamy, and oil separates for about 20 minutes.

5. Top with more chopped podpod before serving.  

*Makes 8 to 10 servings.   

RELATED: Recipe: Chef Gene Gonzalez's Sinantolan dish