Comfort Food # 1: Ilocos Empanada

Filipinos are fond of eating.  As a matter of fact, we eat 6 or even 7 times a day.  We have breakfast, lunch and supper and in-between-meal refreshments.  Sometimes, we have a small meal before a big breakfast.  In the Visayas, they call it, "painit".   We find a lot of reasons to celebrate and prepare food.  We have different food for different occasions, events and gatherings.  And we also have comfort foods.  These are foods that are associated to feeling a sense of contentment or home or anything that's familiar to us, like our childhood.  The Ilocos Empanada is one of the food that I consider comfort food.    It is a treat I give myself when I am in the pleasure of the company of friends.

Nowadays, we can see a few stalls that sell Ilocos empanada in Quezon City, but this specialty originated from the Ilocos Region as its name would imply   There is empanada from Vigan and Batac (which is also called Laoag empanada), and there are special empanadas and ordinary ones.    How is it made?   It almost reminds me of a Calzone, however, a Calzone has thicker crust.  The Ilocos empanada has thin crust, which is orange in color, because of the annato added in the mixture.  Annato is 'achiote. '  It is a good source of natural coloring (so I assume it is not toxic).  The filling consists of, you guessed it right, the Ilocos longganisa (talk about authentic Ilocos food!).    Some vegetables are added to the "longganisa" filling and an egg is cracked and poured over the veggies and longganisa before the crust is folded and fried.  There are additional fillings that can also be ordered which will distinguish an ordinary from a special empanada.

Ilocos Empanada goes well with its ideal partner, the sukang Ilocos.  Just dip or pour a moderate amount or tiny, depending on your preference and you can enjoy every bite you make.  Yummy!  I better head for the nearest Maria's Ilocos Empanada, pronto!