SM City Iloilo recently celebrated the city’s signature soup during the recent 1st Iloilo Batchoy Festival at the mall’s Southpoint area in the Mandurriao district.
The event was the first of its kind and is a joint project of SM City Iloilo, the Department of Tourism Region IV, the Iloilo City Government, and the Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. No less than DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat graced the occasion and tried out the different batchoy recipes.
Batchoy is a hearty noodle soup which traces its origin in La Paz district, hence it is often referred to as La Paz Batchoy. The usual ingredients of the Batchoy are Miki (egg noodles), Pork, Liver, Pork Intestines, Chicharon, Garlic and Chives, all sitting on top of the hot broth of pork or beef bones and condiments, boiled as early as 4am to squeeze all the flavor from the ingredients put into the soup.
And during these times, when most of us are homebound or working from home (WFH) because of the coronavirus threat, Batchoy is a healthy and hearty dish you can share with the whole family. The fact that it is a one-dish meal also makes it easy to prepare as well as economical. Better still, the ingredients are readily available at your neighborhood supermarket, like those in the SM Market group, Alfamart and Watermart.
Four iconic Batchoy brands- Inggo’s, Ted’s, Popoy’s, and Balay Kalan-an – participated in this first and one-of-a-kind event, each with its own story to tell, as well its own signature recipe. This highlights the many ways of cooking Batchoy, which one can try at home, or come up with one’s original recipe. After all, crafting a meal from scratch is nourishing in more ways than one.
