Friday, July 6, 2007

Binatog

Binatog is one of the many merienda (snack) fares in the Filipino diet. Binatog is steamed or boiled white corn kernels cooked until they burst out of their skins. The individual corn kernels are painstakingly removed prior to cooking. It is often sold by tinderos riding a bicycle while happily clanking a heavy metal bell, signaling to the neighborhood that hot binatog is available. The binatog is a very humble merienda, the hot corn kernels are sold from a timba or pail that the tindero straps behind his bike. It's always served piping hot and is only available in the afternoon.



Binatog is very versatile. It can be eaten with a dash of salt or a dash of sugar and some grated niyog (mature coconut), utensils optional ;-)



I managed to catch a binatog vendor biking around our village and bought two scoops worth of the delicious, hot and fragrant merienda fare. Yummy!

Hubby would be so jealous.

7 comments:

ericbau said...

Ah yes, the classic comfort food of childhood. =)

Socky said...

This is my favorite. Mom would always buy binatog in the market for my breakfast, would you believe? But she'd reheat or boil it again to make sure there were no germs or bacteria. In the market, binatog was sold in an uncovered bilao, to the delight of the langaws.

Leica said...

Ngek! I didn't know they sold it in the palengke back then. It's a good thing that our binatog guy sells it piping hot.

christine said...

Binatog!! I tried this for the first time outside the Baguio market and super loved it. I thought it was only there you could find it because I've never seen it here in Manila. I think I should move to your village. :)

Carol said...

I love binatog - the salted one, not the sweet one. I get it at Mais-Ann outlets at the malls. There's one near the ground floor entrance of Rustan's in Shangri-la :-)

And it's got to be made with white corn, right? Ii don't think it will work with yellow sweet corn.

Leica said...

Yeah, definitely white corn, definitely yummy :-)

Unknown said...

I love this delicacy. I usually add salt instead of sugar when it eating this.