Lasang Pinoy 20: Binalot, All Wrapped Up!

On behalf of Filipino food bloggers everywhere, we are proud to announce Lasang Pinoy 20: Binalot, All Wrapped Up!

There are a myriad ways of preparing Filipino foods and a favorite is wrapping in leaves. The dish is oftentimes referred as "Binalot" and while it usually means picnic lunches, Philippine cuisine does have a thousand and one sweet and savory recipes that uses this technique of food preparation. It gives you a peek of the Filipino's practical nature, ingenuity, creativity and propensity to have fun, wherever and whenever.

As in most Southeast Asian countries, the most common leaf used is the banana leaf. The banana leaf is huge with a thin wax outer layer that makes it perfect for wrapping even the sauciest of dishes. Another common leaf we use is the coconut leaves woven or folded into various shapes and sizes.

But Filipinos don't stop at leaves. There's fresh bamboo cylinders, then there's crepes and wontons, an influence of the Chinese population in the Philippines. Whether the wrap is thrown on the grill over hot live coals or the fire itself, or perhaps boiled or steamed, the natural wraps lends its own distinct aroma and flavor to the dishes encased within. The whole experience of unwrapping a dish while all the steamy goodness and aromas fill your nostrils is definitely half the fun.

The possibilities are just endless. Instincts also tell me there must be more wraps out there being used for "binalot" recipes than we know of. It's probably as many as the 7,100 islands of our modest archipelago in the South China Sea and Pacific.

Perhaps you'd like to feature the technique of folding and wrapping, that will definitely be interesting to readers from all over. Or maybe you have the best recipe for lumpia wrapper or your very own Filipino-inspired wrapped concoction using your own wrapper idea, that's certainly welcome.

Whichever you choose to write about on your blog, or someone else's blog, (this one included) Lasang Pinoy only requires you submit your Filipino or Filipino-inspired entries to the current host or the Lasang Pinoy Team with your name, blog name, and the link to your entry. For quick identification, please title your emails LP20: Binalot. For your entries, please use the LP20 icon shown here. As always, it was creatively designed by LP pioneers, Iska Montero and Mike Mina. Thanks for everyone at Lasang Pinoy for your support.

For this edition, entries will be accepted starting today through the 1st of August 2007.

Unless the host gets all wrapped up in some unforeseen circumstances, we are hoping to release the round-up feature within the first week of August.....then we'll call it a wrap!

Let's get rolling and wrapping!