Today, September 22, 2025, the Philippines observes Kainang Pamilya Mahalaga Day, as declared by Proclamation No. 326 in 2012. It falls every fourth Monday of September, within the broader celebration of National Family Week. This special day highlights the importance of family bonding through shared meals — a simple yet powerful way to strengthen unity, solidarity, and stability in Filipino families. I learned about this event from my sister. She said that government work today will end at 1 pm. However, there's a super typhoon and all work and classes were suspended. It's actually fortunate as families can really spend time together indoors.
Our Celebration at Home
In honor of the day, I decided to prepare a hearty Pinoy feast for my family. I started the day with a warm breakfast of chicken congee with onsen eggs:
It wasn’t easy to cook a feast — I was doing several loads of laundry, and my legs felt like they were going to give out — but after a quick nap, I found the strength to pull it off. I originally wanted to cook this spread for lunch, but since my husband had work and I was really feeling fatigued, I decided to move it to dinner.
This feast features food from our recent travels such as Vigan bagnet and Ilocos garlic, tawilis, panutsa, and pinipig from Taal, Batangas, and leche flan, ube, and burong mangga from Tagaytay.
What I cooked:
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Tortang Talong – simple and always comforting. This is solely for my husband. I used to be able to eat eggplants, but MCAS has made me too sensitive for it.
Cooking the torta
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Sotanghon with Shrimp and Vegetables – a light and filling noodle dish.
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Vigan Bagnet – crispy pork belly with that unmistakable crunch.
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Fried Tawilis – small lake fish, golden and crisp.
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| Frying the tawilis |
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Pickled Green Mangoes from Good Shepherd. Review soon!
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Chicken Adobo sa Panutsa with Pinipig
This is my special twist on the classic, using panutsa (raw sugar blocks) for sweetness and pinipig for texture.
Chicken Adobo sa Panutsa with Pinipig Recipe
Ingredients:
Chicken cut into small pieces
Chopped, garlic
Chopped onions
Soy sauce
Vinegar
Water
Peppercorns
Bay leaf
Panutsa (If I'm not mistaken, this is called Jaggery in India and Gula Melaka in Indonesia)
Toasted Pinipig (flattened, immature glutinous rice)
Let's do this!
1. Saute garlic and onions until fragrant.
2. Add the chicken pieces and cook until you get a good brown sear.
3. Add vinegar then let it simmer for a minute.
4. Add soy sauce, peppercorns, bay leaf.
5. Add water. Amount depends on how much sauce you want.
6. Let this cook for about 30 minutes on low heat or until the liquid has halved. I cooked it at 100C on an induction stove.
7. Add sliced or grated panutsa to taste. If you don't have that, you can use brown sugar. Wait until the panutsa has melted and mix well.
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| Panutsa |
8. Top with toasted pinipig. Serve with rice.
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| Toasted Pinipig |
Important Notes
If you're new here, you might have noticed that I didn't put the quantity for each ingredient. That's because I almost never measure when I cook. I cook by feel, smell, and taste. And I never cook a dish the same way twice. I also encourage my readers, especially those who are new to cooking, to not be afraid to experiment. The trick is to add a little at a time, especially seasonings like salt, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, etc. And keep tasting your dish.
I also don't style my food as I want to show you what I serve my family. I'm an author, writer, homeschooling mom, and entrepreneur. I don't have the time to style food for photos. The food would probably be already cold by the time we sit down to eat it if I did that. My goal is to share with you dishes that are easy and quick to make that moms, students, etc. can easily recreate at home.
For dessert, we had leche flan and ube bingsu, though I made the mistake of forgetting to add the pinipig on top (next time, definitely!). The jar of freshly toasted pinipig was already above the ube tray and I still forgot! 😑🤦♀️ And I was soooo looking forward to that because I love pinipig! It reminds me of my favorite Pinipig Crunch stick ice cream when I was a child.
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| That's the tray of ube on the right and the pinipig was just above that! 🤦♀️ |
I used shaved ice. It melted really fast and my machine wasn't shaving a lot in the beginning, but we ended up with enough ice for everyone and even some leftover ice block.
Reflections
My husband was still working when I told him that we will eat. It looked like he was just going to get a plate and go back to his desk, but when he saw the spread, he decided to sit down with us. We shared this meal while watching Bon Appetit, Your Majesty on Netflix.
Kainang Pamilya Mahalaga Day reminds me that meals don’t have to be extravagant to matter. What counts is gathering around the table, sharing food made with love, and creating memories together. Whether it’s a feast or a simple dish of rice and tinola, what truly fills us up is the presence of family.
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