From MariMari.com:
Although Filipino food is one of complexity with its varied origins of Malay, Chinese and Spanish, yet the cooking methods are rather simple. Basically, the four cooking methods that support the foundation of Filipino cookery are boiling (nilaga), grilling (ihaw), roasting and steaming (halabos). These cooking methods form the very basis of the modern-day demand of healthy cooking. It was not until the arrival of the Spanish that the method of sauteeing (guisado) was "Filipinized" and introduced into the Filipino kitchen, adding to the basic forms of Filipino cookery.
Here is a detailed list from Caridenria.net
- Sinigang
- cooking with water and adding a sour agent from fruit or vegetable. May be meat, fish or fowl.
- Inasnan
- food preserved with salt. May be broiled. Meat, fish or vegetables.
- Pinaksiw
- cooking fish with vinegar, just a little water and spices. May be with or without vegetables.
- Nilaga
- boiling fish, fowl or meat with more water.
- Pangat
- cooking fish with a little water with or without a souring agent.
- Halabos
- cooking with salt and almost no water. Cooks from the juice of the shellfish or crustacean.
- Pinais
- food wrapped in leaves (banana or alagao), and steamed.
- Pesa
- boiling sauteed fish with ginger, vegetables and patis.
- Sinuam
- boiling sauteed fish or shellfish in ginger and pepper leaves.
- Pasingao
- steaming fish, meat, fowl or shellfish.
- Inihaw
- broiled over live charcoal. May be meat, fish or root crops.
- Dinaing (broiled or fired)
- fish cut at the back and opened like a butterfly.
- Tinapa
- blanching fish and soaking it until golden brown.
- Pinausukan
- smoking fish, meat and fowl just before eating.
- Binuro
- Salting. Such as talangka (small crabs), alimasag (crabs), bangus (milkfish), hito (catfish), dalag (mudfish), eggs or vegetables.
- Kinilaw
- food marinated in vinegar and spices (saviche or raw).
- Ginisa
- basic use of lard, garlic and onions for almost everything meat, fish, fowl or vegetable.
- Ginataan
- cooking fish, crustaceans, vegetables, root crops in coconut milk.
- Inadobo
- cooking with vinegar and spices. May be meat, fish or vegetables.
Good thing, my wife is excellent in the kitchen. She makes the bet food in the world for me.
