A bitten empanada.
The Ilocano empanada has more in common with a lumpia than it does with an actual empanada. It is made with rice flour (making it not doughey at all, and relatively crispy) and is deep-fried in the oil of a million empanadas and longganisas past.
Trying, in vain, to drip some oil out.
The Norte version contains shredded green papaya, munggo (mung beans), an egg, and some longganisa. It is made quite masterfully, and I have tried to compensate for my lack of video coverage by taking a series of (dark) shots.
This woman from Batac claims her grandmother invented the Ilocos empanada. Here's how she makes them:
