PORK BINAGOONGAN

Pork Binagoongan  is Pork cooked in Shrimp Paste,  left to simmer until it becomes saucy and  delicious.  My version of this delicious dish is with lots of onions  and tomatoes, these two will help balance the saltiness of the bagoong (shrimp paste), the sauce becomes a bit sweet, succulent and delicious! 

Ingredients:

1 kilo Pork Belly, cut into 1-1/2 -inch cubed

4 to 5 cloves Garlic, peeled and chopped

2-3 pcs  Onion, peeled and diced

5 to 6 Ripe Tomatoes, diced

2 tbsps Cooking Oil

4 to 5 tbsps Shrimp Paste (bottled,sweet or spicy - whichever you prefer)

2 tbsps Vinegar or 2 tbsps calamansi juice

2-3 tbsps Brown Sugar

Black Pepper

2-3 pcs Eggplants, sliced diagonally, fried lightly browned

½ cup water (if needed)

In a heated pan over medium heat, sauté garlic, onions and tomatoes until they are fragrant and soft.  Add in pork cubes and continue to sauté till a bit browned, then put the shrimp paste, mix very well, if it tends to dry, add a bit of water (1/4 cup or more),  continue cooking  stirring occasionally to avoid burning, then add the vinegar - allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, add brown sugar and black pepper.  Lower heat and  let it simmer until the sauce is thickened and the pork is tender.  Season to taste according to the sweetness and saltiness you prefer.  When almost done, add the fried eggplant and cook for another 2 minutes.  Serve hot with steamed rice.   Enjoy!

DRY GARLIC-LEMONGRASS PORK BITES

I found this Vietnamese Recipe in YouTube.  Tried it  and it came out very delicious!  Hubby and daughter loved it!  Even my 6 and 2 ½ year-old nephews loved them too.  Very kid friendly dish, pwede siyang pambaon sa school, instead of Nuggets or Hotdogs, this is healthier.   Aside from pork, you can use boneless chicken breast or any other parts you would want.  I made some changes in the recipe to further enhance its flavor.  Quick, easy and economical recipe.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:  (my version of  the recipe)

1 kg. Lean Pork or Kasim (cut into bite-size)

3  tbsp Garlic Salt (I don’t have garlic salt,  so instead I used  1 1/2  tbsp garlic powder & 1 1/2 tbsp iodized salt)

4 tbsp white sugar

1  tsp Pepper (could use more pepper)

5 tbsps Minced Lemongrass 

2 egg (or 3 eggs for more coating)

6-7   tbsps All Purpose Flour (if you added 1 more egg, add a bit more of this)

2/3 cups Japanese Bread Crumbs (add more if needed)

6 cloves Minced Garlic

1 to 1 ½  cups  cooking oil

Ingredients:  (this is the original recipe)

1 lb. Lean Pork or Kasim (cut into bite-size)

1 tbsp Garlic Salt

1 ½ tbsp white sugar

½ tsp Pepper

2 tbsps Minced Lemongrass

1 egg

3 tbss All Purpose Flour

1/3 cups Japanese Bread Crumbs

3 cloves Minced Garlic

1 to 1 ½  cups  cooking oil

Procedure:

Combine sugar, garlic salt & ground pepper. Mix well. Pour over the pork the salt mixture. And mix to coat the meat evenly.  Add in half of the minced  lemongrass, mixwell again…   then beat the egg very well, then add it to the pork.    Then add the flour, and mix well, making sure the pork is evenly coated with flour.  Then add the Japanese bread crumbs and mix well.

Meanwhile,  put about 1 cup cooking in a deep pan, turn heat to medium-high heat, and have redy a plate with paper towels.  When the oil is ready, place pork in the pan, separate bites if they stick together.  Move the pork about in the oil to ensure even frying.  Don’t overload the pan.  Doing this inbatches give you more control to fry  them evenly.   An aluminum strainer is excellent for removing the cooked bites once they turngolden brown.  Set aside fried pork bites.

In a separate pan, put some vegetable oil, turn heat to medium-low and   sauté remaining minced lemongrass, stir well to brown lemongrass.  Add the garlic and continue until browned, then put into a small bowl and set aside.

Put the fried pork bites in a plate, and top it with  fried garlic-lemongrass.  Enjoy!

Quick tip for mincing the lemongrass:

Crushing the lemongrass speeds up the mincing process.  Notice how the splintered stalks fall apart as they are being chopped.

Note :  You may watch the Video below to see the actually process of cooking this dish.

FOR MEATBALL LOVERS

We’re at my sister’s house now for a supposed to be a short visit, but my daughter and my nephew need more bonding moments that’s why we decided to stay a little longer. These gave us an opportunity to cook some “old-time favorites”, foods our mother used to prepare when we were kids. A few days ago I made a big batch of meatball mixture, I did it on purpose cause I have 3 different recipes in mind using meatballs. It’s one of those days when you just have that “meatballs craving”.

‘Am also posting the following 3 recipes as a tribute to our mother, who made sure that while all of us her kids are growing up she prepared nutritious and delicious food everyday. Delicious to us then doesn’t mean expensive food, our “Nanay” made simple dishes seems special to us. Back then, she would prepare a simple soup and pair this with fried tofu with dipping sauce on the side, and we learned to love tofu so much that it’s a regular in our dishes until now. “Nanay” is my first teacher in the kitchen, much of the recipes I know now are mostly her recipes and also our father “Tatay” is a food lover and a good cook as well. I will have to do a separate “tribute” for Tatay’s delicious recipes.

BASIC MEATBALL MIXTUREIngredients:
1 kilo ground lean pork
2-4 pcs Whole eggs
1-2 cups Bread Crumbs
2-3 tsp Salt
1 ½ tsp pepper
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped
¼ cup spring onions, chopped

Mix everything in a bowl. When well mixed, fry 2 small patties. (I always do this when making meatballs or burger, to taste if I needed to add any salt or pepper, and also to test if the bread crumbs I added is enough to make a patty or a meatballs. Season some more if needed.

When you’re satisfied with the taste of the meatball mixture, divide it into three, and put aside the other two (2) portions in 2 separate containers and keep them in the freezer. You may choose to make balls before freezing them, so whenever you will need to cook another meatball dish, they are ready.

For the 1st Recipe, we’ll just use 1/3 of the mixture. This portion will yield around 30 meatballs or more, depending on the size of your meatballs.

SINIGANG NA BABOY (Pork in Tamarind Soup)

This is my husband’s ultimate favorite, he can have this almost every week. Whenever I prepare this for him, he’s in heaven. Through the years I’ve perfected my own version of this delicious, comfort food. And according to hubby again, no matter where he goes or where he eats this dish, there’s no place like eating it at home – prepared by his Techie wife. A delicious sinigang dish starts with choosing the freshest pork ribs or any part of pork you wish to use, that you can find. I prefer to buy from Monterey, it’s a bit pricey but I know that Monterey products are always fresh.

Ingredients:
½ kilo Pork Spareribs (cut into serving pieces)
½ kilo Pork Belly (cut the same size as the spareribs)
4-5 cups rice washing water (or hugas bigas as we call it in Tagalog)
5-6 pcs Ripe Tomato (big ones), sliced
2 pcs. Medium size Onion, sliced
1 big Pack Know Sinigang Mix (Tamarind Soup Mix)
6 pcs. Okra, cut into halves
1 bunch of Kangkong leaves (Water Spinach)
1 small Radish, cut diagonally (optional)
2-3 pcs. Green chili pepper
2 pcs. medium size gabi (taro rootcrop)
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Get a big casserole or pot and put pork together with rice washing water, boil to a medium heat without cover or lid, and scoop out the scum when it floats, then add the sliced taro. Cover the pot and let it simmer in low heat for about 20 to 30 minutes, when the pork is a bit tender, add the onion, tomatoes and radish, let it simmer in low heat for another 10-15 minutes. Then add the Knorr Tamarind Soup Mix (don’t put the whole pack yet, gradually adjust the taste according to your sourness preference), let it boil and then add the okra, green chili and water spinach. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Season with salt if needed. Serve steaming hot. Enjoy!

ADOBO

Adobo is a very versatile recipe, Filipinos love it so much, that we cook it as an everyday dish and also for special occasions. This is a constant item in our menu at home. There are so many recipe variations you can do with Adobo, some recipes has fried wedged potatoes, others put cooked/hardboiled eggs, and still others put thick coconut milk or “Kakang gata” as we call it in Filipino to make it even tastier and creamier. Other nationalities also find Adobo very appealing and tasty, its even a popular dish on potlucks in the U.S.

Chicken and Pork Adobo (v.1 – Simple version)

Ingredients:
3/4 kilo Pork belly cut in 2 in. cubes
¾ kilo Chicken, cut into smaller serving sizes (about the same size as the pork)

Marinade: (mix everything is a small bowl)
1 Tbsp. Freshly Ground black pepper
1 cup Soy Sauce
½ cup Vinegar (or lesser if you don’t like the taste of vinegar)
2 Heads Cloves of garlic peeled & smashed (you can add more if you really like garlic, this will add more aroma to the Adobo)

Directions:
In a large bowl combine the pork and chicken, pour the marinade. Mix very well and let it stand for at least 30 minutes to 1-hour, or if you want, marinate it overnight. When ready to cook, put everything in a big pan and let it boil on medium high heat for about 5-10 minutes before you start stirring and let it continue to simmer, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. and if you like it to be more saucy, add about ½ cup of water, if not and you want it to be with lesser sauce, just let it simmer for another 10-20 minutes more or until tender. Adjust taste by adding salt if needed and Serve hot rice topped with adobo. Enjoy!..

Note: This version is alot simpler and you could practically cook it anytime you crave for adobo, its so simple that almost all the ingredients are available in your pantry. Add more soy sauce if you think it’s a bit bland. And also, you may choose to cook all pork or all chicken adobo depending on your preference, or if you love chicken wings, by all means use the wing part, or you can also use pork spare ribs just adjust the cooking time, as this may take a little longer to cook, but just the same, it will still be delicious. And regarding the garlic, for me, there is no such thing as too much garlic, this just makes adobo very delicious. This dish is so versatile, one time I tried cooking it without vinegar, and believe me, it still came out delicious!