2 Lbs. of Pork butt or belly (if using pork belly remove the skin)
1 Cup of soy sauce
1 Whole garlic peeled & smashed
1 Small onion minced
2 Lemons
½ Cup of 7UP
1 Tsp. Ground black pepper
5 Tbs. Dark brown sugar
1 Cup of Banana sauce (ketchup)
1 Tsp. MSG (optional)
Directions:
Soak bamboo skewers in water overnight to avoid splitting and burning before using. Cut pork into ½ thick x 1 inch wide x 1 ½ inch long pieces. Slide pork onto skewers and set aside.
In a large bowl combine soy sauce, garlic, onion, juice of 2 lemons, 7-UP, ground black pepper, dark brown sugar, banana ketchup, and msg. Using a whisk mix and dissolve ingredients really well and pour marinade mixture onto the pork. Cover and set in the fridge at least overnight or up to 2 days. Barbecue over hot coals or gas grill until pork is done. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy your BBQ. Ayan may Pulutan na kayo! Nasaan ang tagay ko?
Tip:
Baste the pork with the remaining marinade to further enhance the flavor while barbecuing. Basting the meat will also help to keep it moist through the entire cooking process. Make sure you allow the marinade to cook when using it for basting, remember this is a left over marinade.
Start by pre-heating your wok and then adding the garlic and frying it until golden brown. After the garlic browns, then you can add the onions and cook until soft.
Next, add the meat to the wok and brown it while stirring constantly. When the meat is done, you can add the carrots and let it cook for about a minute. Then add the cabbage and let it cook for about a minute also.
Season your vegetables with fish sauce, ground black pepper, and after a minute go ahead and add the beans sprouts and green onions and let it cook for half a minute while stirring it. Remove the wok from the heat and let it cool off a bit before you start wrapping it.
After the stuffing mixture has cooled down, begin wrapping it immediately and then deep fry over medium high heat for about 1-2 minutes per batch. That’s it, you’re done.
6 Finger peppers Siling mahaba cut in ¼ in. pieces, discard stems
Corn oil for sauteing
Green Onions for garnish
Note: Thai, Birds Eye, and Siling Labuyo are the same
Directions:
In a large pot heat 1 Tbs. of corn oil and saute garlic until golden brown. Next add pork belly, season it with salt, and saute it for 3 minutes on medium heat. Add onions and ginger root and let it cook for 2 minutes. Add coconut milk, ground black pepper, msg, finger peppers, and Thai-peppers. Stir well and let it simmer for 25 minutes on medium low heat, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching. Then add calabaza and let it cook for ten minutes or until calabaza is tender. Adjust taste by adding salt & pepper if needed! Serve rice topped with Bicol Express & garnish with green onions. Enjoy & Feel the Heat!..
Note:
On this particular recipe I have my ginger root sliced in larger pieces so I can remove them before serving. However if you want to serve yours with ginger root you may so by slicing it in smaller pieces (julliene).
My final thoughts:
This is truly a magnificent dish. One piece of advice though is to only use as many chili peppers as you can handle. You can gradually increase the amount of chili peppers later on as you get used to the heat. As they say eating is one of life’s pleasures, taste and flavor are just as important to make sure you enjoy the food. That is why it is important that you do not exceed your own limit with chili peppers. You want to enjoy your food and not put yourself in severe pain.
When eating Bicol Express with the right amount of hotness to your liking you can truly enjoy this wonderful dish. You will immediately feel the heat as soon as you introduce it to your taste buds. The capsaicin from the chili peppers will trigger your brain to release endorphins which are a natural pain killer the human body produces. That’s when you get to the zone of enjoying one of life’s pleasure. Eating!…
Prepare pork blood by straining it and separating the blood that is in a jelly form in a separate bowl. Next add ¼ cup of water and break up the jellied blood with your hands and set aside. Slice pork into small bite sized pieces and set aside.
Using a casserole dish, heat 1 Tbs. of corn oil, add the pork, and spread it evenly on the bottom of the casserole dish. Cover and let it cook on medium low heat for three minutes without stirring it. Remove cover, stir the pork, and drain the liquid accumulated. Add garlic and saute for one minute, then add the onions, stir, and cover. Let it cook for another minute. Next add fish sauce and bay leaf and saute for 3 minutes. Then add ½ cup of vinegar, cover, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and salt and let it simmer for five minutes. Add the jelly formed pork blood first, stir for about a minute, then add the rest of the pork blood and the finger peppers.
Continue to stir for about two minutes, cover, and let simmer for another five minutes. Add another ½ cup of vinegar. Again cover and let it simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Adjust the taste by adding salt & pepper if needed. That’s it, you’re done. Serve with white rice, or Puto. Enjoy!
Puto - Filipino Rice Cake!
Note: This video is the updated (12-27-10) version of this recipe, I used “Sinigang Mix” for my souring agent rather than vinegar.
Filipinos have adopted dishes from all over the world, but most of our cooking is influenced by the Spaniards and Asian cuisine. There are several versions of Chicken Curry; the most popular ones are the Indian version which mostly uses powdered curry and the Thai version which uses curry paste.
Ingredients:
2 Lbs. Skinless & Boneless chicken breast cut into 2 cubes
1 Can coconut creme (14oz.)
1 Tbs. Patis (fish sauce)
1 Medium onion (diced)
1 ½ Cups of green and red bell peppers cut into bite sized pieces
1 Cup Celery cut in ¾ inch pieces
5 Jalapeno peppers (stems removed)
3 Potatoes (quartered)
¼ Cup ginger (julienned)
4 Cloves of garlic (smashed)
¼ Tsp. freshly ground peppercorns
½ Tbs. Crushed pepper flakes (optional)
4 Tbs. Cooking oil
For the Curry Powder:
½ Tsp. Cumin
½ Tsp. Caraway
½ Tbs. Whole White Peppercorns
1 Tbs. Coriander
¼ Tsp. Nutmeg (powder)
½ Tsp. Turmeric (powder)
Cooking Process:
For the curry powder: Begin by roasting all whole spices (cumin, caraway, white peppercorns, and coriander) for 1 minute on high heat. Once they are roasted, pound them using a mortar & pestle or electric spice grinder if you have one. Set aside.
For the chicken breast: Lightly season chicken with 5 Tbs. cooking oil and a pinch of salt & pepper. Mix well and brown on all sides and set aside.
For the potatoes: Brown potatoes on all sides with 5 Tbs. of cooking oil. Set aside.
Cook garlic until golden brown using the remaining cooking oil you used to brown potatoes and chicken. Add the onions when the garlic is golden brown and let them cook until soft.
Add the ginger once the onions are soft and stir it well. Allow the ginger to cook for one minute and then add the chicken you browned earlier.
Let the chicken breast saute for one minute and season it with patis. (fish sauce) Next, add the spices you roasted and pounded earlier along with the ground Nutmeg and ground Turmeric.
Stir well for half a minute and add the coconut creme. Stir coconut creme, return the cover, and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes. Lower your heat and stir coconut creme intermittently during the ten minutes to avoid scorching the coconut creme.
After 10 minutes add the potatoes, stir well, and let the potatoes cook for 5 minutes. After that, add the celery and allow it to cook for 5 minutes before adding the red and green bell peppers.
When the celery is cooked, add the red and green bell peppers and again let it cook for 5 minutes.
At this stage, you can do your taste test and adjust accordingly by adding more salt and pepper if needed. After that, you are ready for your last and final ingredient which is the 5 Jalapeno peppers. Serve Chicken Curry with white steamed rice.
Optional: Garnish Chicken Curry with crushed red pepper flakes.
As with most Asian countries, the most consumed food in the Philippines is rice. It is most often boiled and served during most meals. Left over rice is often fried with garlic and onion to makesinangag (fried rice), which is the typical way of Filipino style fried rice. One of the most common dishes served with classic fried rice are Silogs.
As most Filipinos know they come in several combinations, but the most common ones are Tapsilog, Longsilog, and Tocilog.
One of the keys to making fried rice is using the right type of rice. For example, don’t use a rice that is very sticky or you will have a hard time incorporating all the ingredients. The rice will stick together rather than breaking apart. Also let the rice sit overnight in the fridge. This will help to break the rice apart a lot easier or at least let it totally cool off before cooking it. There are endless combination’s when it comes to fried rice, but we are not going to talk about all of them today. Instead I’m going to show you my version which is pretty simple, but it has enough ingredients in it that it could be eaten by itself. This version of fried rice is inspired by the way the Chinese cook theirs, which also became very popular in the Philippines. The same common ingredients are found in both versions. Let’s cook shall we?
Ingredients:
5 Cups of cooked long grain rice
1 Cup of diced pork barbecue
1 Cup of diced Ham
1 Small onion diced
½ Cup of diced carrots
½ Cup of frozen green peas
2 Eggs scrambled and sliced into small pieces
1 Tbs. Oyster sauce
2 Tbs. Soy sauce
½ Tsp. Ground black pepper
½ Tsp. MSG (vetsin) optional
½ Tsp. Salt
2 Tbs. Corn oil
8 Stalks of green onions
Note: Slice green onions ¼ in. long and then use 4 stalks for cooking and the other 4 as a garnish.
Directions:
Prepare the rice by breaking it apart completely before you begin. In a large wok heat oil over medium high heat and saute carrots and green peas for 1 minute. Next add the rice and mix it for about one minute. Then add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, barbecue pork, and ham. Keep mixing for 3 minutes. Add the onions, eggs, and season it with msg (vetsin), salt, and black pepper. Keep mixing for another 5 minutes, then add the green onions stirring for another 2 minutes and you’re done. Serve with Filipino style pork barbecue and Lumpia (shanghai). Garnish fried rice with the remaining green onions just before serving. Enjoy!
Aside from it’s delicious and creamy flavor, Sopas is fairly easy to make. A few parts of chicken, some hotdogs, and macaroni can put a smile on the faces of most Filipino children or adults
Sopas which means soup in Spanish and Portuguese is another dish where I assume Filipinos have inherited the name from the Spaniards. Sopas can be found not only in the kitchen in most homes during afternoons, but it is also very popular in side walk cafeterias known as Turo-turo restaurants in the Philippines.
Sopas is often served in mid-afternoon as a snack to tie people over before hitting the big supper in the early evening. Sopas is good on a hot summer day, even better on a rainy day back home, or quite a treat on cold winter days in America.
Ingredients:
1 Boneless chicken breast
2 Cups macaroni shells (elbow is fine if you prefer)
Pork sinigang has got to be one of the most popular comfort foods in the Philippines.
Ingredients:
2 Lbs of Pork Belly cut in 2 in. cubes (Liempo)
1 Small radish cut in 2 in. small pieces (Labanos/Daikon)
1 Medium Onion sliced thinly
1 Small tomato diced
1 Eggplant cut diagonally
1 Cup of Sitaw cut in 2 in. length (String Beans)
3 Cups of Kangkong (Water Spinach)
2 Pcs. Of Siling Mahaba (Finger Peppers)
1½ Packet of Knorr Sinigang Mix
1 Tsp. MSG (Vetsin)
Salt to taste
1½ Quarts of water
Directions:
In a large pot add water and bring to a boil. Next add pork, cover, and let it simmer for 3 minutes. Remove scum from the broth and then add onions, tomatoes, siling mahaba, (finger peppers) msg, (vetsin) and the sinigang mix and let cook for 10 minutes. Then add the Labanos, (radish) cover, and let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Add eggplant and cook it for an additional 10 minutes. Finally add the water spinach (Kangkong) and add salt if needed. Let it cook for three more minutes and it’s ready. Serve with rice. Enjoy!
