Pork Binagoongan sa Gata

By: Sharlene Tan

The cooking time of this dish is dependent on the size of the pork cubescut them smaller if youre pressed for minutes. If youre not into creamy stews, skip the coconut cream. Serves 4 1 kilo pork belly (liempo), cubed 2 tablespoons corn oil 6 cloves garlic, chopped 1 white onion, minced 5 small tomatoes, chopped 1/2 cup shrimp paste (bagoong) 3 tablespoons vinegar 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar salt and black pepper to taste 3 eggplants, sliced diagonally 1/2 cup coconut cream 1 Place cubed liempo in a stockpot. Cover with water and let boil for at least 15 minutes. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while meat is cooking. 2 Pour corn oil into a hot pan. Saut garlic and onions until softened. Add tomatoes and cook until softened too. Stirfry bagoong until aromatic then put in boiled pork pieces and 1/2 cup of the boiling water used to cook the pork. Simmer until pork softens, then add vinegar and sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more pork broth if necessary. 3 When pork is fork-tender, add sliced eggplants and coconut cream. Bring to a boil and simmer until mixture thickens and eggplants are soft, about 10 minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Hoisin and Honey Pork Chops

By: Carina Guevara

The simplicity of this dish is truly amazing. You can have a decent meal in just three minutes of prep time and 10 minutes of cooking.

Serves 6 Prep Time 3 minutes Cooking Time 10 minutes

4 pieces pork chops, deboned about 1/2-inch-thick 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon honey chili flakes, if desired

1 Marinate the pork in all the ingredients and place in a preheated toaster oven. 2 Cook until the edges of the chops start to caramelize and your neighbors start smelling the wonderful smell of dinner, about 10 minutes. Serve with hot rice.

Sinigang na Sugpo

By: Leyanne Limjoco

For this 10-minute sinigang, Leyanne Limjoco used both fresh green sampaloc and packaged tamarind powder. The result is a broth of perfectly sour deliciousness flavored with the freshness of succulent tiger prawns.

Serves 5 Cooking Time 10 Minutes

4 cups hugas-bigas (rice washing) 1 large sliced onion 2 large tomatoes, cut in chunks 2 cups water a handful of green tamarind (sampaloc) 1 packet powdered tamarind 1 kilo tiger prawns 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce kangkong leaves and stems sliced labanos (radish) siling daliri

1 In a palayok, put 4 cups hugas-bigas (water used to wash rice). Bring to a boil. Then add 1 large sliced onion and 2 large tomatoes cut in chunks. 2 In a small pot, boil 2 cups water then add a handful of green tamarind (sampaloc). 3 After a few minutes or when sampaloc is tender, take them out of the pot and transfer to a shallow bowl to mash

and strain. 4 Add all the sour juice to the boiling hugas bigas. Add 1 packet powdered tamarind and stir. 5 Wash 1 kilo tiger prawns and shake off excess water. Add to the sour broth. 6 Season with 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (patis). Simmer for a few minutes until prawns change orangey color. 7 Add kangkong leaves and stems, and a few pieces of sliced labanos (radish) and siling pangsigang. Cover and simmer 1 minute more. Turn off the stove. Serve steaming hot.

Seared Salmon with Lemon-Coriander Dressing

By: Bambi Sy-Gobio of Kooky and Luscious

Fatty fish like tuna and salmon are rich in omega-3, which is good for the heart. Research also shows that fish can help sharpen memory and concentration. Another benefit:Theyre lower in calories than pork and beef.

Serves 2 Prep Time 8 minutes Cook Time 12 minutes 2 pieces salmon steaks 1 teaspoon lemon juice dash of salt fresh ground pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 Lay salmon steaks on a tray. 2 Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper. 3 In a skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and pan-fry salmon skin-side down. 4 Cook until golden brown on each side. For the lemon-coriander dressing 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon mustard 1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl and serve with the fish steaks.

Seared Salmon with Lemon-Coriander Dressing

By: Bambi Sy-Gobio of Kooky and Luscious

Fatty fish like tuna and salmon are rich in omega-3, which is good for the heart. Research also shows that fish can help sharpen memory and concentration. Another benefit:Theyre lower in calories than pork and beef.

Serves 2 Prep Time 8 minutes Cook Time 12 minutes 2 pieces salmon steaks 1 teaspoon lemon juice dash of salt fresh ground pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 Lay salmon steaks on a tray. 2 Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper. 3 In a skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and pan-fry salmon skin-side down. 4 Cook until golden brown on each side. For the lemon-coriander dressing 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon mustard 1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl and serve with the fish steaks.

Embutido
By: Jun Jun de Guzman

Go back to basics with this Filipino-style meatloaf made the traditional way. Dig in! Yield 3 (7-inch) rolls Prep Time 30 minutes Cooking Time 45 to 50 minutes 1/2 cup chopped chicken breast 1 cup ground pork 1/4 cup finely chopped onions 1/4 cup finely chopped celery 1/4 cup pickle relish, drained well 1 tablespoon raisins 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 1 hard-cooked egg, chopped

2 tablespoons green peas 4 vienna sausages, chopped 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper 1 egg 3 (10x14-inch) sheets caul or leaf lard (sinsal) 2 cups chicken stock 1 In a bowl, combine all ingredients except caul and chicken broth; mix well. Let rest for 15 minutes 2 Divide mixture into 3 portions and wrap each in a sheet of caul. Roll tightly and seal the ends. 3 Pour chicken stock in a pan. Bring to a boil then place rolls in. Cook until done, about 20 minutes. Remove rolls from the stock. (Using foil? Steam then bake the rolls.) 4 Put cooked rolls on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and slice.

The caul, which keeps the meatloaf moist and juicy, must be washed in water over and over until its smell is removed. Cant find it? Use aluminum foil instead.

Adobo Recipe
December 14th, 2008 | Filipino Recipes | 57 Comments

Even though I tout Rasa Malaysia as the online source for Asian cooking and recipes these days, I dont have any Filipino recipes! When I started thinking about having Filipino guest writers, I immediately thought of ChichaJo of 80 Breakfasts. I adore her beautiful blog, writing style and fab food photography. So, please welcome 80 Breakfasts to Rasa Malaysia as ChichaJo shares with us the recipe, origins, and various adaptations of Filipino adobo. Drool! My Filipino Adobo Guest Writer: 80 Breakfasts Although I love my local cuisine just as much as the next Filipino (which is to say a lot!), I am an absolute beginner when it comes to cooking Filipino food. Thats why, when Rasa Malaysia

asked me to guest-write a post on a Filipino dish I was a bundle of nervousness, despite being over-the-moon flattered! I am just at the beginning of my journey through Filipino cooking and I am still fumbling through some of the twists and turns. Even so, I was very excited and I knew what I wanted to write about adobo! Aside from it being one of those dishes that are immediately related to the Philippines, I am currently in the thick of adobo experimentation. You see, I never cooked this dish when I was younger (it was always prepared by someone else) so it is only now that I am flush with infatuation at adobos many faces.(get adobo recipe and learn various adobo adaptations after the jump) There are as many adobo recipes as there are Filipinos. Maybe more. I certainly have more than one. Just taking into account recipes which would fall under categories like the original, traditional, or best-ever would fill up volumes and volumes of bookseach varying from the next. That isnt even considering all the reinventions, fusions, and new versions that this simple dish is going through! And adobos origins? Another minefield of confusion! Spanish? Mexican? Indigenous? With soy sauce? Without? Soy sauce came to us by way of the Chinese, so any adobo made before that would only have had salt. Does that mean any adobo touted as traditional or original shouldnt have soy sauce? Logical to some, a sacrilege to others!

Knowing this, when it comes to adobo, I proceed with both caution and abandon. I can loosely say though, that Filipino adobo is a stew or a simmer of meat or vegetables cooked with vinegar. The most common versions uses chicken or pork or both, with soy sauce to flavour, as well as bay leaf, black pepper, and garlic. The pillars of adobo. That being said, we also have versions using squid (adobong pusit), long beans (adobong sitaw), and water spinach (adobong kang kong). I have seen people use everything from baby back ribs to catfish in adobo. Some like to

cook their adobo without the soy, using salt instead, or even patis (fish sauce). Some like to add coconut cream towards the end of cooking (my late grandfathers favourite). There are Spanishinfluenced adobos that use red wine and smoked paprika. There are also Chinese versions that use star anise and oyster sauce. Others like to add liver spread or liver pate to thicken the sauce. Different regions of the Philippines argue as to what is the best vinegar to use for adobo and there are heated debates about when you can stir the sauce (never stir until the vinegar has burned off most of its acids!). I dont think there is, or will ever be, a truly definitive recipe for Filipino adobo. Despite some lovely Filipino cookbooks finally making themselves seen locally and beyond, Filipino cooking in general is still so personal, so familial recipes are stories and myth and fables, shared over the kitchen table, handed over to friends and family like gifts. I cant help but love this dish all the more for its refusal to be pinned down, along with its questionable and uncertain past. For me, adobo eludes as much as it enticesand that is what always has me coming back for more. So instead of sharing The Recipe For Filipino Adobo, I am sharing with you My Recipe For Filipino Adobo. This isnt my only recipe, much as it isnt my only adobo story. This is my basic springboard recipe from which more adobo adventures start. Recipe: My Filipino Adobo Ingredients:
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1/2 cup white cane vinegar 1/4 cup toyo (our local soy sauce) 3/4 1 cup water (you may not use all of it) 3 chicken legs (drumstick) and 3 chicken thighs (I like to use dark meat this should come to about 600-650 grams of chicken) 350-400 grams pork belly (the part with the bone, skin on), cut into generous chunks (about 2 inches) 1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns 8-10 cloves garlic, just slightly bashed, skin still on (do not peel!) 2 bay (laurel) leaves Freshly cracked black pepper, a few twists

Method: - Put all the ingredients except for the water in a Dutch oven or any heavy duty pot and leave for about 30 minutes to marinate. - Place the pot over medium heat, add 1/2 cup water, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and simmer without stirring until most of the vinegars acid has been cooked off you will know when this is done because it wont smell as sharp and sting-y. - Keep simmering over low heat until the chicken is very tender about 40 minutes to an hour. Taste the sauce. If its too salty or too sharp for your taste, add some of the remaining water. I usually end up using 3/4 cup total. - When chicken is tender, remove the pieces from the pot and set aside. At this point the garlic

will be very tender as well you can mash some (not all!) of the cloves against the sides of the pot to incorporate it into the sauce. - Keep simmering on low heat a further 30 minutes to 1 hour or until pork is meltingly tender. - When pork is very tender, remove from pot and set aside. - Keep simmering sauce until reduced to your desired consistency. Taste the sauce and if youd like a bit of sweetness, stir in a pinch of brown sugar I like to do this but you certainly dont have to. - Heat a skillet with some oil over high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the chicken and pork pieces to brown. - When the sauce has reduced to your desired consistency add the browned chicken and pork back to the pot. Toss gently and remove from heat. - You can eat it at this point but it gains depth of flavour if you let it rest for a day. As with men and chocolate, I like my adobo dark, which is why I use soy sauce. I also like to mix pork and chicken, despite arguments to the contrary. I may make adobo using only pork, but I will hardly ever make it using only chicken. The pork makes the whole dish, especially the sauce, more robust so I consider having to fish out of the chicken mid-way a step well worth it. I urge you to use pork belly that has still got the bones attached and skin on then make your butcher cut it into nice chunks (I like biggish pork chunks in my adobo). The bones and skin will work wonders towards giving your sauce more body. Frying the chicken and pork after theyve been cooked is a messy affair I confess, sometimes I skip it but it really does make a difference and the caramelized bits of fatty pork and chicken skin will make cleaning an oil spattered kitchen seem like a small price to pay. One of the oldest adobo adages is not to stir the sauce until the vinegar burns off most of its acid. Another bit of advice Ive heard is to always leave the garlic skin on. I cant say I totally understand either, but I do like the feeling that Im following some age-old, almost mystical, piece of wisdom so I go ahead and do it anyway! I believe the beauty of adobo is really in its changeability and adaptability so I encourage you to experiment! Here are some of my own adaptations (collected from different people, books, and my own wandering imagination) to get you started: - Pop one star anise into the pot to give it a brilliant fragrance and a Chinese flavour. - Add a peeled hardboiled egg towards the end of cookingmy husband loves this! - Add one peeled sweet potato to add a touch of sweetness. - Experiment with different types of vinegars! I also make a version that uses red wine vinegar and instead of chicken and pork I use lamb shanks and I add in some peeled pear quarters. - Add a handful of peeled pearl/spring onions to the mix they will get all melty as the adobo cooks and enrich the sauce. - Slow cook your adobo in the oven while you do chores around the house. - Use leftover adobo (flake the meat) for awesome fried rice!