Pork Binagoongan (Pork in Shrimp Paste)

Hello!!! I'm back...! I am sorry for being absent for more than a month. As much as I wanted to post, I didn't have extra time to do it. Christmas planning at work, deadlines, etc...haaay! 


But anyway, I want to share to you one of my favorite dish. The pork binagoongan (pork in shrimp paste). Well, there's nothing so hard in cooking this dish but what I like the most is how well it goes with rice. The saltiness and sweetness of the shrimp paste is so good, that every time I eat this, the 1 cup of rice promise is being broken. I consider this as one of my comfort food.


Shrimp paste or bagoong alamang is a type of condiment. It is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian countries. Made from minute shrimp, we love this as a dipping partner for green mangoes, condiment for kare-kare, salting agent for pinakbet and the key ingredient for binagoongan. 


Here's the recipe for Pork Binagoongan. You will only need few ingredients for this dish.

Ingredients


3/4 of a 250g bottle of shrimp paste. (I used the barrio fiesta brand)
250g pork belly, sliced into bite size pieces
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced. 


Procedure


1. Fry the pork belly until golden brown. Set aside.
2. Saute onion and garlic. Add the tomato. 
3. Put back the pork in the pan, and stir in the shrimp paste until all pork has been covered. Cook for 5 minutes.


Served with hot, steaming rice...

Menudo Mania

I love my mom's menudo. And for me, it's the best menudo ever. The meat is so tender, and the sauce is so tasty. That's the reason why I really made an effort to learn this dish.

She was in the States, when I first cooked this. I YMed her just to dictate the recipe to me. After i read the recipe, I found out that there was nothing so special about the ingredients. In fact, she did not include the other ingredients found in other Menudo, just the potatoes and carrot. It might be in the process of cooking? ...maybe?

Again, this is the shortcut version of the popular Filipino stew.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 kgs pork, menudo cut
4 tbsp Soy sauce
Juice from 3 pcs of small calamansi
3 cloves garlic
1 small sized onion
1 cup water
1 medium sized potato, cut into cubes
1 medium sized carrot, cut into cubes
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
 1/2 cup tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste.

 Procedure
1. Marinate meat in soy sauce and calamansi juice for about half an hour. I think this is the secret. The soymansi mixture will be absorbed by the meat.
2. Saute onion and garlic, add the marinated meat, set aside the soymansi mixture. Saute until the meat is half cooked. Add the bell pepper, water and the soysauce mixture. Cover and cook until the meat is tender.
3. Add the potatoes and carrots, simmer again until half cooked.
4. Add the tomato sauce, and mix until well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer again for 3 minutes.
5. Serve with steamed rice!

Crispy Bacon Cut Pork Belly (Liempo)

I saw this bacon-thin liempo (pork belly) last week and I asked hubby if he'll eat it. He said yes but as a palaman (sandwich filling)...huh as palaman? But it's not the processed bacon...

I still bought it while dreaming of a wonderful breakfast for the next day. I kept it in the freezer.

A week later, yes, I forgot about this, I took the poor liempo from the freezer, thawed and marinated it with my favorite fried liempo marinade...very easy to make, you only need 10 minutes of your time to prepare the marinade. The marinade was fully absorbed by the thin meat, and the taste was divine...i love crispy liempos and all its cholesterols hihihi!!!

Served with fried egg, steamed rice, and vinegar for dipping, i had a very filling breakfast.

....but I'm still thinking for other ways to cook this meat aside from frying it.

For those who want to try this yummy liempo, here's the recipe.

Serves 2.

Ingredients
250g bacon cut liempo (pork belly)
1/4 cup vinegar
5 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and Pepper

1. Combine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Marinate the meat for at least 30-40 minutes
2. Fry until crispy.
3. Serve with egg and hot rice

Enjoy!