I've always been curious about Filipino cuisine. Unlike its glamourous Thai and Vietnamese neighbours, Filipino food has yet to be widely appreciated on the global scale.
Aside from a handful of forgettable meals at some fly-by-night Filipino eateries in PJ, the only occassion when I had really good Filipino food was during our Christmas getaway to Singapore - at Lucky Plaza foodcourt, where we had some insanely delicious Lechon and Pork Sinigang. Lucky Plaza is locally known as the local Filipino haunt so I'm sure what we had were pretty close to the real thing.
Pork Adobo is one of the most famous and widely available Filipino dish, much like our Chicken Rice and Sweet and Sour Pork. It is also a very easy dish to make, just braise the meat with all the seasonings.
My first attempt turned out too pungent and salty. This second round was much better. It makes an appetising dish and goes well with lots of steam rice.
My next Filipino recipe is gonna be the awesome, totally appetizing Pork Sinigang. Just thinking about it makes me salivate....
Recipe source: Panlasang Pinoy
- 500g pork ribs or pork belly
- 1 tbspn (about half a whole bulb) chopped garlic
- 2 pieces of dried bay leaves
- 1 medium size onion, diced
- 3/4 tbspn whole white peppercorn
- 1/4 C + 1 tbspn soy sauce
- 1/2 C water
- 3 tbspn white vinegar
- 30g rock sugar
1. Blanch the meat in boiling hot water for a few minutes. Rinse and set aside.
2. Put all the seasonings and water (except vinegar and rock sugar) into a pot and bring to a boil. Add in the meat and let simmer for about 1 hour until the meat is tender.
3. Add the vinegar and rock sugar. Adjust the taste, it should be salty and sourish, with a peppery and sweet backnote.
Notes:
Do not use regular white sugar as it will make the gravy too sweet and will not taste authentic. Rock sugar is far less sweeter and will thicken the gravy into a nice gooey consistency.
Many adobo recipes also use chicken and seafood, but i prefer to use pork ribs as i find it gives the gravy more body.
As the meat is stewing, the aroma that wafted through reminds me a lot of those streetside stalls in thailand, what with that familiar smell of soy sauce beibg cooked with spices and aromatics.
Hi Esther! I had to come running when I saw that you had adobo here. How beautiful that looks, well caramelized and tender. I do understand why Filipino food does not enjoy the same fame as other Asian food. Sorry to say, eateries serving poorly cooked Filipino food give our cuisine a bad name.
ReplyDeleteHi Adora, i am sure there are lotsa delicious recipes in Filipino cuisine, its a shame that we Malaysians are not exposed to them. I had to go to Singapore to get some good meals :p
DeleteErrr... this Singaporean here is not exposed to Filipino food too... although my helper is a Pinay! :D
DeleteYum! I have heard of chicken adobo but have yet to try cooking it. Esther, I am looking forwards to the Pork Sinigang. It sounds interesting :)
ReplyDeleteYes PH, Pork Sinigang is definitely in the post queue :). Be prepared to have it with lotsa steam rice.
DeleteEsther,
ReplyDeleteThis pork adobo looks really yum.
Drooling looks at it..:D
I am like PH too looking forward to your Pork Sinigang.
mui
Thanks Doreen, its coming :))
DeleteDelicious recipe! I have wants to try adobo for ages.
ReplyDeleteIts pretty good, just go easy on the steam rice haha.
DeleteHi Esther,
ReplyDeleteI have made chicken adobo a couple of times but never with pork ribs. I normally use some fruit vinegar that i have around (apple cider, hawthorn, kumquat lemon etc), maybe no longer authentic with this :) Yours look good, ribs look tender and juicy, hmm, next time around i will give it a try with pork ribs :)
Hi Adeline, i like the idea of using frut vinegar...must try this next time. I prefer using pork ribs as i find it gives the gravy more body
DeleteThis looks mouth watering! Love the combination of flavours.
ReplyDeleteHi Mich, yea the flavours are quite unique and tasty.
DeleteEsther , now you made me think of cooking it ! The last time I've made it was years ago ? Ugh ! Your version looks really good ! Very flavorful and not oily at all ;D I think you cooked it way better than me !
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne! Yes i like the fact that it is not oily and so easy to cook. No mess at all.
DeleteHi Esther, I spent sometime with my Filipino friends in Cebu. Noticed their main food is fatty pork and chicken. Most of their local cuisine uses vinegar and sugar, is it to counter the oily meat?
ReplyDeleteHi Kimmy, you are right, a lot of their dishes use sugar, vinegar and soy sauce as the key ingredients. I think it is because the combination is tasty, it is easily available and inexpensive, thus accessibile to the masses, and it pretty much goes with anything.
Delete