Come and let’s numerate Bangus recipes that we know. Hmmm… Inihaw na Bangus (Grilled), Pritong Bangus (Fried), Boneless Bangus, Sinigang na Bangus, Siarsiadong Bangus, Bangus en Tocho, Bangus with Salted Beans. These are some commonly known Pinoy Bangus recipes. And I bet you haven’t heard of NILAGANG BANGUS. I am familiar with Nilagang Baboy and Nilagang Baka but I could not conceive in my mind and even in the palates of my mouth when my officemate shared me this unusual NILAGANG BANGUS with AMPALAYA LEAVES recipe. I don’t want to divulge the savor, taste and experience of this great Bangus recipe because I like my readers to discover. Just make sure you get a real, authentic, fresh Bangus from Bonuan, Dagupan for if not, I can’t assure you can have the best flavor of this dish.

NILAGANG BANGUS with AMPALAYA LEAVES

2 pieces Bonuan Bangus (approximately 400 grams each Bangus)
1 small ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
4 cups of water
boneless bagoong (fish paste)
lots of ampalaya leaves

Clean Bangus with running water. Scrape scales with scale remover or knife. Carefully remove internal organs and gills, then slice. Wash again then drain.

Put water and ginger in a medium pot or skillet. Bring to a full boil. Add
fish boneless bagoong. Add Bangus slices. Cook for about 7-10 minutes under medium heat, covered. Add ampalaya leaves, cook for another minute. Season with salt. And remove from fire.

Enjoy this best home-cooked Bangus recipe with lots of steaming white rice.

CHICKEN ARROZ CALDO is a part of the classic Chinese congee cuisine introduced to Filipinos yet the Spanish word of Arroz Caldo, which literally means rice sould, shows that Filipino cuisine is vastly influenced by foreign migrants of the country. Filipino’s term for this bowl of meal is LUGAW. The ingredients, instructions and method for this recipe is very plain and simple yet you can cook a great classic meal without making a mistake. You can also combine chicken and GOTO for a perfect combination of rice soup.

CHICKEN ARROZ CALDO

1 kilo chicken breast
2 liters water
6 cloves garlic, peeled, half to be crushed, and the other half to be minced
4 large onion, peeled and sliced, divided into 2
2 cup long grain rice, washed and drained
1 large ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tbsp. fish sauce or patis
2 scallions (onion stalk), thinly sliced
salt
6-8 peppercorns
ground pepper

Wash chicken breast thoroughly with running water. Put the chicken breast into a medium pot. Add 1 liter water, crushed garlic, sliced onions, peppercorns and salt. Bring to a boil and cook the chicken breast, about 20-25 minutes. Remove scum with a big spoon. Remove from heat and allow the chicken to cool. Set aside chicken broth.

If chicken breasts are cool enough for you to hold it, debone them and discard bones. Remove the chicken skin and slice with knife into small strips. Shred the chicken meat with your fingers, according to your desired size, separating each shred from one to another. Place the shredded chicken meat and sliced chicken skin on a large shallow bowl. Set aside.

In a large heavy pot, heat cooking oil and saute garlic, ginger and onions until aromatic. Add the chicken meat and chicken skin. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring often.

Add 1 liter of water and the chicken broth, bring to a full boil, covered.

Add the rice. Cook, stirring often, covered, about 20-30 minutes. You may add additional water, depending on you desired consistency.

Add scallions and season with fish sauce and pepper. Add salt if needed.

Serve while hot. You may drizzle a teaspoon of calamansi juice or garnish it with toasted garlic.

CHICKEN SOTANGHON SOUP was my recipe last night, just like my mother used to make, despite of the hot weather. This is one of Colby’s favorite soup dishes where I added some bitter gourd, locally known as ampalaya, for a nutritious meal. Chicken Sotanghon Soup is considerably will give you and your kids enough nourishment without causing any trouble in your tummy.

You can also try the Chicken Sotanghon Guisado for merienda or as a party dish.

CHICKEN SOTANGHON SOUP

cooking oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
4 medium onions, peeled and sliced
250 grams vermicelli noodles (sotanghon)
250 grams chicken breast
1 1/2 liter water
1 medium ampalaya, seeded and sliced
2 tbsp. patis (fish sauce)
salt
pepper

Soak vermicelli/sotanghon  noodles in water. If strands are already soft, cut the strands into desired length and drain. Set aside.

Place chicken breast and 1/2 liter water in a small soup pot. Add salt and pepper. Add 3 cloves of garlic and half of sliced onions. Bring to a slow boil, covered, until chicken is cooked. Use a large spoon to skim any foam or scum off the top of the soup. Remove the chicken breast and put on a plate and cool completely. Reserve chicken stock. When chicken breast is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and take the meat off the bone; chop the meat into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

In a medium soup pot or large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute the remaining garlic and onions. Add chopped chicken, saute for about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1 liter water and the chicken stock. Bring to a full boil, covered.

Add the vermicelli/sotanghon noodles. Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes, covered.

Season with patis, salt and pepper.

Add the sliced ampalaya and serve while hot with white rice.

PICADILLO is a spicy meat concoction, much favored in South American counties. In Cuba, warm picadillo is served with rice and beans as a main course. Vietnamese picadillo is served with warm four tortillas, lettuce or crackers. In Mexico, Picadillo is a filling usually used for tacos. Filipinos love to modify dishes from other countries like Chicken Curry of India and Pork Asado of China. Pinoy version of Picadillo is fragrant soup dish made of pork, sometimes beef, lots of garlic, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. This stew is traditionally served with steaming white rice.

I previously wrote about Picadillo using pork cubes. But here is the ground pork version for Pinoy Pork Picadillo.

PINOY PORK PICADILLO

1 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium onion, peeled and crushed
1 medium tomatoes, sliced
1/2 kilo ground lean pork
1 cup water
2 finger chilies or siling haba
fish sauce
pepper

Heat cooking oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute garlic and onion until aromatic. Add in the tomatoes. Cook until soft, stirring constantly. Add the ground pork into the pan and cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add water. Bring to slow boil. Add potatoes, covered, stirring often until cooked. Add finger chilies. Season with fish sauce and pepper. Serve with hot white rice.

SOPAS or MACARONI SOUP is one of the many popular breakfast soup dishes in the Philippines. I even already featured a macaroni soup recipe using CHICKEN but this time, I will be using ground lean beef in a creamy macaroni soup for a bowl packed with benefits of protein. Oh well, we all grew up loving Sopas cooked in many different ways, changed in many variations and added with different spices and vegetables. So I am very sure all will love this beefy version of macaroni soup.

BEEF SOPAS

2 tbsp. butter
250 grams ground lean beef
250 grams uncooked elbow macaroni
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 liter water
1 small can of evaporated milk
salt
pepper

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Saute garlic and onion. Add ground beef until meat starts to brown. Add water, then bring to full boil. Add elbow macaroni. Cook covered until macaroni is al dente, about 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add carrots. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. Pour in the milk. Then, serve while hot.

SINIGANG NA BUTO-BUTO NG BABOY (Pork Bones in Tamarind Broth) was a great help while my son, Colby, was sick with fever caused by tonsillitis. Royce took in-charge in taking care of Colby during my office hours and my turn during afternoons and evenings that is why I wasn’t able to update my blog. Good thing Colby is well since yesterday and I am back to cook, eat, shoot and write.

I have shared my first version of SINIGANG NA BABOY wherein lean pork is the main ingredient. But this time, pork bones or pork ribs is the star, which for me is the best pork part for a sinigang dish. The slowly simmered pork bones truly blends to the sour soup of Tamarind broth which makes a perfect dish to serve.

SINIGANG NA BUTO-BUTO NG BABOY

1 kilo pork ribs/pork bones
1 liter water
2 large red tomatoes
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
1 pouch Knorr Sinigang Mix (Sour Broth Mix)
pinoy vegetables like okra, string beans, eggplant, radish or kangkong
patis (fish sauce)

Wash pork ribs with running water. Drain. Place in a large pot. Pour in water. Add red tomatoes and onions. Bring to a full simmer. Use a large spoon to skim any foam or scum off the top of the soup. Cook until meat is tender.

Reduce heat to low. Season with Knorr Sinigang Mix and patis. Add vegetables. Cook for another few minutes.

And serve with steaming hot rice.

DINUGUAN is a Tagalog term, literally translated as “blooded”, which refers to the Native Filipino dish, full of flavor of pork blood and meat. Though some, do not eat Dinuguan for some religious reasons, most Filipinos crave and fave for this dish, paired with steaming white rice or Puto, a Filipino rice cake. Dinuguan would reflect how Filipinos love cooking and eating exotic dishes like Adobong Paa ng Manok, and many more.

DINUGUAN

1/2 kilo pork belly
1/4 kilo pork intestines, cleaned thoroughly
1/4 kilo pork liver
3-4 cups fresh pig’s blood
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 cup green kamias, thinly sliced (optional)
5 green chili peppers
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 medium ginger, peeled and minced
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup vinegar
1 bay leaf (laurel)
salt
pepper (optional)

Simmer and cook pork belly, pork intestines and pork liver with 1 liter of water for about 30-40 minutes.

Remove meats from saucepan and cut the belly, intestines and liver into small slices. Set aside broth.

In a separate skillet or saucepan, heat cooking oil and saute garlic, ginger and onion.

Add sliced pork belly, liver and intestines.

Season with salt and pepper. Add vinegar then cook for about 3-5 minutes.

Add 2 cups of pork broth. Bring to simmer. Cook for 5-10 minutes more.

Slowly pour in pork blood, stir continuously so as the blood mixture won’t clot.

Add kamias, green chili peppers. Season with salt.

Simmer in a low heat until sauce is thick.

Serve while hot with steaming white rice or white puto.

Even if it’s cloudy outside, summer is still here which makes the weather hot! It is sometimes unpleasant to cook in this very warm temperature. And even a good hot meal or soup in this terrible hot day makes them unpopular. But no Filipino can resist a rich, thick and intense SINIGANG NA BABOY (Pork in Tamarind Soup) despite of the weather condition. Sinigang na Baboy is one of the most wanted Pinoy dish for lunch or dinner. A handful of tamarind is being simmered with pork ribs or porkloin for a full-bodied sour taste and mashed or sliced gabi or taro rootstock to make the soup thick. Sinigang Tamarind Soup mix powder is also available in grocery stores for a simple and quick meal preparation. If tamarind is not in the market, neither tamarind soup mix, Nilagang Baboy is a great alternate for a soup.

SINIGANG NA BABOY (Pork in Tamarind Soup)

½ kilo pork ribs or porkloin, chopped
4 cups water
1 medium onion, quartered
4 ripe tomatoes, quartered
1 medium taro rootstock or gabi, cubed
A handful of tamarind (sampaloc)
A handful or more sitaw or stringbeans, cut into 2” long
Salt
Fish sauce or patis

Bring the water to simmer in a large stock pot. Place the tamarind in a strainer, cook and mash them in the boiling until they are softened, allowing the tamarind juice blend in the water, then set the strainer aside.
Add pork, taro (gabi), onion and tomatoes. Cook until meat is tender.
Mash some of the taro to make the soup thick.
Season with salt and fish sauce.
Few minutes before you remove the pot from heat, add the vegetables. Do not overcook.
Serve hot with white rice.

Vegetable variation:

stringbeans or sitaw
eggplant or talong
okra
river spinach or kangkong
radish or labanos

It rained for the past 2 nights and I am thankful the rain somehow helped lessen the warm temperature which was 38 degress Celcius yesterday, the hottest day of the year. Some provinces here in the Philippines like Isabela already reached 40 degrees, whew, that is hot hot hot. I do not know if I am to be happy the summer is about to end because I really do not like rain. I had terribly stressed with the rain last year during the typhoon Pepeng. But I know we can push along whatever climate conditions it may be. Anyway, the morning is a bit colder and is telling me that it is about time to cook a warm and creamy SOPAS or CREAMY CHICKEN MACARONI SOUP.

CREAMY CHICKEN MACARONI SOUP is commonly known as SOPAS and is Filipino favorite soup dish for breakfast or merienda. It is an all-in one meal in a bowl. Macaroni pasta for your carbs, chicken chunks for protein, carrots and red bell as your veggies and milk as creamer for your vitamins and minerals.

SOPAS or CREAMY CHICKEN MACARONI SOUP

3 tbsp. cooking oil
2 heads garlic, peeled and minced
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
½ kilo chicken breast, finely chopped
½ kilo elbow macaroni (or any pasta will do)
2 liters of water
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
3 medium red bell pepper, unseeded and finely chopped
1 small can evaporated milk
3 tbsp. Knorr Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Knorr Chicken Cubes
salt and pepper

Heat a large soup pot over low heat. Swirl in the cooking oil then add garlic and onion. Cook slowly, stirring often about 4 minutes.

Add the chopped chicken. Raise the heat to medium-high. Stir constantly until chicken turned white.

Add water. Bring to a full boil.

Add elbow macaroni. Raise the heat to high, stirring often until macaroni is cooked.

Add cream of chicken soup, chicken cubes, carrots, red bell peppers and evaporated milk.

Season with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes and serve your Creamy Chicken Macaroni Soup while hot.

Nilagang Baboy or Boiled Pork Bones is one of the most favorite soup in our home – always instantly and distinguished comforting food not only best during the cold but also during the warm weather. Absolutely Nilagang Baboy is not a burdensome and extremely simple as ABC,  no need for a numerous complicated preparations or fancy elaborative cooking. There is no intricate technique in cooking the. The only secret to have the best Nilagang Baboy is getting fresh pork soup bones or pork ribs in the market. Just as what they say, it’s all in the bones. And to get the best from the pork soup bones, it would just take time for the simmering, allowing enough time to let the bones release the homey flavor. By the way, this recipe is my mom’s version of Nilagang Baboy. Instead of boiling with garlic and onion, mom uses ginger for a more fragrant and harmonized pungent flavor to the Nilagang Baboy.

1 kilo pork ribs or pork soup bones
6 cups water
1 medium ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. patis (fish sauce)
a handful of string beans or more

Wash pork ribs or pork soup bones in running water then drain.
Place pork ribs, water, ginger and salt in a big stock pot. Bring to a full boil. Reduce fire and let simmer until pork meat is tender. This takes about an hour.
Remove pork scum or the brown bubbles that forms on the top of the soup.
If the pork meat is tender, add fish sauce and string beans.
Adjust flavor according to taste by adding more salt of fish sauce.
Remove from fire and serve hot with steaming white rice.