These ribs are real

May 17, 2013 by thehungrygiant

One of the reasons why I think Big Daddy Jay’s is a favorite right off the bat is the in-your-face, unapologetic scent of barbecue that makes the residential area where it’s at even more homey. It’s a welcome respite, a stone’s throw away from Cubao’s busy thoroughfare.

Barbecue carries with it a universal appeal for good reason: it’s simple, delicious and is almost always associated with family, friends or festivities.

The resto’s facade is surprisingly familiar. There’s a roadside barbecue stand back home that uses the same tactic of temptation to lure anyone with a nose to do a double take. Growing up, I’d have barbecue from that stand at least once a week. It’s still there and it’s an institution in itself. That’s how good it is.

I’d like to believe Big Daddy Jay’s is destined for a similar kind of following if by some strange reason it hasn’t happened yet. When I arrived, I was greeted by the smell of ribs over a spartan grill and a flaming red smoker, true to form without shortcuts. The fact that it started out as a stall in a weekend food market and has grown into a cozy little restaurant makes it a good success story. They try to keep the recipe within the family. Jay, the “big daddy”, is actually the American brother in-law of one of the owners. The smoked ribs served to us is his own recipe, and even before they started putting it out there, he’s already been feeding the family with lip smacking pork ribs.

Their specialty, treated with authentic southern American comfort, is a winner. I won’t beat around the bush: it’s really really good.

There’s no other way to put it. The ribs were treated with love. Meticulous love that goes the extra mile. I’m not exaggerating. The ribs were spiced rubbed twice before being smoked (using locally sourced wood chips) at a really low temperature for a few hours. What that achieves is a slab of tenderness that yields effortlessly to the light pressure of knife. How’s that for a hallelujah?

It was served with a side of buttered rice. To be fair I never count calories when I eat. There were two dishes served as well, including deep fried chicken wings done two ways (buffalo and honey mustard) and a pasta dish that was good but not really spectacular. But the real star were the ribs.

People (and by that I mean Yedy and Eugene) told me the photos I take where everything’s blurred are pretty good. I’ll take that as a really great compliment and an impetus to add more of that here. I’m not sure if it’s really art or maybe just a shoddy semblance but either way I’m sticking with it. Here’s a parting shot of Mr. and Mrs. Pickiest Eater with the little one. I like it, and what I did was probably a disservice to them since they’re a good-looking couple but hey, it’s art y’all.

Vietnamese-style Caramelized Pork Belly

February 2, 2013 by thehungrygiant

I just remembered that today is our community’s fiesta back in Zamboanga. Fiestas are what you would imagine them to be: a melange of beautiful chaos, delicious food and no-frills gatherings of both the invited and uninvited. Over the years my family has had our fair share of all of that. There was this one particular time when a man and his little daughter just when inside our home, got a plate and helped himself to the food, while he and his daughter were sitting on the dining room floor. Sure, that was pretty inappropriate but it comes with the territory. Some just wait outside the gate and beg and who are we to deny them of food? It makes me feel sad and awkward that it’s during these moments of celebration that the reality of what we have and what others don’t have sinks in.

Today I was lucky to be able to curb how much I miss fiestas and family. And I also felt really good. The school organized a feeding program in coordination with the local parish. We were able to feed around a hundred kids who were attending catechism sessions. It’s nothing grand, but it works just like a fiesta. Kids were happy and full, and I can take comfort in that. Waking up too early for a Saturday was worth it.

Generosity can be expressed in so many ways. But I’d like to believe that food can best reflect it. I’m no authority (yet) when it comes to this but cooking with love (among other things) can make good food great. I heard that bit on the radio a few days ago when I was on my way to school. It makes sense, really.

It’s one thing to throw together things from your pantry into a pot and call it experimentation, and it’s another to make sure that the flavors you’re marrying actually go well together. Thinking outside the box is good. By all means it’s something I want to hone, but once in a while, falling back on tried and tested flavors does the trick to satisfy not just the body but the soul.

With this dish, I think I did a little bit of both. Hey, it’s Vietnamese-inspired! I’ve never tried using coconut water to braise pork, but with adobo as my foundation, I knew I was not treading into uncharted waters. Ever since I watched Christine Ha do it on MasterChef, I felt the urge to replicate it because it looked incredible.

After going through a few recipes, I finally managed to adjust the recipe to suit my preferences. I made this a few Saturdays ago, but if it’s still even possible, the taste still lingers. The coconut water does a great job of softening the pork, and the addition of patis (fish sauce) gives it that familiar salinity that makes it adobo’s peculiar cousin who enjoys indie music. It also made sense to use coconut sugar for that pleasant sweetness. All that was missing was the hard-boiled egg. But it didn’t really matter in the end because the dish already knocks it out of the park with its indulgent taste.

This, my friends, is generosity on a plate.

Vietnamese-style Caramelized Pork Belly (serves 3 – 4)

500 grams pork belly, cubed
3 – 4 cups coconut water
3 – 4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
1 small white onion, sliced
3 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
chili oil, to taste
cracked black pepper, to taste

In a pot, combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat and reduce it to a simmer. Allow the pork to braise in the liquid for at least an hour, until it is tender. Adjust taste and reduce the liquid to a thick sauce. Remove from heat and serve with rice, hard-boiled egg and salad greens on the side.

First feast

January 1, 2013 by thehungrygiant

Now it can be told: my days whizz by when I’m in the kitchen. I mean, I could kind of remember the sun hitting my face when I opened my eyes and I found myself on the early morning flight back home. Then…everything was a blur. There were good snippets of course: hosting a dinner for my friends, two charity events with the same people, Christmas lunch, and the micro-feast we had this morning. In between these events I was cooking up a storm, making sure time was blurred. In a few days I’ll be back in Manila and I hope I can make the most of the borrowed time.

A neighbor died today, January 1st. I’d like to believe he died a happy 79-year old man. “Life is too short”, his wife told us when we visited. Amen. We might as well enjoy the ride.

In the thick of things I found myself hitting the stress button more than once this morning when a few things didn’t go my way. But all was well, and I still couldn’t believe I put together almost all of what was on the table. Yay me.

The spread:

Now I would consider this paella pretty fancy – with the arborio and saffron. But I still crave the one my Mama Eng usually makes with regular rice and malagkit/sticky rice, with that nice color that only cheap atsuete can give! Recipe here. For two years now we’ve had paella for New Year. Not too shabby!

Chicken Galantina

homemade ham - recipe here

The ribs look glorious if I do say so myself.

Not all the meals I’ll have this year will be grand (I might even skip a meal or two). But I intend to enjoy this year in the company of good people and even better conversations. Let’s put ourselves out there! Happy New Year everyone.

It’s Christmas Day!

December 25, 2012 by thehungrygiant

By the time you read this, you’re probably just reeling from a deluge of holiday cheer. The Christmas season brings out all the fun and insanity that spills on all over whatever it is you’re preparing for the ones close to your heart. The days leading up to Christmas have been zany, to say the least. Sometimes I just wish I could take a backseat and just let other people do the work for me, because sleep is something I’d love to do right now.

But no, this Christmas is pretty special for me. There’s a force that brings me to the kitchen to make sure I make the most of the moment. It’s Christmas and I’m home for the holidays and on vacation, because my life is different now. It’s more chaotic, vastly different and really fast-paced. Deciding to shift careers has exponentially changed me. Home is more special and meaningful, simply because I don’t get to see my family that often. I love being home.

While I was in the kitchen, slaving away for two days straight just to get a dinner with my friends just right, I’ve been listening to Christmas songs mom loves to play. That’s one of the things I miss so much, because as early as November her holiday collection fills the house with songs both familiar and obscure. I’ve heard a lot of voices (better than mine of course) sing about the good old days, childhood Christmases and simpler times. I find so much joy in that because it makes me warm and fuzzy, a refuge of sorts. Thinking of that makes me feel safe like a little kid.

Right now there’s a stew in the oven, iced tea brewing on the stove and another ham curing in the fridge. Yeah, “another” ham, because the first one didn’t make it to Christmas day because it was so good. So there’s going to be ham on January 1st.

But days before the festivities have already begun, when I invited a few friends over for Christmas dinner. We had roast chicken, gratin, pureed squash, salad with homemade mayonnaise, seafood with garlic butter, and of course…ham. I blame them for finishing the ham. Oh, and Julia Child’s chocolate mousse.

The bulk of them are either working as nurses or studying to become doctors. I can’t believe I could have gone either way if I stayed. It’s all good, at least it could still be a useful friendship. I kid.

It was a great night of food and shallow conversations. It’s comforting to know that despite paths diverging, nothing has changed.

So here’s my Christmas gift to you, because it’s not too late to make that ham for the dinner you’re planning for the New Year. You need five days to cure this, but the patience is worth it. Trust me. I will probably never buy commercial ham ever again.

From my kitchen to yours, may your feasts be delicious and conversations hearty. As Amy Besa would put it, “cook with much love and passion, and serve with generosity”.

Homemade Ham (serves around 10)

1.5 kg pigue/leg, deboned and skinless

Brine:

1.5 liters water
250 ml pineapple juice
1 tablespoon + 1.5 teaspoon curing salt/prague powder
1 cup iodised salt
1 1/2 cup brown sugar (or use a combination of brown and muscovado)
1 teaspoon allspice
a few cloves

Braising liquid

3/4 cups brown/muscovado sugar
4 cups pineapple juice
1 cup water
a few cloves
1 tablespoon minced garlic

In a really large bowl/container, mix all the components of the brine together. Add the pork and cover with cling wrap. Let it cure in the fridge for 5 days. When done, drain the brine and run the pork through running water to wash away the excess saltiness. In a pot, combine ingredients for the braising liquid, heat it to a boil and reduce to let it simmer. Add the ham and braise on low heat for four hours or more on the stove or in the oven. When ham is tender, remove from the pot and allow the liquid to reduce until thick. That will be your glaze. Adjust the taste with pineapple juice and sugar, because it may get a little salty because of the ham.

When ready to serve the ham, pre-heat the oven broiler to around 180 C. Sprinkle a little brown sugar and glaze on the fat of the ham. Place it in the oven and allow the sugar to caramelize, around three to five minutes. When done, remove from oven and slice the ham to serve.

And if I’m being totally transparent, I went the extra mile and finally, FINALLY, lived a childhood fantasy. Commercial hams are actually pretty good, but that thin layer of fat on top doesn’t seem like a lot for a very hungry child who loves pork fat. I bought a kilo of pork belly and cured and cooked it the same way. This was the finished product. A glorious slab of pork belly ham.

I think I hear the choir of angels breaking out in song.

Peach Marmalade and Tomato Braised Pork Steaks

October 8, 2012 by thehungrygiant

Weekends are golden days for me. As soon as Friday creeps in, that feeling of having a few uninterrupted hours to catch up on all things mundane excites me. I think you might know by now that I’m a geek who loves children’s fiction, and I’m currently halfway done with The Mark of Athena. Usually I can devour a book in a day, but I choose to savor the third installment since the next one will be out in the fall of 2013.

This weekend was a good one for me. After a long while, this blog’s pulse has been racing again, with a few updates on my life as a would-be glorified cook, the new header image and I think I boldly declared that I’d be posting a recipe soon. I couldn’t post a recipe without actually cooking something, and cook I did.

My routine doesn’t involve a lot of cooking at home. The horror, I know. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to cook something for my survival – and because the place where I live doesn’t run out of places to eat (thank you, my friendly neighborhood ihawan/barbecue place), I find it pretty convenient that my needs are satisfied.

It’s funny that it took making a proper home-cooked meal to realize just how I missed myself. By “myself”, I mean the food blogger. And not just the blogger who writes about what he ate, but the blogger who writes about and shares what he cooked. The latter has always been who The Hungry Giant is.

This is a simple recipe that involves only a few ingredients. I needed to practice my tourne abilities, hence the shaped carrots and chayote. They were simply steamed while the rice was cooking, using the steaming basket that comes with almost every rice cooker.

I wanted something other than the usual adobo (not that there’s anything to hate about adobo), and the idea of braising something in a thick tangy tomato sauce made me not miss adobo that much. And thanks to that trip to the Pancake House, where I had peach waffles, I asked myself why it took me this long to appreciate the sweetening power of anything made with peaches. A few heaping tablespoons made all the difference.

Not all weekends are like the one I had recently, but at least I milked it for what it’s worth.

Tomato and Peach Braised Pork Steaks with Steamed Vegetables (serves 3 – 4)

1 carrot, tourneed (or just slice it like you would thick fries)
1 small chayote, tourneed (or just slice it like you would thick fries)
1 -2 tablespoons butter
half a bulb of garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
6 pieces pork steaks (choose a cut with good marbling; this is roughly a kilo)
one 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/4 – 1/2 cup water/stock
5 – 6 heaping tablespoons peach marmalade
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper to taste

As you cook the rice in the rice cooker, place the vegetables in foil or in a bowl with the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Place it in the steaming basket and place it over the rice to steam. Once the vegetables are cooked (not too soft that it becomes mushy), remove.
Pat-dry the pork and season it pork with salt and pepper on both sides.
In a pan, heat a little bit of oil over medium heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook until aromatic. Remove from pan. Turn up the heat to high. Add around a tablespoon of oil.
Sear the pork steaks on both sides, until they start to brown. Remove from pan.
Add the tomatoes (together with the liquid in the can), marmalade, garlic, onions and water.
Place pork back into the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the pork is tender and the sauce has reduced. If the pork is still not cooked through and the sauce dries up, add more water. Season to taste with salt, pepper and the cayenne.
Serve with rice. Enjoy!

Waiting out the rain (with pork and cabbage)

August 9, 2012 by thehungrygiant

I was rushing to school the other day, with my uniform sealed in a plastic garment bag because the weather was incredibly hard on us. Hey, I wanted to make a good first impression. There were no signs that a public vehicle going to my destination was available outside of the place where I’m staying, so I had to take the long way and commute twice.

Because I’m usually lucky with averting tardiness, I arrived on time, only to be greeted by a deserted school and a padlocked main door. It was 30 minutes before class should start and there I was, trying my best not to look like a fool for not checking any notifications before I left. Classes were cancelled. The rain has apparently morphed into proportions fit for a typhoon, but strangely enough, it couldn’t be considered a typhoon – but the numbers don’t lie; the devastation has already surpassed Bagyong Ondoy (typhoon Ondoy, 2009). And it wasn’t a freaking typhoon. Oh and apparently, the real typhoon is coming soon, if what I read on facebook is true. Pray for the Philippines, please?

The rest of my week will be spent waiting out the storm. Food supply is still good, enough to keep us fed until the week ends, and I will never rue the day we chose to live in a subdivision that was flood-free.

This bowl of ground pork and cabbage was filled to the brim before I decided to photograph it. My friend and I gobbled most of it up like wolves, because thinking about the weather is stressful. As usual, this is nothing fancy – ground sirloin fried with small cubes of potatoes, minced garlic and sliced onions, dressed in a splash of soy sauce, then finished off with half a cabbage, that wilts so much the intimidation goes away with the volume. This is good stuff.

Should I even post the recipe? Yes? No?

What the heck, let’s run with it!

A Delicious and Hearty Bowl of Pork and Cabbage (serves 2 – 3)

3 tablespoons oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
around 300 grams ground pork sirloin
1 medium sized potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
half a head of cabbage, sliced into think strips
salt and pepper, to taste
a splash of soy sauce (just enough to coat the pork)

In a pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and the onions and cook until garlic is fragrant and onions start to go limp.
Add the potatoes and mix to coat with the oil. Fry until the potatoes start to crisp and become golden brown at the edges.
Add the ground pork, season with salt and pepper and cook until it browns and some of the fat starts to render.
Add the soy sauce and mix well until the pork is evenly coated.
Add the cabbage. Carefully mix well to allow the heat to wilt the cabbage.
When done, remove from heat and serve warm with rice. Enjoy!

We Ate Like Royalty

July 15, 2012 by thehungrygiant

Our place is a 39-square meter condominium unit that we rent at a relatively cheap price. Our kitchen is like a small galley – nothing fancy, with space that isn’t too friendly for a big guy like me, but we get by…I guess. Sure, I’d give an arm and a leg for a kitchen that functions like a kitchen, but what we have right now comes with the territory. Sometimes I think it’s prohibitive, but that’s probably just me being a (bleep) about it.

Our expanding bellies and (slightly) sedentary lifestyle drove me to make this dish one morning. I woke up at around 10am, and we were all hungry so the need was there. Back home, a hefty bowl of pork and sitaw guisado (stir-fried pork with string beans) would merit an even heftier serving of rice. I tried to recreate it to the best of my memory, but I think nothing really comes close to how my Mama Eng would do it. In an attempt to live healthier, my roommates and I splurged on vegetables at the local grocery, so there were carrots and tomatoes sitting in the fridge – of course you know how it ended.

I didn’t bring anything to help me with photographing the food I cook (no linens, no money to buy linens!) but as luck would have it, my tiny room has a window that lets in a great amount of light. All I had to do was to remove my bed’s mattress and use the wooden frame as my surface! (The things I do to get the shot.)

Extravagant, this isn’t…heck, the technique isn’t something groundbreaking, but during that solitary moment around our little mini bar (we don’t have a table), taking in every single morsel with rice, we ate like royalty.

Pork and Sitaw (String Beans) Guisado (serves 3)

150 grams sitaw, cleaned and sliced into 2-inch pieces
4 medium-sized tomatoes, quartered
250 grams pork belly, sliced into bite-sized cubes
1 small carrot, sliced
4 tablespoons soy sauce
Water to cook the pork + ¼ cup water to cook the string beans
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium-sized pan, add the pork and enough water to cover the bottom of the pan up to the height of the pork.
Allow to boil over medium heat until the water has almost evaporated. Add the carrots and mix well. The water will begin to cook the carrots.
When the water has evaporated and pork’s fat has rendered, add the string beans and the soy sauce. Mix well to coat evenly. You may add a little bit of water to cook the string beans.
Cook until the water evaporates and the strings beans and carrots are tender. Season with salt and pepper. When done, remove from pan and serve with rice. Enjoy!

Breakfast: Homemade Tocino

June 30, 2012 by thehungrygiant

Lately, my breakfasts were served to me in little boxes full of rice, microwaved and with a tall glass of pineapple juice, courtesy of our friendly neighborhood 7-Eleven.

It’s been a few days since I left my home and currently, I’m writing this in our 39 square meter unit that I share with two of my friends. I’m in Manila now, trying to slug it out and chase whatever it is my hometown can’t give me. I actually have a post that reads like a novela in the works, but no, now is not the time for that. I need to make room for breakfast, and for tocino, which has been sitting at the back of my head for a while now.

Growing up my mom would make tocino from scratch. I gather that in some parts of the world, tocino means ‘bacon’ (another one of my favorites, hence my waistline). Tocino in the Philippines is cured pork or chicken slices and it literally spells a quintessential Pinoy breakfast (together with longganisa, beef tapa, danggit). Thin strips of pork are cured with a mixture of salt, sugar, saltpeter (sodium nitrate) or prague powder, and rice wine or gin. The salt to sugar ratio is important, because you can easily tip the scale between salty and sweet – flavors that a tocino must be must have in perfect harmony (Mom takes it very seriously!).

the folded paper is the actual recipe that my mom kept for 20+ years!

Tocino sold in the supermarkets in the frozen section is more processed than usual, and I don’t really care for it. This recipe is so much better because at least I know how much salt and preservatives are in it which doesn’t make it more healthful but at least sinking my teeth into every sweet and salty morsel is more of a psychological treat (haha!).

I think it may be a while before I get my bearings and adjust to my even tinier kitchen, so I might as well fill this blog with more of what I do get to taste in the Metro. But for now, when I’m thinking of home and of uncomplicated breakfasts, this sits at the top of my list (together with another favorite, my bacon and egg rings).

Tocino (serves 6 – 8)

1 kg skinless boneless pork
Curing mix:
1 ½ tablespoons iodized salt
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon gin/rice wine
¼ tablespoon prague powder
A dash of MSG

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the curing mix. Evenly coat the pork slices with the curing mix then transfer it to a larger bowl, large enough to hold the pork. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least one – two days before cooking.

When ready to cook, arrange the number of pork pieces you need in a pan and add water enough to cover the bottom. Cook it over medium heat, until the water evaporates and the tocino’s fat begins to render. Add a tablespoon or two of oil and fry until both sides take on a reddish hue and begin to brown. The pieces may burn easily so be careful. When done, remove from pan, serve with rice and an egg fried sunny side up. Enjoy!

One-Pot Pork Asado Sticky Rice

June 16, 2012 by thehungrygiant

I know I’ve been quiet lately, but I have a perfectly good excuse (!): NCIS Los Angeles marathons have kept my mom and I up until 12 midnight, and my body clock is as functional as a log, which means I usually wake up late. I wake up so late that I can’t even process what I want to make for lunch, and thank god for the people living next door, because they’ve never failed to feed me. But there are plans, here and there. Sometimes before I sleep I think about what to make for the following day. I juggle a few recipes that have been sitting on my to-do pile for months now. Months. But…plans get lost in translation, life gets in the way and the real world needs me. Well, I need to get a hold on the real world. Am I being cryptic? Sorry, it’s just been a crazy couple of weeks.

When one of my best friends told me twice that she’s wondering why I haven’t posted anything in a while now, that’s when I know it’s a cause for concern. I was on the phone with her when we had the conversation. But after she told me that, I looked over my shoulder and there it was: a medium-sized pot with steam trying to waft out. Rice was cooking, slowly taking in the different sauces that made up the liquid, the tender pork cubes (YES EVERYONE I’M POSTING PORK AGAIN!) becoming even more tender, and that tiny hint of five spice wraps it all together.

I was inspired by the smell and taste of pork asado, the filling that I like in my siopao. While watching NCIS, sometimes I also blurt out what I’d give to have a nice bowl of adobo rice with me, so it’s been on my mind lately.

There’s this heavy snack/meal (notice how I can blur the lines between the two), called “Matchang” (not to be confused with matcha green tea powder) that is essentially sticky/glutinous rice (malagkit), flavored with soy sauce and other chinese spices, with meat and a hard-boiled egg, wrapped in a banana leaf.

I think what I made is like matchang, without the banana leaf, and I’m more generous with the pork. Of course that makes sense. But anyway, this is just to remind all of you that I’m still here, and I’ll always be around. With lots of pork recipes in tow.

Pork Asado Sticky Rice (serves 4 – 6)

Remember to cook the rice in a pot that can easily hold double the amount of rice you put in. Rice is crazy like that.

½ kg pork belly, cubed
1 ½ cups water, to boil the pork
1 – 2 chinese canton sausages, sliced
6 tablespoons oyster sauce
4 – 5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 286-gram can shiitake mushrooms (or use fresh ones), halved
2 cups uncooked plain rice
1 cup uncooked glutinous rice (malagkit)
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
5 cups water
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a pot, place the pork, sausage and add the water. Allow to boil on medium heat.
When the water has almost evaporated and the pork is tender, add the shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, rice wine and oyster sauce. Mix to coat the pork with the sauces.
Add the rice, five spice powder and the water. Sprinkle it with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Cook over low heat, covered, for 30 – 40 minutes or until rice has absorbed the liquid and has cooked through. Serve warm and enjoy!

Baked Binagoongan

May 21, 2012 by thehungrygiant

The fact that most of my blog posts reveal my proclivity with pork could be a cause for concern. Could be. I do miss the days when I’d have most of the morning or the afternoon to myself, the kitchen in a total frenzy, and the smell of freshly baked bread, or even cupcakes filling up my nostrils. It’s been a while. Maybe a self-imposed exile from posting anything purely pork would do me (and my arteries) some good.

But for today, since I do have to post this, I’m going to be indulgent. Pork punctuates my idea of a Filipino celebration. That’s relative and subjective, of course, since there are Filipinos who don’t eat pork. But from my neck of the woods, lechon spells something grand, estofado means a day is special, dinuguan implies a prelude to lechon, and so forth. It’s only fitting that since this month’s Kulinarya Club theme is a meal fit for a celebration (during a fiesta or Santacruzan), it has to be something made with pork.

It worried me that I couldn’t really think of anything regional in time for the reveal date. I was supposed to go for Arroz Valenciana, a cousin of the paella and bringhe, except that it doesn’t use annatto seeds (paella) or turmeric (bringhe) for color. But time was limited and I couldn’t get my grandmother to teach me since she thinks herself busy.

Improvisation works, because I did manage to whip up something festive that doesn’t need a lot of preparation. During fiestas in our house, preparations are physically taxing. Any dish that can be baked is a winner in my book, and when I thought about making pork binagoongan, it just made sense.

Pork Binagoongan, a dish where pork is cooked with salty bagoong gata (shrimp paste coconut milk) and tomatoes, isn’t really a typical dish found at the table during our fiestas. It’s comfort food, more than anything. But I couldn’t get it out of my head and I knew I was on to something.

The flavor comes from the marinade, which has bagoong gata in it. You might want to add more of the bagoong if you want a full-bodied taste, not just a hint. I have to admit that I might have scrimped on the bagoong a tiny bit, because I didn’t want it too salty, but in the end I realized that I needed to be generous with the marinade. Also, letting it marinate overnight is key. The taste of oven-roasted tomatoes is really something else, and since binagoongan usually has tomatoes, it was the best of both worlds. Tomatoes and basil also go well together…and well, it was the icing on the cake. Baked pork is also a treat in itself, with perfectly tender meat with fat that almost melts in your mouth.

Seriously, this dish gave me a lot of reasons to celebrate.

Baked Binagoongan (serves 4)

1 kg pork belly (OR 1 kg chicken legs and thighs)
10 medium-sized tomatoes, quartered

marinade

8 – 10 (slightly) heaping tablespoons bagoong gata (shrimp paste with coconut milk)*
1 whole garlic head, roughly chopped
5 – 10 fresh sweet basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup white cane vinegar
a dash of salt
freshly cracked pepper, to taste

In a bowl large enough to hold the pork, combine the marinade ingredients. Add the pork and allow to marinate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 220 C. When ready to bake, carefully add the tomatoes to the marinade and lightly toss to coat them.
Arrange the pork in a roasting pan, preferably with a rack. Arrange the tomatoes along the sides of the pan and a few on top of the pork. Bake for 1 hour – 1 hour and 10 minutes. After around 40 minutes of baking, turn it halfway. Bake until done.
Slice the pork into bite-sized pieces and serve warm with rice and possibly, more bagoong. Enjoy!

*The bagoong I used was Montano’s Ginisang Bagoong Gata, which we bought from their main store when we were in Dipolog. That has to count as something ‘regional’, right?