What a fitting way to celebrate the year of the pig.
When Lea and I first met, she was living alone in a place where there was no Filipino food. When she had a craving, should would visit her sister, 100+ miles away, or go to one of those bodega type Filipino stores in Sayreville or Edison and order some comfort food.
Menudo wasn’t the first thing that I made for her, but it is one of my favorites. I remember, she wanted pan-de-sal. There was no good pan-de-sal here in America, even from the large Filipino bakeries.
I bought two books that year and searched online for pan-de-sal recipes. One online guy had the audacity to write, go to the grocery, buy the dough, roll it into rolls, bake it. Talk about setting the bar low.
My problem however was that I had no baseline. So I started experimenting and Lea was my subject. After many tweaks of different recipes, either I came up with something close, or she just stopped me out of pity.
The two books I purchased were priceless because they were different enough for me to take what I thought was the best from both. They are pictured in the post.
There will be many posts with Filipino food, but this one is easy to make and easy for a first timer to start liking a new cuisine. My first few experiences with Filipino food were not great, but when I started flipping through the books, I found that there were many dishes that showcase an underrated cuisine. I’m going to champion that cause.
You could cook your own chickpeas or garbanzos or just used canned. Similarly, you could roast your own red peppers or use a 4 oz jar of sliced or fancy pimentos. The chorizo is a product actually made in the USA called “chorizo de Cebu”, though I have used Primio brand chorizo as well.
Menudo
• 1 ½ - 2 pounds diced pork ( I use a pork tenderloin because it has little fat and is quite tender)
• 3 diced chorizos or more if you like
• 1 large Idaho potato
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic – minced
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 4 oz pimento
• 4 plum tomatos diced
• 12 oz chickpeas
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 16 oz water
• Canola oil for sauté
• Salt and pepper to taste
Place 3 chorizos in a pan and bake at 350 until cooked through. Dice the cooked chorizos and set aside.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a stock pot and brown the pork cubes in a batches as to no over crowd the pot. Season with a small amount of salt a pepper.
Remove the browned pork, add a little more oil and sauté the onions and garlic. Season with a little salt and pepper. In the French kitchen we start with the onions, but in the Filipino kitchen we start with the garlic. I think you should start with the item that is cut into the largest pieces, for example, onion first if the onion is diced and the garlic in minced, garlic first if the garlic is lightly crushed and the onion is diced. The object is to get them both to the same color without burning. This is what I’m talking about when I say “using French Technique”
When the onion and garlic reach the desired goldenness, add the paprika and stir. Then add the pork and chorizo and stir again.
Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water. Stir to mix and then simmer for about 30 minutes.
Add the potatoes. When the potatoes are still firm but cooked, add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer another 5 minutes and then turn off the flame. Season to your liking with salt and pepper.
Serve with rice.
I had it yesterday with Quinoa.
Aren’t you glad I didn’t inject a Ricky Martin Joke?
Happy Cooking
Kiss yourself for making deliciousness.
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