Sizzling Sisig - Pork

Sizzling Sisig is actually originated in Pampanga and a very popular pulutan (delicacy? – to correct me you can use the comment section of this post :) ) in the Philippines. Sisig is a Kapampangan term which means "to snack on something sour". It also refers to a method of preparing fish and meat, especially pork head , which is marinated in a sour liquid such as lemon juice (Kalamansi) or vinegar, then seasoned with salt, pepper, chilly and other spices. Some restaurants have also Chicken Sizzling Sisig as one their specialty (the recipe will be post in the future).

Ingredients:

- 1 kg Pork Face

- 1/4 kg Pork Brain (Optional)

- 2 tsp. butter

- 4 pcs. Onions, chopped

- 3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

- 1 Tbsp. Vinegar

- 1 Tbsp. Catsup or Chilli Sauce

- Salt and pepper to taste

- Fried Pork skin, grounded (Optional)

- 1 Egg (Optional) - only when serving

Cooking Procedures :

- Boil pork face till tender; slice thinly into cubes.

- Saute 1 pc. onion in butter and add the sliced pork face and the brain in a deep skillet.

- While sauteing, mix the liquid ingredients.

- Add the liquid mix in the pan. Simmer for about 15 mins.

- Serve in sizzling plate, garnish with Fried pork skin, egg and chilli for your taste.

Crispy Pata (Crispy Fried Pork’s Front Leg)

Ingredients:

* 1 Pork's front leg - Pata

* 1 bottle of 7up or Sprite - Soda

* 1 1/2 cups of water

* 1 tbsp. of salt

* 1/2 tsp. of baking soda

* 2 tbsp. Patis (Fish sauce)

* 2 tbsp. of Flour

* Corn oil for frying

Cooking Procedures:

* Clean Pata and slit skin few times without cutting the bone.

* Put in a deep pan with a tight cover, and then add water, 7up and salt. Boil it.

* After 15 minutes, add baking soda. Baking soda will speed up the softening of the pata's skin. If water dries up and the meat is not done yet, add another cup of water. Meat should not be too tender. Drain when done. Place in the refrigerator overnight to dry the skin.

Before you fry it, brush with patis and sprinkle with flour evenly. Deep fry it until crispy and golden brown.

Serve with vinegar with 2 cloves garlic (crushed), salt and pepper to taste and 1 small hot chilli pepper (Siling Labuyo).

Tokwa't Baboy

Anyway, Tokwa’t Baboy (Beancurd and pork) is a traditional appetizer at local Filipino fast-food and full-service restaurants. It is usually made with pork ears, chewy tofu/beancurd, soy sauce, pork broth, vinegar and other spices.

ngredients: 
* 1 Kilo of Pork Face & Ears (cut into cubes) 
* 8 Pieces of Tokwa (Beancurd) 2"x2" 
* 1 Small cloves of garlic (minced) 
* 3 Big onions (diced) 
* 1 Cup vinegar 
* 1 Cup soy sauce 
* 1 Teaspoon salt 
* 1 Teaspoon brown sugar 

Cooking procedure: 
1. In a casserole, boil pork with salt, lower fire and let it simmer until pork is tender. 
2. Take the pork out and set aside. 
3. Fry tokwa in hot oil until toasted and slice to the same size as the pork. 
4. In a sauce pot, mix soy sauce, vinegar, salt, garlic and onions and heat for just few minutes. 
5. Pour in mixture over pork and tokwa. 

Ginataang Sitaw with Pork (String Beans Cooked in Coconut Milk)

What else can't be cooked with coconut milk? Majority of the vegetables in the Philippines can be used as an ingredient to a sumptuous meal with a coconut milk. You can also cook Pork, Chicken and seafood’s. This time, let me show you how to cook Ginataang Sitaw. If you search online, there are lots of English translations of "Sitaw", some calls it Green Beans, Long Green Beans, Long Beans, etc...

Ingredients:

- 1/4 Kilo of Sitaw (cut at least 2 inches in length)

- 1/2 Kilo of Pork Belly or Liempo (cut into cubes)

- 1/4 Kilo of Shrimps (Shelled)

- Onions

- Garlic 

- Green Chili (Chopped)

- Cooking Oil

- Ginger

- Fish Sauce, Salt and Pepper

- Shrimp Paste

- Coconut Milk (Powdered or Canned)

- 1 cup of water

Cooking Procedure:

- In a pan, pour the cooking oil, sauté' garlic and onions.

- Add the ginger. After few minutes of sautéing, pour fish sauce. There's no exact measurement of the fish sauce or salt and pepper, it depends on how you like the taste.

- After pouring the fish sauce, add shrimp paste until it's cooked, unless the shrimp paste was already cooked or sautéed'. 

- Now you can add the pork and cook it until its tender.

- When pork is tender enough, add shrimps and the chopped green chili’s.

- Sauté it for a minute and pour the mixture of one cup of water and the powdered coconut milk or in can.

- Once it boiled, pour the long beans or sitaw and cook it until it's half cooked. Or you can cook it very well.

Patatim

Patatim’s main ingredients are similar to Adobo except that some includes Banana blossoms. To be honest, I don’t know the difference between having it and not having it. Since that ingredient is rare to find, I cooked it without it. Others use Pork Braised Legs and some are hind legs. For this particular moment, I used hind legs.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup of vinegar
2 Pork bouillon cubes
2 pcs small pork hind legs, cut into 1 1/2 inch thick
1 tbsp cornstarch

Fish sauce

5 pcs bay leaves

1 tsp ground pepper (you can also use peppercorn)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 whole garlic, minced

1 whole onion, minced

Cooking procedure:

1. Boil the pork hind legs, when almost tender set aside.

2. In a casserole, sauté minced garlic and onions with the oil.

3. Add fish sauce, then pork leg and the rest of the ingredients.

4. Bring to a boil and slowly simmer for half an hour or until tender.

Pansit Canton - Fried Noodles

Pancit or '"Pansit"' is a stir-fried noodle dish, common in the Philippines and originated from China. The word pancit is derived from the Hokkien (Min Nan) word pian i sit, which literally means something conveniently cooked fast.

Pansit is a popular dish in the Philippines when there's a birthday celebration, people says it's for "long life".

Ingredients:

* 1 kilo Canton Noodles

* 2 heads of minced garlic

* 1 onion sliced

* 1/4 kilo of sliced Pork

* 1/2 cup shrimps, sliced thinly

* 1 cup shredded cabbage

* 1/2 cup sliced green beans

* 1/2 cup carrots, cut in strips

* Pepper

* Soy Sauce

* Corn Starch

* Pork broth

* Corn Oil

* Calamansi or Lemon

Cooking Procedure:

1. Saute garlic, onion, and meat in a casserole.

2. Add cabbage, green beans and carrots and simmer with the broth.

3. Season with soy sauce and pepper.

4. Add noodles and cook until dry.

5. Pour a mixture of 1 tbsp. of corn starch and 1/4 cup of water to thicken the sauce.

6. Serve it with sliced calamansi or lemon to taste.

Adobong Tahong

Here is another way of cooking Tahong or Mussels.

Ingredients:

* 1 kilo of tahongm shelled

* 6 tbsp. of vinegar

* 7 cloves of garlic, crushed

* 2 tbsp. of salt

* corn oil

Cooking procedure:

1. Boil tahong in vinegar and a small amount of water.

2. Add salt and crushed garlic.

3. As soon as the liquid dries out, add cooking oil.

4. Cook for 5 minutes and remove from fire.