Safer at Home: Easy Filipino Recipes

I never thought I’d be writing about COOKING food, but hey - here we are. During this quarantine, per Instagram we’ve gone through 3 cooking/food/drink trends: Banana bread -> dalgona coffee -> sourdough bread. I made banana bread but I gave up after that because I don’t have a whisk. Haha, I adulted and finally ordered an electronic mixer the other day so I will catch up with the trends soon.

Anyway. Idk about you but I haven’t cooked this much since… ever. I’ve been revisiting a lot of my favorites: Easy Filipino classics. For those who aren’t too familiar with Filipino cuisine, it’s super garlicky, saucy, salty, sour, meaty, and so damn delicious. And the best part? Some dishes are very easy to make and require very few and a lot of the same ingredients. Btw. I’m not a chef, ok, so don’t hate on my imprecise recipes. If you’re looking for that, you’re on the wrong site.

Please try 1 or 2 or ALL and let me know how it goes :)

1. DAD’S SPAGHETTI (FILIPINO SPAGHETTI)

My ultimate comfort food. What makes spaghetti Filipino? It’s sweeter, cheesier, and has one key ingredient: HOT DOGS!

Ingredients:

• Half a pound of ground beef or homemade meat balls

• Half an onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• 4-5 hot dogs sliced

• Mushrooms (sliced, canned, whatever you have)

• 1 Carrot

• 1 spaghetti sauce (any kind of red sauce)

• Banana Ketchup/Sugar

• Sriracha

• Cheese

• Spaghetti Noodles

• crushed red peppers (optional)

Instructions:

1. Sauté minced garlic and onions in oil.

2. Add ground beef or meatballs. Cook until browned. Add HOT DOGS!

3. Mix in sliced mushrooms and diced carrots.

4. Pour in that spaghetti sauce. Let simmer.

5. Add banana ketchup and/or sugar to add sweetness. Add sriracha. Add crushed red peppers. Mix in. Let simmer.

6. Make your noods.

7. Add sauce on top of the noods and top with chunks of cheese. Microwave to melt cheese.

2. CHICKEN ADOBO

Chicken adobo has LOTS of flavor and best eaten with rice. It’s very tangy, salty, and a little sweet — and SUPER easy to make.

Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs, drumsticks

• 3/4 cup vinegar

• 3/4 cup soy sauce

• whole pepper and ground pepper

• 5 bay leaves

• Brown sugar and/or coke

• Half an onion

• Jalapeno for spice!

Instructions:

1. Sauté minced garlic and onions in oil. Fry chicken until slightly browned. Remove chicken from the pan.

2. Add soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves. Simmer.

3. Add chicken back in. Add lots of whole pepper. Season generously with ground pepper.

4. Mix in jalapeno (optional!)

5. Bring to a boil then put it on low heat. Cover for 30-45 minutes.

6. Serve with rice.

3. BISTEK (BEEF STEAK)

A citrusy, salty, and garlicky beef dish made with LOTS of onions. If you love onions like me, you’ll love this dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of beef: Sirloin, top round, or flap meat

• 2 onions sliced into rings (I prefer red onions)

• Half a lemon/2 pieces of calamansi

• 2 and a half tablespoons of soy sauce

• Pepper

Instructions:

1. Marinate flap meat in soy sauce, pepper and lemon/calamansi overnight in the fridge.

2. Pan fry 1 onion in oil. Remove from pan.

3. Fry beef in oil, remove from pan.

4. Saute garlic and remaining onion. Add marinade. Simmer.

5. Add beef into mixture. Cook until tender.

6. Top the beef and sauce with the onion rings you pan fried earlier.

7. Serve with rice.

4. SINIGANG

Sinigang is a soup that’s known for being super sour because of its tamarind base. The cool thing is you can make sinigang with whatever you have in the house. As long as you have the sinigang mix, you’re set.

Ingredients:

• Salmon, shrimp, beef or pork

• 1-2 Tomatoes

• Ginger (if using seafood for protein)

• 1 Onion

• Sinigang mix (Tamarind powder)

• Veggies: i.e. string beans, broccoli, taro, okra, spinach, whatever’s in your fridge

• Fish sauce for extra flavor

Instructions:

1. Sauté onions and tomatoes. If using beef/pork - add meat and pan fry. Add a little bit of fish sauce.

2. Add water. Bring to a boil.

3. Add taro and bring to a boil.

4. Lower heat and add the sinigang mix.

5. If using salmon/shrimp, add now with sliced ginger. Ginger gets rid of that fishy smell/taste.

6. Add the rest of the veggies. Let simmer for 10 minutes.

7. Serve with rice.

5. PICADILLO

A very simple dish that is basically a mix of ground beef and veggies, but it has so much flavor. Serve with rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion

• 1 garlic

• 1 or 2 bell peppers (green, red, and/or yellow works)

• 1 diced carrot

• 1 diced potato

• Soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste/ketchup

• Green peas

Instructions:

1. Sauté onion and garlic. Add ground beef and cook until browned.

2. Add carrots, potatoes, green/red bell peppers, and green peas.

3. Add a little bit of soy sauce and a little fish sauce (optional) for flavor. If you have tomato paste/ketchup, mix some in. If you don’t, I find it’s still good without it. Season with pepper.

4. Serve with rice.

6. TORTA

Torta is what you make for breakfast with your leftover picadillo!

Ingredients

• Eggs

• Leftover picadillo

Instructions

1. Beat eggs.

2. Add leftover picadillo.

3. Cook like pancakes: Add oil to pan. Pour mixture to create a round shape. Flip over.

4. Serve with rice and dip in ketchup!

7. CHICKEN AFRITADA

A tomato based chicken dish that is SOOOOO easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion cubed

• 1 or 2 garlic (minced)

• 1 tomato cubed

• 1 pound of chicken

• 3-4 bay leaves

• green peas

• 1 sliced carrot or a bunch of baby carrots

• 1 potato cubed

• 1 can of tomato sauce/paste

• 2-3 cups of Broth

Instructions:

1. Sauté onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Add chicken and cook for about a minute on each side.

2. Add tomato sauce/paste and broth. I use chicken broth. Mix and bring to a boil.

3. Add bay leaves. Cover and let cook for 30 minutes.

4. Add carrots, cook/cover for another 3-5 minutes. I use baby carrots when I’m lazy to peel and cut.

5. Add potatoes, cook/cover for another 8-10 minutes.

6. Add green peas. Cook for another 2 minutes.

7. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Serve with rice.