Food Corner: Popular Filipino Food 04

FILIPINO-STYLE PORK AND BEANS STEW

I don’t like tomato sauce! Yes. I don’t eat anything with tomato sauce. But I love pork and although beans aren’t my favorite, I love the combination of the two. The rich broth and texture suits my palate.

If you mention beans and pork in the same sentence, you’ll probably come up with the dish Pork and Beans with the sauce and with the tinge of sweet and sour taste. Guess what? I got around the dish and came up with a recipe sans the sauce.Well, technically, it isn’t my original but while my brother, who was the cooking czar in the family,  was cooking a dish at home, I asked him if it’s possible to tweak some of the steps and add/remove some ingredients. We did a trial and error and now,it has become one of the popular dishes in our household.

But the dish today isn’t really unconventional.It is a combination of two Filipino dishes and made suitable for people like me who doesn’t want to do anything with that red sauce. These two dishes combined are sauted beans and Nilagang Baboy (pork stew which I will write about on the next blog). However, I prefer the dish with a different pork parts which are the hocks and trotters (pig leg and foot). The leg is less lean and bony and is good for making stews due to the prolonged simmering and boiling. If you have a weak stomach, better stick to the more common parts but choose the bonier ones.

Also, if you have a busy lifestyle and can’t spend hours in the kitchen, this isn’t for you. To cook this dish, it involves boiling and simmering for about an hour or so depending on how fast the meat and the beans softens. You may boil the meat until it is tender as well as the beans the night before you cook if you wish.

Ths recipe therefore is a personal favorite. It’s nice to serve during cold weather or if you want to compensate the quick bites you’ve had for a while. It is rich in flavor and nutrition. The steps are quite easy although the process can be time-comsuming, but trust me, it’s worth it. So if you want to have a taste of this Filipino dish with a personal twist, try this recipe below.

• Ingredients
  1. pork hock and trotters or any bony pork cuts cut into thicker pieces
  2. 8-10 cups of water
  3. 1 medium size onion, quartered
  4. 2 large tomatoes,quartered
  5. 2 potatoes, quartered
  6. 4 cloves garlic smashed/sliced
  7. 1/2 head cabbage, sliced
  8. 2 tablespoons oil
  9. 2 cans white kidney beans
  10. whole black peppercorns
  11. Salt to taste
      INSTRUCTIONS
      1. In a large pot, boil in the white kidney beans until slightly soft.
      2. Add pork in the boiling bean pot and simmer for 45 minutes or until meat is tender.
      3. Remove the foam from the top of the water.
      4. In a separate pan, saute’ garlic, onion and tomatoes.
      5. Add the sauted ingredient to the pork and beans pot.
      6. Add the peppercorn and potatoes.
      7. Simmer for 5-10 minutes
      8. Add cabbage and cook for 2-3 minutes.
      9. Season with salt or fish sauce if available.
      10. Serve hot with rice.