Joni Gutierrez

Joni Gutierrez

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handwritten recipe

18 All-time Favorite Filipino Dishes from My Lola Liling’s Cookbook

Posted on Author Joni GutierrezPosted in Filipino Culture, Me

My grandmother had a well-lived life of 99 years. She was compassionate and prayerful but never judgmental – this, she taught by example. She was loving, and one of the ways that she expressed this was through her cooking. Today I remember her by digitally transcribing her handwritten cookbook. I never had a chance to ask her to teach me how to cook but with the help of this artifact, I will start practicing and sharing my all-time favorite Filipino dishes; indeed, knowledge, wisdom, and caring transcend time and space.

Afritada

Ingredients

  • Pork or chicken
  • Pork liver
  • Soy sauce
  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Tomatoes or tomato sauce
  • Carrots
  • Green peas
  • Red or green bell peppers or both
  • Potatoes

Procedure

  1. Slice pork or chicken and marinate in soy sauce, black pepper, salt, and crushed garlic for 30 minutes.
  2. Sauté the garlic, onion, and tomatoes.
  3. Add the marinated ingredients and cook till the meat is tender.
  4. Add the sliced potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, and green peas. Cook till vegetables are done.

Pinakbet

Ingredients

  • Pork
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • Eggplant
  • Ampalaya (bitter melon)
  • Tomatoes
  • Cooking oil
  • Bagoong (fish paste)
  • Jalapeño pepper
  • For revised recipe, add okra, string beans, squash

Procedure

  1. Cook sliced pork till brown.
  2. Sauté with ginger, garlic, and onion.
  3. Add tomatoes, vegetables, bagoong, and cook till done.

Adobo

Ingredients

  • Pork
  • Pork liver (optional)
  • Chicken
  • Vinegar
  • Soy sauce
  • Worcester sauce (optional)
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Laurel leaf (optional)
  • Sugar
  • Black pepper
  • Vetsin (optional)
  • Salt

Procedure

  1. Slice pork, liver, and chicken.
  2. Marinate sliced meat for 30 minutes to one hour.
  3. Add vinegar, soy sauce, pepper, salt, crushed garlic, and a little sugar to the marinade.
  4. Place the marinated meat in a pan and cook with onion and one or two laurel leaves.
  5. Add a little water to cook.

Sinigang

Ingredients

  • Beef ribs or pork feet
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Patis (fish sauce)
  • Tomatoes
  • Gabi (taro)
  • Bok choy or Pechay (Chinese white cabbage)
  • Radish
  • Tamarind mix

Procedure

  1. Sauté meat with garlic and onion.
  2. Add water and cook till meat is tender.
  3. Add tamarind mix or cube and tomatoes.
  4. Add vegetables and cook till done.

Caldereta

Ingredients

  • Goat or beef
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Potatoes
  • Carrots
  • Liver spread
  • Caldereta mix
  • Red and green bell peppers

Procedure

  1. Sauté garlic, onion, and sliced beef or goat.
  2. Add water, liver spread, and cook till meat is tender.
  3. Add mixture and peanut butter.
  4. Add potatoes first then carrots and bell peppers. Cook till done.

Tinola

Ingredients

  • Chicken
  • Green papaya
  • Malunggay (moringa) leaves
  • Sili (chili pepper) leaves
  • Ginger
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Patis (fish sauce)
  • Salt

Procedure

  1. Sauté sliced chicken with ginger, garlic, and onion.
  2. Add salt and water. Boil till chicken is tender.
  3. Add patis, vegetables, and cook till done.

Guinisang Munggo

Ingredients

  • Sliced pork (with fat, preferably pork belly)
  • Mung beans (whole)
  • Salted fish
  • Patis (fish sauce)
  • Ginger
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Salt
  • Ampalaya (bitter melon) leaves or fruit; or Malunggay (moringa) leaves

Procedure

  1. Place sliced meat in a pan. Cover and cook until fat/oil comes out. Set aside the meat (with fried fat). Leave a little fat/oil in the pan for the next step.
  2. Sauté the ginger, garlic, onion, and meat.
  3. Add the mung beans, water, and salt. Cook till mung beans are done.
  4. Add salted fish broth and vegetables. Cook till done.

Lechon Paksiw

Ingredients

  • Leftover lechon (roasted pig) slices
  • Vinegar
  • Soy sauce
  • Sugar
  • Black pepper
  • Mang Tomas all-purpose sauce or leftover lechon sauce
  • Water

Procedure

  1. Place all ingredients in a pan.
  2. Cook till done.

Kare-kare

Ingredients

  • Oxtail or beef
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Peanut butter
  • Kare-kare mix
  • String beans
  • Banana blossom
  • Eggplant
  • Bok choy or Pechay (Chinese white cabbage)

Procedure

  1. Sauté oxtail or beef slices with garlic and onion.
  2. Add water and cook till meat is tender.
  3. Add peanut butter and kare-kare mix diluted in water or broth
  4. Add vegetables and cook till done.
  5. Serve with sautéed alamang (shrimp paste).

Ginataang String Beans & Squash

Ingredients

  • String beans
  • Squash
  • Shrimp
  • Coconut milk, 2 cans
  • Ginger
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Alamang (shrimp paste)

Procedure

  1. Sauté ginger, garlic, and onion.
  2. Add coconut milk. Cook until oil comes out.
  3. Add shrimp, alamang, and a little water.
  4. Add string beans and squash. Cook till done.

Igado

Ingredients

  • Pork
  • Liver
  • Vinegar
  • Soy sauce
  • Ground black pepper
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Sugar
  • Potatoes
  • Green and red bell peppers
  • Carrots
  • Cooking oil
  • Chickpeas

Procedure

  1. Slice meat into one-inch cubes and marinate in soy sauce and black pepper.
  2. Sauté the marinated meat with garlic and onion.
  3. When meat is tender, add all the vegetables and cook till done.

Pochero

Ingredients

  • Pork or chicken
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Tomatoes
  • Cabbage
  • Potatoes
  • Saba banana
  • Patis (fish sauce)
  • Salt

Procedure

  1. Sauté sliced pork or chicken with garlic, onion, and tomatoes.
  2. Add water, patis, and salt. Cook till meat is tender.
  3. Add vegetables and cook till done.

Chop Suey

Ingredients

  • Pork or chicken breast
  • Shrimp
  • Baguio beans (Green beans)
  • Carrots
  • Cabbage
  • Celery
  • Sweet peas
  • Soy sauce
  • Oyster sauce
  • Flour
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Canned young corn
  • Bell pepper
  • Canned baby corn
  • Bell pepper

Procedure

  1. Dissolve one tablespoon of flour in cold water and set aside.
  2. Sauté pork, chicken or shrimp or all of these. Cook till tender.
  3. Add all the vegetables and soy sauce, oyster sauce, and the dissolved flour. Cook till done.

Beef Steak / Bistek Tagalog 

Ingredients

  • Beef sirloin
  • Soy sauce
  • Calamansi or Lemon juice
  • Ground black pepper
  • Onion
  • Cooking oil
  • Salt

Procedure

  1. Slice beef into thin slices and marinate in soy sauce and calamansi/lemon juice, pepper, and a little salt.
  2. Boil the marinated beef until tender.
  3. Fry the cooked beef then pour the marinade and add the onion rings. Cook until done.

Eggplant Omelet / Tortang Talong

Ingredients

  • Eggplant (big)
  • Eggs
  • Cooking oil
  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper

Procedure

  1. Broil eggplant, remove skin, and set aside.
  2. Beat the desired number of eggs (with salt)
  3. Dip eggplant in beaten eggs.
  4. Fry till done.

Adobong String Beans or Bamboo Shoots

Ingredients

  • String beans (cut 2 inches long) or Sliced bamboo shoots
  • Vinegar
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Soy sauce
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper
  • Pork or chicharon (pork rind)

Procedure

  1. Sauté garlic, onion, chicharon, and string beans. Cook for 7-10 minutes.
  2. Add vinegar, soy sauce, a little salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook till done.
  3. For bamboo shoot: Marinate the bamboo shoots in soy sauce, pepper, sugar, and vinegar before sautéing with pork and chicharon. Cook till done.
  4. Follow the same procedure for the dish, Adobong Kangkong (water spinach).

Lumpiang Shanghai

Ingredients

  • Ground pork
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Eggs
  • Flour
  • Ground black pepper
  • Vetsin
  • Lumpia wrapper

Procedure

  1. Mix pork, finely sliced garlic and onion, two eggs, pepper, vetsin, and flour.
  2. Wrap and fry.

Guisadong Pechay Gulay

Ingredients

  • Pork or shrimp or both
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Pechay (Chinese white cabbage)
  • Tomatoes
  • Patis (fish sauce)
  • Vetsin (optional)
  • Salt

Procedure

  1. Sauté garlic, onion, pork-shrimp, and tomatoes.
  2. Bring to a boil with one cup of water and patis.
  3. Add the sliced pechay and cook until done.
  4. Instead of pechay, you can use upo (bottle gourd), patola (silk squash), cabbage, string beans or any available vegetable.