One of my 2014 resolutions is to live a healthier life. A step I took to kick start this lifestyle shift is to just cook. Sounds simple, right? Well, for someone like me who is far from being a kitchen goddess, preparing home-cooked meals day in and day out was a challenge. WAS–because with a few hacks here and there, I got a hang of preparing scrumptious home-cooked food.
The idea of the #justcook challenge is basically to veer away from processed food and prepare all meals from scratch. It was a challenge for me because that meant no more instant flavoring, noodles–instant anything! But here’s the thing: If you don’t have the time to prepare everything from scratch, don’t be hard on yourself. I’m not the best cook in the world and I get very busy with work sometimes so my secret to preparing yummy meals that has ingredients that I can’t make from scratch? I buy ’em.
A new favorite source of home-cooked ingredients/sides is Bebeng’s Kitchen. The tagline says it all: Totally Homemade. I already had a taste of Denise’s (Bebeng) homemade products when she hosted a small get-together at her house. It was love at first bite! So when I saw her at the Work-at-Home Expo, I took the opportunity to buy the rest of her products. One of them is her Bagoong Alamang, which I used to cook Pork Binagoongan.
Pork Binagoongan is an authentic Filipino recipe that is loved by Filipinos despite its pungent smell. There are many ways to cook it, but the one I’m featuring here is a simple recipe you can do in 20 minutes or less!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Bebeng’s Kitchen’s Bagoong Alamang- 2 lbs. pork (I bought menudo cut pork)
- 3 cups of water
- 5 tbsp. vinegar
- 3-5 pieces of bay leaves
- One (1) onion (chopped)
- 1 tbsp. garlic (minced)
- 1 cup tomatoes (chopped)
- 1 pc chili (optional, sliced)
- Salt and pepper to taste
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
- In a cooking pot, pour in water and bring to a boil. Add pork, vinegar, and bay leaves then simmer until meat is tender.
- Remove meat from the pot then drain water.
- In a separate pan, sauté onions, garlic, and tomatoes.
- Add Bebeng’s Kitchen’s Bagoong Alamang and simmer for five minutes.
- Add the pork and mix well. Cook for another five minutes.
- If you want to add chili for a kick of spice, add your sliced chili then simmer for 3 more minutes.
- Sprinkle your dish with salt and pepper to taste. But honestly, Bebeng’s Kitchen’s Bagoong Alamang is just right already so I didn’t have to add salt and pepper!
- Serve hot with steamed rice.
It was the first time the minis ate Pork Binagoongan, but they loved it! There was a bit of hesitation at first because of the smell, but after the first bite, I’m not sure where the rest of the food on their plates went to in such a short period of time. 😀
Do you have your own version of Pork Binagoongan? Share your recipe here!
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Pork binagoongan is one of my favorites. Whenever we have this on the table, I couldn’t help but eat so much.
I love this dish! Palpak nga lang when I made it the first time hahaha. I will try it again with your recipe. 🙂
I looooove Pork Binagoongan! It’s one of the ulams I can’t say no to and there has to be extra rice…
Same with me! I can never say no to binagoongan.
Kim! I can so relate! 🙂 I don’t consider myself to be a kitchen goddess as well — I don’t think anyone can think of me that way. Baka goddess lang — hehe, feeling, just kidding! Anyway, I’m also trying to make things from scratch and have moved away from processed food. One of my goals is to grow my repertoire of dishes. Sa ngayon, I can make squash soup, pesto, veggie stirfry, oven-roasted veggies, veggie curry, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelette, pasta — hehe. I guess “puwede nang mag-asawa.” :p And although we do still buy pasta, bread, pesto, sardines in jars, cheese, I have said goodbye to my favorite instant pancit canton! “Boohoo,” says my tongue but my body says, “Yay!” And let me just say, yay for you and this challenge! Following your posts with much interest 🙂
Hi Vicky! My husband and I were lovers of pancit canton too but were forced to say goodbye since we don’t want to get our kids “introduced” to that unhealthy (although yummy haha) option. I don’t have a huge collection of home-grown and home-cooked recipes yet, but I’m working on it. 🙂 I’ll be following your ‘Good Food Friday’ posts too for ideas!
I wish I could enjoy this dish.. Unfortunately, I am allergic to bagoong and alamang… 🙁
bagoong is my favorite! especially the ones from Bebeng’s Kitchen! kahit bawal because i’m allergic, i still eat bagoong! hehehehe
I love love LOVE bagoong. My lola cooks the perfect binagoongan ever. Sad coz I can’t have it anymore coz she’s gone. Pero I still love bagoong. And we always have the bottled on our kitchen pantry. I think I should check Bebeng’s Kitchen.
You can always experiment on the recipe. Who knows, you might figure out your lola’s binagoongan recipe. 🙂 Try her homemade products out! They’re really good.
the kitchen was never my forte. I guess that’s why I fell inlove with the hubby. Coz he cooks so well. Atleast our baby won’t have to leave off fastfoods. 🙂 But I will def ask him to cook binagoongan, come to think of it – he hasn’t yet.
I love pork binagoongan kahit allergy me sa alamang/bagoong. But whatever it takes kumakain pa din ako as long as I have my medicines. It looks yummy 🙂
Haha! I do that too. I’m allergic naman sa tuyo, but I still eat it anyway. Sarap eh!
Winner talaga ang sidekicks ni Ate Denise, haha! Honestly, di ko pa natry yung bagoong niya. But, the chili sauce? HEAVEN!!! Kahit saan na lang, ginagamit ko eh. Hehe. Also, I would love to give you some of my special tapa next time <3
I still have a full glass of chili sauce. I’m not sure where to add it pa eh. D: Naku, I want to try your tapa with BK’s atchara! I finished the atchara in two days kaya haha! Baka yan ulamin ko ng ilang araw, tapa queen pa naman ako.
This looks really yum! Sadly, I’m allergic to bagoong and as much as I want to try this recipe, it would mean red spots all over my body 🙁
I used to eat home-made bagoong by my Lola and yes, it makes more dishes appetizing! Easy recipe here!
I’m expecting delivery of my Bebeng’s kitchen dried tuyo flakes tomorrow and I’m excited about using it for a pasta recipe too. 🙂
Was it you who posted a trivia on what you’re cooking? I answered “Binagoongan”. 🙂
Yep, that was me! 🙂 You should try the rest of BK’s products, sarap!
Your cooking looks appetizing. I haven’t tried using bay leaf and it was interesting. Thanks for the tip.
Pork binagoongan is one of my fave (this is why I am fat! lol). I add eggplant though since it goes well with the bagoong.
I thought it was weird when my husband added eggplant to his pork binagoongan. Others are doing it too pala. I loved it and agree it matches. I just haven’t seen binagoongan with vegies on it before.
Other recipe have okra so sometimes I add okra too in my pork binagoongan.
I think my mom adds Okra to her Binagoongan recipe. I don’t add Okra because my husband hates it–he said he ate mostly that, sayote, and sweet potatoes during his training at the academy so he’s done with it. Haha!
This takes me back to my office days when we’ll all order binagoongan for lunch. Yuuum! Did she make the bagoong herself? Cool!
She makes all her products herself. Galing nga! She has Bagoong, Gourmet Tuyo, Chili, and lots of baked goods.
Will try this! This is one of my favorite dishes kasi. 🙂
I love pork binagoongan and like you I also used bottled shrimp paste. 🙂 Matry nga yung may bay leaf next time.
I love pork binagoongan especially when matched with mangoes! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never tried Pork Binagoongan with mangoes, but my husband says it’s a yummy combination. I might add a topping of sliced green mangoes the next time I cook it. 🙂
This looks so yummy! I’m going to give this a try! Thank you.
It is! Let me know how it goes when you’ve tried it. 🙂