Recipe: Binagoongan

I'm not an expert when it comes to writing recipes and even if I read a recipe, I never follow it to the dot especially the measurements. I always base the taste of whatever I'm cooking on how my my tastebuds react, in other words, "to taste" has always been my concept. So bear with me on my first try at writing a recipe. Measurements of ingredients below are estimates of how much I put into the Binagoongan I cooked last week.

This is for you Zita, for urging me to write my recipe for Binagoongan. My Binagoongan is nothing special, I just put together the recipe that was handed down to me by my mum and some tips I read online.

Here's my ingredients:

1/2 kilo of pork, cut into cubes
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 onions, chopped

1 tomato, chopped
3 tablespoons of shrimp paste (bagoong)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of vinegar
1 tablespoon Canola Oil (you may also use Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil)
1/2 cup of water

Optional:

* 1 piece eggplant, sliced into cubes (I always want a vegetable or two present in our every meal and eggplant seemed to be the safest [in terms of taste] vegetable to mix with the Binagoongan.

* Chili (Pulang Sili) or Hot Sauce - for those who want their Binagoongan spicy. When I cooked the Binagoongan last week, I didn't have Chili at home so I added a tablespoon of Hot Sauce instead.

1. Boil pork until water evaporates and produces its own oil.

2. Fry the pork til golden brown then set it aside.

3. Saute onion, garlic, tomato and chili with Canola Oil, then mix in the pork.

4. Add shrimp paste (bagoong), stir for 5-7 minutes.

5. Pour in the vinegar and add sugar.

6. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Serves 3 to 4 people. Best served when hot.