Pork Binagoongan recipe
Bagoong pertains to shrimp paste, a very popular condiment in southeast Asia. Shrimp paste is made from very small baby shrimp with salt and then fermented for several weeks. I used to live close to the shore, I remember my mother's binagoongan to be made of fresh baby shrimp from the sea without too much salt in it. Unfortunately, I need to be resourceful with what's locally available to recreate my mother's dish. Needless to say, the secret to best binagoongan would be high quality bagoong.
This recipe is very authentic to Filipino. I observed different variations, usually with vegetables in it but the simplest one is that with plain pork belly in it. Best served with steamed white rice and grilled aubergine.
Ingredients:
500 grams of pork belly - in this version, I used stocks in our fridge and manage to find pork ribs which I mixed with belly.
Shrimp paste - 2 tablespoon. Use unflavored raw shrimp paste
Garlic - 4 cloves
Onion - 1 medium-sized
2 pieces salad tomato
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Jalapeno or Thai chili - depends how chili you prefer it, can do without
Ground pepper to taste
Water - 1 and 1/2 cup
3 tbsp Vinegar (white sugarcane or Filipino vinegar)
3 tbsp sugar
3 tsp soy sauce
Procedures:
1. Sauté garlic, onion and tomato
2. When tomato and onion softened, add ginger paste and bagoong alamang. Sauté for one minute.
3. Add jalapeno (or not - you can add it later if somebody in the house isn't fond of spicy dishes), soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, Stir a bit.
4. Add pork and sauté for one more minute and then pour water
5. Let it boil/simmer until pork becomes tender and sauce becomes thick
6. Season with pepper to taste
7. Serve with steamed white rice, grilled vegetables (aubergine, bell peppers, courgette etc)
