Feed Your Appetite for Something Crispy, Fatty, and Salty - Crispy Binagoongan

Yesterday, I stopped by the Asian grocery store, Oceanview Supermarket, right after work to grab some veggies for dinner. I only had 20 minutes to shop before I needed to pick up Steve from the Bart Station, but like always I couldn't resist checking out the meat to see if there were any good deals. I skipped the butcher section which was packed with people preparing for their 4th of July celebration and special Friday night meals. It looked like it would be a fifteen minute wait, so I went to the pre-packed meat aisle and at the very end I found what I had been longing for before I even knew it, a 2 lbs pack of Pork Belly for only $4.00. Instantly, I knew this would be the star of a traditional Filipino dish I loved eating but never had a chance to make, Crispy Binagoongan. It's a crispy, fatty, salty, stroke inducing dish made with pork belly glazed with bagoong alamang (shrimp paste), and usually served with grilled eggplant and fresh diced tomatoes. I grabbed my pork belly and rushed back to the veggie aisle to grab an eggplant before I checked out. When I picked Steve up he reminded me that we had cubed short ribs still waiting to be cooked for a few days now. So I delayed making the pork belly.

I'm sure glad I waited because this dish took some time to make. I didn't have that much time to execute this dish properly yesterday anyway. Since today is a Saturday and I had nowhere to go and nothing to do, it gave me all the time I needed to boil the star of this dish, pork belly, to a soft buttery state, and then crisp up the skin for better texture. Not to mention this would be my first time making this so I had to keep referring to online recipes throughout the whole process which slowed me down a bit. Although it is not the quickest dish it is truly a simple recipe.

These are the two recipes I referred to. The first one is for Lechon Kawali, the pristine basis of Crispy Binagoongan and the second one is to complete the dish.

Lechon Kawali Recipe (Crispy Pan-Fried Roasted Pork) – Posted by PinoyRecipe.net

• 1 1/2 lbs pork liempo (pork belly)


• 3 garlic cloves, crushed


• 2 laurel leaves (bay leaves)


• 1 teaspoon peppercorns or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper


• salt


• water, for boiling


• oil (for frying)


• Cut the pork belly into serving pieces then combine with the garlic, peppercorn,laurel leaves, salt and water in a pan.


• Bring to a boil and simmer for 35-45 minutes or until skin is tender.


• Drain, cool and air dry.


• Deep-fry liempo pieces in batches until golden brown and blisters appear on skin.
  

Crispy Binagoongan over Grilled Eggplant – Posted by FilipinasMag

Ingredients:

· 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

· 1 lb. cooked lechon kawali

· 1 cup of bagoong alamang (add more to taste)

· 1 ripe mango (diced) --à I didn’t add this

· 2 large tomatoes (chopped)

· 1/2 cup green onions (minced) -à I didn’t add this

· 1 grilled eggplant (sliced in half)

Procedure:

· Chop up the lechon kawali into bite-size pieces and re-heat in 1 tbsp. cooking oil for 2-3 minutes

· Add the bagoong, coating the lechon kawali. Cook for 5 minutes until the bagoong forms a glaze around the meat

· Serve the crispy binagoongan over the grilled eggplant, and top with diced mangoes, tomatoes, and minced green onions.

I will have to admit that there were some struggles along the way when I made this. Let’s just say, be sure to make sure your boiled pork has completely drained and DRIED or else like I, you will be experiencing fireworks in your kitchen before the fourth of July. I had to stop trying to fry, because it just wasn’t working for me today and honestly after the grease fire, I was scared that a huge amount of hot oil would pop into my face if I continued. So, I got a baking sheet and baked the pork at 500 degrees F. Well, it worked! The skin had its bubbly texture and had the perfect crunch without any chew at all. I could have eaten it just the way it was. Next time I may bake it just the same because of the convenience of not having to wait until it’s completely dry and it just maybe a tad bit healthier than drenching it with oil when frying.

Also, I didn’t have any Filipino shrimp paste to make this dish, but I did have a small container of Thai shrimp paste I smuggled back from my trip to Thailand a couple of months ago, but I’m one of the Asian stores around here sells this exact same shrimp paste .It wasn’t fluid like the one I’m used to, it still worked out perfectly.

At the end of the meal I was full and proud that I was able to pull this off.