Goulash

Yep, another non-Filipino dish!

The rainy season is here, there's a low-pressure area just east of Samar that's aiding and abetting the normal monsoon causing cool, rainy weather with lots of dark clouds, and I didn't have much food in the house nor money to go buy more. Besides, I didn't want to go out in the rain.

I had a bunch of pork belly, a large cabbage, plenty of garlic and onions, so I was going to make ginisang repolyo or braised cabbage (and pork.) But the weather made me crave soup or stew instead, and I figured I could stretch the cabbage further by using it in a soup of some sort.

I went prowling through our cupboards and drawers to see what I had on hand, and I found an unopened sachet (packet) of Spanish paprika, as well as a small plastic bag with some flour in it. I used to cook a lot of Hungarian dishes once upon a time, when I was still in America, so I was inspired to try to do something different for dinner.



I had half of a slice of pork belly plus another half that contained a bone. (Bellies have bones? Who knew?) I chopped this up into larger-than-normal pieces around 1 inch square or larger, shook them in the bag of flour then fried them in oil a few at a time until they were all crispy brown, then set them aside. Next, I took three large (for the Philippines) onions, very coarsely chopped plus six or seven large cloves of garlic, also coarsely chopped, and sautéed them until they were nice and tender.

Next, I turned off the stove then added a bunch of the paprika: I didn't measure it but I would estimate I used around five tablespoons, at least. I then added two chicken bouillon cubes plus a small sachet of Magic Sarap (you can just use three cubes, but I only had two.) I turned the stove back on to simmer and stirred the paprika, onion and garlic mixture until the bouillon cubes were dissolved.

I added around 3 cups of water, stirred and heated the mix until bubbly, then added the pork and cooked it for several minutes. Then I added the chopped cabbage and stirred, covered the skillet and simmered until the cabbage was tender and the volume was reduced (as happens to cabbage when the water that's in it cooks out.) I seasoned it with some ground black pepper and around 1/3 cup of vinegar then set it aside to reheat just before my hungry wife came home. She was rather surprised but pronounced it delicious!

I plan the leftovers again tonight, but this morning I managed to score two small potatoes and two little red bell peppers. I peeled and diced the potatoes then boiled them until tender, and cut the peppers into two inch lengths, julienned them and sautéed them in a little oil until they were tender too, then added them all to the leftover stew to soak up the flavor. That way we'll have plenty for dinner again tonight, and it'll be even heartier and more filling than it was.

I'll try to take a picture later. :)