Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Spaghetti (Filipino Style)

Filipinos love pasta dishes so much that several variations have been created to suit the Filipino taste. One very popular spaghetti variation even with kids is the one that uses tomato based sauce but it has been modified to be sweeter than the original sour Italian variant.

Ingredients:

1 kg Spaghetti pasta

¼ kg Lean ground pork

¼ kg Lean ground beef

½ kg Cheese hotdogs (sliced)

1/8 cup Soy sauce

2 tbsp. Sugar

½ cup Red wine

½ cup Processed cheese (quick melting variant is recommended)

1 bulb Garlic (minced)

1 pc. Onion (sliced thinly)

1 tsp. Dried, chopped basil

½ tsp. Dried, minced marjoram

1/2 tsp. Dried, minced oregano

¾ tsp. Iodized salt

½ cup All purpose cream

2 tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil

3 cups Banana ketchup

1 cup Tomato sauce

1 ½ cup Water

Cooking Instructions:

Cook the pasta according to package instructions and drain well after rinsing in cold tap water to stop the cooking. After straining, place in a suitable pan and toss in the all purpose cream. Set aside.

In a suitable saucepan, heat the olive oil and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic turns golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Toss in the sliced hotdogs and stir. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the ground pork and beef and stir well. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and stir well. Add the marjoram, basil, oregano and black pepper. Stir and add the water. Continue heating until it starts to boil. Add the grated cheese and stir well until the cheese dissolves and is distributed evenly in the mixture. Add the ketchup and the tomato sauce and stir well. Subject the mixture at high heat until it starts to boil and then lower the flame to a gentle simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes more or until the sauce’s volume is reduced a sauce of proper consistency results. Add the iodized salt to taste. You may use the sauce to top the cooked spaghetti or you may toss in the cooked spaghetti and mix it well with the sauce and turn off the heat. Enjoy with freshly made garlic bread.

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