Bulalo and Bangus: an even simpler Filipino meal

[ts]
The dishes (this, this, this and this) of our "Simple Filipino Meal" were all easy to make. But, this is an even simpler Filipino meal! I think I don't need to mention that these, of course, were eaten with rice. ;)

Maasim na Bangus ("Sour Milkfish")


This recipe is another typewritten one our yaya made for me. (The other was for "Tahong Bake".)



Here's the recipe:
1 kilo bangus (milkfish)
2 cups vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
2 heads garlic, chopped
black pepper

Slit [bangus] in the back. Clean. Marinate overnight.

That's a lot of garlic, eh! I like! =D

The bangus is then pan-fried after marinating. We've always had bangus in this form: that is, split and butterflied like this.




Bulalo (Beef Bone Soup)


[js]
Bulalo actually refers to the marrow bones, but we've kind of extended the word to include soup made with beef bones, with or without marrow. It's tougher to find marrow bones nowadays as they're not always available.

We more or less "wing it" each time we make bulalo and we've settled into a bulalo that we like.

We usually blanch the beef bones first. Bring water to a boil and dump the bones into the pot.

Start with cold water and put the blanched bones into this pot.

Add ginger and the onions. We don't really season yet at this point as we just want to extract the flavour from the bones.

Bring to a gentle boil, skimming scum off the surface. If the bones have been blanched enough as the first step, you'll be saving yourself a lot of work this step. The bones would be fairly "clean."

Simmer.

Wait.

After an hour and a half, you can add beef pieces to the pot. We usually blanch the meat as well, just to get rid of the impurities. The cut of beef we use is the shin.

All timing is approximate here. This is really another just dump everything into a pot and wait for it to cook type of dish. You can, for example, just add the beef pieces in the beginning as well. We just like to extract some of the flavour from the bones first before adding the beef pieces.

If you have a mother who likes to skim stuff off the surface, then you're in luck. During waiting times like these, our mother would usually come in and out of the kitchen to skim the fat from the broth as a labour of love.

An hour before serving, you can add the vegetables so they retain their form and not disintegrate into the soup as much.

We usually add a couple of tomatoes and some potatoes. Cabbage is the other vegetable we add, although I think we'll be doing in with a green leafy like bok choy next time to have that "green" taste in the soup. The cabbage usually adds a lot of sweetness to the finished soup.

Here is LSC's recipe for bulalo, if you like a recipe for this.

We used to add a lot more onions to our bulalo but we've decided to dispense with the onions because it adds too much sweetness to the soup. If you prefer more sweetness, you can also add chunks of carrots. We don't add carrots, because, as I said, we don't like the soup to be too, too sweet.

Bulalo is a hearty one-pot meal. Terribly easy to do, but it does take some planning as it does take a while to cook. That means you can't start it at 4:30 in the afternoon hoping to have it on the table by 6:30 in time for dinner.

[eatingclub] vancouver Filipino food
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Philippine-Style Chicken "BBQ"
Fried Hasa Hasa (Mackerel)
"Savory" Chicken Wings
Sinamak (Chile-infused Vinegar)
Pan-roasted Halibut w/ Fava Beans, Potato-Onion Cakes & Bagoong Butter Sauce
Bulalo & Bangus: an even simpler Filipino meal
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