Rainy Day Dishes with a Twist

Make your rainy day meals more appetizing with these “Unang Hirit” recipes.

What better way to spend a rainy day than by enjoying a warm bowl of your favorite comfort food? Here are some creative recipes just for this season:

Lugaw

Lugaw or “rice porridge” is definitely a Pinoy favorite during the rainy season. Typical lugaw is cooked by boiling rice with ginger, garlic, and various toppings like pork, eggs, tofu or even fish. Add a squeeze of calamansi, a few tablespoons of soy sauce or fish sauce, and a pinch of salt and pepper for more flavor.

Enliven the classic lugaw by flavoring it with kaldereta. “Unang Hirit” host Tonipet Gaba described this variation by saying: “‘Yung lasa nung liver, sauce, saka yung baka naglalaro kasama nung lugaw. Higit sa lahat, nakaka-lumanay ng ating kalamnan ngayong tag-ulan.”

To make a kaldereta-flavored lugaw, sauté some slices of onion, garlic, tomatoes, liver spread, and boiled beef slices. Add kaldereta sauce and soy sauce to the sautéed spices and let it simmer for a few minutes. Top your lugaw with this mixture and you’re good to go.

Shabu-shabu

Shabu-shabu got its name from the sound that its ingredients create once they are submerged in boiling water. Originating in Japan, this dish often contains thin pork or beef slices mixed with tofu and vegetables like Chinese cabbage, spring onions, radish and corn.

Traditionally, shabu-shabu broth is made by boiling dried kombu seaweed in water; but now, different kinds of instant shabu-shabu mix are also available on the market. If you want to be more creative, you can also add asado balls, lobster balls, and sotanghon noodles to your shabu-shabu. Just remember, before adding the vegetables, start with the ingredients that take longer to cook.

“Unang Hirit” host Tonipet Gaba recommends that you cook this dish with the whole family. He said: “Masaya itong pang-bonding kasama ng buong pamilya, di ba? Parang ang sarap pag sama-sama kayong nagluluto lalo na ngayong tag-ulan.”

Bulalo



No list of rainy day recipes is complete without bulalo or bone marrow stew. This popular Filipino stew is made of beef shanks, marrows, and vegetables. Sinigang and kare-kare variants of the bulalo recipe are also available in some restaurants.

One episode of “Unang Hirit” featured a combination of the Pinoy bulalo and the Vietnamese pho. It’s cooked by boiling the beef shanks for a couple of hours. While waiting for the beef shanks to be ready, sauté onion, ginger, star anise and cinnamon bark. Cook noodles in a separate container. Once the noodles are cooked, drain the excess water and add it to the bulalo stock. Add the vegetables.

“Unang Hirit” host Monica Verallo loved this dish. According to her: “Para kang kumakain ng mami at saka bulalo in one.”


–Lara Gonzales/PF, GMA News