My best friend, Danica, is Filipino so ever since high school, I would go over to her parents’ house for dinner and her mom would always make such amazing homemade Filipino food. I was able to try so many new things like pancit and lechon baboy but what really stuck to me was her spaghetti. I’ve had it on several occasions, and it was seriously the best kind of spaghetti I’ve ever had. But since Danica and I have both been so busy working full-time jobs and being, well, adults, it’s been a long time since I’ve been over her house.

I was going through some major Filipino spaghetti withdrawal so I figured I should try and recreate it myself. All I needed was one special ingredient: banana sauce. This is a very popular Philippine condiment and is used as the base of Filipino spaghetti.

Now what exactly is Filipino spaghetti? Well, imagine a traditional bolognese sauce. It’s meaty. It’s hearty. It’s just downright amazing, right? But then take that sauce, load it up with cut-up hot dogs, and then simmer that in a sweetened tomato sauce. Incredible, right?!

It’s a fun little twist on traditional spaghetti, with just enough sweetness in this jam-packed carbilicious goodness.

So here’s how you make this:

Let’s first boil up some water to cook our spaghetti noodles.

While that’s happening, let’s sauté some garlic and red onions.

Then we’ll add the meat,

breaking them up until they get nicely browned.

Next we’ll stir in everything else – hot dogs, banana ketchup, tomato paste, beef stock, flour dissolved in 1 cup water and an additional 1 cup water.

Let that simmer for about 15 minutes.

Then we’ll season this baby up with a little bit of sugar, salt and pepper.

5 minutes later, you are all set for dinner!

One year ago: Sweet Potato and Spicy Sausage Soup

Pinoy Spaghetti (adapted from Ang Sarap):

Yields 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 pound spaghetti
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 (16-ounce) package hot dogs, sliced
  • 1 cup banana ketchup
  • 1/2 cup tomato paste
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, dissolved in 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes

Add the beef and cook until browned, about 5-10 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks.

Stir in the hot dogs, banana ketchup, tomato paste, beef stock, dissolved flour and 1 cup water.

Reduce heat to low; simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened, about 15 minutes.

Season with sugar, salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve immediately.

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