Bagoong Fried Rice

Bagoong Fried Rice

Last January 3 we had a breakfast get together and it is pyjama themed.  Yeah I know it is a bit weird as pyjama parties held are at night and I guess nobody meets up in wee early mornings to eat, chat and have fun.  Anyways everybody was tasked to bring their own breakfast, I did not know that it would turn out better than dinner gatherings but it did, the food served might be simple but they are amazing and I was more than satisfied and definitely an event to do over and over again.  The dishes prepared are typical Filipino breakfast items and here is a list:

All of these dishes are common to me except for the bagoong Fried Rice which I already heard of when I was still in the Philippines but never did tried as to me I thought before it was a normal fried rice flavoured with bagoong (a fermented shrimp paste), nothing really special.  Now the same rice dish was served during that breakfast, it was a bit posh compared to the bagoong fried rice that I saw before as it contains some large chunks of crispy fried pork, scrambled eggs and a nearly ripe mangoes, those combination of ingredients are heavenly as different textures and tastes that were mixed together compensates each other.

You might be wondering what bagoong is and for those of you who don?t know what a bagoong is, it is a popular condiment in the Philippines which is made out of fermented fish or shrimps in a very salty brine, the fermentation process would last until it bubbles and have that pungent odour which may last between 8 to 12 months.  This condiment is similar to the Malaysian Belachan and Ancient Rome?s Garum.

Just by the description of bagoong a lot of people might already be turned off but trust me this is really good once you acquired the taste, you might already tried it by now specially if you eat a lot of Malaysian or Thai food, they use it a lot like fish sauce.

Ingredients

5 cups rice, cooked and cooled

2 cups pork belly, cubed

5 eggs, lightly beaten

2-3 tbsp bagoong (shrimp paste)

2 pcs semi ripe mangoes, sliced

garlic, minced

oil

salt

freshly ground black pepper

sesame oil

Method

1. In a mixing bowl marinate cubed pork belly in salt, freshly ground black pepper and sesame oil for at least 30 minutes in room temperature.

2. Prepare a hot wok with 2 tbsp oil then fry the scrambled eggs, once cooked remove and cut into bite size pieces

3. Using the same wok, fry pork pieces until golden brown in colour.  Remove from wok then set aside.

4. Add garlic and fry until golden brown in colour.

5. Add rice and bagoong, mix well until rice is coated evenly with the shrimp paste.  Stir fry continuously for 3 minutes then add the pork pieces and sliced scrambled eggs.  Season with freshly ground black pepper.

6. Place in plate then top with sliced mangoes.