Filipino Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 small medium diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small carrot finely minced
- 1 red bell pepper finely minced
- 2 pounds spaghetti
- ½ pound ground pork
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 kg Filipino-style spaghetti sauce
- Sugar to taste
- Salt to taste
- Shredded cheese for garnish
- 5 hotdogs sliced into rounds
Instructions
- Dice the onions and mince the garlic, carrot, and bell pepper.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a large pan over medium heat, sauté the garlic and onion until fragrant and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the ground pork and ground beef. Cook, breaking the meat apart, until browned.
- Stir in the minced carrot and bell pepper. Cook for about 8 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Pour in the spaghetti sauce. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and a light layer of oil rises to the top.
- Taste the sauce and adjust with sugar and salt as needed.
- During the last 10 minutes of simmering, add the sliced hotdogs and cook through.
- Toss the sauce with the cooked spaghetti. Top generously with shredded cheese. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Salt the pasta water generously. This ensures the pasta itself is well seasoned. Add 1-2 tablespoons of salt for every 4 to 6 quarts of water.
- Cut vegetables very finely. Mince the carrot and bell pepper nice and small. You don’t want to bite into noticeable chunks. Instead, the vegetables should blend right into the sauce.
- Grate your own cheese. Block cheese melts better and tastes fresher than pre-shredded varieties. If you have a few extra minutes, grate it yourself.
- Try Filipino cheese. In true Filipino fashion, I use Filipino-style processed cheese in my spaghetti. It’s not traditional aged cheddar, but it tastes like home to me. You can find it at your local Asian market, but feel free to use cheddar or any cheese you like.
- Let the sauce simmer. Give the sauce time to develop flavor. Cook it until thick and rich, with a light layer of oil rising to the top. That’s a sign the flavors have fully come together.
- Adjust the sweetness. The amount of sugar you need depends on the sauce you use. Filipino-style spaghetti sauces are already seasoned to suit the Filipino palate, so you may only need a little or none at all. If you’re using regular tomato sauce, you’ll likely need to add more sugar to achieve that classic sweet-savory flavor.
- Add hotdogs near the end. They cook quickly, so stir them in during the last few minutes to heat through without losing their texture.