SAWCLicious: Lechon Paksiw

I seldom cook pork at home. For some reason, I always feel uncomfortable after eating pork except for pork soup, dishes with minced pork, Filipino bbq, or lechon. At times though, I would crave for pork and would cook some to satisfy my craving.

Last Tuesday, Pia had dinner at home and I cooked lechon paksiw for the first time. I had a bottle of Mang Tomas lechon sauce in my fridge which I want to utilize before it spoils. It turned out to be nice, so let me share the recipe here. Lechon paksiw is normally cooked with leftover lechon. Since I don't have access to lechon here in Brussels, I used normal uncooked pork instead.

Lechon Paksiw

Ingredients

• 500 grams pork preferably with bone
• 6 cloves of garlic pound
• 1 onion minced
• 4 pcs. of bay leaves (laurel) leaves
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 15 whole peppercorns
• 1 bottle Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce (found in Asian grocery stores)
• 2 tbsp. sugar (more can be added depending on taste)
• 3 tbsp. corn oil
• Salt

Procedure

1. Place 750ml of water, 3 cloves of garlic, and 1/4 cup of vinegar in a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the pork and let it cook for 30 minutes. Remove the pork from the pot and set aside. Set aside also some of the soup.
2. In a separate pot, heat 3 tbsp. of oil. Add the onion and the rest of the garlic. Cook until the onion is transparent.
3. Add all the rest of the ingredients: vinegar, pork, bay leaves, peppercorns, sugar, Mang Tomas Lechon sauce. Add some of the soup from the boiled pork (around 1/2 cup of water). Let it simmer for 40 mins to 1 hour in low heat or until pork is tender.
4. Best served with hot rice and cold beer or Coke!