Pinoy Spaghetti Tastes Like A Sweet Smile

For most Filipnos, ispageti or spaketchup is their quintessential "first taste" of Italian food, which is a misnomer because the only Italian about this dish is the use of pasta spaghetti.

If you want to enjoy spaketchup at home, you can always buy those Filipino Style Spaghetti sauce sold in the supermarkets. But do it the old-fashion way, here's the best spaketchup recipe ever created (Jollibee spaghetti is close second), my Mom's recipe:

Pinoy Spaghetti (Spaketchup)

INGREDIENTS

500 g spaghetti
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 heads garlic, minced
1/4 k ground pork
1 200g can of corned beef
5 pcs hot dog sliced diagonally
1/4 cup vienna sausage, sliced
1/4 cup sweet ham, sliced in small squares (1/2 inch by 1/2 inch)
1 cup chopped onions
1 bottle banana ketchup (if you don't want it, might as well not cook this dish)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup water
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried basil (optional)
1/2 tsp dried oregano (optional)
1/2 cup of all-purpose cream or evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt (or patis) and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package instructions.

2. In a kawali or wok, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil.

3. Combine ground pork and water in the wok. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add tomato sauce, banana catsup and allow to simmer for 10 more minutes

5. Add brown sugar, corned beef, vienna sausage, sweet ham and hotdogs. Simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Add a little more water till you get your desired consistency. Add the evaporated milk.

7. For it to taste more "Italian" you can add the oregano and basil as an option. Simmer for another 3 minutes.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. It is best served separately with cooked spaghetti noodles and grated cheese on top. 

THINGS OF NOTE

- Like any other Filipino noodle dish, you can eat it as palaman sa tinapay or ulam sa kanin. 
- You can also toss the spaghetti, the sauce and the cheese before serving. 
- Your sauce should taste like fried porkchop with banana ketchup, that simple.
- Avoid overpowering sour taste. The sweet and savory aspect of this dish should be the highlight.
- If you have leftover sauce, you can add more slices of hotdogs, sauteed onion rings, some chili pepper flakes and a dash of soy sauce. Serve on a hot metal plate. Pulutan na!