Nothing says comfort food like the Pork Pastel. It is a great way to spend special occasions along with your family and with friends with this creamy and indulging dish.
You can even make it for lunch, dinner, or for any time you want actually, since this recipe will be much easier than the usual types of the pastel dish. So continue to read on below to see some tips and some tricks, as well as some trivia about this flavorful pork pastel.
What is Pork Pastel?
This dish is a variation of the famous chicken pastel, which is very popular here in the Philippines, especially when holidays are coming near. It is pretty much the same as the said dish, but instead of using chicken, we make this dish with pork.
This is creamy, sweet and savory type of stew made out of evaporated milk, or cream, mixed with pork, some hotdogs or sausages, mushrooms, potatoes and carrots, among others.
It is usually made with a pie crust, but for this version, we are going to make it quick and easy while still being as delicious, so it can be made without sweat, even for beginners!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Pork
This dish is quite versatile when it comes to the pork cut to use. While pork belly (liempo) will bring out the most flavor, you can also use pork shoulder (kasim) or pork loin.
Other Meats
You also have the option to add hotdogs or franks, or any sausage of your choice to add texture and color to the dish. You will also need mushrooms. Canned button mushrooms will do for this dish.
Milk
The recipe uses evaporated milk as the sweetener for the dish. It does its job well, but if you want to have a more creamy type of pork pastel, you can substitute that ingredient for an all-purpose cream since it has a thicker consistency than the evaporated milk.
Or if you don’t have all-purpose cream with you at the moment, you can partner cornstarch with the evaporated milk and it will still result in a thicker consistency.
Aside from these, you will also use regular pantry ingredients like onion, garlic, potato, carrot, bell pepper, butter, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and cooking oil. If you are filling up your pantry, here’s a handy shopping guide:
Equipment You’ll Need
- Cooking Pan (Kawali)- We will do a simple stewing to cook this dish and you will be needing a regular kawali or cooking pan to do this. You can also use any pan or skillet deep enough to contain the liquids involved in this recipe.
In need of kitchen tools and equipment? Read this before you buy:
How to Cook Pork Pastel
To start making this delicious pork pastel, let’s go over to what the procedure would be like and break down the whole process: First thing we have to do, we need to prepare our ingredients, since it is quite a lot and it would take a lot of slicing and cutting.
And second, we are going to cook the prepared ingredients, which is a straightforward process. We are just going to toss in the ingredients into one pan and mix all the flavors together to get that creamy goodness.
For the preparation of the ingredients, be sure to cut them in sizes which are equal as possible. This is to avoid having some of the ingredients raw and undercooked, and to make sure that all of them would be cooked at the same time for a full flavor.
For the other meat ingredients such as hotdogs or sausages, you can substitute it with ham or maybe even bacon if you prefer those, since it may not be available in your location, especially if you’re not in the Philippines.
When cooking the pork pastel, just make sure that all of the ingredients are tender, and check them from time to time if some of the ingredients are getting overcooked. And that’s pretty much it, without too much hassle, you’re going to be eating this delightful dish.
How to Serve Pork Pastel
Pork Pastel is served warm as lunch or dinner, with freshly cooked white rice. Feel free to have this with a cool beverage like iced tea or soda.
How to Store and Reheat Pork Pastel
In case you have leftovers, transfer to a clean food container with lid and refrigerate for up to 3 days. To reheat you can use a microwave oven. Set at high for 3 minutes. You can also warm it in a pan, and reheat over a stovetop.
Other Filipino Pork Recipes
- Traditional Pork Humba Recipe
- Pork Adobo (Adobong Baboy) Recipe
- Pork Hamonado (Hamonadong Baboy) Recipe
For a quick reference about this recipe, see the recipe table below:
Creamy Pork Pastel Recipe
Equipment
- Cooking Pan
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) pork liempo (pork belly), cut into cubes
- 1 pc medium-sized onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pcs medium-sized potato, cut into cubes
- 1 pc large-sized carrot, cut into cubes
- 1 pc small-sized red bell pepper, cut into cubes
- 1 pc small-sized green bell pepper, cut into cubes
- ½ cup button mushrooms, sliced thinly
- ¾ cup hotdogs (or sausages), sliced thinly
- ½ cup evaporated milk, or all-purpose cream
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cup pork broth, or water
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a cooking pot, pour-in and heat cooking oil over medium heat.
- Add-in the butter, minced garlic, and chopped onion. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes or until soft and aromatic.
- Add-in the pork liempo, and soy sauce. Cook until lightly browned.
- Pour-in the pork broth. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until pork is tender.
- Add-in the hotdogs. Cook until the liquid is reduced to half.
- Add-in the potatoes, and the carrots. Pour-in the evaporated milk. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes.
- Add-in the button mushrooms, and bell peppers. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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