To give your meals a little bit of simplicity I have rounded up my Top 5 Filipino Pantry Recipes you can make in a pinch where the ingredients can be swapped out with what you have.
Here are my Top 5 Filipino Pantry Recipes
1. Adobo
The meats and the side veggies can be replaced with what you have. I recommend chicken, pork or beef. All you need to make adobo is:
- Coconut Aminos or sub Soy Sauce or sub Tamari
- Vinegar, regular white, apple cider and even rice vinegar are good substitutes
- Fresh Garlic (this is a must), in a pinch you can use garlic powder but it won't be the same
- Black Pepper Corn or just lots of ground fresh black pepper
- Bay Leaf (this is optional and can be omitted all together)
Here are some Adobo Recipes for you to try:
Chicken Adobo (It's a recipe I developed for RightRice)
Chicken Adobo with Coconut Milk
2. Pancit / Pansit
If you have any kind of noodles (even pasta noodles will do) and some kind of protein (or none at all) and lots of veggies you can make pancit.
You just need some coconut aminos or sub soy sauce or sub tamari and lemon juice and you can make pancit.
Here are some pancit variations for you to try:
Pancit Udon with Spring Veggies
Pancit Palabok (this one is a bit more intensive, but a good one if you are into cooking projects right now.)
3. Menudo or Afritada
I find these two recipes are almost the same, but slightly different. In our family we usually make Menudo it's seasoned with a touch of coconut aminos and kalamansi or lemon juice. With just some fried potatoes and bell peppers mixed in.
With Afritada, it's mainly cooked with chicken and in this case chicken mince that has been stewed with some fresh tomatoes. Like I said, every family recipe is different.
I have looked at other recipes online and they are so different from what my Grandmother and Mother has cooked and that is okay. It just means the recipes were adjusted with what they had available and this is what everyone is doing now. Basically you cook with what you have and adapt, adapt, adapt. This is how family recipes are made and passed down.
Here are my family Menudo and Afritada Recipes:
Paleo Filipino Menudo Meat Pie Recipe
4. Kakanin (Desserts made with rice)
Now for some sweet Filipino Pantry Recipes made with rice. Once of the easiest ones to make is Biko especially if you have a rice cooker.
The flavor of the Biko can easily be changed during the second cooking process when you add the milk to make the rice nice and sticky and fluffy.
Here are some of my favorite Biko Recipes.
5. Drinks and Shakes
I love having a fancy drink with easy to make pantry staple dishes. The best one to always have in the fridge is Salabat. A drink made by boiling heaps of fresh ginger in water and leaving it to steep.
Salabat is very good for digestion and super refreshing.
You can also make these other fancy drinks with Filipino Pantry staples:
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