This May marks 34 years since President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the first Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, since changed in 2009 to Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The monthlong celebration was created to recognize the many contributions to every facet of U.S. life made by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
It’s San Diego’s good fortune that, according to the 2022 U.S. census, 13.6 percent of residents in San Diego County identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
Among them are Filipino American chefs Evan Cruz, corporate executive chef with Cohn Restaurant Group, and John Bacolod, executive chef at Vintana Wine + Dine in Escondido. Both men were born in the Philippines and immigrated here with their families as kids. I’ve known Cruz for more than 10 years and have spent time at the family’s little Chula Vista market, JNC Pinoy Food Mart, by Southwestern College. Back in 2015, his grandmother Rosario taught me how to make Cruz’s favorite childhood snack, turon, a dessert lumpia.
To celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, Cruz and Bacolod prepared three other beloved dishes from their Filipino upbringing. Señorita Bread, a variation on pandesal that includes a sweet filling; Pork Belly Liempo with Atchara, strips of marinated and grilled pork belly accompanied by pickled green papaya salad; and Kare Kare, a decadent stew of meat and vegetables enveloped in peanut sauce and served with Fried Fermented Shrimp Paste.
Cruz’s Señorita Bread was a childhood favorite that comes with a fascinating story. His great-uncle was a baker in the Philippines during World War II. He regularly prepared airy, sweet pandesal for customers, but his version of Señorita Bread sometimes had a very different kind of filling.
As a member of the resistance movement, said Cruz, his breads were often filled with secret notes or tools or even bullets that were ed on to other fighters during the Battle of Bataan.
The bread itself is unique to the Philippines. Where pandesal is a sweet roll, Señorita Bread uses similar ingredients but the dough is rolled out after rising, cut into strips, then has a filling spread down the middle before being rolled up — like a croissant.
Cruz’s filling is a sweet spread made with ube, a brilliant purple yam, combined with either evaporated or coconut milk, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, butter, salt and water. After boiling the peeled yams, they’re riced and then mixed with the milks and sugar, cooked until thickened before adding the butter and salt. The goal is a thickish paste.
The dough is made with familiar ingredients: all purpose flour, sugar, instant yeast, salt, warm milk, an egg and butter, eventually coming together in a stand mixer for mixing, then kneading. Then, let the dough rise, before punching it down and shaping it into a rectangle. Once the dough has been cut into strips, you’ll have 28 oblong pieces that you’ll spread the filling on. Roll each and let them rest, then brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar and breadcrumbs, then bake and enjoy as an afternoon snack.
Cruz’s Pork Belly Liempo is a grilled treat he’s enjoyed for years.
“This dish is specific,” he said. “Usually, we’ll be sitting outside with a charcoal grill, eating it with a Red Horse Beer, playing a guitar and singing songs. It’s just an easy barbecue.”
It’s also a dish, along with others that both Cruz and Bacolod explained, was commonly prepared and sold in the neighborhood.
“Each family has a little storefront where they make and sell their specialties,” Cruz said. “We had a neighbor in the Philippines who literally put all her kids through college making barbecue.”
Pork Belly Liempo is the quintessential Filipino dish. It’s got the sweetness of the pork and its crispy fattiness, complemented by the sweet sourness and heat of the vinegar pickles. The pork belly is thinly sliced and marinated at least four hours in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, garlic, calamansi juice (very limelike), 7UP or Sprite, ginger and black pepper. Once you’re ready to grill the pork, remove it and reduce the marinade a bit to use as a glaze on the pork while grilling. When the pork is fully cooked, cut it into bite-size pieces to serve with the atchara. You’ll make that perhaps a day earlier so that the vegetables — shredded green papaya, carrots, yellow onion, red bell peppers, golden raisins, garlic, a Thai chili and salt — can pickle in a vinegar-based brine flavored with salt, sugar, ginger, turmeric and black peppercorns.
Finally, there’s Bacolod’s rich, homey Kare Kare. It’s a dish that reminds him of his childhood in the Philippines.
“My dad made it,” he said. “He’d go to the market to buy peanuts for the sauce, and I’d tag along. He’d ask them to grind them there to make the peanut butter.
“Peanuts were special. It’s how you talked to your neighbors. You’d be on the street, eating boiled peanuts and talking about other people’s business. That was community.”
The name kare kare derives from “curry” and features a peanut sauce just thick enough to coat the meat and vegetables. Usually, said Bacolod, the dish includes a variety of meats, like honeycomb tripe, beef oxtail and short ribs. Here, Bacolod is just focusing on the short ribs, along with Filipino eggplant, long beans, okra and baby bok choy. It’s served with jasmine rice and a wonderfully funky fried shrimp paste.
Don’t be put off by the variety of components in the dish. None are difficult to make, and all are necessary for the full experience of the dish. For instance, you’ll want to prepare the rice ahead of making the peanut sauce, because you’ll use the water you rinse the rice with to add as starch to thicken the peanut sauce. You’ll also add the meaty stock from braising the short ribs to the peanut sauce. As in most Filipino cooking, there’s minimal waste.
Now, you could skip making your own fermented shrimp paste. As the chefs pointed out, you can use a jar of sauteed shrimp paste from a Filipino market. You’ll need it anyway to make the fried shrimp paste. But Bacolod’s homemade version is very easy — just sauteing the various ingredients in annatto oil until the sauce is reduced.
And if you really want to make Kare Kare Filipino-style, said Cruz, serve it in a large clay pot.
Señorita Bread With Ube Halaya (also known as Pandesal)
Makes about 28 rolls
INGREDIENTS
For the ube filling:
1 cup evaporated milk or coconut milk
1 cup sugar
2 pounds purple yam
4 ounces sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon salt
Water
For the dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1½ teaspoon instant yeast
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup warm milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter
For the topping:
2 tablespoons melted butter plus 2 teaspoons sugar
Breadcrumbs as needed
DIRECTIONS
1. Make the filling: Peel purple yam and cut into medium-size pieces. Place in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring pot to a boil and turn down to a simmer, cook until tender.
2. Strain water and place cooked potatoes in ricer. Rice and place in medium pot. Add sugar and evaporated or coconut milk, stir and bring to a simmer. Add sweetened condensed milk and stir.
3. Cook down mixture until thickened, add butter and season with salt. The ube filling should be a thickened paste. Set aside and cool in refrigerator.
4. Make the dough: In a stand mixer, combine dry ingredients, then add milk, egg, and butter. Mix using dough hook attachment on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes until combined. Increase to medium speed and knead for 8 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Shape dough into ball and place in oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 25 minutes.
6. Punch down dough and shape into a rectangle. Divide dough into four pieces. Shape each into strips, then cut strips into 7 pieces to have 28 in total. Roll out each piece into an oblong shape. Spread filling down middle, leaving about ½ inch of dough around the edges. Then roll from the top into log so it looks almost like a croissant, and pinch ends under to seal. Place on a sheet pan and let the dough rest for 30 to 40 minutes uncovered.
7. Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Brush logs with melted butter. Sprinkle with sugar and breadcrumbs on top (you can use panko if needed but place in food processor to grind flakes smaller.)
8. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden-brown.
Pork Belly Liempo (BBQ Pork Belly) With Atchara (Pickled Green Papaya Salad)
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
For the marinade:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup sugar
2 ounces garlic, minced
½ cup calamansi lime juice
2 cups 7up/Sprite
3 ounces ginger, minced
2 tablespoons black pepper, ground or cracked
2 pounds pork belly, sliced about ½-inch thick
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare the pork belly: In a large bowl mix soy sauce, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add the remainder of the ingredients and mix. Add the pork belly and marinate a minimum of 4 hours in the refrigerator, covered.
2. Remove pork belly from marinade and set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.
3. Place marinade in a small pot and bring to a simmer. Remove any impurities that rise to the top and discard.
4. Use the marinade to baste the pork belly while grilling, cut into bite-size pieces and serve with Atchara on the side.
Atchara (Filipino Pickled Green Papaya)
Makes 2 quarts
INGREDIENTS
For the pickle mixture:
2 pounds shredded green papaya, or you can julienne 1 whole green papaya
2 carrots, julienned
1 medium yellow onion, julienned
2 red bell peppers, julienned
½ cup golden raisins
5 large garlic cloves, shaved
1 Thai chili (optional)
¼ cup salt as needed
For the pickling liquid:
2 cups white vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1½ cups sugar
2 ounces ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
1 ounce turmeric, peeled and sliced thinly
10 black peppercorns
DIRECTIONS
1. In a bowl, toss papaya and season evenly with salt. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in refrigerator overnight. The next day, place papaya in a colander and rinse with running water, using cheese cloth or a napkin strain out as much liquid as possible. Place papaya in a bowl and mix with carrots, onions, bell pepper, raisins, garlic, and Thai chili if you would like to make spicy. Toss all ingredients until mixed well. Place in Mason jars or glass jars.
2. In a small pot bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil, add ginger and turmeric and turn off, allow mixture to cool slightly. Pour mixture into mason jar full of vegetables cover and seal. Place jar in refrigerator for about a week to infuse and ferment. Serve with grilled or fried dishes.
Beef Short Rib Kare Kare
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
For the Beef Short Rib:
3 pounds bone-in or 2 pounds boneless beef short ribs
1 ounce canola oil
2 large yellow onions, rough chopped
10 garlic cloves
2 quarts beef stock
For the Jasmine Rice:
2 cups jasmine rice
2½ cups water
For the Peanut Sauce:
¼ cup canola oil
4 large shallots, julienne
3 ounces garlic, minced
1 tablespoon achiote powder
1 cup shelled peanuts, skin on
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup fish sauce
2 tablespoons fermented shrimp paste (optional, recipe follows)
Braising liquid from short ribs
2 cups water from rinsed rice
¾ cup chunky peanut butter
Water if needed
Vegetables for Stew:
2 Filipino eggplants, cut in half lengthwise, then in 1-inch pieces
10 long beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
10 pieces okra, top and bottom trimmed
2 baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise and washed
DIRECTIONS
1. Cook short ribs: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash short ribs well in cold water. Pat dry with towel. Heat canola oil in an oven-safe pot over medium heat and then add short ribs. Brown evenly on all sides.
3. Remove short ribs from pot and set aside. Add onion and garlic, lightly brown and deglaze with beef stock. Return ribs to the pot, cover, and place in oven for 2½ hours. Short ribs should be tender but not falling apart. Remove short ribs from stock. Skim residual oil from stock then blend stock with hand blender and set aside to make peanut sauce.
4. Prepare jasmine rice: Thoroughly rinse rice, which will make 4 servings, in a bowl of 1½ cups water. Drain rice but save the water to make the peanut sauce. Then follow the instructions for your rice cooker.
5. Prepare peanut sauce: Heat oil in a large pot. Sweat shallots and garlic until aromatic. Add achiote powder and peanuts and saute until peanuts are coated. Mix in brown sugar, fish sauce and shrimp paste. Add braising liquid and rice water. Bring to a simmer and stir in chunky peanut butter. It should be just thick enough to coat the ribs and vegetables.
6. Once the peanut sauce thickens, add meat and eggplant. Cook until eggplant is tender, then add the long beans and simmer. Once the long beans are tender, add the okra and simmer until tender. Finally, mix in the baby bok choy and remove from heat.
7. Serve with jasmine rice and fermented shrimp paste.
Fried Fermented Shrimp Paste (optional)*
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon annatto oil
2 tablespoons shallots, small diced
3 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 Roma tomatoes, small diced
2 ounces sugar
2 ounces cane vinegar
3 ounces jarred sauteed shrimp paste
*This recipe is completely optional: The shrimp paste has a very strong aroma, and you can purchase sauteed fermented shrimp paste at Asian grocery stores.
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare fermented shrimp paste: In a large saute pan, add annatto oil and saute shallots and garlic until fragrant. Add tomatoes, sugar, and cane vinegar. Bring to a simmer. Mix in fermented shrimp paste and saute until reduced. Set aside. (Since it’s fermented, you can store the remainder in a covered container in the refrigerator indefinitely.)
Recipes from Evan Cruz and John Bacolod.
Golden is a San Diego freelance writer and blogger.
