Instructions
- Sauté garlic, onion, and pork in oil for 8 minutes.
- Add water, bring to a boil, then simmer until the meat is tender.
- In a separate pan, fry the eggplant over medium heat for 2 minutes per side; make sure it doesn't burn. Set aside.
- Once the meat is tender, remove the broth and set aside.
- Add the long chili, sautéed shrimp paste, ginger powder, tomatoes, and tomato sauce to the pork over medium heat.
- Keep mixing for two minutes, then add the broth back to the cooking pot.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Pork Binagoongan is a Filipino dish in which pork shoulder is simmered until tender, then finished in a sauce made with sautéed shrimp paste, tomatoes, and chili peppers. Cooking the eggplant separately and folding it in afterward keeps it from turning to mush in the sauce, so it holds its shape and soaks up flavor without falling apart. The shrimp paste is really what defines this dish, it brings a deep, funky saltiness that plays off the sweetness of the tomato sauce and gets a slow-building heat from the chili peppers, so every element balances rather than competing. It’s a dish that leans on bold, savory flavor rather than technique, which is exactly why it comes together in under an hour despite tasting like it took a lot longer to build.
