Lutong Bahay · The Filipino Table

Filipino Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

Step into a home kitchen where the adobo pot never runs dry, sinigang simmers sour and warm on the back burner, and every grain of rice is toasted gold in real fat. Coconut oil, pork lard, and butter carry every dish here, the way the islands have always cooked, generous and unhurried.

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Taba ng Baboy✶ Langis ng Niyog✶ Mantikilya
A home cooked Filipino dish plated on a warm wooden table
✶ Adobong Manok
From the recipe collection
Taba

Lard and Coconut Oil First

Every kitchen in this collection reaches for rendered pork lard or fresh coconut oil before anything else. These are the fats that built the Filipino table long before refined seed oil ever arrived on its shores.

Dahan-dahan

Simmered Low and Slow

A proper adobo needs patience, not haste. We let vinegar and soy sauce reduce gently over a low flame until the sauce clings to the meat like a glaze, the old way, without shortcuts.

Hindi

Never Vegetable Oil

No seed oils, no shortcuts, no substitutions. Only the traditional fats trusted by home cooks across the archipelago for generations, from coastal kitchens to mountain barrios.

✶
From Our Kitchen

Filipino Recipes

Six dishes drawn from the everyday table and the fiesta spread alike, each one built on coconut oil, lard, or butter instead of any seed oil.

Karinderya Adobong manok, chicken braised in a dark vinegar and soy sauce

Adobong Manok

Chicken adobo in garlic and vinegar

55 min·4 servings·Easy

The dish that defines Filipino home cooking. Chicken braised low in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic until the sauce turns glossy and deeply savory, finished the traditional way in rendered pork lard rather than any store bought vegetable oil.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg chicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in
  • 3 tbsp pork lard (taba ng baboy)
  • 8 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 120 ml cane vinegar or white vinegar
  • 90 ml soy sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp whole black peppercorns, cracked
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 240 ml water
  • Steamed rice, to serve

Instructions

  1. Melt the lard in a heavy pot over medium heat and brown the chicken pieces on all sides, then set them aside on a plate.
  2. Add the garlic to the same pot and cook briefly until fragrant, taking care not to let it burn.
  3. Return the chicken to the pot and pour in the vinegar without stirring, letting it come to a bare simmer uncovered for 3 minutes to soften its sharp edge.
  4. Stir in the soy sauce, bay leaves, peppercorns, sugar, and water, then bring back to a simmer.
  5. Cover and cook gently for 30 minutes, turning the chicken once, until it is tender and the sauce has reduced by half.
  6. Uncover and simmer 10 minutes more so the sauce thickens and clings to the meat in a dark, glossy coat.
  7. Rest 5 minutes, then serve hot over steamed rice with extra sauce spooned over the top.
Probinsya Sinigang na baboy, a sour pork and vegetable soup in a deep bowl

Sinigang na Baboy

Pork and vegetable soup in a sour tamarind broth

1 hr 20 min·6 servings·Medium

A big sour pot that gathers the whole family to the table. Pork ribs are simmered until tender in a tamarind broth loaded with vegetables, brightened at the end with fresh chili and greens.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg pork ribs or pork belly, cut into chunks
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil (langis ng niyog)
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 2 tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 litres water
  • 200 g tamarind, boiled and strained for its sour pulp, or 1 packet tamarind soup base
  • 2 radishes, sliced
  • 200 g string beans, trimmed and halved
  • 1 small eggplant, sliced
  • A bunch of water spinach (kangkong), plus green finger chilies and fish sauce to taste

Instructions

  1. Warm the coconut oil in a deep pot and sear the pork chunks lightly on all sides, then add the onion and tomatoes and cook until they soften.
  2. Pour in the water, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 45 minutes until the pork is tender, skimming any foam that rises.
  3. Stir in the tamarind pulp (or soup base) and season with fish sauce, then taste and adjust the sourness to your liking.
  4. Add the radishes and simmer 5 minutes, then the string beans and eggplant, cooking until just tender.
  5. Drop in the water spinach and green chilies and simmer 2 minutes more, just until the leaves wilt.
  6. Taste one final time for salt and sourness, adjusting with more fish sauce or tamarind as needed.
  7. Ladle into deep bowls and serve immediately with steamed rice on the side.
Almusal Sinangag, golden garlic fried rice ready for breakfast

Sinangag

Garlic fried rice, the breakfast of every Filipino table

20 min·4 servings·Easy

The rice that turns yesterday's leftovers into this morning's best meal. Day old rice is fried hard and fast in garlic scented lard until every grain is separate and gently crisp at the edge.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cooked rice, cold and a day old
  • 4 tbsp pork lard or coconut oil
  • 10 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 spring onions, thinly sliced, for garnish
  • Fried eggs, to serve (optional)
  • Sliced cucumber and tomato, to serve (optional)
  • A pinch of ground annatto (achuete), for color, optional
  • Extra garlic, thinly sliced and fried until golden, for topping

Instructions

  1. Break up the cold rice with your hands so no large clumps remain, this keeps it from turning mushy in the pan.
  2. Warm the lard in a wide pan or wok over medium high heat until it shimmers.
  3. Add the minced garlic and fry, stirring constantly, until pale gold and fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  4. Add the rice all at once and toss briskly to coat every grain in the garlic fat.
  5. Fry for 5 to 7 minutes, pressing and turning the rice often, until it is heated through and lightly crisp in spots.
  6. Season with salt and pepper, then taste and adjust.
  7. Plate the rice topped with spring onions, the extra fried garlic, and a fried egg alongside if you like.
Pista Lechon kawali, crispy skinned pork belly sliced and ready to serve

Lechon Kawali

Twice cooked pork belly with a crackling crisp skin

2 hr·4 servings·Medium

The crackling crisp cousin of whole roast lechon, made right in a home kitchen. Pork belly is simmered until tender, then finished in its own rendered fat until the skin shatters like glass.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg pork belly, skin on, in one piece
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp salt, plus more for the skin
  • 2 litres water
  • 4 garlic cloves, smashed
  • Pork lard or coconut oil, for finishing, only if needed to top up rendered fat
  • Spiced vinegar (vinegar, garlic, chili, salt) or liver sauce, to serve
  • Steamed rice, to serve
  • A wire rack, for draining and resting

Instructions

  1. Place the pork belly, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, garlic, and water in a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 45 minutes until the meat is tender but still holds together.
  2. Lift the pork out and let it drain and air dry on a wire rack, uncovered, for at least 1 hour, or overnight in the refrigerator for the crispest result.
  3. Poke the skin all over with a skewer and rub it with a little salt, without piercing deep into the meat.
  4. Heat a heavy pot with enough lard to submerge the belly, or place it fat side down in a dry heavy pan to render its own fat, and bring the fat to a steady, gentle heat.
  5. Lower the pork in carefully and cook, turning as needed, until the skin puffs and turns deep golden and audibly crackling.
  6. Lift onto the wire rack to drain and rest for 5 minutes so the crackling sets.
  7. Chop into pieces and serve with spiced vinegar and steamed rice.
Pasko Bibingka, coconut rice cake baked golden in banana leaf

Bibingka

Coconut rice cake baked golden in banana leaf

55 min·8 servings·Medium

The warm, slightly smoky rice cake sold outside the church at dawn during the Christmas season. Baked in banana leaf with coconut milk and butter, it comes out soft, faintly sweet, and golden at the edges.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups galapong (fermented rice flour) or rice flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 400 ml coconut milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 60 g butter, melted, plus more for brushing
  • Banana leaves, wiped clean and lightly wilted over a flame
  • Grated fresh coconut or coconut flakes, to top
  • Sliced salted duck egg (itlog na maalat) and grated cheese, to top, optional

Instructions

  1. Line a round pan or individual bibingka molds with banana leaf, brushing the leaf lightly with melted butter.
  2. Whisk the rice flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
  3. In another bowl, whisk the coconut milk, eggs, sugar, and melted butter until smooth, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
  4. Pour the batter into the lined pan and top with slices of salted duck egg if using.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F) for 25 to 30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean and the top is set.
  6. Brush the top with a little more melted butter and scatter over the grated coconut and cheese.
  7. Slice and serve warm, straight from the pan, while the banana leaf still smells faintly of smoke.
Panghimagas Leche flan, a silky egg custard set over soft caramel

Leche Flan

Steamed egg custard in soft caramel

1 hr 30 min·8 servings·Medium

The silkiest dessert on any Filipino table, a dense custard of egg yolks and milk set over a pool of soft amber caramel, steamed low and slow until it barely trembles.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup sugar, for the caramel
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 10 egg yolks
  • 1 can (390 g) condensed milk
  • 1 can (410 g) evaporated milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • A pinch of salt
  • Butter, for greasing the llanera molds
  • Banana leaf or foil, to cover while steaming
  • Hot water, for the steaming pot

Instructions

  1. Melt the sugar with the water in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling gently, until it turns a deep amber caramel, then pour it quickly into the base of a buttered llanera mold and tilt to coat.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks gently in a bowl, taking care not to whip in too much air, which would leave bubbles in the finished custard.
  3. Warm the condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla, and salt together, then slowly whisk them into the yolks until smooth.
  4. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve directly into the caramel lined mold to catch any stray bits of egg.
  5. Cover the mold tightly with banana leaf or foil and set it in a steamer over gently simmering water.
  6. Steam on low heat for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custard is just set with a slight wobble in the center.
  7. Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 3 hours before running a knife around the edge and inverting onto a plate to serve.
A warm table set with home cooked Filipino dishes
Our Kitchen

The Kitchen Behind Kinang Kusina

Kinang Kusina is a small home kitchen devoted to the cooking of the Philippines, where breakfast starts with garlic rice, lunch might be a sour pot of sinigang, and any celebration worth having ends with a whole roast pig and a tray of bibingka. We write these recipes the way they are actually cooked in home kitchens across the islands, patiently, generously, and with real fat doing the work.

Our one fixed rule is a simple one. Coconut oil pressed the traditional way, pork lard rendered slowly, and butter where a dish calls for it, nothing more. Vegetable oil has never had a place at this table, because it never sat on the stoves we learned to cook on.

Kain na, and may your table always be full.