DUGO-DUGO

Dugo-dugo is  Filipino stew made of pork meat cooked in pig’s blood, vinegar and spices. Offal parts are traditionally used in this rich and spicy dish but since I was able to intrigue G enough to give it a try, I  used pork belly to tame the fear factor. He already has to wrestle with the idea of eating pork blood and to add bits and pieces of ears, snouts, stomach and kidneys into the mix might be too much for the poor guy to handle in one sitting.

I prefer vinegar in my dinuguan but I’ve tried versions which use tamarind, kamias or even tomato sauce as the souring agent. Regardless of what you choose to use, these acids serve the same purpose. Along with adding the necessary touch of sourness to the dish, they also keep the blood from curdling. Make sure to stir about one or two tablespoons of the vinegar in the pork’s blood before adding to the stew to ensure a smooth, deep brown sauce. The brown sugar added during the last few minutes of cooking might seem out of place in this rich, savory dish but it does pull all the flavors together nicely. Give this dinuguan a try tonight and let me know what you think.

Dinuguan

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

1 hour

Yield: 4 to 6 Servings

Ingredients

• 10 ounces pig's blood
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 small knob ginger (about 1 teaspoon), peeled and minced
• 2 pounds pork belly, cut into ½-inch strips
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 finger chilies
• salt and pepper to taste