Hello everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope everything’s doing well on your end. We wake up every day thanking God for giving us the grace of living with His abundant provisions. Alongside His blessings He bestows upon us is the gift of strength for us to grind; another day, another hustle. We face our challenges and I guess one of which we get to defy is the struggle of choosing what to serve on the table, literally. I bet mothers and home buddies agree to this. (Well that’s a positive struggle though)

I can relate especially when my Mama has to contemplate on what to cook for lunch or dinner depending also on what’s stocked in the fridge or pantry. Just yesterday, my Mama asked again what to prepare for lunch. Then out of the blue, I thought of a dish that is something we don't usually eat; something that we can only have when there's a special occasion. Honestly I, too, wondered why we only have these on occasions and not on regular days. Well, it doesn't cost that much - the amount of work perhaps? Sure it's not as easy as stir and fry; effort and sheer labor are needed to make this recipe.

The one I was thinking was making an Embutido - a Filipino variant of meatloaf served on special occasions like fiestas and birthdays. This is sometimes served as an appetizer during Christmas dinner. This can be consumed hot, chilled, fried, but I prefer the latter. It only utilizes ground pork but may also use ground beef. This dish can be improved by replacing the flour with breadcrumbs. Although there are other variations, this one is my favorite. Here's how we did ours.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kilo ground pork
• 1 carrot (minced)
• 1 red bell pepper (minced)
• 2 tbsp onions (minced)
• 1 tbsp garlic (minced)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• raisins
• eggs

FILLING

• Semi-cooked hotdogs sliced into wedges
• Hard-boiled eggs sliced into wedges

• Tinfoil for wrapping

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the ground pork, minced carrots, bell pepper, onions, garlic, and raisins. Because we love raisins, we added a handful of it. You can also skip the raisins if you like. Once combined, season with salt and pepper to taste.

• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and mix it with milk and bread crumbs. Mix it well.
• Gently pour the mixture to the pork. Mix well to combine.

-Then, add the grated cheese. Mix well.

• On a flat surface, lay the aluminum foil with the shiny side facing down.
• Place a cup of the meat mixture to the foil and flatten it using a spatula. You can also add whatever amount of meat you want in a loaf.

• Next, place the sliced hotdogs and hard-boiled eggs on top of the meat mixture.

This is how it will look like

• Tightly roll the aluminum foil making sure both ends are secured.

• Just repeat the procedure until all the mixture is done wrapping.
• Arrange the embutido rolls in the steamer and steam it for an hour over medium heat.

• Once done, remove the rolls from the steamer and let it cool before placing in the refrigerator.
• You can re-stream the rolls once you are about to eat the embutido, Some liked it steamed but I prefer it fried. In frying, gently remove and unwrap the foil and slice it in your desired thickness of the loaf. Put a little amount of oil in a heated pan then fry to give it some nicely brown crust adding and extra flavor on it.
• This is best served when hot. Pair it with rice and serve with ketchup or any of your desired sauce.

In this process, we yielded almost 10 rolls of embutido. What I liked about this recipe is that aside from the fact that it's just easy to make, it is also budget-friendly. The next time you'll left clueless on what dish to prepare for you and your family, try this and you'll never worry on what to prepare for the next because you already have stocked embutido rolls in the fridge, Problem solved 👍 Bon appetite! 👌