Pork Liempo Estofado Recipe

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Part of the reason why Philippine cuisine looks so diverse is that it is essentially a few main dishes with a variety of versions.

One dish will always have a different variation depending on the region, the family, or even depending on the individual cooking.

So, it is not surprising that we have Liempo Estofado which is admittedly very similar to the Barebones Adobo.

Pork Liempo Estofado Recipe

As the Liempo Estofado recipe already introduces itself, the dish is made up of pork belly, saging na saba and carrots (which are optional) drenched in a mixture of soy sauce, bayleaf, peppercorns and vinegar.

A tasty and direct recipe, the preparation involves marinating the pork belly, sauteeing the ingredients, the Pork Liempo and the other ingredients and waiting for everything to simmer in one pot.

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Liempo Estofado Preparation Tips

Marinating is the key in this liempo estofado recipe as the pork belly tends to absorb its taste and also because this is that one part of the recipe that you can control.

You can choose whether it will be on the sour or the salty side. Another important ingredient in liempo estofado is the banana (plantains) as it is the one that gives the dish its sweetness.

Also read: try this marinated pork liempo alternative as well

Liempo Estofado Ingredietns
Pork Liempo Estofado Recipe

Liempo estofado recipe (Pork belly & banana)

Joost Nusselder
As the Liempo Estofado recipe already introduces itself, the dish is made up of pork belly, saging na saba and carrots (which are optional) drenched in a mixture of soy sauce, bay leaf, peppercorns, and vinegar.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 5 people
Calories 434 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs pork belly sliced
  • 4 ripe saba bananas peeled and sliced
  • 2 medium carrots sliced
  • 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • 3 pcs dried bay leaves
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar or cane vinegar
  • 3 cloves garlic crushed and minced
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • cups water
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • Heat the cooking oil in a cooking pot.
  • Sauté the garlic.
  • Add the pork and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Pour-in the soy sauce and water. Add the bay leaves and ground black pepper. Let boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.
  • Add the vinegar and sugar. Cook for 15 minutes. Note: add water if needed
  • Put-in the banana and carrots. Cook for 10 minutes.
  • Add salt to taste.
  • Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve.
  • Share and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 434kcal
Keyword Banana, Pork
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Pork belly in a wok
Fried pork belly with bay leaf
Liempo Estofado pork belly ingredients in a wok

Though liempo estofado is a simple dish, if you want to cook this at a faster rate, then you can cook this dish using a pressure cooker to cut the time in half.

If you choose to cook it using a pressure cooker though, be sure that the broth is enough so that you will not end up with a dry resulting dish.

However, there is no harm in doing the usual way of just having it simmer if only to avoid drying the dish up.

After cooking, serve liempo estofado with heaps of warm rice so that the rice will absorb the extra oil from the pork belly.

Also check out this Deliciously deep-fried breaded Pork Chop recipe

Check out our new cookbook

Bitemybun's family recipes with complete meal planner and recipe guide.

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Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.