A Filipino breakfast is usually savory and filling: rice, something fried, and something salty or sour on the side. This breakfast spread is featured on the BIOCO Food Trip YouTube channel.
Below is what appears on the table in the video and a short guide to the dishes that commonly make up a Filipino breakfast.
What is on the table
The video thumbnail shows a full spread: what looks like tocino (sweet cured pork), several fried dried fish, a bowl of rice, and a platter of tomatoes with salted egg, small red onions, okra, greens, green and red chilies, and calamansi, with halved salted eggs and a dipping sauce on the side.
Common Filipino breakfast dishes
- Tocino: sweet cured pork, pan-fried until caramelized at the edges.
- Longganisa: Filipino sausage. Styles range from sweet to garlicky depending on the region.
- Daing and tuyo: dried, salted fish fried until crisp. Daing na bangus is milkfish split open, marinated in vinegar and garlic, then fried.
- Sinangag: garlic fried rice, usually made from leftover rice.
- Itlog na maalat: salted duck egg, often eaten with chopped tomatoes and onions.
- Silog meals: sinangag and itlog (fried egg) with a main dish, such as tosilog (tocino) or longsilog (longganisa).
Building your own breakfast plate (general guide)
There is no single recipe for a Filipino breakfast. A simple home version follows the silog pattern:
- Rice: fry day-old rice in oil with plenty of garlic and a pinch of salt.
- Main: pan-fry tocino, longganisa, or dried fish.
- Egg: fry an egg, or slice a salted egg.
- Something fresh: chopped tomatoes and onions cut through the salty and sweet flavors.
- Dip: vinegar with garlic and chili goes well with fried fish and longganisa.
Tips
- Use cold, day-old rice for sinangag. Freshly cooked rice turns mushy in the pan.
- Cook tocino over medium heat with a little water first, then let it caramelize. High heat burns the sugar before the pork is cooked.
- Soak very salty dried fish briefly before frying if you prefer it milder.
- Calamansi on the side brightens fried and salty dishes.
