Pork Giniling with Pineapple (Replicating My Mama's Recipe)

Hello! It's officially summer over here and how I wish this season would pass by so quickly. This reminds me to have my airconditioning unit cleaned again. How often do you get your unit cleaned?

Anyway, let's go enjoy one of my favorite Filipino dish of all time—Pork Giniling!

Pork Giniling is a classic and very popular savory Filipino dish known for its ground meat (pork or beef) and oily orange sauce. It consists of ground meat, tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, green peas, raisins, etc. That's for the typical or traditional giniling, but of course, I am going for my own recipe while also replicating my mama's version—with pineapples.

I'm not sure if adding pineapples is common but my mama always add it to her giniling dish which has become my favorite. But I'm omitting the peas and raisins because I don't like those on my giniling. Lol.

• ½kg Ground Pork
• 200g Tomato Sauce
• 115g Pineapple Tidbits
• 1 Medium Carrot (diced)
• 2 Medium Potatoes (diced)
• 1 Medium Onion (diced)
• 3 Cloves Garlic (diced)
• 1 Pork Bouillon
• 1 Cup Water
• 2 to 3 pcs. Bay Leaves
• ½ to 1 Tsp. Sugar
• ½ Tsp. Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tbsps. Cooking Oil
• Boiled Eggs (optional)

● Heat the pot and pour the cooking oil.

● Once it's hot, proceed to saute the garlic and onion. Instead of debating which to saute first, I just add both at the same time. Lol.

● Then I added the ground pork. Do you wash the ground pork meat? Because I do, about three times.

● Let the meat cook and mix the meat so it separates and prevent forming big lumps.

● Then pour the tomato sauce. I prefer the original tomato sauce over the Filipino style because that's sweet.

● Let the mixture boil before adding the pork bouillon. Mix until it dissolves.

● Then add water. Mix before covering the pot, then bring to a boil.

● After around 20 minutes, I added the carrots and potatoes.

● Then I added the pineapples next. Pour everything, from the pineapple bits and juice. Mix and bring to a boil.

● After 8 minutes, I added the bay leaves. Bay leaves is common on Filipino dishes and I think it's important as well because it really adds a good aroma to the food.

● After 10 minutes, I added the sugar, ground black pepper, and salt. Mix and let the dish simmer for around 3 minutes.

● This is optional but I love adding boiled eggs. Giniling tastes better for me when paired with a boiled egg!

Craving Satisfied!

Pork Giniling are among the dishes that I would be fine to eat every single day. It's my go-to dish (aside from adobo and curry) at the canteen back in college. My friends would even ask me, "Don't you get fed up eating the same thing everyday?" Lol.

And of course, my mama's version is my most favorite! My own version isn't at par with my mama's but it's still good and I'm very happy and satisfied that I know how to cook it—and without raisins and peas!

If I remember it right, this recipe is good for 5 to 6 servings.