St. Patrick’s Day is on Saturday, so today’s recipe is a Filipino corned beef dish called carne norte. Filipinos are in no way Irish at all, but the country is the largest Catholic country in Asia. My mom actually went to Catholic school whose teachers were Irish priests and nuns. So I guess there’s that connection?
Ordinarily I would avoid eating very processed foods, but this is actually a pretty common dish in the Philippines. If you know any Fil-Ams, they send boxes of goods to their homes in the Philippines. They usually contain foods filled with canned corned beef, Spam, Vienna sausages, instant coffee, and powdered coffee creamer. Any time there was a sale on any of these products, we would stock up and store it in a corner of our house until the shipping company had a sale so we can send them these goods. It’s a big deal to get ahold of these foods, which I don’t quite understand. But I know my mom labels each item with a family member’s name so that it evenly distributed amongst her brothers, otherwise the family will bicker.
Filipino corned beef is usually served for breakfast with garlic fried rice and an egg. I’m not sure why it’s called Carne Norte instead of corned beef silog. But it sure is a treat when you are in the Philippines.
The key to carne norte is to load it up with fresh ingredients if possible. What usually happens is I have left over homemade salsa when I make huevos rancheros for breakfast. My brother will take this leftover salsa and put it in corned beef. I didn’t include diced chiles in this recipe, but you certainly can add it. Like I said before, load up on fresh ingredients.
I hope you enjoy Filipino version of corned beef.
Carne Norte - Filipino Corned Beef
A Filipino take on corned beef.
Ingredients
- 1 can corned beef
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbs. olive oil
- ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
Directions
- Step 1 In a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil and onions.
- Step 2 Sauté onions until translucent.
- Step 3 Add garlic, cook till fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Step 4 Add tomatoes and juices, cayenne, paprika, and black pepper, and mix.
- Step 5 Turn heat to medium high and reduce liquid, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning.
- Step 6 Add corned beef and take a fork and smash the meat.
- Step 7 Mix all ingredients.
- Step 8 Serve warm with garlic fried rice and egg.
