Pork in Green Peas (Liempo con Guisantes)

Peas, potato and pork

To all those familiar, this should be Chicken con Guisantes. But I’m a bit sick of eating chicken so I decided to make it pork this time, pork belly, to be precise. But I need to give a background first.

Cooked dry peas

I know that everyone’s familiar with green peas. They come in fresh/frozen and dried form. The fresh/frozen ones are the ones you use to make pea soup, or maybe mixed veggies on the side of every steak you see. The dried form is a bit like lentils. You need to handle them the same way too. Now, in the Philippines, there’s what you call cooked dry peas. I’m guessing they were originally the dry form, then cooked. But somehow, it coming from a can, and being cooked “their” way, it tastes different. I don’t know how else to explain it but for you to try. Either way, I will still recommend the dried form for this one, pre-cooked, and using it in this recipe, rather than the fresh/frozen ones. Cupboard items taste different, truly. (Yeah, you ever miss the flavor of canned mushroom soup or canned corned beef? If you’re being snooty, you’ll probably say no. Haha).

Veggies and aromatics

I’ve been wanting to make this but having someone at home who doesn’t like green peas makes it impossible for me to cook it in good harmony. But a scheduled work made Kuya Dino unavailable for lunch and I decided this is the time to make the Guisantes recipe!

The first time I tried this was at a friend’s house. It was dinner time and we were there for group work, most probably our thesis. I liked the flavor and they were surprised to know that it was the first time I tried it 🙂 But ever since, I’ve been thinking on how to make it. Now is the perfect time.

Liempo con Guisantes Recipe (based from the Nestle Cookbook)

1/2 kilo meat, pork in this case
1 cup green peas
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, diced
fish sauce
2 potatoes, diced

Saute the onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Let it sweat and soften a bit. Add the pork, along with some fish sauce, and let it cook through. I had to add a bit of water to this otherwise it would have burnt.  Add the potatoes and green peas and let everything simmer. Serve, with rice (as usual). 🙂