Sinangag Recipe (Filipino Fried Rice)
What’s the first thing you think of when it comes to a Filipino breakfast? Pandesal? Or is it perhaps this side dish that goes with a large variety of Pinoy ulams or viands? Sinangag is a popular local recipe that basically involves frying rice with garlic. Simple, right? But it can do absolute wonders for your meals with its simple savory flavor. If you have never tried it, let me convince you to make yourself a plate of delicious, juicy Sinangag.
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What does Sinangag taste like?
Garlic is an essential part of Sinangag (Filipino Garlic Fried Rice) . It is cooked into the rice in such a way that it enhances the flavor without overpowering it. There is a perfect balance of garlic and salt that makes this rice absolutely delicious.
How to Cook Sinangag
Brown the garlic
Prepare a wide pan as we will be working with quite a lot of rice for this. Put this on your stove, and pour 2 ½ tablespoons of cooking oil into the pan. Apply heat. And while the oil is not hot yet, you will want to place 5 cloves of garlic you’ve crushed in the pan. Go ahead, and keep this garlic cooking slowly as the oil becomes hot. You will know you are done with this step when your bits of garlic are crunchy and golden brown.
Getting the rice ready
Now that our garlic’s all good to go, we should add 3 cups of cooked white rice inside. For this, the best kind of rice would be leftover Jasmine rice. I already explained earlier why we want the leftover kind, but Jasmine rice is best as it is a bit dry, which works perfectly for fried rice. Not to mention, it creates a gorgeously crisp texture that makes our dish stand out. Of course, this would be ideal for the recipe, but honestly, we would get a pretty great meal whether or not you use Jasmine rice.
When you’ve got your rice in the pan, gently stir this to mix it with our other ingredients. Keep cooking the rice with the garlic and oil for 3 minutes.
Adding salt
Just for a bit more flavor, you will want to put ½ teaspoon of sea salt over the rice. We do not want to be too generous with this as we do not want the side dish to get too salty. Mix the salt thoroughly into the rice carefully. Then continue cooking for just 3 to 5 minutes more.
Serving your fried rice
You’re practically done! Now you can just move the delicious Sinangag to a serving plate or bowl of choice. You now have Pinoy fried rice that’s perfect for 3!
Got no idea yet what to eat alongside it though? Like I said earlier, there is a long list of dishes you can choose from because of its perfectly mild and savory taste. But to get you started, I’ve got just the list of recipes you may want to try with your garlic-y side dish!
Leftover rice is best
Keep note that we really want to utilize leftover rice for this recipe. That is because for fried rice, we want none of the firm and sticky texture that comes with the newly steamed variety. Instead, you want this ingredient to be easy to spread out on the pan so it can fully absorb the flavors of your seasonings. In this case, all we really need are crushed garlic and sea salt, and we will end up with a most fitting side for the likes of daing, longganisa, and more dishes.
I will give you a list of some of the best recipes to pair with your Sinangag later. For now, let’s dive into the quick and easy cooking process!
As you may already know, Sinangag is just one of many variations of fried rice. If you enjoyed this recipe, I have a feeling you would like to explore more options like this in Panlasang Pinoy. Here are some more of my fried rice favorites!
More Fried Rice Recipes
Egg Fried Rice
A great go-to for me when it comes to celebrations is the widely loved Egg Fried Rice. This is easily one of the best and most famous renditions of fried rice out there because it holds a ton of flavor without being too complicated to make both in cooking and the ingredients used. So long as you sauté your components in the right order, and without overcooking them, you will end up with a simple delicious side dish that is not actually just a side dish. Some people even prefer having their Egg Fried Rice as a solo dish because of how rich it is.
Tocino Fried Rice
What if we put together two of the dishes mentioned in this article? Naturally, since they already go great together, you can just combine them for the yummy and sweet Tocino Fried Rice! I think this is a more exciting way to have your tocino. Just chop the meat up to bits, and it can do wonders in boosting the flavor of your perfectly cooked fried rice. Once again, we’ve got an easy recipe in our hands that would only take about 20 minutes to create. And so there’s no need to fuss with your schedule just to make this for a great breakfast, lunch or dinner! Another plus is that we will be using ingredients that are likely already in your kitchen such as carrots, eggs and soy sauce. Tocino Fried Rice is definitely the way to go if you just want a quick and easy meal.
What to Eat with your Sinangag
Tuyo Fish With Tomato
We’ll kick things off with something simple yet tasty. Tuyo Fish With Tomato is just about as easy as it gets when it comes to a Filipino breakfast. You will only need around 15 minutes to complete this as you will just need to cook the fish properly. And that’s because just the humble, but savory tuyo can already bring a ton of flavor into any meal. I love this with just plain white rice. But if you are willing to upgrade your tuyo fish meal, I would definitely recommend pairing it with Sinangag. You can’t go wrong with the mix of mild savor with the satisfying saltiness of our dried fish. The added tomatoes and spiced vinegar also help spruce up your dish.
Homemade Pork Tocino
Practically everyone knows that Filipinos love their sweet viands. The likes of tocino are perfect for the local palate because their rich sweetness bounces nicely off the somewhat neutral taste of rice. But I’d say tocino would be even better with a mix of saltiness that comes with our Sinangag. And should you be interested in trying that duo out, you can refer to my Homemade Pork Tocino dish. As the name implies, this article teaches you how to make the popular sweet red pork dish right from home. You may be used to buying your tocino at the market, all ready to cook up. But I would really recommend making it at home from step one to achieve an even more flavorful and rich tocino.
Beef Pares
This next dish is a bit more challenging to recreate compared to the previous dishes. But if you’ve ever tried Beef Pares, you would probably understand why it takes a bit more effort to make it. This recipe is essentially made of incredibly tender beef with the perfect set of seasonings. When I say perfect, I mean brown sugar, soy sauce, onion, ginger, garlic, and the list goes on. It may sound overwhelming, but these tied together truly make the perfect savory stew with your beef brisket. Part of the struggle comes with getting your beef nice and smooth. But you can overcome that issue with your pressure cooker,
Homemade Beef Tapa
We couldn’t possibly talk about Sinangag without bringing up tapa. The famous Tapsilog basically involves these two dishes, as well as a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg. But even without the egg, you get a truly delicious meal just from Homemade Beef Tapa and your fried rice. Take note that this is a pretty simple way of creating tapa. You no longer have to do the drying method for this, but you are still able to get that unmistakably rich flavor and delectable tapa texture.
Skinless Longganisa
We also love to have Sinangag with the meaty taste of longganisa. But how about trying a new version of this? My Skinless Longganisa recipe is perfect for those who like their sausages both garlic-y and sweet. Usually only one of those two flavors dominate when it comes to longganisa. But I tried to find a good balance of both for this recipe of mine. If you have never tried this Filipino dish skinless though, it is mostly the texture that may surprise you. This can be easier to eat because the casing is now out of the way. And you get to have the most flavorful part of the sausage, which is the inside, much quicker! Other than Sinangag, you could also have your Skinless Longganisa with some papaya atchara on the side, or a salted egg.
I hope you liked learning about Sinangag, and all of the delicious dishes you could have with it! Share your experience making your own fried rice in the comments below.
Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag us on Instagram at @panlasangpinoy or hashtag #panlasangpinoy so we can see your creations!
Sinangag Recipe (Filipino Fried Rice)
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked white rice leftover Jasmine rice is preferred
- 5 cloves crushed garlic
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Heat the cooking oil in a wide pan.
- While the cooking oil is being heated, add the crushed garlic. Note: make sure that the oil is not hot when you add the garlic. Let the garlic slowly cook while the oil gets heated until it becomes golden brown and crisp.
- Add-in the rice; gently stir to distribute the ingredients. Continue to cook for 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle the salt over the rice and continue to mix all the ingredients gently. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a serving plate. Serve with your favorite entrée.
- Share and enjoy!
Charles says
A dear Filipina friend in Manila has turned me on to Filipino food. I’ve tried many recipes and always look here for authentic ones. I love buko pie!
Michelle Solomo says
Thanks for the recipe, this is my go to if I have left over rice. Living in Belgium I have to copy paste the print of you’re recipes because of the lbs, ounce, and cups (we do have measuring cups and table -teaspoons) and of course I copy paste the link on footnote.
Vanjo Merano says
I appreciate the feedback, Michelle. Have a wonderful day there in Belgium.
Shely says
Thanks to your recipe. My kids love it! God bless!
Vanjo Merano says
You are welcome.
Steve says
May I suggest something to make your website even better & more practical?
Please add a PRINT BUTTON on every recipe.
Many of your readers probably want to actually try out your recipe, but in order to bring these instructions to the kitchen, we may want to print it out first so that they will be easier to follow.
Vanjo Merano says
I appreciate the suggestion, Steve. I am in the process of rolling this update for newer recipes. I also had the older recipes scheduled for the print button update and it should take effect soon.
Angie says
You can actually copy paste the recipe to microsoft word. That is what I always do. Thank you and God bless.