Sinangag is a Filipino breakfast staple that is normally accompanied by fried eggs and a meat such as beef tapa, tocino (sweet cured pork), longganisa sausages or milkfish (daing na bangus). The combinations are commonly known by acronyms like tapsilog which is tapa + sinangag + itlog. Others include tocilog, longsilog, bangsilog, etc.

Sinangag – Filipino Fried Rice

Ingredients

5 cups of cooked rice (great way to use up day-old rice)
4 cloves  | 20 g of garlic
1 tbsp | 15 ml of cooking oil
½ tsp | 2.4 g of coarse salt

Preparation

1. Sprinkle a little water over the cold cooked rice and mash lightly with your hand to loosen every grain.
2. Crush the 4 garlic cloves using the back of a kitchen knife.

Cooking

1. In a non-stick frying pan, saute the garlic in cooking oil until it turns a light brown color.
2. Add rice. Using a wooden spoons, mix the rice well cooking it until the rice is lightly toasted.
3. Season with the ½ tsp of salt and serve immediately along with a fried egg and your choice of protein.

Tips

• Sinangag is best made using leftover rice that has been allowed to stand overnight (What filipino family doesn’t have leftover rice?) Using freshly made rice will not work as it is too moist and will make sinangag that will become a mushy mess.
• Ensure that rice grains do not stick together by stirring them enough to loosen, but don’t crush the grains of rice.
• Care should be taken when cooking the garlic as it should be browned and not burnt.
• Distribute the cooking oil evenly in the pan, (It will shimmer when hot) then brown the garlic first, mix the oil into the rice before frying. Fry the rice without adding any additional oils or it will turn out greasy.