Putong Babi : Open-Faced Buns with Ground Beef or Pork
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“Paradadas” was how my late mother-in -law called these open-faced buns with ground meat. The Filipino Putong Babi (say ‘pooh-tong bah-bee’), is a favorite bread snack in Pampanga, a province north of Manila, the country’s capital. It was simply pan de sal, the Filipino bread, sliced in half, with a ground meat- raisins mixture nestled on it, coated with beaten eggs and bread crumbs on top. This whole assembly was then pan-seared stove top, and pressed down with a turner to cook Panini-style. I sometimes improvised and baked it in the oven, just like I did here.
“I used to sell putong-babi when I was in grade school,” said Alex R. Castro, Pampanga historian of the blog, Views from the Pampang, iconic ad executive, former colleague and good friend. “ We had them in elementary school, for snacks. Sometimes, the filling was made from mashed camotes (sweet potatoes) or potatoes with ground meat. Then it was coated with egg and fried, “ he added.
‘Putong babi’ literally translates to ‘bread with pork’, but you can use either pork or beef. Filipinos love to add sweet flavors to dishes. This is why you will find sweet raisins or sweet potatoes cooked with the ground meat in this recipe. Or if you make the Filipino dinner entree “tortang carne”, a ground meat mixture with potatoes, peas and carrots, use the leftovers to make ‘putong babi’.
Your kids will love the hearty flavors of this meat and potatoes open-faced sandwich in their lunchboxes or as an after-school snack. And you know what, you will, too!
Other Back to School sandwich ideas:
Sweet-Spicy Pulled Pork on a Bun
Cheese Pimiento-Pineapple spread on Pan de Sal, Filipino bun
Putong Babi: Open-Faced Buns with Ground Beef or Pork
Equipment
- Large non-stick skillet - 12 inches diameter
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 whole Filipino Pan de Sal or large dinner bread buns; sliced open in half
- 1/2 pound ground pork or beef
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 4 to 6 cloves garlic minced garlic cloves
- 3 whole medium-sized potatoes peeled, cubed into 1/4-inch sized pieces ( or use sweet potatoes, same amount)
- 2 whole eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs for topping
- 3/4 cup raisins
Instructions
- Prepare 8 to 10 open-faced half slices of bread buns or the Filipino pan de sal. Set aside in a bread box to keep them from drying up or hardening.
- Pre-marinate the ground meat by adding lemon (or calamansi) juice and soy sauce. Mix well, then set aside.
- In a large skillet, over medium high heat, add the vegetable oil. Saute the garlic quickly. Then add the ground meat. Cook till meat turns from pink to brown, for about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the cubed potatoes and the raisins. Season with salt and pepper. Cook till potatoes and meat are done, for 8 to 10 minutes more.
- Spread the meat-potatoes mixture on the sliced bread bun or pan de sal. Pour the beaten egg over it. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
- In a skillet, over medium high heat, spray some vegetable oil. Pan sear the open faced bread slices, meat side down. Press down with a turner to flatten it. This should fry in 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the slice over in the pan and flatten the top with the turner. Let the bottom side of the bread brown for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a platter and serve hot.
- If baking these meat-filled bread slices, place them in a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 375 F degrees for 15 minutes or till top is brown. Serve hot.
- COOK’S COMMENTS: In Pampanga, “putong babi” is also cooked with sweet potato. Cut them in cubes and use instead of regular potatoes. Cook for the same amount of time.
- Availability of ingredients: Pan de sal can be found in Filipino bakeries or Asian markets. When the weather gets cooler in the fall and winter, I bake my own pan de sal for the family. You can use any other bread available which you prefer.
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Nutrition
Did you like this recipe? I have more classic recipes inspired by my late mother’s cooking in my popular cookbook: My Mother’s Philippine Recipes. If you’re learning how to cook Filipino food or a fan of Philippine cuisine, buy my cookbooks and books on Amazon.com sold worldwide in paperback and Kindle format.
Hello, Friends! Please DO NOT LIFT OR PLAGIARIZE my original recipe, stories, photos or videos. All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos, essays, stories and recipe content on your websites, books, films, television shows, videos, without my permission. If you wish to republish this recipe or content on media outlets mentioned above, please ASK MY PERMISSION, or re-write it in your own words and link back to my blog AsianInAmericaMag.com to give proper attribution. It is the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]
This is seriously yummy. I want someone to put it in my lunchbox! 🙂
Thanks, Laura. If you lived closer, I’d bring you a whole lunchbox-full ! Glad you came by !
What amount of raisins should be added?
Hi Laurel. I added the amount of raisins to 3/4 cup. You may use either dark raisins or the yellow, light colored-ones, or a combination of both. When my kids were little, they preferred the light colored yellow raisins. Now they’re grown and eat anything. Thanks for the blog-visit!
Nice… Elizabeth you have so many comforting dish. If I was your daughter I don’t want to marry anyone and just stay home… 😀 Your delicious dishes must bring your children crave for going home all the time!!
Thanks, Nami! I had to smile at what you said. I would love to have you as a daughter, or younger sister and pamper you with all these treats. This is another easy treat for your “bento boxes”. My late mother in law always had this waiting for us when we visited her. Your kids will love it! Thanks for the kind comments and blog-visit. I appreciate your taking the time to say such nice things. All the best, Nami 🙂
I FINALLY find someone else who is lucky enough to know what PARADADAS are! We grew up loving these extra special treats as my late Kapampangan Lola would make them for us. Her son, my father, would make them for us on the weekend for breakfast and my brother and I now make them for friends for special occasions and people just love them. We never meet anyone else who knows what they are outside of our family.
Our family is from Bacolor (Sta. Inez), Pampanga and I recently traveled there last February and asked why none of our Filipino friends knew of them and they were actually surprised that no one knew of them.
My Lola would add ground meat, potato, tomato, onion and garlic to hers and use either pan de sal or a dinner roll such as a French roll etc.
So excited to know that other families are lucky enough to enjoy these very special treats.
Oh.My.God.Yes, Karl, I am so happy to hear someone else, a ‘kabalen’ at that, KNOWS what “paradadas” is! My late Mom-in-law made these all the time when we came to visit. It was regular merienda fare together with Kapampangan fruit salad! And like you, I was in the Pampanga area last Feb. – pls see my travel stories on this blog about them. Check out “Pampanga Culinary Heritage Tours” which I did for a whole day. What an amazing culture we have, don’t we? Thanks for the blog-visit. Hope to have you around again soon!
My 1st time to visit your website: I was looking for a capampangan recipe for pan de sal, and I’mso glad I found you and “paradadas’! I grew up in Magalang and I’m one of those Pampanguenas who can’t cook! now when I’m hungry for our food I have to look it up online, ha,ha!
Thanks Victoresita. How nice you found my website. Paradadas was a favorite merienda my late mom-in-law (whose roots were from Sta. Rita) prepared for us. Enjoy and come visit again soon 🙂