Filipino Holiday Recipes: Morcon
You’ve got 42 days left till Christmas. You want to prepare something special for your Filipino friends, yet you do not have the time to do research on what Christmas dishes Filipinos usually serve or love eating during Christmas.
There are two ways you can go about solving this problem: (1) you can ask them what they want, which you’d still need to do research and practice on; or (2) you can work on one of the classic Filipino dishes: Morcon.
THE CLASSIC MORCON. Image grabbed from ang sarap
Morcon is a Filipino meat roll stuffed with sausage or hotdog, carrot, pickle, cheese, and egg. It’s usually served during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’s a colorful dish that can be made out of chicken, pork, or beef. Here’s how you can make your own beef morcon courtesy of Del Monte Kitchenomics:
Ingredients
Meat roll and marinade:
- 600 g of beef round, sliced tapa style into 2 pieces
- ¾ tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ tbsp calamansi
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
For the stuffing:
- 1 pc hard-boiled egg, shelled and sliced into 6 wedges
- 1 pc hotdog cut into 4 strips
- 30 g bacon
- 1 medium-sized carrot, cut into 4 strips
- 2 pcs whole pickles, cut into 4 strips
- 30 g cheese, cut into 4 strips
- 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 5 strips
For the sauce:
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- ½ pc laurel leaf
- 200 g tomato sauce
Procedure:
- Pound beef to flatten. Marinate in calamansi juice and soy sauce for 30 minutes. Drain but reserve marinade.
- Starting at one end of the meat, arrange the stuffing in alternate rows until all are used up. Roll and tie with string (pref. crocheting thread). Sprinkle with flour then brown all sides in oil. Set aside.
- Sauté garlic and onion. Add beef, tomato sauce, 1 cup water, laurel leaf, and marinade. Simmer for 45 minutes or until tender.
- Remove string from morcon. Slice and arrange on a platter. Pour sauce on top.
Serves 15
