Pulutok

Pulutok is a Filipino dish made with minced pork lungs stewed until dry with vinegar, capsicums, garlic, onions and chillies.

Pulutok is the Kapampangan version of Bopis, while both dishes may look similar there are many key differences.  Pulutok mostly focuses on its main ingredient, pork lungs and it is usually cooked until its dry.  Bopis on the other hand can be intricate and basically use different pork innards such as pork heart, pork lungs, pork fat and pork intestines with vegetables like carrots and radish plus it is characterized by its red orange colour from the annatto seeds and may be served with a bit of sauce or gravy.

The name pulutok in Kapampangan means popping sound, like “pumuputok” in Tagalog, and it was named like such because of the crackling sound of this dish as it sizzles while it cooks.  Some Kapampangan versions just cook it with pork lungs some add chopped banana blossoms  and others add pork heart.  For my recipe below I added fatty pork belly to give it a different texture and so it also give it a bit of moisture.

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Pulutok 1

Pulutok

  • Author: Raymund
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
  • Yield: 6-8 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Filipino

Description

Pulutok is a Filipino dish made with minced pork lungs stewed until dry with vinegar, capsicums, garlic, onions and chillies.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 700 g pork lungs, finely chopped or minced
  • 300 g fatty pork belly, 50% fat and skin on (optional)
  • 2 cups chopped banana buds (puso ng saging, optional)
  • 1 small red capsicum, finely diced
  • 1 small green capsicum, finely diced
  • 3 pcs birds eye chillies, finely chopped
  • 2 cups vinegar, plus more if you want it sourer.
  • 1 cup pork stock
  • 4 pcs bay leaves
  • 8 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 large red onion, minced
  • fish sauce
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • oil

Instructions

  1. Marinate chopped lungs in 1 cup of vinegar and 1 tbsp salt for 30 minutes, set it aside. Once ready to cook, drain pork lungs.
  2. In a pot, add pork belly, 1 tbsp salt and enough water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes.
  3. Remove pork belly, let it cool down then finely dice, set aside.
  4. In a heavy pan, heat oil and sauté garlic and onions.
  5. Add the banana buds (if using), pork lungs and pork belly, chillies and bay leaves, stir fry for 10 minutes.
  6. Add capsicums, 1 cup of vinegar and stock, bring to a boil and simmer in medium heat for 15 minutes until sauce dries up and it begins to sizzle. Add more vinegar if you want it sourer.
  7. Season with fish sauce (if needed) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Simmer for 5 more minutes then serve.

 

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8 Responses

  1. I haven’t had pork lung in ages! This sounds and looks really flavourful and tasty. What kind of vinegar did you use? Rice or acv?

    • Raymund says:

      Filipinos usually use one type of vinegar, the cane vinegar. Its also a white vinegar but a bit cloudy and not as strong and does not taste like chemical.

  2. Unlike Angie, I have never had pork lung. While I might not be able to source it, I had to say I am fascinated by the flavor combinations and l learning so much about Filipino cuisine. Thanks for another making recipe.

  3. suituapui says:

    Innards? I like!!!

  4. Hannah says:

    I always learn about new dishes every time I visit your blog! Not sure I can find an exact equivalent to vegan pork lung… But I’m so curious about the seasonings and preparation. Plenty of inspiration to take away from the recipe anyhow!

    • Raymund says:

      Its really nice to see a different perspective on the meaty recipes posted here and I do really appreciate these insights, hopefully this serves as an inspiration to veganize such traditional recipes in hope to share the flavours to our vegan friends. There is one movement here in NZ which basically makes everything vegan from the Filipino street food, I hope this movement catches on with other cuisines as well as there are so many varieties to explore further.
      BTW the ones spearheading it is http://www.luntian-nz.com/

  5. Hmmm, I can’t say I’ve ever had pork lungs. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of offal, but I’m willing to try anything once! I really enjoy how you share the story behind many of your recipes – that’s helpful and interesting since so many of the recipes are new to me. Thanks for sharing this one, Raymund!

    • Raymund says:

      If you come to think of it, some offal cuts goes to what we have once in a while like processed meats but once you can identify the parts then it starts to turn people off. Filipinos are good in hiding this by chopping it into small pieces so they look like minced 🙂

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