Filipino breakfast in the City - Longsilog, Tocilog and Hotsilog

I prepared a semi homemade Filipino breakfast one beautiful Sunday morning for my friends Karen and Dinah. I made their all time favorite garlic rice with tocino, longaniza and hotdog.

It was a lot of work to host even a small brunch but it was all worth it! I got my Filipino fix to last me for a while.

First things first. Let me define first the names used in a Filipino breakfast.

Longaniza is a Spanish sausage but the Filipino style longaniza is a bit sweet and very garlicky. Tocino is Spanish bacon but the Filipino tocino is also on the sweet side. 
The Filipino style hot dog is similar to the regular hot dogs. Sinangag is a tagalog name for fried rice. The Philippine fried rice has lots of fried garlic in it. Itlog is a tagalog word for egg. Pandesal is also Spanish in origin. It is a bread roll which is a little sweet and salty.

Longsilog is a shortened name for longaniza, sinangag, itlog. It is a term used for a breakfast plate composed of the three. So when you are in the Philippines and you hear someone say Longsilog, it means a breakfast plate consisting of longaniza, singangar and itlog.

Tocilog is for tocino, sinangag and itlog. Hotsilog has hot dog, singangag and itlog. 

To shop for my Filipino food, I went to Manila Oriental Market which is close to our neighborhood.

I even found my mom's favorite vinegar brand called Pinakurat. There are also different variations of longaniza in the Philippines. Different regions have their versions of longaniza and they differ in taste and size. I chose the Vigan longaniza which is more similar to Central American chorizos.

 

Breakfast was scheduled at 10:30 in the morning. I started my rice early at 7:30am. I cooked the rice with half a teaspoon rosemary salt and a couple of stalks of fresh rosemary for that herby aroma and taste. I also like the very light yellow color it adds to the rice. I will fry it with lots of garlic later that morning after it cooled off.

I didn't want the entire house to smell like food so I decided to cook the remaining food by our barbecue area. I had to cook the longaniza first and then the tocino next because I was using our electic stove. It was a slow process. And then I made the garlic fried rice, the hot dog and then the eggs last.

The Filipino breakfast won't be complete without a Filipino coffee. I open a bag of ground coffee my mom brought us during her last visit here. It is called Kape Maria and it is from the Cordillera region of the Philippines. The earthy and smoky taste of this Philippine coffee goes so well with the Filipino breakfast.

And pandesal. A Filipino breakfast is not complete without a warm pandesal. I like it especially with hot dogs and a slice of smoked cheddar cheese.

Dinah and Karen actually came a bit early. They helped me fry the hotdogs.
Here is the finished product. 



It was a sunny Sunday morning so Mijo, Karen, Dinah and I had breakfast al fresco in our garden.

Here is the rosemary garlic fried rice.

 Dinah and I were also drinking mimosa that day. The good thing about having breakfast at home is that we spend more time eating and talking and less time waiting for a table and waiting for our food. We don't watch our watches unlike when having breakfast at a restaurant.

Here's my Filipino breakfast plate.
By the way… I loved Pinakurat with the longaniza. This plate takes me back to my fondest childhood memories.

I hope Mijo, Dinah and Karen enjoyed the food.

Kain na tayo!

~rl