Filipino Spaghetti

Spaghetti with Ground Meat Sauce and Hotdog Slices

The dish is referred to as Filipino Spaghetti to differentiate it from the traditional Italian Spaghetti.

Filipino Spaghetti has ground meat sauce instead of meatballs, sometimes come with slices of hotdogs or beef franks, and a little on the sweet side and not as tart as the Italian Spaghetti.

As kid's party favorite, it is usually paired with Fried Chicken or skewered Pork Barbecue.

The base is tomato sauce, but I know some friends who add bottled Banana Catsup for added sweetness.

I prefer to do it a little differently. I use canned spaghetti sauce, so I don't need to add any Italian seasoning like oregano or basil.

And I also use tomato paste because it adds extra flavor, depth and a rich red color to the sauce. Although the tomato paste makes the sauce a little tart, I just add a lot of cheese to cut the tartness and make it creamy.

• Spaghetti Pasta
• Ground Meat, Pork or Beef
• Beef Franks or Hotdog
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Quick-melt Cheese

IN THE PANTRY:

• Garlic
• Onion
• Pepper
• Salt
• Sugar
• Cooking Oil

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pack Spaghetti pasta
• 1 1/2 pound ground meat, half pork, half beef
• 1/2 pound hotdogs, sliced diagonally
• 1 26 oz. can spaghetti sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

PREPARATION TIME : 10 minutes

COOKING TIME : 30 minutes

1 Cook the spaghetti pasta according to package instruction.

2 On a separate pot, saute the garlic and onion, then add the ground meat and cook for about 10 minutes until it's rendering fat.

3 Add the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, water, salt, sugar and ground pepper. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.

4 Add in the hotdogs and cook for 2 minutes, then turn the heat off.

5 Stir in the cheese.

6 Place the cooked pasta (from Step 1) in a large serving bowl and top it with the sauce, then sprinkle with shredded cheese.

COOK'S TIPS

• For a more flavorful sauce, I like using the sweet Italian sausages found in supermarkets. I remove the casing and cook it the way I would cook the ground meat.
• The cheese is added after turning off the stove so it will not cook into the sauce. This makes for a more cheesy and creamy Spaghetti.
• Filipino Spaghetti is usually sweet, but you can adjust the sweetness to your taste. The amount of sugar to add really depends on your own preference. If you don't like it sweet, just add a pinch of sugar.

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