For the spreribs: ask your butcher to cut 1 1/2 pounds spareribs into LESS THAN 1 INCH CUBES or even 1/2 inch ones. Then marinate it ina splash of rice wine or sherry, some light soy, about a little over than 1 tsp. sugar, a really tiny splash of seame oil, a pinch of baking soda and abput 1 tsp. cornstarch and a round of canola. Then let that sit. Then rinse 3 Tbsp. fermented black beans, add 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic, 1 Tbsp. chopped green onions, 1 Tbsp. chopped ginger. Mix that together and add to spareribs. Pack in small zip plock snack bags and freeze if oyu want. Oh, I forgot, you can add thinly sliced serranos before steaming.

For the mangoes. I used to make this Japanese yellow daikon that is salty/sweet. I figured the same brine will work for mangoes. For 4 to 5 large PInoy green mangoes or 2 HUGE green sour Thai mangoes, peel and lice thinly into spears.

Paste: 1/2 cup coarse salt
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups suagr
1/2 cup rice vinegar
pinch of turmeric (can be mitted)
Mix into a paste and add to mangoes and squish it everything around to make sure it is dissolved. Let it sit overnight in the cooler, Next day, take a handful of the mangoes and squeeze the liquid out of it. Place in clean jar. Pack them. Now, make a simple syrup ( 1:1) . Let it cool and cover the mangoes with it. it should just come up to the top of the mangoes. Now pour about 1cup of white wine . Swish everything around. Taste and add more white wine if needed Let it cure for at least 3 days. It tastes EXACTLY like the ones in Ongpin!

Chinese sausgaes…can you get sausage casings? If you can….make this. It is as good as the ones you buy. A few years ago, we lived in Northeastern BC where I had to make the stuff myself of the foods we are used to having in the Lower Mainalnd. Can you believe I made my own flat rice noodle that you roll up and sprinkle hine and green onions and eat with hoisin and sesame oil? That is how obsessed I was in making my own. So, just scale down the chinese sausage recipe for home use unless you want to go commercial!

for about 20 ft. casing
3 kg. pork shoulder or pigue, skinned but feep the fatty layer and separate the lean parts from the fatty ones. Cuit the lean meat into 3 to 4 mm. strips and the fat into 2 mm. strips. Depending on how lean or fatty you want it to be…go for like MM’s longganisa ratio of 70 to 30. Now, add about 2 ot 3 Tbsp. salt, add osme whit eppper, a little less than 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp. prague powder ( can be omitted if you don’t have it), 1/2 cup rice wine ( I use hubby’s scotch and it make it really tasty!), 1 to 1/2 tsp. 5 spice powder. You can add a bit more of this if you want.. Just mix everything together like there is no tom. for about 5 mi utes. Let it marinate overnight. next day stuff your casings with it. Make sure filling it distributed evernly. Then prick the sausgaes to expel the air and tie it inot links. Next rinse the sauasgaes in warm water and drain. Hang outside to dry making sure the birds or flies don’t get inot it. or well-circulated area for at least 3 days. I have used the refrigerator to dry them(nakabitin sa racks) or in the gRGE WITH THE ELECTRIC FAN. An Italian friend does this to her salamis…hanging in the garage.

the pickled green mangoes are my achi’s favorite. would get bags of it when we made that occasional trip to ongpin. when i tried it here, it just did not taste the same :(