Pork Lomi

Pork Lomi is a saucy noodle dish from the province of Batangas and uses thick miki noodles (egg noodles) which are cooked together with lean pork, pork liver, cabbage, carrots, squidballs, boiled quail eggs and a whole array of other toppings. It is adapted from the original recipe by Kim Eng, the man who popularized this dish in Lipa, Batangas Savoury meat broth is thickened, giving you the guarantee of a saucy and filling dish you would totally enjoy. Pork lomi is already a full meal as it has noodles as carbs, lean pork and liver for proteins, and different veggies. Yum!

PORK LOMI RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 500 grams fresh miki noodles
• 250 grams lean pork (chopped or stripped)
• 250 grams pork liver
• 1 small cabbage (chopped or shredded)
• 1 large carrot (chopped)
• 5 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch (or cassava starch)
• 1 piece pork broth cube
• 8 – 10 cups water
• fish sauce to taste
• 10 pieces squid balls
• oil (for sauteing)
• boiled quail eggs (optional)

Directions:

1. Crack the eggs in a bowl. Gently beat them and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, put the cornstarch and ¼ cup water. Stir gently until well dissolved. Set aside.
3. Heat some oil in a pan. Add the garlic and onions and saute until aromatic and light brown. Then, add the lean pork and saute for a few minutes until light brown. Oil will start to render. Add the liver and then saute until it changes color. Season with black pepper. Add a piece of pork broth cube. Pour 2 cups of water, cover the pot, and let it simmer for around 10 minutes using low medium heat until the pork becomes tender.
4. Once tender, add the carrot strips and soy sauce. Stir a bit before adding 6 – 7 cups of hot water. You may add more if needed. Allow the liquid to boil.
5. Add the squid balls into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Then, add the miki noodles and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Do a taste test on the broth and season with some salt or fish sauce. Add the chopped cabbage and stir gently into the broth to cook. Add the beaten eggs slowly while stirring.
7. Add the cornstarch slurry. Stir continuously and let it cook for a whole minute until the sauce has thickened. Add some boiled quail eggs if you like.
8. Once all the ingredients has come together, turn the heat off and transfer your lomi to a serving bowl. Enjoy your lomi while still hot. You may add more toppings like chicharon, chopped fresh onions, garlic bits, spring onions and anything under the sun! Yum!

PORK LOMI

Most of our noodle dishes originated from Chinese cuisine. It happened that in 1968, in the city of Lipa in Batangas, Kim Eng and his wife opened Lipa City Panciteria which is the noodle eatery which made the lomi famous. With the rise of the lomi, more and more noodle eateries popped out in the province. A lomi festival was even held every June! Sadly, the last festival was held in 2012, and I was not able to experience it. I had to arrange my own Batangas trip just to experience the original lomi.

Your Batangas trip is not complete until you have a taste of the original and legitimate Batangas Lomi! I had tried lomi from other places but the Batangueno version was the real deal. First of all, the topping were VERY GENEROUS. Most of the time, their menu choices include, plain, special and extra special. With the extra special one, almost ¼ of your bowl is comprised by their extreme toppings. Also, you’d think you’re ordering a regular bowl of lomi but believe me that their regular bowl is already a large bowl compared to others!

Another thing that fascinates me is that Batangueno’s way of eating lomi is just bizarre. You will receive your big bowl of lomi with a smaller bowl together with the condiments. Unlike other noodle dishes wherein you put the condiments straight into the bowl and eat it, lomi is eaten by placing a small portion of the lomi in the smaller bowl, and then seasoning only that portion. You will repeat the portioning and seasoning until you finish the whole bowl. According to some Batanguenos I asked, pancit lomi are originally made to be shared which is why Batanguenos became accustomed to this way of eating lomi.

I am sharing this recipe with you so you don’t have to travel to Batangas to experience legitimate lomi. Simply follow the quick and easy steps below. Yum!

HOW TO MAKE PORK LOMI

Preparing some pork lomi is super easy and achievable even to newbies. If you have tried making any noodle dish in the past, this dish will follow similar steps.

Before anything else, prepare the eggs and scramble them in a bowl. Instead of frying or cooking them, the egg will be dropped in the broth for later, just like in an egg drop soup.

Now to start with the lomi, saute the aromatics together with the meat. I chose lean pork for this recipe as I like it a little less oily. For some, they add pork belly slices. Aside from this, lomi is also known to have strips of pork liver.

To make the starting broth, add a lot of water and the pork broth cube. It will take around 10 minutes for the pork to fully cook and become tender. Add the rest of the ingredients. For this recipe, I added carrots and squidballs. For the squidballs, I recommend to cut them in halves You can add any other ingredients you like, or you can simply have them as toppings.

Then, now is the time to add the miki noodles. Since this type of noodles is packaged, apog or lime is used to prevent them from sticking together. The apog gives the noodles a bitter taste so you will be needing to wash the miki noodles with HOT WATER before adding into the pot. In my experience, you need to wash them at least twice.

Add the chopped cabbage and let them cook. Now is the time to add the egg. Just like in an egg drop soup, add the eggs slowly while stirring continuously. This will prevent the eggs from clumping and will produce a thread-like appearance. The eggs do not just add flavor to the lomi broth, but it also helps to thicken the sauce a little.

Once all the ingredients are almost cooked, do a last taste test and flavor adjustments before adding the cornstarch slurry. This will thicken the sauce up to your desired consistency. Take note that as the pork lomi cools down, the thicker the sauce will be. My hack for this dilemma is to divide your lomi into serving portions, especially if you make a large batch. Then, only the portion you will be eating right away must be thickened with the cornstarch slurry. One disadvantage of lomi when thickened is that after hours of just letting it sit on your table, the sauce will be fully absorbed by the miki noodles and the noodles will be soggy and dry.

The greatest way to enjoy lomi is to eat it right away! Add a lot of toppings that you like. I also added some chicharon, spring onions, kikiam, more squidballs, lumpia and sometimes, lechon kawali. Don’t forget the sliced chopped onions and fried garlic bits. Yum!

Pork Lomi Recipe in Tagalog

Mga Sangkap:

• ½ kilong fresh miki noodles
• 250 grams baboy (laman)
• 250 grams atay ng baboy
• 1 maliit na repolyo (hiniwa)
• 1 malaking carrot (hiniwa)
• 5 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 2 malalaking itlog
• 1 kutsaritang paminta
• ⅓ tasang toyo
• 2 kutsarang cornstarch (o cassava starch)
• 1 pirasong pork broth cube
• 8 – 10 tasang tubig
• patis
• 10 pirasong squid balls
• mantika (pang-gisa)
• itlog ng pugo (optional)

Paano Lutuin:

1. Batihin ang mga itlog sa isang bowl at isantabi.
2. Tunawin ang cornstarch sa tubig sa isang bowl. Isantabi.
3. Magpainit ng mantika sa kawali. Ilagay ang sibuyas at bawang at igisa ng ilang minuto hanggang maging light brown. Kapag nagmantika na ang baboy, sunod namang ilagay ang atay at igisa hanggang maging light brown. Timplahan ito ng konting paminta at ilagay ang pork broth cube. Lagyan ito ng 2 baso ng tubig. Takpan ang kawali at hayaan itong maluto ng 10 minuto gamit ang mahinang katamtamang apoy hanggang lumambot ang baboy.
4. Kapag malambot na ang baboy, ilagay ang carrots at ang toyo. Haluin muna ito ng konti bago lagyan ng 6 – 7 tasa ng tubig. Pwede mo pa ito dagdagan kung kailangan. Hintaying kumulo ang sabaw.
5. Ilagay ang mga squid balls sa kumukulong sabaw at lutuin ng dalawang minuto. Sunod na ilagay ang miki noodles at hayaan itong maluto ng 3 minuto.
6. Tikman ang sabaw at timplahan ito ng asin o patis. Sunod na ilagay ang mga repolyo at ihalo sa sabaw para maluto. Ilagay ang mga binating itlog ng dahan dahan habang hinahalo.
7. Huling ilagay ang tinunaw na cornstarch. Haluin itong mabuti ng isang buong minuto hanggang lumapot ang sabaw. Maglagay ng itlog ng pugo (optional).
8. Kapag luto na ang lahat ng ingredients, patayin na ang apoy. Ilipat ang pork lomi sa malaking serving bowl. Kainin ang lomi habang mainit pa. Pwede mo itong lagyan ng iba’t ibang toppings kagaya ng chicharon, hiniwang sibuyas, fried garlic bits, spring onions at iba pa. Yum!