A quarter kilogram of ground meat can feed four people. The secret? Add vegetables and quail eggs. Try this 15-minute ground pork menudo using crumbled longganisa (sausage) and be amazed at the flavor of the dish!
I got the idea for this dish from a popular ulam (main dish) served in Filipino carinderias (eateries). It is basically Filipino menudo except that it is made with ground meat which, in this latest incarnation, was upgraded to crumbled longganisa.
The backstory behind this update. There’s a stall at Suki Market in Dapitan where Speedy buys longganisa regularly. Garlicky, laden with chilies and just bursting with bold flavors usually associated with Vigan longganisa. None of that icky sweet stuff tinted with red food color that often goes by the name longganisa recado or longganisa hamonado.
We love the spicy and garlicky longganisa so much that I asked Speedy to inquire if we could buy the sausage meat without the casing. No harm in asking, right? And from his next trip to Suki Market, Speedy came home with four kilograms of sausage meat. Oh, fiesta! Alex divided the mass into eight portions and stored them in the freezer in reseable bags. We’ve been cooking the sausage meat in so many new and delicious ways. This is one of them.
So, I was saying this dish is carinderia-inspired… In carinderias, the ground pork menudo is usually garnished with hard-boiled chicken eggs which serve as an inexpensive extender. But, you know, the size of the quail eggs seemed to me to be more appropriate for ground meat. A dozen quail eggs for a quarter kilogram of ground meat were just right.
15-minute Ground Pork Menudo with Quail Eggs Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 250 grams sausage meat (see notes after the recipe)
- ¼ cup chopped carrot
- ¼ cup sweet peas
- ¼ cup chopped shallots
- salt
- pepper
- 3 plump tomatoes chopped
- 1 pinch dried oregano
- 12 quail eggs hard-boiled and peeled
- cooked rice to serve
- sliced scallions to garnish
Instructions
- Heat the cooking oil in a frying pan.
- Spread the sausage meat in the hot oil. Over high heat, leave for a minute for the underside to brown.
- Stir the sausage meat and cook, stirring often, until you see rendered fat in the pan.
- Add the chopped carrot and shallots, and sweet peas. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Continue cooking with occasional stirring for about a minute.
- Stir in the chopped tomatoes and oregano. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook until the carrots are almost and the tomatoes have softened.
- Stir in the quail eggs. Cover the pan once more and cook for another minute or two to allow the quail eggs to soak up the flavors of the sausage meat.
- Taste your ground pork menudo; add more salt and pepper, if necessary.
- Scoop rice into bowl, top with ground pork menudo, making sure everyone gets enough quail eggs, sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve at once.
Cook’s Notes
P. S. After transferring the ground pork menudo with quail eggs to a bowl, I cooked fried rice in the same frying pan. You know, in the remaining rendered fat. Never waste good stuff, really.
Updated from recipes originally published in June 11, 2006, Ocotber 6, 2017 and May 1, 2018.If you cooked this dish (or made this drink) and you want to share your masterpiece, please use your own photos and write the cooking steps in your own words.
Hello and welcome! I'm a retired lawyer and columnist, wife for 28 years, mom of two, and a passionate cook. What is this blog about? Recipes for dishes 
Spicy Peanut Butter Chicken
Hi, I’ve just discovered your blog and I think its great. As a Filipino living in Sydney, Aus I do miss some of the stuff from back home escpecially the food!! I’ve been in Aus since I was six, but haven’t been back in about ten years but through this blog I feel like i’m back home already. Thanks!
This came just in time Connie. I have about 2 dozen cooked quail eggs (leftover from my pickling with onions recipe). This would definitely be our supper tomorrow.
Doddie
i tried your sweet & spicy tofu and chicken livers & string beans. simut-sarap ng pamilya ko. panalo! :lol:
sarap po nito! actually i have tried it before at home ground beef sirloin din po, but without quail eggs, now ill try it with quail eggs. thanks for sharing your recipes
thanks sassy for these recipes. they are great help to us, kitchen newbies. and the stories are well written and very enjoyable to read.
just want to ask if you can do (or direct me to it if you already have) a portion in your blog for some marketing tips. like how to buy seafoods or meat, how to know if they are fresh or not, how to pick tomatoes and such. it may be basic for some but believe me “we” exist — those that have no idea about these things. and good/fresh ingredients are the foundations of a delicious dish, right?
thanks again, sassy.
enjoy your week!
You are welcome, jenjen.
doddie, pickled quail eggs? wow, i’ve always wanted to try that since i saw a jar in a flea market last year.
ayos, pao. :grin:
rya, the dish looks rather plain and the quail eggs make it look so festive. and with kids… LOL the quail eggs do make a lot of difference. :)
pyjs, wow, i do think i need to add a category like that. come to think of it, i do not know of any food site that specifically address those issues.
ganda, am so glad to see na tuloy pa din ang iyong re-invention of Filipino food :) kami mamaya, because of Coco Evap, we’d be cooking gising-gising naman, with both kangkong and chopped baguio beans :D
hi ms. sassy, this is one of the comfort foods i enjoy even as a kid. i think it’s called picadillo, and my mom used to serve it as a soup complete with hard-boiled eggs. Aside from bell peppers, green peas would also be a nice addition :-)
this looks easy to make! can’t wait to try it. and i love anything with quail eggs on it.
PS: just wanna thank you for your recipes. it has made my “independent” life seem easier!!!! :)
uy, delish, cooking na ba beauty mo ha? domesticated ne? hehehe
hi jeffry. :) maybe you’d like to try my version of picadillo?
No problem, paupau. I’m happy enough that I can help so that less people will be dependent on fast food junk. :)
thanks sassy for welcoming my suggestion…
looking forward to that :)
by the way, please have a moment of silence on saturday (late afternoon) as i’ll attempt to cook this dish for dinner..hehehe
pyjs, i’m preparing for it. it’s not the same as documenting a recipe so give me a little time to practice hehehe :wink:
this one’s my favorite dish back in college… foods that fit my allowance, easy to eat pa, no need to chew too much! hehehe… I used to do this with ground pork minus the quail eggs, i’ll try beef next time. :-)
thanks for the idea!
Pix looks so yum yum. I remember my Lola and Tita bringing this dish with us as baon every time. I have been cooking this less the quail eggs but I will try next time with the quail. I give this to the kids in a toasted pita bread. Just tonight my son (who got married 3 weeks ago) dropped by and ask me how to cook it. Don’t think he will remember all what I told him so I am sending your recipe as well.
Thanks
wen i saw ur recipe ngutom 2loy me en try 2 cook diz hmmn its favolus tnkz 4 recipe naiba naman ang taste okz
:-)
I always cook this with ground pork, try ko naman ngayon ang beef with quail eggs pa. Hay, thanks Connie nadagdagan na naman ang alam kong recipe.
Sana magustuhan mo, Lani. :)
Hi Connie,
Thank you so much for sharing great recipes, I’ve tried this one and made Maja Maiz for dessert.. Dad liked the Maja, while Mom liked this one. (Just to give a background, I’m the unofficial cook in the family whenever I visit my parents’ house in the province, which is almost every weekend and I’ve always looked for various dishes to try out and particularly those that we can cook during holidays when all the relatives are present :wink:)
I really do hope that you can publish your recipe book sometime soon. :grin:
Hi Janet. You know… I have a better recipe for maja maiz. Been experimenting with proportions of ingredients and texture. Will post it soon. :)
That’s great Connie! I can’t wait to try it :grin:
a general question connie: if i freeze small portions of these viands, how’s the best way of heating them up before serving?
i guess i can use chickens eggs too instead of quail. they just have to open their mouths wider.
Why don´t you mention, how long one has to boil the quail eggs until they are hard boiled?
Re #22. Reheat in a non-stick pan with no oil added.
Re #24. Because I didn’t think it was necessary. :)
buti nalang nag open me now ihave no idea for this day what was our dinner and i saw this recipe actualy i always looking for this site,what was my family eating everyday and they love it,, thank you for posting this site,,
Hi, fired my cook a few weeks ago :) and i got 2 schooling kids to make breakfast and baons/lunch everyday…i found ur site 2 wks ago and it has really helped me a lot in what to cook and how to do it esp. this is all pinoy so all the ingredients are all available and simple, very helpful esp for me who is an “aspiring” cook,hehe..thanks so much! ur a big help and more power to ur site!! :)
Madam Connie ano kaya pwedeng gamitin aside from basil leaves?
Sliced onion leaves.
the procedure is very simple.i’ll try this one this evening..
It’s 3am, couldn’t sleep, so I’m browsing your recipes. I was never really interested in cooking, until very recently. My husband’s more into it than I am! But my toddler’s growing up so I thought it’s high time I learned. The very first few dishes I’ve tried were yours, and they were absolute hits! I was an instant pro! Hehe. So a big THANK YOU — the more I read your blog, the more I’m hooked. Never knew cooking was such joy!
It’s 4.54 a.m. and I was about to shut down my iMac when I decided to check my mail first. And there were notifications for new comments and the first one I saw was yours. So, now, I am about to go to bed with a big smile on my face. Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad to be able to introduce you to the joys of cooking. :D