Batchoy Kapampangan
Batchoy Kapampangan or locally called Batsui is a soup dish made with pork, pork pancreas, pork kidney. One of our favorite Kapampangan comfort food, it truly reminds me of our Province! Batsui also reminds me of rainy days since the Philippines is a tropical country which this dish is best for.
The dish also has vermicelli (sotanghon) which identifies it as Batsui! There has been debate among our Kapampangan friends you can call it Batsui if there is no vermicelli. The final verdict was, To each their own! Whether you add vermicelli or not is up to you. You can use any fine noodles such as mee sua noodles if vermicelli is not readily available. Other variation of the dish also includes pig blood or boudin.
One thing to remember though is this is not the same with La Paz batchoy of Iloilo where they use egg noodles (Miki). Bitsui’s soup is ginger based like much other Filipino soup dish and porridges like Arroz Caldo.
The secret ingredient is always LOVE
Tips for Batchoy Kapampangan
- You can add vermicelli or remove it from ingredients if you wish to. Like what I usually do when cooking is I experiment until I’m happy with the results.
Batchoy Kapampangan
Ingredients
- 1 kilo pork belly (cut in strips)
- 4 pcs pork kidney (cut in strips)
- 1 cup pork pancreas (lapay/kundilat) (cut in small pieces)
- 1-2 thumb-size ginger (cut in strips)
- 1 medium onion (sliced)
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 cup vermicelli (sotanghon)
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 cups water
- ¼ tsp salt (for rubbing on the pork kidney)
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Cut the kidneys in half-lengthwise and remove the white veins and fat. Rub with salt and wash thoroughly together with other pork parts. Set aside
- In a pot, saute ginger, garlic, and onion in oil over medium heat until translucent and aromatic.
- Add the cut kidneys and pancreas (lapay) and fry for a couple of minutes until brown. Pour fish sauce and stir. Add pork belly strips then stir and fry until the sauce is absorb by the meat.
- Add water and let simmer until pork is tender. Taste and adjust with fish sauce if needed.
- Add the vermicelli (sotanghon) and let simmer for 20 minutes or until the vermicelli is cooked.
- Transfer in a serving bowl and serve hot with steaming rice! Bon Appetit!
