A friend invited us to her Game of Thrones viewing party. She requested everyone dress up and bring a dish to match the theme. Josh and I thought this would be a terribly perfect opportunity to introduce our friends to dinuguan. WHICH IS MADE FROM THE BLOOD OF OUR ENEMIES!
Well, okay, it's actually made with pig's blood (pigs are not our enemies), but that's not as on theme. Maybe we've just eliminated all our enemies. Who knows? What we do know is that dinuguan is delicious, and once you get over the thought of eating blood—just call it "chocolate meat," no for real, that's another name for it—then it is a perfect addition to your rotation of dinners.
Dinuguan is a savory Filipino stew that is often made with what some people call the garbage parts of pork. Think lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc. Dinuguan also goes by other names in other regions of the Philipines, such as sinugaok, zinagan, twik, tid-tad, dinardaraan, dugo-dugo, rugodugo, sampayna or champayna, and tinumis. So, if you're ever at a Filipino restaurant or in the Philipines and you see one of these on the menu, it's pork blood stew, and I highly recommend it.
Dinuguan is surprisingly easy to make low carb. You basically just remove the brown sugar that the recipe usually calls for. Once you do that you get a beautiful ratio of 86.8% fat, 1.9% carbs, and 11.3% protein.
Throw this stew over some cauliflower rice, and you've got yourself a whole meal that will fill you up.
So, let's get cooking!
Ingredients:
10 oz (283.5g) pig's blood
1c (240g) datu puti vinegar (Filipino White Vinegar)
1tbsp (13.6g) coconut oil (Don't use extra virgin, it will give a coconut taste, unless you're into that, then you do you)
1 large (150g) yellow onion, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves (16g), peeled and minced
20g ginger, peeled and minced
2lbs (907.2g) pork belly, cut into ½-inch chunks
1tbsp (15g) datu puti fish sauce (patis)
1c (237g) water
2 jalapeños (28g), halved
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Combine the pig's blood and 2 tablespoons (30g) of the vinegar into a small pot and heat on low until blood congeals and becomes grainy. Blend blood with immersion blender or let it cool and use a regular blender to smooth it out.
Heat the coconut oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the onions until they begin to brown. The onions have a lot of water and take awhile to brown (Don't believe time estimates of browning onions. It's done when it's done. For us, it was roughly 20-ish minutes).
Add garlic and ginger, sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
Add the pork belly to cook, occasionally stirring, until lightly browned. Expect this step to take about 20 minutes.
Add the fish sauce and cook for another 2 minutes. Then add the rest of the vinegar and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, leave uncovered for about 5 minutes to reduce some of the liquid.
Add the water and bring it back to a boil.
Now that it's boiling, lower the heat, cover, and continue to cook for roughly 15-20 minutes, or until the pork is tender.
Take the pig's blood mixture from earlier and add it to the pot. Add the jalapeños and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Serve with cauliflower rice or enjoy by itself!
Tools We Used:
Nutrition
The above recipe makes roughly 8 servings (239g per serving). **NOTE** I got these numbers after putting all the ingredients we used into my calorie tracker. I use Cronometer. Be sure to add this recipe to what you use to track your macros with the brand of ingredients you use for the most accurate count.
Calories: 643.3
Fat: 61.9
Net Carbs: 2.7
Carbs: 3.1
Fiber: 0.4
Protein: 17.5
We hope you enjoy this recipe! If you make it, we'd love to see it. Tag us on Instagram using @KaitandKeto!
Oh, and the recipe was a hit at the party. Most people there had never heard of it, almost everyone tried it, and a lot of people came back for seconds.