Filipino Spaghetti

Growing up, I could tell just from the look of Spaghetti and sauce if it were made by a Filipino because it had hot dogs in it. Hot dogs in spaghetti are just as Filipino-American as serving hamburger patties with rice (instead of buns) at an outdoor cookout. I tried to make a version of that Spaghetti using Smart Dogs. Filipino Spaghetti is also sweet and a hint of sour.

My mother made this spaghetti that made her famous with all of my friends. She never used hot dogs but the taste was that distinct sweet and a hint of sour taste. Naturally, I always liked her spaghetti the best out of all of the spaghettis I had been served by aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins' cousins, etc. Whenever I recreate the sauce and the minute I taste it, I am transported right back to my childhood.

Recreating my mother's spaghetti is challenging without the use of oil or meat. Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

1 Can of Tomato Sauce (I also added 3 chopped tomatoes I skinned after boiling for some texture, and because I had tomatoes that were about to go bad)

1 Medium Onion chopped

3 Smart Dogs (sliced)

3 Cloves of Garlic

Mushrooms (to make the sauce a little more meaty)

Tomato Paste

Sugar*

Soy Sauce*

Vegetable Broth

*Soy Sauce was my mother's "Secret Ingredient." The combination of the soy sauce and sugar gives the sauce this really great flavor that's sweet and salty but does not overpower the tomato so you can tell you are still eating red tomato sauce.

What to do:

Brown chopped hot dogs in a non-stick pan (using veggie broth). Add onions, garlic and mushrooms and sautee.

Add tomato sauce, some veggie broth and tomato paste to thicken. Add tomato paste as desired to make the sauce thicker.

I don't exactly know how much soy sauce I used (maybe 2 TBS) and 2 TBS of sugar. I just tasted the sauce to my liking adding soy sauce or sugar as I needed. 

Let the sauce cook on medium heat for sometime so the flavors meld. Season with a little bit of dry rub sage and S&P. Taste the sauce while cooking.

Pour over some whole wheat spaghetti and enjoy.

That stuff on top is this strange thing called Nutritional Yeast. I got some from Whole Foods and according to the trusty Internet, you can use it like you would parmesan. You can add it on popcorn or like in this case, on top of pasta sauce. I haven't made up my mind about it yet. I don't know if it made a difference.

The Smart Dogs gave the sauce a bit of a smoky flavor which I think worked well. This would be a poor man's spaghetti if it were real hot dogs. The dish was pretty good although it was not exactly like my mothers, but I am satisfied.

This dish is good for: Broke-ass people who don't have any ground beef but only cheap hotdogs as a protein (that is if you planned on using real hot dogs).