Editors' Picks: Our Favorite Recipes From The Moms In Our Family

Some of the most comforting food you will ever eat is courtesy of a mother's home cooking. These lutong bahay dishes are commonly made with that essential ingredient called "love". It's this that not only makes it super delicious in our eyes but also precious in our hearts. 

What makes these family recipes so special?

These dishes are heartwarmingly delicious for many reasons. We think it's a rare combination of dishes that were childhood (and current!) favorites and the fond memories associated with it that make these recipes so treasured. 

Like everyone else, the Yummy.ph staff have their family favorites, too. Here are the stories behind these delicious family dishes and recipes plus tweaks you can do to replicate them at home:  

Photo by Karishma Etong

1 Molo Soup Recipe 

"(My mom's molo soup) was comforting. It had a flavorful broth. It had all the right umami flavors," says Yummy.ph editor-in-chief Trixie Zabal-Mendoza when she describes her mother's recipe.

"It always reminds me of being home, of Christmas, and of family. I was always the designated assistant in the kitchen assigned to chop carrots and help with all the other dishes served for the holidays." It not only had carrots but also celery, leek, onions, and shredded chicken. 

Plus, it's loaded with hand-formed dumplings lovingly filled with both ground pork and chicken swimming in the broth. You'll taste all the delicious effort that goes into each spoonful of this molo soup recipe.

Photo by Majoy Siason

2 Timbal Recipe 

Food editor Roselle Miranda says that this incredibly rich and creamy chicken tomato pasta called timbal is comfort food at its finest. Timbal is a pasta recipe that uses the one-pot method of making a pasta dish. Her lola taught her mother this pasta recipe while growing up and she, in turn, passed on the recipe to Roselle. It's still a family favorite and is still popular among her relatives whenever she goes home and makes it for special occasions.  

What makes this pasta dish so special? Not only was it delicious but it's almost completely homemade, from the stock used to cook the pasta to the chicken that's lovingly shredded by hand so no part of the chicken is wasted. Plus, most of the ingredients are available in any Pinoy kitchen, including evaporated milk, all-purpose cream, and quick-melting cheese. 

"This is probably why this recipe is much more delicious: it's creamier, tastier, and it has all the delicious parts of the chicken in the broth already," says Roselle. 

Photo by Patrick Martires

3 Chicken and Pork Adobo with Onions Recipe  

For Bea Faicol, assistant lifestyle editor, her mom's recipe for her delicious adobo recipe is all about the sauce. "The first thing I love about it is the smell. There were times I can smell it from my room on the second floor and I would always go down agad because if the smell is that strong, alam kong malapit na maluto." 

Bea says she has tried to replicate it herself but hasn't been successful yet. "When it's my mom's adobo: I will cover my rice with sauce. Almost 3/4 is covered. For my adobo: 1/4 lang covered." That's how good her mom's adobo is. 

The recipe sounds like a typical adobo. She uses pork adobo cut, chicken wings, paminta, bay leaves, garlic, soy sauce, and vinegar. Then she does something different: she adds onions. "She uses red onions so it's a little sweeter! But she also adds sugar and ketchup!"

Try these tweaks using this adobo recipe: 

4 Beef Short Ribs Kaldereta Recipe

For Chelii Abitria, video content producer, it's not her mother's dish that she's in love with; it's her grandmother's beef kaldereta. "She cooks lutong bahay pero fave ko niluluto niyang kaldereta na beef pag may special occasion. I love it kasi it's the type of kaldereta na parang malapot yung sauce tapos very tomato-y. Yung tipong parang nagmamantika pa yung beef. Super lambot nung beef and I like yung mga litid part. Ang sarap sa kanin." 

The kind of beef that Chelii's lola uses is not your usual beef cubes. She uses beef short ribs. This cut of beef is one of the most flavorful, delectable, and tender cuts of beef if cooked right, and from the sounds of it, she does. 

The kaldereta her lola makes is simple yet delicious. It's got tomato sauce, as well as liver spread, to make it malapot and malasa. It also has bell pepper, potatoes, carrots, green peas, and green olives.

Photo by Michael Angelo Chua

5 Lumpiang Gulay Recipe 

Riell Santos, team video editor, loves her grandmother's recipe for lumpiang gulay. "It's an easy, non-pork version. She makes it with a lot of togue and carrots which are both faves, cabbage, and sweet potato." She says she sometimes adds tofu which makes it into a more hearty meal. 

The seasoning of the vegetables is what makes this vegetable lumpia delicious and unique. Riell says, "It's like yasai itame or misono Filipino-style with sweet potato wrapped for easy eating and then fried. Plus, there's the soy sauce-suka combo (for dipping)." 

Try this version of the lumpiang gulay which also features a hearty mix of vegetables. Add lots of togue and serve with a delicious soy sauce-suka dip, too. 

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Thinking about what to cook next? Join our Facebook group, Yummy Pinoy Cooking Club, to get more recipe ideas, share your own dishes, and find out what the rest of the community are making and eating!

Got your own version of the classic dishes? Pa-share naman! Get your recipe published on Yummy.ph by submitting your recipe here.

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