Uh Oh! Spaghetti-O's, Filipino Style

Despite Foodgoat's great skill at making all kinds of delicious, and authentically Italian, pasta dishes, sometimes the pasta dish I feel like isn't Italian at all.  It's Filipino-style!

Filipino style spaghetti is spaghetti with a sweet meat sauce and hot dogs.  Trust me, it's good.  

 

The sauce can be sweetened by using banana sauce or banana ketchup or with sugar, or both.   Don't know what banana ketchup is?  Banana ketchup is a Filipino condiment that is just ketchup made with some bananas (banana ketchup was made when there was a shortage of tomato ketchup during World War II, due to lack of tomatoes and a comparatively high production of bananas).  It's sweeter than regular ketchup.  

 

Can't get any banana ketchup?  You can substitute regular ketchup or regular tomato sauce, with a little more sugar to make it sweeter.  

 

The hot dogs are the other key part of this dish, and the part people might question.  But I actually think they provide a nice meaty, salty balance to the sweet tomato sauce.  They should, however, be sliced diagonally, in my opinion.  Why?  Because that's how my mom does it, and it just seems better.   

I decided to use pasta shaped like little rings instead of the usual spaghetti shape, because GoatSpawn picked it out at the store (we always let her pick out the pasta at the store) and because it seemed like it might be easier for her to eat.  So my Filipino spaghetti really actually turned out to be Filipino SpaghettiO's!

I don't recall every having SpaghettiO's as a kid, and I don't remember wanting it.  It never looked good, coming out of a can like that.  I didn't know that they were specifically marketed to parents as 'less messy' than regular spaghetti ("The neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon!"), and also use a sweetened tomato sauce. 

My homemade Filipino version turned out to be a hit with GoatSpawn, and even Foodgoat. 

 

This recipe is adapted from Cook Mobile's recipe for Filipino-Style Spaghetti.  Check out the original!  

 

1 lb anelli (ring-shaped) pasta, or any other pasta shape you like

1 lb ground beef

2 to 3 hot dogs, sliced diagonally

1 cup banana ketchup (can't find banana ketchup/sauce?  use regular ketchup, or tomato sauce)

2 1/2 cups tomato sauce (this can be a mix of sauce and paste, depending on how thick and tomato-y you like it)

1/2 medium onion, peeled and diced

1 to 2 minced garlic cloves

1 spoonful sugar to taste (smaller spoon if you use banana ketchup or regular ketchup, more if you use regular tomato sauce)

salt and pepper to taste

In a pan, saute hotdogs until lightly brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Saute onions and garlic. Add  ground beef, and cook until browned.

Pour in tomato sauce and ketchup. Stir the sugar. Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until meat is fully cooked and sauce is thickened, about 30 minutes. Add broth or water if it gets too thick for you.  Stir in the hotdogs to heat through.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta! 

Once the pasta is done and the sauce is done, mix all together.   Top with grated Parmesan cheese if you like and serve!