How To Cook Upo?

How to cook upo? The simplest way to cook upo is to saute it in a pan over medium heat for 6 minutes, with garlic, onions, and tomatoes. You can also add ground pork, beef, chicken meat, or even fish for a richer taste.

Ginisang Upo is a simple Filipino vegetable dish in which a bottle gourd called upo is sliced and sauteed with garlic, onion, and tomato. It is quick to make and perfect for everyday meals, and in this article, we will go over some of the most popular ways to prepare upo.

How To Cook Upo?

This is the easiest ginisang upo recipe, simply follow these steps:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add five minced garlic cloves, one chopped onion, and two diced tomatoes and saute them for 3-4 minutes.
3. Slice one upo bottle gourd and add to the saucepan.
4. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
5. Cover the pan and simmer for 6 minutes.

You can also add 1/4 lb ground pork while you cook ginisang upo, you will just need to simmer it for 5 minutes before adding white gourd.

In this video on how to cook upo, they are using a wok, but you can do the same in a frying pan. Also, you put any meat that you want, so this video guide just serves as a cooking framework 🙂

How To Cook Upo With Sardines?

This recipe is similar to the previous one, with some minor alterations:

1. Preheat oil in the pan.
2. Saute garlic and onion for 2 minutes and then add tomatoes.
3. Add sliced upo and saute for 3 minutes.
4. Add 2 5.5 oz cans of spicy sardines in tomato sauce.
5. Stir everything well together and add 1/4 cup of water.
6. Cook until it starts boiling, and then cook for another 3-5 minutes.
7. Season with fish sauce and transfer to the serving dish.

How To Cook Upo With Pork?

1. In a medium-sized pan, preheat the oil and saute one chopped onion and four minced garlic cloves for 3 minutes.
2. Add 1/2 pound of ground pork and cook for another 3 minutes.
3. Add two chopped tomatoes and cook until they become soft.
4. Add 1.5 cups of water and bring to a boil.
5. Chop 1 upo, add it to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Season with salt, pepper, and oyster sauce and serve.

How To Cook Upo Guisado?

Upo guisado, or sauteed bottle gourd, is cooked with a thinly sliced pork belly. You simply saute onion and garlic like in the previous paragraph, and instead of 1/2 pound of ground pork, you add 1/2 pound of pork belly. You cook it for 3 minutes, add tomatoes, water, and upo, and cook for 5-6 minutes. Season with oyster sauce and serve!

How To Cook Upo With Misua?

1. in a medium-sized pan, cook 1/2 lb of ground pork with 1/2 cup of water.
2. Once the water evaporates, add three tablespoons of olive oil, one chopped onion, and four minced garlic cloves, and saute for 5 minutes.
3. Add three diced tomatoes and 1/4 cup of water and let simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add one beef bouillon cube and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Then, add 2 cups of diced upo and simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Finally, add 1/4 cup of misua and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Season with black pepper and serve.

How To Cook Upo With Corned Beef?

You can cook a bottle gourd sautéed with corned beef.

1. In a pan, saute one chopped onion and five minced garlic cloves for 3 minutes.
2. Add one can of corned beef and 1/4 cup of water.
3. Simmer for 1 minute and add one sliced upo or white squash and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Season with soy sauce, salt, and pepper.

How To Cook Upo With Chicken?

1. In a pan over medium heat, preheat three tablespoons of cooking oil and saute one chopped onion and two minced garlic cloves for 2 minutes.
2. Add 1/2 lb of diced chicken thigh meat.
3. Cook for 10 minutes until the meat becomes lightly browned.
4. Add one tablespoon of fish sauce and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.
6. Slice one bottle gourd and add to the pan.
7. Cook for 5-8 minutes and season with ground black pepper.

How To Cook Upo With Beef

You can cook upo with beef instead of pork or chicken. The process is the same. You just need to saute ground beef with onion, garlic, and tomato until it’s almost done, then add one sliced upo and cook for 5-6 minutes.

How To Cook Upo With Shrimp?

If you like seafood, you can cook your ginisang upo with shrimp. Simply peel and devein shrimp, and saute it with onion and garlic until the shrimp meat becomes brightly pink, add fish sauce and cook for 1 minute, and then add tomato and upo and cook for 6 minutes.

How To Cook Upo With Alamang?

Small fermented shrimps are called alamang, and you can use them instead of fresh shrimps when cooking upo. You can also add shrimp paste to this meal.

How Long Does Upo Take To Cook?

Upo needs a maximum of 5-6 minutes to fully cook. That’s why you should add it as the last ingredient when cooking, after onions, garlic, tomatoes, and meat are almost fully cooked.

Do I Need To Remove The Seeds Of Upo?

Whether you need to remove the seeds of upo or not depends on the maturity of upo’s interior. When you cut upo in half, and you notice that the interior is spongey while the seeds look mature and hard, you should discard them before cooking.

What Is The Benefit Of Upo?

1. Eating upo improves digestion and prevents constipation.
2. Upo has a cooling effect.
3. Upo is a natural diuretic.
4. It reduces blood sugar levels.
5. Reduces risk of urinary infections.
6. Reduces liver inflammation.

Summary

Now you know how to cook upo. Simply saute 1 sliced upo in a medium-sized pan together with chopped onion, minced garlic, and diced tomato for 5-6 minutes. Since upo cook quite fast, you should saute garlic, onion, and tomato for several minutes before you add upo. Also, you can add pork, beef, chicken, or even sardines and seafood when cooking this meal if you want it to be more nutritional and rich in flavor. Bon appetite!

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