Filipino garlic fried rice made by stir-frying day-old rice with abundant toasted garlic until fragrant and lightly golden. Simple and savory, it is the foundation of every 'silog' breakfast, pairing with cured meats and a fried egg.
Sinangag is Filipino garlic fried rice, traditionally made from the day's leftover rice tossed with garlic. It lends its '-silog' to the breakfast canon — tapsilog, tocilog — paired with egg and a cured meat to start the day.
Fragrant and nutty with crisp bits of toasted garlic in every spoonful, the rice is dry-edged yet fluffy. Plain enough to anchor a plate yet savory enough to enjoy on its own.
Day-old rice is drier and firmer, so it fries into separate, lightly toasted grains instead of turning mushy. Frying garlic to golden first infuses the oil and creates the crisp topping that defines the dish.
Variations
with extra crispy garlic, anchovy or salted fish added, sinangag na bawang, paired into tapsilog/tocilog
On the Palate
Where Sinangag sits in the Filipino flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 5 min
- 12 min
Break up cold day-old rice with your hands so there are no clumps.
Watch outBreak the cold rice into loose separate grains before it hits the pan — clumps go in and you get gummy lumps instead of fluffy fried rice.
- 22 min
Mince a generous amount of garlic.
- 33 min
Heat oil in a wide pan and fry most of the garlic until golden and crisp, then set some aside.
Watch outFry the garlic just to pale gold and pull it the moment it turns crisp — it browns further off the heat, and gone dark it turns acrid.
- 41 min
Add the cold rice to the garlicky oil and toss to coat.
- 52 min
Stir-fry over high heat, spreading the rice so it lightly toasts.
Watch outSpread the rice thin over high heat and let it sit a beat to toast — constant stirring steams it soft when you want lightly crisp grains.
- 61 min
Season with salt and a little pepper, tossing until evenly fragrant.
- 71 min
Continue until the rice is hot and slightly golden.
- 81 min
Top with the reserved toasted garlic and serve as a base for silog meals.
