What goes with your grilled food?
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Filed under Healthy veggies; My recipes; asparagus, lettuce, salads, Superb soups
What is it about men and the grill? While most men balk at the thought of preparing a meal in the kitchen, they have less objections when the cooking is to be done on the grill. For some reason, they enjoy fanning the charcoal until they are glowing bright red and they like to watch the meat as it slowly chars. Perhaps, to a lot of males, grilling is far cry from kitchen cooking which, in our culture, is considered a feminine activity. Perhaps, there is a psychological and cultural association of grilled food with pulutan and, hence, the involvement of a macho factor.
Whatever the reasons, men like to grill and they especially enjoy grilling meat — chops, steaks, hamburgers and skewered pork that Filipinos like to call barbecue. What they often forget is to prepare a good accompaniment for the grilled meat. Men rarely think of soups or salads. Most only go as far as preparing the dipping sauce — spicy, of course, still in the perfect pulutan tradition.
Whether you’re a male who likes to grill or a woman living with a man who loves the grill, here are a few ideas to accompany grilled meat that do not require much effort to prepare.
Grilled or boiled sweet corn
If there is some space left on the grill, place a few peeled ears of sweet corn with the last few batches of meat. If the grill is full, boil or steam the corn without peeling. An ear of corn per person is usually enough.
Steamed asparagus
Over briskly boiling water, steam some baby asparagus for one minute. Refresh in ice cold water to prevent them from turning soggy. Unless you do this, the asparagus will continue cooking while hot. Toss with melted butter and a little salt.
Asian coleslaw
Shred a small head of wombok (pechay Baguio) using the upper half of the leaves only. Julienne a carrot. Finely slice some string beans (Baguio beans). Make the dressing by mixing together equal amounts of patis (fish sauce), rice wine vinegar and sugar; a drizzle of sesame seed oil and freshly ground pepper. Pour over the vegetables and toss gently.
A simple garden salad
In a bowl, whisk together ¼ cup of mustard, ¼ cup of honey and 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice. Slowly pour in extra virgin olive oil in a very thin and slow stream while whisking continuously until the dressing thickens to your desired consistency. Serve with torn lettuce and alfalfa sprouts.
Tomato, Thai basil and cilantro salad with nuoc cham
Nuoc cham is Vietnamese sweet and sour sauce that traditionally accompanies chicken satay but I discovered how well it goes with spring rolls and vegetables, too. To make nuoc cham: Cut off the stems of two finger chilis (siling haba), slit them lengthwise and scrape off the seeds with a knife, a teaspoon or (this is the most effective) your thumb. Chop the chilis. Take half of head of garlic, crush and discard the skins. Place the garlic and chilis in a blender or food processor. Add ¼ cup of sugar, the juice of a lime or lemon, a tablespoonful of vinegar and four tablespoonfuls of patis. Process on low speed until the sugar is completely dissolved. Drizzle the nuoc cham over diced tomatoes, torn fresh Thai basil and snipped cilantro. Toss and serve. Store any excess nuoc cham in the fridge.
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[...] just as long. This photo was taken on the same day that we gad the grilled liempo accompanied by a simple garden salad. What’s with the chair and the industrial fan? Oh, that’s how Speedy does the grilling. [...]
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Perfection… tamang-tama sana nung long weekend umaraw. Kaya lang nag-retire na for good yung grill namin. Have to buy one this pay day
For “panulak” fresh fruit smoothie di ba? Kung nasa Pinas, tagalog melon juice… hmmm
Teka, post ko yang smoothies bukas.
Hi, I was blog hopping and stumbled upon yours. How apt that I found this article on what goes with grilled meat because I wrote about what goes with chutney. Don’t you think the two would go fairly well together?
Yum! I’m a complete klutz in the kitchen but the grill isn’t as scary. Haha. I’ll try the simple garden salad recipe soon. Thanks!
hi ms connie,
yeah, it remains to be seen what is it with men and grilling…sometimes I feel annoyed because it makes me feel as if I don’t know how to make the coal burn or grill at all! But I guess you’re right, it’s this macho thing that guys connect to grilling and ‘pulutan’ and, I should say, beer.
BTW, I’m a long time follower of your website but it’s only now that I made a comment
From the first time I saw it, I find it really useful and helpful. I used to be a total disaster in the kitchen, has the worst taste buds (which logically explains why I can’t cook) and a wannabe baker. Now I can cook simple dishes from your recipes, some of which are a complete surprise to my family and everybody who knows me 
I’ve earned enough praises and I guess I have you to be thankful for. I used to live in Marikina where I’m familiar with some of the places you’ve mentioned here like Aling Genia’s and Luyong Restaurant. Keep up the good work and thanks a lot for sharing your talent with us. God bless.
Ms. Connie, yay!You just saved us from another ho-hum meal this weekend. Sana umaraw ulit for the grilling.
I have also observed another odd thing about males. Once they have given the budget for the meat/fish, they think that there’s no need for anything else. My dad’s classic line every fiesta “o, nagpakatay na ako ng mga baboy, bakit pa maggo grocery?” haha.
A good pair for grilled meat would be ensaladang talong. Good thing I chanced upon your website. My partner is crazy over grilling meat…was looking for recipes to pair up with grilled meat, will try your salad this weekend.
The nuoc cham used here by the Vietnamese community doesn’t contain the chilis and vineger. However they do use a chili paste to mix in with the sauce. This is what they use for grilled meats and seafood, plus the eggs I mentioned in the other thread. They have a form of springroll which is very yummy containing some of their own versions of cold meats or fish, and vermiceli noodles. The sauce is something quite different using a combination of chili sauce and hoisin sauce, sugar and peanuts. I’ve yet to know what’s in that sauce but I can tell you it’s both yummy and very low fat.
The grilled pork though looks so much yummy. My most favorite experience was the time I ate a simple meal prepared by a friend, of achara, grilled pork, rice, side of boiled eggs and tomatoes, served on banana leaves. The dipping sauce was the sinamak vinegar with garlic and chilis.
I’m going to try your version of coleslaw. Sounds really interesting.
re the grilled corn – I once ate at a Italian home and they were grilling corn which was wrapped with bacon and covered with tinfoil. It’s very fattening I admit but it was very yummy.
Re the grilled/steamed or blanched asparagus – try it with a simple red wine vinegar/lemon pepper seasoning/olive oil and brown sugar.
Ianna
Hi Connie,
I agree with Susie. I usually make ensaladang talong to go with grilled pork. Sometimes, I make kinilaw or blanced oysters served with soysauce-vinegar-calamansi dip. If it’s my hubby’s western style Kentucky barbeque, I usually make potato salad, sauteed brussel sprouts with bacon salad, garlic fried rice or buttered corn.
Doddie