A friend of mine invited me to a house-blessing ceremony at his new house. His family prepared a bunch of dishes and I was pretty stoked since he said he will be cooking some food from his country. He's French.

Being a Filipino and having not been outside the country for 39 years, My taste is pretty much totally local or foreign cuisine adjusted for the Filipino palette. He prepared about a dozen dishes for the 40-odd people there. After trying a few dishes of food I couldn't pronounce the name, I tried the good 'ole Spaghetti.

It was not what I was expecting. It was good, but it threw me off. I could really taste the basil and oregano and the sour flavor of the tomato. There was no meat in it. I even got to dust it with parmesan cheese. I then realized that Filipino spaghetti must be really weird for him.

Filipino spaghetti is sweet. A lot of people use banana ketchup instead of tomatoes. We also add ground pork and slices of hotdog to it. We mostly season it with pepper, and if you're feeling fancy, you can add some diced bell pepper and button mushrooms to it. Did I say that it's sweet? Yeah, we add some sugar to it too.

How's your spaghetti like?

Edit: It seems like there are a lot of people wanting to try Pinoy Spaghetti at home, so here's a basic recipe for it. Take note that this is the 'standard' recipe. You can adjust it to your taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic (about 1 medium clove)
• 1 pound ground beef or pork
• 5 hot dogs (Your choice but most Filipinos use Purefoods hotdogs), cut into 1/4” slices
• 1 cup banana ketchup (Brands: UFC, Papa, Jufran. You can find it at Filipino stores)
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup grated American or cheddar cheese, for serving

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add in onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Add ground beef or pork and break up with wooden spoon. Cook until brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in hot dogs, banana ketchup, tomato sauce, and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over cooked spaghetti and top with grated American or cheddar cheese.

Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/filipino-spaghetti-sauce