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Ah, breakfast: Longanisa sizzling on the stove, rice steaming in the rice cooker, eggs cracking against a pan. 

Breakfast during the week meant cereal and milk; these sounds meant that it was the weekend, and breakfast on weekends was special. Usually we made pancakes or French toast, because those were easy and the ingredients were already on hand. I had to go elsewhere to get longanisa.

Why this fascination with longanisa, pork (sometimes chicken, beef, or tuna) sweetened with sugar and spices, shaped into finger-length sausages, like chorizo but sweeter? Perhaps it is because of its sweet-salty-savory flavor, its juices dyeing my eggs orange and my rice pink, and the wonderful scent of it wafting through my grandmother's house.

I was overjoyed to find a vegetarian version of it sitting next to the soyrizo in the grocery store. It comes in a plastic tube that's somewhat similar to sausage casing, except that you have to squeeze the soy sausage out of the casing. Soyganisa doesn't taste quite the same as longanisa (unlike the soyrizo, which is a dead ringer for chorizo, and sometimes better); it needs more sugar, and a little pink dye.

Fried rice with soyganisa and eggs

1/4 onion, diced
1-3 cloves garlic
4-6 inches of soyganisa
4 eggs
1 cup rice
Seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, herbs)

1. Heat a pan over medium heat. If not using nonstick, add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. 
2. Add garlic and onion, and saute for 1 minute. 
3. Add soyganisa, and heat for 1 minute, until you can smell it.
4. Add eggs, stirring them around so that they combine with the soyganisa.
5. Add rice. Stir everything around until the eggs are cooked. Season to taste and serve hot.
This recipe will serve 2-4 people, depending on appetites.

While it may not be the healthiest breakfast around, it certainly is one of the most delicious.