Ginisang ampalaya (Sautéed bitter melon)

When I was a younger, I only eat certain vegetables. I especially love beans ( Baguio beans and sitaw) , squash and potatoes. And I really hate eating bitter melon or ampalaya. I mean. is there a kid who loves to eat amapalaya? I don't think so. My mother always cook sautéed ampalaya and pair it with fried galunggong. And I would only eat the fish. But now that I'm older and trying to eat healthy, I have changed my views about ampalaya. They say the bitter it is, the better.  I still don't like the taste, to be honest. But it doesn't stop me from buying and cooking it. I would savor the bitterness of the vegetable, and always convince myself that this bitter vegetable is good for me. It works. Sauteed ampalaya is now one of the dishes I cook these days.

Bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd, bitter squash, or ampalaya in Filipino, has many health benefits. Scientific name is Momordica charantia. It is a tropical vegetable grown in Asia and Africa. The fruit is usually used for cooking, but the flower and vine with young leaves are also edible. Some people prefer to use bitter melon leaves in their ginisang munggo instead of malunggay leaves.

Bitter melon has certain medicinal benefits. Some claim its capacity to cure or control diabetes (ampalaya tablets are now sold in the market). Some say it can reduce fever, prevent cancer, HIV and AIDS and other infections. Although these claims are not yet proven.

In the Philippines, ampalaya is usually sautéed with ground pork, beef or shrimp, egg, tomatoes and onion. The flower and leaves are used in ginisang munggo or sinigang. In some provinces like Pampanga , they stuff the vegetable with ground pork mixture similar to stuffed bell pepper. Ampalaya is also one of the main ingredients in popular Filipino dish, pinakbet.

My recipe for sautéed ampalaya depends on what ingredients I have in the fridge. Sometimes I would add long beans with it. Sometimes spinach. But today, I have kale in my fridge, it's been there for a week now and has to be cooked. So I'm adding it to my recipe. The first time I tried kale, it was in a salad, it was good but a little biter and hard for my taste. I immediately thought I would prefer it cooked. I specifically bought kale a week ago for ginisang munggo, which my daughter loves. I only used half of what I bought. The rest, went to this dish.  Here is my sautéed ampalaya recipe.

Ingredients

2      pcs       medium ampalaya, cleaned and sliced diagonally
5      stalks   kale, washed and cut in 3 pcs
1      pc        medium tomatoes, diced
1      pc        medium onion, roughly chopped
2     cloves  garlic, minced
2     pcs       brown eggs, slightly bitten
2     tbsp     vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

To prepare ampalaya, it has to be washed, cut in half diagonally. take the middle part using a spoon. slice, about 1cm thick, add lots of salt and water. Let stand for at least 30 minutes before cooking to mimimize the bitterness. Set aside. Then drain and wash before cooking.

In a saucepan, sautee garlic, onion and tomatoes.  Add the ampalaya. Cook for 10minutes. Add kale, eggs and salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes.  Serve with rice and fried fish.

Broiled chicken

Christmas is almost near and everybody will be busy with preparation and cooking of Christmas Eve dinner. I have been thinking of what dish to bring for the potluck dinner at cousin's place. But every time I try to think of one, I always go back to thinking of  Thanksgiving dinner. I can't get over it, especially the stuffing. I just love the traditional thanksgiving dinner. I didn't grow up eating turkey though, and would much prefer eating chicken. But turkey has a certain taste, the same way you can't mistake the taste of duck meat. And so before I decide what to bring for Christmas Eve dinner, I want to recreate the "thanksgiving dinner" I have been craving for days.  But I won't be baking a 10-pound turkey. And since I preferred chicken,  I would be broiling chicken instead. I am also pressed for time, so I would try to cook everything in under 1 1/2 hours.

The chicken has been thawed in the fridge overnight and is ready to cook today. I marinated it with some of the spices I have in my pantry. I stick it in the oven, broil high on middle rack for 45 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway. Chicken has a lot of fluid in it, and so there will be a lot of drippings, which I will use for my gravy. Yummy right? The cranberry sauce was a home made one given by my aunt and so I don't need to make one, I love her cranberry sauce, way better that any I have tasted. For the stuffing, I just bought a whole wheat turkey stuffing mix, just add it on boiling water and butter. Mashed potato is easy to make. What I do is microwave baking potato for 5 minutes. Let it cool a bit, and peel, add butter and milk. The whole process was done in an hour and 20 minutes. Not bad for a "thanksgiving dinner " right?

Below is my recipe for my version of "thanksgiving dinner".

Broiled Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

3      lbs           chicken pieces
1      tbsp         salt
1      tsbp        pepper
1      tsp          oregano
1      tsp          thyme
1      tsp          basil
1      tsp          rosemary
1      tsp          herbs de provence

Procedure

Marinate the chicken with all the spices for at least 30 minutes. Then broil on high (middle rack) for 40-45 minutes. Flip the chicken halfway. Transfer the chicken on serving dish, separating the drippings (you will need it for the gravy).

Gravy

Ingredients

Broiled Chicken drippings
1/2           cup flour
2 tbsp      butter
1/2 cup    water

Preparation

In a saucepan, melt butter and flour. you will be making a roux.  When the roux thickens like a paste, add the chicken dripping. Cook for a few minutes, adding water depending on your preferred consistency.  You may add salt and pepper to taste, but other wise it is already tasty from the spices in the drippings. Set aside.

Stuffing

Ingredients

1           box      whole wheat turkey stuffing mix
1 1/2     cup      water
2          tbsp      butter
1/2       cup       roasted chestnut, chopped

Procedure

In a small pot, boil water and butter. Then add the stuffing mix. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Add the roasted chestnut and mix. Set side.

Mashed Potato

Ingredients

4      pcs        medium baking potato
2      tbsp       butter
1/2   cup        2% milk

Procedure

Microwave the potatoes for 8 minutes or until cooked. Let cool for a few minutes then peel. Mash with fork and add butter and milk. Mix and set aside.

To save time, you can prepare the stuffing, then the masked potato while broiling the chicken. When chicken is done, gravy can be done in less than 10 minutes. This is tonight's dinner.  Yumm-o!!!

Egg-white Frittata

A friend made several leche flan for Thanksgiving Day. She had almost 4 dozens of egg white left over. She doesn't know what to do with it and asked me if I want it.  I said yes, not yet knowing what dish should I make with it. Usually when I make leche flan, the left over eggwhite is cooked as an omelette. I would use some portion of the egg white with whole egg and make an omelette for several days until I finish the egg white. But then, what will I do with 4 dozens of egg white? And then I thought, why not make an egg white frittata?

Frittata is an eggbased Italian dish similar to omelette or quiche. It is combined with meat and vegetables. Or basically whatever you wanna put in your omelette. Frittata roughly means 'fried' in Italian. It is done by frying the ingredients, like an open faced omelette, then baked for a few minutes to brown the top. I remember trying frittata several years ago when a friend's Italian husband brought some frittata from his parents. It was so good. A better version of omelette.

I actually don't have final recipe for my frittata. Since this is an experiment, I just combined whatever I have in my pantry and fridge. You could do the same. It's entirely your decision on what ingredients you wanna add to your frittata. My recipe is below, which can be changed or modified depending on my mood, and whatever is  in my pantry and fridge.

Ingredients

4    dozens       left over egg white
4    pcs              hotdogs, sliced
2    pcs              baking potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
1    pc                large onion, roughly chopped
4    pcs              american cheese, roughly chopped
1    cup             dried cranberries
1    cup             frozen spinach
1    tbsp            salt
1    tbsp             ground pepper

Ingredients you can add

Bell pepper
Carrots
Peas

Procedure

In a skillet, sautè all onion and potatoes, when cooked, add hotdogs, dried cranberries,spinach and cheese. Cook for 3minutes. Add the egg white. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on low fire until the edges are brown or crusted. For about 10 minutes. Since it is hardto turn it over (to brown the top), I opted to bake it in the oven. Bake until golden brown, roughly about 20 minutes.

Slice and serve.

Puto Cake

I was craving for puto(steamed rice cake) tonight. But I don't have rice flour or puto mix in my pantry. And it was too late to go to the store. Oh alright.... I don't wanna go out to get rice flour because it's already dark and cold outside. Besides, I suddenly thought of making a little experiment. I was thinking of using pancake mix instead. Weird right? But hey, it might taste good. And since I'm using pancake mix for my puto recipe, I thought of renaming it as 'puto cake'.

Puto, or steamed rice cake, is a popular 'kakanin' in the Philippines. It is served as snack or breakfast. Topped with cheese, butter or coconut flakes. It could also be eaten with dinuguan. There are several varieties of puto. White puto is most popular. There is also puto kutsinta, puto bumbong, puto pao etc. It is steamed on a puto mold. But if you don't have a mold, you can use muffin baking pan.

Below is my recipe for puto cake.

1       cup       pancake mix

3/4    cup       2%milk

1/2    cup      white sugar

1/2    tsp        salt

1       tsp        baking powder

2       tsp        vegetable oil

1       pc         egg

1       pc        american cheese

Procedure

Mix all the ingredients except for cheese. Transfer the batter in muffin mold with cupcake lining. Steam for 20 minutes. 

Cut the cheese in small squares. Place on top of the puto cake.

Makes 6 puto cakes..

I guess my puto cake turned out good. Sophie finished 3 pieces in one sitting.

Crock-Pot Chicken Chili

So I have been standing in front of my pantry and couldn't decide what to cook for dinner. I have a lot of canned goods I wanna get rid off. I'm not really a fan of canned goods, I like to cook ingredients that are either fresh or frozen fresh. But my canned goods have been in the pantry for so long that I have to either cook them or get rid of them.  Too many canned kidney beans, pinto beans etc etc.  And I thought , hmmm, might as well make chili.  I haven't tried cooking chili before. I like it but then I never tried experimenting on it.  I recently had the turkey chili of Panera Bread and it was so good!!!.  But when I looked at my freezer, I don't have ground turkey, or ground chicken. But I have whole chicken. So why not use it right? It's still chicken anyway!!

And since I have to go somewhere and couldn't stay for hours for chili to simmer, I decided to cook it in my Crock-Pot. So how did my experiment go? Awesome!!! I think it was good! Sophie even had it for lunch and dinner until the next day.  I topped it over a pasta ( I used rigatoni, although penne or mostaciolli also pairs nicely with chili). So that was our last night's dinner ... and today's lunch.. and I'm sure chili is for dinner tonight..

Chili, is a stew that mainly consists of chili peppers, ground beef, tomatoes and and beans. It is also called chili con carne, which means chili peppers with meat. Some seasonings like cumen or paprika is used for added flavor. It is the official dish of Texas. Several versions have been done in the dish. Vegetarian chili uses vegetable meat or tofu. White chili doesn't have tomatoes, and uses turkey meat. Chili verde, or green chili uses tomatillos and roaster green chili peppers.

Below is the recipe for my Crock-Pot dinner.  But hey,.for those of you who doesn't have slow cooker, no problem, you can cook on stove top.

Ingredients

1        whole   chicken ( or 2 lbs ground turkey/chicken)
3        pcs        carrots, peeled and cut into small squares
3        stalks    celery, chopped
3        cans      beans (kidney beans, pinto beans or navy beans)
3        pcs        bayleaves
1        pc          medium onion, chopped
3        cloves  garlic, chopped
2        cans      tomato sauce
3        tsp         ground pepper
2        tsp         salt
1        tbsp       cayenne pepper
2        tsp          dried oregano leaves
1        cup         water
1        lb            cooked pasta (rigatoni, penne or mostaciolli)

Procedure

1. In your Crock-Pot, arrange the carrots, celery and onion and garlic.
2. Place the whole chicken on top.
3. Add the salt, pepper, bay leaves and dried oregano.
4. Add the water.
5. Simmer for 4-6 hours on high.
6. When the chicken is cooked, transfer to a big bowl and pull the meat from the bone. Shred the meat and transfer back to the pot.
7. Add the canned beans, tomato sauce and cayenne pepper.
8. Simmer for another 2 -3 hours on high.
9. Serve over rice or cooked pasta.

Stir Fry Tofu and Brocolli

There is nothing faster to cook than stir fry. In 10-15 minutes you will have a decent meal. It is fast and easy to make. I would cook stir fry most of the time, especially if I'm in a hurry and only have less than an hour to cook.

I have tofu and brocolli in the fridge. And thought of cooking stir fry tofu and brocolli. It only takes less than 20minutes to make. I always get the firm tofu, it is good for frying (the silky ones are good for soup).

Tofu, also called bean curd, is chinese in origin. It is made of coagulated soy milk. It has a distinct taste and is often used in chinese cuisine. It is like soymilk "cheese". In the Philippines, fresh soft tofu is mixed with sugar syrup and sago for breakfast. We call it 'taho'. Oh how I miss taho.  There is nothing like it. So yummy. In the morning, I can't wait for the taho salesman to shout "Tahoooooo!". It is one of the food I miss back home. The firm tofu is usally included in a dish. Most vegetarian would substitute tofu for meat.  Some vegetarian restaurant would use tofu to imitate meat dishes, so vegetarians will not miss the taste of the dish.

I'm not a vegetarian anymore ( I eat chicken and fish), but once in a while it would be nice to be vegetarian for a day or two...or more.. and stir fry tofu and brocolli can be an alternative dish to beef and brocolli or chicken and brocolli. Below is the recipe for my stir fry tofu and brocolli..

Ingredients

1    pack     Firm tofu, fried and cut into squares
1    lb          brocolli
1/2 cup       oyster sauce
1/2 cup       soy sauce
1/2 cup       cornstarch
1     pc         small onion, chopped
1     tbsp      ginger, chopped
1     tsp        ground pepper
2     tbsp      vegetable oil
2     tbsp      toasted sesame seeds

Procedure

1.  Mix soy sauce, cornstarch and oyster sauce. Set aside.
2.  In a sauce pan, sauté onion and ginger in vegetable oil.
3.  Add tofu and brocolli, stir fry for 5 minutes.
4. Add the sauce that was set aside. Sprinkle the pepper and toasted sesame seeds.
5. Stir fry for another 3-5 minutes, or until brocolli is cooked.
6. Serve with rice.

Crock-Pot Chicken Curry

Once in a while I would crave for chicken curry. It's a dish that some people would stay away from. I guess because it has coconut milk and the curry powder, which has strong taste and odor.  Today I will be cooking chicken curry on a Crock-Pot. So easy to make.

Chicken curry is a dish from South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Carribean. Different countries have their own version of chicken curry. In the Philippines, it consists of chicken, potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, coconut milk and curry powder. Some countries would also use cumin, turmeric, cinnamon and chili powder. I like to use the curry powder because the smell and taste is not too strong.

Today I will be attempting to cook this dish on my Crock-Pot. My slow cooker has been my favorite cooking buddy these days. Lol. The recipe is just the same as any Pinoy chicken curry that is cooked in a stove top.

Ingredients

2           lbs             chicken legs
2           pcs            medium sized bake potatoes, quartered
2           cups          baby carrots (or 4 pcs medium carrots, cut)
1           can            coconut milk
3           tbsp           curry powder
3           tbsp           fish sauce
3           cloves        garlic, minced
1           pc               medium onion, chopped
2           tbsp            canola oil
1/2        cup             water
2           tbsp           ground pepper

Procedure

In your Crock-Pot, arrange the chicken, potatoes and carrots. Add the garlic, onion,oil, water, fish sauce, ground pepper and water. Cook for 4-10 hours, depending on how fast you want it cooked. On the last hour, add the coconut milk and curry powder.

Serve with white rice.

Crock-Pot Sinigang

Sophie has been asking me for days now to cook her favorite pork neck bone sinigang. She just love sinigang. It could be fish, shrimp or pork neck bone. Usually I would cook her shrimp sinigang because it is easier and faster to cook ( only takes 30 minutes or less). And because we love shrimp. But lately she has been craving for buto-buto. She hasn't eaten it in a long time.  I feel guilty since I don't eat pork it doesn't mean that she shouldn't. But since I didn't have enough time to cook sinigang when we get home in the afternoon (it takes an hour or more for the meat to be tender), I decided to cook 'sinigang na buto -buto' in my slow cooker.

Sinigang is a Filipino soup known for its sour taste. Tamarind is mainly used as the ingredient for the sour flavor.  But guava, calamansi and green mango is also used. Sinigang is similar to Malaysian singgang.

I love my Crock-Pot. It's very convenient. I would just prepare and put everything in the morning before bringing Sophie to school then head to work. And would come home to a cooked meal.  I have been using my Crock-Pot for my slow-cooked whole chicken. This time I want to experiment slow-cooked pork neck bone sinigang. Hopefully after this, I can try cooking different dishes in my Crock-Pot.

Below is the recipe for my slow-cooked sinigang.

Ingredients

2       lbs            pork neck bone
2       pcs           medium tomatoes, quartered
1       pc             onion
1       lb              radish, cut into big cubes
1       lb              long beans
1       lb              bok choy
1      pc              small ginger, chopped
1/2   cup            fish sauce
2      tbsp           peppercorn
2      pcs             onion stalk
2      tbsp           sinigang mix
2      L                 water

Procedure

1.  Place the pork neck bone, tomatoes, 1 L water, onion, ginger, fish sauce and peppercorn in Crock-Pot, set on low ( 8-10 hours slow cook).

2.  When you get home, add radish, beans, 1 L water and onion stalk. Set at high.  Simmer for 30 minutes. Then add bok choy.  Simmer for another 10 minutes.

3.  Serve with rice.

Mango Salsa

I recently joined the 3rd Annual Homemade Salsa Contest at my local public library. It was my first time to join this year and I was so excited about it.  I knew about the contest last year but was too late to register and was only able to volunteer as one of the 'tasters'. I contemplated on what salsa to enter the contest. Sophie, who eats chips and salsa everyday (she loves Mexican food) decided that I should enter my mango salsa. She thought it tasted so good and will earn me a spot as one of the three winners. Unfortunately, I didn't win. The three winners were salsa that were all spicy.  The grand winner was a salsa that tasted like puréed jalapeños ( it was so spicy I had watery eyes and had to drink 2 glasses of water). I guess next year i will just enter a blended 'siling labuyo'. That will probably earn me a spot. (Bitter much??Lol ) Sophie was so disappointed. She couldn't believe I lost. She wanted a rematch(hahaha). I guess Latinos are not ready for my mango salsa with alamang as my secret ingredient. Oh well.

But for us Filipinos, mango salsa is so popular. We don't eat it with chips but instead pair it with fried fish like tilapia. I remember eating it most of the time when I was in the province of Laguna, where tilapia is eaten often ( lots of tilapia fish ponds). I especially like using mango that is green. But since we don't have the green mango here, I would opt for a ripe but still crunchy mango.

Below is the recipe for my underrated mango salsa.

Ingredients

1        pc        large mango (ripe but still hard, chopped)
1        pc        small onion, finely chopped
1        pc        medium tomato, chopped
1        pc        lime or lemon
1/2     cup     cilantro, roughly chopped
2        tbsp     shrimp paste (bagoong alamang)
1         tsp       ground pepper

Procedure

Mix all the ingredients except lime.  Squeeze the lime on the salsa. Mix well. Pair with Tostitos chips or with your favorite fried fish and rice..

Chicken Sopas (Chicken Noodle Soup)

Every time I think of comfort food, chicken sopas always comes to mind. What's more comforting than eating sopas for lunch or dinner? Or even merienda. It is so delicious and makes us feel better that is why this is the popular meal whenever we are sick. I remember cooking my first sopas when I was in 6th grade as part of my Home Economics subject. Back then, I knew how good the dish is.  And how easy it is to make.

In the Philippines, sopas is popular during cold rainy days. It is also the meal that is usually served during wake or funeral. I wonder why they always serve sopas and crackers on 'lamay'? Anyone?

Nowadays, whenever I have leftover roasted whole chicken, I would make it into sopas. That way it will be an entirely different dish and I won't get tired of eating the whole chicken. I would just shred the meat, add whatever vegetables I have in the fridge, add whatever pasta is in the pantry, a piece of chicken cubes or a can of chicken broth. That's it! Chicken sopas in under 30 minutes.

Sophie loves this soup and would always request for it. Sometimes she would eat two bowls of sopas in one seating. And would ask for another serving a few hours later. That's how much she loves it. Who wouldn't?

Here is the recipe for this simple meal.

Ingredients


1          cup             roasted chicken, shredded
1/2       lb                elbow macaroni, or spaghetti cut into small
                                pieces
2          pcs              carrots, cut into cubes
1          cup             green beans, cut into small pieces
1          pc                small onion, chopped
2          cloves         garlic, minced
2          tbsp             fish sauce
1          tsp               ground pepper
2          tbsp            vegetable oil
5          cups            water
1          pc                chicken cube
1/2      cup              2% milk

Procedure

1.  Sauté garlic and onion in vegetable oil.

2.  Add the chicken, carrots and green beans. Cook for 5 minutes.

3.  Add the pasta, water, fish sauce, ground pepper and chicken cubes

4. Let boil and cook for 10 minutes.

5.  Add the 2% milk.

5. Serve while hot.

Slow-cooked "Rotisserie" Chicken

I bought one whole chicken a few weeks ago. It sat on the freezer until yesterday. I couldn't decide how to cook it. I don't wanna cut it into pieces, I'm not good at doing that. And then I thought, might as well cook the whole chicken. I love rotisserie chicken that we can buy in the store. Its like "lechon manok" back home. I especially like the lechon manok from 'Andok's'.  It is so yummy and so tender, the meat almost falling out of the bone.

Rotisserie is a way of cooking where chicken or other meat is skewered and cooked slowly while being rotated over a fire or oven. And since I can't do that at home, I will just use a slow cooker and then broil in the oven to brown the skin. I hope it will turn out good, not as delicious as Andok's or the rotisserie chicken we can buy from the store, but hopefully good enough to eat.  Lol..

The procedure takes hours. If you wanna cook it today, you have to thaw the whole chicken the night before. Most recipes I checked uses alumininum foil rolled into a ball as "beddings" on the bottom of the pot. But I think using vegetables instead will make it more delicious. You can use any vegetable you have in your fridge.

Here is the recipe for my slow cooked rotisserie chicken.

Ingredients

"Bedding" for the bottom of the pot

3           pcs             medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3           pcs             carrots, peeled and cut in 3pcs
1           pc               onion, roughly chopped
1           pc               small cabbage, roughly chopped
3           pcs             bay leaf
1           tsp              anise seeds


Rub mixture

2          tsp               salt
2          tsp               garlic powder
1          tsp               cayenne pepper
1          tsp               ground black pepper

2          tbsp            butter
1          pc                lemon, sliced

Procedure

1.  Mix all the rub mixture

2.  Wash the chicken, dry with paper towel. Rub with butter and then lemon.  Place the lemon and butter inside the cavity of the chicken.

3.  Rub the chicken with rub mixture. Tuck in the wings. Tie the legs.

4. Place the "bedding" mixture on the bottom of the slow cooker.

5. Place the chicken on top of the "bedding" mixture.  This will prevent the chicken from sitting on its juices while its cooking.

6.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Maybe 8 hours on low.

7. Once cooked, rub more with butter and broil in oven for 10 minutes at 450°F to brown the skin.

8. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.  Enjoy!!

The chicken was good, the skin is a little spicy because I probably put too much cayenne( I sprinkled more aside from the rub mixture). It was a wrong move.  Next time I will stick to just the rub mixture.  But the meat was tender and juicy. It was falling off the bone.  Sophie loved it. Not bad for my first "rotisserie" chicken..

Chicken Afritada

I love dishes that has tomato sauce on it.  My favorite is menudo. It is pork stew with potatoes, carrots, hotdogs, bell peppers, raisins and tomato sauce on it. Another is kaldereta, which uses beef or goat instead of pork, with added cheese on it. But since I don't eat pork and beef, I would settle for chicken afritada. Its almost the same as menudo, only in this dish, chicken is used instead of pork.

Afritada, like menudo, mechado and kaldereta are Spanish in origin. They are all tomato based and has vegetables in it, mainly potatoes and carrots. It is always present in parties and fiestas. Different versions have been done on this dish. It is very easy to make. My recipe is a simple chicken afritada, I didn't experiment on it. I feel like it is so good already that I don't want to change it.

Ingredients


2       lbs              chicken legs and thigh, cut in serving pieces
3       pcs              medium size potatoes,quartered
4       pcs              carrots, cut in big chunks
1       pc                green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2    cup              raisins
1       can              tomato sauce
1       pc                tomato, chopped
1       pc                small onion, chopped
2       cloves         garlic, minced
1/2    cup              soy sauce
2       tbsp             fish sauce
2       pcs               calamansi or lime
1       tbsp              ground pepper
2       tbsp              vegetable oil

Procedure

Marinate chicken in soy sauce and calamansi juice for at least 30 minutes.

In a pot, sauté garlic, onion and tomato in vegetable oil. Add chicken. Let simmer for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Add potatoes and carrots. Simmer for another 15 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, raisins, bell pepper, ground pepper and fish sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Today's merienda:Kamote Cue

I haven't posted anything in two weeks. I broke one of my New Year's Resolution of posting an article in my blog every week. Tsk tsk tsk. What has gotten into me. I guess since last week, I couldn't make up my mind on what to write next. Yes, I do run out of ideas sometimes. It happens. What's more. I didn't experiment on anything since last week! Shocking!! I have been cooking comfort food, simple food that is easy to make. Not challenging, I know. But oh well. We all get lazy sometimes. Lol.

What I will make today is something simple and yet delicious. Filipinos love merienda aside from the three important meals of the day. There are a lot of pinoy merienda to choose from. Some heavy, some light. These merienda are most popularly sold by street vendors. I remember, every afternoon, me and my sisters and cousins would wait for 'Mang  Manny' to come up near our house so we could buy fishball and squidballs. We 'tusok-tusok' the fishball using a small bamboo skewer and dip it in 3 different sauces. I especially love the mild spicy gravy. Yummy! I wonder how he makes his gravy. There is nothing like it.

During high school days, I would buy pineapple or mango with alamang (shrimp paste) for my morning merienda. Sometimes I would order singkamas (jicama), with alamang also.

And of course there are varieties of  kakanin to chose from. Puto, biko, kutsinta, palitaw, sapin sapin, take your pick. If you want something heavy, you could go for pansit. Either pansit bihon or palabok. Or if you want something sweet, you could go for turon, banana cue or kamote cue. So yummy that people would wait for the vendor while cooking it because they ran out so quickly.

Kamote cue is like  sweet potato fritters. It is a sliced sweet potato coated with brown sugar, then deep fried and served on a skewer or bamboo stick, like a barbecue, hence it is called 'kamote cue'.

Here in Midwest, we don't have the type of sweet potato we have back home. Here we have yams, slighly different from kamote, but it will do.

Here is the simple recipe for kamote cue


Ingredients

5       pcs           yam, cut into pieces
1       cup           brown sugar
1       tsp            cinnamon
2       cups         vegetable oil
                           bamboo sticks

Procedure

Combine brown sugar with cinnamon. Coat the yam on both sides.

Heat the oil in pan. Deep fry the sugar coated yams. It is cooked when the yam is tender and the sugar is caramelized.

Arrange 3-4 pcs of yam per bamboo sticks.

Enjoy your merienda.

Arroz Caldo

Growing up,  I remember eating arroz caldo or lugaw whenever I'm sick. It is probably a norm back home, feeding children rice soup whenever they are not feeling well. What's with this lugaw? Probably since it has a lot of fluid, it is easier to digest especially if children had lost appetite when sick. It is also popular as an introduction to eating real food for babies. I remember giving lugaw to my daughter when she was 5months old. She loved it since. And would request for it from time to time. She calls it porridge, eversince she read Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where Goldilocks ate the porridge the bears left on their table. Porridge is somewhat different. Rice, oats, semonela, wheat or corn is boiled in water or milk, with sugar or honey to make it sweet. I didn't have the heart to tell my daughter that lugaw is different, as long as she eats it, I don't mind how she calls it. Lol.

Lugaw is Chinese in origin. It is called congee, from the word kanji, which is an ancient food of the Tamil people. Congee has thousand years of history in China. It is popular in Asia, but also cooked all over the world. It is called different in every country. In Philippines, it is called lugaw. Some parts of the Philippines, with a more prominent Spanish influence, calls it arroz caldo. Arroz caldo is a little different from lugaw because of some ingredients added to it. It has safflower and black pepper as spices instead of tradional ginger and scallions for lugaw. I like to put all the ingredients though. I would have ginger, onion, garlic, black pepper, and of course, safflower for color and distinct taste.

Here is a simple recipe for arroz caldo.

Ingredients

1         cup              jasmine rice
1/2      tsp               safflower
2         cloves         garlic, minced
1         tsp               chopped ginger
1         small           onion, chopped
1         tbsp             vegetable oil
2         tsp               fish sauce (patis)
2         cups             chicken stock

Toppings

3         pcs               brown eggs, boiled
1/2      cup              dried dilis, fried
3         pcs               kalamansi, or lime
1         pc                 green onion, chopped

Procedure

In a pot, sautè ginger, garlic and onion in vegetable oil. Add the rice and chicken stock. Let boil until rice is cooked, about 20 minutes. Add patis and safflower. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Transfer to a serving bowl, add boiled egg, dilis, onion stalk and kalamansi on top. Enjoy!

Spaghetti

If there is a non-Filipono dish that I couldn't live without, it would be spaghetti. I just love spaghetti, I could eat it everyday. I have created a recipe to make make spaghetti more Pinoy style, which is a sweeter than the usual marinara sauce that Italians and Caucasians make. I use to put hotdogs, which is one of the main ingredients in Pinoy style spaghetti, but since Sophie and I are not crazy about hotdogs, I took it out of my recipe.

I have been cooking spaghetti for decades. My friends especially would expect it when I invite them for my birthday parties back home. And now that I have Sophie, spaghetti is always part of the menu whenever she has birthday parties.

Pasta is a part of my weekly menu. I prefer spaghetti and mostaccioli. I would cook pasta once or twice a week. Sophie's preference varies in time. Before she loves spaghetti marinara, then she got tired of it and just wants spaghetti noodles with olive oil and mozarella cheese. Then she moved on to shrimp pasta in olive oil and parsley. A few months ago, she tried fettuccine alfredo. And have been eating it twice a week, with toasted garlic bread. Now she is back to loving spaghetti in marinara sauce. Who knows what she would request next.

Below is my own version of spaghetti in marinara sauce. It only takes 30-40 minutes to make.

Ingredients

1     lb           spaghetti noodles
1     lb           ground turkey or chicken (you could use ground                                beef)
1     jar         Everyday Essential garden spaghetti sauce
2     pcs         medium carrots, chopped
1     pc           medium onion, chopped
3     cloves    garlic, minced
1/4  cup        white sugar
1     tsp          salt
1     tsp          pepper
1/2 cup          water
3     tsp          vegetable oil

Procedure

In a pot, boil water and cook spaghetti noodles for 7-8 minutes, or until it becomes 'al dente'. Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat oil. Sauté garlic and onion. Add ground turkey. Cook for 15 minutes. Add carrots, cook for another 10 minutes.

Add the spaghetti sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour water on spaghetti sauce jar and mix with remaining sauce inside. Add to the saucepan. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour over cooked spaghetti noodles.

Optional- sprinkle cheddar  or mozarella cheese on top.

Buon appetito!!

Fish Sarciado

I lived in a small town in Calamba, Laguna when I was young. The town is bordered by Laguna de Bay, the country's largest lake, on its northwest side. Calamba is approximately 34 miles south of Manila, the capital.

Laguna de Bay, which is a few blocks from where I used to live, is covered with milkfish and tilapia ponds. I remember when storm would hit the province, overflowing the lake, letting the fish out of the ponds. We call it 'bangusan na'. Naturally, tons of milkfish has to be sold for a lower price. People would buy in tens of kilos. We have learned to preserve it, dry it (daing na bangus). And would eat fish for days. Because of this, we have to cook fish in different ways. I prefer frying or broiling fish. I would combine it with rice and tomato/onion/alamang salsa or dip it on spiced vinegar. But sometimes I get tired of eating fried fish. And want to try something else. I have learned to cook paksiw, pinangat, and sarciado.

Sarciado, sometimes spelled as sarsiado, is fried fish in a sauce, or sarsa. The sauce is made mostly of egg and tomatoes. One thing good with sarciado is, you can either eat the fish after it is fried, with the sauce on the side. Or simmer the fried fish in the sauce. It is like two dish in one. The dish is somewhat similar to escabeche.

I have been thinking of cooking sarciado but undecided if I will use milkfish or tilapia. But since there is only tilapia and pompano in the market I went to, I decided tilapia it is.

Here is the recipe for fish sarciado.

Ingredients

1     whole        tilapia, cleaned and cut in 3 pcs
2     pcs             brown eggs
2     pcs             plum tomatoes, diced
1     pc               medium onion, chopped
3     cloves        garlic, minced
2     pcs             onion stalk, chopped
2     tbsp           fish sauce (patis)
1     cup            water
1     tsp             ground pepper
2     tbsp           vegetable oil for sautéing
1/2  cup            vegetable oil frying fish

Procedure

Fry the fish. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, sauté onion, garlic, and tomatoes in vegetable oil. When cooked, add water, patis and ground pepper. Let it boil.

Add fried fish, simmer for 2 minutes.

Beat the eggs, pour in top of the pan. Let it cook before mixing the dish. Add onion stalk. Simmer for another minute.

Serve with rice.

This dish is very easy to make. Preparation and cooking time T
took me 30 minutes. Hope you can try this dish.

Pork Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew)

One of the Filipino dishes that I think foreigners find exotic is dinuguan. If you tell them that the dish has pork blood on it, they will probably be mortified. Who wouldn't? Lol. The first time I served it to my daughter, I told her it is 'chocolate meat'. She loved it and would request for it once in a while. But since I stay away from pork, I only cook it during parties, when friends would request for my dinuguan.

Some countries also uses blood in their dish. Dinuguan is somewhat similar to blood sausage in Europe, blood pudding in UK, fritada in Guam or the zcernina in Poland.

The origin of dinuguan is dated back in ancient Greece, where Spartans eat melas zomos, or black soup. It is made of pork, pork blood and vinegar. Philippine dinuguan, however has innards included in the dish. I would prefer adding pork ear instead. It adds exture to the dish.

Here is the recipe for my version of dinuguan, which I have come up with after years of cooking it.

Ingredients


5     lbs                   pork, cut in cubes
3     containers     frozen pork blood
3     medium         onion, chopped
3     pcs                  bell pepper (green or red), chopped
1     cup                 apple cider vinegar
2     tbsp                ginger, chopped
2     tbsp                garlic, minced
2     pcs                  tomatoes, chopped
1     pc                    onion stalk
3     pcs                  jalapeño pepper, chopped
2     tbsp                salt
2     tbsp                pepper
1/4  cup                 vegetable oil

Procedure

1.  In a big pot, heat oil. Sauté ginger, garlic, half of onion. And tomatoes.

2.  Add the pork. Cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add the apple cider vinegar. Cook for 40 minutes.

4. Add bell pepper and the rest of the onion. Cook for another 20 or until pork is tender.

5. Add onion stalk, jalapeño pepper, salt, pepper and thawed pork blood. Simmer for at least 5 minutes.

6. Serve with rice or puto

Skinless Chicken Longanisa (Chicken Sausage)

Aside from tocino, we Filipinos love longanisa. Either pork or chicken longanisa. With or without casing (skinless). We eat it especially with fried garlic rice and sunny side up egg (longsilog). Best eaten at breakfast, but nothing stops us from eating it for lunch or dinner. Spicy vinegar for dipping sauce, but some prefer to eat it with diced tomatoes. Either one works for me.

Longanisa or longaniza is a Spanish sausage. It is similar to chorizo. Best known longanisa in the Philippines are in Lucban, Quezon and northern provinces like Pampanga and Ilocos region. In fact, Vigan, a city in Ilocos Sur, holds a yearly Longanisa Festival. It is celebrated during The Vigan City Fiesta which is held starting January 25th every year and lasts for several days. The festival or fiesta is done to promote tourism in Ilocos provinces.

Longanisa tastes different from each region. For example, Vigan longanisa has garlic but yellow in color and the taste is similar to Mexican salami. It is sour and salty. While Lucban longanisa also has lots of garlic but is red in color due to spices added to it (achuete). Longanisa from Pampanga is sweeter in flavor.

This is my first attempt to make home made chicken longanisa. I didn't put preservatives or extenders because I want it to be as healthy as possible. When I was done wrapping it all, I thought of making it healthier by adding jicama (singkamas) or carrots. I plan to do that on my second batch of skinless chicken longanisa.

Here is the recipe for skinless chicken longanisa

Ingredients

1       lb              ground chicken
4       cloves      garlic, minced
2       tbsp          ketchup
1/4    cup           soy sauce
1/2    cup           brown sugar
2       tbsp          vinegar
1       tsp             salt
2       tsp             pepper
1       pc              whole egg
1/2    cup           all purpose flour

Plastic wrap or wax paper

Procedure

1. Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

2. Cut plastic wrap ( 3 inches by 4 inches)

3. Place 2 tbsp of the chicken mixture near the end of the wrap. Fold the wrap over the chicken. Fold on the sides.

4. Refigerate overnight.

5. To cook, heat 1/4 cup oil on a pan. Fry the longanisa until golden brown.

6. Serve with fried rice and sunny side up egg.

Spanish Bread

I remember during my high school days, I would always buy Spanish bread and orange soda. Same snack almost every day (there are days when I would buy ensaymada). I never get tired of it.  It is one of the Filipino bread I love. I love it especially when freshly baked (like pandesal). It smells so good and tastes divine!

There is no known origin for Spanish bread. Spain doesn't have a bread like it. I have searched many times and I can't find anything about the origin of Spanish bread.

Here in Chicagoland, not a lot of Filipino stores have Spanish bread. It's a little bit frustrating. I would sometimes order from a friend who ships the bread from California just to be able to eat it. Yes, that is how much I love Spanish bread.

But then knowing me, you would ask, 'Didn't you try experimenting on Spanish bread?'. As a matter of fact, I did. A few times already. But there is one thing I discovered in myself. I don't like making dough! I don't really enjoy it, but then I had to do it if I want to be able to eat Spanish bread. A little bit of sacrifies for the love of the bread. Lol.

Here is the recipe for Spanish bread

Ingredients

Dough

3           cups      bread flour
1           cup        all purpose flour
3           pcs         egg yolk
1/2        cup        water
1/2        cup        2% milk
1           pouch    active yeast
1           tsp         salt
1/2        cup        butter
1/2        cup        sugar

Filling

1/2        cup        breadcrumbs
1/2        cup        brown sugar
1/2        cup        butter


Breadcrumbs

Procedure

Making the dough - mix the yeast with water.  Wait 5 minutes until its bubbly. Set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add eggyolk, butter and milk. Then add the yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly. Let rise for at least 2 hours.

When dough is ready, cut into small pieces. Flatten the dough ( 2 x 4 inches). Add the filling. Roll it up.  Sprinkle with breacrumbs.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350°F.

Palitaw (Boiled Rice Cake)

Back home, one of the rice cakes (kakanin) that I like to eat is palitaw. Palitaw literally means 'to float'. It is called as such because of the way it is cooked. Usually 'kakanins' are either steamed or baked. But palitaw is different because it is boiled. The dough is cooked in a boiling water until it rises to the surface or 'litaw' hence it is called palitaw. The 'cakes are then coated with coconut flakes, sugar and toasted sesame seeds to give texture and flavor.

Palitaw originally came from Pangasinan, a province on the northern part of the Philippines. Original recipe uses 'galapong'. It is the washed, soaked and ground sticky rice. Nowadays, to make the recipe simplier, glutinous rice flour is used.

I have always wanted to experiment on palitaw and never seem to have time to do it. Until today. I didn't know how easy it was to make it. It only takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. And cooking time is only 10 minutes or less.

Here is the recipe for palitaw.

Ingredients

2     cups         glutinous rice flour
2     cups         water
1     cup           toasted sesame seeds
1     cup           white sugar
1     pack         coconut flakes

Procedure

Mix the glutinous rice flour and water until you form a dough. Then shape them into dough balls. Flatten using your palm. Set aside.

Mix toasted sesame seeds with white sugar. Set aside.

In a pot, boil water. Once it is boiling, add the flattened dough in the pot until the cakes rises to the surface. Let it cool for a minute.

Coat the cake with coconut flakes on both sides. Then coat it also on both sides with sesame seeds and sugar mix.

Enjoy your palitaw!!!