Onion rings

My daughter and I just love onion rings. We always order it at Portillos whenever we crave for it. And since you all know how I love to experiment, I planned that one day I will try to make home made onion rings. That day came a few days ago, and I have since then made onion rings three times. (Yes, I wasn't kidding when I said we just love onion rings).



The secret is always in the batter. I have to admit, Im still trying to perfect it. And have some ideas on making a different kind of batter for future experiment. But for now, here is my recipe for my version of home made onion rings


Ingredients

1        pc        large onion
1        cup      all purpose flour
1        tbsp     baking powder
1        tsp       salt
1        tsp       pepper
1        cup     breadcrumbs
1        pc       egg
1        cup     milk
vegetable oil for frying

Procedure

Peel the onion and slice across around 1 cm to make rings. Set aside

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Add milk and egg. Mix thoroughly.

Dip the onion in the batter. Let the extra batter drain from the onion. Then dip the onion in breadcrumbs

Fry the onion rings until its golden brown. About 4-5 minutes.

Serve with your favorite sauce. My daughter and I like to dip it in ketchup.

Sweet and Sour Popcorn Chicken

Eating just chicken and fish (and vegetables of course) can be limiting sometimes. I tend to cook almost exactly the same dishes over and over. For chicken, it is either fried, barbecued, baked, or curry. My daughter is not fond of afritada or tinola so I don't cook them. Recently I posted a blog about my orange chicken recipe. And been cooking it since, at least once a week. To cut it short, my daughter got tired of it too. So I thought, maybe she will like sweet and sour chicken. I bought a frozen dish at Walmart and she seems to like it. But I don't plan on buying frozen meal on a regular basis. So guess what, this is my next experiment.

As usual I googled the recipe and tweaked it a bit to make my own version. I made some mistakes but im sure I will be able to correct it the next time I cook it. My daughter loved it! Although she said she wants more sauce.


Here is my recipe for sweet and sour popcorn chicken

Ingredients

2        pcs        chickeen breasts, cut into squares
2        pcs         egg
1        cup        all purpose flour
1        tsp         salt
1        tsp         pepper
Oil for frying

Sauce

1         cup        pineapple chunk
1         cup        pineapple juice (juice from the chunk)
1/2      cup        green and red bell pepper, cut into squares
1/2      cup        carrots, cut into small pieces
1 1/2   tbsp       conrstarch, dissolved in 2 tbsp water
3         tbsp       brown sugar
2         tbsp       vinegar (I used Datu Puti vinegar)
1/2      cup        water
1         pc          medium onion, chopped
1         tbsp       chopped ginger

Procedure

Dip the chicken in flour, then egg then flour again. Fry until golden brown. Set aside.

In a saucepan, saute onion, ginger and carrots for 5 minutes.

Add bell pepper, pineapple chunks, pineapple juice, sugar, vinegar and water. Cook for another 10 minutes.

Add the cornstarch mixture and chicken. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Serve over rice.

The recipe above was already revised. Originally I only used 1/2 cup pineapple juice. But since my daughter wanted more sauce, I thought of doubling the amount. As for sugar,  I used white sugar, it came out pale, so I added 1 tbsp soy sauce for color. But then i thought if I used brown sugar then the sauce will turn to shiny brown color due to its caramalization.  Aside from carrots and bell pepper, you can add diferent veggies like green beans and onion leaks. Otherwise, this recipe is already perfect, well, in my opinion! Happy cooking!!

Breakfast Egg Muffins

Yesterday my daughter requested that I make her breakfast egg muffins for lunch and dinner today. She was watching You Tube and saw one mom serving it for lunch. Okay, I aim to please. Breakfast egg muffin it is.

I googled some recipe and was able to come up with my own version. I am making two different kinds of egg muffins. One is with bacon and cheese only, which my daughter prefers. And the other with spinach, bell peppers, cheese and bacon. When she came from school and had early dinner, she actually ate both kinds of muffins. You can add any ingredients to your egg muffins. Cherry tomatoes,  mushrooms, corn kernels, green peas, pepperoni and whatever you like.

Below is my take on breakfast egg muffins

Ingredients

1        dozen       egg
1        cup          cheddar cheese
1/2     cup          spinach
1/2     cup          green bell peppers, chopped
1/2     cup          cooked bacon, choppped
1        tsp           salt
1        tsp           pepper
cooking spray

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

Scoop 1/2 cup of egg into muffin pans. Add bacon and cheese on six muffins and the rest with bacon, cheese, spinach and bell pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with dried parsley if preferred. Serve.

Tamale Making at Local Library

I recently attended a program at our local library. It was tamale making. I have always wanted to make one and this was a good opportunity to do so. My daughter and I love tamales and we were so excited to attend the program.

Our local library has a lot of free programs for kids, teens and adults. The tamale making was the first one I attended in adult program. It was popular as there was more than 40 participants with over 300 varieties of tamales made that night. Great job to all the participants including me and my daughter and thank you to our local library for providing us interesting program throughout the year.

Tamale is a Latin dish made up of masa or dough, usually corn-based with fillings and wrapped in corn husks or banana leaf. It is steamed for at least one and a half hour. Fillings can include beef, pork, chicken,cheese, fruits and vegetables. The fillings as cooked first before it is added to the masa. At the program, we used three different fillings. These are chicken with salsa verde (green sauce), beans and cheese, and rajas (sliced poblano pepers) with corn and cheese. Out of all the three fillings, our favorite was the rajas. I have tried other tamales that I bought at different store, my daughter and I prefers the chicken in red sauce fillings.

We were given all the ingredients for the tamale making. These are the following:

 A big container of La Guadalapana, original masa for tamale preparation. It comes in a 5 pounds container that can be bought at your local store ( there is one at Walmart). This can make at least 40 pieces of tamales.

Corn husks that was soaked in warm water.

Three different kinds of fillings.

We simply fill the corn husks with a tablespoon of masa, spread in the middle of the husk. Then went to filling stations. Filling should be at least a 2 teaspoons. Then the husks is folded on each side first then folded at the bottom. Each participants are able to make at least 6 tamales, 2 fillings each. We were instructed to steam our tamales at home, which my daughter and I did the minute we came home because we were excited to try it right away. Instruction for cooking were given to us by the library.

Again, I would like to thank our local library for this program. My daughter and I and our friends had fun!