Tilapia Fillet In Lemon Butter Sauce

I asked  Josef what he wanted for our main meal yesterday  and he said anything would be okay. We’ve been on fish and vegetable diet since the start of the Holy Week, and I mean everyday and every meal. This was one of those recipes featured in the recent PinoyMasterchef  episode. Since I didn’t have pestle and mortar to grind the nuts big enough for topping, I just sprinkled them on top before frying. The nutty taste of peanuts and the creamy flavor of  butter mixed with the tartness(I substituted kalamansi) of lime made it more flavorful. Try it, it’s yummy.

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And They Call This Maruya

I told you, I am now enjoying myself  taking  a trip to  the wet market to buy fruits and veggies. The other day, I bought saging na saba (plantain). It cost P2.00 each and I bought 20 pieces. I thought of cooking it for merienda.

My son love the crunchy maruya  which I made from  four pieces of  banana.  I put half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder and half a teaspoon of baking powder on the batter before frying.  Son said it is better than a burger The cinnamon gave it that extra twist. It was so yummy.

I boiled  some and used  a  few pieces for our nilaga, the P40 is really worth it. I also made ginatang saging, kamote and gabi.  You can also boil it and add sugar and tapioca pearls. Where could you find something this cheap and enjoy several ways of preparing it? It’s a comfort food and it is nutritious too. According to studies made, eating raw plantain reduces weight.

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Happy Thoughts On A Sunday Afternoon

It’s been a while and I really missed WordPress. There is something wrong with our server. For more than three  days now, the connection has been quite erratic.  When you’re blogging every day your thoughts come in burst of inspirations and it is easier to share. A week’s lapse seems a long time. I feel as if I have forgotten how to blog

Would you believe if I say that one of the highlights of the week is discovering new and old things in the wet market? I like going to the wet market twice or thrice a month with my son in tow, of course. Fruits and root crops are in season nowadays. I’m beginning to think it’s summer now because you can see summer fruits like mangoes aplenty.

Yeay, we bought fresh green mangoes to go with the bagoong alamang which I plan to cook with lots of chili. Sweet potato comes in different varieties, I bought the yellow ones. There are so many ways of preparing this, you can have it baked, simply boiled, make it into fritters or just mix it with other vegetables.  Turnips or what we locally know as singkamas are also in season now. I mix diced turnips with ground pork to make a simple siomai which is a favorite in our household.

I remember the times when I was in grade school and every summer break, we go to our relative’s farm in our place in Pangasinan and help them harvest peanuts. By the time we are ready to go home, we are loaded with a sack of freshly dug  sweet potato and peanuts. We boil them together in a large pot and enjoy eating them at night while we just relax and exchange ghost stories with my cousins.  Mom used to buy them in bulk and save them for rainy days for everyday snacks.  Those were the days when life was simple. I was fascinated seeing this sticky black rice and asked the vendor how it is cooked. He said that it is prepared same way you cook the white one. I bought half a kilo of this and two pieces of panocha, a type of mascuvado sugar made into rounded blocks and used for making sweets. This is the first time that I made use of  black rice, it needs more cooking than the regular sticky rice sold in the market.  Using two pieces of coconut and one piece of panocha, I made a rice cake which in our native dialect is called binanlay or biko in Tagalog. I love its purple color and the taste is a little different compared to the regular sticky rice sold in the market. It’s  another successful kitchen experiment, I guess

It tasted so yummy that I intend to cook more of  it and top it with latik.  My son is also interested to learn how to cook  so I taught him how to make a simple vegetable lumpia using the fresh ingredients we bought at the wet market – carrots, Baguio beans, sweet potato and turnips. I love any kind of lumpia and this is good with spicy vinegar used as dip.

It’s what I like about observing the season of Lent because we get to eat lots of fruits, fish and vegetables and a little of meat on the side. Abstaining from eating meat  most days of Lent and all Fridays of the year, we get to invent recipes that  need simple ingredients.  Eating healthy is eating well, don’t you think?

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Okra, Anyone?

Some people call it gumbo or lady finger but in our country, it is simply known as okra.

Since I’ve been diagnosed with colon cancer almost four years ago, undergone sigmoid surgery and six sessions chemotherapy, I’ve been so conscious of what I eat so most days, I have vegetables with a bit of meat on the side or skinless chicken breast. Okra is one vegetable that a friend suggested I take at least five times a week. Other than being an anti-oxidant (which I really need), it has lots of fiber that stabilizes blood sugar. Okra is believed to protect some forms of cancer expansion, especially colorectal cancer.

1. Okra helps lubricate the large intestines due to its bulk laxative qualities. The okra fiber absorbs water and ensures bulk in stools. This helps prevent and improve constipation. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra’s mucilage soothes, and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic. Okra binds excess cholesterol and
2. Okra’s mucilage binds cholesterol and bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver.
3. toxins (in bile acids). These, if not evacuated, will cause many health problems. Okra also assures easy passage out of waste from the body. Okra is completely non-toxic, non-habit forming, has no adverse side effects, is full of nutrients, and is economically within reach of most individuals unlike over-the-counter drugs.
4. Okra fiber is excellent for feeding the good bacteria (probiotics). This contributes to the health of the intestinal tract. (source: pyroenergen.com)

For these alone, I would eat okra everyday. It’s healthy, it’s cheap and you can buy it in any wet market or supermarket. You can plant it too in your own garden. It does not take much space since it grows even in pots.

 

 

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Gulaman at Sago

If there are popular street food in every corner of Metro Manila, there are also popular drinks that you will find in malls and yes, food cart on the street. Buko juice and gulaman at sago are just examples of these. Gulaman is simply the Tagalog term for  jelly while sago are tapioca pearls that go with it.  Don’t ask me why they go together but they taste good especially when they’re home-made. The ones they sell in food kiosks  in malls contain only about half a spoon of gulaman and probably  a teaspoon of sago. That’s P10 for you for a small plastic cup. Sago is also used in those very popular pearl and milk teas. I tried making a pitcher this afternoon, it’s better than sodas or soft drinks.  Gulaman of course is so easy to prepare while sago needs a lot of  boiling time to soften.

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Cinnamon Peppermint Tea, Anyone?

Hmm, the calming and delicious smell of Cinnamon Peppermint Tea on a cold Wednesday morning!

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Yummy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Anyone?

I’ve been engrossed lately with trying some baking recipes and making some adjustments in the amount of sugar and butter (they’re not really that healthy) without compromising the taste and texture of the recipe. Years ago, I enrolled in Sylvia Reynoso Gala’s cooking class for a few sessions and Ernest (her son)  taught us so many baking recipes including bars, siopao, brownies and different kinds of cookies. I learned how to make donuts from Marella (her daughter) and Chinese cooking from Sylvia herself. They are a supportive trio of chefs who share a lot to their students .I lost some of my handouts so I have to source the net for easy baking procedures.

Here’s the morning baking recipe. I made three batches of these yummy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies  right after attending the 6:30am mass. I have some friends coming over tomorrow and I am thinking of supplementing this with Baked Macaroni and homemade Puto.

Of course, there are so many ways of  making yummy, chewy (on the inside) oatmeal raisin cookies but I love this one.  By the way, here’s how it’s done if you want to bake some. You can reduce the measurement if you are only baking for a few. I made this in three batches, 25 large cookies.

You will need:

2 sticks softened butter (200 grams)

1 1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. table salt

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup walnut (optional)

1 1/2 cups raisins

In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. (You can use a hand-mixer at low-speed). In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter and sugar mixture. Add in the oats, raisins and walnuts and beat at low-speed for a minute or two.

You can chill the dough for a few minutes before baking to have that thick texture or you can line a baking pan with parchment paper and bake it at 170 C  for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. I used an ice cream scoop for uniform size.  Let it cool inside the oven before finally transferring it to a rack.

 

 

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Ginisang Tokwa With Kinchay

Category:		Side Dishes & Condiments
Special Consideration:		Vegetarian

Description:

Tofu, also known as Soya Bean Curd is called the “cheese of Asia”. It is high in protein, low in saturated fats, a good source of calcium and vitamin E. Recent studies have shown that soya beans and products derived from them may play a role in preventing certain types of cancer, particularly breast cancer.One drawback though is that, tofu easily absorbs cooking fat and soya is also known as a common cause of food allergy. My kids love tokwa as we call it in Tagalog and their favorite is simply ginisa with kinchay. It is best served with daing na bangus or any kind of fried fish.

Ingredients:
10 cubes of fresh tokwa, cut in half
2 medium size tomatoes
canola oil for frying
2 tbsp. soy sauce
garlic and onion
ground pepper
small bunch of kinchay

Directions:
Cut the tokwa in half, fry in canola oil until golden brown or when it turns crispy on the outside, drain in paper towels then cut into cubes.Sauté  garlic, onion and tomatoes. Add tokwa and about half a cup of water. Let it simmer for a minute or two. Add kinchay last and serve immediately while it is hot.

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How To Cook A Perfect Soft-boiled Egg

I know, I know, it’s a no-brainer to cook an egg and you probably won’t read this because you know  of different ways of preparing one for breakfast – fried, poached, boiled, it still taste the same. Why, even a five-year old would probably smile and say, You don’t need to teach me that.

Let’s not talk about calories and fat contents here because we all know that a boiled egg  has 15% fewer calories than when it is fried. Don’t you just love that perfectly done soft-boiled egg with that moist remaining at the center? My mom always have them overdone and when you take a bite with your fork,  the egg yolk crumbles while my son who is not that so adept in the kitchen usually have it soggy which I don’t much like.

All you need is an eight-minute cooking  for it to stay soft. Direct from the fridge, put it in a pan and add water just enough to cover the egg. Wait for eight minutes, no more, no less. Allow another 5 minutes to let it cool before removing it from the pan. And voilà, you’ll have that soft, perfectly boiled egg for breakfast. This is usually paired with good old hot pandesal , our classic  Filipino bread which is a staple in the  dining table. Then take your pick, hot chocolate or coffee?

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Guso, A Delectable Seaweed Dish

I’ve tried several – seaweeds, that is. We have Bala-iba also known as Eve’s hair, Ar-arosep or simply called lato, Balbalulang, which I think has no Tagalog or English equivalent  but this is the firs time that I  tried Guso, another seaweed that is common here in our country.  Seaweeds are actually marine algae, salt-water dwelling  plants  that are edible. Some are eaten fresh but most are blanched before other ingredients are added. And seaweed salads are side-dishes served with fried or broiled fish. According to livestrong .com, “Seaweed is high in vitamins and minerals including calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamins A, B and C, fiber and alpha lipoic acid. Seaweed is a good source of incomplete protein, containing only some of the essential amino acids. Combining seaweed in a salad with another protein, such as fish or eggs, will provide your body with a complete source of protein essential to your daily diet.”

You only need to wash it with water then blanch it for about 3 minutes. Add in diced red onions, fresh tomatoes, ginger and a sprinkling of  white pepper. I thought of how they make gelatin out of seaweeds like this while enjoying its nutty, gelatinous flavor.

And here’s how it looks fresh from the wet market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guso, anyone?

 

 

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