It’s Bangus Belly

Locally we call it bangus, it’s  milkfish to you dear readers. It’s considered our national fish. The Philippines is one of the best places to buy fresh bangus. There are a hundred ways to cook bangus. The best part of course would be the belly.  It contains a healthy fat that is good for our health.  We had this for lunch today, three slices of bangus belly. Bear with me, I am practicing on my macro shots on food. I don’t seem to get it right, the focus is not always to my liking. What do you think of this?

Sweet and sour Bangus belly. Oh so yummy!

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The Joy Of Baking

“There was a mood of magic and frenzy to the room. Crystalline swirls of sugar and flour still lingered in the air like kite tails. And then there was the smell-the smell of hope, the kind of smell that brought people home.” – Sarah Addison Allen

One thing I love about baking, be it a simple banana bread,  moist carrot bars or cookies  is the smell that permeates the whole kitchen once you place the baking pan in the oven. I love the  combined smell of cooking raisins, nuts, vanilla or cinnamon or whatever ingredient a particular recipe calls for. This afternoon, I baked my second apple pie confident enough to tweak the recipe a bit and  experiment on brushing just egg whites on top instead of a beaten egg with the yolk.  The top part of the pie may not be as silky as when you use the whole egg but it adds a flaky feel combined with sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon. Whereas before I didn’t even know how to make a dough, it’s now as easy as kneading something for our local steamed bun called “siopao”.  I also sliced half and half of Fuji apples for a natural sweet taste and the tart flavor of Granny Smith.  It came out good, son said, “it’s yummy”.  I laughed when he asked, “did you take pictures?” He knows that I document almost everything that I cook in the kitchen  just like I do with my flowering plants when they are in bloom. He cut a slice even before it cooled down. I got three remaining apples, would love to try making apple sauce and use it on my next baking adventure.

Here’s one more that I experimented on a month ago, a simple recipe for vanilla cake. I didn’t put icing because I love the flavor without being too sweet.

I love the quiet, concentrating on the task at hand , the calming effect of kneading, measuring and  mixing to make something  yummy and  scrumptious.

I got a lovely surprise this afternoon when a friend sent me a lovely tin of Fannie May Colonial Assortment chocolates via LBC.  Aren’t I lucky? Can’t wait to take a bite. Thank you Ex.  🙂

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Teriyaki

Category:		Meat & Seafood
Style:		Japanese
Special Consideration:		Quick and Easy

Description:
The term teriyaki means shining(teri), broiled or panfried(yaki). Mirin, a sweet fortified rice wine is used. This is one of the recipes that I have collected from our BPI Culinary Club many years ago. It is very simple to make, you can use either pork, beef or chicken.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo pork (lomo)/beef(serloin)/chicken
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Vino blanco or Anisado wine
1 onion, chopped
8 pcs. garlic – poundDirections:
Mix all ingredients and cook over small fire for about 2-3 minutes.

Let cool, then marinate with the meat/pork/chicken for about 6-24 hours.

Grease pan with little oil, stir fry fast until brown

Serve with bun, loaf bread or rice.

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Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I was craving for sweets the other day and since I cannot eat oatmeal solo, I always incorporate it in some other recipes that need a cup or two of rolled oats.  I have to source the net to find something simple to make and I came up with this recipe.  It was moist and yummy though but I told Josef  it is better baked as bars than cookies.  Will try it some other time.

And these are the ingredients which as usual, I tweaked a bit. I don’t really dig sweet cookies so I always lessen  the sugar. These are the original  ingredients though, it’s up to you to adjust everything if you want to try it.

You will need:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ( I omitted this)

Preheat oven to 375 °F or 175 °C. Grease cookie sheets. Stir together flour, cocoa, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients using a hand mixer. Spoon into the greased cookie sheet leaving at least two inches in between cookies. Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool.

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Fun Way To Cook Okoy

Okoy or Ukoy is a traditional Filipino dish. It is usually made of different ingredients common of which is shrimp or vegetables. It is the way that it is cooked that makes a little difference. It is usually eaten as a side dish or appetizer.

Ingredients:
4 or 5 cups of fresh squash, cut into strips
1 medium size onion, diced
1 beaten egg
batter of cornstarch or flour to coat the squash
wanton or molo wrapper
dash of salt to taste
dash of fine ground pepper
oil for frying

Directions:
Cut the squash into thin, small strips, add a dash of salt and pepper then add diced onion. Set aside.Make the batter mixture, add one beaten egg.Coat the squash with the batter and put on top of each molo wrapper. Fry in hot oil, reduce heat while frying. You could add small shrimp on top but it is optional. The molo wrapper also serve as a binder and it makes the okoy crispy.

Serve hot with your favorite dish.

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Longganisa and Turkey Meat Loaf Pasta Bake

Sometimes I crave for pasta dishes in lieu of regular rice. Nothing fancy, just using ingredients which are available in the fridge.  Dicing half a loaf of Spam Turkey and six small Vigan longganisa (they taste more garlicky than your ordinary longganisa in the market), onion, one red bell pepper and one medium-sized carrot was easy enough.  Sprinkle some dried herbs before baking. I used four-cheese Spaghetti sauce and 400 grams of shell macaroni pasta.  I baked it in the oven long enough to melt the cheese on top.

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Cheese Puffs Made Easy

The whole morning, I searched the net for some menu/recipe to prepare for Noche Buena. I told my son that I won’t make embutido  nor siomai  this year. It is always part of our Christmas tradition to have them on the table, but it  would be nice to have other recipes for a change. Nor would I prepare fruit salad,( it’s not really a favorite for us except for mom). I prefer fresh fruits sliced into bites or just eaten without any heavy cream or syrup, besides, canned varieties of fruits are not that healthy. My son said that   I should at least serve fried chicken (his all-time favorite), lechong kawali  and Filipino style pasta (in his dictionary, that means something sweet). I prefer Italian, I like pesto, he doesn’t so I guess we have to compromise.  Would love to try carbonara  and lemon chicken or maybe stir fry tenderloin in pineapple sauce.  I came across this site  featuring  mostly Filipino food complete with video and I saw this simple recipe on making cheese puffs. It looked so yummy so I searched the cupboard if I had ingredients to make  some and I came up with this.

And here’s how it’s done. It came out yummy, I was surprised because the ingredients were so simple and was quite easy to prepare.  The good thing about it is, it has no sugar, just perfect finger food for a hot cup of coffee or green tea. I was able to make ten pieces out of the recipe.

I wonder if I could mix some nuts to have that crunchy feel, will definitely try it on the next batch that I will make. Have some, they’re still hot from the oven.

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Adobong Labong

Description:

Between July and September each year, bamboo shoots are in season in our place in Pangasinan. In our local dialect, it is also called labong. It is considered a vegetarian dish and it is cooked in various ways depending on what region or province you come from. One such popular way to cook it is mixing it with gata or coconut milk and we simply call it adobong labong. You have to remove the outer casing first and the white , fleshy inner portion is what is eaten. Unlike the way it is cooked in other areas which they still sauté, ours is just mixed together with the ingredients until it is cooked and dry enough. I don’t normally measure how much of each ingredient goes into the pan, it all depends on how you want it, you can put enough chili just like what you do with laing or just enough pepper to taste. It is best when labong is fresh and not the canned variety we see in supermarkets or the boiled ones we buy in wet markets.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo boiled labong
1 cup pork giniling (ground pork) or any toppings that you want
1 tbsp. diced ginger
1 tbsp. diced garlic
1 small head onion
2 pcs. green pepper
a dash of ground pepper
salt to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a deep wok or pan except the labong. Add a little water and let it simmer until the coconut milk curdles. Put the labong strips and simmer until it is cooked.  (It is always best to boil the labong first  then drained well before mixing it with coconut milk. Put salt and ground pepper according to desired taste. In our province, fish sauce  is usually used instead of salt and it has that different taste from bagoong alamang.

This morning, Mom brought home  four small shoots and I cooked it for dinner….yummy!

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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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Pancit Buko (More Experiment In The Kitchen)

My son and I were watching  a culinary show on TV while lingering at the table after breakfast. Then he said, “I miss lumpiang Shanghai, you no longer prepare that”. I told him we have the ingredients but we don’t have lumpia wrappers. “Let’s experiment“, I said. Sometimes, our kitchen ventures are just that….little experiments that turn out good and yummy in the end.  I remember one time watching a feature on the Coconut House in Quezon City where they use coconut and coconut products  in their restaurant. “Why not Pancit Buko?” So off he went to buy two buko (young coconut), have them shredded and the juice saved for drinks.  This is how it turned out.

Instead of using the traditional noodles like bihon, canton, sotanghon  or fresh miki, buko did the trick. I tell you, it was a yummy dish and the nutty flavor added to the  tasty dish.

It’s cooked like your traditional pancit and it taste great with the veggies. You would need:

• shredded buko meat  (about four cups)
• 1/4 kilo pork kasim  (I used 3 pcs. of pork chops)
• 1/4 kilo Baguio beans
• 1 large carrot
• half of a medium-sized cabbage
• Kinchay (Chinese parsley)
• green onions for topping
•  a head of onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste or you can add in 2 tbsp. soy sauce

You can try this maybe even without the pork,  put some quail eggs instead.

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