Pan de Sal Pandemonium

She adores the smell of freshly baked bread. He likes biting into the warm dough, savoring the crusty softness of each bun.

It's been their daily indulgence for weeks now, starting their mornings with Pan de Manila pan de sal and a cup of freshly-made coffee which they share between the two of them.

Sometimes she spreads butter; sometimes he chooses cheese. Sometimes he plops spanish sardines on open sandwiches. Some days it's liver spread for her; some days it's peanut butter when she craves for something sweet. Most days though they tear the pan de sal with their fingers, and take turns dunking the halves in their shared cup of coffee.

Days aren't the same when they start without this ritual, like when he failed to buy their daily ration on his way home one night, and they awoke to a pandesal-less morning. Gingerly they sipped their coffee, trying to compensate with almost every item in their bread basket. Ube Piaya, Red Ribbon Banana Crunch, mongo ensaimada and corner-bakery-pandesal bites later, they found themselves still longing for the aroma and the texture that's uniquely in their favorite Pan de Manila.

And so it has been that, when their supply is spent, they hie off to the nearest Pan de Manila outlet and replenish to ensure they have a ready stash for breakfast the next day. Oh, they laugh about this craziness between themselves, but he drives and she comes with him anyway, whether it's after dinner or the early hours of the morning (sometimes, still in their pajamas!), to the Pan de Manila outlet they fancy. The staff at the Zapote Road, South Expressway and Guadalupe must know them by now, this Bonnie and Clyde of pan de sal.

Tom Yum Thalay (Thai Hot and Sour Seafood Soup)

We had originally wanted soup because it's a rainy evening, but since we haven't gone Thai for quite a while and I have a handful of coriander leaves (wansoy) in the ref the idea of Tom Yum hit. It would have been simply Tom Yum Goong (prawn soup) but my husband wanted his tanigue chunks in, so I decided to go the whole nine yards and do the seafood version. As the picture shows I put in some squid too. Oh yes, we have the whole ocean in our freezer. The story of that, later, in another post. Kung hindi ako tatamarin. :P

And of course it helped that I have three thriving pots of lemon grass in my garden. I can't say it enough -- the unknowing would have found it weird and funny that this house grows GRASS in pots. Hehehe. The maid waters them everyday too! :P


TOM YUM THALAY

What's in it?

• 8 medium sized prawns, shells peeled but tails left intact, and deveined
• 2 large squid, ink sacs removed, body cut into rings
• 150 grams fish nuggets
• 4-6 cups rice washings or tap water
• 5 stalks fresh lemongrass, lightly pounded, cut into 1" pieces
• 4 T fish sauce
• 3 knobs ginger, peeled and pounded
• 1 large red onion, quartered
• 1/2 cup straw mushroom
• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 6 crushed chili peppers
• wansoy leaves for garnish

Kitchen Conjugations:

In a pot combine rice washing, lemongrass, ginger, red onion and bring to a boil. Add mushrooms, fish sauce and lime juice, let boil for two minutes.

Add in prawns, fish, squid and chile peppers. Let boil for a minute then remove from heat. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with the coriander/wansoy leaves. Serve hot.

Some notes:

1) The real recipe for Tom Yum called for:

• Galangal, a better, more aromatic relative of ginger.
• Kaffir lime leaves, used with regularity in a wide array of favorite Thai dishes for its unique luscious perfume and striking flavor
• Prik Pao, chili paste with soya bean oil. It's made up of sugar, shallots, soyabean oil, garlic, dried chili, fish sauce, dried shrimp and tamarind paste. This gives the soup its characteristic red color.

I didn't have these three so I improvised, substituting with ginger for galangal; adding a little calamansi for the lime; and doing without the color from the Prik Pao.

2) Alternatively, if you are in a hurry or simply want to simplify things, you may want to try the various mixes and pastes available in supermarkets. Some brands I have tried (with satisfactory results) is the Lobo brand (with Thai markings), about P36.00; and Kim's (I forgot how much, but less).

Pork Steak

Last Sunday was one of those times when my husband and I craved for dissimilar food. For lunch, he wanted fish while I craved for meat. Para walang away, we had both. I made Pork Steak (the Pinoy Bistek using pork) while he grilled a Betilla (a relative of lapu-lapu, maya-maya and bisugo). I also made him some cucumber-pineapple salad to go with the fish.

It was also fantastically warm inside the house, and so we were one in saying it was time na kumain kami sa labas (eat out)-- literally. We had lunch in our breakfast nook, a table straight out of a fastfood court, near our pocket garden. :)





PORK STEAK

What's In It?

1 k pork kasim or pigue, sliced into 1" strips
juice of 4 to 5 calamansi*
3/4 c soy sauce
5 T brown sugar
1 t coarsely ground black pepper
1 small onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, cut into rings for garnish
5 T cooking oil



Kitchen Conjugations:

Marinate pork in calamansi, soy sauce, pepper and brown sugar for at least 20 minutes. Heat oil and saute garlic and sliced onions until onions are soft and translucent.

Add in pork slices (without the marinade) and stir fry for one minute. Cover and simmer until pork is half-cooked (or after about 10 minutes). Add in marinade and simmer for another 10 minutes or till meat becomes fork-tender.

Stir-in onion rings and let simmer for 30 seconds or so. Check seasonings, correct any over-saltiness by adding a teaspoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar and simmering for another minute.

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I've already set my mind on Pork Steak when I realized that I've ran out of calamansi. So instead I used half a teaspoon of Knorr Sinigang sa Calamansi mix for the marinade.

This is a large-batch recipe; this dish serves 16 people (half a kilo of meat is good for 8). The leftovers will keep for half a month in the ref, or for at least two days in room temp. For food safety be sure to reheat before serving.

Tuna Egg Ramekins

Something that's fancy enough but quick and easy to do, to serve with coffee for when you have unannounced company, or if you, like me, have kids who clamor for something to do in the kitchen. :)

The recipe has two parts: making the Tuna-Egg Salad, and assembling the "crust." The tuna-egg salad doubles as spread for other sandwiches, or as in this recipe, can be served ramekin way.

TUNA-EGG RAMEKINS

What's In It?

• 3 medium eggs, boiled and diced
• 1 stalk celery, washed and diced (optional, but a quick way to sneak in some veggies!)
• 2 cans tuna flakes in vegetable oil, drained (I use Hot and Spicy for a little kick)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1.5 cups sandwich spread
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• half a loaf of bread (day old is better)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Combine all ingredients (except bread) in a bowl until smooth. Set aside.

Trim sides of bread slices. Reserve the sides for later.

Flatten bread slices with your fingers or using a rolling pin. Press into ramekins/muffin cups. (One slice goes nicely into one ramekin.)

You may opt to toast the bread at this point, or leave the bread un-toasted then spoon-in the tuna-egg salad.

Top with the bread sides in a criss-cross fashion, then bake in an oven toaster for 5 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Burned

I'm now banned from frying anything for the rest of my life. So has my husband ordered.

Not because I burned anything I was frying... I am banned because I am now a certified putok ng mantika magnet. Each time I fry (or even saute) hot oil flies and explodes... at me. I come a few inches by a fry in progress and the oil starts sputtering like crazy. Weird.

The injuries from this freak magnetism have escalated in both frequency and magnitude in the past three months. I have just recovered from a burn on my right index finger from a month ago and then last night, managed to attract enough boiling oil to the area below my right collarbone. Hiss! The crazy oil bomb left a little crater,* now covered with Betamethasone Clioquinol cream and Band-Aid, which I hope would heal nicely enough not to leave a scar.

[Do you really want a visual? Email me.]

For now, Mike takes over close encounters with the frying kind.

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*On hindsight that wouldn't have happened had last night been one of those nights I was wearing an apron.

Food for a Pinoy Luau

Ewan ko ba, but I really like cooking and I love feeding people. Given the chance, I would probably be having a party everyday. :)

So I volunteered to be chef for my friend Jeng's birthday party. We decided on an island theme and planned a luau.

A luau, in the strict sense, would normally feature poi (fermented taro root paste), kalua pig (pork prepared in an imu, or earth oven), poke (a recipe I found describes something like a Japanese kinilaw), and lomi salmon, among others.

But we didn't dare go into strange territory just yet, afterall, we were all Pinoys at the party and we wanted people to eat (and not be turned-off by the alien-sounding food)! So here's the menu I cooked up for Jeng:



'Arte ng names, 'no? Kasing-arte ng chef. :)

Fanciness aside, all the dishes were very simple and easy to prepare. The Flame-Baked Cheese-Garlic Mussels are just tahong I baked in a baking pan over charcoal; Red Snapper Tropicale is just maya-maya with sweet-sour sauce with pineapple bits, and breaded tanigue cubes paired with tartar sauce is what became known at the party as Golden Nuggets with Sauce Tartare. :) The Chicken Kebabs were the first to be wiped-out. (Jeng and I stopped the threading at about 50 sticks, but after she sampled a stick of the first batch she resumed threading, saying "Masarap eh, baka maubos agad.") The Beef Bulgogi found popularity among the kids, no one looked for Chickenjoy. :) Of course, Papa's Spaghetti Mafia was again topic of conversation, setting first-tasters asking for the recipe.

To keep the island party theme, I made crepe paper lanterns with white hibiscus cut-outs, and hung paper flower garlands. We used Jeng's tie-dyed sarongs as table cloth, then put the dessert Summer Fruit Medley (which are just slices of summer fruits -- bananas, watermelons and mangoes) on a banana leaf on the middle of the buffet table as centerpiece. (I put in some silk orchids I got for a song at ValuePoint as garnish.) The other desserts sat with the drink of the day, Jamaican Island Cooler (orange juice with fresh fruit slices) on the side table.

We were counting on some helpers Jeng hired to do the peeling, chopping, etc. but they were a non-appearance so Jeng and I became mega-multi-taskers. :) Luckily, we wrapped-up photo finish, and I made a quick dash home to shower and change. When I got back there was only time for a few shots using Jeng's cam-phone (in my hurry I forgot to snag my camera), so no pictures of the feast table here just yet.

The party was a great success though (if I may say so myself) and we had a great time eating, singing, talking and drinking (Bailey's for them, Island Cooler for me...tee hee hee) to the late hours of the night.

Party tayo ulit, Jeng? :)

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Of course I wouldn't have been able to indulge in this passion without the help of my labidabs, Mike, who was also my handyman, driver, taga-sabit ng garlands, videoke controller, etc. etc. on the day.

The tahong was sinadya in Silang, Cavite by Jeng's husband, Rel, who bought ALL the tahong from the stand-- an astonishing 8 large cans! (I ordered only 2.)

Spaghetti Mafia

This recipe is courtesy of my friend Jeng's dad, Papa Mario Anlap, who first had it at Bravo! Ristorante, liked it and decided to replicate it in his kitchen. (Thanks, Jeng, Papa!)

The recipe originally calls for a can of anchovy fillets, but since I didn't have any in my pantry I decided to use what's on hand, a bunch of dried dilis. The result? Same taste, albeit a little more work (as I had to break the dilis into pieces then soak them in olive oil for a few minutes), but nonetheless a simple, quick, flavorful, semi-vegetarian dish for a fraction of what you'd shell out at Bravo. :) Great for a quick meal for when you have surprise guests, or as a refreshing change from tomato-sauce spaghetti.

SPAGHETTI MAFIA

• 1/2 kg. Spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
• 1/4 cup black olives, sliced into rings
• 1 small red bell pepper, julienned
• 3 shallots or onions, peeled and quartered
• 1 can anchovy fillets,* diced or flaked, oil reserved
• 1/4 kilo ripe tomatoes, sliced and seeded
• 1 can button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 whole head garlic, peeled and sliced into strips
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil*
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 to 5 pieces siling labuyo, sliced lengthwise and seeded, or 1 to 1.5 teaspoons red pepper flakes (optional)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute garlic, scallions, tomatoes, anchovies, bell peppers, olives and mushrooms. Add in cooked spaghetti and toss for one minute. Season with salt and pepper and toss for another 30 seconds or so.

Serve warm with garlic bread and sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired. Serves 4 to 6.

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* You can also use 50 grams dried dilis, cut into smaller pieces crosswise and soaked in 1/4 cup olive oil. If you opt to do this, use the olive oil where you soaked the dilis for sauteing.

A can of Taby anchovy fillets costs P86.50 at Shopwise; if you use dried dilis, P20.00 worth is good for two cook-ups.

Instead of spaghetti, you can opt for other pasta sciutta like linguine, fettucine or even papardelle. You might want to pound the dried anchovies to granules, and mince the garlic, if you have picky eaters.

Papa serves this dish the hot and spicy way, which I actually prefer because it kicks, but I chose to forego the chilis in deference to Mike's acid reflux.

If you're wondering why there is a toy train engine in the picture above, it's because Gambel was playing on the table where I was taking the shots, and he insisted on putting his toy in, to good measure. :)

Banana Cake

I haven't baked for a long while. Apart from the prohibitive costs of electricity (I use a Turbo Broiler for baking), my MBA orientation nags me to take advantage of economies of scale and just buy instead of baking my own.

Last Thursday, though, with time on our hands and a bunch of bananas rapidly ripening due to the summer heat, with the boys becoming pasaway out of having nothing better to do, I decided it was time to take out the baking arm. We had a messy time in the kitchen, with my boys elbowing each other for a turn at the mixing. Even my husband volunteered to mash the bananas. :)

This is the same recipe I've been using since I was 9, when I was initiated into baking (by good ol' mom). This too is the same recipe I've baked countless times back in highschool, the cake I've sliced and sold many mornings in junior year. :)

This cake is great with a cup of coffee, or a tall glass of icy orange juice.

BANANA CAKE

What's In It?

• 1/2 c butter, room temp.*
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 cups flour
• 3 ripe bananas**, mashed to a pulp
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Kitchen Conjugations:

Pre-heat oven to 175 deg C. Meanwhile, stir in baking soda into buttermilk. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. Beat for about 1 minute, then add flour and mashed bananas alternatingly. Beat with a hand mixer for 2 minutes, then stir in buttermilk-baking soda mixture.

Pour into baking pan and top with ground nuts (cashew, peanuts or almond) if desired, and bake for 20 minutes or so, or until cake starts to leave side of pan. Cake is ready if a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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*Simply take out the butter from the ref at least 30 minutes before you start the batter to melt it to room temperature.

**I use lakatan, but when I first made this cake the practice at home was the use of senyorita (round and stubby, even smaller than latundan) and when available, bungulan (the variety that's green-peeled even when ripe). Using Senyorita made for more aromatic cakes, while the bunguran made the cake more flavorful and showy (more banana 'fibers' showing). Sadly, both varieties are not easily available now (to me, at least).

PS: The coffee mug above is at least 16 years old, something I inherited from my mom who used it every morning back when she was still in the country . It's an Arcoroc she bought during a trip to France.

Packed Lunch

See how the Daing na Bangus is packed? I used the top of a Dexter's Pizza box. Kept the fish crisp, and absorbed excess oil. :) That veggie dish up there is Soy Sauce Pakbet.

I was supposed to bring this stash to the office for Mike and I to share, but since he got stalled by bank-related errands I had to eat at home, by myself. :( Hmp. Nagpaka-pagod pa daw ako.

I bought the bangus from our suki for P100.00 per kilo, and paid extra P20.00 to have them deboned. Then I marinated them in a mixture of vinegar, crushed garlic, a little salt and crushed peppercorns for 1 day in the refrigerator. (Some cooks opt to add soy sauce in the marinade, but that will prevent the bangus from getting crispy during frying.)

Soy Sauce pinakbet is an attempt to find a substitute for bagoong, because I need to reduce our sodium intake for health (and vanity) reasons. :) In about 2 teaspoons of olive oil I sauteed garlic, onions and tomatoes, added sliced squash, okra, sting beans, eggplant and ampalaya, and stir fried for 3 minutes. I added two tablespoons of soy sauce when the vegetables were crisp-tender.

I would have topped it with crushed chicharon like I used to, but bawal na eh. :)

Chicken Inasal

OK, so you got me. I'm a huge fan of barbecues.

So much so that, for a time, I've decreed Friday as our family Inihaw Nite, and on those nights we take out the grill, get things smoking, and have dinner kain sa labas style. Literally, as in out in the garage. Part of the fun having Inihaw Nites, apart from the smoky flavor I really love, is the cowboy-no-frills-dinner we share: we use newspaper as placemats (to absorb any spills, and for easy clean up), eat with our hands, and enjoy the curious glances we get from passers-by. :P

We haven't had an Inihaw Nite for a while; hectic schedules got in the way. But I do try to have barbecue when I can. The most recent was last Sunday, when I made Chicken Inasal for dinner.

Offhand I'd like to apologize to Bacolodnons, as this dish might not be true to the real recipe. Pasensya na po, my recipe's always oido, and I just approximated based on what I recall to be the taste of Bacolod Chicken Inasal we had in Festival Mall. :)

CHICKEN INASAL

What's in it?

1 kg chicken, cut-up

1 1/2 teaspoons iodized salt

1 teaspoon black pepper powder

3-4 stalks tanglad (lemon grass), cut into 2" pieces

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c cooking oil

1 teaspoon atchuete (annato seeds)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Wash chicken pieces, then rub with salt, pepper and lemon grass slices. Set aside and allow to marinate for at least half an hour.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan. Add in minced garlic and atchuete. Stir fry for a minute or until the oil turns deep orange.

Start the grill. Skewer chicken pieces in barbecue sticks, then grill, brushing with the oil-garlic-atchuete mixture from time to time.

Serve with atchara and garlic rice. :)

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Tip : to prevent sticks from getting burned, soak in a basin of water (level of water should be just enough to cover the sticks) while the chicken marinates.

Argellanas

Happy to share another discovery.... Pastelera Mallorca's Argellanas... Spanish pastry that's flaky like otap, but not as hard.

And it's glazed! The perfect cure for my brown-sugar cravings. :) Perfect for coffee, too! :)

What's more, Argellanas are not as elusive as Ginger Snaps*. They are sold in plastic jars, at the bread section of Shopwise. (I found them at the bottom shelf of the rack nearest Gardenia and the Shopwise bakery.)

I planned on having them served with coffee to guests, but I liked them so much I got greedy and kept them to myself. :P

If the Argellanas are any indication, there's lots more sinful goodies to be found in the Pastelera Mallorca (in Scout Fuentebella, Quezon City). Punta tayo? :P

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PS
One of my friends actually went on a hunt for Ginger Snaps after reading my post. She scoured three supermarkets -- Shopwise, South and SaveMore, but found none. She said, "Kainis, I was looking forward to make kit-kit like a mouse while having tea!" Di bale, Jeng, try the Argellanas muna. :)

Sinigang na Ulo

It miraculously rained on Thursday; like God was saying, "Fret not, I'm still in charge here," as a reply to my incessant "Ang lamiiig naman dito sa Pilipinas!"

Anyhow, to celebrate that little rain and the unexpected reprieve from the summer heat, I decided to make broth that night. Nothing's heartier than soup when it's a rainy night.

Also, since the soup is hearty, we have a reason to skip rice. (Yehey!) Also, since Mike and I made a quick stopover at his suki at the palengke in Pacita and he bought a truckload of fish again, including the whole head of a maya-maya, I made Sinigang na Ulo.

I really don't think you need the recipe, but if you do, here it is. :)

Sinigang na Ulo
(Fish Head Sour Soup)

What's In It?
1 big head of Maya-maya (Snapper), about 1kg, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
2 large native tomatoes, quartered
2 bundles kangkong (swamp cabbage), washed, leaves separated from stalks
1 large radish, peeled and sliced
juice from 5-7 pieces calamansi (Philippine lemon)
3-5 tablespoons patis (fish sauce); or to taste
1 liter water or rice washing

Kitchen Conjugations
In a large pot, boil the water/rice washing with the quartered onions and tomatoes. When the water gets to a rolling boil, add in the fish head and the radish and allow to boil until the radish is half-cooked (semi-translucent). Pour in patis and calamansi juice and boil until the radish is cooked. Check seasonings. Add in kangkong, allow to boil for 30 seconds (or to crisp-tenderness) then remove pot from heat.

PS
1. Use the water from the second time of washing rice grains if you opt to use rice washing. The soup gets more flavorful (malinamnam).

2. You can use tamarind instead of calamansi, but for fish soups I always use calamansi to remove the fishy-ness (lansa).

3. You can also use Knorr Sinigang sa Calamansi. If you opt to, make sure to pour in the mix long before you add the fish and other ingredients, to make sure that you cook the artificial ingredients in the mix long enough without overcooking the fish and/or veggies.

Ginger Snaps

Fibisco Ginger Snaps. My all-time favorite. The day we first met in the UP Coop, Ginger Snaps cost me P18.00. From thence it has become a staple feature of my study table (well, next to the study lamp, of course) and has seen action in many dorm night studying and chattering. :)

After that love affair in college, Ginger Snaps and I went our separate ways. We did see each other in the snack aisle from time to time, but my kids wanted Oreo and Chips Ahoy and so I passed up many occasions to reconnect.

Then I noticed Ginger Snaps went 'missing' from supermarkets for a long while, and found myself actually wishing we could see each other again. So then imagine my delight when, on a chance drop-in in a hospital cafeteria (to buy a bottle of water) there it was, sitting on the shelf and gloriously calling my name. I lost no time and shelled out P40.00, almost ripped the wrapper open and took one golden brown cookie. :)

Why do I like it?

This, according to the package:

Dip it, dunk it or simply bite into it. Fibisco Ginger Snaps will surely make tea time, milk time or coffee breaks something to look forward to. Discover many ways of enjoying this classic biscuit made from an interesting blend of flavorful ingredients -- enriched wheat flour, syrup, oil of lemon, refined cane sugar and of course, ground ginger! For the gourmet in you -- Fibisco Ginger Snaps.

Plus this, according to me:

It's not as sweet (and I presume, not as fattening) as chocolate chip cookies; not as predictable as butter cookies; and definitely not as soft and crumbly as oatmeal raisin. In other words, it's in a class all its own. :)

One weekend I excitedly brought it home to share with mom as we watched TV. She took one cookie and attempted to take a bite, but the cookie 'fought back,' and she said, "Kaya pala Ginger Snaps ang tawag diyan...magsa-snap ang ipin mo sa tigas!"

Hehehe. It really would help if you soften the cookie first by dunking it in coffee, tea or juice. Back then I enjoyed it always with a glass of Tang.

Or you can nibble on the edges and let the delightful interplay of flavors from the cookie play with the tip of your tongue as the cookie slowly softens and deliciously yields to your bite. :)

Yasai Itame

Forgive my predilection for using octopus in my recipes. That's but a reaction to my husband's predilection for buying them. :) In my freezer are trays of baby octopus (like the ones used here), boiled octopus, smoked octopus, and even large octopus balls, which he buys from the Cold Storage section of Shopwise.

Well, if you're wondering, the taste and texture of octopi is just like that of the more commonly accepted squid. And since it's lower-priced (P95.00 per kilo compared to P120.00 per kilo for squid), the octopus may have well been substituting for squid in the squid balls that you eat. And if you've eaten Takoyaki balls, then you have eaten octopus. Tako is the japanese term for octopus.

Now here's a recipe making use of my frozen stash of octopi, a dish I never fail to have when we eat at Ramen Tei or Teriyaki Boy. The Yasai Itame in both restaurants use squid by the way. :)
The real recipe calls for cabbage, but since I have Kailan I decided to use it (in the process made the dish more colorful and photogenic). The recipe also commonly uses pork, but in deference to my Lower Mike's Cholesterol project, I've done away with that. :)

Yasai Itame with Baby Octopus

What's in it?

100g baby octopus (cleaned, heads sliced open, tentacles separated from head)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. Sake (rice wine)
1 big carrot (thinly sliced)
1 big onion (thinly sliced)
10 stalks/leaves Kailan or ½ small cabbage (sliced)
250g bean sprouts
1-2 green peppers (sliced)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 tbsp. fresh ginger (grated)
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Kitchen Conjugations:

Marinate the octopus in 1 tbsp. soy sauce and Sake. Heat oil in a pan and stir-fry ginger for 3 minutes on high heat. Add marinated octopus, stir fry for 30 seconds, then add vegetables according to how long they take to cook: first the carrots, onion, cabbage, bean sprouts, peppers last. When the vegetables are half-cooked (crisp tender; sweating a little), add in the marinade, and season with pepper and salt.

"Hurray It's Summer!" Kebabs

It's summer! Woo-hoo!!

Pretty soon, when school's off, it's time for road trips, hikes, beaches and....barbecues! Yey!!
(And oh yes...time for my garage sale, too!)

To officially herald the start of summer I decided to have a barbecue for lunch. For a more festive touch I made Kebabs, using the chicken breasts I marinated originally for Turbo Chicken. On a whim I threw in some Chorizo de Cebu that's been lingering in my freezer. :)

Here's to a great summer. Hope you get things smoking one weekend! :)

CHICKEN KEBABS

What's in It?

1 kg. chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-size cubes
1 pack McCormick Zesty Garlic chicken marinade*
1 med. cucumber, cubed
2 med. bell peppers, cubed
1 large onion, cubed
1 med. can pineapple tidbits
1 small can cut young corn
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon Knorr seasoning (or soy sauce if unavailable)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Marinate chicken in the zesty garlic marinade for at least 20 minutes, following package instructions. (For best results, marinate overnight in the refrigerator.)

Thread chicken cuts onto the skewer alternately with the vegetables and pineapple. (While doing this, have someone start the grill already.) Make sure to save about 1/2 cup of the pineapple juice/syrup.

Combine pineapple juice/syrup, cooking oil and Knorr seasoning.

Grill kebabs on hot grill, turning frequently to avoid scorching (grill about one minute each side), brushing lightly with the pineapple juice-oil mixture. Since chicken cooks quickly and it's best to leave it juicy, keep cooking to about 5 minutes only.

Serve with hot steaming rice. Masarap ya-an! :)

PS:

Kebab is a Turkish term which means "grilled meat," but non-Turkish cooks (like myself) have since turned kebab into a "grilled anything" dish, which means that apart from chicken, you can use firm-bodied fish (like tanigue, tuna, labahita) pork, shrimps or tender beef slices. And as I did, you can also kebab-ize whatever's in your freezer. The Chorizo de Cebu didn't need any marinating by the way. :)

If you want a marinade from scratch, combine pineapple juice (from the tidbits), 2 T sugar, a pinch of black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cloves garlic crushed and minced, and use this instead of the McCormick marinade. (As I said, I've pre-marinated the chicken, for something else.) Then, after you've skewered the meat, combine this marinade with the cooking oil and use it for brushing.

Sneaky Mom's Nuggets

I'm a sneaky mom.

Whenever I can, I sneak health into my kids' meals. I add chopped carrots into spaghetti meat sauce; I put minced banana blossoms into burger patties (oh yes!) and there are disguised chopped greens when I make meatballs. I do many other things besides that, in the pursuit of healthy eating.

This recipe is another sneaky tactic.

Gambel doesn't like fish; he likes chicken. And horrors, he doesn't eat the flesh, preferring the crispylicious skin. (He won't eat chicken cooked any other way than fried. If I serve tinola, he'd just have the broth.)

One time at McDonald's though, he got curious about the Chicken Nuggets I was eating and snagged one bite. To my surprise, he liked it and ate the rest of my meal. Aha...so he would eat chicken meat that way pala. Ting! (Idea bulb flash!)

So for dinner one time I decided to make nuggets, and decided to push my luck further by using Tanigue (Spanish Mackerel) slices (which I later deboned and cut into nuggets). To aid the disguise, I served gravy on the side.

I know the guise worked when both my boys ran down the stairs excitedly saying, "I smell chicken!" and ate with gusto. The guise was perfect until JAM discovered a fragment of fishbone in one of his nuggets and declared, "Ay, mommy alam ko na ito..." I had to flash him a meaningful glare so as not to reveal my sneaky secret to Gambel...

Anyhow, we've had Sneaky Nuggets for three or so times more since then, with Gambel still having no clue of this fishy deal.

SNEAKY NUGGETS

What's in it:

1 kg fish fillets (Tanigue, Blue Marlin or Lapu-Lapu), cut into nuggets
2 eggs, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
2 packs McCormick Fish Nuggets breading mix
cooking oil for deep frying (about 2 cups)

Kitchen Conjugations:

1. Heat cooking oil in a deep pan.
2. Dip the fish nuggets in the beaten egg mixture, then coat evenly with the breading mix.
3. Fry in hot oil for 3 minutes, or until the coating turns golden brown. (Do not overcook, as the fish will lose all juice and harden.)
4. Serve with Mang Tomas gravy, tomato catsup or sweet chili sauce.

Arranque Adventure a.k.a. Something Fishy

I like going to Arranque Market (in Sta. Cruz, Manila), and we go there every Sunday when we can. I enjoy each trip because, as Bryant puts it, "It's like being in a Hong Kong Wet Market--only that you understand what people are saying!" :P

It's like being in a Hong Kong market because Arranque is a treasure trove of chinese vegetables, fresh fruits, herbs and spices and the fish varieties one doesn't find in town markets. Finding so many food items gets me excited with the kitchen possibilities. :P

Last Sunday, as usual, I bought a week's menu -- I bought Polonchay, watercress, spinach and Kai-Lan or Gai-Lan (Chinese Broccoli) and Wan Soy (Coriander). I also bought some tofu, tokwa, tausi and ngo-hiong (Five Spice) and chinese Fish Balls for Tom Yum or Fish Ball Soup, whichever I later fancy.

And as usual, we bought some 3 kilos of sweet, juicy, creamy caimito (star apple), my summer favorite.

Something Fishy

From the fish section we bought Espada, Dapa, some giant squid and a kilo of Halaan (Clams). As we waited while the fish was cleaned and sliced, I asked aloud "Ano sa English 'yung Espada? Swordfish?"

Mike answered, "Hindi. 'Yung Swordfish, matulis at mahaba ang nguso." (I was a fish ignoramus before I met Mike, familiar only with Bangus, Tilapia, Hasa-hasa, Salay-salay, Dalagang Bukid and the lowly galunggong. It was Mike who acquainted me with the bigger varieties-- Lapu-Lapu, Labahita, Talakitok, Tanigue... so on. So I had to take his word for the Swordfish thing.)

Yet his fish familiarity aside, we were at a loss for a translation for Espada and Dapa. Writing this blog I was tempted to say "we bought Quasi-Swordfish and some Get-Down." Tee-hee-hee. :P

Uncomfortable as I am with ignorance, I researched and found that Dapa is actually the local term for all fishes that are flat, but that there are 7 families of flatfishes, with over 540 separate species. (More info: Market Manila.) I learned later that what we bought is known in English as Indian Halibut.

Then as it turns out, Mike is right about the difference between Swordfish and Espada. Espada in English is Cutlass Fish (the silvery variety) and Black Scabbard (the black variety, predominant in Madeira islands, wherever that is... ) For our education I'm posting both pics -- the Swordfish at left, and the Cutlass, at right. :)

Anyhow, I made Halaan Soup for lunch (shellfish is best cooked fresh), and we had the Dapa/Halibut for dinner. Recipes follow. :)

Steamed Halibut with Tausi, Tofu and Kai-Lan

First, the tips and notes.

This dish is composed of 3 steps -- steaming the fish, making the sauce, and blanching the Kai-Lan leaves. To simplify, you could opt to cook this dish while you cook rice, as I did. I piled up the Kai-Lan in the rice pot as the rice was on its final stage of steaming. That way, the vitamins from the Kai-Lan steeped onto the cooking rice, I cut one step and saved on LPG. :)

You could also opt to deep fry the fish instead of steaming it, but steaming is the healthier option. :) Also, as I did in this recipe, you can use some of the water in the steamer pot (which has the fish drippings collected from steaming) for the sauce. This way, you still get the important Omega 3 and fish oil in, and not waste water! :)

Steaming will take about 10-15 minutes. You can use that time for slicing and preparing the sauce ingredients.

I used olive oil for sauteing, but that's because I am watching our cholesterol levels. If palm oil is what you have in the house, by all means use it!

And now, the recipe.

What's in it?

1 Indian Halibut (Dapa), about 1.5 kgs., cleaned and sliced
4 cups tap water
3 tablespoons olive oil, or canola oil
1 thumb ginger, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced
1 small red bell pepper, sliced into small cubes
1 small green bell pepper, sliced into small cubes
3 to 4 tablespoons tausi (salted black beans)
2 to 3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 block tofu, sliced into cubes
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
spring onions cut into 1/2" lengths for garnish
half a bundle of Kai-Lan, washed and separated into individual stalks

Kitchen Conjugations:

Boil water in a steamer pot (or a wok). Brush fish slices with a little oil then arrange them on the steaming plates (or grill, if using a wok). Cover and steam for 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, blanch kai-lan leaves (by arranging them in a bowl and pouring boiling water on them; or follow my suggestion above). Do not overcook; they should still be a little crunchy and green. Remove from heat and arrange on serving platter. Set aside.

Prep-up sauce ingredients. [If you're done with that, go watch TV or something. :)]

If fish is cooked, remove steaming pot from heat, and carefully transfer the fish slices from the steamer plates onto the bed of Kai-Lan leaves.

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute ginger, onions and garlic for one minute. Add tausi, sugar and the bell pepper cubes and stir fry for 30-45 seconds. Add in tofu, stir fry for half a minute, then add 2 to 3 cups of fish stock (from the steam pot) or water. Simmer for about a minute, then check seasonings. (If mixture has become too salty, add a teaspoon of vinegar and let simmer for 20 seconds more.) Add in cornstarch mixture and continue simmering and stirring until sauce thickens.

Pour sauce over fish slices and garnish with spring onions. Enjoy with steamed rice or batard (if you've given up eating rice) or wheat bread. And some White. Hehehe. :P

Caldereta

CALDERETA is Mike's favorite dish. And it's become even more so after he's tasted my version, he said. :)

Anyway, wanting to free up space in the freezer (the block of beef ribs measured about 8" x 12" x 6") and since we haven't been eating meat for a while (Mike has been very supportive of my diet), I decided to make Caldereta. (This was about a month ago.)

The secret to great-tasting, tender beef, which cannot be substituted, sorry -- is slow cooking. So as we planned to go attend an auction for a few hours I let the beef ribs stew in a pot, told the maid to watch it and replenish the stock from time to time, and to turn the stove off when the beef becomes tender. (Siempre may explanation pa ng what I think and what she should think as tender.) Then we left for the auction.

When we got home at 6 pm that's when I peeled and quartered potatoes and carrots and prepared the rest of the ingredients (bell peppers, scallions, liver spread, ground peanuts, siling labuyo, tomato paste, green peas, grated cheese and my special secret orasyon...hehehe).
Dinner's at 7, and while there was a huge grin of excitement and anticipation on Mike's face, the kids were saying, "Mommy, puede cheesedog sa 'kin? (JAM)" and "Mommy, gusto ko sabaw. (Gambel)"

Mike broke in, "No, kumain naman kayo ng iba. Try n'yo itong Caldereta ni Mommy. Promise makakalimutan n'yo'ng pangalan n'yo pag natikman n'yo 'to."

Gambel said, "Daddy, ayaw kong makalimutan ang pangalan ko." And Jam said, "Spicy 'ata, daddy." To which Mike simply said, "Sige na, kumain na lang kayo."

So, tentatively at first, the boys doused their rice with some sauce from the Caldereta.

Later though, I was seeing repeated thumbs-up signs from Jam. And from Gambel, between mouthfuls: "Congratulations, Mommy," and "Nice taste, mommy. You're the best mommy ever, ever in the world." and "I love you, Mommy!"

To which Mike said, "O, ano, bayad ka na?"

Ah, I love cooking. But better than that, I love cooking for my family. :)

Here's the recipe for when you wanna try it out:

CALDERETA

1 1/2 kilo beef short ribs, chopped to individual slices
2 T garlic, minced
1 large shallot, sliced
1 foil pack Del Monte tomato paste
5 T ground peanuts or 5 T chunky peanut butter
1/2 c grated cheddar cheese
2 cans Purefoods liver spread
1 red and 1 green small-sized bell peppers, sliced and seeded
2 medium-size potatoes, peeled and quartered (or cubed)
1 medium-size carrot, cubed
2 T soy sauce
3 pcs chili pepper (siling labuyo)
1/2 c sweet pickle chips
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c cooking oil

Wash beef ribs and season with about 1 teaspoon of salt, set aside. Heat cooking oil in a frying pan, then stir-fry potatoes and carrots for a minute or until they are half-cooked. Remove vegetables, then saute garlic, scallions and bell peppers for about a minute. Add-in the ribs and fry each side for about one minute, or until both sides are brown.

Remove beef ribs and garlic-onion from the pan and transfer onto a stock pot or pressure cooker. Add water to cover, about 5 to 6 cups. Boil over high heat for 5 minutes, then simmer for 30 to 45 mins or until the beef is almost tender. (Cooking time is less in a pressure cooker; count about 10 mins from the time the hissing starts. Be sure that all the pressure has been vented before opening the lid.)

When beef is ready, add in the tomato paste, liver spread and pickle chips. Simmer for another 5 minutes, then add in chili pepper, potatoes, carrots and grated cheese. Continue simmering until the potatoes and carrot cubes are fork-tender.

Garnish with olives (if available) and red bell pepper slices.

Kangkong On Fire

AMONG THE MANY THINGS I do, I love COOKING the most. Some say it's the Nepomuceno, kapampangan blood in me. My lola on the other hand says mana ako sa kanya.

Cooking, actually, is my therapy, a kind of 'me, alone, on creative, production mode' time. I can spend hours in the kitchen, or cook to feed an army. Corollary to that, I love replicating dishes I tried or tasted while eating out. I like the thrill of experimentation and getting the taste right (meaning nahulaan ko, just by tasting, what the ingredients were). I am thrilled to find a better, faster or cheaper way of doing the dish. 'Babaw ko ba?! O kina-career lahat ng bagay? :P

I've actually worked-out a lighter on the pocket version of Carbonara (sorry, can't share the recipe, secret... hehehe) and I'm close to perfecting my version of the Starbucks Banana Bread (the color's still a bit off...Starbucks' is dark brown, mine's still light... but I've perfected the taste and the texture).

Anyway, one dish I liked on an eat-out night, and which I replicated at home, is Kangkong On Fire, from Siam Taste in Festival Mall. It's basically a spiced up version of Kangkong with Oyster Sauce. It's very simple, I'm sharing the recipe here in case you want a change from your usual vegetable fare and wanna try it out.

And may I add, the dish costs P95.00++ at the restaurant. You're spending only half of that with my version. :)

KANGKONG ON FIRE

3 bundles Kangkong [in English: Swamp Cabbage]
3 tablespoons Oyster Sauce [see note below for substitutes]
3 to 4 pieces siling labuyo, chopped [for us Bicolanos, the more, the merrier!]
1 small shallot (red onion), sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups tap water
Optional: 1 pork broth cube
Leftover lechon kawali, Crispy Pata or store-bought chicharon - if available
In a medium sized wok, boil the 5 cups of water. Meanwhile, wash kangkong. Cut leaves and the stalks into 3" pieces, discarding the hard, lower portion of the stem. Soak in a bowl of water to keep them green and fresh.

Slice onions, chop garlic and chili. Set aside.

Blanch cut up kangkong in the wok. (That's dip and boil for 30 seconds to a minute.) Remove the wok from the fire, take the kangkong out and lay out on serving plate. Set aside. Pour about 2 cups of the green (chlorophyll-rich), boiled water from the wok and discard the rest.

Put wok back on stove. Pour cooking oil. Saute scallions first* then garlic for about 30 seconds each. Add chopped siling labuyo. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds.

While waiting, dissolve the oyster sauce (or soy sauce-sugar-cornstarch mixture) and pork cube (if using) in the bowl of green, hot water. Add mixture to the saute. Let simmer for a minute (stirring if you used the substitutes), until the mixture thickens.

Remove from fire. Pour sauce over the kangkong. Top with Lechon Kawali or crushed chicharon if desired. Serve hot (literally and figuratively). :)

Cost: Kangkong - P15.00; Oyster Sauce - P14.00 (or Soy Sauce,Sugar, etc - P10.00); Pork Cube - P4.00; Cooking Oil, Water, Sili - P5.00; Chicharon (with plenty left over to use for Ginisang Munggo or to munch when you've got nothing to do and want to hike up your bad cholesterol levels) - P5.00

*Shallots cook longer than garlic, and garlic leaves a bitter taste in the oil if burned/left frying for too long. So saute the scallions first and add garlic when the scallions turn soft!:) BTW, onions will do, but not as well. Pero puede na din. I just like the exotic taste of shallots better. :)

Oyster sauce may be substituted with : 2 tablespoons soy sauce + 1 tablespoon brown/washed sugar + a pinch of ground pepper + 1 tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in a tablespoon of water.