Liver and Baguio Beans

1/4 kilo chicken liver
100 grams baguio beans
2 tbsp tomato catsup
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 cups water
2 tsp cooking oil
pepper to taste

Heat oil in the saucepan.  Add chicken liver and water. When liver is cooked as you prefer it, take one piece and squash using a fork.  Put squashed liver back to the pan, add catsup, oyster sauce, soy sauce and pepper.  Once sauce thickens, add baguio beans.

*Cooking time is 10 minutes when using high heat.

Budget Pesto

1 kilo cooked pasta of your choice
2 cups basil
1 bulb garlic
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 1/2 cup cheese
3 packs of Nestle cream (small)
6 chicken breasts

Chicken:
Marinate chicken breasts in 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper. Fry or grill. Let stand for 5 minutes before chopping.

Manual:
Chop a bit of basic and garlic, add some more ingredients, chop some more. Chopping both ingredients in bits allows you to make sure that both ingredients are fine-chopped. It takes time, but the over-all consistency is worth it. Put the chopped mixture in a pan and add the oil, cream and cheese. Heat the pan (low flame) until cheese melts, pour on top of the pasta.

Food processed:
Finely chop basil and garlic in a food processor or chopper, slowly adding the cooking oil in a constant stream while the basil and garlic is being processed. Put the chopped mixture in a pan and add the cream and cheese. Heat the pan (low flame) until cheese melts, pour on top of the pasta.

Tortang Talong Cakes

3 medium sized eggplants

4 eggs
1/4 kl ground pork
1/8 tbsp of salt
1/8 tsp of pepper

Grill eggplant.  Peel off burnt skin and crush and mix the pulp.  Fry ground pork until pink.  Mix with crushed eggplant.  Beat eggs.  Add salt and pepper and the pork/eggplant mixture.

Fry eggplant mixture in an egg ring. Serve hot. Best served with Del Monte Tomato Catsup.

Sizzling Tofu Steak

Deconstruct… Reverse Engineering… Copy … This is what I do when I eat out. If I like it, I’ll try recreating it at home.

So this dish is somewhat copied from the Tofu Steak over at the fast food place called Karate Kid, although the mushrooms are different and I’m sure the seasoning is different too. 

4 pcs. tokwa/ tofu

1/4 kl ground beef

1 can button mushrooms

2 tbsp. Lee Kum Kee superior soy sauce

2 tbsp. Datu Puti soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp flour/ cornstarch dissolved in 4 tbsp. water

Cut tokwa to your preferred sizes. Fry until golden brown. Take the tokwa out of the frying pan to drain on paper towels. Set heat to low. Take out all of the oil and add the ground pork until it changes color. Add the mushrooms, soy sauce and seasoning. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.  Add the flour solution.

Taste the pork mixture, if you find it too salty, add 1 or 2 tbsp of water.  Simmer.

Set the tokwa on a serving or sizzling plate and top with pork mixture.  Will make at least 2 servings when using a sizzling plate.

Lechon Kawali

1 kilo liempo

3 cups water

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1 cup oil

Boil liempo on water with salt and pepper on high heat for about 30 mins. Drain. Fry liempo.

Tip:

Liempo needs to be boiled first before frying so that it’s tender and juicy.

Make sure that the pork is drained so it doesn't pop much when you fry it. (Believe me, it can turn your kitchen into a warzone).

Mang Tomas sauce works well on this one.

The pork broth can be used as soup base for sinigang. Just add radish, green chili (siling pangsigang) and okra.

Kare-Kare para sa mga may ibang gagawin

So I had to finish some excel templates.  Great. What's for lunch?  I checked my freezer and saw some ox tail bought last weekend.  Cool. Pwedeng pang kare-kare. Tinatamad pa man din akong magluto. Sleepy, but heck, I still need to finish that template. I don't even remember if the meat was a kilo or more. But anyway....

Ingredients:

Ox tail

1 pc eggplant

5 pcs of string beans (I think)

1 pack Mama Sita's Kare-Kare Mix (dissolved in half cup water)

Ang kaunti ng ingredients no? But then that was the only available veggies on my fridge for the moment, so yun na yun.  I boiled the ox tail over high heat until it boils and then put it in low heat for around an hour or so to make it really tender. Yung tipong naghihiwalay na yung taba at laman at humahalo na sa sabaw. Tipong ganun.  Kung meron kang pang lutuan na de kahoy mas okay. Keep adding water, a cup at a time, when the water level in the casserole becomes around half a cup, until desired tenderness.

Once the meat is tender according to your likeness, add the eggplant and string beans. Dissolve the Mama Sita Mix in half a cup of hot water and pour into the casserole. Let it boil for 2 minutes. Add water if the sauce is too thick.

Tip:

If you think the liquid in the casserole is too many for the sauce, let it boil for a couple of minutes more.  Get half a cup of the liquid and dissolve the mix in it.  Remember that it's easier to add water to a thick sauce than to thicken a sauce. (unless of course if you add another pack of mix).

Patok naman. Ubos na. Di man lang nakatikim ang pusa.  At least, nagawa ko yung template habang nagluluto ako.

Oh yeah, this ulam is served best with either Barrio Fiesta or Kamayan Bagoong, or whatever bagoong you have in the fridge.

Bacon Carbonara

I remember cooking bacon carbonara for my agents on shift last Christmas and New Year. Well, I can't remember a recipe unless I cooked it again.

1 pack 250g spaghetti
1 can nestle creme (300g/10.5oz) or 2 packs all purpose cream (250 ml)
1/4 kilo bacon, chopped
4 drops of tabasco
1/2 cup of grated cheese
1 egg yolk

Cook spaghetti noodles as per instructions. Drain well. 

While cooking noodles, chop bacon into 1/2 inch length or to length desired.  Once bacon is cooked (I don't like my bacons toasted, just cooked), turn off heat. Add cream, cheese, egg yolk and tabasco.  The tabasco won't make the pasta spicy, it'll add a different kind of spice to it, so don't put too much tabasco. Add spaghetti and mix well. Serve hot.

Squid in Soy Sauce

Pumunta kami sa Pangasinan last weekend, for that cook nananaman ako.  Akalain mo, wala kaming makitang baboy or baka na mbibilhan, therefore, kung ano lang ang mabili, yun na yun.  Bumili kami ng 2 kilong pusit, yung yung maliliit, ginawa kong adobo, yung malalaki, inihaw.

Adobong Pusit:
1 kilo pusit
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1/4 cup water (optional)
1 bulb garlic, cracked, peeled and minced*.
1 meduim sized onion, minced
2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar

*The garlic needs to be cracked prior to mincing it to make sure the flavor is maximized.

Heat oil in pan, medium heat. Add garlic and onion at the same time. Once onion starts to turn slightly translucent, add sugar.  If water from pusit has been drained, add water and then pusit.  If pusit has just been washed, do not add water.  Let simmer for 3 mins. Add soy sauce and vinegar.

Inihaw na pusit

1 kilo pusit
4 cloves of garlice, cracked, peeled and minced
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce

Mix all the ingredients well. Marinate for at least 10 mins. Grill.

Kinilaw sa Kalamansi

Went to Putipot island early this month.  Ayun, as usual ended up as the designated cook. So, para hindi ako mapagod i prepared some of the food at home.  I'll probably post the rest of the food i fed them later pero for now, unahin ko muna yung pinaka patok. Yung kinilaw.

2 kilos yellow fin tuna, cut according to preference

2 tsp salt

1 medium sized ginger chopped

1/4 kilo kalamansi, cut, pressed and strained

10 pcs green sili (pang sigang)

6 bulbs onions, chopped

Wash the fish fillet. Drain. Rub with 1 tsp salt and half of the ginger. Let stand for at least 2 hours. Wash and drain. Combine the drained fish fillet with the rest of the ginger, sili and onions.  Add the calamansi juice 20 minutes before serving.

Normally, kinilaw should have vinegar in it.  Personally, i don't like it since the fish tastes cooked (which i think shouldn't be).  I prefer that it has the texture of rawness in it.  Kalamansi has the same sour taste but it cooks the fish longer.  If you think that the inuman is going to last longer, separate the kinilaw and the kalamansi into 2 portions so you could mix it on a later time.

Shrimp in Lemon Butter Sauce

1/2 kilo shrimp

4 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp lemon/ kalamansi extract
1 pc chopped onions (optional)
tabasco (optional)

Melt butter in medium heat. Add onions, add shrimp, salt, pepper and tabasco when butter has melted.  Add lemon extract. Simmer for 2-3 minutes in medium heat. Serve.

Tips:
- If you're using large shrimps, simmer in low heat with pan covered.
- Make sure there are no lemon seeds when cooking.  The sauce will taste a bit bitter.

Chopsuey in Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 pcs chicken thigh, deboned and cut in large pieces
1/4 kl chicken liver
1/2 head cabbage, chopped
1 pc carrot, chopped
1/2 tsp salt or fish sauce
1/2 cup sitsaro (snow peas)
5 cups of water
2 packs Cream of Mushroon soup

Boil water with chicken.  When cooked, add chicken liver and salt (or fish sauce).  After 3 mins, get 2 cups of chicken broth and mix Cream of Mushroom soup.  Add diluted Cream of Mushroom to pan and simmer.  Add the vegetables. Simmer for 3 minutes in low heat. Cover pan and turn off heat.


Tips:
- (Alternative) Boil chicken in 3 cups of water and dilute Cream of Mushroom in 2 cups of hot water.
- Sauce is very thick and flavorful. If you want more soup, add 1 cup of water.

 

BBQ Basting Sauce

For those who were with me at Fontana here's the recipe I used for the basting sauce:

1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp seasoning (knorr or  maggi)
1/2 cup oil

Mix everything except oil until sugar is dissolved. Add oil.

Note:
I remember mixing the basting sauce 4 times, since 4 kilos were cooked, i could say a kilo of liempo could be used for the mixture.

You can also use this mixture as a marinade sauce.

Tip:
Add 1 tsp Worsesterchire sauce to add flavor.

When grilling liempo (pork belly), baste one side first and then flip it and baste the other side.  Once top side looks dry, flip the liempo and baste the semi cooked side.  Repeat process until cooked according to your taste.

Best wth grilled eggplant and Barrio Fiesta spicy bagoong.

Siningang sa Sinigang Mix

1 kilo pork

10 cups of water (6, afterwards 4 cups)

1 pack sinigang flavor mix (2 liters)

10 pcs green chili (siling pang sigang)

1 pc radish (chopped)

10 to 15 pcs okra

Boil pork in 6 cups of water in high heat. When you think that only about a cup remains, add 4 cups of water. Pork should be tender by this time. Once water boils, add radish, okra and chili (and other veggies that you want).  Simmer in medium heat for 5 minutes.

Best with Datu Puti fish sauce. You can crush some of the green chili to spice up the fish sauce.

Note:  You can add other veggies that you like, like tomoatoes.

Tip:  If you want your sinigang a bit fatty, make sure that the 1 kilo of pork includes a piece of liempo (sinigang cut).

For a spicier taste, crush 4 pcs. of the green chili before adding it to the mix.

For a thicker soup, cut okra into halves, before adding it to the mix.

If you don’t like your sinigang too sour, use 1 liter pack instead.

Bagoong Fried Rice

Ingredients:
4 pcs. medium tomatoes

1 pcs. large mango

1 pc. cucumber

4 pcs. eggs

2 tbsps. Barrio Fiesta bagoong (spicy) for pork

1/4 kilo pork (menudo cut)

1 tbsp. oil

1 tbsp. Barrio Fiesta bagoong (spicy) for rice

4 tbsp water

3 cups of cooked rice

1 tbsp. oil

Take out seeds of tomato and cucumber. Cut into small cubes. Shred mango. Beat eggs and fry mixing every now and then to create a "chunky" look.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan (low heat). Add pork and bagoong. Cook until bagoong coats pork.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan (low heat). Add bagoong and water. Once bagoong has mixed with water, add rice.

Cook as you would do to a regular fried rice.

Note:

You can either mix pork and rice together or put pork as topping with the egg, tomatoes, cucumber and mango as side dish.

Garlic Chicken

1 kilo chicken wings

1 tsp rock salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 pcs calamansi
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbsp oil

Clean chicken and pat dry.  In a bowl. mix all the ingredients together, putting the oil last.  Marinate for 10 to 20 minutes.  Deep fry.

Tips:
- Marinate longer when using more fleshy parts of the chicken.
- Add/Subtract ingredients depending on your preference.  This specific recipe is salty and has a strong garlic taste.
- To make sure that the chicken is fried evenly, separate the wing in 2 parts.

Squid in Oyster Sauce

1/2 kilo squid of your choice, cleaned and cut according to your preferred size

3 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 pc red bell pepper, cut to squares

1 pc green bell pepper, cut to squares

pinch of pepper to taste

After cleaning the squid (of your choice), dump it over the pan and wait until you see small bubbles. When you do, put in the bell peppers and the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Add pepper. Bring to a boil. Put in serving bowl and serve.

Tips:

- Consume food while hot. Cold squid is chewy to eat. Reheating makes it gummy.

- If you think that you need more sauce add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and soy sauce.

- For a more peppery taste, saute bell peppers first before putting in squid.

- Don't totally drain the squid before putting it in the pan. This will add to your sauce and not make the squid gummy.