The Happy Tummy Kitchen

Christmas Chocolate Cupcakes

2012-01-28T05:21:00.005+08:00

2 New Years have passed this month!!! Happy New Year and Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Hope everyone had fun during the holidays! Mine was! It was pretty much packed with reunions here and there, cooking, baking, gift wrapping and last minute gift shopping! With work still included, you can say it was really a busy holiday!

Sharing a photo of the Christmas-themed Chocolate Cupcakes I made for my cousin Kuya Bobby and his wife Ate Pam.

I used Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe for the cupcakes. They are soooo moist and chocolatey. This recipe never failed me! This makes 24 cupcakes, or even 30 if you fill the pans halfway only. I also use this for our chocolate caramel cake!

For the butter cream frosting, I used Wilton butter cream icing recipe. I just lessened the amount of the powdered sugar to 3 ½ cups as it can be really sweet.

Read: DIABETIC :)

I got the Christmas toppers from Manna Ingredients. They have loads of stuff there for baking,food packaging etc. I am happy to say that they don’t overprice their goodies. Promise. So to anyone there who will come across this entry and if you’re at the East side of Metro Manila, go ahead and visit their humble store. It’s along Marcos Highway, beside the entrance of Town and Country Village.

Ok, I do know the fact that I have so much backlog and making up to do! I wish I can still find time somehow to share something here – at least once a week to or maybe once in 2 weeks? monthly? Quarterly? Tell me about it.

With all the busyness before and what’s going on, though I am still very much inspired to cook (never lost that touch, thank God!) I feel that along the way - I lost the inspiration to write... Or, was I just too tired or too preoccupied?

Signs, signs, signs.

On a positive note - I believe that this year has a lot of beautiful promises. I will just go with the flow and try to stay focused at least 99% of the time, if not 100%!

This year’s going to be busier in all the corners of my life as an individual, a mom and a wife (no, Archie is not into politics, he’s just going to be busier too!). Despite that it will be busier; I will try my best to rest more, play more, reunite myself with writing… and playing the guitar (this is another side of me).

Well, here I am, back for the new year! So, here's to a busy but wonderful, healthy, happy and successful 2013 to all! And here’s to another entry next week!? :P Cheers!

Ham, Cheese and Chili Crepe

2011-10-14T12:19:00.084+08:00

Changes, changes... as they say, there is nothing constant in this world except change.

When change comes, I press the panic button before trying to step back a little to understand what is going on and think things through. When I panic, I usually make mistakes. tsk tsk.. Though sometimes, I am happy to say it's the other way around. Yes, just sometimes.

At least! :)

I wish changes, in all forms, is just as easy as changing your weekend food. I didn't go full circle, but I just tried to have something we don't usually have. Crepes. Oh yes, it's refreshing and rewarding after the changes, panic and the boo-boos... my boo-boos! :S

This is a savory crepe inspired by Café Breton's Vesuve. Sheila had me try this back in December and I instantly loved it.

For the ham filling, you'll need:

vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
about 6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 to 4 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
8 slices of cooked ham (not sweet), diced
Chili pepper flakes (start with half a teaspoon for a mild spicy kick)
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 bar of quick melting cheese (this is about 100 grams, you can grate a little extra of you want)

Prepare the filling - heat the oil and sauté the onions until translucent, add the garlic, then tomatoes. When tender, add the ham, then sprinkle the pepper flakes, add just a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.

For the basic crepe recipe, I got it from the book Joy of Cooking. I just made a little changes below:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt

1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs
4 tablespoons butter, melted
extra 6 teaspoons of butter (for the pan)

mix dry ingredients (flour, salt or sugar) and set aside. melt butter, set aside
in a large bowl, mix the milk, water, eggs and add melted butter. Mix well
slowly add the dry ingredients by sifting it through the bowl, then mix thoroughly until there are no lumps anymore. I like my milk and water warm as it dissolves the dry ingredients faster.

Note: This makes about 6 crepes. I am using a 9-inch non-stick pan. You can prepare the crepe batter ahead of time and store it in airtight container in the fridge.

To prepare the crepe, heat your pan, melt a teaspoon of butter and pour a ladle of the crepe batter (I pour about 1/2 cup) and tilt the pan in circular motion until you achieve the round form of the crepe. Cook until the bottom is ok, about 2 minutes on low to medium heat, like if you see a little toasted color under, then that's good.

Then in the center of the crepe, put about 2 tablespoons of the ham filling and a tablespoon or more of grated quick melting cheese, then fold the crepe. Careful on folding as the crepe tends to tear. I suggest you use two cooking spatulas/turners when you fold the crepe. If you want to cook/prepare all the crepes first, go ahead :)

The crepe batter is also good for sweet/dessert crepes. Just omit the salt and add 4 to 5 tablespoons of sugar (will post our dessert crepe soon!)

I am in the process of learning to accept the other side of change. That: it's not always bad, that it's not something to be scared about. I should think that change is also a step towards improvement. So here I am, resting on this well deserved weekend, preparing myself to embrace the changes that will come.

Happy weekend! :)

Cake Pops and a mini baby shower surprise

2011-07-01T18:26:00.011+08:00

Nope, not me. My good friend Ross will be bringing her second little princess out in a few weeks . Ross was born with a sweet tooth but was under strict "sweets diet" in her childhood days because her mom was super taking care of her teeth (She really has nice teeth by the way so good job Tita Lita!)

Anyways, she likes cake pops, so these cute, pretty, pink cake pops were made as souvenirs for the mini baby shower my colleagues, bosses and I had for her this morning :) Thanks and good job to us all! As we have seen this morning, the surprise brought her to tears! (Awwww!)

Lolli-cakes, cake pops, cake balls, cake truffles or whatever you want to call it, is starting a craze. I've been really curious and eager to make them since I came across Bakerella and features from Cupcakes Take The Cake , only to find out that my cousins in the US have been making cake pops for quite sometime now. Way to go Kuya Aljan and Ate Eileen!

I am in no way able to give a history of it but I can tell you that my first few attempts failed. I thought it was so easy to make, but it wasn't. Talk about Disaster and Drama. My cousin said to just keep practicing. so I did.

I have used as guide the basic recipes from Bakerella, The Kitchn and sought help from the super detailed photos, troubleshooting, plus a video tutorial on how to dip cake pops from Veronica's Cornucopia. I was able to surpass the cake pop dilemma because of them. Thank you!

To make about 3 to 4 dozens, you need a cake baked in a 13 X 9 pan or two 8" round pans. If you have all the time in the world, you can bake from scratch. Bless your heart.

You can definitely use store-bought box mix, or grab a ready made cake.

In my case, I combined my left over cupcakes. I have been inspired by Chichajo's mission to resurrect left overs in any way possible, give them justice and honor in their new form. I've been trying to do so in left over dishes and now I have applied her wisdom to left over cakes and cupcakes by making these cake pops. You see, sometimes I crave for cakes or cupcakes, bake dozens of 'em (for cupcakes), eat them everyday for consecutive days and realize that I and my fellows here can't finish them off anymore. The little boy has his own share of eating them but me thinks he can't have sweets overdose!

So I had 15 pieces leftover chocolate cupcakes (9) and red velvet cupcakes (6)

- crumble them in a stainless steel bowl and set aside. My left overs amounted to just about half of the original basic recipe.

For the chocolate melt, I found chocolate bars easier to use so i used approx 500 grams of white chocolate bar, chopped and melted (double boiler) and I added about 1/4 teaspoon of red food color to make it pink. Pretty sprinkles c/o the ever reliable Manna Ingredients and the Cocoa Pantry.

When I saw the results of this latest attempt, I had a feeling of triumph as it's giving better texture, the chocolate hardens and there was no "falling off" happening. Cheers to that! :)

Here are some things I learned from blogs, watching tutorials on cake pops and my own disasters:

To make presentable cake pops, one must have patience and energy to go back and forth the fridge and working table. Prayer is very powerful.

If helper is available. By all means, let them help. Thank you Gemma and Abi. They designed their own cake pops but I have no permission to post it here :P

Best to use bars and melt them in a double boiler. I have tried to melt it in low heat in the microwave but it doesn't work well for me.

Whisk the melted chocolate a few times to release heat before dipping your cake balls.

Take out 2 or 3 pops at a time because in our kind of weather, the cake balls tend to soften fast, ergo the chocolate will not harden and the ball will fall off the lollipop stick (I am speaking from experience)

You need fast working hands when putting sprinkles as the chocolate melt dries fast because of cold cake ball.

Now with all these in place, I am looking forward to make another batch. The little boy is turning 4 next week and maybe I can give it a go if time permits! :)

Happy weekend everyone! :)

Tonkatsu

2011-05-31T01:10:00.024+08:00

I was introduced to Japanese food about 20 years ago when my Papa took me for dinner in a small (and slightly hidden) Japanese resto in Cartimar market. There, I got my first taste of tempura. Later, we discovered other restos, tried out new dishes (and realized I can somehow eat sashimi, as well as realized that it's not all about tempura *lol*)

Despite my love for cooking, I never thought of cooking Japanese - until recently. Archie and I like to dine at Omakase and savor each and every dish we order. Tonkatsu is one of our favorites. As we know, Japanese food has special ingredients, and somehow can't be really substituted by a regular pantry staple. Thank God again for asian condiments at the supermarket! Last week, while doing my grocery I paid a visit again to the imported section lane. I felt like I was dumbfounded looking at all the stuff there. As usual, after having my second, third and fourth thoughts, my own free will let my hands take hold of a bottle of each: Rice Wine, Mirin and an all-around stir fry sauce. Pricey indeed, but then again they will be so useful anyway! Since husband likes Tonkatsu, I say why not give it a try? First, I searched for recipes online to get inspiration. So my friends, here's my first attempt on Tonkatsu:

Breaded Pork

500 grams pork tenderloin
flour
salt and pepper
2 small eggs
2 tablespoons milk
japanese bread crumbs
vegetable oil for frying

Tonkatsu sauce

1/4 cup ketchup
4 teaspoons mirin
4 teaspoons rice wine
4 teaspoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Heat Oil in a medium to low heat (giving you just enough time for it to be deep-fry ready, while you are coating all the pork)

For the pork, beat eggs and milk in a bowl, set aside. Place flour and japanese bread crumbs on separate plates.

Season the flour with salt and pepper.

Dredge pork first into flour, dip in egg mixture, and lastly, bread crumbs. Repeat process until all pork pieces have been coated. I learned from cooking shows to use one hand for the dry ingredients, and one for the wet. It works :D

Fry pieces until golden brown, drain-drain-drain on paper towels, cut in serving pieces.

For the sauce, mix all ingredients together until you achieve a smooth consistency. You can serve it on a smaller sauce plate or drizzle on top of the pork. Serve on top of steamed rice (preferable Japanese, of course!) and steamed veggies or shredded cabbage on the side!

For my next project, I shall search for dashi stock for my first attempt on Katsudon! Wish me luck! :)

Baked Salmon a la Conti's

2011-05-16T23:55:00.006+08:00

I am definitely not one of the most updated people when it comes to the newest things in the universe: gadgets, movies, restos and famous resto foods. Name it.

So... new restos, food craze... I do have a wish list though ;)

It was just recently that I got to try Conti's baked salmon. Ok, I know you are just about to laugh or maybe you are now - hehehe that's ok! :)

I have been there waaaaay way back. I have heard of that baked salmon a couple of times from friends raving about how good and tasty it is and all that jazz. Fine. I just don't know why I didn't get to try it before.

so anyway, better late than never! Archie took me there for brunch just recently and finally, in my own taste buds, I'm already able to relate to my raving friends.

Sabi nga ni Kris Aquino once upon a time in a cooking segment in one of her talk shows--- ang sarrrrrrrrraaahhhhhhp!

*Fireworks*

At bilang nagustuhan ko siya, of course, I definitely had plans of re-creating it at home. Just to add a little personal touch, I put some breadcrumbs on top of the cheesy mixture.

Here goes the experiment:

1 salmon fillet
salt and pepper
Juice of half a lemon

Cheese Garlic-Mayo topping

½ block cream cheese - softened
About 3 tbsp mayo
1 to 1 and a half tbsp garlic chopped finely (if you want it more garlicky, just add a bit more)
About 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup for the cream mixture and 1/4 for the topping)
Salt and pepper to taste
Breadcrumbs (optional. I like it w/ breadcrumbs, but the one served at Conti's does not have this)

Garnish - Buttered Vegetables:

Mixed vegetables
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Rub salmon fillet with salt and pepper, then lemon juice for about 20 minutes

While salmon is marinating, mix thoroughly the cream cheese, mayo, garlic, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. set aside.

Pan fry salmon about 2 to 3 mins on both sides

Pre-heat toaster/turbo. Assemble the fried fish on baking tray, then top w/ cheese garlic mayo mixture, sprinkle w/ remaining parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, bake in toaster/turbo for about 10 to 15 mins at 175C

Microwave mixed vegetables w/ 2 tbsp butter for about 20 to 30 seconds until butter is melted, season with salt and pepper.

Put out the baking tray and surround the baked salmon with butter vegetables. You can actually use other veggies like brocolli, cauliflower, baguio beans, sayote, carrots strips if desired.

It came out pretty much ok, and tastes fairly the same, less the paella rice as it is served in the resto.

If Salmon isn't too expensive, this can be a regular on my monthly menu! You might also want to try it if you are a Salmon lover! Hope you like it! :)

Now back to my resto-wanna-go-wish-list. By the way, Happy second birthday, Happy Tummy bloggy! :)

Almondigas

2011-05-08T19:44:00.031+08:00

Happy Mother's Day to all drop dead gorgeous fabulous rockin' super mommies out there and that means all of us moms and moms at heart (kapal? sinali ko talaga sarili ko?!)

As a tribute to my Mommy Tess, I would like to feature a meal I learned from her. Almondigas (some call it Albondigas) Actually, pina sosyal ko lang! We just call it Miswa at Meatballs. Hehehe!

Mommy prepares this at home back in my childhood days. Sometimes I volunteer to help when it's time to form the ground pork into balls. I remember I had so much fun getting messy with my hands while forming the meatballs! This is one of my comfort foods aside from Adobo. Whether it's summertime or the rainy season you can't go wrong with this. My mom's recipe even has chopped singkamas to add crunch in the meatballs (but I have no time to add them in my recipe anymore! :P )

the recipe here at home is easy to prepare, here goes:

Meatballs:

1/2 kilo ground pork

1 small onion, chopped finely (you can use half the onion and just keep the other half in the fridge if you don't want a strong onion flavor)

1 small carrot grated (this adds color and a little bit of sweetness)

Salt and Pepper to taste

About 2 teaspoons of cornstarch or flour as binder (sometimes I don't use this anymore and they still hold together w/o it)

Vegetable Oil for frying

For the miswa soup:

about 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

2 small tomatoes, sliced

4 to 5 cups water

1 piece Chicken or Beef Bouillon Cube

about 100 g miswa noodles

Fish sauce to taste

Pepper to taste

Garnish:

a few pieces of spring onions, chopped

Mix the ingredients for the meatballs. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins. From experience, it's actually easier to form them when they are chilled. After the chilling process, form the mixture into 1 inch balls (or bigger if you want) and fry until cooked well. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

For the miswa soup:

sauté onion, garlic and tomatoes. Add water and bouillon cube and simmer for about 15 minutes. Then add the miswa noodles and simmer until cooked. Season with fish sauce and pepper to taste.

I like to put in the meatballs in a bowl of miswa soup and garnish it with spring onions. I also like to put some toasted garlic if it's available at home. yummy itey! :)

Mommy Tess has always been my idol and to her I owe a lot of my cooking know-hows. But that's not all! She became my instant Mom when my Mama went to heaven (she’s my Mama’s eldest sister). My Papa was very busy working to be able to provide for me that he couldn't really take care of me 24/7, as much as he wanted to, so for the first years of my life, he entrusted me to Mommy Tess and she worked together with Daddy Ed (her husband), my Lola (Nanay Floring) and my Yaya (my Mama’s Yaya too!), My Ate R and Kuyas J and O tagged along in the process. Boy, it took so many of them to raise the little me!

Wish I could tell you more about this part of my life but I don't want to take so much of your time! ;)

So anyway, this is for you, Mommy Tess! Thank you so much! I know you still cook miswa at meatballs there in California sometimes. I assume though you are now using ground chicken! ;)

To my Mama, thank you for your love and guidance, I know you are happy up there watching us. I know if WE had a choice, YOU are still here with us. Papa and I love you very much :)

Once again to all drop dead gorgeous fabulous rockin' super mommies… Happy Mother’s Day! ;)

Chicken In Pandan Leaves

2011-05-04T18:10:00.013+08:00

I think this is the most real time entry I have ever made in my almost 2 years of (inconsistent) blogging :)

We had this for lunch last Monday and the little boy liked it that he ate it again the following day (there were some leftovers hihi.)

I was introduced to Thai restos back in college. I used to eat with my dad in Dusit Thani and my cousins in SukoThai. My all time favorite in the menu of both restos are the chicken pandan and bagoong rice. I would very much like to make my bagoong rice soon as it is a great pair for the chicken!

Since the sesame sauce needs tamarind paste, I wasn't able to try it yet a few years ago. There were limited to no Asian ingredients available in groceries back then and they are only available in specialty stores. Now I am happy to say that both supermarkets of SM and Robinson's near our place already offer Asian ingredients (yey!) Sheila and I spotted the Tamarind paste while we were doing our grocery and of course we grabbed it right away. :)

This came from my ever reliable Yummy Mag from the May 2009 ish. It can also be found online. The original recipe used chicken breasts fillets, but I used thigh fillets instead since I like it that it absorbs more flavor than white meat. Maybe that's why the little boy liked it as it's so tasty! Of course, I liked it just as much! :)

For the chicken you will need:

1/2 kilo chicken thigh fillets cut into squares (2X2 inches)
Pandan leaves for wrapping chicken, washed and towel dried
vegetable oil for frying

For the marinade:

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sesame seeds

For the sesame sauce:

3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup tamarind paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Procedure:

In a bowl, combine ingredients for the marinade. Add chicken and marinate for at least 20 minutes or overnight. (I marinated it for about 2 hours and it was really tasty, maybe because of chicken thighs?)

While the chicken is marinating, I already prepared the sauce: In a small saucepan, pour warm water over tamarind paste and let it sit for 5 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve on the side.

After the marinating process, wrap the marinated chicken in pandan leaves. It's actually good to use long pandan leaves so you can tie both ends to lock it. Deep-fry in medium hot oil until golden brown.

I loved the smell of the kitchen while i was frying the chickies. The sweet smell of pandan really rocks!

Best served with hot rice... better yet, bagoong rice! :) Enjoy!

Pork Cordon Bleu and Pesto Cream Cheese Dip

2011-01-29T00:04:00.005+08:00

Happy New Year! :)

I guess my goal to write often will always be part of my wishlist *lol*

A lot of things get in the way here and there but I would still love to spare a little time sharing something here - like this super easy and cheesy dish! It's fun to make and it's not the same as what we're used to, which is chicken. It was our helper back in my highschool days who taught us how to make these. The mini "pork rolls" were sealed by toothpicks and fried in oil. This version has a little more to it - the bread crumbs, eggs and the works, plus pesto cream cheese as dip. Yum!!!

Pork Cordon Bleu

about 8 pieces pork tenderloin cut thinly (size is about 4 X 5) or thin pork chops w/o the fat and skin
salt and pepper to season
quick melting cheese, cut in sticks (size that fits in pork when you roll it, i was able to consume 1/2 of the cheese bar)
toothpicks (for sealing)

flour
2 eggs
Japanese bread crumbs / Panko
Vegetable Oil for frying

Pesto Cream Cheese Sauce

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup of cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp ready made pesto
salt and pepper to taste

- season the pork w/ salt and pepper, place the cheese sticks in the middle, fold sides and ends over cheese and roll up; secure each with a toothpick. Dip roll-ups in flour, then egg mixture, then roll in crumbs and fry until golden. Drain well. Remove toothpicks carefully for presentation purposes!

*you can put garlic bits or bacon bits or what have you in the rolls ups together with the cheese!

- on low heat: melt butter in pan, add cream cheese and milk, simmer until cheese has melted, then add the pesto, salt and pepper to taste and serve w/ pork cordon bleu

Cheese is really overflowing in this recipe but it won't hurt our diet if this will be eaten occasionally! :) Serve with hot rice or can be served as pica-pica too! I know...the holidays are over and summer is definitely coming (beach! beach!). But this does not stop me from eating anything delicious! This is where the 3-day diet programs and tankinis come in! :P

Happy Holidays! :)

2010-12-27T10:55:00.004+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Here's something our family gave to our relatives for this holiday season - Banana Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream. As always, Banana and Chocolate go well together, thus we have these cupcakes, and how much more good will it be if you top some chocolate butter cream on it? :)

I used my favorite Banana Chocolate Chip bread recipe for the cupcakes. Then I just reduced the time to 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway. 1 recipe makes about 15 cupcakes. The chocolate butter cream recipe was inspired by two recipes.

It's still a busy time now and hope to be back soon!

Have a blessed, healthy and happy 2011! :)

Home Made Pan de Sal

2010-09-27T13:15:00.013+08:00

Isn't it a such wonder to be able to make your own bread? I have been inspired by several people whom I think have considered bread making from home a passion and another level of therapy. I believe I can consider it the same- after so many repeats of this well-loved Filipino Pan de Sal.

During my childhood, I used to wake up with either fried rice or pan de sal on the table. I love them both of course. Fried rice has always been part of my breakfast list until now. As for pan de sal in this present time - as much as I love to have it all the time, there is no panaderia/bakery nearby. I much more like having newly baked pan de sal than having commercial ones in stock. In the neighborhood where I grew up, when you walk out of our street, there's plenty of bakeries left and right! Oh boy, who would not want to wake up smelling freshly baked bread?

Glad I found this easy recipe from Panlasang Pinoy. Kuya Vanjo is a genius. His recipes and videos are very helpful and easy to understand. Makes you feel like some sort of an expert already. Thanks Panlansang Pinoy!

This version below has a little more sugar since I like my pan de sal sweet ;) I arranged the recipes in parts and in order of the procedure.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp white sugar

2 and 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 ¼ cup fresh milk, warm

2 cups MAYA all purpose flour

2 cups bread flour

½ cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

5 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 piece raw egg

Approximately 1/2 cup flour for dusting flat surface

1 cup bread crumbs for coating

Procedure:

1. Prepare about 3 baking pans with wax paper. Set aside.

2. Combine the yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, and warm milk and stir until the yeast and sugar are fully dissolved (Set aside and continue the rest of the steps. Mixture will be bubbly and frothy in about 10 minutes, just in time after you have prepared the other steps!)

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients starting with the MAYA all purpose flour, bread flour, 1/2 c sugar, salt, and baking powder. Mix well with a whisk.

4. Add the melted butter, cooking oil, egg and yeast-sugar-milk mixture in the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients then mix again until dough is formed.

5. In a flat and floured surface, knead the dough until the texture becomes fine.

6. Mold the dough into a ball. Cover the mixing bowl with a damp cloth and let the dough rise for at least 1 hour to 1 hour and a half in a warm area.

- You may opt to prepare the dough in the evening for a "slow rise" in the fridge (covered with cling wrap) until the following day.

7. After the rising process, put the dough back to the flat and floured surface and divide into 4 equal parts

8. Roll each part until it forms a log

9. Slice the log diagonally or horizontally (These slices will be the individual pieces of the pan de sal)

10. Roll the sliced dough over the breadcrumbs and place in a baking tray with wax paper. Sliced part facing up! (make sure to provide enough space between each sliced dough because they will have a second rise)

11. Cover the prepared dough slices with a slightly damp cloth and set aside for another 15 to 20 minutes for the second rise.

12. while the dough is on its "second rise process", pre-heat the oven at 375F or 190C

13. After the second rise, pop them in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. You can rotate your pan de sal tray on the 10th minute to achieve an even texture and color.

14. Turn off the oven and bring out the freshly baked pan de sal. Makes about 35 to 40 pieces.

Best served with butter and jam or marmalade, bacon on the side and your favorite coffee or hot chocolate!

I made wheat pan de sal once - the dough is heavier and it needed more moisture and more time to rise and bake than using bread flour + all purpose flour.

Making pan de sal almost every week brings value added cheers and fun at home, especially to my little big boy who likes bread...

and discovered he likes kneading it too :)

Here's to wishing more opportunities or should I say stolen moments of MYOB (making your own bread) and eating them too :)

Will be here again soon :)

Adobo Flakes and Blog's 1st Birthday!

2010-05-16T16:32:00.010+08:00

It was just last year when The Happy Tummy Kitchen blog was born. And my first entry? Adobo. So how about paying tribute to my all time favorite dish on my blog's first birthday? This time, it's all flaked up! I have been experimenting on adobo flakes for quite sometime and thought I have figured out an easy way to do it - without having to use forks and fingers to flake the meat.

I prefer to use pork as most would use chicken for adobo flakes. I use the big pork cuts from the grocery - either Lomo or Kasim, boil them or pressure cook them first to make them really really tender, drain the liquid (store stock/broth for future use in freezer) then start cooking your adobo, the way you like it, just simmer until it becomes a little dry, mix, mix, mix and press the meat with your cooking spoon/cucharon. If the meat is really tender, it will eventually loosen up and become thready/flaky and will fry in its own oil :)

You might also want to try the sandwich version. Just ready 2 bread slices: layer 1 slice, then put mayo side up, adobo flakes, 1 lettuce leaf , about 2 tomato slices, then 1 slice of bread with mayo spread side down... then potato chips on the side. Lovely. :)

Sharing with you a photo of my sandwich, back in 2008:

Yep, that's moi!

How time flies! It has been 365 days since I started this little hobby. I wish I could have shared more during the past months. Forgive me for my promises were broken, my goal of reaching a hundred recipes in 1 year - gone with with wind hehehe but it's not over of course! For now,there are just so many things to take care of. I do wish that soon when all things fall into place, there will be much more time again to doodle my little dishes-worth-sharing-with-you :)

Thank you to the amazing bloggers who have been my source of inspiration and got my drive to start my own food journal. And to my good friends who drop by, thank you so kindly! :)

See you soon! :)

Lemongrass Chicken Barbecue

2010-04-21T00:00:00.010+08:00

Goodbye March and hello there April - well, it's already almost goodbye too. I didn't know it would take me this long to come back here. Well, aside from my clingy little boy getting clingy-er everyday, there's still a lot more going on. Happenings so nice to know and chat about. Some you'd rather not even think about - though they haunt you in your sleep blah blah blah! :P

I need to get back to my sanity. Like right now. So, here I am again. I don't have any more excuses!

Before I continue - I just want to share some blessings during the past month: Archie got me a flat screen for my PC as a "wala lang" gift (MS Excel is more fun!) , a long keyboard wrist pad with massage beads (because I am scared to have carpal tunnel syndrome) and a small LED light lamp (so I can sneak in my station while the little boy is asleep and no big lights on!). Yey! Thank you bunnywabbit! :)

Ok back now.

My kitchen adventures have been intensified because of this wonderful magazine, and great food blogs and recipe sites. I have always been using usual Barbecue commercial marinades but when I found this, I felt like I have to try it right away, and it was a success indeed!

Lemongrass Chicken Barbecue
original recipe: page 30, Yummy Magazine Jan/Feb 2010

8 pcs boneless chicken thighs/breasts, trim excess fat and cut into 1 1/2 inch pcs
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp finely chopped lemongrass/tanglad
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp spring onions, chopped
3/4 cup barbecue marinade (I used Mama Sita's)
2 tbsp brown sugar for a little sweetness (optional, not part of original recipe)

- lightly season chicken with salt and pepper. I had mixed chicken thighs and breasts (Archie likes white meat, while I like red)
- in a bowl, mix together lemongrass, minced garlic, spring onions and barbecue marinade. You may want to add brown sugar if (like me) you like your barbecue sweet :) Mix well.
- Pour marinade on chicken and mix altogether with your clean hands. Marinate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Skewer chicken , about 3 to 4 pieces per stick, grill over charcoal or grill pan, for about 5 to 6 minutes skin side down, then for another 3 to 4 minutes, on the other side. Brush chicken with left over marinade once in a while, while grilling.

For my friends who use turbo broiler - this is my homework. I shall update you all as soon as I get this done! :)

This is something new and something to look forward to on the next grilling session!

Belated happy summer to all. The heat is really scorching hot, so is the barbecue!

Banana Chocolate Nutella Smoothie

2010-03-09T23:35:00.007+08:00

This was inspired by our team's ever memorable team building trip in wherelse but there (?!)

For a little twist, I combined peanut butter and Nutella for a more nutty action.

For 3 medium sized cocktail glasses, I used:

3 ripe lacatan bananas
about 1/2 cup of nutella
about 1/2 cup of peanut butter (local - Lily's peanut butter. Love it to bits!)
about 3 cups full cream milk
1 tsp of vanilla
brown sugar - I suggest you drop a teaspoonful one at a time and do your taste test.
1 cup of crushed ice

Lucky you if your blender can crush ice really well!

Mine cannot crush thoroughly so I manually shaved ice through my manual ice shaver! Yes, like pawis-steering.

For more creamy texture - if you have vanilla ice cream handy, by all means add a scoop!

What to do: mix them altogether in your blender and slurp-slurp-slurp! (Or you may opt to chill it longer)

The heat is definitely ON! How's your aircon doing?

I have been to this wonderful promised land for just four times and been ordering Mango Shake like there's no tomorrow on the first three trips. Just for kicks, I tried this on my fourth visit and so glad I did. Of course, I will still have my Mango Shake - but now I know what else to get on my 5th, 6th and so on...

BORACAY, 'til we meet again!

Vegetable Samosas (Not so!)

2010-03-09T18:07:00.009+08:00

I have been craving for Max's veggie lumpia bites that I have tasted during Cana's christening and Archie and I thought it's something close to Samosas. (Cana: my God daughter, daughter of my friend and former boss)

Tutal, it was the weekend and I had a little bit of time to do it since Javie was taking his siesta and Archie is sleeping the day away.

I know, I know they don't look exactly like the real samosas :P they are bordering empanaditas or triangular lumpia. Hehehe.

This was my first ever attempt to use Phyllo pastry, so please forgive me for violating her rights and not giving her some justice. I wanted to make some Baklava but I do not have enough goodies for it so I decided to make it into something healthy.

However, this did not come out really right - Aesthetically speaking. It appeared in other shapes and sizes and the ones on the photo are the nicer ones, mind you.

I wish I read more carefully on how to thaw it as it is indeed a delicate kind of pastry. I wish I researched more BEFORE I made these. This was too much excitement in action!

Being too excited/gullible is my weakness. Sad to say.

But I am happy to tell you that the filling recipe is really good. I just added some chopped cabbage and used chicken broth instead of vegetable stock. Then I wrapped them in various ways since the pastry is really breaking already, I was on panic mode. Then I fried, drained then placed on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

On how to wrap samosas properly, please watch this.

Therefore I learned.

So in the future, I shall be more diligent in following package instructions, get away with food waste and save money! Or else, use lumpia wrapper :P

Stir Fried Beef Strips and Peppers

2010-03-04T22:48:00.005+08:00

While brain is still functioning on second wind motion, the little boy has gone to his dreamland of Backyardigans and Diego, and Archie is at work, I am now having my unexpected nevertheless enjoyable Me time.

Since it is a bit chaotic here lately, I have to make adjustments. And menu planning is part of it. Or is there such a thing now? :P

It's all about stir-fry's in some days! I am happy that I have a couple of recipes handy. And some of them, have been tried, tested and already made for a couple of times!

One of our favorite stir-fry recipes is Chichajo's Roast Pork Belly Stir-Fry. Way back, I remembered myself looking at its photo. It made me salivate as I also like eating Lie mpo (Pork Belly) very very much. My first attempt on it was during the holiday season of '08 using left over lechon cebu and we just loved it. I know, some may tell me I should have made Sinigang or Paksiw na lechon out of it but hey I had no regrets at all! And after a couple of days - due to recipe hangover, I made it again with left over Christmas ham! Wonderful! I believe you can just use any meat for that matter and I can say the recipe is universal. And it does not call for just left overs, of course. So here is a beef version of it!

Choose meat of really good quality and have your butcher slice them in thin strips, please. If you are in a situation like mine - my beef was not that good enough as it has unfriendly, uncooperative grains. The "cut through the grain" did not work for this batch. I discovered it because half of it was used for beef tapa. A blessing in disguise. So I decided to pressure cook my beef slices first, drained them (kept broth in freezer for future use), and sliced them to strips. They became really fork tender after the pressure cooking. Yahoo!

Stir Fried Beef Strips and Peppers
(inspired by Chichajo's recipe of Roast Pork Belly Stir-Fry)

1/4 k beef sirloin strips, sliced thinly
Cooking oil
1 small white onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (I like it with lots of garlic!)
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of Knorr liquid seasoning
Pepper to taste
Extra Knorr seasoning (optional)

Sauté onion, garlic and pepper strips until soft but not wilted. Color check the peppers and make sure they are screaming Christmas.

Toss in the beef strips, stir fry for about 2 to 3 minutes or until beef is cooked

Add the soy sauce, seasoning and pepper, toss again, turn off fire, then VOILA!

* For my dear friends who are not meat eaters (anymore), please try it with chicken strips and let me know what you think! :)

While Archie and I loved our first version of it with lechon, we absolutely like this version too! We love the sweet aftertaste of the beef and peppers! Serve it on top of a bowl of hot rice....and Iced tea! I had a second serving by the way. More than enough to last the day!

Did I say I was gonna go on a salad diet at night time?

Now, off to dreamland!

Nytie Nyt Y'all! :)

Mama's Boy

2010-02-23T00:59:00.010+08:00

Whoa!!! It's almost MARCH?!! And I said I will write often! Now what on earth have I been busy with?

Having a 2 year old is one of the things that's keeping my day action-packed. It's just a surprise my little boy suddenly became really really clingy. Yah you can say that again, like BOOM!

"Me time" is currently not so used in my book right now - my me time a.k.a. blog time, reading, watching TV or DVDs, other errands and the list goes on and on...

As for "Us time", Archie and I see to it that we have that no matter what happens! ;)

Javie is now on his "mommy addict" mode. It' on-going for the past 7 weeks. He somewhat developed this strong sense of time that he knows when I am about to start work and when I should be back. He follows me almost everywhere I go. He rants when he could not see a morsel of me. It's really cute as he looks and sounds funny when he looks for me. I find it cuter when I see his delight when he finds me. He giggles, jumps/skips and says "Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" As if I was a balikbayan who didn't come home for years!

Though during the "rush hours" here (rush hours at home - this term I learned from my friend Sally), it can be itty bitty frustrating.

As told by relatives and an online source, having a clingy toddler is natural and common. So Archie, I and the Ates are trying our best to make things work for all of us and make Javie understand that Mommy needs to be just a bit away for a while! And the "a bit away" I am talking about my dear party people is just being one room away from his room. For the benefit of your imagination, okay, I counted the steps from my work area to the doorstep of his room, it's roughly 10 steps away. Malayo ba? :P

We are really finding ways on how to manage/deal with it positively! We just really hope that soon, Javie will be a bit "OK" if I or Archie will be away for just a while, that we won't have to sneak out and that his Ates, his toys, crayons and pens will suffice and keep him busy and happy.

Sometimes, I miss the little freedom of doing what I like in my own time and pace. I miss putting check marks on my To-do list. And yah-I miss cleaning up my brows twice a week. Which now, I can only do once a week! *LOL*

Earlier I said that he follows me almost everywhere I go: So name it. bathroom, bedroom, work area, garden and yes, you guessed it right, in the kitchen.

Before he is already satisfied by simply watching me cook. Now, he wants to do what Mommy is doing:

Or at least close enough...

HEhehehehehe. NOw should I buy him his small kitchen gadgets?

But you see, I won't have it any other way. I know in the future things will change and he will not be this way again. So I am savoring this time :)

That's my cute, clingy, sweet and funny little boy.

Just a little mommy moment :)

Going Greek: Romaine Lettuce in Greek Vinaigrette

2010-02-05T11:53:00.020+08:00

Archie and I have just started to be a little more adventurous in dining in new restos - despite almost 8 years of being together (4 yrs dating + 3 yrs and 8 months of being married) - I guess we we're just kinda lazy to do that. Or maybe just too happy with the usual? Anyway, I am just so glad that it's never too late. And yes, we're having fun! :P

As you noticed, we're late bloomers in Greek food appreciation. On our first CYMA dinner last March of '09 (Thanks to Madame, Russel, Kate and Noel for taking us there!), we definitely liked everything we ordered, especially their Roka Salata. After that night, we came back for it a couple of more times. I guess that's how we are when we really like something from a resto.

Archie is an avid salad eater so after much thought he said - the base dressing is a simple vinaigrette but it has a fruity twist. It took a while for us to discover the right additions to finally figure it out! Thanks to Sheila, of course! :)

The ideas for the dressing is inspired by the recipe from Yummy Mag Jan/Feb 2010 Ish page 76. Some sweets have been added to achieve the fruity twist in it.

Using romaine lettuce only is just fine, just as I did, but if you can mix it with arugula, go ahead if you can grab some in the market or grocery.

For the dressing, mix:

1/2 tbsp of garlic powder (for fresh finely minced garlic, use about 2 tsps only as it is too strong, unless you want it that strong, add some more)
1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinegar
3/4 Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Whisk them altogether in a bowl, then add the sweets:

5 heaping tbsps of honey
2 tbsps of Raspberry Jam*

*Sheila said CYMA's got raspberry in it besides honey. So, I went to the grocery and grabbed a jar of Smuckers Raspbery Jam. Swak!

Mix them well until you see that the mixture becomes thick. Pour it over your salad greens, toss and top with the following:

Sun dried tomatoes
Candied walnuts
Shaved Parmesan Cheese
Fresh ground pepper

It was my first time to make candied walnuts and it was no joke! I used this as my guide. Whew!

It's great to know that I still have room for learning and appreciating new dishes and more room in my tummy for eating!

After the holidays, I know, I SEE and I FEEL that I have gained weight. Now my OPLAN is to TRY to eat salad only at night. Goodluck! :)

Happy weekend to all! Valentine's day is coming! Heart! :)

Banana Caramel Cookie Crunch

2010-01-25T22:36:00.004+08:00

This one I learned from a good friend who is now happy in heaven. She came up with this in a retreat some decade and a half ago I guess, where she was OIC for the food committee. Just because she was left with very few resources, she came up with this fun and easy to make dessert. Funny this can be a Banoffee pie's neighbor!

And so I learned that you have to make do with what you have in the kitchen and you'll see that you can make something spectacular out of them.

On the photo you see:
Crushed chocolate chip cookies / Any butter cookie you like
1 Ripe Banana (lakatan)
Caramel syrup
Chocolate Syrup (Hershey's or Clara Ole, or melted chocolate!)

*When my friend shared this with me, she said she used Chips Ahoy, ripe lacatan bananas and melted Hershey's chocolate!

No official measurements! Just assemble it in any order you desire!

I like to assemble it this way:

In a plate or cup, put the crushed cookies, then sliced bananas, pour the caramel and lastly the chocolate syrup!

You may also opt to add a little vanilla ice cream or whipped all purpose cream, and instead put them in a small clear glass to make it appear like a trifle, plus a cherry on top! :)

This one's for you Sab! I know you are smiling down on us!

Alright everyone, dig in!!! :)

*this is an addition to my Banana festival moment. Simple, pero ROCK! bow!

Puffy Shrimps in Sweet Mayo-Coconut Sauce

2010-01-12T14:36:00.011+08:00

Happy New Year everyone! :) I would like to start my first entry this year with something just out of the kitchen (and into my tummy) - yes, just today. Real time!

Have you tried Tin Hau Restaurant's Shrimps with Sliced Almond and Mayonnaise? If you have tried it and liked it, just like myself and my colleagues, you might want to try this recipe at home. I can say it's a bit bit close to Tin Hau's (minus the presentation. Hehe.)

I really don't know how Tin Hau made theirs... Lucky and blessed, sometime ago, my Mommy Tess told me to try something similar to it but using candied walnuts as garnish rather than almonds. Since I don't have candied walnuts, at least I have the almond slivers available. Thanks to our nearby Cocoa Pantry :)

For more ka artehan, I would like to name it Puffy Shrimps in Sweet Mayo-Coconut Sauce.

Here goes:

First make your Cream sauce:

2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 to 2 1/2 tbsp condensed milk
2 tbsp coconut cream/ gata

mix them together and whisk until all flavors are incorporated. Set aside.

If I may suggest, start heating your cooking oil in your deep frying sauce pan before preparing the batter to save time and to have your shrimps "deep-fry" ready.

For this recipe, I used about 2 cups of canola oil in a small sauce pan.

For the Shrimps:

about 1/2 kilo medium sized shrimps - peeled and deveined (Suahe)

Batter:

About 3 6 tbps flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch of salt
About 3/4 cup or less of ice cold water

UPDATE 1/18/10 - after much recall over the phone with Andrea --- for the flour, I remember I used 3 heaping tbsp of flour, double checked it with measuring spoon and it turns out to be about 6 tbsp . You might want to add another teaspoon of flour (to the 6 tbsp) if you want to achieve a little more pasty consistency

Mix dry ingredients and add the ice cold water little by little until dissolved and becomes paste like. (realization w/ Andrea: like elmer's glue texture!)

Throw in the shrimps into the batter and set aside.

By this time the oil may be already hot and ready for the shrimps -

Throw in shrimps one at a time (do not over crowd them) and wait for about 2 minutes until you achieve a light golden brown color, then drain (Repeat process until all shrimps are cooked.)

REMINDER: Please be careful not to include your fingers.

Once done, mix them right away with the sauce, garnish with slivered almonds, or any nut you like (like my Mommy Tess, she uses candied walnuts) or serve as is. :)

The trick to having your shrimps stay puffy and crisp is to have your batter really ice cold, deep fry it, drain it, mix quickly w/ cream sauce and serve it immediately. AS IN PRONTO!

A new year is always equal to one having his/her own new year's resolutions... and one of my many many resolutions this 2010 is to do my best to make more new meals... and to write more. Here.

Everybody Happy!Enter text here.

Stuffed and Baked Potatoes

2009-12-18T13:33:00.010+08:00

Since baked potatoes were born in Wendy's I couldn't help but feel sad with the little amount of toppings. Now where is justice there? Can i just say bitin at tipid?

Then came my goal to make my own simple baked potatoes with oozing cheese and lots of bacon bits to die for.

I wanted to submit this recipe to Eden Cheese's Sarap ng Buhay event as a contribution but failed due to laziness. Sorry! Next year nalang! Anyways, I am still happy that my pizza made it there! Yey!

On the photo I used:

3 medium sized potatoes

Stuffing:

1 tbsp butter
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup Cheez Whiz
1/4 cup All Purpose Cream
about 1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup Grated Eden Melt Sarap, and some extra for topping (optional)
Mashed Potatoes

Topping:

about 100 grams fried bacon bits (drain the oil!)

Because I would rather go the faster way, I boiled the potatoes for about 15-20 minutes until they're tender. Then after waiting a few minutes for it to cool, slice the top horizontally, scrape off the remaining potato meat then set aside. For the bigger potato slice, scoop out about 2 tbsp as if you are making a potato bowl. The scraped and mashed potatoes will be added to the cheese stuffing later on.

While boiling the potatoes, save time by making your cheese stuffing:

In a small saucepan, melt the butter then add the minced garlic, cheez whiz, cream, milk and grated cheese. Allow to simmer then set aside. Add the mashed potatoes and mix well

and then put about 2 tbps of cheese stuffing on the potato or until full.

Top with extra grated cheese if you want, then the bacon bits, then bake it in your toaster for only 10 minutes or until cheese melts

Now I wouldn't have to be sad with other baked potatoes :)

I started this blog because of other great bloggers and realized that it also came through as a therapy (well, until now it still is).

I was dreaming to reach a hundred entries this December, obviously I didn't. Maybe I will, when I reach my first birthday here! So wish me luck!

My making up for lost times with my blog still led to another moment of making up for lost time. What on earth happened to the last 33 days? P-L-E-N-T-Y.

Anyway, it's the holiday season! It's time to cram!

Until my next "making up for lost time"!

In case I don't get back sooner --- Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010 to you all!:)

Steamed Cream Dory in Light Soy Sauce and Garlic

2009-11-14T01:27:00.013+08:00

Just a short break from the banana festival.

Way back 2000 something with a few good friends (if they can still remember!), we pigged out in the wee hours of the morning in this resto along Wilson St. in San Juan called Hap Chan.

Why did we pig out? :P Don't even ask!

One of the best orders we had was their famous Steamed Fish Fillet (Hong Kong style). After that night, I came back for it in every opportunity.

For the past years, I have been trying to make it at home using lapu lapu or gindara fillet. My dad loves it! He loves fish!

I tried it again this time using Cream Dory, and I think this is best fish by far for me to use in this recipe because of its softness and flakyness. Melts in your mouth!

Here's what you need:

For the steamed fish:

3 cream dory fillets, sliced in serving pieces
a pinch of salt and pepper for rubbing the fish
1 tbps of sliced ginger strips
water for boiling

- rub fillets with salt and pepper, put them in your steamer and place the ginger strips on top and on the sides of the fish and steam for a good 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside

For the light soy:

1/4 cup light soy sauce
2 1/2 cups of water (or more if you still find it salty)
1 tsp grated ginger
more or less 4 tsps brown sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
about 1/2 tsp of sesame oil to taste

- in a saucepan put all ingredients together, mix well and simmer to a boil.

For the garnish, just prepare:

about 1 bulb of garlic, chopped finely (the more the merrier! i love toasted garlic!)
about 1/2 cup of chopped spring onions

- saute the garlic in cooking oil until golden brown or toasted if you like. Then set aside.

To assemble the dish: put steamed fillets in a serving platter or shallow bowl, pour the sauce and garnish with toasted garlic and chopped spring onions, as seen on the photo and as served in the resto :)

TO my bloggy: Ok, now I am making up for so much lost time with you. I hope you are happy, my dear bloggy! 'Coz I am. *lol*

Have a wonderful Saturday! :)

Sweetened Banana and Sago Pearls in Coconut Milk

2009-11-14T00:18:00.005+08:00

OR Minatamis na Saba at Sago with Gata...

I was too curious and eager to make this since I laid my eyes on its recipe page. I have been eating sweetened bananas with the usual evaporated milk or condensed milk or fresh milk, so why not try something new?

The original recipe and procedure can be found in Good Housekeeping's Easy Everyday Meals vol 6. Page 122.

For this version, I used:

8 ripe saba bananas - sliced horizontally as seen on the photo
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
more or less 3 cups water
1 cup Cooked Sago Pearls
2 stalks pandan leaves
1/2 cups fresh or canned gata (coconut milk)

First make the sweetened banana:

In a saucepan, combine sugar and water. Stir, add the bananas and stir well, bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Simmer until bananas are tender and the liquid is somewhat thick and syrupy.

Feel free to add sugar and/or water (little by little) to achieve your desired amount of sweetness and consistency.

Then add the sago pearls, and the pandan leaves, simmer for about 5 more minutes so the sago will also absorb a little sweetness from the syrup.

In case cooked sago pearls aren't available you can use:

1/2 cups small sago (the packed ones from the supermarket)
3 cups water
2 stalks pandan leaves

To cook the sago pearls:
Boil sago with pandan and water until cooked, this may run for more or less 30 minutes, depending on the size of your sago pearls. When done, wash sago and add them to the sweetened bananas, then same drill as above, simmer for about 5 more minutes so the sago will also absorb a little sweetness from the syrup.

***If you have access to the market, I'm sure there are stalls selling cooked Sago Pearls (together with other Halo halo ingredients). It's good to use the cooked ones to save time, effort and gas. Just wash them carefully with water and drain well before adding them to the bananas et al.

To serve, put bananas and sago pearl on a bowl, pour the syrup, some crushed ice (optional) and lastly, pour over the coconut milk.

This is one of the many versions of our good ol' saba con yelo that I love to make and eat (oo naman!). Indeed it's a great way to appreciate Gata (Coconut Cream) in your dessert!

Thanks to Good Housekeeping! :)

Happy banana festival! Happy weekend! :)

Banana Choco Nutella Cream Pie

2009-11-12T14:23:00.006+08:00

My blog has been appearing in my sleep, talking to me, saying how irresponsible I have become. No single entry for the past 4 weeks? How could you??!

How could I?

I felt like I left another baby in the middle of nowhere. Sorry bloggy. You see, I have been busy, but it doesn't mean I forgot about you. No, I think about you all the time! :)

I have been trying to write drafts in my notepad however I couldn't finish them just yet. I have been praying for second winds at night but they never came to me.

But anyway, I am here now! :)

And so the quest for the banana festival continues!

Banana Choco Nutella Cream Pie --- Long title? :) ChocNut is even supposed to be in there!

This version is inspired by Ross' recipe (whom I have been convincing to make her food blog as she loves to cook too!) and another version from Pauline. Thank you ladies!

Some time ago, Nestle All Purpose Cream came up with two flavors of their All Purpose Cream: Chocolate and Mixed Berries. Given this recipe, I grabbed the Chocolate All Purpose Cream (luckily, it was buy 1 take one then for only 50.00 Php) and made this cream pie.

As done here, it's best to make the cream filling first so that you can chill it. It's easier to assemble your cream pie if the filling is chilled.

For the filling:

6 ripe lacatan bananas - sliced (about 1/4 inch and will look like thick coins)
2 packs of Nestle Chocolate all purpose cream
about 3/4 cup of Nutella (or any other hazlenut spread available in the market)
4 tbsp of white sugar (you can put less, depending on your sugar level)
a small drop of vanilla essence

Beat cream, nutella, sugar and vanilla and if they are totally mixed well, fold in the sliced bananas and chill for about 1 to 2 hours.

For the crust and toppings, I used:

about 1 cup to 1 and a half cup of crushed MY San graham
about 2 to 3 tbsps white sugar (you can put less, depending on your sugar level)
a small pinch of salt
about half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder
about 3 to 4 tbsp melted butter (I used Magnolia's Baker's Best)
about 16 pieces crushed ChocNut (Pauline says to crush it with your fingers!)

Mix crushed graham, sugar, salt, cinnamon in a bowl then create a well in the center, add the melted butter. make sure the butter is evenly distributed and as much as possible try to achieve a kind of "slightly wet and sandy" kind of crust.

Put half of the crumbs on the bottom of a rectangular container and press it down and set aside or put it in the fridge. Set aside the other half but do not put it in the fridge. The butter will harden and it will not be easy to loosen the crumbs for your topping.

After 1 to 2 hours, pour the chilled filling onto the crusted container and smooth the top with your spoon or with a spatula. Top it with the remaining crumbs and the crushed ChocNut and chill it one more time for at least an hour before serving.

Note: Nestle Chocolate all purpose cream is not available anymore in the market (unless they bring it back, that will be great!) So in this case, you can use the regular all purpose cream about 1 and a half pack and mix it with 1 cup of melted chocolate.

I like to add more ChocNut on top however, my body says DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Heeheehee! Hope you'll enjoy this!

Ooops, it's almost time to go now!

It's nice to be back!

Until the next KusinaSerye and banana festival entry! :)

Lemon Butter Cookies

2009-10-17T11:54:00.009+08:00

After Ondoy, a Pepeng scare, after a week of stomach flu and fever --- who does not deserve a new haircut, a hair color, a pedicure, a little shopping spree and lots of delicious home made cookies?

Ok, I will not go into details about my ka-artehan. But thanks to hubby for all the pampering and spoiling! I enjoyed! :)

The making of these cookies is inspired by Chichajo's Lemon Butter Cookies / Sablés Au Citron entry that I can very much relate to - most especially because of the typhoon that hit our area.

My cookies however are tinier than the original version. And my little cookies also reminded me of Eggnog cookies. How cute is that?! To this date I have already made 3 batches, all gone and will make some more by next week. A lovely lady wanted to order some of them - I said I am glad she liked it and I will just make some for her and no need for any payment whatsoever! ;) Friendship ito!

Here's the recipe of Lemon Butter cookies (original recipe and post can be found here):

1 cup + 2 tbsp All purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar (I used Peotraco Caster Sugar)
1 tsp Fleur de Sel
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest, finely chopped
7 tbsp of butter, chilled and diced
1 egg yolk

- Mix altogether the first 4 ingredients, add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture until they look like coarse breadcrumbs, then add the egg yolk, blend it very well (with your hands or with a fork) with the mixture, knead lightly and form into a dough ball.

- Halve the dough and roll each half into a log about 1-inch in diameter. Wrap each log in cling wrap and tuck in the freezer for about 30-minutes.

* Unwrap the logs and slice into 1/4-inch rounds using a serrated knife
(roll the dough a quarter-turn after each slice so the log stays round)

**OR if the cookie is not as round as you wanted them to be, just get about a teaspoon full, roll it into a small ball and flatten it a bit in between your palms.

***OR on a very clean table use a rolling pin - spread out the dough and cut the cookies using your cookie cutter.

(I have done all these three ways in the 3 batches I have made!)

- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and pop it into the oven for 12 minutes or until done (I had mine in 18 minutes).

Transfer to a rack and let the cookies cool completely before adding the lemon-sugar glaze.

For the Lemon Sugar glaze:

1 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar

- Put ingredients in a bowl, whisk until syrupy. You may want to add more sugar little by little if you want to add more sweetness.

A few ways to glaze the cookie:

- Use a pastry brush or the back of a teaspoon...

- As for Chichajo's: Place glaze in a ziplock bag or parchment paper cone and pipe onto cookie in any design you wish!

- What I did here is I just dipped the cookies (top part) onto the glaze, set them aside and allowed the glaze to dry for about 10 minutes and repeated the process for that double glaze effect!

(Since I was able to produce about 44 baby cookies and got very addicted to the glaze, I decided to DOUBLE glaze them.)

Some photos below:

Fleur de Sel is not available in my pantry, so I used Iodized salt instead. The slight saltiness complements the buttery feel and the lemony kick! I heart it! :)

These cookies brought back our energy and took away stress from all the sad memories of Ondoy. Indeed, this is the perfect "happy cookie"! :)

A great weekend to all! :)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

2009-09-25T00:12:00.006+08:00

Gorgeous aren't they?! Thanks a lot to AverageBetty! The attempt to make these cupcakes is long overdue. Yesterday morning, aside from having other things in my head, upon checking the fridge after breakfast, I realized that the butter needs to be consumed ASAP.

So it's really high time for some Cheer Up Yourself Moment! And boy, these cupcakes are miraculous!

Now I am on happy mode again! ;) The original cupcake recipe actually has pudding inside. Yummy! If only I had all the time in the world I would make the pudding but for now I only had time to make the cupcakes and frosting. Nonetheless I am thrilled to say that it was a success even without the pudding in it. Maybe next time! :)

If you are planning to make these cupcakes, make sure to take out the butter and eggs at least 30 minutes to an hour before you start, to achieve room temperature : )

For the chocolate Cupcakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk (buttermilk info below! read on!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350(F) / 175(C)

Melt chocolate and set aside - either in the microwave-carefully Or the old way. (I used the old way!)

Cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar using your electric mixer

Add eggs and mix well

Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and mix very well.

Add flour and baking soda and combine thoroughly.

Add buttermilk slowly and combine thoroughly until smooth.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter and bake for 20-25 minutes or so. (my cupcakes took 28 minutes)

Just test the doneness on the 20th minute by inserting a toothpick in the middle and see if it comes out clean with very few crumbs. Otherwise, allow a few more minutes.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 10 minutes.

Remove from the tins and cool completely before putting (filling and) frosting

Note: If you don't have ready to use buttermilk, you can make some by mixing together 1/2 tbsp calamansi or lemon juice plus milk of almost 1/2 cup. If I may suggest, in a measuring cup, put the calamansi or lemon juice first, then slowly pour some milk until it reaches the 1/2 cup mark/line. For other buttermilk substitutes, click here :)

For the Frosting:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
(Original recipe used 2 1/2, however, I would like to lessen my sugar intake.... *lol* NYEH!!!!)

1/2 cup butter (I used 1/4 regular butter and 1/4 UNSALTED butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons whipping cream (I used, chilled Nestlé All Purpose Cream)

Directions:

Mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 3-4 minutes.

Blend in vanilla.

Add tablespoons of cream gradually and continue to beat on medium-high speed for several minutes more, until light, fluffy and smooth.

Mixture will have a pearly sheen and perfect spreading consistency.

For my Pink frosting, I added about 4 "dots" of Red food coloring then i just folded it until I achieved the pretty pinkish color.

Get a big load of frosting on a knife

Swirl frosting and put on some candy sprinkles

Note: Do not refrigerate before frosting cupcakes.

Let me share some highlights below:

Look at this egg!

This is was the first cupcake liner I have ever filled! Really, I was nervous! Walang exaj ito!

Because I was nervous, I am dead sure I overfilled some cupcake liners! Hehehe!

I wanted to make Blue, Purple and Yellow colored frosting. But Pink was the winner!

Little J had the privilege of being the first "customer".

He ate a cupcake and a half. BUT, Mommy gave the unfrosted ones!
Too much sugar + Toddler = HYPER ACTIVITY *lol*

It's almost the weekend! Cant' wait to have another cupcake tomorrow!
I still have a few left in the fridge! Goodnight!

Banana Pancakes

2009-09-21T07:42:00.003+08:00

Good morning! :)

Banana adventures are here again so expect more banana action in the future.

As a start, I would like to have some banana pancakes. I have said before that I like french toast more than pancakes, but that does not mean I totally dislike the latter.

I can never say NO to banana pancakes.

Ooooh what more if I have a waffle maker. I can try Banana Walnut Waffle a la Pancake House... right, honey? (parinig?)

I have tried a couple of mixes when I was younger and lazy (lazier?). I used to make them using the "Just add water" and your done kind of mix. But it just doesn't match the classic good ol' thick, fluffy and moist pancakes.

So I went back to Maya Original Hotcake Mix.

I just followed package instructions, added 5 very ripe mashed bananas, mixed them well and cooked them in a very hot non-stick pan. I used up the whole box (which i think was 500grams) and 8 pancakes came to life.

On the photo however, there's only 5. The last three were not included anymore ;)

I tried to make whipped butter, but unsuccessful. I wanted to achieve the Pancake House style but couldn't! Any suggestions? :)

For the syrup, here at home we use Clara Olé Maple Syrup. I guess this is one of the most affordable and still yummy pancake syrup I have tried. I like this brand in fairness!

Swak Sa Bujey!!! (Fits the budget! / Bujey = Budget).

Know more about Clara Olé here.

I also like the combination of banana and cinnamon, so just before serving, sprinkle some cinnamon powder over the pancakes.

MMMMmmmm.. smells good and tastes a whole lot better! :)

How about you, what's for breakfast?

A happy Monday and a great week to all! :)

Siomai House - My one true dumpling love

2009-09-18T00:10:00.007+08:00

Commercial muna tayo.... I'm hungry and it's late :(

This isn't paid advertising. But if they come across this entry, I hope they can give me 1 year supply or maybe a lifetime supply of their very delicious, succulent, juicy, mouth-watering Siomai!

I have eaten tons of siomai from different stalls or restos in my lifetime and I never really "patronized" any of them. But after trying Siomai House, I can definitely say they can count on my loyalty for life.

I never liked "chilli" in my dumplings, but Siomai House made the difference and it totally changed my outlook about adding some spice to my food.

During mealtime you would see a lot of people lining up in their stall/kiosk. That's how good it is.

Their chilli-garlic sauce is superb and different from the rest!

And I bet you my last 25 centavo you will either get another order or have a take out.

4 pieces of Siomai for only 25.00 php. Yup. Great, right?

Me? I can eat 8 pieces in just one sitting..or standing...and take home 32 pieces for 200.00php.

Di naman ako adik noh?

And take note, their siomai is actually a bit bigger than the others' siomai size.

Sonia says, "parang puto!" Hehehe.

They also sell Gulaman as refreshment, for only (drumrolls please!) 8.00 php!

So affordable, right!?

If you had a loooooooooooong day just like mine, don't you wish you can eat something you really want right at this very moment?

*sigh*

If only I can have you for my midnight snack... Maybe tomorrow. Or the weekend.

I wish I can provide all the branches of Siomai House in the Metro here. In the meantime, here's a list of the Siomai House stall/kiosk locations I am aware of:

Robinson's Metro East
Libis (foodcourt beside Piandre)
MRT stations
Marikina Public Market

I will update this list when I get more info : )

Goodnight everyone!

Homemade Atchara

2009-09-11T23:48:00.007+08:00

Huwhat? MASON JARS at 30% off at Handyman? I want. So hubby got them. It was a good catch. 12 750ml jars for only less than 600php. SKP? (Rica: San Ka Pa?)

Thinking of what to do and what to put in them, out of all the ideas I had in mind, I remembered my Mommy Tess' famous Atchara. I knew it was very famous in our neighborhood. I can still vividly remember the many containers she used to fill up with it and sends them to those who ordered from her or to some relatives who simply "requested" :)

By the way she even makes tinapang bangus from scratch (which they say is best eaten with atchara) --but I have no plans of trying it.

To be honest, I am not really an atchara eater. I have tried it a few times but I am okay without it. How ironic isn't it? I love food - but I am actually a boring eater when it comes to condiments. The few condiments I pair with food are: mayonnaise, fish sauce, calamansi, soy sauce and Knorr Seasoning... and I am not kidding!

B U T

Hubby loves atchara (and any pickled veggie for that matter), as well as our household's tres marias. For Little J, not sure yet. I have yet to know. My in-laws eat atchara, as well as my Dad.

In this light, I pretty much believe that putting a great effort to make homemade atchara for the ones I love will be very worthwhile, right?

So let me share with you Mommy Tess' recipe of homemade atchara:

For the Atchara Syrup

2 cups of white vinegar
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp salt

- Best to make this ahead of time. Stir all ingredients together until sugar and salt has dissolved. Then simmer on low heat for 20 to 25 minutes until it boils. Then set aside to cool on room temp.

Next, prepare:

2 medium size Green Papaya - peeled, washed and grated
1 medium size Sayote - peeled, washed and grated
2 tbsp salt

- Mix the grated papaya and sayote with the salt and leave for about 5 minutes.

- After 5 minutes, wash with water, drain and squeeze all the juices, then repeat this process (i did mine 5 times) until the saltyness is gone.

Then...

- either you air dry it (which may take longer) , or you dry it in your oven toaster for about 15 minutes at 300F/150C

- when they are dry, let cool and set aside:

Then prepare:

About 15 to 20 pieces of shallots/ sibuyas tagalog, peeled
1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced (or buy the peeled ones)
3 to 4 tbps of ginger cut into strips
1 green chilli, sliced (seeds and stem not included)
1 carrot sliced into strip and some in flowerettes (my favorite part! see photo below!)

I was so "kilig" when making these flowerettes!

When the syrup has cooled down, put all the veggies in the pot, mix them altogether until the veggies have absorbed most of the syrup, then start filling up your jars - unless you cannot stop appreciating the wonderful colors it has created:

Don't forget to sterilize your containers first!

After filling them up, put them in the fridge until consumption.

This recipe filled 2 Mason Jars (750ml each) and 1 250ml jar.

Looking at these beauties, I was happy that it was a success. Hubby took the taste test, so that's enough for an A plus! ;)

I suddenly thought I might be missing a lot. I know I am. Hubby told me so!

Please... just give me a little more time and maybe I will have the urge to finally put this on my condiments list ! :)

In the meantime, I will watch the atchara fanatics enjoy this with whatever fried, smoked or BBQd food we have! :)

Cheers! The weekend is here! :)

P.S. Credits to my angels for helping with the "grating" part. Thank you ates! :)

Ube Roll Cake - An attempt.

2009-09-09T23:21:00.009+08:00

I have been dying to try this recipe of Kusina ni Manang for the longest time. I have waited for my Dad to arrive from his Baguio trip so that I could have Baguio Made Ube Halaya. MMMMmmmmm. Yum. (tapos, gawa pala sa Cubao at dinala lang ng Baguio eh?!! Joke!)

Just a brief background: I-HEART-UBE. Especially UBE Cakes - wherever it's from I don't mind. I like buying Ube Rolls from neighboorhood bakeries. My Dad brings me Ube Rolls in some of his visits. Hihihi.

To my dear Manang Kusinera - thanks for sharing your recipe! It was a blast! I super enjoyed making it. Though I goofed on the chiffon/sponge part, like I told you, the filling and icing took away my frustration in an instant!

Just to let you know, Manang's filling/icing recipe is the best by far. The combination of Ube and Cream Cheese made the difference. It was 'heavenly' for me. No exag, promise!

My Boo-boos on the cake roll:

1. I used a jelly roll pan (12X16) larger than the the size indicated in the recipe. My supposed roll became quite flat.

- It was the closest one to the size in the recipe (15X10). The other pan available is waaaay too small.

Gintong Aral - Huwag magmadali. Maghanap ng kaparehong sukat ng pan. Lookie down!

2. My first time to use egg whites in cake: Beat egg whites until stiff.

My egg whites never went 'really' stiff. I think I started whipping it when it was still cold.

Pers taym eh!

Gintong Aral - READ AND READ UNTIL IT SINKS IN.

Manang said: Best to whip whites when they are room temp. And this.

Sorryyyy! I was tooooooooo excited. Really. Just like what i said here about Tyler Florence's Ultimate Cheesecake: Now I know better. :P

The sponge instead became moist and heavy and definitely not like what Manang has perfected.

Nonetheless, it was all good - according to my friendly testers ;) Thank you guysh!

I will make this again and again until I get it and because I will never get tired of ube cake. Especially Manang's recipe! :)

'Till my next attempt! :)

Sinigang na Liempo (Pork Belly in Sour Broth)

2009-08-22T00:40:00.007+08:00

My good friend RC who is now thousands of miles away dancing the hoola, sent me a text message saying that he enjoys reading my blog. I AM SO TATSD! (I am so touched!)

I asked him about his favorite food so that I can dedicate a cyber dish to him. He answered (after 48 years.. JOKE lang!) that he and his wife, Lisa love the following: Pork Binagoongan, Crispy Pata and Pork Sinigang. Ah eh, hindi naman puro baboy noh??? :P

I am glad I have one dish ready for you now. So here it is! The beloved Pork Sinigang:

For this set, I used:

1/2 kilo of pork liempo
about 4 to 5 cups of rice wash (for the broth) (or water)
1 medium sized white onion chopped
2 small native tomatoes chopped
1 small pack of Knorr Sinigang sa Sampaloc with Gabi Mix (you can use two if you want it really sour)
1 small Gabi, grated
Fish Sauce to taste
Pepper to taste
1 Talong (Eggplant) sliced
1 Small Labanos (Raddish) sliced
1 bundle of Sitaw (String beans) cut into 2 inches long
1 bundle of Kangkong cut into 2 inches long

1 green chilli (optional)

Boil the pork in the rice wash/water until very tender. Then add the onions, tomatoes, sinigang mix, grated gabi, fish sauce and pepper and allow to boil again. Turn fire to low then add the eggplant, raddish and string beans, then simmer for a few minutes. Hold on till the last minute before adding the Kangkong as this cooks and wilts really fast. Turn off fire and let stand for about 2 minutes then serve.

Hubby loves the sinigang boiling hot (as well as our other soupy dishes!)

LoveNote: I grate my gabi in my sinigang because I don't eat the chunked one. The grated ones also make the broth thicker, faster!

RC, if only this Sinigang can come to life on your PC screen as you read this... I hope it's still boiling hot and ready to be served for you and Lisa! By the way, wish we can make on your church wedding! But we'll be there in spirit! (Plingkanting kanting!)

Enjoy! :)

Ginisang Munggo on a Friday

2009-08-21T23:19:00.008+08:00

Is your family like my family? When Friday comes it's like "Hey, it's Friday, it's munggo day!"

This was something I grew up with in my Father's side. They, my dad, titos and titas have ginisang munggo in almost every Friday of their lives. They never get tired of it. What is it with family food traditions? :)

Anyway, here at home, we do not have ginisang munggo every Friday, but we have, for a couple of Fridays and one Friday is today.

It was perfect timing because it has been raining since Thursday night until early this morning, so I thought we should have it. It's a great dish on a rainy day! Our household's ginisang munggo recipe is not so different from yours. But there is just one "deadly" thing that we put as a topping.

We used to have chicharon with it until Mang Romy (the pork vendor in the market) highly recommended to use "batok ng baboy" (pig's nape) instead of the usual chicharon. So we did and we never went back to chicharon eversince.

If you enlarge the photo, you can see the crispy pig's nape on top of the munggo bean stew, beside the ampalaya leaves -- that's what I'm talking about!

The cut of the pig's nape looks a little like liempo but with more fat. It's cut is thicker as well. I wish I took a photo of it to show you!

In the meantime, let me share with you our household's ginisang munggo recipe:

For the Crispy batok ng baboy (pig's nape), I ordered 2 pieces of the pig's nape from Mang Romy.

The how to:

Cut the pig's nape in small cubes, marinate it for about 30 minutes in about 1 tsp of fish sauce and about 1 to 2 tbsp calamansi juice and pepper.

After 30 minutes or so, fry it until golden brown and crispy, drain the oil (please!) then set aside.

For the ginisang munggo:

1 cup of green munggo (mung beans)
3 cups of water (for boiling)
1 small onion, minced
about 1 tsp of minced garlic
2 small native tomatoes, chopped
2 medium sized smoked fish/tinapang galunggong, flaked
about 1/4 cup of dried shrimp (hibe)
1 Pork bouillion cube
Ampalaya leaves (sometimes we use Malunggay leaves, especially when I was still breastfeeding!)
Fish sauce to taste (optional)
Pepper to taste

The Way

Boil the Munggo beans until they are soft, drain. then set aside. Set aside the water as well to be used as the broth.

Sauté the onions, garlic and tomatoes. Stir in the munggo beans, tinapa flakes, hibe (dried shrimps) and water. Allow to simmer. Then add the Pork bouillion cube, fish sauce (optional) and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Then add the ampalaya leaves and simmer agian for about 5 minutes.

You may want to add some more water if you want it to be soupy. You can squish some of the beans using your ladle to make the soup thicker.

Serve it while it's hot: in a soup bowl, or as rice topping plus the crispy fried pig's nape on top!

Warning: ADDICTING

Happy Saturday and Sunday! :)

Pork Bacon Cuts in Garlic Soy Sauce: A Diary of a Pepper Lunch Fan

2009-08-19T00:38:00.011+08:00

Let me start by saying that hubby, I and little J have been in and out of Pepper Lunch in most of our weekends for the last 2 months (ok, besides TGIFriday's)... Di naman kami sobrang adik noh? (Are you on drugs? - some Pinoy Joke)

And through it all, I had some nights thinking and dreaming about their Pepper Rice Beef and their irresistible garlic soy sauce (karakuchi), bugging hubby about my idea of trying to make a close copy of it here at home. So when the time comes when there's no budget for Pepper Lunch at least we have something close to it, right? Remember.. Recession!

So, my first attempt: Kikkoman + Water + Garlic Powder. BOINK!

Second Attempt: Kikkoman + Water + Garlic Powder + a little sesame oil. SUPER BOINK!!!

Jam: "Waaaaaaahh! Ayoko naaaaaaaa!!!"

Jam talking to Jam: "Hindi, kaya mo yan! One more time!"

Third Attempt: "Ok, super strong the Kikkoman. hmmm, I have light soy sauce here"

Light Soy Sauce + Water + Garlic Powder.... PWEDE!!!

Me, thinking out loud: "May kulang parin eh!" (something's missing!)

Then all of a sudden, I have thought of adding butter and Ajinomoto and remembered UMAMI.

Ok, Fourth Attempt: Light Soy Sauce + Water + Garlic Powder + Ajinomoto + butter
Pwedeng pwede!!! Yey!!!

So after four attempts, let me share with you the recipe of the garlic soy sauce:

(Without heat first) In a saucepan, mix:

1/2 cup of light soy sauce
1 and 1/2 cups of water
about 4 tbsp of garlic powder
about 1/4 tsp Ajinomoto
about 1/4 tsp of pepper
a tiny pinch of salt and white sugar

***you can make some more. store in airtight container and in the fridge so you can use it anytime you want :)

Put the saucepan on the stove and turn the heat to Medium High and allow the mixture to boil. Turn of the heat after boiling then add 1 tbsp of butter and allow the butter to melt in the hot mixture. Set aside.

For our Lunch today, we had Pork Bacon Cuts (50% of from Rustan's Shang!), stir fried them with some of the sauce, and assembled them around a cup of rice topped with corn, chopped chives and a little butter. I wanted to cook it using our sizzling plate but i was too lazy to reach for it as it was kept at the top most part of the kitchen cabinet. tsk. sigh.

If only i have that electromagnetic plate and induction cooker right here, right now! Oh, not to forget the japanese rice and the special butter! hahaaa!! ;)

So anyways, back to reality. I am at home: I placed the plate in a microwave to reheat and melt the butter, seasoned it with a little more of the sauce and mixed everything together!

Happiness!

To Ms. Cecile and Chef Jeroen, nothing beats the original, of course! If you ever come across this blog entry, I promise I was not one of those folks who stole your sauces and I promise I will always be a Pepper Lunch Fan! ;)

Cheers! :)

Puto Bumbong: A Maskipaps Moment

2009-08-18T23:24:00.006+08:00

I know that the countdown begins when the calendar hits the BER month. But please allow me to start now - We are 120 days away 'til Simbang Gabi and we are 129 days away from Christmas. Forgive me for I had a sudden craving for Puto Bumbong last weekend and I really wanna have some so bad that I could not wait for simbang gabi to arrive.

I do not have the luxury of making an authentic puto bumbong, however. That is why the title of this post has "A Maskipaps moment" - Maski paps, meaning Maski Papano. Hehehe. Desperate times call for desperate measures? ;)

As we all know, the authentic way to do it is putting purple colored ground glutinous rice (galapong), or pirurutong rice into bamboo tubes, then placing them on top of a special/custom-made steamer called "lansungan". I would love to try this out soon. First, I would need to get a hold of that special apparatus. Hmm.. maybe I can check out our market?

So anyways, for more information about our authentic puto bumbong, you can check out this video and this site :) Cool eh?! :)

Now, for this UNauthentic one (hehe).. but still very satisfying!

Here's how to make the maskipaps version of our country's Puto Bumbong, in case you will have a desperate moment like moi:

- 2 packs of Malagkit Powder, more or less about 1/4 kilo
(It's available in the baking section of your supermarket, if it's not there, don't be afraid to ask your friendly attendant!)

- Water (prepare about 1 1/2 cups)
- about 6 tbps Violet food coloring (depends on you if you want it darker or lighter!)
- about 1/4 tsp Pandan Essence

The Way:

Put the malagkit powder in a bowl then add water little by little until it achieves a doughy or clayish consistency. Then add the coloring and the pandan essence. Mix and knead very well.

With your clean hands, grab about a spoon full or 2 from the purple dough and shape it like the shape of the real puto bumbong (so it's about 2 to 3 inches long and about 1/2 inch for its diameter...ulk, Geometry!)

When you're done, drop them in boiling water and wait until they float. Then scoop them out with a slotted spoon and drain very well. (This is the same as cooking palitaw)

After draining, roll them in grated fresh coconut, then serve with butter and muscovado sugar.

Making this improvised puto bumbong is very fun and relaxing! Thanks to my Ate Jeng who taught me how to do this! :) Thanks as well to our neighboor who is always willing to give me banana leaves!

This is dedicated to a great friend who loooves puto bumbong...

Happy Birthday, Ross! Mwah! :)

August 21 2009 Addendum: I was almost half asleep while doing this post, but just quick a note. With regard to the texture, it's the same as the palitaw or bilo bilo in your ginataan. Of course, the authentic one is still the best ;)

Easy Pork Stir-Fry

2009-08-15T02:08:00.006+08:00

It was a Thursday and I found a nice Thursday recipe from Yummy Magazine's Weekday Cooking from their September 2008 issue. What a coincidence! And yes, you're reading it right. It's a 2008 ish. An old magazine can still serve its purpose! Especially food/cooking magazines!

Funny how I landed on this - I was looking into another dish however I did not have all the ingredients that day and there is no way I can make it. Good thing this recipe came to my rescue and I was lucky, like really lucky to have everything I needed! One more thing it's easy to prepare as it will only take 15 to 20 minutes to complete this dish. And it took just few minutes of dinner time for it to reach our tummies. Yeehaaa!

Here's the recipe for Pork Stir-Fry, page 47, Yummy Magazine September 2008

1/2 kilo of pork rounds/kasim, cut in strips (I used pork tenderloin strips)
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 garlic cloves minced
1 small bunch green beans, chopped into 1/2 inch lengths
1 pack pf mixed frozen vegetables (green peas, carrots and corn kernels)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch strips
half of a 200 gram of button mushrooms, chopped
(I used everything in the can! we lurve mushrooms!)
Water for boiling
Pepper to season

1. Make the marinade: Mix soy sauce, honey and garlic. Marinate the pork and set aside.

2. Place green beans in boiling salted water for 2 minutes or until crisp tender. Add the frozen vegges to the pot and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from water. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in wok/pan and stir fry pork for about 30 seconds on high heat. Add the bell peppers and mushrooms. When pork is cooked, lower the flame and pour the excess marinade. Add all veggies and stir well. You may want to add a little pepper as well. Serve warm.

Just a thought: You may want to make another set of marinade and add it to the stir-fry if you want it to be a little more saucey.

And another thought: this works as well for beef strips and chicken strips!

I ate this using chopsticks! Feeling oriental! :)

Chicken Afritada: A Karinderia Moment

2009-08-15T00:49:00.009+08:00

When I was younger, I have thought of a lot of careers - I wanted to be a doctor, a pilot, a stewardess, an architect, a painter/ an artist and a showbiz superstar. Later on, I wanted to become a chef. During my time in college, taking up Culinary Arts was the latest craze... only to find out that the course of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (in my school) required 2 College Algebra subjects, 2 or 3 Accounting subjects and another term for practicum, aside from the humongous amount of tuition fee.

Huwag nalang! (never mind!)

With that, I decided to take Human Resources Management. I said to myself anyway, I can still continue cooking even without a degree in culinary. The dream to be called Chef Jam flew in the air and now in the milkyway. OK lang. Promise!

Well, if I did pursue culinary, I might have not met my darling hubby and not have our little J, right? Aww, destiny! :) HAHAHA!

Cheesy aside... Since I find extreme joy in cooking, and despite that I do not have the toque... Still, I really want to have a food business. Not a fancy resto but Karinderia or a Canteen that serves the masses. I would partner with my Mommy Tess, Ate Jeng or my friend Sheila who are all great cooks! We just need to save up for a capital, and a good good place for it.

What do Pinoy canteens/karinderias serve? Easy. Pinoy Comfort Food! What else, right?

So let me then share with you another favorite in our household: Chicken Afritada

I play with the name by sometimes calling it Chicken Africhado (chado, from Mechado), Chicken Caldechado (Caldereta and Mechado) Chicken Caldetada (Caldereta and Afritada) because they taste so close to each other! I realized this after reading Bob Ong's ABNKKBSNPLAKO)

For this dish, I used:

canola oil
1 small onion, minced
about 1 tsp of garlic, minced
1/2 kilo of chicken, cut in serving pieces
3 medium sized potatoes, cut in quarters
1 big carrot sliced in bite size pieces
Fish Sauce to taste (careful with the Salt!)
Pepper to taste
1 250 grams pack of tomato sauce
about 1/4 tsp of brown sugar to taste (optional)
about 1/2 cup of grated cheese (Eden MeltSarap)
1 tbsp of McCormick Caldereta Mix (optional)
1 cup of water/chicken stock/rice wash (hugas bigas)
about 1/4 cup of green peas
1 Red Bell Pepper sliced in strips

The Way:

On Medium to Low heat, sauté onions and garlic in canola oil. Throw in the chicken and wait until it becomes a little brown in color, the chicken will release its own juice while you are frying it. Then add the potatoes and carrots. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then season with fish sauce and pepper, pour the tomato sauce, add sugar (optional), add the cheese, a tablespoon of caldereta mix and 1 cup of water/chicken stock/rice wash. you may want to add water little by little if you want a thick consistency. Taste your afritada once in a while so that you can decide whether or not it already suits your palette. I like my afritada with a thick sauce (aka ma-sarsa). Lastly, add the green peas and bell pepper and simmer for more or less 3 minutes to avoid the bell pepper to overcook.

You might want to garnish it with cheese just before serving. :)

'Till my next Karinderia entry :-)

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing

2009-08-08T01:44:00.008+08:00

Hubby is addicted to T.G.I. Friday's Caesar Salad and we have searched far too long for a copycat recipe of its dressing in the internet but always fail. Ang sad noh?

But hold on, as we are told, when there's life, there is still hope. So I have attempted to make something out of the many Caesar salad dressings I have "reviewed", compared notes of each recipe and was finally able to come up with I guess, 99% close to what I wanted to achieve.

Special shout out to my friend Sheila for the info on Doña Elena canned anchovy fillets. I really do not have any idea where to get them, not knowing it was just right under my nose in the "sardines" section. NGEK!!!

Anyways, I just really wanted to share my happiness with you because of this homemade Caesar Salad Dressing, inspired by the best two recipes I have referred to (out of the.. uh.. lost count!)

Happy Tummy's Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing

1 cup Lady's Choice mayonnaise
1/4 cup egg whites (keep the yolk in the freezer for future use!)
1/4 cup KRAFT grated parmesan romano cheese
2 tbsps water
2 tbsps olive oil
Juice of half a lemon (you may opt not to squeeze and include all the juice)
2 anchovy fillets, chopped finely
about 2 tsps garlic, chopped finely (you may want to add some more, if you want a stronger garlic kick)
about 1 and a half tsp of white sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Just mix all ingredients in a bowl. Beat it for about 2 minutes and chill for at least 2 hours. You may want to add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of all purpose cream to add a creamier texture to the dressing and just add a little more salt, pepper and garlic if needed.

Store it in a clean container and label it with the date so you can remember when you made it and you will kind of get an estimate until when you can use it (about 2 weeks max). The above photo shows that I am a scrappy kind of person. Hubby calls me Mommy Scrappy Doo. I like to keep used containers from commercial products that I believe can be of great use in future kitchen 911s. Just make sure it's really clean and dry before you use it. Better yet, sterilized. So up there, as you can see, I poured my home made dressing into a clean bottle of a then commercial caesar salad dressing :P

I swear, it's really clean. I know, next time I will use a glass container when I get to grab one!

Better to place in the chiller than in the fridge. If you have made a lot of this, store some in the freezer for longer shelf life and just thaw it when it's time to use it.

On the photo, I tossed it with Romaine Lettuce, Croutons, Left-Over Chicken Pesto Fingers (from Magnolia Chicken) cut in cubes and Parmesan Romano Cheese:

Try it and you will say T.G.I. Finally made it! Enjoy!

A happy and well-deserved weekend to all! :-)

Farewell, Tita Cory!

2009-08-05T11:47:00.009+08:00

Right at this moment, while doing this, I am watching the live telecast of Tita Cory's Funeral.

I have had my shares of tears since last weekend, feeling the grief of her family, having to lose their mom, as if I lost my own once again, as I have lost my mama baby (my biological mom) when I was eleven days old. I was as well feeling a great loss of someone so valuable to our country. We have lost a great woman, a very fine lady, our country's light - "ilaw ng sambayanan" - who has sacrificed a lot to give the Philippines this big amount of freedom and democracy that we are experiencing right now. We owe her BIG TIME.

Kris Aquino said, according to her mom, there is a reason for everything that is happening. I know I am one of the millions who have realized through her passing that there is still hope for our country, especially for our politics. Tita Cory, as mentioned by almost everybody is our country's symbol of unity and peace.

Tita Cory, I am sorry that this had to happen before I take my "being Filipino" seriously. I really never cared before. And now, as a Filipino, as my expression of gratitude to you, I promise to be a voter and to vote wisely. I will, together with my family will do our very best to live inspired by your legacy and integrity.

Thank you, Tita Cory. I am only a small voice out of the millions who are saying thanks to you but I know you can hear me. I know you are in heaven now with our Savior and Ninoy and I am happy that you are now pain-free and stress-free.

I hope when my time comes, I will also go to heaven so I can meet you... as well as my mama baby.

You may be gone physically but your spirit, love and Cory Magic will live on in the heart of hearts of your Filipino people as well as the world.

Until then...

Herbed Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

2009-08-04T08:06:00.008+08:00

I'm back my friends! As you can see, this previous post has been long over due and has been in my draft for a while. Yeah, I once got a "pending" here! ;-)

Kidding aside, I have been sick for quite some time and been catching up on my sleep, chasing (Piolo and Hugh Dancy in) my dreams (just kidding, honey!) and trying to recover and get that energy back. I was not able to hang out in the kingdom for around two weeks.

So here I am, after two weeks of recovery. I think I am back! Thanks to Nafarin A (for my colds) as recommended by Karren, Mucosolvan for my cough, Katinko and Vicks Inhaler and a few capsules of the ever famous Fern C, the wonder drug! (I really think I should get a box of this moving forward!)

Screeeeeeeeech! Let me not fail to mention hubby's and Little J's TLC, plus prayers!!! + Amen!+

I told Ross, I'm a bit scared because being addicted to sleep is not me so I thought maybe I need to get myself checked. I hope I am still normal. :P

Ok. after all this mellow dramatic intro, let me start and share with you my comeback dish, which was happily made last Saturday for lunch (as if I was gone for years hehehe! feeling artista ang lola niyo?)

Herbed Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

1 whole Chicken

Marinate it for at least an hour (preferably 4 hours, best overnight) with:

about 3 to 4 pinches of salt
crushed pepper to taste
2 dashes of dried basil, oregano, marjoram and spanish paprika
2 tbsps of minced garlic (you can add more if you like)
1 glug of olive oil (make this the last installment)

Rub the chicken with all these with love and affection :-)

After marinating, set your turbo broiler on high (240C or 475F) and cook the chicken for about 45 minutes to an hour on until well done, with breast facing up (as it is the thickest part of the chicken and longer to cook).

For the vegetables, I used sliced carrots (2 pieces), baguio beans (about 1/4 kilo) and baby potatoes (about 1/4 kilo) (potato marbles)

Place the carrots and baguio beans for only two minutes in boiling water to soften them a bit, take them off the water by a slotted spoon and cold shock them. Then set aside for a little stir fry later on. Do not dispose the water yet please!

For the baby potatoes, just boil them in the water you used to boil the carrots and baguio beans (save water!) for about 10 to 15 minutes until tender but not too soft to mash. Check it by inserting a toothpick, on the 10th minute. After this process, drain and let cool. You may opt not to peel it. (Just add some more water if the saved water is not enough to boil the potatoes)

As soon as the veggies are ready, melt a tbsp or two of butter and throw in the veggies, then add a dash of each herb: dried basil, oregano, marjoram, about half a tsp of garlic and an itsy bitsy pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Just do this in about a minute and a half at the most.

Serve the chicken with veggies surrounding it or may be on the side of you like. Best with warm rice or eat it with the veggies on the side. You may want to start your meal with this as your appetizer soup!

You will love the smell of your kitchen, believe me. Herby yum yum!

Happy luchtime to all! :-)

The Quick Fabulous Fabada with Garlic Bread (on the side)

2009-07-17T01:15:00.009+08:00

Though I am an an eater of Hunts Pork and Beans since childhood and I also like the sweetened beans from our Halo-Halo, this bean stew called Fabada -- is something I am not totally aware of until I became a follower of her wonderful blog and her contributions to this great food magazine!

This June's ish was fantastic (all issues are!) as I was able to use two of its recipes from the ish (and more to come soon!) and those recipes left WoW looks on my folks here at home.

Before I made this, I was supposed to make it with Hunts Pork and Beans (See how desperate I was?) Good thing I asked and waited for a couple of days 'til grocery time and there I had all the ingredients for this The Quick Fabulous Fabada. Now I found another way to enjoy beans! Ergo, patience is a virtue and patience pays! ;-)

Here's the Quick Fabada Recipe by Johanna de Larrazabal-Blanco:
(from page 44 of Yummy Magazine, June 2009)

Olive Oil
1 big white onion, chopped
5 to 6 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 bay leaf
100 grams bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces
150 g chorizo bilbao or any spanish style chorizo, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces (I used Purefoods Chorizo Bilbao Style - but I sliced it into about 1/4 inch or less -- beep beep , too much excitement!)
2 cans of white beans, one can drained (but juice reserved) and once can with juice (not drained)
salt and pepper to taste
about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Spanish Paprika (I used 1/2!)

Heat olive oil in saucepan, once oil is hot, add onions, garlic and bay leaf/ Sauté until onions are soft and translucent

Add bacon and cook until fat is rendered and sides are starting to curl, but not crisp.

Add chorizo and cook until the lovely orange oil is released and chorizo is almost done

Add one can of beans with its juice/liquid and one can of drained beans. Stir and bring to a simmer. If mixure looks too dry, add some of the reserved bean liquid/juice. Tast and season with salt, pepper and spanish paprika.

I love it with garlic bread on the side :-)

For the garlic bread, I have two easy suggestions:

Suggestion # 1
in 1/2 cup of softened butter, add about 1/2 teaspoon of fresh minced garlic, a teaspoon of parmesan cheese or Mc Cormick's Garlic Bread Sprinkle and a dash of dried herb - basil, italian seasoning, parsely as garnish

Suggestion # 2 (the easiest and stress free way! hahaha! a.k.a. pag tinatamad ka na!)
use Star Margarine, garlic flavor (the green one) and sprinkle a dash of dried herb - basil, italian seasoning, parsely as garnish

Spread over any bread slice / left over bread, toast in oven for more or less 10 minutes in 220C, and choose "Brown Toast" option, if that option is available.

FYI, my angels eat this with rice. Super Carbo Load! Ok, I go for the toast, carbo load is a little bit less here (may butter naman! hahahaha! Excuses!!)

This is a comfort food added to my list. Hope you can try this at home!

Enjoy! :-)

What's for dinnah? Cream Dory and Lemon Butter Cream Sauce

2009-07-17T00:07:00.005+08:00

Aside from Bangus and Tilapia, Cream Dory has become a must have in our household. Thanks to my Papa who first tried it in Gerry's Grill a few months back. That dish started my adoration for this wonderful, juicy and yes, creamy, melts-in your-mouth fishy.

After that, I have searched for ways and ideas on how to play with this gorgeous and expensive fish. Fortunately cream dory dish #1 was a hit.

This is cream dory dish #2. It was my friend Ross who first tried this in her cooking kingdom and she said it was really good! So i tried it . Fortunately again, this second dish also became a hit. Yahoorn!

Cream Dory and Lemon Butter Cream Sauce
Inspired by Shandy Michael Sy's recipe. Thank you! :-)

8 serving slices of Cream Dory Fillet
Salt and pepper
A combo of 1/2 cup flour and 1 cup regular bread crumbs

Season the fish with salt and pepper then coat them with the mix of flour and bread crumbs. Allow about two minutes for the coating to somehow settle on the fish.
Pan fry them, about 2 to 3 minutes only on each side on medium heat. Drain oil and set aside.

For the cream sauce:

4 tbsp melted butter
6 tbsp mayonaisse
1/2 cup of evaporated milk (or fresh milk)
Juice of 1 lemon
about 1 tsp of white sugar

In a pan, mix all the ingredients together. Once they are blended well, turn on fire on low heat and simmer for about 1 to 2 minutes.

Pour over sauce in pan fried fish, serve with hot rice, french fries (yyyyyyum! I like!) or serve it alone if you are on low carb mode. ;-)

No worries! This dish will not give you short term memory. ;-)

Lunch time: Sizzling Tofu and Mushroom Adobo

2009-07-12T01:00:00.005+08:00

What to do with these beautiful tofu cubes???

Make an Adobo out of 'em!

Okay, I know the photo does not show that the food sizzles. But promise it did! ;-) But it lasted a few seconds only! Deym!

I have been pondering on whether or not I should go vegetarian. A few friends of mine are, as well as one of my fave bloggers. I still went for the NOT. Hindi ko kaya nang walang karne! (I could not live without eating meat!)

Maybe soon I will try it M-W-F? T-Th-S? Nahh. I don't know! I will update you.

Anyway, I just want to share this with you all. As mentioned before, Adobo is so versatile that you can cook it in so many ways. Here's one for the vegetarians or those who, like me, simply love this dish.

On the photo:

1 pack of commercial tofu (the size was about 5 in X 3 in X 2 in)
1 can of button mushrooms, sliced, set aside

Deep fry the tofu cubes and drain, set aside and prepare the adobo sauce.

For the Adobo sauce, in a pan, I used my favorite mix of soy sauce, vinegar, spices and sugar et. al. and made it thick like a gravy by adding 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch diluted in about 1/2 cup of water. Simmer until it thickens.

Put the tofu and mushrooms on a sizzling plate and pour over the prepared sauce and you're good to go. Ready for lunch, ready for snacks, ready for just about any meal of the day, if I may say.

Please take a photo for me while it's still sizzling! :-)

I Lurve adobo 4 Life!

P.S. if you want another kind of sauce, you can try this nice bangus steak sauce on your tofu and mushrooms. This one's for you, Team Contis!

Archie's Home Made Lemon Mojito

2009-07-11T22:47:00.005+08:00

This is hubby's first contribution to this blog. I would be very much pleased if he is the one writing this because it was he who made this drink anyway!! But right at this very moment, he would rather enjoy his home service massage! Blehhh! :P

This is just a sneak peek of what we and our friends are planning out for our next monthly general meeting, the weekend after next. The theme: Latino Night.

Hubby is very happy to have his mini bar and have started planning out his drinks and mixes since we moved in here last year. He has been obsessed with Mojito and he has now finally gotten his dream of making his own. Good job, honey! :-)

Status quo: instead of lime, we had lemons from last weekend's grocery, instead of crushed ice, we had ice cubes. The essentials are with us, thank God!: mint leaves, powdered sugar, Sprite and the BACARDI!

No muddler? We used the end of the handle of our wooden spoon. Otherwise you can use your wooden pestle or the back of a spoon.

This home made Mojito is not possible without the help of this recipe, this recipe and this video. Thank you! :-)

Gulp-gulp-gulp!

The belated and imperfect square chocolate birthday cake!

2009-07-11T20:45:00.007+08:00

Given the title of this post, I made this cake two days after little J's official natal day. This was unexpected. I never planned to make cake because:

1. Lolo Pepe and Ninang Abi gave cakes last Sunday. Thank you! :)
2. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to baking. Especially cake!
3. I planned to make chocolate truffles again

Let's talk about # 3

The supposed truffle mixture did not cooperate that Sunday afternoon simply because there's lack of time and I have put too much cream in it. I was thinking, "pwede naman gawan ng paraan!". I was quite wrong. Bigo. The mixture did not turn firm at all. It was rather sticky. The mixture was back and forth in the freezer and chiller but to no avail. It just did not work. So come Wednesday I finally decided make use of it as chocolate cake frosting and to have more space back in the fridge.

Here's the recipe I used for the cake, courtesy of the back of the package of Gold Medal All Puporse Flour. Just click photo to enlarge:

I do not have 2 round pans, so I used my square pans. Lookie!

The cake on the left was the one on the first photo. It was gone in the afternoon of Wednesday. Javie's playmates enjoyed it. May nag take home pa! ;-)

And then, come Friday morning, I played with the 2nd cake (on the right). This was actually more moist than the first cake. Is it because the first cake was thicker?

Anyway, I cut the cake in half to make 2 layers and removed the bumpy parts. And because I want to achieve a dark chocolate caramel cake, I tried my very best to make a thick caramel filling. The taste was good! But the filling just reached a certain extent of thickness. I even put the pan in a bowl of ice water and beat it with my electric hand mixer. Pauline said it needs something to make it thick and firm enough for a cake filling. Maybe I should have prepared/used Dulce de Leche instead (?) Will research.

Tips and suggestions on how to make a very very thick caramel filling? I would very much appreciate it! Like the one of Red Ribbon's chocolate cake or whichever cake shop! Thank you! :-)

Meanwhile, below, my mini two layer chocolate caramel cake. Hehehe:

Here's the choco frosting and caramel falling down! I do not have toasted almonds anymore so I used the semi-sweet chocolate chips as topping. Hubby said it tastes good and better with the caramel! Whew! That's what matters to me most!

I hope in my next attempt, planned or not, it will be a perfect one, or maybe close! ;-) Wish me luck!

Update: the rest of the chocolate frosting were stored in the chiller and surprisingly became firm today, Saturday, July 11 at about 4pm - real time. So it took 6 days for it to get firm huh? Now they are officially truffles and are situated in the chiller waiting for their master. my husband. ;-)

P.S. I said before that I am a not-so chocolate lover. I still am. It's my choco freak hubby that gets me going about this whole recent love affair with chocolate. But one thing's for sure, I can say I am bingeing again.

I think my pigging out is endless.

Our boracay team building is a few days away. Good luck!!! :P

Little J's 2nd Birthday

2009-07-11T02:10:00.013+08:00

My little boy just turned 2 years old last July 6 and he is at the prime of his toddler stage.

Javie is our greatest joy and the best blessing in our life as a family. He makes us (hubby and i) more complete than ever!

Never mind his little tantrums and his fuzzy moments. Everyone goes through that anyway! I learned from Irene, my former boss, that it's best to focus on what our toddler can do and NOT on what he/she cannot do. Focus on your kid's positive side! With that, she erased the "terrible toddler" mentality and she called her toddler her Terrific Two! Please allow me to apply that with my own :-)

For my terrific two's birthday, our family had a get together last Sunday (as an advanced celebration). Then come his birthday, on Monday noon, we had a feast at Pepper Lunch at the Shang. Our boy liked the croutons from his dad's Caesar salad, slurped on his own order of miso soup and shared the Double Beef Pepper Rice with mom.

He likes playing with the chopsticks and he thinks they are drum sticks. He says "drums! drums!" acting like a little drummer boy!

Didn't end there. He had dessert of course! So we headed right up to the ice cream stall. He can't stop eating the rocky road. He wants to steal my pistachio and coffee crumble ice cream by the way. (He says: Ice shweee!!! Ice shweee!!! )

Look at that funny little mess!

In the afternoon, we brought pancit palabok for merienda to my in-laws' and headed home to get ready for dinner. His Ninong AG and Ninang Rica (aka Ninang Ganda) came to visit after work to spend some time with their chung chung. Thanks Ninong and Ninang! ( chung chung is a term of endearment that they call little J)

As a pinoy family tradition, I have to prepare something for long life. Hubby likes Spaghetti Bolognese. I have seen a lot of great recipes but I chose this one because of its simplicity as well as most of its ingredients are readily available at home. :-)

As much as I wanted it to be really authentic, I couldn't. Fresh parmesan cheese is expensive. Grabe. It's only as small as a 1/4 size of intermediate pad paper and only about 1/4 inch thick or less and with that you will say good bye to 139 pesos.

OK. We're good for now with Kraft's Parmesan and Romano Cheese! Not bad at all!

I have been wanting to make my own version of Green Tomato's Chicken, Pesto and Garlic Pizza for quite a long time now. It was my superfriend Owen who introduced me to it a couple of years back. It's one of my favorite pizzas aside from H-h-h-Hey Jude!'s Margherita Pizza!

It was a lovely match for the pasta...for a change. Instead of the usual garlic bread.

For the Chicken, Pesto and Garlic Pizza:

Pre baked Pizza Crust
about 2 cups of Chicken breast cut into small chunks
a combo of about 1/4 cup of Eden Melt Sarap and 2 tbsp of mozarella
2 tbsps minced garlic
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Basil Pesto

marinate the chicken in a few tbsps of pesto then set aside.
drizzle the pizza crust with olive oil, put pesto on top
followed by the marinated chicken, cheese and minced garlic.
use some more garlic if you want.
bake for about 10 minutes at 230C or until crust is lightly toasted.

For the pesto, either you use the bottled pesto from the grocery
or you can make your own pesto pinoy style:

Fresh basil leaves (I used 2 packs from Rustan's Supermarket)
about 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
about 1 tsp of minced garlic (add more if you want it to be garlicky)
a few pinches of salt and pepper to taste
about 2 tsps of parmesan cheese
about 1/2 cup of cashew nuts

mix all ingredients together in your food processor or blender until smooth.

if you have some more money to spend, use pine nuts! There are actually a lot of options. I believe you can use any kind of nut. whatever nut you like.

this recipe makes about 4 pizzas

Over dinner, the little birthday boy joined us and got his shares of pasta and pizza, drank soda, then ran to his dance floor (our living room) and made his dance moves: a combo of feet stomps and clapping hands and another funny step that only he can do. I could not put it into words.

We like the way he says "Dance! Dance!". He says it like a brit says it. Promise!

Then he invited his ates to dance with him, as well as his Ninong AG, went back to the dining area, had his bites and soda, and went back to his dance floor. This went on for about an hour or more. He slept at half past 10. Went really low batt! ;-)

So that was how we spent our terrific two's birthday last Monday. I can say he enjoyed his day a lot as much as we did! Wonder what we will be up to next year!??!

He is growing up so fast and I wish I can hold on to his childhood, stop the clock and savor the moments as much as I can! (Ok, I'm getting cheesier than my pizza)

Happy birthday Javie! No matter how old you are, you will always be mommy's and daddy's baby dudels. (dudels - another term of endearment)

Kahit trenta ka na tabi parin tayo matulog. JOKE!!!

P.S. What did Lady Gaga do to my son? Just Dance and Poker Face are his favorite songs now! Where did Incy Wincy Spider go??? :-) Anyway, happy weekend!!!

Another P.S. Coming very soon: The belated and imperfect square chocolate birthday cake!

Good morning! :-)

2009-07-10T08:37:00.007+08:00

Hello, Sunshine! B-)

Little J usually wakes up at 6am or half past 6.. Lucky I am if he wakes up at 7 or later than that. My normal work shift starts at 3 in the afternoon until 11:00pm which gives me some sleeping time of less than 8 hours. The next day, more often than not, my energy and brain power function is at level 4 (or less) and would prefer to snuggle n' cuddle with my little boy and sing ABC or count 1-2-3, or watch him play with his blocks and Spiderman toy.

Since I have my house angels here and they wake up at about 5am, I let them take over the breakfast work mostly on weekdays... therefore on the table: tocino, tapa, ham, tuna guisado, sardinas guisado, luncheon meat, tender juicy hotdog or leftovers from yesterday.

God bless my heart, there are times when some magical intervention just happen to tickle my feet and sprinkle me some imaginary Extra Joss, so therefore I rise like a spring, head to the kitchen and come up with simple breakfast specials.

Along with my morning coffee or Choco Lava (Yes, John Lloyd, I am your fan), I would like to share with you some simple breakfast joys here at home...

Ham, Mushroom and Cheese Omelette

Pan Cake Syrup over French Toast and Honey Cured Bacon
...for some reason, I like this more than I like pancakes!

Arroz a la Cubana (my ultimate favorite!)

Rise and Shine! :-)

Mango Cream Pie

2009-07-04T00:28:00.007+08:00

For a change, I waved TTFN (tata for now!) to the hanging
B-A-N-A-N-A-S and said hellerr to the pretty mangoes sitting on the fruit stall.

Suki! Matamis ya-an! (Those are sweet!) said the lady. Ok, she got me there!

Segue: Matamis ya-an! was from a tv commercial back in the '90s. I forgot what the product was though. Since then, fruit vendors have used it as one of their selling spiels!

This Mango Cream Pie has been a family favorite since God knows when. I could say the recipe has improved over the years based from our experiences in making it almost all the time.

From whole grahams, condensed milk and big slices of mangoes (plus pineapples!) to adding heavy cream, bananas, nuts and fruit cocktail. Fruit Galore!

Thanks to MY San for selling crushed grahams. At least we need not exert a lot of effort in crushing those whole graham crackers like we used to, through our mortar and pestle or batong panghilod (LOL) and I have, unfortunately have almost crushed my thumb several times because of this. Well, let's add carelessness to that!

I am proud to say that I have made a pretty small-small amount of fortune with this cream pie (aka "ref cake"), way back when salary was not enough for a young lady's lifestyle, living in the south, maintaining an old car with premium gasoline, paying toll fee to and fro, working in the Makati CBD....blah blah blah. I could go on and on, mind you.

In other words, this Mango Cream Pie I am talking about gave me a short stint as an entrepreneur. Taking orders left and right, making them after a zombie shift, meeting the number of orders and trying to produce additional ones. Short stint it was - because it only lasted for 4 weeks.

Hindi na kinaya ng powers ko!

Though I was very happy making this for my colleagues (who were my loyal clients!) and it was fun to see them eating the cream pie in their workstations while taking calls! That time, we can still eat in the "Operations Floor" even when there was an e-Rat scare (lol). we really didn't care.

By the way, the small-small fortune i mentioned became a nice pair of sunglasses that is rarely used. Just so you know. ;-)

Segue #2: e-Rat is our term for a roaming mouse in the office. as agents/CSRs, we were called "e-Reps". Now guess where I came from!

Okay, so back to 2009.

Once I got hold of the mangoes from the fruit stand, I had Mango Cream Pie already in mind. Oh I missed making it!

After fixing the market goodies, I got the ball rolling.

Based from experience, it is best to make the filling first before the crust. Time is of the essence.

This recipe fits into an 8in X 5in X 2in rectangular container.

For the filling, I used:

2 ripe mangoes, diced
2 packs of Nestle all purpose cream
About 6 tbsp of white sugar (you can put less, depending on your sugar level)
a small drop of vanilla essence

mix the cream and the sugar first, make sure that the sugar has dissolved, then add the mangoes and vanilla, taste, and if it's sweet enough, cover it and chill it first for about 2 hours.

*you might want to put the white sugar little by little onto the cream mixture so that you can do the sweetness taste test!

For the crust and graham topping:

about 1 cup to 1 and a half cup of crushed MY San graham
about 2 to 3 tbsps white sugar (you can put less, depending on your sugar level)
a small pinch of salt
about half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder
about 3 to 4 tbsp melted butter (I used Magnolia's Baker's Best)

mix the dry ingredients in a bowl then create a well in the center, add the melted butter. make sure the butter is evenly distributed and as much as possible try to achieve a kind of "slightly wet and sandy" kind of crust. Just like the texture and feel of a slightly wet sand in a white beach (not the taste! LOL) *wink*

Put half of the crumbs on the bottom of a rectangular container and press it down and set aside or put it in the fridge. Set aside the other half but do not put it in the fridge. The butter will harden and it will not be easy to loosen up the crumbs for your topping. (experience said so!)

So after waiting for 48 years... just kidding.

So after waiting for an hour or two, pour the chilled mango filling onto the crusted container and smooth the top with your spoon or with a spatula if you want. Top it with the remaining crumbs and chill it one more time for at least an hour before serving.

A few of my friends like it frozen than chilled. Para daw ice cream cake!

Depends on your mood I guess!

You can add diced peach halves also and make it a Mango-Peach Cream Pie!

After chilling, serve it plain or with chocolate syrup. Just like the one on the photo! ;-)

Happy weekend! :-)

Easy French Onion Soup

2009-07-03T02:35:00.012+08:00

I have seen relatives and friends feast on french onion soup a couple of times on different occasions in fancy restos and wondered why they liked it so much.
Onions? Soup? No way! Eww!?? Yep, that's what I said before!

It was only last December when I became so curious that I thought that it's time I should give it a try. It was my friend Pauline's order of French Onion Soup from Tender Bob's that made me appreciate it and made me understand why this soup is lovable. Yes, Pau, you started it! ;-)

After that memorable day of finally shaking hands with the soup, it then became a staple order during our frequent visits to TGIFriday's.

Frequent = equals = Gastos (Expense).

So why not look for a recipe and make one at home?

I have found a few but they look quite difficult to make...

Talk about career!

Thanks to this neat video I found, I watched it a couple of times, took down notes. And Voila! :-)

In lieu of what's in the pantry and in the fridge. I used:

2 big white Onions
about 3 tablespoons of butter
1 Knorr beef bouillion cube, diluted in about 3 cups of water (for the broth)
Dried thyme leaves
(Fresh thyme leaves to be procured sometime soon.. Husband, will take me there.)

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the topping, I used left over french bread, a mix of Eden Melt Sarap and Mozarella Cheese.

The Way: Click me! Click me!

Top it with toasted bread and your choice of cheese.
Most recipes call for Gruyere and sharp cheddar. Whatever works, I guess.

Lesson Learned #1: Put less amount of Eden Melt Sarap vs. amount of Mozarella
Lots of Eden Melt Sarap made the topping extra salty than expected. (Natuwa ako mashyado!)
That's what happened to bowl # 1 and 2.

Bowl # 3 had a good balance of Eden Melt Sarap and Mozarella
so goody enough for my kidney! ;-)

Lesson Learned #2: Look after your cheese! I almost goofed big time! Almost.

Mmmmmm.. still wonderful and hearty on a slightly cold weather.

Bye bye gastos!!! :P

This cyber soup is dedicated to two lovely people:

my best friend Abi - who happened to confirm (just now over text) that I still have a sharp memory - I remembered that she ordered French Onion Soup
on our first dinner in TGIFridays Glorietta... 14 years ago!

Yes Day, 14 years ago!

and to the one who hooked me up with this wonderful soup, Pauline.

Enjoy!

Daddy Day! Hurray!

2009-06-23T01:20:00.015+08:00

It was Father's day last Sunday and
we hosted a luncheon to celebrate it.

Same drill, different event - there is always
menu brainstorming with Rica.

So what happened? We came up with a couple of dishes that are manageable to cook
and will not add to our current stress levels! HAHAHA!

As a start, we had Nido Soup.

I admit I was quite lazy to sport a chowder or a boullabaise soup.
I am so glad to have my Knorr collection of instant soups, got the Knorr Nido Soup (cooked per instructions in the pack)
and just added quail eggs, peas,
corn and carrots to add more life and color to it!

I requested Rica to cook one of my favorite dishes of hers. I call it Talong and Lasting Love.

in reality, we have no idea about its official recipe name.
So I guess we can call it: Ground Pork with Mushrooms & Eggplant in Bean Paste - Chinese style. Yum!

Then I cooked Cream Dory in Lemon Butter Sauce,
a new family favorite

This was my second time to cook this, so the mastery of the subject was kind of already there... and all I can say is I can never get enough of it! How I wish I can breed this fish in our pond! *sigh*
A gazillion thanks to Mr. Marketman for sharing this recipe! Thank you!

We also had Chicken Barbeque...

The dream grill is still in the store waiting for hubby's return. So in the meantime, I used my ever reliable churbo (turbo) broiler. Is it still called Chicken Barbeque then?
Ok, it's Churbo Chicken Barbeque with Papaya Atchara on the side! ;-)
For this, I used the delicious Barbeque Marinade of Mama Sita's
and added lots of fresh pepper in the marinade.

OK, so my dad loves pancit canton. In lieu of the occassion,
I know he will be very delighted to see
this waiting for him on the table.

Since his (my dad's) ancient times, he orders pancit canton in any resto, as long as he sees it on the menu. Hindi siya nag sasawa. As in. Just like me with KFC, Jollibee Chicken Joy or Adobo.
May pinagmanahan ang lola niyo!

For a little change, I tried the Crispy-Fried Pancit Canton. Thank you TaGa_Luto for sharing your recipe! I just made a few changes using what I had available that day ;-)

Note: Put the snow peas as the grand finale to keep its crunchyness and its green lively color.
That, I failed to do! Look, o, the snow peas lost some of its happy greeness :(

Daddy Dino (hubby's dad) brought some Lechon cuts from Lydia's.
It just disappeared.
I think it lasted for only 5 minutes or less on the table.
I was not able to lay a finger on it.
So therefore, no photo op for the piggy = No lechon for me. Waaah!

Dessert was definitely effortless. Rica brought delicious cookies made by her cousin Aika and the famous Rocha's Delicious Puto-Kutsinta - Marikina's pride! My dad brought cake rolls and macapuno candies from Red Ribbon. Can you just imagine my blood sugar rising???
BOTH-FAMILIES-ARE-DIABETIC.
'nuff said. ;-)

This luncheon is another JUBIS episode in my life.

I WILL NOT EAT ANYMORE

You Know I'm Just Kidding!

~*~*~*~

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what food you have on the table. What matters most is how you shared it happily and lovingly with one another. What matters most is that your family sticks together
through thick and thin (in all aspects!).

And I am proud to have a family like that!

To my Papa Pepe and Daddy Eddie, to my daddy in law Daddy Dino and my dearest hubby,
thank you for being the great dads that you are!

There's this quote that says: a Mom is God's love in action...

And I say, so is a Dad!

Happy Father's Day! :-)

Football Photo of Little J with Dad courtesy of Kitty Buñag Photography

~*~*~*~

Lunch time: Boneless Bangus Steak

2009-06-23T00:01:00.005+08:00

Though I love daing na bangus (pickled/marinated milkfish), sometimes, I just get bored with it. and that sometimes is now.

It is really a challenge for me to spend time taking out all the fishbones, especially the little ones! Hay! Katamad! If only I can have someone do it for me! Haha!

Thank goodness for the person who thought of filleting/deboning fishes. You are a master!

I was staring at my deboned milk fish, and asking myself if I should start marinating. Then I thought maybe I should do something else with it. Then came a flashback of my childhood:

When I was a kid, our household serves a nice and simple bangus steak: just fried bangus and we eat it with sauteed onions in a mix of soy sauce and water. Oh, how we loved it! Especially the belly, bursting with oil! :D

So I decided to make bangus steak for lunch, with a few enhancements. Making the sauce really thick, that of a bistek tagalog sauce (beef steak). I think this pretty much makes the meal more delicious, as opposed to having your sauce malabnaw (sauce that is not thick, like it has more water than any of its other ingredients!) Ah, ehem, can some genius please tell me what malabnaw is in English? Thank you in advance! :)

The bangus parts were rubbed with some salt and pepper and were fried until golden brown and were set aside. For this dish, I fried a medium sized boneles bangus courtesy.

For the topping and thick sauce:

2 medium sized white onions, cut into rings
about 2 to 3 tbsp STAR MARGARINE garlic flavor
about half a cup of soy sauce
calamansi juice (about 6 to 8 calamansis, I think!)
4 tbsp brown sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
Pepper to taste
about 1 tsp of conrstarch diluted in about 1/4 cup of water

The Way:

sauté the onions using the margarine as your oil, until the onions become a little soft, but not translucent and wilted. Otherwise the ring effect will disappear! I like using STAR MARGARINE garlic flavor. Set aside.

In the same pan, put the soy sauce, calamansi juice, sugar, pepper, let it simmer then add the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the sauce. simmer again until you see that the sauce becomes thick enough but not becoming pasty like.

The What Ifs:
Do the taste test.

If too thick, add a bit of water. If too salty, add a bit of water and/or calamansi. If it's too sweet or too sour, or if it needs more salt, just add a few pinches of salt or a little soy sauce. If the sauce is still not thick enough, add a little more of the conrstarch and water mixture.

I guess it's up to you, your taste buds and your cooking instincts ;)

Pour over the sauce onto the fried boneless bangus, and top it with the onion rings.

Serve with warm white rice and COKE. (O, diet!)

Let's save time and effort! Let's go boneless! :)

PS: I also cook my sinigang na bangus sa miso using boneless bangus! Hubby also does not like taking off fishbones and he loves sinigang na bangus! It's worth a try! ;)

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread and Custard Top

2009-06-20T10:14:00.017+08:00

Banana is a staple fruit in our household. Hubby loves it, little Javier loves it, I love it and my Angels love it! Yeah, as in everybody in the house!

When I do my weekly Friday market with Dad in Law, I always make it a point to buy ripe lacatan bananas and well, as said, since everydody loves B-A-N-A-N-A-S, it would take only 3 days and they are gone, gone, gone. As a homemaker, I want to have a stock of it since we always run out of it. So last week, I decided to buy the green ones (aside form the ripe ones), those that are about to reach their riping glory in a couple of days. Me - wishing that it will be enough of a wait until the ripe ones disappear.

For some reason, the green lacatan bananas ripened so fast (is it the weather?) that we were already na u-umay to eat them. We are avoiding it to reach the rotting stage and be thrown into the garbage with a sad face.

Thank goodness I have Yummy Magazine for this month (for May too!) and I have found the perfect way to use them and justify their presence and usefulness! Thanks to Aileen Anastacio's recipe! It's soooooooooooooo d-lish!

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread by Chef Aileen Anastacio (Yummy Magazine, June 2009, p30-31)

1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup corn oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 Preheat oven to 350F (177C). Grease and flour an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan

2 Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir to mix. (the first four!)

3 In another bowl, combine brown sugar and corn oil. Add eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and mashed bananas.

4 Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. Stir until combined. Lastly, add the chocolate chips and mix just until combined. Pour mixture into the loaf pan.

5 Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Remove bread from the oven then allow to cool for about 20 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool for another 15 minutes on a wire rack before serving.

Just a thought:
I think you can add one or two more bananas to give more banana-full-a-flavor!

So after the success of the banana chocolate chip bread (Thank you Lord!), my next plan was to create a collaboration of the bread and a custard recipe (well, i guess, even food/recipes can collaborate! Hindi lang si Justin Timberlake at Madonna! Oh, I love JT!)

Where will the custard go? On top of the bread just before serving. Parang icing effect!

I found this nice custard recipe in Good Housekeeping's Easy Everyday Meals vol 6. It's not too sweet, that's why I like! And my party people liked it too!

For the custard (got this from the Banana Cream Pie recipe, p134) :

2 cups of fresh milk
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of fresh milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 large egg yolks
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

mix 2 cups of fresh milk, white sugar and salt over low heat. In a bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of fresh milk, then whisk in egg yolks. Combine the two mixtures and cook, whisking constantly, over low heat until it thickens and bubbles, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove the custard from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Then transfer to a bowl and cool. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.

I am glad to have at least a cheap icing bag with a few pins to go with it for only a hundred something pesos! Heheehee! Ang arte ko!

Hmm.. why not add a few sprinkles of Cinnamon Powder?

Wow! That was fun!!!

Just thinking, maybe next time, I will add a little cream cheese in the custard! What yu tink?

And this was another unexpected morning baking session! I like impromptus!

I know, i know, this is another pampa-jubis (keyword: majubis) food but what the heck, it's yummy! And it happened in God's and nature's perfect timing. Me and my bingeing time! :P So ladies, let's eat sweet!

Happy weekend! :-)

Pasta Moment: Spaghetti All'Alfonso

2009-06-20T00:39:00.010+08:00

My cousin Marian and Katrina introduced me to this pasta dish when we pigged out in Cibo circa 2007. I was still pregnant then with little J that time. I loved it so much but I couldn't think of how to do it!

If it weren't for my good friend Sheila's skills and cooking talent, who would have thought that this pasta dish can be made at your own home, in your own kitchen, anytime you like -- for less? Thank you, Marce!!!

However, since I do not have Rigatoni pasta available, I used spaghetti noodles instead, so what d heck!

Cibo's Rigatoni All'Alfonso (Shrimps, chives, stewed tomato, cream, chili peppers) is one of the best pasta dishes I have ever tasted. I usually order their Spaghetti Alla Pescatora (Sauteed seafood, stewed tomato) but when I had a taste the Alfonso, I already changed favorites right after my first mouthful of it. :-)

I am indeed greatful to CIBO that they are so generous to put the ingredients in their Menu. Yahoo! And it's up to you how to put them all together!

What did I use?

Cooked spaghetti pasta

For the sauce:
Olive oil about
2 cloves of garlic
medium sized onion, chopped
Canned Peeled Tomatoes (don't forget to out the seeds first!)
about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce (extra, but optional!)
1 pack of Nestle All Purpose Cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 kilo of shrimps, peeled and deveined
Chili Pepper Flakes (some for the sauce, and some for garnishing)
Spring Onions chopped, for garnishing
Parmesan Cheese, for garnishing

Note: Finding out that you can actually use Canned Peeled Tomatoes is the easiest way to sport this dish, instead of going through the process of stewing tomatoes! So the how to --- saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent, then add the tomatoes and the sauce from the can and crush them. You can actually add a little more tomato sauce of you like. Then add the cream, salt and pepper, chili pepper flakes and let it simmer. Taste a teaspoonful and if it's all good, throw in the shrimps and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the shrimp is cooked. Let's not overcook!

Ready your pasta on a plate, pour over a ladle full of the sauce on it, sprinkle some more chili peppah flakes if you want, chopped chives and your parmesan cheese!

Delizioso! :-)

Molten Cheese Risotto Patties

2009-06-06T14:09:00.020+08:00

I like cutting out recipes from magazines or newspapers. Especially if the photo looks really enticing and mouthwatering! I have a lenten special recipe cut out from The Inquirer last year and I said to myself that I am really gonna make it very soon.

How soon was soon? Let's say, after 365 days or so! And just in time for the Holy Week, on a Maundy Thursday here in my cooking kingdom.

This is a "project" that I proposed to Rica a couple of days before the Holy Week. Shyempre, game si sister! So let's go!

I learned from the OB boys, especially from Chef Richmond (hubby's friend) that cooking Risotto is no joke at all.

So there we were stirring like crazy for about 3 hours... It took us about 5 hours for the preparation and cooking time. Whew!!! But hey, it was really worth it! Thank you to AG and my house angels for helping us! As sung by The Wonderpets on Nick Jr., "What's gonna work? Teamwork!"

The original recipe is called Molten Cheese Risotto Balls. So why oh why did we make it into patties?

Let me tell you a story: We really did make balls at first. Please see photos below:

Yup! My hands!

See!?? BALLS!!!

But the ending was:

Not so-BALL looking balls aren't they? :(

Why did we not achieve perfect deep fried balls?

Maybe the balls would have to sit for a couple of hours or overnight in the freezer to make the balls firm enough so they won't melt during deep frying! Wekwekwekwek!

But we enjoyed it that night, anyway! ;-)

So the following day, after some moments in the thinking chair, with a little enhancement on this "full of effort" meal - I decided to transform the balls to patties and coat them with more bread crumbs - a mix of the ordinary ones and the Japanese. After doing so, I kept them all in the freezer overnight and fried a few patties the next day and have seen great results!

Since the risotto patties were already full of cheese, I intended to make a non-cheesy dip as opposed to the original recipe. So what could be best with this cheesy meal? Ting!! Another light bulb moment: why not a marinara sauce a la TGI Friday's fried mozarella!

For the home made marinara sauce, here's what I used:

a can of peeled tomatoes (I used Molinera)
** if this is not available, you can definitely use fresh tomatoes (about 4)! Just peel them and take out the seeds and chop

olive oil
1 small white onion, finely chopped
about 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped, you can add some more if you want it more garlicky!
dried herbs: basil, oregano, marjoram and parsley
salt and pepper

The way:
in a pan, saute the onions and the garlic in olive oil, then add the peeled tomatoes with some of sauce from the can. Crush the tomatoes and then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for a few minutes!

Presto! Ready to serve!

I feel blessed that my pantry has a few cans of peeled tomatoes waiting for their own spotlight! How convenient was that? :) Thank you Lord! :)

When you try this, just remember to start early! Better yet, as learned from Rica (on her 2nd attempt!), the risotto rice can be well done faster when you use a shallow sauce pan! The long wait is over! Thanks, sis! :)

Hot, crispy, cheesy and golden brown! This is great with wine! Cheers!

P.S. All the photos were taken during night time! Waaah! Ok lang busog naman ako! Hehe!

Focaccia Fantasia!

2009-06-04T23:28:00.016+08:00

Isa na yata akong panadera.. A feeling gourmet panadera HAHA!

I have been fantasizing on making homemade bread for quite sometime and have been dreaming to dare to bring it to reality! So my friends, this-is-really-is-it!!!

I was doing the Ini mini miny moe between baking focaccia bread or baking pan de sal. Well..the pan de sal recipe requires a lot of flour...AND EFFORT.

But it was such a blessing in disguise that I have an excuse not to make the latter as I only have a couple of cups of flour left in the pantry.

So the pan de sal will be done next next time. (ah.. eh.. next time = sa susunod na sweldo! and if the effort is already there!HA!)

As mentioned before, I am really not a "measure" person, learned from my family to go by my instincts when cooking - by the taste, by the smell, by the look. But for baking - sabi nga ni Lolo Wolfgang Puck sa Lifestyle Network: "Baking is like architecture, you have to measure every singel thing...(lah-lah-lah)..or the building will crumble and it will all fall down!" - something to that effect. I really cannot remember all. Hmph.

So be it.

Since I really really wanna make home made bread, I have no choice but to measure. :)

I got the Focaccia Bread Recipe here. And the kneading how-to here. Thanks thanks!

Tic-tac-tic-tac...looking at the kitchen clock. Dug-dug, dug-dug, tigidig, tigidig - My heart was beating faster. I was just so nervous. Wondering what will happen to my first ever homemade bread!

So with a deep breath, I opened the oven and made a not so loud sigh and placed the pan on the cutting board.

Ready with my bread knife, I said to myself, it's the moment of truth!

Hmmm... smells goooood! Eh, may chance naman pala! :-) I guess, I can say, this an OK result for a first time bread maker, huh? Wat u tink guysh?

Just serve it warm and dip it in a mix of Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, a little of salt and pepper, Parmesan cheese and assorted herbs. Maybe next time I will have sundried tomatoes to go with it or any other dip I fancy.

SupeRoss, what's the dip called? Sorry Marce, I can't remember it anymore! Please refresh my memory! Thanks!

For our dip at home, I used the dried herbs from McCormick Basil leaves, Rosemary, Marjoram and Oregano for the herbs. If you have the "Italian Seasoning" from McCormick, then it's good to use it too!

Yeah, who ain't dreaming of an herb garden someday! I know! If you have fresh herbs right under your nose, go go go ahead and use 'em! ;-)

Baking bread is a fun and fulfilling experience. I am looking forward to making some more soon! Kahit anong tinapay!

I can say it is an achievement when you see the smile on your husband's face and hear him say "Wow, fresh bread! Ang galing mo mommy!" hehe, *kinilig naman ako!*

My little Javier just can't get enough of it and he keeps on saying "Bhed! Bhed!" (Bulol pa siya --- but yes he meant, bread! bread!)

And my house angels loved it too! Excited narin sila mag bake bake-an! Why not dabah!??

So there you go! No more need for Italiannis or any Italian resto when you crave for this kind of bread!

Yeah baby, home is where it's at!

Note: Hi Rain! Suuuuper thanks for teaching me the "linking process"! Oh my goodness I'm such a neophyte blogger! ;-) Baka ma-addict ako sa pag link link! Hehe! Thank you, thank you!

The SquaCarrot Soup (Squash and Carrot Soup)

2009-06-03T19:07:00.007+08:00

Heto akooooooooo basang basa sa ulaaaaaaaaaan! Walang masisilungaaaaaaan, walang makakapitaaaaaan!

Ay.. sorry!!! Naku.. ehem. ehem.. I just got carried away. It's raining cats and dogs here and the wind is blowing so damn hard... and the soundtrack in my head is this famous jukebox song of one of my favorite jukebox groups. Haha!

I know it should have been "Raindrops keep falling on my head..." or "APO Hiking Society's "Pumapatak nanaman ang (j)ulan sa bubong ng bahay..." Hehe.. Maybe next time!

We all know that nothing beats a warm soup on a rainy day. May it be chicken soup, Nilaga, Sinigang, your Lucky Me Instant Noodles or your D-I-Y a.k.a. "Maski Paps" soup. :)

I am a BIG fan of the famous CIBO squash soup ~ Crema Di Zucca (summer squash, cream and bacon slab... Hello Tita Gaita! Etchos feeling close!) but when hubby took me to Felix (naks, nag date kami!), I fell in love with their Fuyubare - a mix of Pumpkin, Carrots and Chestnuts. So the recipe copycat in me wanted to try it at home, and just made a few changes to make it slightly original ;)

I like the Fuyubare because there's that sweet kick in the soup from the carrots that I wouldn't normally taste from a squash soup. Also, here in my world, I can only grab the native kalabasa from my suking palengke. Therefore, I have no access to any pumpkin , nor the summer, winter and autumn squash. Unless someone will be so kind to give me some. hihi. OR if hubby will take me to the Salcedo or Legaspi weekend market sometime soon. (OO, nagpaparinig ako!)

I am not a chestnut girl so this is X'd out but the major ones of course stays on stage - mr. squash and ms. carrots.

I call this The SquaCarrot Soup (say it using your call center accent, c'mon! Squakheret!)

On the photo I used:

Squash/Kalabasa about 1/4 K, cut in cubes
3 medium sized carrots, cut in cuubes
1 tbsp of butter
1 medium sized white onion, minced
Roasted Green and Red Bell Peppers, chopped
Squash and Carrot broth
1 Knorr Beef Cube
Nestlé All Purpose Cream (1 small carton)
Fresh Milk, about half a cup
a few dashes of Nutmeg to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parley Flakes for garnishing

The Way:
Boil the squash and carrots until tender then set aside the veggies and the broth.

On medium heat, in your pot, melt the butter and saute the onions and the roasted bell peppers.
Add the boiled squash and carrots and a bit of the broth, then simmer for about 5 minutes.

After simmering, put the mixture into your electric blender and purée it. Otherwise, you can also use your fork or potato masher (less kitchen tools to wash! saves electricity too!)

Then put the mixture again in the pot, then add some more broth until it looks "soupy" enough, then add the rest of the ingredients: Knorr Beef Cube, All Purpose Cream, Fresh Milk, about half, a few dashes of Nutmeg, Salt and Pepper to taste then bring to a boil. CAREFUL and don't come too close to the pot, the soup pops when it's really boiling hot! I know, natalsikan na kasi ako!

Note: If you don't want the soup to be very creamy, just lessen the amount of the all purpose cream and add more of the veggie broth.

Put the parsley flakes on top and some more pepper if you want when you are about to serve.

Best with croutons, or toasted garlic bread, or pair it with rice and fried fish or rice and roasted chicken! Yum! (bakit laging may kanin? hehe!)

Hope you can try this at home!

Now back to singing... :)

Chicken Pastel Weekend

2009-05-30T09:49:00.009+08:00

When I finally had the guts and courage to use my oven, I thought about baking CAKE. NOT. Thanks to my friend Yvonneski, for the "how to" via chat, and to Tita Alma Buñag for the true to life demo. Thank you, thank you!

Yeah, that's how scared I was! I really needed to see a demo!

Sabi nga sa TCP 101 (Trainer Certification Program: Adult Learning Principles and Methodologies), "Adults Learn By Doing"

Yan naman! (That’s it!)

I like desserts, no doubt about it. But I loooove main courses more!

So my first baking project was to cook Chicken Pastel, with a pie crust on top.

This is a showcase dish in parties, from where I am. An all time family favorite.

It is usually cooked as is, just the chicken pastel but for more awesomeness; it is covered with a pie crust. Just like the photo here! So with the crust included, then maybe you won't have to look for your cup of rice!

uyyy... low carb daw!?

The first chicken pastel that I made last March was a success but the photo does not give any justice to it.

Thank you to Mr. Ron Merlin of The Merlin Menu for the enlightenment and tips - that the food can still look pretty even with your simple camera...and the amazing light box!

I craved for chicken pastel once again this month and I am happier that I cooked it using my new white ceramic pot! (Pa-gourmet effect ever!?) Thanks to hubby for this fabulous gift, among the other gifts hihihi! Mmmwwwwaaaaaahh!!!

While others cook pastel with Ox tongue (Lengua), I prefer to use chicken as I am chicken person. Cooking an ox tongue dish for me is another scary cooking event because it’s really delicate! So maybe the Ox tongue pastel would just have to wait for.. for.. forever? HA!

The original recipe, that served as my guide came from www.pinoyrecipe.net. Thank you!

On the photos, I used what was left in the freezer, the pantry and what I could grab from my "suking tindahan" (neighborhood store), and some simple twists:

About half a kilo Chicken breast cut into chunks

soy sauce

juice of 1 lemon (can use about 4 to 6 pieces of calamansi juice)

about 2 tbsps Butter

1 medium onion minced

about 3 cloves of garlic minced

Potatoes, diced

Carrots, diced

1 can of mushroom, cut in quarters

1 small can of vienna sausage (this was from my suking tindahan!)

grated cheese (quick melt) about 3/4 of the block

about 1 cup Chicken Broth

salt

pepper

Cream of Mushroom

about half a cup of fresh milk

For the Pie Crust:

2 to 3 cups of flour

about 5 tbsps of softened butter

about 1/4 cup of water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar (I like my crust with a little sweetness)

egg wash for brushing the crust (for the glazing effect)

The Way for the Pastel/Casserole :

Marinate the chicken breast in lemon juice and soy sauce for an hour.

After marinating, melt the butter and sauté the onions and garlic, add the mushrooms and sausage and the chicken, then add the broth, potatoes and carrots and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Then add the cream of mushroom, the grated cheese and milk, salt and pepper to taste, and then cook for another 10 minutes.

After cooking, transfer the casserole to a baking dish and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 450F or 232C

It's dough time!!!

The Way for the Pie Crust:

Mix altogether the dry ingredients: the flour, salt, sugar. Then add the butter and water. Mix into a ball, knead a little, and then roll flat the dough on a clean, floured, flat surface.

The dough can become really sticky so just put a little flour every time the dough sticks on your fingers or onto the surface. (Thanks to the pinoy cooking shows and to my Mommy Tess – I have seen her done this while I was a kid!)

I am quite OC when rolling the dough so I cover it with cling wrap :P

When the pastry crust is ready, transport it carefully by your loving hands onto the chicken pastel and cover it. Seal the sides and cut any excess dough with a knife.

Using your fork, punch holes on the pastry to let out steam. You can also use your fork to "design" the crust. Just like the empanada hehehe!

Bake it for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

On the photo below, the crust was like saying to me, "smile before you open!" And so I did.

And even smiled again afterwards :-)

Happy Weekend!

Sundays and Rainy Days: Nilagang Bulalo (Beef Shank Stew)

2009-05-21T23:39:00.012+08:00

During Sundays, I'm sure some Pinoy families have nilagang baka for lunch, otherwise, sinigang na baboy. That is, according to some of my friends and according to... yours truly.

Eh bakit nga ba lagi nalang nilaga o sinigang pag linggo? Truth is, di ko talaga alam. Di ko talaga alermmmm :-) Sabi nga nila, you can never can tell. Etchos!
Hmmm, I think, reason why we have it during weekends is because it's a just "family thing". When everyone is present at home.

It's a soup to share with everyone (sniff! sniff!).

Parang ang saya pag nag papasahan kayo ng soup bowl and you say: "...sabaw please?!"

we like it because of the homeyness and warmth of the soup (yeah it's a comfort food and well, some like it really boling hot, like my husband - yung asawa ko kasi merong medyas sa dila)

we like it because of the tasty flavor of the beef, as well as the crunch of the fresh veggies from the market.

sabi nga ni Nanay noon, "o, damihan mo ng pres beydstabols" ;-)

And for some people who are not so very concious about their cholesterol level, they also enjoy the cherry on top of it all - the Great BULALO.

And sure I am one of them!

"Akin ang utak, I need it!" (utak = bone marrow)

Kebs! Habang bata!

Most of us are so excited to go to Tagaytay to have a taste of their nilagang bulalo from Leslie's or wherever there is.

But if you have a sudden craving for it, especially during the rainy days and you can't get out of your batcave to go south, I pretty think you can, YES - YOU - CAN - make it at the comfort of your own kitchen.

I think our family makes one of the yummy bulalos in town... and my Mommy Tess has given more justice to this ever so staple pinoy weekend dish.

The classic and commercial one is just as delicious, of course, but it can be more delicioso if you want it to!

Let me share our family's Nilagang Bulalo:

2 medium sized beef shanks with meat
1 to 2 medium sized onions, chopped (quartered or whatever size you like)
1 Knorr Beef Bouillon Cube
A little Patis (Fish Sauce) (uh-oh, not too salty!)
Knorr Cream of Asparagus Soup Mix
2 to 3 Potatoes (quartered)
1 medium sized Cabbage (quartered)
Cracked Pepper to taste

You can also add:

Carrots
Pechay Tagalog
Onion leeks
Kamote (Sweet Potato)
Saging na Saba (Plantain Bananas)
Corn (cut into half or in threes depending on the size)

and for more sowshyalness, Asparagus (yun yun eh!)

Actually, the more, the merrier, but for us, we're happy with the potatoes and cabbage..

When carrots are available, then they're part of the show.

The Way:

Boil the beef shanks (bone and meat) until tender (start early!). Best if you pressure cook it to achieve tenderness half the time. For pressure cooking know how, please see entry #1.

When meat is tender, take some of the broth and set aside.

Add the onions and the beef bouillon cubes and patis to the shanks and continue to simmer.

Mix the cream of asparagus powder and the beef broth that was set aside, then when it has completely dissolved, add it to the simmering shanks et. al. (i like the "simmering shanks" effex ha!)

When everything looks good, then it's time to throw in the veggies and the pepper and just leave the cover on for a few minutes then turn the heat off and it's ready to serve. Do not overcook the veggies! No lantang gulay allowed!

I love it when I use a mix of patis and calamansi as a condiment :-)

Some add chili pepper flakes for a one helluva kickin' soup!

I hope you will like the semi-creamyness of the bulalo soup.

It is more hearty, indeed!

And of course...your Nilaga weekends will never be the same again ;-)

Happy 29th!!!

2009-05-20T17:36:00.011+08:00

The kitchen started heating up at 8 in the morning
as Rica and I prepared for my birthday lunch with our family.

Now, ask me if I have noodles in the menu. Well, there was none for lunch
... but we had some during breakfast.

Introducing - Lucky Me Lusog Sarap Nutrition Noodles - in "Beef na Beef Flavor"...for Long Life!
Pinoys can't really get away with it huh!? Tayo pa! Kahit anong noodles
basta meron lang pang long-life! ;-)

And honestly, I was a bit too lazy to cook pasta or pancit. Sorry!

My hubby Archie, Rica and I have been brainstorming for hours on what to cook.

So finally we came up with the following:

Clam Soup (Halaan)
Rica's Chicken in Butter Mushroom Sauce (yummy!)
Beef Sanggupsal
Crab Maritess
Baked Tahong Pie
German Beer for the Boys ;-)

For dessert, we attempted to make Tyler Florence's "The Ultimate Cheesecake"

It is indeed a "project" that we have been dreaming about for quite a while, mind you.

The cheesecake was close to success but since time was the enemy, it wasn't served on that day. We learned that it can take lots and lots of hours to make it firm - on the fridge.

So now we know better!

So therefore we feasted on it the next day! Yey!! :-) Here ya go:

The blueberry topping has been waiting for me for months in the freezer, so with that, after defrosting, I had to caramelize it again on low heat with a few teaspoons of white sugar
and ta-dahhh! It's as if it was just poured out from the can!

Thanks to my family for sharing the day with me and for enjoying the food!

You are always what I consider the "Satisfied Customers"
so... "Thank you, please come again!"
:)

A - You're ADOBO-dorable!

2009-05-16T09:36:00.023+08:00

So let this be my first ever entry here. Pang Buena Mano!

I have been hanging out in the household kitchen as a fat kid and have seen my Mommy Tess and my Nanay Floring (what I call my Lola) do their magic in the kitchen. So I was there watching and volunteering myself to chop this and that, to fry, to stir and what have you. Kahit pag babalot ng lumpiang shanghai, kinakareer ko talaga. I was a cook wanna be. And therefore I said one day, when I grow up I can also do what they do.

I know for some, cooking the pinoy adobo is just "so so", but for me I consider it a masterpiece and it is cooked with love. I have been trying to get the Umph! in it since I started to cook it on my own and it took me yearssss to realize how to do it and finally hit the bullseye! AMEN.

As said by Chichajo: "I don’t think there is, or will ever be, a truly definitive recipe for Filipino adobo." - this really holds true for us Pinoys. There are just so many ways to cook it. sooooooooooooo many ways: Adobong baboy, manok, combo of both, sitaw, kangkong, pusit ---masabaw, masarsa, tuyo, with potatoes, adobo sa kamatis, adobong may gata, adobong mushrooms, adobong lamb, the chinese adobo (i like!) and all that jazz. whew! I think, with the mix of the ingredients, you can just make any meat, seafood or veggie into a great adobo of your own.

Adobong Liempo (Pork Belly) is my best bet for comfort food. I can eat it for days really. How does the adobo melt in your mouth? Simple. Have your handy-dandy pressure cooker. Yup, that's my baby! It saves a lot of time, at least half the time, effort and gas from it! Many thanks to my boss and good friend who gave it to me as a wedding gift last 2006. Thanks, ate Mori!

Before, I used to cook the adobo in low fire for at least 2 hours so that the meat will be tender and the flavors will really sink in the meat. That's another option if there is no pressure cooker.

In the cooking portion of Boy and Kris (uy showbiz!), Chef Bruce Lim said - on how to use the pressure cooker - the water should just be enough to cover the whole meat. The fire should be in medium to semi-high and allow for it to boil until it reaches cooking pressure. You can say if it has reached it's high point if the top cover jiggles or makes that oooozing sound and you see the white smoke coming out of that little valve on the cover. If you see this, turn the fire to medium-low to low, just enough to maintain the pressure. And guess what, that's just the start of the process in making your meat tender.

After achieving the cooking pressure, it usually takes 30 more to cook the meat. But if you really want to be sure that it will so damn melt in your mouth, make it 45mins to an hour.

After putting off the heat, please do not remove the lid just yet! It might explode because of the pressure. Just like what our mommies do - old style - they put a water wet kitchen cloth on top of the little valve to release the pressure, otherwise, to make it faster, just put the pressure cooker under running water for a quick cool down. Make sure that the water runs down over the lid and not directly over the little valve/pressure regulator.

If all pressure is gone, it's time to take the meat out...and cook the adobo!

I am a person who hates math (or maybe Math dislikes me!). totally. you can ask my gradeshool, highschool and college teachers about it. So if I can do away with anything with numbers, I really would. So with cooking, I can say I try to make "tancha" (estimate) and have this "bahala na" mentality. I mix/combine the ingredients/flavorings by the ladle/spoon/handful/scoop, by the spoon, by the hand, or by the smell.

I really don't have any, exact measurement in most of my cooking, but since I started this blog, I will try my very best to note down the measurements for future dishes. As for delicate dishes (especially baking) - I have no other choice. Hehe!

Our family Adobo:

Half a kilo of pork belly
lots of chopped garlic (about 4 tbsp)
about 1/2 cup of white vinegar
about 1/2 cup of dark soy sauce (add a tablespoon or 2 if you want it a bit more salty)
About 2 to 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (add sugar little by little, add some more if you want a sweeter version)
lots of pepper, freshly cracked and some uncracked
1 big laurel leaf

The Way:

Saute the chopped garlic until it's about to turn golden brown. If you want, save some for garnishing!

Add the pressure cooked pork belly (drained well)

Add the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, pepper and laurel leaf and stir a little and simmer on low heat. do not fully cover the pot so that the vinegar's acidity will evaporate.

As of 7/31/09 Update: - As suggested by my Mommy Tess, as said by most elders --- I have also tried not stirring the mixture yet of the vinegar and soy sauce and allowed the acidity to evaporate. I observed that the result is the same as stirring it (a little bit only). Time is really needed to let the vinegar really cook with stirring or without being touched and let its acidity go away... Whatever works for you! :)

The simmering process can go for about 20 minutes or until the pork belly is already dark and it looks like it has already absorbed all the flavors. If you simmer longer than that, it will kind of caramelize, with the skin and fat popping and getting a bit crispy and the adobo will be somewhat semi-saucy to a bit dry. Yung tipong mabibitin ka and you'll ask for some more.

BURP!

Bye for now! :-)