Tonkatsu

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! :)

Almondigas

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! ;)

Pork Cordon Bleu and Pesto Cream Cheese Dip

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

Sinigang na Liempo (Pork Belly in Sour Broth)

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

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

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! :)

Easy Pork Stir-Fry

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! :)

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

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! :-)

Daddy Day! Hurray!

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

~*~*~*~

A - You're ADOBO-dorable!

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! :-)