Puffy Shrimps in Sweet Mayo-Coconut Sauce

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!

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

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. ;-)

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

~*~*~*~

Lunch time: Boneless Bangus Steak

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! ;)

Pasta Moment: Spaghetti All'Alfonso

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! :-)