Chicken Adobo

Adobo is a famous Filipino dish. Almost every region has their own version of cooking adobo, but basically meat is stewed in vinegar. This is an ideal "baon" for lunch for school, work or travellers since it keeps well without refrigeration.

Chicken Adobo with Quail eggs

Ingredients:
1 kilo Chicken (cut in desired chunks) or you can choose parts you like
1/4 cup soy sauce (or more to desired taste)
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tbsp cooking oil
4 bay leaves
5 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 tsp peppercorn
1/2 tsp sugar
ground pepper (to taste)
10 pcs boiled quail eggs (optional)

How to prepare:
> In a bowl, combine all ingredients (except water). Marinate for an hour, or if you have the luxury of time, marinate it overnight.
> Heat oil in pan, fry the chicken  until light brown (Do in batches if needed). Add the marinate, then bring to boil then lower heat. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Simmer until sauce is reduced and thickened as desired.
> When serving, you may add boiled eggs. This is perfect with steamed rice. Enjoy!

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Tofu in Oyster Sauce

This is a dish which is very easy to prepare. Another way to enjoy the protein-rich low-calorie tofu. Vegetarians would love this. Enjoy!

Tofu in Oyster Sauce

Ingredients:
3 blocks tofu
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cup water
onion leeks (chopped thinly)
1 onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/2 tsp cornstarch (dissolved in about 2 tbsp water)
ground pepper
1 tsp flour
1 tsp bread crumbs
1/2 tsp ginisa mix (or salt to taste)
oil

How to prepare:
> Mix together flour,bread crumbs and ginisa mix. Roll each tofu block into the mixture, then fry until golden brown. Set aside.
>For the sauce, saute onions and garlic in oil. Add water, oyster sauce, soy sauce,brown sugar, ground pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes over low heat. Add the dissolved cornstarch and onion leeks.Stir. When done, pour the sauce over the tofu. Serves 3-4 persons. Enjoy!

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Corned Tuna Tacos in Creamy Garlic Sauce

This is the first time I tried using a canned corned tuna in my tacos, and it turned out well.
This is loaded too with fresh veggies topped with creamy-garlicy-cheesy sauce. Yummy!

Tacos is a traditional mexican dish and can be made with variety of fillings such as beef,chicken,fish and cheese, and can be garnished with different vegetables.

Ingredients:
8 hard shell tacos
1 can corned tuna
1 cup lettuce(shredded)
1 cup cucumber (peeled and coarsely chopped)
1 white onion (chopped thinly)
1/2 cup tomato (coarsely chopped)
1/2 cup tomato salsa (store bought)
cheddar cheese (grated)
1/2 tsp chili powder (or as desired)

garlic sauce:
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 cup cream
3 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
ground pepper
dash of white sugar

How to prepare:

> Mix all the ingredients for the garlic sauce in a bowl, then set aside.
> In a separate bowl, mix together the tomato salsa and chili powder. set aside.
> Fill the taco shell with corned tuna, then layer with the tomato salsa, add tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce. Top with garlic sauce and grated cheese. Serve!

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Fish Fillet in Pineapple Honey Sauce

This recipe of mine is a variation of the usual sweet and sour dish.
I used crushed pineapple and honey which gave a nice flavor and thickness for the sauce.
You can use any fish of your choice. I recommend Cream Dory fish since it is readily available in supermarket (fresh or frozen) and is very much affordable.
This dish tasted good! I hope you'll like it,too!

Fish Fillet in Pineapple Honey Sauce

Ingredients

For the fish fillet:
500g fish fillet (cream dory)
1/4 cup calamansi juice
1 cup flour
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg (beaten)
ground pepper
1 tbsp fish sauce


For the sauce:
1 small carrot (sliced)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 bell pepper (strips)
1 thumb ginger (strips)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
4 tbsp honey
3/4 cup crushed pineapple (in can)
1 tbsp tomato paste
ground pepper
fish sauce (to taste)
2 cups water
1 tbsp cornstarch (dissolved in 1/4cup water)

How to prepare:

For the Fish fillet :  Marinate the fish with calamansi juice, garlic, ground pepper and fish sauce. Set aside for about 10 mins. Roll the fillet into flour, dip in egg and coat with bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown. Set aside.

For the sauce:  In a pan, heat oil, saute ginger, onions and garlic. Add the carrots and the pineapple.Stir. Add the water, honey, and bellpepper. Season with fish salt and ground pepper. Simmer for 2 mins.Then add the cornstarch and celery. Simmer for about a minute. When ready, pour the sauce over the fried fish fillet.          

This recipe will make about 6 to 8 servings.Enjoy!





                    


    

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Easy Seafood Paella

Paella is a Spanish dish well loved by Filipinos. There are several ways of preparing Paella.

The one I love best is the seafood paella. Most are often intimidated to cook paella, it being a special spanish recipe. It's even expensive if we order one in a classy local restaurant. But hey,we can always dish up an easy one in our kitchen- filipino style! Even without the paellera :) Here's how ....

Easy Filipino Seafood Paella

Easy Paella

Ingredients:

 2 cups uncooked rice (preferably round rice)

100g tomato sauce

300g squid (cut into rings)

300g prawns 

30 pcs mussels (or more)

2 pcs chorizo de bilbao(diagonally sliced into thin pieces)

2 pcs red bell pepper (strips)
1 pc green bell pepper (strips)

100g green peas

1 tsp paprika

2 cloves garlic

1 onion

1/2 tsp safflower (or as desired) also known as kasubha in tagalog
 (saffron is expensive - this is the best substitute)

salt (to taste)

2 tbsp atsuete oil

5 cups water (approximately)

3 eggs (hard boiled)

2-3 cups mussel broth

How to prepare:

• In a pot, cook the mussels with about 3 cups of water. Don't overcook. When the shells open up, it's done. Remove the water,set aside. We'll be using this as the broth. 
• Because we don't have the paellera, we'll be using a wok or just pan with lid.
• In a wok/pan over low heat, saute half of the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add the chorizo. Stir.
• Add the squid and tomato sauce.Add 1 cup water and safflower.Stir.Cook for 2 minutes. Add the prawns,stir. Stir. Add the green peas and bell pepper.
• Cook for a minute. Then take out all mixed ingredients from the pan, leaving the sauce.
• Then add the rice.Stir well to coat well with the sauce. Add the broth. Season with salt to taste. Cover. Cook for about 15 minutes. 
• Then put back all the cooked ingredients, mix, and artistically arrange pieces on top of the rice. Cook for another 15 minutes.Add water if you think it is too dry, do not stir, just shake the pan so you will not upset the pattern (the ingredients designed on top). If the rice is cooked, then it is ready to serve. Layer sliced hard-boiled egg on top. Enjoy!

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Sweet Day

Leche Flan

When we were younger, my sister and I used to have our vacation in Tita Trining's (my papa's sister) house in Nakpil, and i remember her bringing home for us Dulcinea's cream puff. T'was a soooo yummy!

When my sissy and I happened to pass by Dulcinea yesterday, we were pulled by the sweet memory of cream puff to sit and and grab a bite. And we didn't just settle for the coffee and cream puff, we've also indulged in their famous creamy Leche Flan. What a sweet day!

the coffee, the leche flan and the cream puff

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Inun-On Na Dulong

Have i mentioned already i'm a bicolana? Gee! And yes! I love dishes with "sili" and "gata" which are famous ingredients of  bicol cuisine.
Now, Let me introduce to you another bicolnon dish that is one of my favorite,"Inun-on"
in tagalog we call it "paksiw". In this recipe I used "dulong" fish,as labeled when i bought it in the supermarket. I doubt if this is the same with what we call in bicol "tabios", a native fish in Lake Buhi (Camarines Sur) which is considered as one of the smallest fish.

Ingredients:
500g Dulong fish
10pcs Banana leaves (cut about 8x6 per piece)
1/2 cup vinegar
2 thumb-sized ginger (crushed and chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
ground pepper (as desired)
salt (to taste)
2 green finger chili (chopped)

How to prepare:
> Wash and drain the fish. Set aside.
> In a bowl, mix all the ingredients. Then scoop about 2 tbsp of the mixture, wrap it in banana leaf. then layer it in a pot. Cook for about 10-15 mins over medium heat. This will make about 8 to 10 servings.

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Pork Sinigang

Pork Sinigang

Rain rain go away..its been raining for several days already. And everybody's craving for a hot,hot,hot sinigang! Let's see what's available in the fridge. Pork spareribs and plenty of veggies. Perfect!

Sinigang is another Filipino soup or stew dish with tamarind which is distinctly known for its sour taste.
Other varieties for this dish would use guava, kalamansi, kamias, santol or raw mango as souring ingredient. But sampalok is the most popular. Powdered sinigang mix and bouillon cubes are now available in the market which are more convenient to use.

Meat for this recipe could be pork, beef, fish or shrimp. Commonly used vegetables for this dish includes raddish, gabi, kangkong, eggplant, sitaw , sigarilyas and okra.

Pork Sinigang

For this recipe, I used the following ingredients:

3/4 kl pork spareribs
1 eggplant (cut 1 inch thick-diagonal)
2 pcs gabi
1 cup
1 radish (sliced thinly)
4 tomatoes (chunked)
1 bundle kangkong (cut into 3 inches long)
3 pcs okra (cut in half)
1 onion (chopped)
30g powdered sampalok mix (you can add more as desired)
3 pcs siling haba (green)
fish salt (to taste)
1 liter water

How to prepare:
> In a pot over medium heat, bring pork boil and simmer until tender.
> Add in the gabi, onions and sinigang mix. Cover for 3 minutes.
> Add in the raddish and tomatoes. Cover for 2 minutes.
> Add in the rest of ingredients. Season with fish salt (to taste)
> Simmer for 2 minutes. Serve hot!

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Kusidong Isda

"Kusido" is a regional dish very much enjoyed by Bicolanos in the Philippines. It is a soup based dish with vegetables and fish as main ingredients. Almost any variant of fish can be used.But the most popular are Malasugui (Black or White marlin), Maya-Maya (Red Snapper), Betilla (White snapper), Lapu-Lapu (Grouper), Tanguige (Spanish Mackerel).
In this recipe, i used Betilla Fish. This is very easy to prepare.

Ingredients:
1 Betilla fish (White Snapper) or any fish of  your choice
1 bunch mustasa (mustard greens)
2 pcs eggplant (cut diagonal about 1 inch thick)
3 med. tomatoes ( diced)
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
ginger (thumbsized) - peeled and sliced thinly
1/8 cup calamansi juice
2 siling haba (finger chilis)
oil
fish sauce
5 cups water

How to prepare:
> Clean the fish and remove its scale. You may cut the fish to your desired size, or just leave it whole. Drain. Set aside.
> In a saucepan, saute ginger, onions, garlic and tomatoes in oil over medium heat. Then add water. Boil.
   Add the fish, fish sauce (to taste), calamansi juice, eggplant and siling haba. Cover for 2-3 mins.
   Then add the  mustasa. Simmer for 2 mins. Serve! This is good for 5 servings.

Tips:
>To prevent eggplant from darkening when sliced, soak it in cold water. Let it sit , then drain when ready   to use.
>You may use camote tops(sweet potato leaves) or kangkong(water spinach) instead of the mustard greens.

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Biko

"Biko" or "Rice Cake with Latik topping" is a recipe which consists of glutinous rice (malagkit), coconut milk and sugar.
"Biko"  has always been part of Filipino tradition. It is often served on celebrated occasions like birthdays and Christmas and especially on All Soul's day or what we call in the Philippines as "Undas".
In Tigaon (my hometown), this kakanin is called Suman. My Mama would always cook this in a huge pot, and share this to our neighbors ~ you couldn't hide what's cooking in the kitchen, it really has a good smell that makes you darn hungry! This big pot can feed our entire neighbors(within the smell vicinity! hahahaha) and I would put some in a tupperware and store in the fridge, and I would devour on it for days.
Oh,  I'd always get the the rice crust at the bottom of the pan or what is known to us as "Tutong". How weird is that? But really it tastes good!

Here is my recipe, the no bake - traditional way of preparing it...

Biko Ingredients:
2 cups glutinous rice
4 cups coconut milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 pandan leaf (optional)


Latik Ingredients:
1 cup coconut cream
1 cup condensed milk
3 tbsp cornstarch
(diluted in 1/4 cup cold water)


How to prepare:
> Cook rice and coconut milk in a pot over medium heat.Let boil. Stir constantly to keep from burning and sticking on  the pot. After 10 to 15 mins, add the sugar and the pandan leaf(optional- it adds a distinct nice aroma and flavor to the rice).  Lower the heat when the rice is done and almost dry.
> When rice is done, remove the pandan leaf, spread the mixture in a wide dish (rectangular or round) about 2" thick.
> To make the latik,  put all the engredients in a pan and cook over low heat, constantly stirring until thick.
    This takes about 15 to 20 mins. When done, spread over the rice. Layer it nice and smoothly.
> Set aside and let cool. Enjoy!

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