Shrimps with Santol in Gata

Since I have stopped eating pork and chicken a couple of years ago, I have been looking for new seafood recipes to try.  One shrimp recipe I have always wanted to make was this shrimp dish n Yummy magazine.  I was happy to discover the wonderful  mixture of flavors of this dish, it had the sweetness of the santol and shrimps and the richness of the gata. 

Here is the recipe:

2 pieces santol, peeled and seeded 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and sliced 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 medium onion, chopped 500 grams tiger prawns (sugpo) 1 cup coconut cream (Learn how to make fresh coconut cream here) 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper 3 green chilies or siling pangsigang (use bird’s eye chili or siling labuyo if you prefer a hot dish)

1  Chop santol meat finely. Set aside. 2  In a pan, sauté ginger in 1 tablespoon oil until edges turn light brown. Add garlic and onion, and cook for a few minutes. 3  Add prawns and keep stirring until they turn a red-orange color. 4  Add santol meat. Stir. Add coconut cream and let simmer for 10 minutes without stirring. Season with salt and white pepper. 5  Add green chili, stir, and serve. Recycling tip  Donit throw away the santol seeds. Make santol juice by putting the seeds in a pitcher of water with lots of ice. Add simple sugar syrup, half a teaspoon vanilla, mint leaves, and some finely chopped santol meat. Stir well and serve.

Wonderful Dinner at Yabu ATC

I have been to the Yabu branch at SM Southmall, before and I always know that I will have a great time. The food is delicious and the service good.  So when I learned that they were opening at Alabang Town Center I was excited, and had to join the FB contest for an invitational dinner.  Luckily I won and was happy to learn that I could take a guest, so The Little Girl became my date for the night. 

Since it was an invitational dinner, and the ATC branch has not officially opened, I was not expecting much. However I was pleasantly surprised, the service was excellent.  The staff was friendly, attentive, and just like the other branches service was exceptional.  It is given that people go to a restaurant for the good food, however people go back because of the service, and this is what is commendable in Yabu they give importance to both the food and the service because they know that delivering on both will ensure customer loyalty, I should know because I am one of their loyal customers. 

The Little Girl trying to decide what to order

Photo op while waiting for the food

First set of appetizers - seaweed and egg salad

I love that she is willing to try new dishes
that's how you discover new ones to love 

She liked the seaweed dish a lot 

Second set of appetizers -spinach salad and
octopus which was The Little Girl's favorite.
She liked that the octopus was spciy sweet

Another serving of the the octopus for her 

She was actually the one who finished the octopus
I was left with the cucumber slices, which
were still quite good

See the smile on her face, very excited to start 

Careful the miso soup is hot

 

A big yummy bite,
she truly enjoyed not just this bite but the whole meal

My thanks again to Yabu and Alabang Town Center for this great dinner.  Looking forward to the official opening we will definitely be back.  See you all soon :) 

Corn and Squid Fritters

I love corn whether is fresh off the cob or canned, while the Little Girl ultimate favorite food is squid.  So I created a recipe that combines our two favorites, and this is the result  a delicious sweet crunchy fritter.

All I did was combine one can of corn with chopped up squid tentacles in a bowl, I then seasoned it with some salt, black and cayenne pepper.  In another bowl I made a batter by whisking together flour, egg and water until smooth.  I then poured the batter over the corn and squid mixture, mix everything together.  Then just take a spoonful of the mixture and  deep fry in hot oil. Serve with your favorite sauce, we prefer either sweet chili sauce or a mayo sour cream dip.

Garlic and Kangkong Pasta

The original recipe where I got this from recommends using spinach which is also great, but kangkong is more readily available and cheaper.

This is a super simple pasta dish.  All you do is sauteed  minced garlic, I like mine very garlicky so I use a whole garlic head,  then add kangkong leaves.  Cook until leaves wilt then just add some chili flakes and the cooked pasta, mix everything together.  Then serve with parmesan cheese.  

Curacha Cream Pasta

My Dad is from Zamboaga so we love having curacha whenever we can. I love it just boiled, but by sometimes I want something different.  So felt creative and made some curacha cream pasta, so simple but so delicious. 

Bannapple

After a year long hiatus I am back.  So happy to finally having time to blog again.  It has been a busy year with looks of good eats.  

For my first post of the year I decided to post this for posterity sake,  this merienda happened almost a year ago, but since I was MIA it is only now that I am posting it.  It was the Little Girl's 10th birthday, we spent the day at Alabang Town Center.  Had lunch at Wee Nam Kee then merienda at Bannaple.  The Little Girl as usual had pasta which she enjoyed.  The Little Boy absolutely loves sweets so he ordered cake which he was able to finish.