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.

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. 

Adobo Rice

As promised here is a new food post, after a long absence.

I have not perfected my adobo cooking skills, however I proud to say I make very good adobo rice = )

When I was young, whenever my Lola Ying made adobo she would make this too. After she took out the cooked adobo from the pan she would stir-fry some day old rice in the same pan.  This way she would get every morsel of adobo from the pan, absolutely nothing is wasted.  The result was a wonderfully delicious rice dish a perfect match for her yummy pork adobo.  In fact I was more excited eating the adobo rice than the adobo itself. In Lola's version she did not have to add anything else except the rice, since her adobo was perfect.  In my version I need to add some minced garlic, salt and a little sugar to make it flavorful.  It does not taste like that of Lola's but I and the Little Ones like it very much.  

Now if only I could finally perfect my adobo dish, so that I can make Lola Ying truly proud. 

Sinigang Na Ulang

 

You are probably wondering where is the soup of the sinigang.  Well I am not too fond of broth based soup, so when my Mom made her sinigang na ulang for Satruday lunch, I took out the ulang  from the hot steaming bowl and passed the soup over to the Little Boy, he absolutely loves anything soup. Something he only eats rice with soup.

Even without the soup, since the ulang  had been infused with the flavors of the broth, the meat was so flavorful.  This is probably the biggest and meatiest ulang I have ever had.   So I had to take a photo and blog about it. I think I ate every single part of it except the shells, well maybe I even ate some of the shells, it was that good. 

Lechon Flakes

There were plenty of  left-over lechon from the Little Boy's birthday. It seems that with the crispy skin all gone no one was interested in the lechon meat.   Since it came all the way from Cebu I wanted to honor the lechon by making sure that we consume all of it.  And my other reason it was quite expensive there was no way I was not going to get our money's worth by making sure we made use of all of it. 

We already used some to make paksiw na lechon a few days ago, but we still had plenty of meat sitting in the freezer. I thought why not make them into flakes, it would be like adobo flakes but this time it would be lechon.  So I pounded loads of garlic, sauteed them up in some oil, then added the flaked lechon meat, seasoned it with some salt, pepper and brow sugar, cooked it until it was deliciously crispy.  We used it as toppings for several dishes, and when we felt like it dipped it in some vinegar and ate it with rice.  

Of all the dishes we used the lechon flakes on my favorite one was when I added it to my salsa salad, then mixed in some homemade croutons.  Ah I tell you it was heavenly.  It was so good I made the same salad dish for lunch the following day.

As of today all of the lechon has been consumed na, mission accomplished we definitely got our money's worth from this yummy piggy.

Binagoongang Baboy

I was so happy with my first try at cooking  Chicken Adobo sa Gata that it inspired me to cook another classic Filipino dish for the first time - Binagoongang Baboy.  I found a recipe in the March 2010 issue of Yummy magazine.  I've had this dish often in restaurant, but at times I found the meat to be really tough.  That's a major concern for me because The Little Ones would not appreciate that.  So happy that in this recipe the meat turned out so tender.  I guess boiling the meat first really helps in tenderizing it. As usual the Little Girl liked the dish,but I was surprised that the Little Boy loved it too.  He had several servings, I guess  the combination of sweet and salty was to his liking.   And since the dish has no soy sauce he can have as much as he wanted.  His soy intake should be limited because of his G6PD deficiency.  He kept on asking that the sauce be mixed with his rice, "More please, more pa" he said, then he took a huge spoonful, and then turned to me with his "pacute" smile with his head tilted to the side.  

Here is the recipe:

1 kilo pork belly, cubed

3 cups of water

1 head of garlic, minced

1 large white onion, minced 

4 tomatoes, diced

4 siling haba, minced

2 cups of shrimp paste

1/2 cup vinegar

4 tbsps brown sugar

1. In a casserole, boil pork in water and simmer until tender, about 40 minutes.  Then drain, and set aside.

2. Saute garlic, onion, tomatoes, and chili peppers in a little oil, and then add the pork.

3. Add the shrimp paste and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.

4. Pour in vinegar and stir well.

5. Add sugar and simmer for 10 minutes or just until cooked.  Serve hot. 

Chicken Adobo Sa Gata

My attempts to make pork and chicken adobo have not been very successful, it always turns out bland.    I've asked friends for tips and adobo recipes, but the result is always a bland dish. So bland that I usually just turn it into adobo flakes.

But with this tasty chicken adobo sa gata dish I was able to attain adobo cooking success.  The dish was bursting with flavor, you can taste the spiciness of the chilies and garlic, the richness of the coconut, and the distinct taste of vinegar.  I also loved that the chicken strips remained very tender.  The dish even tasted better the next day.

And since the dish had no soy sauce the Little Boy could have as much of it as he wanted.  He has a G6PD deficiency, so we try to limit his soy sauce intake.

I do hope that I will be able to have the same success with the traditional pork and chicken adobo. Does anyone have any tips for me?

Here is the recipe:
2 tbsps minced garlic
1 onion, minced
1 kilo chicken breasts, cut into strips
3 cups coconut milk
1 tsp black pepper
3 tbsps vinegar
1 piece of chili, chopped
1 tsp minced green onion
cooking oil

1. In a pot, saute garlic and onion in cooking oil.
2. Add chicken strips, 2cups of coconut milk, black pepper, salt and vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered until chicken is tender.  Add the chili.
3. Stir in the remaining coconut milk and simmer for another 3 minutes or until sauce is thick.  Top with green onion.

Spicy Stir-Fried Adobong Pusit

We have some left-over adobong pusit that no one was interested in eating anymore.  I guess that is what becomes to a good dish after the first day it is served, people lose their appetite for it on the second day.  But I did not want it to go to waste so I decided to reinvent and serve it for dinner.  I simply drained some of the black sauce.  Then in a pan I heated up some oil, added the adobong pusit, stir-fried it for about a minute. I added in some crushed pepper flakes, then seasoned the dish with a little brown sugar and some cayenne pepper. 

The result was a wonderful dish that still retained that beautiful adobo flavor but with a kick from the crushed peppers. So the next time there's an old dish sitting in the fridge I am going to think of  ways how I can  spruce it up. 

Pansit Palabok

Of all the different kinds of pansit that we have palabok is my favorite.  There was a week not so long ago that I had this for 5 straight days.   It has everything I love to eat - crab fat, shrimps, squid, noodles, boiled eggs and crushed chicaron bits. I believe palabok is a truly authentic Pinoy noodle dish, unlike most of the other pansit dishes which are more Chinese in origin.

I can't exactly recall how old I was when I first had palabok.  But I can vividly remember how happy my taste buds were exploding with flavor, loving the richness of the crab sauce and the different textures of the ingredients.  I was in food heaven at that time.  I try to relieve this utopia every time I take that first forkful bite, hhmmmm heaven indeed.

When I have gathered enough cooking confidence I will cook this dish, but for now I respect this dish too much to try to attempt to make it.  

Lumpiang Ube Tikoy

This is a snack invented by my Mom.  She wraps up sliced ube tikoy and cheese in lumpia wrappers and then she deep-fries them.  It is a wonderful afternoon merienda treat for the whole family.

Lechon Kawali Honey Bagoong Salad

I was reading the September 2011 issue of Yummy magazine, and it inspired me to make this salad.  The September issue is all about Pinoy food.  It featured a bagnet and honey bagoong dip recipe that I will do soon, but for now I made this salad to satisfy my cravings.  I thought since we were going to have lechon kawali for Sunday lunch, why not attempt to make a lechon kawali lettuce salad and pair it with honey bagoong, topped with some chili flakes.  The combination of the the ingredients was wonderful, though next time I should cut the lechon kawali into smaller bits.  It was a deliciously sinful salad that was worth all the cholesterol and calories. 

Fried Lumpiang Gulay

Was craving for something crunchy searched the fridge for ingredients. Found carrots, and cabbage which I chopped up and shredded.  Then mixed in some sotanghon noodles with the vegetables, seasoned the mixture with some salt and pepper.  Wrapped them up in lumpia wrappers and then pan fried them.  Super quick to make all veggie spring rolls that definitely satisfied my cravings =)

Breaded Shrimps

I'll keep this very short, I made this dish free-style, did not have a recipe. Saw that we had some shrimps, and left-over pandesal which I turned into breadcrumbs the result breaded shrimps. They turned out so pretty looking.  The coating was perfectly crispy and the shrimp was so sweet and yummy. I was so happy munching on these beauties :) 

Curacha

For those who are not familiar with this delicious creature here is Wikipedia's definition:

Curacha also known as spanner crab or red frog crab is a local Chavacano name given to a seacrab species found in Zamboanga. It is uniquely found in the deep-waters of Zamboanga and nowhere else in the world. It is a highbred crustacean, with crossbreed characteristics of a large sea crab and a big spiny lobster. It is a large crab with a red color, which stays the same in color even when cooked. The crab is usually steamed or boiled so its flavor is preserved.Unlike most crabs whose majority of meat can be found in their claws, the mother-load of the curacha's meat is found in its body

It has what I refer to as  "hairy legs" 

My paternal grandfather was a proud son of  Zamboanga, and my Dad spent his early years in this southern province.  When we were young Dad would take us to his hometown, so that we know our family's roots. Dad also made sure that we enjoyed this weird alien looking alimango cousin native to the Zamboanga peninsula. Love how the local restaurants like Alavar, Chimang and that restaurant that had the super long name with Seafood Island in it, offered different curacha dishes.  These restaurants had different ways of  cooking curacha, one thing they all had in common all the dishs were scrumptious. I remember one trip when my Lola Stella was determined to serve us some home cooked curacha.  She told us that she went to the market early because she wanted first pick of the curacha.  Only to be told by the vendors that only a few pieces were delivered and everything had  been bought by a military man who was hosting a party that day.  The guy was still in the marked, so my Lola tracked him down and begged that he sell him some because her nephew and his family has just arrived from Manila, and she wanted us to have some curacha for lunch.  I have to give it to Lola Stella, her charm and her animated gift of speaking must have been so convincing, the man eventually gave her about 2 kilos of curacha.   These were some of the best tasting curachas I had not only because they were fresh but because what Lola had to do to get them, it showed us how much she loved us. 

It has flat claws like a lobster

Oh the yummy meat and aligue

During last Saturday's market day one of the seafood vendors had curacha, it is very seldom that we find curacha in this market, so even if the price was at P450.00 a kilo, I know it's ridiculous, we had to buy some.  We asked if the curacha was fresh, the vendor claimed that it was definitely fresh because these just came in from Palawan via air, her words were "kakamatay lang nila".  We told her really now, we have never seen live curacha before, and we did not know that there were curachas in Palawan too.  When we got home my sister-in-law was left to attend to the goods from the market. My parents and I together with 1st Brother were going to church because it was Mom's birthday, then off to Quaipo to buy some daing and hamon for Dad. 

When we got back home my sister-in-law told us that she saw the curachas move.   Wow the vendor was telling the truth they were really alive.  They must have been tired from the plane ride when we bought them at the market.  At home they must have recovered, and were strong enough to move around when my sis-in-law noticed them. 

At dinner we enjoyed the sweet meat of the fresh curacha, they tasted wonderful. To paraphrase a Chinese fast-food chain's commercial - you don't need any sauce or dip all you need is your mouth to enjoy curacha, so if you have not had it before try it, you won't regret it, promise  :) 

Lola Tela's Shrimps with Garlic

The other day Mom was in the mood to cook.  You see my mom is a good mother, however cooking is not one of her favorite mom activities, to her cooking is chore she would rather not do.  She is more of a arts and crafts kind of mom.  She makes beautiful gift wrappings, and whenever there is a kid's occasion to be celebrated she makes beautifully done decorations and give-aways.

So when she is in the mood to cook it usually is a good dish.  Last week she made my Lola Tela's Shrimps with Garlic, a simple yet flavorful dish.  Mom rarely makes this dish, probably she cooks this twice a year. Mom learned this dish from Lola Tela, upon taking my first bite of this dish I could not help but remember Lola.  

She was the aunt of my Dad.  I only met her when I was in my teens, because she lived in Zamboanga. I wish I had met her sooner because she was a great woman.  She always had a zest for life and had a great sense of style coupled with a fantastic sense of humor. I remember her telling me the story of her going to church to pray that she be blessed with children. At this time she had been married for a couple of years and yet they did not have any kids.  Soon after that prayer she became pregnant with her firstborn, soon after that she was pregnant again with her second child, then she was pregnant again with her third.  She was blessed with 6 kids. So after she gave birth to her youngest she went back to the church and thanked God for the blessings, however she also requested that God stop blessing her with babies because she already had 6.  God did hear her prayer, however after several years she was blessed with a 7th child.  I guess God really loved Lola to have blessed her 7 times.  

I loved how she told this story in her distinct voice and perfect English and how animated she was. Sadly she passed away early this year, she was a great lady and she is missed by all she touched.

Love you Lola Tela.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 kilo shrimps, leave the shells on

1/2 a bulb of chopped garlic

salt to taste

cooking oil

Fry the chopped garlic in oil until it is aromatic.  Then add the shrimps, season with some salt.  Cook until the garlic turns brown and the shrimps are fully cooked through. 

Calamares

This is the Little Girl's favorite squid dish. She can easily finish 20 pieces of these on her own.

I've tried different ways of cooking calamares - dipped with batter made of water, egg and flour; batter with flour and water without egg; batter made of water, egg and cornstarch; and one with water and cornstarch only.

But the best cooking technique is simply dusting the squid pieces in flour seasoned with some salt and pepper.  After dusting the squid deep-fry these for 30 seconds so that it will have a crispy coating but the squid remains soft, not chewy. 

Lechon Wraps

Scanning the contents of the fridge I saw that we had some left-over lechon and flour tortilla.  So I thought let's try to be creative by making a lechon wrap. 

I shredded the lechon meat and fried it slightly in the pan.

Then I made a wonderful mango-tomato salsa to go with the lechon.

Warmed the flour tortilla, added some shredded lechon, plus a spoonful of salsa topped with green onions and sour cream.

Folded the tortilla, then took that delicious first bite  =)

Camaron Rebosado (Battered Prawns with Sweet and Sour Sauce)

One of my favorite dishes that my Lola use to make.

Fresh and succulent prawns + crispy batter + sweet and sour sauce = PERFECTION!, no more words are needed.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 kilo prawns, shelled and deveined, leave the tails on

2 large eggs, beaten

oil for deep frying

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.  Dredge each prawn in the mixture, then dip in egg then dredge again in flour.

2. Heat oil in a pan or wok.  Cook prawns in batches until they are cooked.  Drain on paper towels.

For the sauce:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup tomato ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

2 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup water

Place sugar, ketchup and vinegar in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over low heat.  Stir in cornstarch mixture.  Continue to stir until sauce is thick, make sure to stir occasionally. 

Chili Mussels in Lime Soda

This dish was a wonderful revelation.  When I was reading the recipe in Yummy magazine, I thought that it would probably be an ok dish, might be a little bland because the ingredients were few and simple.  Boy was I wrong.  The combination of everything rendered the clams with a chili-sweet taste without overpowering the fresh salty taste of the clams..  It was a delight to eat, it seemed that the ingredients were in perfect harmony with each other and created a masterpiece truly enjoyed by all.

Here is the recipe:
2 kilos fresh mussels, scrubbed and cleaned
1 chopped onion
1/4 cup minced garlic
4 pieces chopped siling labuyo
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon grated ginger
1 can lime soda (I use Sprite)
rock salt to taste
1/2 cup shredded, fresh cilantro (we don't like cilantro so we leave it out, it's up to you if you would like to add it)

1. Saute the onions, garlic, and siling labuyo in vegetable oil for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the mussels, ginger and lime soda, then cover with lid.
3. Allow the mussels to steam until they open, about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Discard any mussels that do not open.
5. Season with salt, then if you want toss in cilantro, then serve.

Deep-Fried Crab

This is my parent's favorite crab dish.  We use to order our deep-fried crabs from Aling Letty's at  the Seaside Market in Baclaran, but we have not ordered from there in  years.  So when I found a recipe I had to make it.  The first time I made this dish Mom and Dad upon taking their first bites both looked towards me, with smiles on their faces, and they gave me the thumbs up.  My Dad says that my version is even better than that of  Alling Letty's.  I don't quite believe him, I think that's just him being  encouraging and a loving Dad. 

May I suggest that when you make this dish, eat it with your loved ones.  It makes it a more fun and fulfilling eating experience.  I have plenty of fond memories eating crabs, not just with my family but with my dear friends. I have enjoyed several crab meals with my Mars Jen and Joan.  Both of whom I have not seen for a long time and miss dearly.  I hope to sit down at the table with my Mars soon and enjoy eating crab while sharing stories and laughs.  

Here is the recipe:

2 large live crabs

minced ginger (optional, I don't use ginger because my parents don't like the taste of it)

chopped siling labuyo

2 tablespoons sesame oil

salt and pepper to taste

flour

cayenne pepper

oil for deep frying

1. Wash the crabs, then place in the freezer for about 2 hours to put them to "sleep".

2. After 2 hours take the crabs out of the freezer, take off the talukap (top shell) and the claws. Then chop the body in half.  Crack the claws using the back of your knife or cleaver.

3. In a bowl mix together the minced ginger, finely chopped siling labuyo, salt and pepper, and the sesame oil.

4. Pour the mixture over the crab, make sure to coat each piece.  Marinate for 30 minutes.

5. Lightly season flour with cayenne pepper.  If you like it hot you can add more cayenne pepper.

6. Dredge each crab piece in the seasoned flour. If you like a thick coating for you dish, add water to the flour to create a thick batter, then dip each piece in the batter instead of dredging.

7. Deep-fry in hot oil until cooked.  Drain on paper towels, then serve immediately, and most importantly happy eating :-)