Rellenong pusit!

I craved for Rellenong pusit since last week so I decided to make some this Sunday. Since there are very affordable squid available in the market nowadays, I gave it a go. The squids I bought are of medium size, ideal for stuffing. For those with sensitive taste, I think the reason why the squids are cheap is because the freshness is questionable. I don't know where the squids came from, but I have bought this kind of squid before, and they turned out fine. But if you want to have the freshest squid, they are more expensive.

The stuffing and sauce can vary depending on what you want to put. I put ground pork and chopped squid head on this dish. The sauce I put in this dish is like adobo diablo, a little dark (from dark soy sauce) and a little coconut milk with a little hint of spiciness.

Ingredients:

1.5 kg medium sized squids about 8 pieces, cleaned

150g ground pork

3 squid heads, chopped

1 small potato, minced

1 small carrot, minced

1/2 bell pepper, minced

2 onions, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

dark soy sauce

1/2 cup coconut milk

juice of 5 calamansi

salt and pepper to taste

After the squids are cleaned, marinade in soy sauce and calamansi juice. Set aside.

In a pan, heat 1 Tbsp. oil, saute half of the onions and garlic. Put the ground pork and brown. Put the chopped squid, potato, carrot, and bell pepper. Cook for 5 mins. Let it cool before stuffing the squids.

After the stuffing has cooled already, put just the right amount of it inside the squids because the squids are going to shrink during cooking. Secure the opening with a toothpick. You can also attach the head in the opening if you want, for a better looking stuffed squid. But it is easier to just cook the head with the squids.

Since we are cooking medium sized squids, I don't want it tough and chewy, so decided to cook the squids in a pressure cooker. Squids are tender when cooked just right but when overcooked, they can be very tough. Since we stuffed them and we are going to make sure that the inside is well-done, we are going to cooked them longer thus we are going ot use the pressure cooker.

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in the pressure cooker, saute the onions and garlic. Put the stuffed squids and heads, put the remaining stuffing if there were some left. Put 1/4 cup of dark soy sauce and the coconut milk. Pour enough enough water to reach the level half of the squids. Close the cooker and put on high heat to hasten the boiling. Once the pressure cooker starts to get noisy, lessen the heat and cook for 20 mins. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to drop before opening it.

Taste the sauce of the squid, if you want it a little sweet, put some sugar and red chili if you want it a spicy. Put some ground black pepper and serve.

Crispy Pancit in a very hot and humid day!

I do not like rainy season that much but I do not like summer either, so where do I stand? Today is a particularly hot day and I am not in the mood for coming up with something for dinner. After all there is still leftover Kare-kare. But the duty calls because our stomach cannot take Kare-kare anymore after overly stuffing ourselves yesterday.

I am thinking of something different to eat. Something that can wash out the taste of peanut in our palate. I decided to make PANCIT. My husband loves any kind of dish that has noodles in it. Palabok, Pancit canton, Bihon guisado, Lomi, Spaghetti, etc. The usual is pancit canton. So I thought of giving it a twist. I remember the time when we had crispy noodles in a Chinese restaurant so I thought, why not? I wanted to cook crispy noodles for a long time now but held back because of the amount of fat that comes with it. But then it's not everyday that I get to cook it.

I went to the market just a walk away from our house and purchase some of the ingredients I needed. By the time I got back it was already raining cats and dogs. So much for the hot and humid day! Anyway...

Ingredients:

400-500 g dried egg noodles

250 g porkloin, sliced thinly

1 small head of cabbage, sliced

1 small carrot, julienned
100 g black ear fungus, soaked
Small pack of kikiam or squid balls, whatever you want, sliced
1 onion, sliced or minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced

I cooked the noodles according to direction and set it aside to let it dry a bit. This will make the noodles more crispy when fried.

I prepared all the ingredients so as to make the cooking process easier. I always prepare the ingredients first to prevent delay in adding ingredients in the cooking process. It will also avoid overcooking the other ingredient because of any delay.

Cooked noodles

Sliced pork

When the noodles have become a little dry, I fried small batches of it until all the noodles are fried. The noodles does not have to be too crispy, just fry the batch in high heat for 5 mins then turn it. Fry the other side for 5 mins and then take it off the pan.

Fried noodles

I fried the pork in high heat drizzled with a little soy sauce to give some taste. The pork does not have to be cooked long since it was thinly sliced and the longer it is cooked the tougher it gets. That's why I like cooking in high heat, to cook it faster and to dry out the soy sauce also. Set the pork aside.

I boiled the ear fungus until it is just the right texture. Not too soft, a little bit crunchy. I drizzled it with a little bit of soy sauce and put it in the pan I used in cooking the pork. Heat it up a little bit and take it off after 5 mins. Set aside. In the same pan, saute the onions then garlic and carrots, put the kikiam or squid balls. Cook until done. Put the cabbage and cook for another 3 mins. Set aside.

In the same pan, again, about two cups of water, a shrimp bouillon, ground pepper, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and let it boil. Taste the sauce for right saltiness, Remember that you are going to add this to the noodles so its ok to have it just a little bit of salty. In a small bowl, put 1 heaping tablespoon of cornstarch in a small amount of water just to disperse it. Put the mixture slowly in the pan while stirring constantly. Why do we use the same pan over and over again? Mind you, do not rinse it in between ingredients. The pan, with the consecutive cooking, has a lot of flavors in it and it is a waste to just wash it away.

Put the noodles in the serving plate and arrange all the meat and vegetables on top of the noodles. Drizzle the sauce over the noodles. Serve immediately or the the noodles will lose some of its texture.