Meal wrapped in Bamboo leaves!

Chinese food has been one of the most regarded cuisines in the world. Like most cuisines, the dish may vary depending on the province in came from. My mother's family was from Fukien so most of the Chinese dishes I have eaten while growing up came from there. One of the food I constantly crave for is Ma Chang, a dimsum with sticky rice and meat wrapped in bamboo leaves.

It can be wrapped with banana leaves if you cannot find bamboo leaves but it will not smell the same. The dried bamboo leaves impart a distinct flavor to the sticky rice. It can be bought from grocery stores in Chunatown.

I used pork in this recipe but you can also use chicken. Another indispensable ingredient is the black mushroom. So don't ever skip that if you already skipped the bamboo leaves. This recipe is enough to make at least 10 pieces of medium size Ma Chang.

Ingredients:

1 kl pork with fat, cut into bite size

5 pcs black mushrooms (big), soaked in hot water, overnight

1 kl sticky rice or glutinous rice, soaked in water for 2 hours

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup dark soy sauce

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

black pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in oil. Put the pork and brown all sides. Pour the soy sauce and add water to cover the meat. Put the sliced black mushrooms next. Cook until tender.

Remove the pork into a separate container. Set aside. Use the sauce to cook the sticky rice.

Pour the uncooked sticky rice in the pot of sauce. And cook until the liquid is gone.

Soak the dried leaves for a couple of hours to make them flexible again.

Get 2-3 leaves and make a funnel. Put enough rice and a couple of pieces of meat and mushrooms. Fold the leaves to close it. Use white strings to secure the triangle.

Steam the Ma Chang for 45 minutes.

Serve hot and eat with catsup! (I know it's weird but it does taste good with it!)

You can store the Ma Chang in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Just steam it again to reheat.

Fish and Corn soup!

A lot of people are very familiar with "Crab and Corn soup". Perhaps because of the catchy tune that accompanied the TV commercial of the Knorr instant soup mix with the same name, the one with "Just add one egg"! Although the instant soup mix is very easy to prepare, it does not have a lot of meat in it. Just full of artificial flavors packed in it. Even the crab is not real. FYI: Crabsticks are not made from crabs but from fish.

Having said that, I have made crab and corn soup, countless times, not from the the instant soup mix. And then I thought, why not make it with fish instead of crabsticks? I cooked a somewhat similar dish before called Fish and Corn but it was not a soup. By adding more water, it can turn into soup. And since my husband loves misua, I also added a few in it.

Ingredients:

1 pack frozen Cream Dory fillets, more or less a kilo

1 can of corn kernels

1 egg, beaten

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 bouillon, fish

misua, the quantity may depend on you

cornstarch

salt and white pepper

Cut the fish fillets into bite size and dredge in cornstarch. Deep fry until the breading is cooked. The fish fillets may not look like they were cooked thoroughly but don't worry they will cook in the soup.

Saute the onion and garlic in the pot. Put about 2 liters of water and let it boil. Put the bouillon in the pot. Next, put the egg and stir to disperse it in the soup. Put the misua in the soup. Mix 2-3 Tbsp of cornstarch and enough water to disperse it. Carefully pour the cornstarch mixture in the soup while stirring constantly. Put the fried fish fillets and the corn in the pot. Add sufficient water to the soup. Let it boil for 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot!

Laksa: Pinoy style!

My father was an enthusiastic cook! He loved to try out different recipes whenever he learned of a new one. One dish he often cooked was Laksa because it is a very easy dish to make and he used to cook it without meat (he was a vegan). It is a soup common in Southeast Asian countries. You may become confused because this recipe is different from the Laksa from Singapore, Malaysia, etc. (If you will search in the net for it).This recipe does not have the curry flavor in it because we do not have it here traditionally. This dish can be found in Laguna, Quezon and Bicol, I think. It is very nutritious, because of fiber and other nutrients, but also high in fat content. But nonetheless, it is very satisfying for those who love coconut milk.

Ingredients:

1 Puso ng Saging (Banana blossom, whole heart)

250g bean thread (sotanghon)

3 cups coconut milk

250g small shrimps

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

patis

ground black pepper

Cut the banana heart into strips. In a container, put the sliced banana heart and put 1/4 cup of rock salt. Mix and let stand for 30 mins. Rinse the banana heart with water, twice. This is to remove the sap from the heart. Squeeze hard remove excess water.

Saute onion and garlic in a pot with 1 Tbsp of cooking oil. Put the sliced banana heart and the coconut milk.

Add the shrimps and let it boil until the shrimps are cooked. Remember, shrimps cook easily.

In a separate pan, cook the bean threads. I did this because I don't like my soup to disappear when cooking the noodles. The downside of cooking dried noodles is they absorb most of the liquid.

Put the noodles in the pot and let it boil. Put patis and black pepper to taste. Remove from heat the moment it boils. Serve hot!

Hamonado

We, Filipinos, have sweet tooth. The fact that we have so many desserts proves that we love sweet treats. Even some of our main dishes have a hint of sweetness. Take for example the "Hamonado".

Hamonado can be made with any kind of meat. Chicken, pork, beef, turkey, etc. It is very simple to make and the taste can be compared to HAM, where it was named after. I love the rich flavor combined with the sweetness of the sauce. Today, I made Chicken Hamonado. 

Ingredients:

1 kl. Chicken, chopped into serving sizes

250mL Pineapple juice

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 onion

2 cloves garlic, more if you want

patis

ground black pepper

Marinade the chicken with patis, about 1/4 c. Let it stand for half an hour. Meanwhile, chop the onion and garlic.

In a shallow pan, heat 1 Tbsp. of cooking oil. Saute the onion and garlic. Put the marinated chicken and pour the juice next. Let it boil until the chicken is cooked and the juice has been reduced. Put more patis, sugar and black pepper to adjust the taste. Serve!

Note: If you are going to use pork or other meat, make sure that the meat is tender before serving.

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.

Holy Week and Seafood Diet!

Ahhh. Holy week. The long vacation. It is meant to be focused on Christ and how God sacrificed for us. But for most, aside from the spiritual purpose of it, it is a time when most of us has time to take a vacation, if not out-of-town, wherever one can find relaxation.

I started the holiday by getting some "macopa" or mountain apple (according to Google). My co-worker has a tree in front of their house and it bears fruit all year round. The fruit is different from the usual fruits we see in the market. The fruits are small, just a little bigger than my thumb, deep red in color and very succulent. It is not that sweet but when sprinkled with a little salt, it is very delicious! When we went to their, the tree's branches looked bent and tired because of the number of fruits in the tree. We started to pick fruits immediately using only our hands since the tree is not that tall. I was able to gather around 5 kilos of the fruit.

The humbled tree

Looking at the fruits

The abundance.

The next day, we headed to my husband's parents' house in Malabon. We tried to adhere to the no meat policy during Holy week so the first thing that I cooked was seafood pesto. I bought shrimps, squid and mussel and of course, fresh oysters!!!

Shrimps, squid and mussels.

Cleaned and ready to cook!

After brushing the oysters to remove grime and dirt, I boiled a pot of water and put 4 or 5 pieces of oyster and take them out after just 2 mins. The oysters will not be overcook and the taste of the sea is still there. I was not able to take pictures of the cooked oysters because they were eaten so fast before I knew it (my mind went blank from sheer joy over eating the oysters).

For the seafood pesto, I made pesto sauce with fresh basil, olive oil, garlic and cashew nuts (substitute for the original pine nuts, although you can use walnut also). I used a blender since I do not have a food processor. I cooked it to removed liquids other than the olive oil. I cooked the seafoods in very high heat to cooked the meat slightly and remove excess liquid but will not overcook the meat. I mixed it with cooked pasta and voila! Served while hot!

The Holy week can be spent in whatever way we want. Hope everyone enjoys their week!