Friday Brunch

July, on its first Friday - Weekend and that means a brunch meal in the house. As usual, big brother cooks the rice and waits me to get up to cook the dish.  That's what we call division of labor :)

To go with the cured meat (Halal of course), I sautéd some vegetables as a side dish. 

• Couple of asparagus spears, discard tough ends
• Button mushrooms, sliced
• Tomatoes, seeds removed and sliced
• 1 egg (for my big brother)
• Some salt and ground black pepper to taste

I usually cut my veggies right while cooking and just put it into the board, this way less washing needed.

• From the same oil used for cooking the cured sliced meat, arrange the vegetables into sections (i.e. Tomato in one part of the pan, to the other quarter put the asparagus, mushroom on the other side). Of course you'll need a medium pan to be able to do this.
• Sprinkle some salt and pepper.  Stir fry the vegetables in low heat until tender. asparagus should be still crisp.
• Move the veggies on the sides, crack one egg in the middle pan, add little salt and cook till desired doneness.
• Arrange in a plate and serve.
• Remember to Share!

حياتي in kitchen

"Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love."
-- Keith Floyd, A Feast of Floyd --

Hayati invaded the kitchen today and prepared the dinner. Like me, he is also a novice in this field, yet he tried to make a good food. For him, cook on your own way and just enjoy the experience.

For our snack while watching a TV show, a ready to cooked cheese and chicken flavored samosas, which we bought in Spinney's. This popular Indian stuffed pastry I guess is the counterpart of the famous lumpiang shanghai.

And for dinner, we enjoyed his rendition of fried rice with chicken. 

For this dish you'll need:

• 1/2 kg chicken legs (Hayati removed the skin, rubbed with salt and washed thoroughly)
• 3 cups basmati rice (washed and soaked in water for 30 minutes before cooking)
• Carrot, cut into small cubes
• Green beans, sliced to almost same size of the cubed carrot
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• salt to taste
• 1 fresh yoghurt

Direction:

• Cook the basmati rice as per direction specified in the package.
• Heat oil in a pan. Sprinkle salt into the chicken and fry in low medium heat.
• Once cooked, remove the chicken and set aside.
• In a casserole, add little oil and sauté the onion.
• Add the carrots and green beans. Cook for about 2 minutes.
• Then add the beaten eggs and mix slightly.
• Add the cooked rice and chicken. Season with salt and stir.
• Cover the casserole and cook in a low fire for about 5 minutes.
• Serve with yoghurt.

Stewy Wednesday (Bulalo is in the house)

Here's my own way of cooking this hearty, warm & comfy stew (popular as bulalo in Tagalog).

This dish is quite easy and simple to make that even a novice like me :) surely can prepare.

 

A couple of ingredients needed:

• 1/2 kg veal feet (I'm using this instead of the commonly used beef shank)
• 1 head onion, sliced
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut
• 1 stalk of celery, cut roughly
• Chinese cabbage (you may use pechay or just the regular cabbage), wash, just split leaves into two.
• Salt
• Pepper corns

 

My way:

• The veal feet that I bought is already cut into serving portion so I just washed it.
• In a pressure cooker, add water & the veal. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the meat is tender.
• Transfer the tenderized meat in a casserole. Add some more water enough to cover the meat, drop the onion, pepper corns, celery, carrots and continue to boil. While simmering, some scum might float in which you need to scoop out. I also removed some of the oil accumulating just to reduce the fats in the dish.
• Add the cabbage (a good source of Vitamin C and Calcium). Dash some salt to taste. Cook till just the cabbage has wilted.
• Serve hot!

I always prepare a fish sauce (patis) with lemon juice, to go on the side of this dish, for buddies that have more salty taste preference.

Bitter or sweet?

You are in the vegetable section of a supermarket.. Lots of vegetables lined up waiting for you to pick. You see this long oblong green vegetable - Bitter Gourd (known as ampalaya among Filipinos, Karela among Indians, Goya in Japan)... Are you gonna buy one?

I guess ignoring Bitter Gourd is the common thing we do. Who would prefer bitter taste from a sweet one, right? Yes, bitter gourd as the name implies, has a bitter taste and in the top list among the veggies when it comes to bitterness.

Since childhood, I have been suffering from anemia, which means I have low level of iron. Believe me, years of taking iron supplement is quite strenuous. Really fed up of the rustic smell of the capsule.  I planned to reduce my intake from daily to lower dosage. But that means I have to get some nutrients from the food I am eating. And bitter gourd is just one among the vegetables that is rich in iron. We Ilocanos usually include it in pinakbet dish. Here's one dish though that uses this vegetable as the star in plate.

All you need:

• 1/2 kg bitter gourd, washed, cut into rings as shown in the below picture. If there are seeds, patiently remove.
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 head of onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped (or better grate)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Cooking oil
• Salt
• Some ground black pepper

Direction:

• In a pan, heat some oil and sauté the onion and galic.
• Add the diced tomato and cook until tomato has soften.
• Next, add the bitter gourd. Sprinkle some salt.  Cook till it soften but still a bit firm.
• Meanwhile, crack the eggs, add salt and pepper, beat and pour into the pan.
• Cook for another couple of minutes in a low heat (to avoid burning the eggs) just until the eggs are well done.
• Serve.

Enjoy eating!

Stir fried beef (tapa) with vegetables

I feel a recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation. —–Madam Benoit

Went home late.. Tired from work, yet still need to cook dinner.  Checked the fridge and found marinated beef strips (more known as beef tapa in Tagalog) which I prepared in the weekend. This, cooked alone as stir fried tapa will make a meal but I thought of giving it a twist by adding some veggies (of course those that are available in my fridge). Yes, I have to have vegetables in my meal!

You'll need:

• 1/4 kg beef (I'm using beef marinated in soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, pinch of pepper and salt
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped (I grated it!)
• 1 head onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, cut into strips
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste
• Dash of ground black pepper

Procedure:

• Heat a small amount of oil in a pan. Sauté onion and garlic.
• Add the beef and stir fry for about 3 minutes.  I do not want eating rare meat so just to be certain that my meat is well cooked, I added half a cup of water and cooked it until the water has dried up.
• Add the vegetables and lemon zest (this will give a good aroma). Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Be extra cautious when adding salt as the beef had been marinated so it has flavor already into it.
• Cook till the vegetables are done but still crunchy.
• Serve.

Fish in Tomato Sauce (Sarsiadong Isda)

First, let us see what we can get from the two main ingredients of this dish. Fish is low in fat and a good source of protein & omega 3 fatty acids. Tomatoes, on the other hand, are rich in lycopene which reduces risk of cancer.

Now, listing the complete ingredients for this dish:

• 1/2 kg fresh fish (I am using Sultan Ibrahim as this is the one available in the nearby supermarket).  Cleaned, cut into desired size. I am not that expert in cleaning so I leave that part of the job to the vendors. 
• 6 pieces medium tomatoes, seeds removed & cut into small cubes
• Ginger, julienne
• Garlic, chopped (I do not like that much the taste of a garlic so to get them into small pieces, I do grate the cloves :)
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• Ground black pepper
• Salt
• Cooking oil
• 1 egg, beaten (optional)

Others prefer this dish a bit watery and with egg added into it but I want mine a bit dry as shown in the below picture, plus I omitted the egg as this usually triggers the attack of my allergy.

Let's get cooking!

• Wash the fish and pat dry gently. Sprinkle some salt into the fish.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan. Fry the fish until golden brown.
• Remove the fish and put in a plate.
• In the same pan, remove some of the oil used for frying, leaving just enough for sautéing the other ingredients. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for about a minute.
• Add the tomatoes, pinch of pepper and salt. Cook till it gets soft and some of the juice has evaporated.  Note that tomatoes usually have an acidic taste and cooking it for some time release the sweetness in it.
• Put back the fried fish in the pan. If you are adding egg, this is the right time to incorporate into the dish. Cook for another minute just to let the fish absorb all the the flavors (or until the egg is cooked enough).
• Serve.

Dish is done! While you are enjoying the fruit of your toil, I'll leave you with this question to think about..

Tomatoes...are these fruits or vegetables?

Broccoli with Tuna

I admit, at first, I really don’t like the taste of this vegetable. According to http://www.whfoods.com/ this smell comes from the sulfur compounds that are being released during the process of cooking. Well, take a look on what nutrients you can get from a cup of broccoli http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=9. A lot right? So you better start eating if you're not yet into it.
Well, here's a broccoli recipe shared by my colleague in Philippine Bureau of Statistics. Give it a try and I’m sure, you’ll gonna enjoy this simple healthy dish.

You'll need:

• ½ kg of broccoli (separate the florets, washed & drained)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 can of century tuna (in vegetable oil)
• Lemon or calamansi juice (optional)

Get cooking:

• Put in a casserole the broccoli floret, then the tuna. Add some salt.  Be careful on the amount of salt you are putting into it as the tuna is already flavored. No need to add water as the juice from the tuna is enough to steam the vegetables.
• Cook, tossing occasionally to ensure all the florets are evenly cooked. This will take only minutes. Do not overcook as it will become mushy. You know that its done when they are bright green and taste still a bit crisp.
• Serve. If you are into a citrusy taste, you may want to squeeze a bit of lemon or calamansi juice. A calamansi flavored century tuna works well too.

Bon appetite!!