Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelette)

Eggplants tops among my favorite veggies. This recipe is quite easy. The messy part is when you grill and peel the skin off the eggplant.

Recipe:
3 eggplants (long variety)
1 large egg
dash of salt & pepper
oil for frying

Procedure

Happy New Year

  

Season’s Greetings To Everyone

 Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!!!

Christmas always brings back memories from childhood. Food is always a part of these memories. Many families have their own food traditions that are recreated every year. Every Christmas Eve my family would prepare  wonderful meals such as ham, chicken, quezo de bola, cakes, pies, cookies, chicken macaroni, fruit salad, leche flan, puto, biko, bar-b-que, lechon kawali, lasagna etc.

Christmas season is upon us. I looked forward to going to Christmas Eve service, looking at the Christmas lights around town, opening presents and spending Christmas day with our family.

I love Christmas shopping. It is fun to search for just the right gift for each family member and friends.

Decorating the tree was usually a family affair. We would put up the Christmas lights and decorate the trees with old Christmas ornaments that we collected over the years.

Christmas Eve service is a special time, because it is a  reminder of what Christmas is all about – celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On Christmas day we will spend the day relaxing and eating.

I wish all my blog friends a joyful, peaceful & prosperous 2009.

Croissant Pastry - Food Sense new look

 I really like the new look of my blogs template. I feel hungry everytime I open this blog site. Croissant is one of my fave pastries/bread after English Muffins and Bagels.  I haven’t tried making this bread because its time consuming and requires skills and patience to prepare this. Making croissant dough can be prepared and left to rise for several hours.

Croissant can be filled with chocolate, ham, cheese, almond cream, apple & strawbwrry, etc. but the common pastries sold here, like French pastries are without fillings. I like plain croissant with hot coffee. If you’re interested to try and make this pastry here’s the recipe from Gourmet.

Croissant Dough

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk, heated to warm (105°F–110°F)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast (from two 1/4-oz packages)
3 3/4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter

Special equipment: a standing electric mixer with dough hook, 2 kitchen towels (not terry cloth), a ruler, a pastry brush

Preparation

Make dough: Stir together warm milk, brown sugar, and yeast in bowl of standing mixer and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If it doesn’t foam, discard and start over.) Add 3 3/4 cups flour and salt and mix with dough hook at low speed until dough is smooth and very soft, about 7 minutes.

Transfer dough to a work surface and knead by hand 2 minutes, adding more flour as necessary, a little at a time, to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Form dough into a roughly 1 1/2-inch-thick rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until cold, about 1 hour.

Prepare and shape butter: After dough has chilled, arrange sticks of butter horizontally, their sides touching, on a work surface. Pound butter with a rolling pin to soften slightly (butter should be malleable but still cold). Scrape butter into a block and put on a kitchen towel, then cover with other towel. Pound and roll out on both sides until butter forms a uniform 8- by 5-inch rectangle. Chill, wrapped in towels, while rolling out dough.

Roll out dough: Unwrap dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface, dusting with flour as necessary and lifting and stretching dough (especially in corners), into a 16- by 10-inch rectangle. Arrange dough with a short side nearest you. Put butter in center of dough so that long sides of butter are parallel to short sides of dough. Fold as you would a letter: bottom third of dough over butter, then top third down over dough. Brush off excess flour with pastry brush.

Roll out dough: Turn dough so a short side is nearest you, then flatten dough slightly by pressing down horizontally with rolling pin across dough at regular intervals, making uniform impressions. Roll out dough into a 15- by 10-inch rectangle, rolling just to but not over ends.

Brush off any excess flour. Fold in thirds like a letter, as above, stretching corners to square off dough, forming a 10- by 5-inch rectangle. (You have completed the first “fold.”) Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, 1 hour.

Make remaining “folds”: Make 3 more folds in same manner, chilling dough 1 hour after each fold, for a total of 4 folds. (If any butter oozes out while rolling, sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking.) Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours but no more than 18 (after 18 hours, dough may not rise sufficiently when baked).

Angel Cake

  Chiffon and Angel cakes are baked in tube pans. When I was in the US I had a hard time “pan shopping” for pans, so my sister ordered directly from the pan manufacturers such as Wilton. We waited for about two weeks before our orders arrived. Here in the Philippines the tube aluminum pan is easy to find.

I have 2 tube pans in my dozens of baking cookware. I seldom use this pan except for special occasions like birthdays & christmas holidays. It is easy to order special cakes in bakeries or cake shops but angel and chiffon cakes are no longer made in bakeshops, so making your own angel or chiffon cake is something special.
Tube pan and electric mixer are essential gadgets in making this kind of cakes. Don’t ever buy a non-stick pan as I did before or you’ll end up baking a fallen angel. The cake will collapse as it will not cling to the tube and sides of the pan. Do not grease the pan. I have posted a chiffon cake recipe in this blog.

What do you do with your egg whites??? Here’s the recipe for Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake Recipe

12 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups white sugar, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp salt

Oven Temp ~ 375° Ore-heat oven
Cake Baking Time ~ 30 - 40 Min. Pan Type ~ 10 x 3 3/4-inch - Angel Food cake pan

Directions:

In large bowl, using a mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar at high speed until foamy. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are glossy and stand in soft peaks. Beat in flavorings.Sift together flour, remaining sugar and salt. Sift about 1/2 cup of the flour mixture over whites and gently fold just until flour disappears.
Repeat, folding in remaining flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Pour into ungreased 10 x 3 3/4-inch Angel Food pan. Gently cut through batter with metal spatula.Bake in preheated oven until top springs back when lightly touched with finger. Remove from oven immediately and invert cake as soon as possible to maintain its volume and to keep it from shrinking. Cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours. With narrow spatula or knife, loosen cake from pan and gently shake onto serving plate.Top with fruit or frost, if desired.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake Recipe:

Omit almond extract and increase vanilla to 2 teaspoons. Reduce flour to 2/3 cup and sift in 1/3 cup Cocoa Powder. Prepare batter and bake as above.
Yield: 12 servings - 1 (10-inch) cake

Fried Fish (Tamban)

 Herring (Sardinella) or tamban, salinyasi, tunsoy, in Tagalog are popular fishes in the Philippines which can be processed into sardines (bottled in oil), canned, tinapa(smoked fish) dried salted fish(daing), fried fish, etc. Prices of this fish variety is not expensive and is lower compared to other fishes. Fish is a good source of proteins, calcium, iodine, riboflavin, and fats from fish is easy to digest.

Yesterday I bought a kilo of Tamban. Frying the fish is the only way to entice the appetites of my sisters, so without further ado, I cleaned the fishes and drain off excess water for about 15 minutes before adding the salt.

1/2 kg Tamban (herring)

• 1/2 tsp. salt
• oil for deep frying
  
• 2 big tomatoes sliced, for garnish
  
• 2 med size onions, sliced
  
• Vinegar & soy sauce for dipping

Preparation:

You may or may not scale the fish. Lay the fish on a cutting board use a sharp knife to cut the heads. Remove the entrails in the stomach. Rinse the fish inside out in running water. Drain off water. Salt the fish.

In hot oil, deep fry fishes in batches.

Arrange on a platter. Garnish with sliced tomatoes and onions.

Guava Jelly

Let’s make our own guava jelly… 

Guavas are one of the rich sources of Vitamin C. They contain more than 5 times Vitamin C as oranges or fruits listed in the vitamin C categories. They are cheap when in season. For two consecutive days, my brother gave me a bagful of native guavas. My sister suggested that I make a guava jelly.

The pictures shown above is a testimony that we were able to perfect the guava jelly.The smell of guava was overpowering even our next door neighbors where curious as to where the pungent smell came from.

Choose green and ripe guavas. Wash and slice into halves. To every kilo of guava, add 2 litres of cold water, boil fruit in a large pot covered with water about 30 minutes. Let cool. Pour fruit juice into a bag of cheese cloth, let it drip (overnight), do not squeeze the bag to obtain a clear juice. To every cup of juice extract, add 3/4 cup white sugar. Boil once to dissolve the sugar. Cook over high heat until a soft ball is formed when the jelly is dropped in a cup of water. Immediately pour into sterilized dry glass jars. Let cool before covering the bottles.

To sterilize bottles: Wash bottles with soap and water. Rinse properly. Place the bottles in a pot and cover with water. Bottles may stand up or lie on their sides. Bring water to a boil for about 20 minutes. Remove the bottles immediately and drain.

Tambis (Roseapple Variety)

Tambis or macopa

  Roseapple

Got a backyard tree? I do. Eight years ago, I bought a grafted plant of tambis or macopa or roseapple at the city hall garden exhibit and planted it on our new home. After a year, the plant started to bear fruits from early January till March. Scientififc name is Syzygium jambos Alston Myrtaceae (myrtle family) origin Southeast asia.

This is not a common tambis tree that you usually see in your garden or those sold in the market  or fruit stalls. Roseapple - pictured above is the variety that grows in our backyard.

Clams

1 kg. clams
2 tbps. oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small thumb-size ginger, chopped

1 tsp. patis (optional)

Procedure:
Wash and clean clams in cold water. (Water will help to remove the sand from the clams). In a deep pan, saute onions & ginger in hot oil, add clams (don’t put water unless your recipe is for  soup) they release a natural salty juice. Cover pot and cook over high heat about 5 minutes or just until clams open. Do not overcook as clams becomes tough (discard clams that will not open).


Tips: Do not put salt. Clams juice are naturally salty. If you’ll make a clam soup then add about 8 cups of water and salt to taste.

Braised Pork Belly

Braised Pork Belly
1/2 kg pork belly with skin on

• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• ginger, peeled and cut into thin slices
  
• 3 cloves of garlic
  
• 2tbsp cooking oil
  
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
  
• 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
  
• 1 pc. bay leaf, crushed
• 3 cups water
  
  Procedure:
  Heat the pan over medium heat, add the oil, then the diced onions, chopped ginger. Continue cooking the onions and spices, about two minutes.
  Put the pork belly flat, on the pot over the onions and spices. Add enough water to completely cover the belly, add the soy sauce, crushed garlic cloves, brown sugar and crushed bay leaf.
  Put the lid on the pot and turn the heat up to high and bring the pot to a boil. Let simmer over low heat for at least 30 minutes or until the pork is tender.

You can serve this over rice or any kind of noodle you have. You can add as topping blanched bok choy or diced carrots.

Ensaladang Talong (Eggplant Salad)

 My next posting is Eggplant Salad. Talong or eggplant is one of fave veggies. You can cook a variety of eggplant recipes like Tortang Talong, Rellenong Talong, Ginataang Talong, and many more. Eggplant can be prepared by grilling but I prefer boiling ’cause it’s time consuming and I don’t want to mess my hands this time.

Ingredients:

2 pcs. med. size eggplant (long purple ones)

2 med. size tomatoes, sliced in wedges

1 pc. green onion or red onion, sliced

For the dressing:

3 tbsp. fish sauce or bagoong

2 tbsp. white vinegar

dash of black pepper or chillis

Procedure:
Boil eggpant (cut-off the stalks) in water until cooked. Remove from water and let it rest and cool. Cut or chop into bite-size pieces with the skin on. If you don’t like to eat the skin, cut in half vertically and scrape the meat. Set aside. Slice tomatoes into thin wedges. Slice green onions.

Mix in a deep bowl or in a shallow platter all of the above ingredients. Season with fish sauce, white vinegar and dash of pepper. Mix and toss lightly. If you want a spicy taste you can add chilli powder cut red chillis. Let stand for 15 minutes minutes in the ref. before serving.

Sinigang na Baboy(Pork Sour Soup)

I will be posting several Filipino dishes starting off with Sinigang na Baboy. There are many veggies to use for this popular pinoy dish. You can use eggplant, pechay, string beans, radish, cabbage, kangkong, okra etc. Souring agents to use are: tamarind, iba, vinegar, guava, kalamansi and the sinigang mix. Vegetables are getting expensive these days, the eggplant is P60/kg. so I picked kangkong  to add to my pork sinigang.

I know many of you are familiar or has knowledge in cooking this recipe since this is a common dish. I used kangkong and gabi roots only plus the sinigang mix as paasim to shorten the process of extracting juices from other souring agents.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 kg. pork belly, cut in 2×2 inch cubes size
2. 1 pc. onion, sliced thinly
3. 1 pc. tomato sliced
4. 1 mediun size gabi (taro roots) cut into 2 inch cubes
5. 2 pcs. green chilli pepper
6. 1/2 packet sinigang mix
7. 10 cups water or more
8. salt to taste
9. dash of pepper
10. dash of vetsin
11. 1 bunch kangkong
12. Procedure: In a large pot, pour water, add pork, tomato, onion, let it boil. Remove scum. Pour the sinigang mix, add gabi and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper & vetsin. When pork is tender, add kangkong and green pepper and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat. Serve with hot rice.

Sticky Rice Squares (Malagkit or Glutinous Rice)

 Cooking Rice:
1 cup sticky rice or glutinous rice
1 cup cold water
a pinch of salt

NOTE: This recipe is only for sticky rice.

Chicken Menudo

4 tbsp cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/2 kg chicken livers

1/2 kilo chicken fillet, cut into cubes

1 bay leaf

5 pcs. whole peppercorns

2 large potatoes, peeled & diced

2 cups broth

1 cup tomato sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/2  cup catsup

1 cup canned chickpeas, drained

1 carrot, diced

2 bell peppers, diced

2 hotdogs, sliced into rounds

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

dash of vetsin (optional)

Procedure

In a pan, heat cooking oil over low fire. Saute garlic and onions for 2 minutes. Add chcken livers and saute until they are cooked. Remove from pan, cool and slice into cubes. Set aside.

Cook chicken in the same pan until light brown. Stir in potatoes, broth, tomato sauce, sugar, ketchup, peppercorns, and let boil in medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

 Add chickpeas, carrots, bell peppers, hotdogs, cooked livers and cheese. Simmer for few minutes, stirring once in a while. Season with salt & pepper and vetsin.

Green Mango Salad with Dried Dilis

 It’s season for Green Mangoes. There are several ways to prepare and enjoy your mangoes. This salad is a great appetizer to serve in your party. It’s easy and simple to prepare.

 1 cup dried dilis fish (fried)

2 large firm tomatoes, cut in cubes

2 pcs firm green mango, (peeled)  then cut in strips or chopped finely.

2 pcs green onion, sliced

2 pcs. pepper chillies (sili)  or chilli-garlic sauce

Sauce Dressing 

1 T fish sauce (patis)

2 T Calamansi juice

1 tsp. sugar

1. Fry dried dilis over medium heat until crisp. Set aside. 

2. Cut tomatoes in cubes.

3. Sliced in diagonal strips mango, green onions & pepper/chillies

4. Mix mango, onions, tomatoes, fish sauce, calamansi juice and chillies and sugar. Add cooked dilis. Combine well.

NOTE: Slice the mango and other ingredients ahead of time. Prepare the dressing and cover and store in the ref. Just before serving, combine together the ingredients and sauce. Toss.

Kamias or Iba

A neighbor gave this plateful of Kamias today. What am I gonna do with this fruit? First I’m gonna eat them raw with some salt as dipping sauce or sawsawan (a good idea for bad breath and as post extraction regimen). My dentist extracted my tooth yesterday. He advised me to rinse my mouth with warm water and salt the next day.

You can do a lot of things with this, as souring ingredients, candy, preserves, prunes, for sinigang and paksiw. I saw my mother adding kamias in her "dinuguan" instead of using vinegar.

According to the Philippines Department of Science and Technology, Kamias, (Averrhoa balimbi Lin) fruits and leaves have various uses. Fruit are made into food seasoning, preserves, jam, pickles and candies, and used as well in cleaning hands and removing stains from clothing. Kamias juice is made into syrup and can cure fever, haemorrhage, beri-beri, cough. Leaves can be heated and applied to skin itches and irritations.

It can also cure inflammation of the rectum, rheumatism and pimples. Kamias thrives in any kind of soil that is well-drained. It grows best in wind-and sun-sheltered places with evenly distributed rainfall. Though evenly distributed throughout the archipelago, kamias or locally known as "Ibâ" is now considered endangered specie in Catanduanes. in wind-and sun-sheltered places with evenly distributed rainfall. One characteristic of this tree specie is its capacity to withstand typhoons.

Kamias are also grown in Hawaii and Florida.

Rice Puto

Rice Puto is one among the comfort food on my list. Right now, I am devouring this delicious native puto. Do you believe that I baked this puto?

Mung Bean Sprouts

Mung Beans is used to grow bean sprouts. Sprouting is the practice of soaking, draining and rinsing seed at intervals until they germinate or sprout. Mung bean sprouts are cooked as stir fries as a vegetable, salad or used in fillings for spring roll or lumpia. This is famous in Asian cuisines like noodles & spring roll. Origin of bean sprouts was in Asia. The Chinese have been growing mung bean sprouts for 3,000 years.

If you wish to eat bean sprouts eat thoroughly cooked sprouts not raw sprouts as used in salad. Buy sprouts that have been stored at refrigerated temperatures. Select crisp-looking sprouts. Avoid sprouts that look dark or smelly. At home, store fresh sprouts in ref (not in the freezer) for about 2 days.

Mung bean sprouts is rich in Vit. B, C, E, Folate, Iron and Pottasium. Good source of dietary fiber, lower risk of heart attacks, cholesterol free and good food for those to want to lose weight.

Recipes for cooking mung bean sprouts:

Recipe 1 - Shrimp & Bean Sprouts Patties

Sweet potatoes (camote) or potatoes sliced julienne style, egg whites, corn starch, bean sprouts cooked shrimp (no heads) salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
In a bowl, mix shrimps. sweet potatoes, and egg white. Dissolve corn starch in cold water and then add to the bowl. Mix in the bean sprouts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a skillet and drop in a tablespoonful of the mixture, flatten like hamburger patties and fry like fry until golden brown.

Recipe 2. Ukoy (Shrimp Fritters)

1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 c. water, 2 eggs, beaten, 1 green onion, chopped 1/2 tsp salt, dash of black pepper, 1 c. bean sprouts, 1 cup shrimps-shelled, Cooking oil for deep frying.

Procedure:
Make a batter by combining flour, baking powder, water, and beaten eggs. Add onions, salt, and pepper; mix well. Fold in bean sprouts.

Heat cooking oil in a deep frying pan. Shape the batter into round patties. Lay a few piece of boiled shrimp on top and. Fry until golden brown. Drain in paper towel.

Recipe 3. Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts (Togue)

1/2 kg. bean sprouts, 1 cup small size shrimp, peeled, 1 clove of garlic, chopped, 1 medium size onion, 1 small size carrot, cut into 2” strips, 1 small size bell pepper, cut into 2” strips, 1/2 cup water mix in 2 tbsp. oyster sauce, 1 tsp. white sugar, dash of salt, pepper, and vegetable oil about 3 tbsp. for sauteeing.

Procedure:

In a sauce pan, sauté garlic and onion in hot oil. Add shrimp, stir for 3-5 minutes. Add dash of pepper, sugar, and salt and 1/2 cup water with 2 tbsp. oyster sauce. Add bean sprouts, carrots and bell pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until vegetables are just half cooked. Remove from pan immediately and serve in a platter.

Crab Meat Salad

From the book A Blender Way To Better Cooking (1965 edition)

 Crab Meat Salad
 

1 envelope (1 tbsp) unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 pint dairy sour cream
1 tbsp vinegar
1 cup cooked crab meat

dash of salt
1 cup pared cucumber, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 small onion

Note: I substituted the crabs with shrimps.

Food Cravings & Emotions

Food urges or food longings is distinct from hunger. The mind plays a larger role in cravings than what our body does according to experts. Important causes of cravings are stress and emotions  when we're anxious, frustated or lonely. The act of digesting food switches off that part of the nervous system that makes us tense, and this acts as an effective relaxant.

Whenever I feel tensed, my pulse beat is faster and have a sudden feel of hunger. A sip of hot soup or eating a hot meal usually is my remedy and it worked for me. Sweets is not a good idea, it will just trigger the situation. Oily and spicy food is not advisable either. A piece of advise is to eat in moderation.