paksiw na pata ng baboy

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thank goodness i’ve outgrown my fondness for this dish or my cholesterol levels would have shot up to the roof. it used to be that paksiw na pata ng baboy was up there in my list. up in the a-list. but i guess there are dishes you outgrew and there are dishes that simply outlasts all the others in that a-list.

paksiw na pata ng baboy is a fairly easy dish to prepare. there are no prep time. no cutting, no slicing. all you have to do is lump all the ingredients (except for the dried banana blossoms) together in one stewing pot (enamel pot, iron pot, aluminum pot, etc.) and let it cook by itself, covered and in low heat, for an hour and a half. by which time you add in the dried banana blossoms, cover it up again and let it simmer for another ten minutes. game over. (actually, season the pata with salt and set aside for 30 minutes after which you add it to the 4 cups of boiling water. add vinegar and all the other ingredients without stirring. cover it up and lower the heat and let it simmer).

usually served with kilawin sa labanos with strips of pork liempo and pork liver and plain rice.

ingredients:

1 kilo pata ng baboy (front leg)
4 cups water
3/4 cups dried banana blossoms or otherwise known as dried lily buds
1/2 cup silver swan vinegar (4.5% acidity)
5 tablespoons (or 1/3 cup) brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon black whole peppers
2 pork cubes (optional)

by way of decoration, try tying knots on the dried banana blossoms.
you can add more brown sugar or lessen it whichever is your preference.

enjoy!

tadtarin sa bichuelas (stringbeans)

tadtarin sa bichuelas

 

this dish is quite similar to the one at recipe’s (greenbelt and robinson’s malate) called gising-gising. both use ground pork and stringbeans. both are sauteed in onions. but the similarities end there. while gising-gising uses ginger and coconut milk in prepping up the dish, tadtarin sa bichuelas uses tomatoes. this is tadtarin (a previous entry in this blog) minus the sampalok, the sitaw and the pechay tagalog.

this dish is an everyday food and its ease of preparation is guaranteed to put a smile in any a busy housewife’s face.

you can also substitute sayote (julienned) with carrots (julienned) instead of bichuelas.

ingredients:

1/4 ground pork
1/3 kilo stringbeans (bichuelas) cut in an extreme angle longitudinally (see image below)
2 medium-sized tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/2 medium-sized onions cut longitudinally
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon of patis
1 chicken broth cube

heat wok then pour in the 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. when oil is hot, add the garlic stirring constantly. add the onions and the tomatoes. add the ground pork when the onions and tomatoes are limp and done. let it simmer in low heat for 7 minutes adding salt and pepper along the way. you may now cover the meat in water and let it boil changing the heat setting to high. once boiling, add the chicken cube a teaspoon of patis and lower the heat setting. let it simmer until done. adjust flavor by adding patis or salt.

whenever we have this dish, it is usually served together with fried fresh cabayas or grilled fresh tamban or tortang talong and plain rice.

enjoy!

adobong chavacano

adobong chavacano

as far as i know, there are three chavacano enclaves in this country. two in the province of cavite and one in mindanao. these are zamboanga city, cavite city and the town of ternate, also in cavite. two are known port areas and all three are coastal towns. all three speak their own variation of pidgin spanish and all three have a culture all their own and are proud of their own heritage.

this variation of adobo is from cavite city, just a town away from my place. adobong chavacano uses anatto seeds (achuete) as a coloring agent that must have come from spanish friars of a more genteel era.

i once had an adobo in one of the famous carinderias in cavite city and again in one of the more decent eating places in that area and both have, i must say, equally satisfying and sumptuous taste but cooked differently. from those experiences, i’ve tried replicating the dish on my own, cooking it two ways and arriving at the same taste experiences i had from those two restaurants.

ingredients:

600 grams pork liempo (or kasim)
8 pieces chicken liver
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
5 tablespoons anatto oil*
4 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 big bayleaf
2 teaspoons patis
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

the process:

1 season meat with salt and pepper and leave be for 30 minutes or longer.

2 in a high saucepan, cover the 8 pieces of chicken liver with 3 cups of water and let it boil in high heat. add 1 chicken broth cube. lower heat to its lowest setting and let it simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken liver is tender enough to be made into a paste. ground 3 to 4 pieces of liver into a paste using a cleaver and set aside the remaining pieces of chicken liver to be added later into the adobo.

3 heat wok, pour in 5 cups of anatto (achuete) oil in high heat and add in the pork.

4 set heat on low and brown meat on all sides for 40 minutes.

5 halfway through, add the 2 tablespoons of garlic and stirring once in a while.

6 after 40 minutes, pour in the 2 cups of water and turn heat to high and let boil.

7 once boiling, add 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 teaspoons of patis, a bayleaf, another tablespoon of garlic and half a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns.

8 set heat to medium and let the whole thing simmer until water is fully reduced and the only thing left is the oil.

9 fry the meat in remaining oil this time for 3 minutes, still in medium heat and stirring constantly.

10 then add 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock (the stock that was used to tenderize the liver) together with the liver paste and the remaining pieces of chicken liver and another tablespoon of vinegar.

11 let it simmer until meat is tender or consistency is just right.

12 skim oil off the adobo for later use for your fried rice.

cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes

another way of cooking this dish is:

by soaking the achuete seeds in a cup of water. set aside. in a wok, cover the meat with water and let it boil. add the right amount of the now achuete-soaked water minus the seeds. add the same amounts of vinegar, the patis, the bayleaf, the garlic and the black peppercorns. let it simmer until water is fully reduced then add the chicken stock, the liver paste, the chicken liver and vinegar until meat is tender and/or desired consistency is achieved.

served best with adobong sitaw or chopsuey or pinangat na sapsap with tomatoes plus radish and tomato combo.

* anatto oil or achuete oil is made by heating an equal amount of oil and achuete in a wok until oil turns into desired color. using a steel strainer, empty oil of seeds in a glass container or vessel. this is the same oil that is used in basting grilled chicken in those inasal places and for frying their fried rice.

enjoy!

binagoongang babi

binagoongang baboy

nararapat lang siguro na sa pagkakataong ito ay isulat ko ang mga sumusunod sa ating sariling wika bilang pagpugay sa bagoong na siyang-siya at tunay na tunay na pilipino at sadyang umaayon sa panlasang atin lamang. maari rin nating masabi na sa mundo ng pagluluto, ang bagoong ang siyang nagbibigay uri o depinisyon sa kung ano man ang lutong pinoy: sa lasa, sa sangkap at sa uri ng paggawa.

1 asinan at lagyan ng itim na pamintang pino ang kalahating kilong baboy (liempo o kasim) na hiniwa-hiwa na pang-adobo (o puwede rin namang pang menudo).

2 isang-tabi ng kalahating oras o hanggang isang oras.

3 painitin ang isang malaking kawali at lagyan ng isang kutsarang mantika.

4 pakalatin ang mantika sa kawali.

5 pag mainit na ang kawali, ilagay ang baboy. hinaan ang apoy at iprito hanggang pumula ang baboy.

6 huwag alisin ang baboy at imbes, isang-tabi ang mga ito sa kawali ding yun at sa mantikang ginamit sa pagprito ng baboy, igisa ang dalawang pirasong bawang na dinikdik. papulahin lang ng kaunti at huwag hayaang masunog.

7 ihalo ang 3/4 na katamtamang laki na sibuyas na hiniwa nang pahaba.

8 isama na rin dito ang dalawang katamtamang laki ng kamatis na hiniwa sa maliliit na piraso (diced).

9 muling ihalo ang baboy sa paggisa at hayaang magmantika sa loob ng limang minuto gamit ang mahinang apoy.

10 lagyan ng sabaw ng pinakuluang manok hanggang sa matakpan ang kalahating kilong baboy. pakuluin gamit ang malakas na apoy.

11 pag kumulo na, sangkapan ng dalawang kutsarang asukal na puti. hinaan ang apoy at hayaang lumambot ang karne.

12 haluan ng apat na kutsarang suka. hayaan lang kumulo at huwag haluin ng mailabas ang maasim na amoy ng suka.

13 pakuluin lamang at hayaang lumambot ang baboy hanggang sa mabawasan ang tubig at halos mantika na lang ang matira.

14 lagyan ng isang siling labuyo. o dalawa. o tatlo. o apat. o kung anuman ang sang-ayon sa panglasa.

15 ihalo ang limang kutsarang bagoong. kung sadyang mahilig sa bagoong, puwede pa itong dagdagan hanggang isang tasa. o dalawang tasa. kung ano ang swak sa panglasa.

16 ang binagoongang baboy ay hinahain kasama ang paksiw na bisugo o di kaya ang paksiw na bangus* na may kasamang piniritong talong. kasama siyempre ang mainit na kanin.

puwede rin namang palambutin muna ang baboy sa pamamagitang ng pagpapakulo nito. at pag malambot na ay papulahin sa pamamagitan ng pagprito nito bago igisa o igisa muna ang ang bawang, sibuyas at kamatis bago ihalo ang napalambot nang baboy at papulahin, lagyan ng asukal bago ihalo ang suka. pakuluin ang suka at ihalo ang bagoong, sili at apat na kutsarang sabaw ng pinakuluang manok.

pangkalahatang oras ng pagluluto: apatnapu at limang minutos hanggang isang oras.

ang mga lahok:

1/2 kilo pork (liempo or kasim) cut into cubes or into menudo cut
2 medium-sized tomatoes, diced
3/4 medium-sized onions sliced longitudinally
2 cloves garlic or 1 tablespoon, crushed
5 tablespoons bagoong (or a cup whichever is the preference)
4 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 -2 siling labuyo
chicken broth

*bukod sa binagoongang baboy, ang iba pang hinahain o ipinapartner sa paksiw na bangus ay ginisang munggo o piniritong tocino.

isang masayang kainan!

menudo

achuete-based menudo

for me, menudo, more than adobo, is the ultimate pinoy comfort food. ever since my childhood, menudo and adobo has been playing a tug-of-war of sorts as my top pinoy favorite dish. but somehow, menudo came up on top in terms of taste and nutrition (of course, the clincher here are the potatoes and the pork liver). everytime i have menudo, it feels like, ohh, everything is all right with the world.

menudo v.1 the achuete kind

the traditional way of cooking menudo (at least the way my great-grandmother did it) was by using achuete instead of the tomato sauce. this is the carinderia variety. you go about soaking the achuete seeds in a bowl of water while saute-ing your onions and your tomatoes and your crushed garlic. after a couple of minutes of saute-ing, you then mix in your pre-seasoned (with salt and pepper), menudo-cut pork liempo or kasim and let it simmer on its own juices for about 3 to 5 minutes. cover the meat with water or a little more above the meat. turn heat into high and let it boil. once boiling, lower the heat to its lowest setting and let the water simmer. pour in the achuete water (less the seeds, of course!) and continue simmering. at this point, you may wanna mix in a couple of pork cubes into the simmering concoction. adjust taste by adding salt and/or patis or a bit of sugar. let it simmer for another 45 minutes before adding in your pork liver. again, let it simmer for another 5 minutes before adding in your potatoes. simmer, simmer, simmer. then add the green and bell pepper and let it simmer more until potatoes are done and meat is tender.

menudo v.2 the tomato sauce version

having expressed my undying love for meh-noo-doh, if i have to choose between the traditional way of cooking menudo and the tomato sauce-based version of the same dish, i would pretty much prefer the latter way of doing menudo — with tomato sauce! here is one recipe that may remind you of your childhood (at least the way it made me remind mine). you can adjust this dish with the memory of your grandmom’s or mom’s best-tasting menudo by adding or reducing any one of these ingredients: soy sauce, patis, salt, sugar, tomato sauce and tomato paste; but the essential way of doing this dish is by following this recipe. (naks naman, master chef ang dating!) hahaha. so NOt! at least, this is how i remember the way choleng’s menudo taste like (but methinks choleng’s menudo is a lot better). she passed away without telling me her menudo secrets. or any culinary secrets that she may have after 40 years of cooking for us for that matter. so going about this recipe is like starting from scratch.

the ingredients for this dish are:

1/2 kilo pork liempo or kasim (cut into menudo cubes)
30php worth of pork liver
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 medium-sized potatoes diced into 10 to 15cm cubes
2 tomatoes diced
1 medium-sized onion diced
1/2 cup tomato sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 pork cubes
1 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoon patis
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 medium-sized green bell pepper (cut into a square of 8cms.)
1/2 medium-sized red bell pepper (cut into a square of 8cms.)

follow the procedure from the above achuete-based version but in lieu of achuete water, use tomato paste and tomato sauce as the base. adjust taste if necessary by adding salt or patis. cooking time is from 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. do not overcook the potatoes.

if you have noticed, my menudo lacks the raisins and the carrots you will find in some other menudo variations. i like my menudo without the raisins and the carrots. i can tolerate the carrot in my menudo but pasas? nah. i do eat my raisins but never in mi menudo.

by the way, in my mother’s home, menudo is served with nilagang manok or pinesang lapu-lapu as its partner and rice.

enjoy!

tomato sauce-based menudo

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eat my meaty balls

look at the cheese oozing from the meatballs... ooh la la!

a lot of meatball recipes abound in the internet. some use ground pork. some use ground beef. and yet some use both. some add onions. and some onions with tomatoes. some add carrots in addition to onions. some use cornstarch. some tapioca starch. and yet some use potato starch. some cassava starch. some use breadcrumbs to go with all those starches. my yaya used to add onions to her ground pork and some singkamas diced into microscopic thingies.

this is my version of meatballs.

in a large mixing bowl, mix 1/4 kilo of ground pork and 1/4 kilo of ground beef. season it with salt and pepper. set aside.

next, i prepare my breadcrumb mixture.

heat saucepan. add a tablespoon of olive oil on low heat. then add about 1/4 cup of butter. still in low heat, wait for the butter to melt and then add around 4 tablespoons of crushed garlic. simmer the garlic in the olive oil-butter mixture. before the garlic turns into brown, mix in a cup of kasugai breadcrumbs. stir continuously. then add the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of msg (optional). stir. don’t let the breadcrumb garlic mixture to stick to the bottom of the saucepan or burn. finally, add the 1/4 cup of freshly grated (in an almost powdery form) parmigiano-reggiano or some of that grated parmesan cheese in those round plastic bottles. stir continuously with a spoon until breadcrumbs turn slightly into a brownish hue.

(ingredients for the breadcrumb mixture: 1 cup kasugai breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of salted butter, 4 tablespoons of crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of msg (optional) and 1/4 teaspoon of fine iodized salt.)

let the breadcrumb mixture cool before mixing it into the large bowl with the now seasoned ground pork and beef. knead until breadcrumb mixture is fully assimilated into the meat. make sure to whisk in some of your sweat into the mixture while kneading the way panaderos does theirs while kneading bread shirtless. it will add to that salty and unique taste that we are after. hahaha!

add an egg to to the meat and breadcrumb mixture and knead through and true until there is no trace of that gooey and slimey egg.

from this end on, you can now make your meatballs. just take a lump of meat and simply slap it back and forth from your left palm to the right palm until a ball is formed.

at this point, you can also try adding those quickmelt cheeses into the core of your meatballs. you can do this by grating your quickmelt cheese. taking a lump of meat, flatten it and make a ball (the size of a 5 -8cm diameter ball of which the size really depends on the size of your meatballs) of the grated cheese between your thumb and your pointing finger like the way you make a ball of your… then place the cheese in the center of that flattened lump of meat.

you now have your meatballs. you can deep fry it or you can fry it in a wok with about half a cup of cooking oil. before frying it, however, make sure that the wok and the oil is heated. fry the meatballs in low heat. don’t let the meatballs stick to the bottom of the wok so try moving the wok every now and then without using a spatula. don’t overcook. once the meatballs are brown all over then you can place it in a plate with a paper towel so as to drain the oil from the meatballs.

if you plan to use the meatballs with the spaghetti sauce or as a standalone dish or pulutan, try it with the quickmelt cheese. however, if you plan to use the meatballs with a sweet and sour sauce or the misua soup with meatballs, try it without the quickmelt cheese. ,/FONT>

try making a huge meatball with cheese inside.

enjoy!

tadtarin

tadtarin

this dish is one of the family favorites. in our household, it is usually served together with lumpiang shanghai or simply fried fish (fried kabayas in particular). i remember when my brothers and i were little, my father would try and teach us how to use the chopsticks everytime this dish was served. thus, it has become a sort of family tradition that whenever tadtarin was serve, rice cups were used in lieu of plates and ivory chopsticks in lieu of spoons and forks.

i haven’t seen this dish served in restaurants or other household though i’m sure that tadtarin is not exclusive to our house menu. i just don’t know where the ‘tadtarin’ name comes from but a good guess is from the ground beef itself. i remember choleng (my yaya and our cook) would buy sirloin meat with a little fat or round bottom and have it minced with a butcher’s knife as oppose to being grinded in the meat processor. as a result, the minced beef meat is a bit chunkier than the ground beef you can buy in the supermarket. i will not be surprised though if the name for this dish was coined somewhere near my mother’s dirty kitchen or the family dining table.

ingredients:

1/2 kilo sirloin (or bottom round or pork lomo) minced or ground
6 pechay tagalog stalk cut into 1/2 inch length
4 siling mahaba
1 bunch sitaw cut into 3 inch length
2 medium sized tomato diced
1 liter water
1/2 medium sized onion cut lenghtwise
2 beef broth cubes
1 to 1 and 1/4 knorr tamarind cube
1 teaspoon patis
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

season your minced beef meat with salt and pepper and set aside for 30 minutes. in a large wok, saute onions, garlic and tomato in 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. stir in minced beef and let the meat simmer in low heat for about 5 to 8 minutes. add a liter of water, turn heat on to high and let it boil. add the 2 beef broth cubes once water is boiling and turn heat to lowest and let it simmer.

it used to be that the ‘paasim’ used in this dish and sinigang are tamarinds boiled in water and then mixed in the sinigang or tadtarin. but now that tamarind in cubes or in powder form makes cooking easier, use 1 to 1 1/4 of knorr tamarind cubes into the meaty broth, together with the 1 teaspoon of patis. let it simmer until meat is tender. adjust taste in the process and add the 1/4 teaspoon of coarse salt. (it is preferable to use fresh tamarinds boiled in water as paasim as it lends the soup with a brownish color as against the pale soup if tamarind cubes are used.)

when meat is tender, add the sitaw and the siling mahaba. let it simmer for another 3-5 minutes or until the sitaw is half-way cooked. add in the pechay tagalog and let it simmer again for 3-5 minutes.

serve with lumpiang shanghai and hot plain rice.

enjoy!

note: for half a kilo of minced beef meat, you can use 1 sampalok in lieu of tamarind cubes. just place the tamarind after having covered the meat with water.

mommy!

ano nga ba
ang gagawin mo
pag nakakita ka ng
IPIS
na kasinglaki ng
PAGONG?
hindi ba’t
tatakbo ka rin,
palayo,
habang sumisigaw ng
mommmyyyy!!!!!!!!

another fib

tell

me

that you

love me so.

for nothing will do

only that which comes from your heart.

my fib

i

saw

a doll.

it is not

what it seem to be.

it is an epitome of you.