labong (bamboo shoots with chicken wings)

bamboo shoots with chicken wings

first time i cooked this dish, i overshot the runway and had a salty labong in my hands. at that time, i was mindful of the secret my mom shared me in preparing labong. the secret in preparing labong, as told to me by my mom, is to salt ‘em up and gently ‘piga-pigain’ the bamboo shoots. but what happened was that i put too much salt on it as opposed to just sprinkling salt on it just so that the bamboo shoots acquire a taste. a most delectable dish, this labong, when done right. and an easy one to prepare and cook, too.

ingredients:

labong (bamboo shoots) 20 pesos worth of shredded bamboo shoots
chicken wings 3 pieces with wingtip chopped off
onions half of an onion sliced horizontally
tomatoes 3 pieces diced
garlic a clove or two of garlic, crushed and then minced
salt
pepper

preparing the bamboo shoots
wash the bamboo shoots with baking soda. remember, bamboo shoots may be delectable but you do not know who shred it or the places it had gone to after being harvested. and yes, you’re going to eat this. so better you eat it clean.

rinse the bamboo shoots thoroughly after having soaked it in a large bowl with water and baking soda. then salt it up. but not too much. just right. and leave it be for 5 minutes.

add your purified water onto the large bowl just half the amount of the bamboo shoots that it contains. set aside.

preparing the chicken wings

chop the chicken wings into 1-inch chunks starting from the tip and working your way upwards. you may want to use your rubber mallet in doing this. or better yet, let your suking butcher do it.

having done this, season the chicken chunks with salt and pepper and set it aside for 30 minutes.

the cooking process

1 heat up your wok and add about a couple of tablespoon of oil into it. when oil is hot, add the chicken chunks and brown them a bit.

2 cover the chicken chunks with water and bring it to a boil. lower the heat once boiling and let the chicken chunks simmer until liquid is reduced to about half its original amount. pour the chicken broth into a separate container. remove the chicken chunks from the wok.

3 now, add oil into the wok and saute the garlic. before the garlic turns brown, add the onions and the tomatoes. saute the whole mix for a minute or two before adding chicken chunks.

4 add the labong together with its water and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. if necessary, add more water to cover the labong and chicken chunk mix.

5 lower heat and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes or until bamboo shoots are tender.

serve with fried liempo or any fried fish and steamed rice.

enjoy!

movies i saw this month (september)

the bucket list

jack nicholson, morgan freeman and directed by rob reiner

named one of the top ten movies of 2007 by the national board of review alongside michael clayton and the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford, the bucket list warmed my heart and tickled my imagination… ok, ok, so i’m exaggerating. still, the bucket list is one of those movies that made me feel good afterwards. this is plain, good ‘ol entertainment. it also made me come up with my own bucket list. i just can’t resist the idea of having my own bucket list. hehehe.

this is the story of carter (morgan freeman) and cole (jack nicholson) who were both checked in a hospital for cancer. carter was an auto mechanic who once dreamed of being a history professor and cole was a hospital chain tycoon who did not believe in having suites in his hospitals and, thus, was forced to share a room with carter. from there, the story evolve until they both passed away.

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie 3 and a half stars.

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21

kevin spacey, jim sturgess, kate bosworth, laurence fishburne and directed by robert luketic

this movie is based on jeff ma, an mit math wizard who, with his other mit math wiz asian friends, came to vegas and went home with bags and bags of money. jeff ma loved to tell the story about a time when he and the rest of his crew decided to take a dip in a vegas hotel swimming pool and they have nowhere to stash this old duffel bag full with $900K worth of money. in the end, they decided to stash it under a pool chair.

the story is about ben campbell (jim sturgess), an mit student, who passed the harvard medical school but has no wherewithal to enter it. he was eventually recruited by one of his professors (kevin spacey) to join a group of card-counters who would once in a while go to vegas and make some money for their efforts. until, of course, a house investigator (laurence fishburne) stumbled upon their game.

i love the story. i love blackjack. and i love kate bosworth. what more do i need to say?

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie 3 stars.

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apocalypto

directed by that jew-hating, alcohol-loving, car-thrashing free spirit – mel gibson.

i like apocalypto. it is a rare movie that will keep me glued to my seat and not pause and run to the kitchen for more food and drink replenishment. and seeing this movie made me stick to the movie until the end without any food break.

this movie is tokyo drift mayan version with some rambo-esque inspired scenes in the beginning of the movie and latter part of it. and if you’re looking for some rare historical fact or insight about the mayan civilization, then you’re watching the wrong movie. this is a watch-and-be-entertained kind of movie rather than the watch-and-learn-history type of movie. if you want historical facts, then go see the history channel.

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie 3 and a half stars.

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the contract

john cusack, morgan freeman and directed by bruce beresford

this is a movie that i would not recommend for others to see. there is nothing to say really except that it’s a waste of time and money. a weak storyline. a tired john cusack. an uninspired morgan freeman. this movie is supposed to be a thriller and i ain’t thrilled! a rene requiestas movie is a better thriller. hell! michael jackson is a better thriller than this! from the director of driving miss daisy, this sure is sucks.

no star for this one. this movie is pathetic.

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p.s.

laura linney, topher grace and directed by dylan kidd

saw the dvd copy in my brother’s room. i think the plot is passable enough to see the movie. it may be one of those movies where the popcorn is worth it. but still, i hesitated seeing it. laura linney was not a favorite. and i think of this as one of those girlie movies. but the hope that this may turn out well clung to me. so when i had nothing to do one sunday night and the choice was this movie or that edward burns movie, sidewalks of new york, i opted for this one. i braced myself for an uneventful and boring two hours and, oh well… the first ten minutes of this movie caught my attention somewhat. what with laura linney in that cleavage-revealing blouse. it was actually an eye-opener of sorts, the movie i mean, since i never strayed (meaning, pushing the video button on the remote to check on the local cable channels) from it. for the first 10 minutes or so, that is. and it all went downhill from there. surprisingly enough, i found laura linney in this movie hot! always saw her on a different light in her past movies– matronly (remember that clint eastwood movie where laura linney appeared as old squinty eyes’ daughter) and not as a diane lane/heather graham/angelina jolie type. the only thing that kept me from changing the cd was the very notion that laura linney will take her clothes off! unfortunately, she didn’t…

in a scale of 1 to 5, i give this movie one and a half stars.

favorite line:
an upset louise (laura linney) to ex-hubby played by gabriel byrne on his sex addiction recovery: you’re on step nine, aren’t you? huh! you’re making amends? (shouting this time) i fucking hate step nine with a passion!

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big stan

robert schneider, david carradine, jennifer morrison, emmett walsh and directed by rob schneider

the problem with an adam sandler/robert schneider comedy movie or a steve carell/will ferrell movie is that they lack cohesion and continuity. it’s no different from watching a tito, vic and joey movie of decades past. sure, they do give you some good laughs but that’s all. it’s better watching reruns of movies from mel brooks, woody allen, gene wilder/richard pryor, steve martin, robin williams, chevy chase and so on. or tv reruns like seinfeld or ally mcbeal or boston legal where you get hysterical laughing and somehow enjoy the stories, too.

but seeing this this robert schneider movie is something of an improvement. i had good laughs from beginning to end and the story is not that bad either.

word to learn from this movie:
schadenfreude defined as enjoyment taken from the misery/misfortune/suffering of others.

in a scale of 1 to 5, i’m giving this movie two and a half stars.

beef curry

curried beef

you can say that this dish is just another variation of beef stew with curry added. which is quite true, actually. the idea of a beef stew with curry added must have been a carryover from india prepared by indians of islamic affiliation and copied by the brits who came in india under the employ of the east india company. curry is largely indian in origin which has spread throughout much of the far east and east asia like thailand, malaysia, india and cambodia. in japan, where curried dishes are a hit, it came by courtesy of the brits. here in the philippines curried dishes are somewhat limited with the adobong sumbilang and ginataang igad (eel) sa dilaw. and of course, the pinoy favorite curry-curry with bagoong.

beef curry

thanks largely to those commercial curry bases available in supermarket nowadays, cooking a curry-based dish is no longer as cumbersome as before. the curry base that i usually use for this particular dish is the golden curry brand #5 (there are actually 5 golden curry brands to choose from, 1 to 5, with #5 being the spiciest as they claim but believe you me, #5 is not that spicy which explains why the japanese are from japan and not from bicol). so if you want your beef curry spicier and hotter than usual, add more curry or simply just add chopped siling labuyo to the fray.

ingredients:

600 grams beef kalitiran
3 cups water
2 medium-sized tomatoes diced
3/4 medium-sized onion diced
1 1/2 golden curry cubes (a box of golden curry has 2 square packets inside with each square packet divided into four cubes)
1 huge potato peeled and quartered
1 carrot peeled and cubed
1 chicken broth cube
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 teaspoons rock salt

preparation and cooking time: 1 1/2 hour to 2 hours

1 season the meat with salt and pepper and place it overnight in your chiller. an option is for you to add about a couple of knorr liquid seasoning to the meat.

2 after an overnight stay in ‘le chiller’, brown the meat on all side then set aside.

3 using a heavy-bottomed enamelled pot or caldero, saute the garlic in the cooking oil used in browning the meat. saute for a minute or two before adding the diced onions and tomatoes.

4 add the meat when onions are soft and transluscent. turn the heat to high just to bring it to boiling point before turning it back to low heat and let the meat and the onions and tomatoes simmer for 5 minutes. add a teaspoon of rock salt and cover the pot while you’re at it.

5 after 5 minutes of letting the meat sweat it out, pour in 3 cups of water covering the meat and bring it to a boil by putting heat to high. once boiling, add in the golden curry paste/cube (cut into smaller pieces so that it would melt easily), chicken broth cube and the remaining 2 teaspoons of rock salt. turn heat to low, cover the pot and let ‘em simmer.

6 mix once in a while.

7 add the quartered potatoes and the cubed carrots into the mix during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

serve with steamed stringbeans, asparagus spears and sayote with butter on top and hot steamed rice.

enjoy!

korean beef stew

korean beef stew

there was a time when you say korean food, one would think of kimchi. but as koreans come and stay, and as long as korean telenovelas are seen and raved about, we filipinos get to acquaint ourselves more and more about koreans and their culture. so now, when someone thinks of korean, one thinks of hyundai starex, tia ling, samsung, lg, seri pak, jumong, kimchi, and last but not least – taran! – korean beef stew.

and now, you have a choice of decent korean restaurants to go to when one craves for something piquant and spicy (whereas before you go to the mall and dine at that popular korean fastfood chain kimchi). here in our small town, we used to have a korean restaurant, korean-owned, that serves genuine korean food with genuine korean ingredients (even the garlic comes from korea or so they claim) and that snobby korean ambiance. service is good. you are served six different appetizers that are free of charge and unlimited in supply (from 2 kinds of kimchi, pickled yellow radish, sweet dilis, stir-fried togue and potato salad). plus decent prices and good, genuine korean food made this restaurant a hit not only among korean expats but pinoys as well. until, that is, the great flood came and drove the restaurant back to korea. a pity! now, there are two korean restaurants in the neighboring towns that serves the local korean expats. but they are not as good as Woo-jung, that original korean restaurant that was driven back to the 38th parallel by the great flood.

korean beef stew

cooking time and preparations: 2 hours

ingredients:

600 grams beef short ribs
1 liter water
7 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons chinese cooking wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
2 stems leeks
2 green siling mahaba (pangsigang) or whatever you call it in the english speaking countries
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1 in a heated wok, put about 3 tablespoons of oil and brown the short ribs (preferably in batches). if short ribs is not available, you can use any of the stewing beefs from shanks to brisket.

2 using an enameled pot or any kalderos around, saute a tablespoon of garlic in oil used in browning the meat. saute it for a minute in low to medium heat without browning the garlic and add the half teaspoon of minced ginger before putting in the browned beef short ribs.

3 let the beef simmer for 5 minutes before adding the liter of water (covering the meat in the process). bring to boil.

4 add the sugar, the soy sauce, the chinese cooking wine and the sesame oil. cover pot and let the whole thing simmer lowering the heat setting to its lowest.

5 cook for an hour and a half to 2 hours. add sugar or salt to taste. this dish should be on the sweet side rather than on the salty side.

6 add the chopped leeks (a quarter of an inch long), the green chilies (sliced diagonally) and the toasted sesame seeds (fried in a wok without using oil and stirring constantly until toasted; similar to frying dilis) before serving.

7 skim the oil.

serve with stir-fried togue in onions and green/red bell pepper and piping hot plain rice.

bon apetito!

pork afritada

afritada

this pork afritada is different from those tomato sauce-based pork afritada that you’ll see from recipe to recipe. this recipe does not use tomato sauce but instead relies on fresh tomatoes. also, this recipe use sweet potato instead of the usual potatoes that others use. this is the pork afritada that me and my brothers grew up on. simple and easy. an everyday dish that is easy to prepare, try this home-cooked goodness and you’ll love it instantly. pramis.

ahh… pork! who would have thought that a lot of beautiful things can come from such a dirty, beastly and ghastly thing!

ingredients:

1/2 kilo liempo cut into cubes
3 tomatoes
1 sweet potato
1/2 medium-sized onions quartered or sliced longitudinally
1/2 medium-sized green bell pepper
1/2 medium-sized red bell pepper
1/4 cup celery
1 tbspn garlic
1 tbspn rock salt
1 tbspn fine bread crumbs
1 tspn patis
pepper

season meat with salt and pepper and set aside for an hour. in a big wok, brown meat on all sides and set aside in one side of the wok. in the same wok, saute the garlic and add onions and tomatoes until onions and tomatoes are limp. blend in the meat and let the whole thing cook for about 5 minutes more. cover the meat with water and bring it all to a boil. add in patis and rock salt. set your heat to its lowest setting once boiling point is achieved and let it simmer for 30 minutes or until pork is tender and alright. in the last ten minutes, add the quartered sweet potatoes, the green and red bell pepper, the tablespoon of fine bread crumbs (as your thickening agent; a tablespoon is enough since we don’t want this thick) and the quarter cup of celery. add salt to taste.

do not overcook the quartered sweet potatoes.
serve with tortang talong (with ground pork or simply eggplant with egg) and hot steamed rice.

enjoy!