"Egg Drop Soup"

Ingredients:

• 4 cups rice wash or water
• 2 pcs pork cubes
• 2 tbsps cornstarch or tapioca starch, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
• 1 pc egg, beaten
• 18 pcs hard-boiled quail eggs, shelled
• 1 tbsp finely minced carrot
• 1 tbsp green peas
• 1 tbsp minced spring onion

Procedure:

In a casserole, put rice wash and pork cubes. Place over medium fire. Cover. Bring to boil. Pour gradually the cornstarch mixture, continue stirring. Cook for a minute or until desired thickness.

Remove pan from fire. Add the beaten egg into a thin stream (should continue stirring while doing this). Put the quail eggs, carrot and green peas. Bring back to stove, heat lightly, until sides bubbles. Mix.

Serve hot. Sprinkle spring onion on top.

"Double Oyster Stir-fry"

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsps corn oil or vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 250 grams fresh oyster mushrooms, strips
• 2 tbsps oyster sauce
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1-2 stalks spring onion, minced (green part only)
• a few drops of sesame oil

Procedure:

In a wok, heat moderately over medium fire. Put oil and garlic. Saute until aromatic only. Dump in the oyster mushrooms, oyster sauce and black pepper. Mix well. Cover. Cook for a minute or two.

Transfer in a platter. Sprinkle spring onion on top. Drizzle lightly with sesame oil. Serve hot.

"F1 Whole Chicken, Mashed Potato & Chicken Gravy"

Wondering why is the title had F1 in it? F1 means Formula. Formula means Turbo. This chicken was cooked in Turbo Oven, that's why.... it's my hubby's idea anyway! (",)

Good for 4-6 servings

You'll need:

for the chicken:

• 1 whole chicken, 1.1 kg in weight
• 1 tsp iodized coarse salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
  
• 1 very small red onion, finely minced
  
• 2 tbsps soy sauce
• 1 tbsp banana catsup
• 1 large Philippine lemon (kalamansi)

for the mashed potato:

• 100 grams potato flakes
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1-1/2 cup warm fresh milk
• 1 cup hot water

for the gravy:

• 1 pack chicken gravy powder mix
• 1 cup hot water

Here's how:

Clean chicken. Pat-dry.

In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients for the chicken. Mix well. Rub the mixture inside and outside of the chicken. Place in a large plastic. Seal. Refrigerate for 24 hours or more. Turning it every 6 hours.

Place inside the turbo. Grill for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn it over and cook for another 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the mashed potato in large bowl. Set aside. Prepare and mix the ingredients for the gravy in a small bowl.

Serve the chicken with rice, mashed potato and chicken gravy.

"Togue at Tokwa Guisado" (Mung Bean Sprouts & Tofu Saute)

A variation of my recipe, "Mung Bean Sprouts Easy Saute". I just added fried and cubed tofu at the end of the cooking.

"Snap Beans Easy Saute"

With most beans, you eat only the seeds usually after they've been dried. But you can eat snap beans pod and all. Here in the Philippines, oftentimes, snap beans are called Baguio beans.


Good for 3 servings.


You'll need:

• 2 tbsps of vegetable oil
• 3 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 medium red onion, minced
• 2 ripe tomatoes, minced
• 350 grams snap beans, remove both ends
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 pc pork cube
• 2 tbsps of oyster sauce
• 1/3 tsp of ground black pepper

Here's how:

Slice thinly the snap beans at an angle (diagonal-cut). Set aside.

In a pan, saute garlic in oil until light golden brown. Put onion and tomatoes. Cook until soft. Add the snap beans. Stir-fry for about 10 seconds. Throw in the rest of the ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Cover. Cook until done.

"Tortang Talong" (Eggplant Omelet)

There's a bunch of eggplant sitting inside my rerigerator for a few days now. It's starting to dry up. I didn't want it to go to waste so I decided to cook this recipe for our dinner. I know it's kinda weird to have "patis-kalamansi" for the dip. I like it that way instead of the usual catsup. We had also, "Salted Egg and Tomato Salad"

Good for 3 persons.


You'll need:

• 4 pcs large (500-600 grams) eggplant
• 3 pcs eggs
• salt and pepper
• 2-3 tbsps of all purpose flour
• cooking oil for frying

dip:

• kalamansi
• patis
• hot chili pepper (labuyo)

Here's how:

Grill or broil the eggplant. Remove skin and top. Cut and mash the flesh with a fork. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Mix.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Put in the eggplant. Add in the flour. Mix until well blended.

Fry in batches (It's up to you how big or small you want your eggplant omelet to be). Drain in lots of paper towels.


note:
Use a tbsp of oil while frying the first batch, then just add little by little as you go along. Eggplant tends to absorb oil instantly, you don't want your omelet to be soggy and dripping with oil. Besides, it's not healthy too!

"Mung Bean Sprouts Easy Saute"

A very easy way of cooking mung bean sprouts (togue). You can add pork cracklings (chicharon) at the end but if you're watching your diet... just omit it. Best with any fried fish or meat or just munch on it (",)

Good for 2-3 servings


You'll need:

• 2 tbsps of palm oil or vegetable oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, pounded finely
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 red ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 350 grams of mung bean sprouts
• 2 tbsps of oyster sauce (i used mama sita's)
• 1/3 tbsp of fish sauce
• 3/4 tsp of ground black pepper
• some pork cracklings (optional)

Here's how:

Heat oil in a wok. Saute garlic until golden brown. Add in the onion and tomatoes. Cook until soft. Put the rest of the ingredients. Stir. Cook for a few minutes or until mung bean sprouts are soft but still crunchy.

"Buttered Corn and Carrot"

Ingredients:

• 1 can (439 g) whole corn kernels, drained & reserved stock
• 3 small, about 200-250 grams of carrot, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup water
• 6 tbsps margarine or salted butter
• 2 tbsps of quickmelt cheese
• Fine salt and ground white pepper

Here’s how:

1. In a casserole, add stock and water. Cover. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Add the carrot. Cook until tender. Drain.


2. In a pan, place butter and cooked carrot. Stir a few times until butter melts. Add corn, salt, white pepper and cheese. Cook for another 30 seconds or until cheese melts.


3. This recipe is good as a side-dish.

"Corn Kernels with Butter and Cheese"

Corn, also known as “Maize or Maiz”, is a tall cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears, it has many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times. By perhaps 5000 B.C., the indigenous peoples of southern Mexico first domesticated a wild variety of corn. The earliest corn plants bore only a few kernels on each stalk. By selectively breeding these plants over thousands of years, Native Americans developed a variety of types of domesticated corn which bore large cobs holding hundreds of kernels.

Ingredients:

• 2 kilos of husk removed sweetcorn
• 2-3 tbsps of light brown sugar
• A heaping teaspoon of rock salt
• 2-4 Pandan leaves, tied in a knot
• Water
• Margarine or butter
• Cheddar cheese, finely grated or cheese powder

Here’s how:

In a large thick bottom casserole, place first-four ingredients. Level with water. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat to low, then, simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until tender. Remove corn. Drain well. Reserve corn stock for future use or drink as hot tea.

Using a knife, scrape kernels from the cob. Place in a shallow platter. Cover with cling wrap. Microwave for 4 minutes in medium-high. Remove cling wrap carefully. Top with margarine. Mix , then, sprinkle with cheese. Serve hot.

Note:
You can put margarine & cheese in this dish, as much as you like!