It's the 25th, Christmas Day!

For my Little One, the 25th of December is the most exciting day (pagkagising diretso na agad sa mga regalo niya, hindi na nga naghilamos eh!). Today, he's allowed to open all his gifts he received during the Christmas Season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

DMS Kumon Center Christmas Party & 3rd Annual Recognition Day

It was their Annual Recognition Day, my Little One got a Bronze medal in Kumon, Reading subject. These pictures were taken yesterday. It was also their Christmas Party.

"Kid-Friendly Caldereta"

I've been wanting to cook this for several days now but I haven't had the main ingredient which is the neck bones or shoulder bones of pork or commonly called "buto-buto".

As you may wonder, why is the title kid-friendly? Well, caldereta is a spicy dish. This recipe is not but still has the rich yumminess of the dish. Caldereta is usually served as the main entree or "pulutan" in gatherings or special occasions among Filipinos.


Here's the recipe... good for 4-6 servings


You'll need:

• 4 tbsps of cooking oil
• 4 small (250 grams) potatoes, quartered
• 6-8 cloves finely crushed garlic
• 2 medium-sized red onion, chopped
• a kilo of pork neck or shoulder bones, cut up
• 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1-3/4 tbsps white vinegar
• 3 tbsps of soy sauce
• 2 cups water
• 1 pouch (115 grams) tomato sauce
• 1 large (50 grams) red bell pepper, seeded & cored, cut into large strips
• 3 tbsps grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 rock salt

Here's how:

Place a non-stick casserole over medium-high fire. Put half of the cooking oil. Heat slightly. Add the potatoes. Cook for 8 minutes or until sides ar lightly brown, stirring often. Remove potatoes. Set aside.

Back to the casserole, pour the rest of cooking oil. Add the garlic and onion. Saute until fragrant. Put pork and pepper. Saute until no longer pink.

Pour the vinegar. Do not mix. Bring to boil. Keep boiling for a minute or until vinegar is very fragrant. Pour the soy sauce, cook for 2 minutes. Add water, tomato sauce, red bell pepper and cheese. Cover. Bring to boil. Reduce fire to low, simmer for 30 minutes.

Increase fire to medium, add the potatoes and salt. Mix. Cover again. Cook for another 25 minutes in low fire.

Serve with warm cooked rice.

DLA's Christmas Party

These photos were taken earlier today. It's my Little One's Christmas Party in school.

Kenny Rogers Roasters

After doing our Christmas shopping, we ate at Kenny Rogers Roasters Restaurant for our dinner. It wasn't the first-time we dined there. We had our favorite (share na kami ng binata ko!), the Solo A combo meal: a quarter of spicy chicken, corn and carrot side-dish, choco chip muffin and rice topped with lots of gravy (",)

"Egg Sandwich"

Tomorrow is the last set of perodical tests for the 3rd Grading Period, Mathematics and Reading. My kiddo and I, we're eating egg sandwich while studying. One of his food favorites though allergic to egg c",) I think a little rash won't hurt him. I'll just medicate it with a skin ointment later. Definitely, eating his fave foods while reviewing for his exams inspires him more to study, it sets him on a very good mood!


For the recipe... good for 3 servings


You'll need:

• 2 pcs hard-boiled eggs, shelled
• fine salt
• ground white pepper
• 1 pouch (80ml) mayonnaise
• 6 pcs thick sliced white bread

Here's how:

In a bowl, mash finely the eggs using a fork. Sprinkle with a little salt and white pepper. Add the mayonnaise. Mix until blended.

Use this as filling for your white bread.

"Binalot-Style Chicken Adobo"

I wanted to cook "Kalderetang Buto-buto" for dinner but unfortunately I have only chicken in my freezer. Instead, I settled for adobo. I decided to do it Binalot style, with tomatoes and salted eggs.


Good for 3 servings


You'll need:

• 2 pcs chicken thigh attached with backbones, 650 grams, cut into 12 small pcs
• 1/2 head garlic, pounded finely and minced
• 1 very small red onion, minced
• 1-1/4 tsp of ground black pepper
• 3 tbsps soy sauce
• 2-1/3 tbsps native vinegar or white vinegar
• 2 tbsps cooking oil
• 2 salted duck eggs, shelled
• 3 pcs semi-ripe tomatoes, chopped

Here's how:
In a non-stick pan, place the first-six ingredients. Do not mix. Cover. Place over medium-high fire. Bring to boil. (At this stage, do not open the cover until it is boiling. To avoid a foul sour taste in your adobo.) Mix until well-blended. Cover again. Reduce fire to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir again. Continue cooking slowly for another 10-12 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a serving bowl, mash the salted eggs. Add in the chopped tomatoes. Mix. Cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Remove the sauce. Place in a bowl. Leaving the chicken in the pan. Pour oil. Increase fire to medium. Saute for 40 seconds. Put back the sauce. Bring to boil. Keep boiling for roughly 10 seconds.

Serve with rice and bowl of chopped tomatoes and salted eggs.

"Sinigang na Bangus sa Miso" (Milkfish in Miso Soup)

What exactly is in that muddy looking paste stuff besides salt?

Different Japanese locales make hundreds of different kinds of miso; in Kyushu they eat a wheat miso, in Nagoya they eat a "beans only" miso. In Tokushima and most of the rest of the world, most people eat rice miso. The basic ingredients for this are soybean (daizu), malted rice (kouji), salt and water.

Even in miso's home country of Japan, the soybeans used in miso are imported either from China or the U.S. Most miso is produced in large factories, but it can also be made in small, artisan-style batches at home. Miso production basically involves three stages; the preparation of the soybeans, the malting of the rice and finally the fermentation of the combined ingredients. Heat is essential for each of these stages.
Beans are placed into a vat with water and left to stand for 24 hours. Once this is done the excess water is removed from the beans by steaming them for a couple of hours. While the beans are soaking, the grain, usually rice, is placed into a tank at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. Bacteria is added and the rice is left to malt for a day, then aerated to remove any unpleasant odors produced by the bacteria. Once the soybean and grain are prepared they are combined with salt and water to create a miso precursor. The resulting mix is deposited into huge plastic or wooden containers and then placed into heated rooms and left to ferment.

In a controlled indoor environment the fermentation process takes about one month to complete, giving off heat, gas and a liquid which was the original source of tamari soy sauce. Naturally, outdoor fermented miso, called daikan takes much longer to ferment and requires closer supervision. It is now a luxury product, more expensive than miso fermented indoors, generally acknowledged as being superior in quality; having a softer texture and a deeper, richer flavor. The taste varies according to the percentage of salt in the miso; this may be from as little as 2% up to 14%, ranging from sweet to spicy in taste and fine to coarse in texture.

Types of Miso:

• Akamiso - medium strength, made with barley or rice, also called sendai miso, inaka miso, red miso, aka miso
• Genmai miso - brown rice based
• Gozen - a mildly spicy taste, muddy brown color
• Hatche miso or Mame miso - aged up to 3 years, very pungent, dark brown
• Kogane - a slightly salty taste, a golden color
• Kokyujoaka - much coarser in texture with the rice visible, a reddish brown color
• Mugi miso - made from barley, sweeter with reddish brown color
• Shinsumiso - salty but mild, definite yellow color
• Shiromiso - sweet and mild taste, less salty, a whitish or light yellow color

For the recipe of "Sinigang na Bangus sa Miso". Good for 5 persons.


You'll need:

• 1/2 kg of milkfish, gutted & scaled, cut diagonally into 5 slices
• salt
• 4 tbsps of cooking oil
• 50 grams of ginger, cut into strips
• 1/2 head garlic, pounded finely
• 2 large red onion, sliced thinly
• 4 plump red tomatoes, sliced thinly
• a slice, about 150 grams miso (I used the light-colored miso, usually sold in Philippine wet markets)
• 3 tbsps of fish sauce (patis)
• 3 cups of rice wash or water
• 1 pouch of sinigang sa kamias powder
• 2 pcs finger chilis
• 1 medium raddish, cut at 1/2" thick diagonally
• a bunch of mustard leaves, cut at 1/2" length

Here's how:
In a bowl, combine the first-two ingredients. Mix. Stand for 5 minutes. In a non-stick pan, lightly fry both sides of fish. Remove from pan.

Meanwhile, prepare and slice the other ingredients.

Back to the pan, saute garlic and ginger until garlic is rich golden brown. Add the onion and tomatoes, cook until very limp. Pour the fish sauce, saute until very fragrant. Put the miso and mash carefully. Cook for 2 minutes, keep stirring, until blended.

Add the rice wash, fish, chilis, raddish and sinigang sa kamias powder. Stir gently. Cover. Bring to boil. Simmer in low fire for 10 minutes. Put the mustard leaves, cook until done.

Serve immediately while hot.

"Tortang Giniling" (Ground Pork Omelet)

Thinking of something to pair with "Ground Pork Omelet", I thought of this, Knorr Chicken Sopas. It's one of the instant soup that my kiddo and I love. We like it thick not like the usual soup that's watery.

For the recipe of "Ground Pork Omelet"....

This recipe yields 16 patties.


You'll need:

• 3 tbsps oil & some more for frying the patties
• 4 cloves garlic, pounded finely
• 1 large red onion, minced finely
• 450 grams lean ground pork
• 1 small potato, skinned & minced finely
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsps of soy sauce
• salt
• 4 tbsps flour
• 6 pcs eggs

Here's how:
In a skillet, heat oil over medium fire. Saute garlic in 3 tbsps of oil until rich golden brown. Add onion, cook until limp. Put the potato, saute for 5-6 minutes or until done.

Add the ground pork, pepper and soy sauce. Stir-fry until ground pork is no longer pink and all the liquid has evaporated. The sign for this, is the oil is sizzling again.

Place cooked mixture in a large bowl. Let it cool for 8-10 minutes. Break the eggs. Beat lightly. Sprinkle the flour and add some salt. Mix until blended.

Back to the pan, clean or wipe it with tissue. Add some cooking oil. Reheat over medium fire. Put 2 tbsps of cooked mixture in the pan, flatten a little making it round. Cook 3 patties per batch. Brown both sides. Drain in paper towels.

You can serve this with rice, tomato ketchup and soup like I did. Or as filling (palaman) for your hamburger buns, making a great snack (baon) for school.

"Paksiw na Bangus at Talong" (Milkfish and Eggplant Poached in Vinegar and Spices)

Milkfish is an important food fish in Southeast Asia. It is the sole living species in the family Chanidae, about seven extinct species in five additional genera have been reported. Scientific name is Chanos chanos. It has a generally symmetrical and streamlined appearance with a sizable forked caudal fin. They can grow to 1.7 m but are most often about 1 meter in length. They have no teeth and generally feed on algae and invertebrates.

They occur in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific Ocean, tending to school around coasts and islands with reefs. The youngest larvae live at sea for 2–3 weeks, then migrate to mangrove swamps, estuaries and sometimes lakes returning to sea to mature sexually and reproduce. The larvae are collected from rivers and raised in ponds where they can be fed almost anything and grow very quickly, then are sold either fresh, frozen, canned, or smoked.

Milkfish is also a national symbol of the Philippines, where it is called "Bangus". Because milkfish is notorious for being much more bony compared to other food fish in the country, deboned milkfish or "boneless bangus" has become popular and common in stores and markets. The province Pangasinan, particularly in the town of Bonuan is the main source where one can buy the most delicious species of milkfish.


Good for 3 servings


You'll need:

• a large chunk of ginger, pounded finely
• 3 cloves of garlic, bruised lightly
• 1 pc finger chili
• 3 slices, about 350 grams of milkfish
• 1 small eggplant, quartered then cut at 2" length
• 1 tsp of whole peppercorns
• 1-1/2 tsp of rock salt
• 1/3 cup native white vinegar
• 2/3 cup water

Here's how:
Place at the bottom of a porcelain or stainless casserole 2/3 of the ginger, garlic and chili. Add the milkfish, eggplant, whole peppercorns, salt and the rest of the ginger.

Pour the vinegar and water. Do not mix. Cover. Place over medium fire, bring to boil. Swirl the casserole a little to mix the ingredients.

Reduce fire to low, then, simmer for 8 minutes.

I like this dish with garlic fried rice and fish sauce (patis) with crushed chili for your dip

Skinless Longganisa & Honeydew Melon

This was our lunch today, skinless longganisa and slices of melon. And some leftover soup and veggies from yesterday's "Sinigang na Bangus".

"Sinigang na Bangus" (Milkfish in Tamarind Broth)

After my kiddo's competition, I got sick, two weeks of off and on fever! No appetite plus I'm aching all over! My doctor thought I got dengue! Fortunately, my platelets were normal. It was just the flu season plus the stress I got because of my Little One's recent skating competition. Speaking of that, I'll post his pictures soon.

For the past week, I've been better. Now, I'm ready to update my blog again! Still, I'm not able to taste the food I eat but I still eat cause I want to get better! And do the stuff I usually do!

Good for 2 servings.


You'll need:

• 3 cups rice wash
• 1 plump red tomato
• 1 small native or red onion, quartered
• 550 grams milkfish (I used the head and tail only), gutted & scaled
  
• a teaspoon of rock salt
• 1/2 pack (small pouch) of tamarind soup base powder
• 1 finger chili
• 2 cups of swamp cabbage (leaves & tender stalks only)

Here's how:
Put the first-three ingredients in a casserole. Place over medium fire. Cover. Bring to boil. Cook for 5 minutes.

Mash the tomato carefully. Add the fish, salt, tamarind powder and chili. Cover again. Bring to boil. Simmer in low fire for 8-10 minutes.

Increase fire to medium-high, put the swamp cabbage. Cook until done.

Serve immediately while hot. Best with warm cooked rice and fish sauce (patis) for your dip.