Ever wondered how this is done without using left-over lechon (roasted whole pig) from a party? I did wonder, so I tried to experiment methods on getting the right consistency of sauce, the right sweetness, and it should actually look like the ones you get from the cans. I love those canned lechon paksiw, but I always get disappointed when opening them, either you get the sauce overload or you get the worst parts of the pig, lets just say, yours were the snout and I had the butt!
Best served with rice, but a freshly baked bread will do as well.
LECHON PAKSIW (PINOY-STYLE PORK STEW)
Serves 8 (or less)
1 kg Pork Belly, pat dry and cut into 1 inch cube
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1 large Onion, sliced
1 cup 7-up (Yes, the Fido Dido one)
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 pc Chicken Stock Cube, dissolved in
1 cup Hot Water
1 Tbsp Vinegar
2 Tbsp Plain Flour
2 pcs Bay leaf
12 pcs Whole Peppercorns
Salt & Pepper to taste
In a large heavy-based sauce pan, heat oil and sear pork cubes until brown on sides. Remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan saute onion and garlic until soft, return pork pieces in the pan (including the juices) then add flour and stir for a minute or two. Gently pour chicken stock while stirring continuously, and then add the 7-up, vinegar, bay leaf, peppercorns. Bring to a gentle boil, cover then simmer at low heat for 1-1 1/2 hours making sure you check that the sauce doesn't dry out and the bottom part doesn't burn out and stick to the pan. You may add extra 7-up or water if liquid is evaporating quickly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
This actually keeps well in the freezer, the vinegar does the trick.
Serve hot.
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Fish Kilawin (Ceviche)
Remembering those days when I was still a child, Saturdays are the best days for me, no school, no church, it's a totally free day! I love you Sabado! Sabado is our local term for Saturday, it is a day to play without worries of homework, but not necessarily means no errands to run though. When you hear your name being called upon on this holy day of ours, it only means one thing, you have been chosen...chosen to run an errand is what I meant. You have to stop playing Piko or Jolens and try to convince your siblings to go with you, if not, your turns for the game will just have to pass. Why was it always me? (after a decade or so I realized it was always me because I have a good memory and do not forget every detail about the errands-plus the "keep-the-change" motivation always gets me), now why is this story part of the recipe again? This is why; Our Mom needs some salted eggs that you can get from nearby sari-sari stores in the neighborhood. I have to go and get some "Itlog na Pula" (Red Egg), which is by the way "Itlog na Maalat" in Tagalog and "Salted Egg" in English. Sari-sari stores don't actually provide fancy packaging for you purchases, you have to hold everything in your hands! Ain't that rough! It's the dreaded "Itlog na Pula" we are talking about here, you hold it with sweaty palms, you get caught with a red hand for several days. But at least I get to keep the change, I can get those "Lipps" candies and viola! I have red lips and red hands.
This dish is served as an appetizer and at times a canape or "Pulutan", during a drinking session.
FISH KILAWIN (CEVICHE)
Serves 6
400 g White Fish, filleted and cut into bite-size pieces
2 pcs Salted Eggs, peeled and chopped roughly into small pieces
1 inch Ginger, peeled and minced finely
1 pc Red Onion, chopped roughly
1 pc Green Tomato, chopped roughly
2 pcs Red Chilis (Siling Labuyo), chopped finely
1 Tbsp Vinegar
2 Tbsp Calamansi Juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
This is easy, just mix everything thoroughly, cover with cling film and refrigerate until ready to serve.
This dish is served as an appetizer and at times a canape or "Pulutan", during a drinking session.
FISH KILAWIN (CEVICHE)
Serves 6
400 g White Fish, filleted and cut into bite-size pieces
2 pcs Salted Eggs, peeled and chopped roughly into small pieces
1 inch Ginger, peeled and minced finely
1 pc Red Onion, chopped roughly
1 pc Green Tomato, chopped roughly
2 pcs Red Chilis (Siling Labuyo), chopped finely
1 Tbsp Vinegar
2 Tbsp Calamansi Juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
This is easy, just mix everything thoroughly, cover with cling film and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Pinoy Burger Steaks
The Brits may call this "Swedish Meatballs" and the Americans call it "Salisbury Steaks", I prefer to call it as what we are used to..."The Burger Steak". The cooking method varies depending on what tools and equipment are usually at hand, and in the Philippines, most household doesn't have ovens used for braising, baking, roasting and the like. Although this really tastes good when done in the oven, cooking on a stove top is just as good and makes this recipe doable in every household.
This is an all-time family favorite and can be serve with rice/ potato fries/ mashed potatoes & some steamed vegetables. Again, what the Brits may call "Old-style Chips", is what Americans call "Potato Fries" and what Pinoy calls "The French Fries". Is this really of French origin? But, French or not I'd like to super size this for my burger steaks!
PINOY BURGER STEAKS
Serves 6
500 g Minced Beef
100 g Button Mushroom, sliced thinly
1 cup Bread crumbs (from a stale loaf)
1 large Onion, chopped finely
1 pc Egg
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Cracked Black Peppercorns
1 tsp Salt
1 can Campbell's Mushroom Soup (or a packet version in powdered form will do)
1 cup Water
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
In a large bowl, combine beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, soy sauce, pepper, salt and 1/4 can of the mushroom soup. Use your hands in mixing this, I will never tell...mix thoroughly until well combined. Then cover with a cling film and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes, just to let it set and it will be easier to form into patties.
Divide mixture into 6 portions and form patties.
In a pan or skillet, heat the cooking oil (medium-high heat) and sear/pan-grill patties until brown on sides. This will only take a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Now, on the same pan saute sliced mushrooms until soft and brown on the edges. Add the remaining mushroom soup and water, then stir until well combined. Bring this to a simmer, reduce heat to low and then add the patties including the juices that came with it. Stir well, making sure the patties get all nice and coated. Cover and simmer for 8-10minutes.
Note: You can make meatballs instead of patties if you prefer, this is a simple recipe that can come a long way!
This is an all-time family favorite and can be serve with rice/ potato fries/ mashed potatoes & some steamed vegetables. Again, what the Brits may call "Old-style Chips", is what Americans call "Potato Fries" and what Pinoy calls "The French Fries". Is this really of French origin? But, French or not I'd like to super size this for my burger steaks!
PINOY BURGER STEAKS
Serves 6
500 g Minced Beef
100 g Button Mushroom, sliced thinly
1 cup Bread crumbs (from a stale loaf)
1 large Onion, chopped finely
1 pc Egg
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Cracked Black Peppercorns
1 tsp Salt
1 can Campbell's Mushroom Soup (or a packet version in powdered form will do)
1 cup Water
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
In a large bowl, combine beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, soy sauce, pepper, salt and 1/4 can of the mushroom soup. Use your hands in mixing this, I will never tell...mix thoroughly until well combined. Then cover with a cling film and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes, just to let it set and it will be easier to form into patties.
Divide mixture into 6 portions and form patties.
In a pan or skillet, heat the cooking oil (medium-high heat) and sear/pan-grill patties until brown on sides. This will only take a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Now, on the same pan saute sliced mushrooms until soft and brown on the edges. Add the remaining mushroom soup and water, then stir until well combined. Bring this to a simmer, reduce heat to low and then add the patties including the juices that came with it. Stir well, making sure the patties get all nice and coated. Cover and simmer for 8-10minutes.
Note: You can make meatballs instead of patties if you prefer, this is a simple recipe that can come a long way!
Chicken Inasal (Chicken BBQ)
Coming from a place known as the Manokan Country (Chicken Country), which is Bacolod City, Philippines, I always look forward to our "Chicken Inasal", whether you go to Manokan Country, Chicken Deli, Chicken House, Mang Inasal and many other places that serves Chicken Inasal, nothing compares to what we make at home. Especially if our youngest sister will be the grill master of the day, she just grills it like no other! We have our own different marinades that we use, but my own or not, passion is a key ingredient that makes all our barbeques great (that's my opinion of course!).
Usually Chicken Inasal is served with plain rice (but I prefer garlic rice with this) and Atsara/Atchara (grated papaya preserved with carrots, onions, bittergourd, etc.) along with a dip composed of soy sauce, calamansi juice and chili. This is best enjoyed when eating with your hands!
CHICKEN INASAL
Serves 4
4 pcs Quarter Chicken (leg & thigh preferably) - skin on
4 pcs BBQ Sticks (large bamboo skewers to carry the weight of the chicken piece)
Marinade:
4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
4 cloves Garlic
1 stalk Lemongrass
1 inch Ginger
4 Tbsp Calamansi Juice
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
Dip:
Soy sauce, Calamansi and Chili
First, soak the bamboo skewers in water. This will prevent it from burning while cooking.
Wash chicken pieces carefully, pat dry and set aside preferably in a large ceramic bowl while you prepare your marinade.
Using a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, ginger, lemongrass and salt together to form a paste. You may roughly chop these ingredients in manageable pieces before pounding. Transfer this to a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients for the marinade. Mix thoroughly and rub marinade onto each chicken pieces making sure it is well coated. Cover bowl with cling film and marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.
When your chicken is ready, skewer it up and grill at medium high heat for 15-20 minutes using the excess marinade to baste the chicken from time to time.
Serve hot with plain white rice or rice topped with fried garlic. Atsara is optional and the dip is make your own style.
Yummy!
Usually Chicken Inasal is served with plain rice (but I prefer garlic rice with this) and Atsara/Atchara (grated papaya preserved with carrots, onions, bittergourd, etc.) along with a dip composed of soy sauce, calamansi juice and chili. This is best enjoyed when eating with your hands!
CHICKEN INASAL
Serves 4
4 pcs Quarter Chicken (leg & thigh preferably) - skin on
4 pcs BBQ Sticks (large bamboo skewers to carry the weight of the chicken piece)
Marinade:
4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
4 cloves Garlic
1 stalk Lemongrass
1 inch Ginger
4 Tbsp Calamansi Juice
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
Dip:
Soy sauce, Calamansi and Chili
First, soak the bamboo skewers in water. This will prevent it from burning while cooking.
Wash chicken pieces carefully, pat dry and set aside preferably in a large ceramic bowl while you prepare your marinade.
Using a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, ginger, lemongrass and salt together to form a paste. You may roughly chop these ingredients in manageable pieces before pounding. Transfer this to a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients for the marinade. Mix thoroughly and rub marinade onto each chicken pieces making sure it is well coated. Cover bowl with cling film and marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.
When your chicken is ready, skewer it up and grill at medium high heat for 15-20 minutes using the excess marinade to baste the chicken from time to time.
Serve hot with plain white rice or rice topped with fried garlic. Atsara is optional and the dip is make your own style.
Yummy!
The Perfect Rice
Rice is a staple food, mostly on all Asian countries. Others may think that we Asians eat too much rice, yes! They are right, especially us, Filipinos, we love rice! Even our McDonald's serves rice, just to cater to the needs of the rice-loving community.
Plain as it is, rice is served everywhere in the Philippines. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, rice is always a part of the menu and would always be the best-seller. Have you ever visited a fast-food restaurant and say "I'd like to have extra gravy on top of the mashed potatoes", if you have, most likely you are not one of us. Most of the time you would likely hear " I'd like to have extra rice, aside from that mashed potato that came with the meal". That's just us, we maybe judged as unhealthy eaters, but, that is what we are. Rice is a must!
In the Philippines, rice is always served at its simplest form which is steamed. The good old plain white rice. I like my rice fluffy, soft yet firm to the bite and not all mushy or watery. You just need a rice cooker to do this job nowadays, but cooking rice in a clay pot or the caldero (steel rice pot) requires skills, skills that a 7-year old girl can master if she comes from a poor family. To be honest, I mastered the skill when I was 6 for it was a rule in our household that you should need to know how to cook rice once you are already on the first grade at school. Ain't that rule tough! Now, my eldest son is 9 years old and he doesn't know how to cook rice yet (even with the rice cooker at hand!), but he sure does know how to eat his fair share of it.
THE PERFECT RICE
serves 4 or more (but perhaps less)
2 cups Rice
2 1/2 cups Water
1 small pc Banana Leaf (if using clay pot)
Now, this ratio is based on cooking using a clay pot/palayok or a steel pot/caldero on the stove top.
First of all, line your pot with the banana leaf. You may cut it to fit just the base or cover up to 2 inches of the sides of your pot. Then, on a separate basin, wash your rice at least two times. Why twice? It is actually not a must to follow, but I believe it all depends on which rice you are preparing. If after two washes and your water is still cloudy, it means that the rice you purchased is "la-un" (our local term for old-maid), you may continue to wash the rice to get rid of the extra starch to prevent it from turning out to be mushy and sticky.
Transfer the washed rice to the lined pot and add water. Cover and cook at medium high heat, there should be no exact timing to this but once the water is boiling (the cover should make a sound or start to shake) turn your heat to the lowest and let it simmer until you get that fluffy beautiful rice. You may open the cover only once or twice during the process, just to make sure nothing can cause the firemen to visit your house. But, otherwise if you open the pot often, the steam would come out and your rice may dry out earlier as it should. The whole process can Be approximated at about 15 minutes, but it all depends on what type of rice you are using as well.
Always serve rice hot.
Tips: You can boil some eggs on top of your rice while it is cooking, just wash it carefully though, you don't want those extra flavors on your rice!
Plain as it is, rice is served everywhere in the Philippines. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, rice is always a part of the menu and would always be the best-seller. Have you ever visited a fast-food restaurant and say "I'd like to have extra gravy on top of the mashed potatoes", if you have, most likely you are not one of us. Most of the time you would likely hear " I'd like to have extra rice, aside from that mashed potato that came with the meal". That's just us, we maybe judged as unhealthy eaters, but, that is what we are. Rice is a must!
In the Philippines, rice is always served at its simplest form which is steamed. The good old plain white rice. I like my rice fluffy, soft yet firm to the bite and not all mushy or watery. You just need a rice cooker to do this job nowadays, but cooking rice in a clay pot or the caldero (steel rice pot) requires skills, skills that a 7-year old girl can master if she comes from a poor family. To be honest, I mastered the skill when I was 6 for it was a rule in our household that you should need to know how to cook rice once you are already on the first grade at school. Ain't that rule tough! Now, my eldest son is 9 years old and he doesn't know how to cook rice yet (even with the rice cooker at hand!), but he sure does know how to eat his fair share of it.
THE PERFECT RICE
serves 4 or more (but perhaps less)
2 cups Rice
2 1/2 cups Water
1 small pc Banana Leaf (if using clay pot)
Now, this ratio is based on cooking using a clay pot/palayok or a steel pot/caldero on the stove top.
First of all, line your pot with the banana leaf. You may cut it to fit just the base or cover up to 2 inches of the sides of your pot. Then, on a separate basin, wash your rice at least two times. Why twice? It is actually not a must to follow, but I believe it all depends on which rice you are preparing. If after two washes and your water is still cloudy, it means that the rice you purchased is "la-un" (our local term for old-maid), you may continue to wash the rice to get rid of the extra starch to prevent it from turning out to be mushy and sticky.
Transfer the washed rice to the lined pot and add water. Cover and cook at medium high heat, there should be no exact timing to this but once the water is boiling (the cover should make a sound or start to shake) turn your heat to the lowest and let it simmer until you get that fluffy beautiful rice. You may open the cover only once or twice during the process, just to make sure nothing can cause the firemen to visit your house. But, otherwise if you open the pot often, the steam would come out and your rice may dry out earlier as it should. The whole process can Be approximated at about 15 minutes, but it all depends on what type of rice you are using as well.
Always serve rice hot.
Tips: You can boil some eggs on top of your rice while it is cooking, just wash it carefully though, you don't want those extra flavors on your rice!
Ang Palayok
"Ang Palayok", in english is translated as "The Clay Pot".
Our ancestors used this tool to cook everyday food, from rice, soups, stews and even sweets for dessert. Although seldom can you see this being used in a household nowadays, I still believe that the palayok brings out a different flavor and authenticity to a dish. Now, traditional restaurants uses the palayok as a serving dish rather than a cooking utensil which is supposedly its main purpose.
There is even a popular fable always being told to us by our father, entitled "Ang Mahiwagang Palayok" (The Magical Clay Pot). Me and my siblings would then sit on the floor and listen to endless meals coming out of the pot that the famous "Juan Tamad" was asking for and we were wishing we could actually have one of those. Oh, I still remember those good old days...I wanted to get cakes with candles from that pot if it was for real! I missed my childhood so much. Nothing compares to the experiences that we had, even though we grew up from a poor family. We have been fed with love and understanding, all thanks to our parents who dedicated their lives to us, Mommy & Daddy, we love you so much and this blog is dedicated to you for inspiring us so that the next generation of our families would remember that in the kitchen, you rock! May you both rest in peace.
Our ancestors used this tool to cook everyday food, from rice, soups, stews and even sweets for dessert. Although seldom can you see this being used in a household nowadays, I still believe that the palayok brings out a different flavor and authenticity to a dish. Now, traditional restaurants uses the palayok as a serving dish rather than a cooking utensil which is supposedly its main purpose.
There is even a popular fable always being told to us by our father, entitled "Ang Mahiwagang Palayok" (The Magical Clay Pot). Me and my siblings would then sit on the floor and listen to endless meals coming out of the pot that the famous "Juan Tamad" was asking for and we were wishing we could actually have one of those. Oh, I still remember those good old days...I wanted to get cakes with candles from that pot if it was for real! I missed my childhood so much. Nothing compares to the experiences that we had, even though we grew up from a poor family. We have been fed with love and understanding, all thanks to our parents who dedicated their lives to us, Mommy & Daddy, we love you so much and this blog is dedicated to you for inspiring us so that the next generation of our families would remember that in the kitchen, you rock! May you both rest in peace.
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