Bicol Express.....Veggy Style!

One of my favorite dish is that with coconut milk, and this dish is my top 1, not just because it is very rich in flavor but also because I had the chance to experiment it with a vegetable and that is Eggplant.


I have always love the taste of eggplant, may it be fried with scrambled egg or just simply fried or roasted.


But I want to share this dish I made with eggplant and made my coconut milk dishes much better or should I say guilt-free!

Bicol Express Eggplant!

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:
6 cups coconut milk
2 lbs eggplantk, cut into strips
¾ cup Shrimp Paste
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
6 pieces Thai chili pepper
½ cup Ginger, grated
1 large onion, cubed
2 long chili pepper
2 tsp cooking oil
Salt and Pepper


Cooking Procedure:
1. Sauté the garlic, onion, and ginger
2. Add the eggplant and continue cooking for 5 to 7 minutes
3. Place the shrimp paste in and cook for 5 minutes
4. Add the Thai and long hot pepper followed by the coconut milk
5. Mix all the ingredients well and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes
6. Add salt and pepper to taste

Serve hot and enjoy!

Happy eating!

Let me know what you think if you have tried it!

Creamy Chicken in Asparagus Sauce! Yummy!

Don't you just love comfort food? I love food that has cream and butter on in! I love the thought of cooking a dish with this ingredients... Hmmmm, makes me hungry now. ;)

So without further intro, here it is :

Presenting Creamy Chicken in Asparagus Sauce!

Here's how :




INGREDIENTS:
3 asparagus spears
1 tablespoon butter
1 chicken breast
1 tablespoon fresh onion leeks sliced diagonally
***For the sauce***
3 tablespoons all purpose cream
3 asparagus, blanched and chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper 


PREPARATION:


1. Bring a medium pan of water to the boil and blanch the asparagus spears for 2-3 minutes. Drain the asparagus, reserving some of the water to make the sauce. 


2. Gently melt the butter in a non-stick pan. Using a sharp knife, make a slit in the chicken breast and enclose the three spears of cooked asparagus. Wrap the chicken back up, securing with a cocktail stick if necessary. 


3. Pan-fry the chicken breast for two minutes each side to seal. Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.


4. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, reduce two tablespoons of reserved water from the asparagus with the cream for a few minutes. 


5. Stir in the chopped asparagus and heat for a further 1-2 minutes. Season to taste. Remove the chicken from the heat and slice. Transfer to a serving plate and pour the sauce over to serve.


Enjoy eating!

All time fave Chopsuey!

Are you the kind of person who just loves veggy and cannot eat without it in the dish? Even just a side dish, so as long as there's a lovely and delighting veggy on the plate? Then we are just so alike. I cannot eat a dish without any veggy, be it just a tomato and onion,I am good to go! (Kahit nilagang talbos ng kamote o kang kong! Masaya na ko. or even sinabawang saluyot or dalhon ng malunggay, for the love of God give me some veggy!)


So we all know that this dish Chopsuey is not an original "Pinoy dish". It is actually a Chinese-American dish. (Want to read the History and Origin of this dish? Click here!)


With all that being said, Pinoy or Not, I still love this dish because it's mostly veggies and has this really great aroma of sesame oil and soy.. Hmmmm,yum! Very tempting with RICE! ummmm,diet,excuse me please,LOL!


If I have to chose 1 dish to eat for the rest of my life, this would be it! You can do it with seafood, chicken, pork and even beef! SUPER flexible! And if you have left-over, just boil Canton or Bihon noodles then you are so good to go with a snack!Right?!


So I tweak mine a little, I did not add any nuts on this dish but still tasted great!

Presenting All time Fave Chopsuey!

So here is the recipe:


Ingredients:
1/4 kilo chicken breast cut into small pieces
1/4 c Vegetable Oil
1/4 of a medium Onion, minced
4 to 6 stalks of Celery, cut into 2” diagonal pieces
6 pcs baguio beans slice diagonally
1 small carrots julienne cut
2 big bell pepper
1/2 cabbage cut into square
1 pc sayote, cut diagonally
Water (about 2” in the bottom of the pot)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Soy Sauce to taste
Oyster sauce
sesame oil
Garlic Powder to taste


Sauce:
1/2 c Water
2 T Soy Sauce
2 T Cornstarch


Procedure:
1. Heat oil on medium-high in large pot.
2. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add chicken and cook to brown, stirring often.
4. Reduce heat to medium and add vegetables, carrots, beans, sayote .
(*tip: Do not over-cook your veggies,it is always great to get them half-cook only. Crunchy and the taste thus the freshness on them is still there.)
5. Mix sauce ingredients in small bowl and whisk together.
6. Pour sauce over vegetables and stir to coat.
7. Add water.
8. Add cabbage and oyster sauce.
9. Simmer for approximately until meat is cooked through, stirring often.
10.Add sesame oil.
11. Remove from heat and serve over steamed rice.


Enjoy the dish!

Squid and Veggy in Cream of Mushroom!

Have you ever get tired of your usual homemade "Adobong Pusit"?

Well, I do. As I live in a province here in the Philippines, great restos and fine dining is out of story. I and "the husband" goes to market (wet market) on a weekly basis and stock-up for our weekly groceries.

The shopping experience I get from the market is not the same as in the mall. Market in province is...pft! But you get all the luxury you can have in Malls and its supermarket that is.

When we go to the wet market, we always have this common list of thing to buy weekly, to suffice our weekly needs. This entails pork, chicken, fish and SQUID. My kids and "the husband" loves this seafood and they always, always, always liked it to be cooked "Adobo" and I'm like "Adobo na naman?!"

Adobo is a popular dish here in Philippines and I must say, if we can represent our country in a dish it would be Adobo. A super flexible dish. Anyhooo, I get tired of Squid Adobo, it's like the same old story every week with Squid (as we always have that in our weekly list). Yes I have tried doing Calamares` and works well, but it's to dry of a dish and the oil will splatter all over if you cook it incorrectly, such a hassle, pffft!

So long story short, as I am deeply in love with cooking, I tried creating a dish I can call "MY OWN".

NO recipe, NO cookbook and NO YouTube or TV show tutorials! YES I can make my own recipe out of nowhere,LOL!

Presenting my Squid and Veggy in Cream of Mushroom!

So I had some veggies on the fridge and half pouch (left-over) Cream of Mushroom powder. Then I thought why not make a dish with veggy and squid?! Right?
And so I did, and this is the outcome. I never thought this would taste great, but to my surprise it does!


So here is the recipe :


Ingredients :
2 table spoon vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic minced

1 onion minced

1 sayote cut julienne
1 carrot cut julienne
1 table spoon celery cut into an inch long
1 plum tomato cut julienne
1 table spoon of Oyster sauce

2 table spoon of Tomato Ketchup

1 tea spoon of light soy

1 tea spoon fish sauce  (optional)

pinch of dried oregano and thyme

1/2 of Cream of Mushroom powder in a pouch diluted in 2 cups of water
1 sachet 7g GINISA MIX with SHRIMP
1 red bell pepper cut julienne
1/2 kilo squid cleaned and cut into rings
salt and pepper to taste.


Procedure :
1. Heat the wok and add the oil, when the oil is heated add garlic and onions saute` until the onions sweat.
(*tip: You want to sweat your onion to provide a sweet taste instead of the spiciness. And you will saute garlic and onions together to avoid burnt garlic.)
2. Add sayote ,carrots, celery and tomato then stir fry until it's half cook. You don't want an over-cooked veggy, you want it crisp and tender,not mushy! We added our tomato at this point and not while sauteing to avoid it from being squashed, we want to see our tomatoes in the dish.
3. Season it with Oyster sauce, tomato Ketchup, light soy, fish sauce and pinch of dried oregano and thyme. Mix well.
4. We then now add diluted Cream of Mushroom powder in a pouch and 1 sachet GINISA MIX with shrimp!
5. Stir until it you see the sauce thickness a little, you don't want a too thick of consistency, if this happens,your ration of the powder and water may not be right. It is OK to add little by little of water until you get the right consistency you want.
6. Wait for it to boil. When you start seeing bubbles on the sauce add bell pepper and squid. Mix for about a minute.
(*tip: DO NOT OVER COOK YOUR SQUID! a minute in the heat will do to cook the squid. Over cooking it will just ruin it, the texture will be like as of the bubble gum. Believe me!)
7. Add salt and pepper to taste. And you are ready to serve!


Enjoy the dish!


So what's your say? isn't this dish interesting? What are you waiting for?


Anyway, Thanks for reading..

Grilled Tanige with Tomato and Onion Side dish!

Like most of us, I love grilled foods! No added oil(/cholesterol) and you can savor the distinct taste of smoked food (or more of a charcoal-ed taste,LOL!) 

Don't you just love to see a perfectly grilled fish with those lovely grill marks?

(mind you, I did this myself)

For most of my friends, they always had this first impression on me that I don't know how to cook. It is sad for me, because I love cooking so much that it does not reflect on me. (or maybe because I look too girly to learn or to know how to cook?)

But let me remind you guys, looks can always be deceiving :)

As for the story of this grilled fish? I grilled 6, we are only 4 in the house, all were gone, like magic!

And I am a happy MOM!

Please let me know what you think of this food blog and if you want to get the recipe just comment below and I will be posting it upon request!

Happy reading!