Day 94: LaPiS - COCONUT

The theme for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays for the next two weeks (April 4-17) is COCONUT.  I decided to go ahead and feature my own Holy Week masterpiece which made use of coconut cream.  For the longest time, I've been intimidated to try my hand at preparing "Guinataang Tilapia" (St. Peter's Fish in Coconut Cream).  I always had the impression that it was just too much work and difficult to make.

Well, this Black Saturday, I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead with my plan to face this cooking challenge.  Armed with information I got from Google, I pretty much formed my own strategy to this dish.  Combining the Bicolano style of stuffing the fish with tomato salsa and my own style to cooking guinataan dishes, I came up with a winner of a dish.

GUINATAANG TILAPIA (St. Peter's Fish in Coconut Cream)

1 kg tilapia, cleaned, scaled, gutted and halved

2 pcs thumb-size ginger, julienned

2 medium red onions, sliced 

4 cloves garlic, minced

5 medium tomatoes, seeded and sliced

2 bunches lemongrass, pounded

5-6 pcs banana chili (siling pansigang) or bird's eye chili (siling labuyo) if you want it extra spicy

coarse salt

1 cup thick coconut cream

2-3 tbsp fish sauce (patis)

2 tbsp canola oil

Combine the garlic, half of the tomatoes, ginger and red onions with some coarse salt then stuff into the belly cavity of the tilapia pieces.  Season the outside of the fish with salt then set aside.  In a wok, heat up the oil then saute the remaining aromatics - onions, ginger and tomatoes until wilted.  Then add some fish sauce.  Pour in coconut cream and simmer until the natural oils surface.  Quickly slide in the tilapia pieces and chilis.  Cook until fish are done and coconut sauce is creamy.  Serve with hot rice.

is a bi-monthly FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style! 

Day 93: LaPiS - FLOUR

It's the last day to feature this theme for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays and so I make a photo-finish of an entry about it.  Aside from cooking, I also have a passion for baking and although I rarely have the time to explore many baking challenges, it remains to be one of my favorite stress busters.

This is a batch of brownies I made with sprinkles of chocolate candies on top.  They came out more gooey than cakey due to the lesser proportion of flour to cocoa I used.

Suffice to say, it was wiped out by my kids even before I could manage to store some in the fridge for another day.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a bi-monthly food photography meme, Pinoy style!

Day 66: LaPiS - SEAFOOD

This week's theme in Lasang Pinoy Sundays is SEAFOOD.  I thought I should feature one of my family's favorite seafood recipe - Tahong Soup (Mussel Soup).  It is such an easy and no-fuss dish to prepare.  What I love about it too is that it's packed with so much nutrition and doesn't really cost a lot to make. Being a breastfeeding Mom, I know that consuming shellfish together with malunggay (Moringana) leaves can greatly increase milk production and so that's another great reason why I love having this at home.

TAHONG SOUP (Mussel Soup)

1 kg fresh tahong (mussels) *** buy them live at the market

2 pcs thumb-size ginger, julienned 

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

4 ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 cup malunggay leaves

3-4 stalks lemongrass, pounded

1 liter water or hugas bigas (rice wash water)

2 tbsp canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a casserole, heat oil and saute the aromatics - onion, ginger, garlic and tomatoes.  Stir in the lemongrass and the mussels. Saute for 5 minutes then add the water, salt and pepper. Bring to a rolling boil, then add the malunggay leaves and remove from fire.  Serve.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a bi-monthly food photography meme, Pinoy style!

Day 59: LaPiS - ROLLED

The Lasang Pinoy, Sundays theme for the week is ROLLED.  My feature is the old time Pinoy favorite snack TURON NA SAGING (Sweet Banana Rolls).  These are fried goodies made up of slices of saba banana (plantains) with slivers of langka (jackfruit), rolled in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper and dipped in brown sugar.

I just love hearing the cracking sound of the wrapper as I take a bite.  The combination of saba with langka is just so yummy which makes it an irresistible snack.  This is a true Pinoy fare as it can be easily found at every street corner around the country.  

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is a bi-monthly food photography meme, Pinoy style!

Day 43: LaPiS - Hearty...

This will be my first attempt to join Lasang Pinoy Sundays.  I've been following the Lasang Pinoy features of the different members for some time now but have always felt intimidated by their wonderful features and photos of Filipino food. 

Having revived my blog at the beginning of the year, I've mustered enough confidence to finally join Lasang Pinoy Sundays.

For this week's theme - HEARTY, I'm featuring the one dish that my family considers to always leave us "belly-full" and gastronomically satisfied...CHICKEN ADOBO.  Whenever I prepare this or any type of adobo for that matter, I notice that we always have our meal in silence, observing the "galit-galit muna tayo" atmosphere.  I guess there is really something about the Filipino Adobo that leaves that hearty and ultra-satisfying feeling all around.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a bi-monthly FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Filipino style!