Day 144: Local Razor Clams / "Tudlo Dato" (Rich Man's Fingers)

I was doing the rounds of the Banawa market this morning when I spotted a tray full of local razor clams ("Tudlo Dato" in Visayan lingo). At P100/kilo, I thought it was already a steal. And so with a kilo of these fresh live shellfish at hand, I started to salivate about what's for lunch today.

Just a simple stir fry of these babies turned out to be a sweet and succulent dish that's both hearty and exotic.

Razor Clam Stir Fry

1 kg razor clams / "tudlo dato", rinsed well

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, sliced

2 pcs. thumb-sized ginger, sliced

5-6 pcs. medium-sized tomatoes, sliced in wedges

2 tbsp. canola oil 

salt and pepper to taste

In a stir fry pan, heat up some oil and fry the aromatics. Once the onions turn translucent, stir in the clams. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust heat to medium and cover the pan. Turn off the heat after 10 minutes. Serve piping hot with rice.

Day 240: A Taste of Heaven

The boxes of Oreo cookies and Pancake batter mix have been sitting on the pantry shelf for a couple of weeks now since I first planned to make a sweet surprise for the family. Knowing how my son, Jarred loves Oreo cookies, it took great effort on his part to resist popping open the box and devouring the goodies all at once. He and his siblings kept on asking when I'll finally make the "goodies". Well, after a tiring week of school activities, I finally had the time to make good my promise to the little ones and my big one. 

This recipe has done its rounds over Facebook for sometime and I was curious to find out if it was really as good as people have been commenting about it...

OREO SURPRISE

1 box Oreo cookies (2 packets)

1 pack instant pancake mix

1/4 cup water or milk

1 1/2 cups canola oil (for deep frying)

Preheat pan then add oil for frying. Prepare pancake batter according to package instructions. For creamier batter, use milk instead of water. Dip each cookie in the batter and when fully coated, drop each one slowly onto the hot oil. Flip when lightly browned on one side and brown the other side. Lift from hot oil right away to prevent burning. Cool for a while. Enjoy while warm.

So, was it a taste of heaven? Well, hubby and I enjoyed it. The first bite was the best one...with the soft dough breaking to let the sweet richness of the melted Oreo explode inside the mouth. One or two morsels would be enough as it was too rich to enjoy too much of. Well, for the kids, I guess having their Oreos and pancakes separately was still a much better idea for them.

Day 143: Hawaiian Tuna Melt

After nearly two months of non-food posts, the foodie in me couldn't resist but feature what we had for breakfast today. Tuna is a well-loved staple in my household. I reckon it was a taste acquired during our 5-year stay in General Santos City, the tuna capital of the Philippines.  I make it a point to serve tuna-based dishes to my family from time-to-time. One of these is a regular breakfast or snack-time favorite - Pan de Tuna. 

Here's my quick and easy recipe...

HAWAIIAN TUNA MELT

3 cans Century Tuna (Solid in Water), drained and flaked

1 small can pineapple tidbits

1 pouch Mayo Magic or Salad n Sandwich spread

1/4 cup grated cheese

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

pandesal

Cheez Whiz

In a bowl, mix together the flaked tuna, pineapple, mayo and cheese. Season with Italian dry herbs, salt and pepper. Spread tuna spread on one side of slitted pandesal and Cheez Whiz on the other. Toast in the oven for 3-5 minutes. 

Day 114: A Sneak Peek

Tomorrow is a big day for the family...so I'm whipping up my special spaghetti sauce.  The sauce takes time to develop flavor (I add a splash of red wine for extra boldness) that's why I make it earlier.  Tomorrow, I only have to boil the noodles and prepare the bechamel sauce and bake the whole thing.  The aroma of the sauce has filled the house and I'm doing my best to ward off my son from consuming some as topping for his rice tonight.

Can you guess what special day is tomorrow?

Day 102: Blog Exposure

Thanks to my good friend and high school batchmate, Caren Bayhon-Yrastorza for featuring one of my favorite recipes on her food blog.  I've been following Caren on her foodie adventures for some time now.  Her recipes and food styling pics are awesome!  I've tried several of her tried and tested recipes and all of them have become winners for my family.  One of the more popular ones is her Baked Macaroni...it became the star of our Noche Buena feast back in 2008.  When I was invited to feature a recipe on her blog, I didn't think twice.  I  shared a family favorite - Adobong Pusit.  Read more about it here.  I was really tickled pink when I saw the feature on her blog...sarap pala ng feeling! 

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 77: Nutty

One of my former high school classmates made a wall post at Facebook, mentioning a brand of peanut butter.  It began a barrage of comments from her friends and she mentioned never failing to leave the grocery store without at least 3 big jars of it and with 2 smaller ones for "back-up".  I really don't know what it is with peanut butter that I also joined in the comments.  Growing up, I was more of a Ludy's/Lily's Coco Jam kind of kid.  And when I got older, I preferred cheese spreads for my bread.  My love affair with peanut butter probably started as a result of being around a family of nutty addicts.  My husband loves peanut butter and as it turns out, all three of our children inherited his taste bud for this yummy treat.  Since I'm the one doing the regular grocery chore, oftentimes I'd stock up on my fave cheese spread and seldom bought peanut butter.  However, over the last year, I noticed that I've been buying less and less of my cheesy favorite and have been choosing peanut butter instead.  Oh no!!! I've become a peanut butter convert!!! I've gone over to the other side!!!  

Whereas before I'd just try it on a piece of bread and not really be satisfied, now I can't imagine eating piece of bread or pan de sal without it.  Fortunately, there is a local PB manufacturer in my city for almost half the price of the commercially-available one.  It is similar to a Ludy's or Lily's type of peanut butter.  The kids love it on their bread combined with either strawberry or mango-pineapple jam.  Hubby and I prefer to partner it with guava jelly.  We've also learned to love it, the "Elvis Presley" way - lightly-toasted pieces of loaf bread, spread with PB and jam then topped with slices of banana.  With our family's obvious preference for this uber nutty spread, it's not surprising that we have a love affair with peanuts of all shapes and sizes - adobo, cracker-type, chocnut and even plain boiled in shell.  What's your peanut butter story?

Day 68: Pechay Guisado (#2 in the "Lutong Tamad" Series)

My husband is a vegetable lover.  He probably loves veggies more than any other type food.  His favorite vegetable dish of all time is Pechay Guisado.  It is such an easy dish to prepare and cook so it's part of my "lutong tamad" line.  Some versions of this dish use ground meat as extender but I've managed to make this completely vegetarian and even my kids love it this way.

PECHAY GUISADO (Sauteed Bok-Choy)

7-8 big bunches of pechay/bok-choy, finely chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, minced

1 boullion cube (chicken or beef) or 1.5 cups of chicken/beef stock

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp fish sauce (patis)

dash of pepper

In a deep skillet, heat oil until hot. Saute garlic and onions until translucent.  Stir in the pechay stalks and leaves.  Add in the boullion cube and water/stock and simmer for 10 minutes.  Season with patis and pepper.  Serve hot.

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 60: Mongolian Barbecue Feast

It's been quite a while since my family and I had our Mongolian Barbecue fix.  We usually had a yearly "date" with Kublai Khan's in Cebu but we skipped last year so you can say we're running on empty now.  There's just something about the delicious aroma of wok-frying ingredients that really get to us.  Of course, coupled with the Kublai Khan's saying "Don't blame cook, he only put in fire", every bowl of Mongolian barbecue is a feast in itself.

After surveying that I had enough ingredients to make our own Mongolian feast at home, I began chopping away.  There's no exact science to this kind of food.  You prepare whatever it is you want in your bowl.  Here are the 5 main groups of ingredients to a successful Kublai Khan meal:

AROMATICS - includes garlic, onion, ginger, Mandarin sausage, shallots/green onions, lemongrass

VEGETABLES - carrots, baguio beans, red and green bell peppers, sayote, bean sprouts, chinese cabbage, cabbage, young corn, bean curd, black fungus, mushroom

CARBO - rice, miki noodles, vermicelli noodles, bihon noodles

MEAT & SEAFOOD - chicken, pork, beef, squid ball, fish ball, quekiam, squid, liver, gizzard

SAUCES & CONDIMENTS - terriyaki, oyster, barbecue, szechuan, soy, coco cream, fish sauce, sesame oil, calamansi/lemon juice, sugar, sesame seeds, peanuts

It is really a "make your own" meal...you choose your veggies, carbo, meats and sauces...saute all of them in a piping hot wok and serve in a bowl.  For the homemade version, it was more practical to make a large batch for the family instead of letting each one do their choosing and individual wok frying.  I discovered that the secret to good Mongolian barbecue is the right size of the ingredients...small bite-size pieces of meat and veggies that are thinly sliced make for a yummy Khan feast.  

So, how did our family version of Mongolian barbecue go?  Even my 10-month old baby was drooling over the bowl we prepared for her...it was that good!

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 57: Bagoong Rice

The guisadong bagoong has stretched into this coming week...didn't I say a little goes a long way? When we spotted a fruit stall along the road, we stopped and bought a few pieces of green mango.  Fresh kamias or iba would have been the best accompaniment to this bagoong but somehow I can't seem to find any in my city.  Well, green mango will certainly do.

On hot steaming rice, I spooned several thin slivers of green mango and a teaspoon or so of the bagoong...yum-O!!!  The flavor explosion does its magic - sweet, spicy and salty combine with the sour and it's gastronomic heaven!!!

Day 54: Inun-unan / Paksiw or Sinaing na Isda (Fish Stewed in Vinegar)

Being a Tagala, I'm used to the Tagalog way of cooking Paksiw na Isda (usually Bangus) which is "masabaw".  When I moved to the Visayas, I learned a different take on Paksiw called "Inun-unan".  It's not soupy like its Tagalog counterpart, rather the sauce is almost dried up and whatever little that is left is actually sought after like liquid gold (all the yumminess is there) to be strewn over hot rice.

This post is dedicated to my Visayan friends who are now abroad and would like to re-acquaint themselves with an all-time favorite...

Inun-unan

1/2 kg fish (Bilong-bilong, Tulingan/Mackerel, Bariles/Tuna)

150 grams pork fat or 2 tbsp canola oil 

2 pcs bay leaves (laurel)

1/2 head of garlic, crushed

1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced

1/4 cup fish sauce/patis

1/2 cup vinegar (white or tuba variety)

1 small red bell pepper, julienned

1 tsp black peppercorns or 1/2 tsp ground pepper 

2 pcs eggplant, sliced (optional)

3-5 pcs siling pansigang/haba (optional)

In a thick casserole (a native palayok works best), layer the ingredients in this order: pork fat or oil, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, fish and bell pepper slices. Then pour the fish sauce/patis and vinegar and sprinkle peppercorns/pepper on top.  Simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes then switch fire to low.  If you wish, you may add the eggplant pieces and chili fingers (for heat), simmer on low for another 15 minutes. Take care not to let the sauce dry up too much.  Serve with hot rice.

 

Day 53: Bagoong Guisado (Spicy Sauteed Shrimp Paste)

Ever since I learned to make this "cardiac delight" of a dish, I've made it a point to prepare it at home every other month.  Once cooked, it usually lasts about 1 week and a half since only a little amount is needed to flavor hot steamed rice.  A tweak on this is also to serve it on top of garlic fried rice with slivers of green mango (Bagoong Rice).  This particular serving has so much pork pieces in it, it might as well be called "Binagoongang Baboy".

Here is the recipe for BAGOONG GUISADO:

1/2 kg pork impilya, sliced

1/4 kg pork meat (boneless pork chop works best), sliced into bite-size pieces

7-8 pcs ripe tomatoes, chopped finely

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium red onions, minced

200 grams bagoong alamang (shrimp paste)

1 tbsp brown sugar

2-3 tsp powdered chili or 6-8 pcs bird's eye chilies, chopped

In a wok or saucepan, render all the fat from the pork impilya until only crunchy pieces of the pork are left.  Drain the pork pieces and set aside.  Retain about 2 tbsp of the rendered fat and set aside the rest.  In the heated oil, saute the pork meat pieces until browned.  Add the garlic, onions and tomatoes until translucent.  Add in the alamang, brown sugar and chili powder.  Add back the crunchy pork "chicharon" and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve with hot rice or green mangoes.  Remember, a little goes a long way with this dish.

Day 50: Sotanghon Sardines (#1 in the "Lutong Tamad" Series)

Have you ever had a day so busy that you just didn't have the time to prepare a decent meal?  Well, as a mom of three, this scenario pretty much happens often at home. So here is the first in my "Lutong Tamad" series - Sotanghon Sardines...

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion

1 tbsp canola oil

1 big can Sardines in Tomato Sauce

300-400 grams sotanghon noodles (vermicelli/green bean thread noodles)

*** pre-soaked in water

1-2 pcs scallion, chopped finely

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

In a wok, heat up oil. Saute onions and garlic until translucent.  Stir in sardines, mashing the sardine pieces while simmering.  Drain the noodles then combine with the sardines.  Add salt and water.  Stir noodles while it soaks up all the liquid.  Garnish with scallion pieces and serve hot with calamansi slices.

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!

Day 38: Fruit of our real Farmville

Inspired by Facebook's Farmville,  hubby and I embarked on a new business last August 2009 - we started raising hogs.

We started out with 4 piglets and last December, we sold 3 to the local meat market.  We retained one to be our "inahin" or Mommy Piggy.

Just like any other business, it is a continuing learning process for us.  In the first set of piglets we sold, we didn't really make much profit due to weight disparities.  This is the reason why we changed our game plan for the second set of piglets.  When hubby saw that it was more lucrative, we decided to do our own butchering and peddling of hog meat.  Our 2nd set of 4 piglets were acquired in September and one of the four was sold only last week.  It was our partner and caretaker who personally butchered the hog and his wife was the one who peddled the meat.  It sold like hotcakes and we were left with only half of the liver.  It was this same piece of meat that I made into Liver Steak last night.  

Liver Steak

1 kg pork liver, sliced

3 tbsp canola oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium red onions, cut into rings

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp calamansi or lemon juice

a pinch of sugar

In a hot skillet, heat oil and fry liver slices until half cooked.  Remove liver from pan and set aside. In the same skillet, fry the garlic and half of the onion rings.  Add the soy sauce, calamansi/lemon juice and sugar.  Add in the liver and simmer for about 5-7 minutes.  Adjust seasoning according to your taste.  Sprinkle with remaining onion rings on top and serve.

We still have two remaining hogs to sell this week and just like in the first set, we are retaining one to be our Mother Piggy.  Hopefully, we'll make a good profit this time around.

Day 34: Comfort Food (part 2)

Nothing beats the homey goodness of comfort food any time of the day or night.  For those who've watched the animated film "Ratatouille", savoring one's comfort food is so much like that image of Anton Ego going back to his childhood upon tasting the ratatouille served in Gustav's.  It takes you back to the good old days of Mom's or Lola's cooking of your favorite dishes.

Monggo Guisado would probably show up at the top of my list of all-time wonder comfort foods.  There's something about this steamy and starchy vegetable dish that reaches inside the soul.  It is but a simple fare of legumes, sauteed in garlic, onions and tomatoes, enriched with squash pieces and malunggay leaves and yet, it leaves the belly full and the soul so satisfied.  

Monggo Guisado

1 cup green monggo beans, washed and boiled until tender

1 liter of water

2 pcs pork cubes

2 tbsp canola oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, sliced

3 medium tomatoes, sliced,

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1.5 cups squash, cut into cubes

1/2 cup malunggay leaves

1 pc dried galunggong

water (optional) 

In a stock pot, boil the washed monggo beans in 1 liter water and 2 pork cubes until tender or "mashed" in consistency. Set aside. In the same pot, heat up some oil and saute the garlic, onions and tomatoes until wilted.  Add in the pepper and squash.  When squash is half cooked, put the monggo mash back in and add some water if desired.  Bring to a boil then add the dried fish.  Season with pepper and a little patis.  Add in the malunggay leaves then turn off fire.  Best served with hot rice and fried fish. Enjoy!!!

Day 28: The show must go on...preparing for a field trip

Even though I wasn't back to being my 100% self, I had to muster much needed strength to prepare for my son's field trip.  After all, this is going to be the first time that the entire family will accompany him and the entire preschool of BFCS.  

Since it was BYOB (bring your own baon), I decided to cook "Visayan Humba" for our lunch at Jurassic Park.  Humba, being similar to the Adobo, does not spoil easily and gets yummier as leftover.

I whipped up quite a huge batch so it pretty much solved our dinner and still had so much left over for our lunch tomorrow at the field trip.

Here is my recipe for Visayan Humba:

1.5 kg combined pork hocks (pata front) and belly, sliced and washed

1 1/2 heads of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp canola oil

3 pcs bay leaves

1 tsp black peppercorns

2 pcs star anise

1 tbsp salted black beans

2 tbsp dried banana blossom

1 cup vinegar

3/4 cup soy sauce

salt

2 tbsp brown sugar

water (optional)

In a casserole, heat up oil then saute garlic until fragrant.  At medium flame setting, add in the pork and some salt. When the meat is half cooked, add in the bay leaves, peppercorns, vinegar, soy sauce. Mix well and simmer under low fire.  When the meat is fork tender, add the salted black beans, banana blossom, star anise and sugar.  Simmer until sauce gets thick.  Adjust seasonings (vinegar, soy sauce and sugar) to taste.  If it gets too dry, add some water.  Serve hot with rice.

Day 16: "...walang tigil ang ulan." (there's no stop to the rains)

It's official! It's been one whole week already of rains here in BC. There has been no sign at all of sunshine.  Half of last week's washed laundry are still left hanging outside and continue to get soaked as I don't have any other covered area where I can place them.  Have to make sure that this batch gets washed again once the weather is better.  This kind of weather warrants some type of comfort food.  Today, the choice was "Chicken Sopas".

Since I didn't have the ingredients readily available, I had to troop down to the nearest store to buy what I needed to make a decent pot of soup.  Here's my version of home-cooked Chicken Sopas:

1/3 kg chicken pieces (soup pack/choice cuts), chopped into bite-size pieces

1 pc carrot, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped (optional)

1 large red onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 chicken cubes

2 medium potatoes, chopped

2 pcs mandarin chorizo, chopped

1 large can of Carnation evaporated milk

300 g elbow macaroni

1.5 liter of water

1/2 tsp italian seasoning 

dab of butter

2 tbsp canola oil

patis to taste

dash of pepper

spring onions, chopped finely (for garnish)

In a stock pot, saute onions, celery, garlic and carrots in a combination of butter and oil.  Add chicken pieces, chorizo and chicken cubes until chicken are half-cooked.  Add the water, pepper and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil then add potatoes and macaroni.  Once the pasta is al dente, add the milk and simmer (do not boil). Adjust taste with patis.  Garnish with spring onions and serve hot with pan de sal.

And so, this is what I was enjoying with my family as we listened to the rhythmic sound of raindrops falling outside.