Bacon-wrapped Ribs

This is one of the easiest yet tastiest (and also probably unhealthiest) dishes I have ever made. And this I'm proud to say is something I came up with all on my own. I was just thinking, bacon and ribs - how can you go wrong right?

Ingredients

1. Emeril's rib rub
2. Ground pepper
3. Vegetable oil
4. Hot sauce
5. Pork Ribs
6. Bacon
7. Baking/cooking Foil

Directions

1. Wrap bacon around each pork rib and lay in a glass baking container (leave some space between pork ribs)
2. Brush ribs with a little vegetable oil
3. Smother each rib with Emeril's rib rub, ground pepper, and hot sauce
4. Cover container with foil, and marinate for 1-2 hours
5. Bake in oven at 350F for 1hr 45 mins up to 2 hours
6. In the last 15 mins before it gets done, take the foil off the container
7. Take out the oven, let it cool for a bit
   
8. Serve with lots of rice, mashed potatoes, and maybe even some roasted veggies!
   
9. ENJOY!!! :)

Fresh Salsa

Goes great with chips, fish, and even steak! Also very, very easy to make.

Ingredients
3 Fresh tomatoes - diced
1-2 red onion - diced/chopped coarsely
1 half lemon slice
1 jalapeno(sliced)/1 tbsp chili flakes/any chili you like
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions
Mixe together in a bowl, cover with cling-wrap, leave in fridge for atleast an hour (or a day if you want the flavors to blend together better), ENJOY!

Nilagang Baka (Boiled beef soup)

This nilagang baka recipe is a mix of my Tagalog and Cebuano heritage. I hope you like it!

Ingredients
1/2 kg Beef ribs or beef cut into 1 inch cubes. If they are attached to bone, better.
2 potatoes, quartered
Bokchoy
String beans
Carrots (optional)
3 inch long ginger cut into pieces
1 Knorr beef bouillon (sp?) cube
Black pepper
Salt
"Patis" (Fish sauce)
2 whole onions chopped
4-5 cloves garlic crushed

Directions

1. Boil meat, ginger, garlic, and onions together for about 45 minutes on medium high heat.
2. Lower heat a little and then crush and dissolve beef cube into the soup
3. Add dash of salt and pepper (salt less than pepper)
   
4. Add about 1/4 cup of Fish sauce (more if you like it a little saltier)
5. Add carrots and potatoes
6. Boil for 30-45 minutes
7. Add in bokchoy and stringbeans
8. Simmer for 15-20 minutes (more if you want your veggies soggy, less if you want them a little crisp)

Perfect for a cold day! Enjoy! :D

Crispy-Coated Pork Belly/Chops

Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside!

Ingredients
6-8 pork belly cuts about 2-3 inches long each or .5 or less inch thick pork chops

Marinade:
Soy sauce
Salt and Pepper
5 cloves Garlic, crushed

Coating mixture:
You can use ready-made breading like Mama Sita's or make your own with
1.5 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 egg, salt & pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme or rosemary, and a dash of paprika

Directions

1. Marinate meat for 45 minutes or more (can be left overnight)
2. Fill pan with enough oil to cover atleast half of the meat cut; put on high heat
3. Dip meat (one by one) in coating mixture
4. When oil is hot, fry the meat. Leave each side of the meat in the oil until the coating browns and becomes crispy.
5. When this happens, lower heat to medium and leave meat there for a few minutes to ensure that it will be fully cooked.

ENJOY! :D

My version of Daeji Galbi (Korean grilled pork ribs)

Ingredients:
8-10 Pork spare ribs, cut
Sesame seeds

Marinade (mix together; enough to coat ribs):

1. 1/2 cup soy sauce
2. 1 cup sesame oil
3. 5 tbsp sugar (more if you like your ribs sweeter)
4. 1/4 to 1/2 cup tobasco sauce (more if you like your ribs spicier. I also recommend chili flakes although in a lesser quantity, because chili flakes are much hotter than tobasco)
5. 1 and a half inch ginger root cut into pieces
6. 1 onion finely chopped
7. 5 cloves garlic minced

Directions:

1. Marinate ribs for atleast 40 minutes up to overnight.
2. I didn't have any coal for grilling and for this recipe, I don't recommend pan grilling, so I opted to bake the ribs instead. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and bake the ribs in a baking or glass pan at 350F until pork ribs are cooked, crispy looking on the outside, and very soft and juicy in the inside. That will take about 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Serve with rice! (You can also cut up some chili peppers and sprinkle on top if you like some extra spice.)

Enjoy!!!

Chocobanana Fudge Milkshake

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:
4 scoops chocolate fudge ice cream
1 ripe banana, sliced
1.5 vanilla soy milk (regular milk is fine too)
Whipped Cream
Chocolate syrup
Cookie

Directions:
Blend in shake maker or blender until smooth
Pour in a clear glass
Decorate top with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and either a chocolate chip or oreo cookie.

Enjoy! :)

Pork Sinigang

Perfect for a rainy or cold day! This is a Filipino dish called Pork Sinigang which is a sour pork soup. :)

Ingredients:
Pork ribs
Chopped onions, garlic
Eggplant sliced
Green beans (sitaw)
Tomatoes quartered
Kangkong or spinach
Sliced radish
Sinigang na Sampaloc mix (available in Filipino or Asian food markets or groceries)
Green chili (optional)

Directions

1. Saute chopped onions and garlic in medium heat
2. When they have begun to caramelize, put in the pork ribs and leave until sides have browned and blood has begun to ooze out
3. Add a cup of water; not enough to cover all the ribs and simmer for 2o minutes
4. Mix in half of Sinigang na Samaploc mix, simmer again for 20 more minutes
5. Fill in water, enough to cover ribs and boil in medium heat for about 1.5 hour until pork is soft and cooked thoroughly.
6. Mix in what is left of the Sinigang na Sampaloc mix. Keep adding if you feel it is not sour enough for you. (I sometimes use 2 packets for 2.5+ lbs of meat)
7. Lower heat, add in all the vegetables and leave to simmer for 10-20 minutes, until vegetables are softer. The longer you leave it in, the soggier it will be, so if you like your veggies a still a little crisp, simmer only 5-10 minutes.
8. Slice open the green chili to give your Sinigang a little kick, if you like.
9. Mix in low heat for about 5 more minutes.
10. Serve with a cup of rice. Enjoy! :)

Kaldereta

Ingredients:
Beef cut into about 1 inch cubes
Water
Carrots (peeled and cut into about 1 inch thick pieces)
Potatoes (peeled and cut into about 2-3 inch thick pieces)
Red Bell Pepper cut into strips
Tomatoes, quartered
Peas (optional)
Salt and pepper
Lots of garlic chopped
One onion chopped
Italian seasoning (optional)
Mama Sita's Kaldereta mix

Directions

1. In a pot, saute garlic and onion on medium heat
2. Lay the beef cubes on the garlic and onion, turning them over until all sides have browned
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. Put the lid on the pot, lower heat, and leave for around 10 minutes
5. Put heat on medium again, add water* and boil
6. When it is boiling, add potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes.
7. When meat is tender, add Mama Sita's Kaldereta mix
8. Stir until mix has dissolved properly.
9. Lower heat, add a dash of Italian seasoning and put in the bell pepper and peas.
10. Simmer until sauce has become a little thick (for about 15-20 minutes)
11. You can also put some tobasco sauce or chili if you like it spicy.

Enjoy! :)

**For ratio of mix to water to meat, read the back of the Kaldereta mix packet

Spam and Cheese Omelette with caramelized onions, garlic, herbs, and tomatoes

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1. 3 eggs (beaten) with a pinch of salt and pepper
2. chopped tomato
3. an onion (although if you're using an american size onion as opposed to Asian sizes, then just 1/3 will be good)
4. 3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped/grated
5. 4 slices spam cut into strips
6. grated or diced quickmelt or your favorite cheese, as long as it does not smell too strongly
7. dried herb mix like McCormick salt-free all purpose

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic over oil with spam until onions caramelize (they soften and become more translucent), and then set aside.
2. Mix chopped tomato, dried herb mix, 3/4 of sauted onions and garlic with the beaten eggs
3. Put pan to medium high heat and then spread out mixture on pan evenly
4. When eggs begin to cook/harden, put the cheese, remaining onions and garlic and spam on one half of the pan (see photo:)
5. Lower heat
6. When eggs have become opaque, fold it in half using a spatula (and maybe a fork/spoon too for extra support) to cover part with spam, cheese etc.
7. Wait for about 3 minutes and then lift omelette onto a plate.
8. Picture below shows what it looks like inside.
   

ENJOY! :D

Muffin- cake Parfait

This is a great way to use left over muffins and/or cake (that are, of course, still good enough to eat). You just need the following:
1. A muffin and/or slice of cake
2. All purpose cream
3. Ice cream
4. A clear glass

Now I didn't put any particular flavors in because there are just so many different combinations you can put together. You just have to figure out the right combination for you. For this particular parfait, I used a chocolate chip muffin, a slice of banana moccha cake, and vanilla chocolate ice cream.

Directions:

1. Fill out the bottom of the glass with some cut up muffin and/or cake. Just push it down to make a layer in the glass.
2. On top put about half an inch of cream. This will be the second layer in the glass.
3. Put another layer of muffin/cake, and just keep alternating until you fill three-fourths of the glass.
4. Put the glass in the freezer or chiller for 30 minutes up to an hour at most (don't leave it in too long or else the cream will get too hard)
5. When the glass has chilled, put a few scoops of ice cream on top.
6. Serve with a pirouette (champola/chocolate stick) or your favorite fruit/s and/or syrup on top.
   

Jobelle's Awesome Chicken

This is a recipe shared to me by my Jobelle, called "Jobelle's Awesome Chicken". Vain as it may sound though, it is pretty awesome! It's a simple chicken recipe but is very tasty and healthy.

Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breast
Olive oil
Dried/fresh basil
Garlic
Very little lemon/calamansi
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Just marinade the chicken in the olive oil, basil, garlic, and salt & pepper. Make sure to rub that marinade in the chicken and leave the chicken in there for about 30 minutes to an hour. Then add a few dashes of lemon. There aren't any measurements written here, but don't be afraid to put a lot of olive oil, basil, and garlic. More garlic, more yum (just don't burn it).

Now use a griddle and put on medium heat, using the garlic and olive oil from the marinade. When the garlic begins to soften, add the chicken and the rest of the marinade. Pan-grill until cooked! That is when chicken becomes completely opaque and begins to brown.

Serve with a side of salad! YUM! :)

Steak!

I'm in the east coast right now, and for a little more American type dinner, I cooked steak and potatoes. Still served with rice though, of course, I am still Filipino afterall.

This is a very simple yet tasty recipe for a steak. You need the following
Ingredients:
1. Quality beef steak about half or so inch.
2. Worcestire sauce
3. Coarse ground black pepper
4. Salt
5. Garlic powder
6. Butter
7. Baby potatoes
8. McCormick all-purpose seasoning or your favorite blend of herbs (rosemary goes well with steak)
9. A few cloves of garlic
10. Zip lock bag big enough to fit your steak
11. Griddle (a frying pan that's used for grilling over the stove)

Directions:
1. Soften the meat by beating it lightly with a meat hammer or any hard object. You can put the meat in the ziplock before doing this, so the meat juice won't fly around.
2. Rub both sides of the meat with pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Don't coat the meat with it, just apply enough for the meat to absorb it all. About a teaspoon or so of the pepper > salt and > garlic powder put together for about 3 inches long steak.
3. Put the meat back in the zip lock and splash some Worcestire in there. Just put enough to coat the meat, don't drown the meat in the sauce.
4. Close the ziplock, while taking out the air from the bag. Wrap the plastic around the meat so the marinade will set in. Leave for about 20 minutes or more.
5. Heat the griddle, put on medium heat. Melt butter on it, then saute garlic, a few dashes of the McCormick seasoning/your favorite herbs, and potatoes (potatoes take a long time to cook, so if you're in a hurry, it's easier to microwave it first for 3-5 minutes and then saute in the butter). When potatoes are about to cook, put it on the less hot part of the griddle.
6. Put the heat on high and put meat on the griddle. Leave until sides brown and have grill marks.
7. Lower heat to medium and leave meat on, depending on how you like it. The longer you leave it on the more "done" it's gonna be, and leave it just for about 10-15 minutes and you get it rare.
8. Serve the meat and potatoes on a plate, and pour the butter and drippings from the pan on it.

Enjoy!!! :D

Happy Sausages

I was bored one day and decided to have some fun with my food. It's not really a recipe, recipe; it's just another way to present a snack we all like to eat: sausages/hotdogs! This one I call happy sausages inspired by the octopus designed sausages in bento boxes!

You just need a couple of sausages or hotdogs, preferably bite sized. Defrost them, and then make a + shaped cut (but only til half of the sausage; don't cut all the way) on one side of the sausages. Get your pan and fry them til they brown, and the + shaped cut will make your sausages look like they have legs! Slice some cheese and fashion them into eyes and a mouth for your sausage. Stick 'em on the sausage (they'll stick because of the oil), and then design with ketchup, mayo, and mustard!

Katsudon

First of all, I would like to thank the 1000+ people who have visited my food blog! Knowing my blog has been visited by so many people makes me very happy. Thank you!

Here is a recipe to celebrate! It's very simple, but I read online that Katsudon is usually eaten before a big test as "katsu" is a homophone of the verb 勝つ katsu, meaning "to win" or "to be victorious". And well, I don't have any tests or anything (my 1st term in senior year of college has just ended actually), but I hope to continue to feel victorious in the sense that people will continue to visit my blog.

Anyway, enough of me blabbing! Here is the recipe for one serving of Katsudon:

Ingredients:
1 Tonkatsu cooked and ready! A chicken fillet can also be used as substitute instead of pork (chicken katsu is called Torikatsu, if I'm not mistaken).
1 egg
1/4 leek sliced diagonally
1/2 onion sliced
50ml water
1/5 tsp powdered dashi (I use Ajinomoto brand dashi found in most Japanese sections of the grocery. Market Market in the Fort has many varieties of powdered dashi)
1 tbsp kikkoman soysauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tsp brown sugar
1.5 cup of rice put in a rice bowl big enough to fit your Tonkatsu

Directions:

1. Mix water, dashi, soysauce, mirin, and brown sugar and put in heated pan
2. When mixture begins to be hot, add onion
3. When the mixture is boiling and onion has begun to be transluscent, add your Tonkatsu
4. Beat egg lightly and pour over mixture and tonkatsu
5. Put some of the leeks on the Tonkatsu
6. Cover the pan for about a minute, or until your egg has reached your desired consistency.
7. Slide everything onto a bowl of rice.
8. Serve and eat while hot! :)

*Thanks to the Cooking with Dog show for some tips!

The Meatlover's Pizza Sandwich

Ok, so I haven't been posting much recently. I've just been so busy! Anyway today I was craving for a slice of pizza, but we didn't have any at home and I didn't have enough money to buy, so I decided to just make something kind of like a pizza. I call it, the Pizza Meatlovers Sandwich! Now the picture doesn't look so appetizing; I just used a 2 megapixel camera phone since my DSLR's with my brother, but trust me, it is reeaaal good.


Ingredients:
2 slices of bread (regular sandwich bread is fine, cibatta is better)
Ketchup (regular flavor. NO Tamis-Anghang or Banana ketchup for this)
Ground black pepper
Basil (can either be fresh or dried)
Quickmelt cheese and or mozarella
Feta/white cheese in herbed olive oil (optional)
1 Green olive (optional)
2-3 slices spiced Ham
1 and a half big strip of Bacon
1/4 of onion

Directions:

1. Spread ketchup on one side of both bread slices (don't be frugal, but don't put too much that the bread will get soggy)
2. On one bread slice, put lots of slices of your cheese, crumble about two-three small feta cubes, and put about half a teaspoon of the herbed olive oil over it.
3. Slice the onion and green olive and put these on the same side of the bread as the cheese/s and ketchup
4. Add a pinch of pepper
5. And add, if using fresh basil, slices of 1 leaf. If using dried basil, just a dash
6. Fry the spiced ham until it begins to brown
7. Fry the bacon until the meat is reddish brown and the edges crispy
8. Add on the meat on the bread
9. Cover with the remaining slice
10. Grill sandwich in a sandwich griller until bread has browned with grill marks, and cheese has melted. *
11. ENJOY! :)
    

To make it meatier, feel free to add sauteed ground pork or beef, pepperoni, or whatever your favorite meat is! Just remember not to use too many salty types of meat or else the pizza sandwich will become too salty.

*If you do not have a sandwich griller, I guess you can use the oven toaster and toast the sanwich for about 5 minutes.

"Brich": The ultimate breakfast sandwich

Inspired by a similar concept my friends and I tasted in Baguio, I decided to make my own, smaller version of it. I call it the "Brich" which is short for breakfast sandwich. It's basically a sandwich made up of my favorite breakfast foods.

For bread, I used pancakes (which I made just by following the instructions on the box) which I spread some butter on. In between the 2 pancakes, I just put some ham, salami, bacon, scrambled egg, lettuce, and cheese (just the plain square cheese slices available in supermarkets --I like Anchor brand the best). I spread butter on the top pancake and poured some maple/pancake syrup on the whole thing. I would've put cornflakes and maybe even some peanut butter or jam, but when I made it I was just going to eat it as a snunch, so I didn't want it to be waaay too rich. I mean, it's rich and heavy enough already.

The brich goes well with a glass of milk, water, or orange juice. Although I recommend water because I think the brich already seems fattening, and extra sugar won't be needed haha

Korean Beef Stew

Ingredients:
beef short ribs or the beef part used in kaldereta, cut about 2 inches thick
2 carrots peeled and chopped into half moons
1 onion
garlic
2/3 soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1/2 cup water
about a tsp of ginger
about a tsp of sesame seeds
sesame oil
4 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper to season
Chili peppers

directions:
1. Boil beef until soft (about 15 minutes)
2. While waiting, mix the soy sauce, mirin, water, ginger, crushed garlic, a dash of sesame oil, sugar, chili pepper
3. Take the beef out of the boiling water
4. Sautee onions and carrots and then after a while, sear meat
5. Lower heat and add mixture
6. Simmer until meat is very tender (around 20 minutes)
7. Before it is done, add some sesame seeds and mix it in the pan.
6. Serve!

Kimchi Fried Rice

I first encountered Kimchi Fried Rice at Kaya Restaurant. It's great with flavorful dishes because the spice in the rice can balance it out, and it's actually really easy to make!

Ingredients:
1 small bottle kimchi
2-3 cups of rice
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Heat some oil in a frying pan or a wok
2. Sautee some of the vegetables from the kimchi bottle
3. Add rice, mix together in pan
4. After a few minutes, pour in the remaining kimchi juice
5. Mix until it is not too wet
6. Crack the eggs onto the rice and mix until cooked together

Voila! :D

Tuna Croquettes

I may have designed it too look like a small crab (or atleast tried to haha), but the picture is actually of tuna croquettes. Croquettes are very easy to make, and you can pretty much fill it with any meat or vegetable you like. I actually wanted to put some chicken and mushrooms in this one, but I got too lazy so I used tuna instead! Here's what you need to make about 4-5 croquettes:

Ingredients:
1 can of 150g tuna flakes (i prefer hot and spicy century tuna)
1.5 really big potato
1/4 of a carrot, diced into small cubes
1 onion finely chopped
Panko
Flour
2 eggs (1 beaten)
Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. First boil the potato (need not be peeled)
2. When the potato is boiled, mash it and add a tsp of pepper and a pinch of salt
3. Break an egg into it and mash together
4. Let the mashed potato cool.
5. While the potato is cooling, prepare tuna, carrots, and onion.
6. Sautee carrots and onion using about 2 tbsps of the oil from the can of tuna
7. Throw out the rest of the oil or save it for some other dish.
8. When the carrots begin to soften and the onion begins caramelizing, add the tuna flakes
9. As they cook together, break the flakes into smaller pieces
10. Saute for about 5 minutes until the tuna, carrots, and onions are no longer so wet
11. Mix have of the contents of your pan with the mashed potato.
12. Roll mashed potato into a small ball the size of your palm. As you do this add a bit more tuna+carrot+onion in the ball and roll again. Repeat process until there is no tuna and mashed potato left.
13. Dredge the balls in the flour, dip in the beaten egg, and then coat with panko. Repeat till all balls are coated.
14. Put oil in a pan, about an an inch thick.
15. When it is hot enough (you will find out if you put a bit of panko in the oil and it sizzles and floats), fry one side of a potato ball.
16. As it fries, press it down with the spatula so that it kind of looks like a little 1 inch pancake.
17. When the bottom part is brown and crispy, flip the potato.. well now it's a flat-ish circle haha
18. Repeat until all the balls are done!
19. Serve either with tartar sauce/mayonaisse or Tonkatsu sauce! :D

! Warning Do NOT try to make the croquette too big, unless you have some kind of cool cooking device or if maybe you're using a deep fryer, because it will BREAK.

Tonkatsu

Hi guys! It's been a while since my last update; I've been enjoying my summer vacation way too much! I hope you enjoy this post though, it's a recipe on how to make Tonkatsu.

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish; "ton" meaning pork, and "katsu" for cutlet. It's one of the easiest dishes to make and here is how:

Ingredients:
Pork cutlets or pork chops de-boned
Flour
Beaten egg
Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) with a pinch of salt and pepper
Salt and Pepper
Tonkatsu sauce*

Directions:

1. Season the pork cutlets with salt and pepper
2. Put the flour, beaten egg, and panko in separate bowls
3. Coat the pork cutlets by dipping it into the flour, egg, and panko (in that order)
4. Heat some oil in a fryer to medium high heat (you'll know it's hot enough when you put some panko in, it floats to the surface, and makes a slight sizzling sound)
5. Fry both sides of the pork until it is golden brown
6. Cut each cutlet into about an inch thick strips (as seen in the photo)
   

! Remember not to get the oil TOO hot (smoking) because you'll burn the panko and the pork will either get burned too or won't be cooked thoroughly. You can do this by lowering the heat to medium when you notice that the pork is almost done.

*Tonkatsu sauce - my favorite tonkatsu sauce is the Bulldog brand. It can be bought in most supermarkets in the Japanese food section or Asian groceries. You can also make your own by mixing the following:
Ketchup, Worcestire sauce (ratio 2:1),
a pinch of sugar,
and a pinch of chili garlic (more if you like it sweeter or spicier)

Chicken Teriyaki

Finally, here is my recipe for chicken teriyaki, as inspired by the many cooking websites I visit frequently, the Japanese food(my favorite cuisine) I've eaten, and what I've seen on TV.



Ingredients:
4-5 chicken breast fillets or boneless chicken thighs cut into about an inch thick strips
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce*
some vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch (or more depends on how thick you want your sauce to be)
salt and pepper
water

Directions:
1. First mix your sugar and teriyaki sauce.
2. Pour some of it on your chicken; just enough to coat the chicken well. Don't drown it. Then add a pinch of salt and about 2 tsp pepper. Massage it all into the chicken and let it marinade for about 20 minutes to an hour.
3. Meanwhile mix what's left of the teriyaki sauce + sugar mixture, cornstarch, and about 1/4 cup of water. The cornstarch will help the sauce thicken and the water makes the teriyaki sauce less strong.
AFTER MARINATING...
4. Drizzle some oil on the pan and let it go to medium heat.
5. Put in the pieces of chicken and cook until all sides are opaque and even a little brownish (about 4-5 minutes)
6. Then add the teriyaki mixture sauce. Leave it there, stirring the contents of the pan together until the sauce begins to thicken and bubble. It will do this faster, as well as cook the chicken more thoroughly if you put a lid on the pan. Just make sure to check every now and then and stir. Your sauce and chicken then would look a like this:



7. It will be done when the sauce is thick enough and the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
8. Serve chicken on plate with the sauce drizzled on top, or on top of rice with some sauce drizzled on top. Or if you're a little obsessive compulsive, put your sauce on the
side and that'll be fine too! Enjoy! :)

*TERIYAKI SAUCE
Teriyaki sauce can be bought at any local supermarket. I recommend the Kikkoman brand. If you can't find any ready made sauce you can also make it yourself by mixing together the following ingredients:
1/2 cup light soysauce
1/2 cup mirin
2 tbsp sugar

Very simple stir-fry vegetables

Dinner was great! As I wrote in my previous post I did make chicken teriyaki and cooked vegetables as a side dish. I'll get to the teriyaki soon enough, but for now here is my recipe on how to make a very simple, healthy, yet tasty stir-fry vegetable dish that works great on the side or a even a snack!



Ingredients:
1/4 round cabbage sliced into strips
1 carrot sliced into thin strips or those thin half circles
sesame oil
vegetable oil
fish sauce (patis)
light soysauce
pinch of salt and pepper
crushed garlic (depends how 'garlicky' you want it to be)
1 red onion sliced

Directions
1. Heat some vegetable oil in your skillet (not too much; you're not going to deep fry anything)
2. When the oil is hot, add in the red onions and garlic. You know the oil's hot enough when the onions and garlic make a soft sizzling sound.
3. Put in your carrots and just mix them together.
4. After about 2 minutes, put in your cabbage. Let it stay on top for a minute or so to absorb the flavors of the onion, garlic, and carrots.
5. Finally, add a pinch of salt and pepper, about 2 tsp. of sesame oil, and 2-3 tsp of fish sauce/patis, and a tsp. of light soy sauce
6. Mix and keep mixing them together, so all that flavor can go around until the vegetables cook. You'll know it's cooked when the cabbage starts to turn transluscent and soft.

Enjoy! :D

Hey guys!

Hi guys! Today one of my school mates actually texted me asking about the chicken parmesan I put up on my site. It makes me happy that people actually do get to look around this lil' old blog of mine! So far I have had 500+ hits and that's not so bad for a site that's not advertised much! I'll be making some chicken teriyaki later tonight for dinner, so expect a post for its recipe soon after. I've made grilledteriyaki FISH before, but with homemade teriyaki. Too bad though that the fish broke into pieces because I just used ordinary fillet and not the steak kind. Also, my sauce wasn't as thick as the ones in the restaurant. It tasted pretty good but didn't look it haha! Hopefully my chicken teriyaki later will be better! I'll be using some ready-made teriyaki sauce made by KIKOMAN. I think I'll be cooking some vegetables and toge as a side dish too, if we have any in the fridge.

I'm thinking of making videos with me making my recipes someday. I don't think I'll have enough time this summer; I'll be busy next week with org stuff for school, and then after I'm flying off to Boracay for the World Youth Alliance camp. Oh and I still need a better looking kitchen! Plus my family or our helpers shouldn't be home then because I'm sure they're going to watch me, and that'll just make me feel awkward. Hahaha! If I do end up making videos someday though, I'll be posting them all here too! So I hope you can check that out. :)

Kebabs

Wow it's been quite a while since I've last uploaded anything on here. I've still been cooking, but the uploading part... well I've been busy a lot with university. Thank god it's the summer break now! I'm so happy! So anyway, for today's recipe I'm sharing with you how to make kebabs. It's not the traditional kebabs that one can buy at Mr. Kebab or other Persian restaurants. This one is a mix of the different recipes I found over the internet with a touch of my choice herbs and spices.

Beef tenderloin/any soft beef part cut into cubes
Zucchini cut into circle-y things
Tomatoes (not the big ones that can be seen in commercials of tomato sauce)
Red onions

Marinade: (Just mix together)
Lotsa crushed garlic
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
thyme

Directions:

1. Marinate the beef in the marinade for about an hour or so
2. Then on a skewer/bbq stick just stick in a small red onion, a tomato, and some beef cubes
3. When the grill/griddle is very very hot, put the stick on and baste with the marinade for a minute or so on both sides (just to sear the outside and get those nice burn marks)
4. Move it then to a less hot area of the grill/griddle (not leesssssssss hot; just on medium heat) until the meat is cooked, which if the size of your cubes are similar to the ones on the photo (you can infer by comparing it to the size of the tomatoes, zucchini, and onions beside it), is in about 15-20 minutes; depending if you want yours rare, med
5. Do the same to the zucchini slices

Fish and Chips

This recipe I got from Jamie Oliver's show, Oliver's Twist, which is one of my favorite cooking shows on television. It's really easy to make and I've made it a little bit my own by adding on my own dip, a few more ingredients, and using milk instead of beer (which is mainly because I didn't have beer at the time haha)

Ingredients:
1. 4 Fish fillets: something nice and firm but not steak-y (I recommend lapu-lapu, dori, or tilapia)
2. Salt and pepper
3. 1 cup Milk
4. 1 cup regular Flour
5. Cayenne pepper
6. 2 egg whites, whisked until white and sticky
7. 2 Potatoes (or more if you want a lot of chips!)
8. Dijon mustard
9. Mayonaise
10. Lemon/calamansi

Directions:
For the Fish
1. Season the the fish fillets with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
2. Mix together the egg whites, flour, milk/beer, and season with a bit more of salt, pepper, and cayenne.
3. Dip the fish fillets into the mixture
4. Fry in hot oil about an inch thick to ensure crispiness. Each fillet will be done in about 5 minutes.

For the chips
1. Peel the potatoes (I like to leave a little skin on)
2. Cut into wedges or thin strips or discs, it's up to you
3. Blanche in oil
4. When the fish is all done, you can re-fry the potatoes again in the now very hot oil so it will be nice and crispy.

For the dip:
Mix mustard to mayo (2:3) with a pinch of pepper

Serve together, seasoned with salt and pepper, with mustard and lemon juice on the side.

ENJOY!

Grilled Sea Bass and Asparagus

So here is what I cooked for tonight's main course! I was initially planning to cook the fish ala Jamie Oliver's beer fish and chips, but realizing that my mom bought these large and very fresh sea bass steak fillets, I felt that it would be better to just make something a little fancier. Haha!

So this recipe is really very easy. Let me get to it.

Ingredients:
Sea Bass steak cut into about an inch thick fillets (like in the photo)
Dried or fresh rosemary
Asparagus
Salt and pepper
Butter
Marinade

Now for the marinade, I just used Selection ready-made Lemon and Garlic marinade*. I poured it on the asparagus and sea bass fillets, just enough to get them coated --not really super drenched, and then rubbed the fillets with salt, pepper, and rosemary herb. Then I left the asparagus and fillets in the fridge for about 40 minutes. You can leave it there for longer, of course, if you like.

* - If you want to make your own lemon and garlic marinade though, it's just made of olive oil + lemon + lots of crushed garlic/garlic powder + pepper.

Now we grill! For this recipe, instead of using an electric griller or a real with coal griller, I opted for a ridged griddle.

Directions:
1. Put some butter on the griddle. This will serve as your oil and add some extra flavor.
2. When the griddle is hot (you'll know when the butter begins to bubble/pop), go on and place the fillets and asparagus!
3. Grill each side until ridge marks begin to form and the meat turns a beautiful white with a brownish tint from the butter. This will take around 15 minutes total, depending on whether you like yours rare, medium rare, medium well, or well done. I recommend medium well. Just the right amount of rawness inside the meat, but also with that little burned-ish taste on the outside! Haha! For the asparagus, just take it out when it begins to soften.

Enjoy! :D

Chef's Salad

Today I made dinner again. This time my mom and dad ate too! I made chef's salad and grilled sea bass; the recipe of the latter in the next entry.

I like salads, but usually we have the salad bar type of thing going on in our house where our helpers just lay out the lettuce and have the sliced veggies and the different dressings, and it's up to us to mix and match. I like that too, but frankly I was getting a little tired of it already and really, I just wanted eggs in my salad! So then I decided to make this one.

Ingredients
Romaine/Iceberg Lettuce
Hard boiled eggs (sliced)
Cheddar cheese cut into small cubes
Tomatoes (sliced, if it's a big one)
Carrots and cucumbers* (cut into strips)
Crushed Bacon and/or croutons
Your favorite 'mayo-based' dressing. I recommend Low-fat Caesar dressing or Thousand Island.

Directions
Toss everything together and top with crushed bacon and/or croutons! Add a little pepper too and voila! :)

Brocolli Parsley Carbonara

My parents and my brother weren't in to eat dinner at home; so instead of reheating some food from the fridge or eating galunggong which I wasn't in the mood for, I decided to make and eat some pasta! I talked to my friend, Marg, about what would be nice to try and cook for the night, and she suggested this eggplant pasta she tried in the Avenetto restaurant in the Fort; however, she couldn't describe it well enough and I haven't tried it either. I decided to choose something else. Looking through the pantry I found that I had some ingredients perfect for carbonara! Now although I've seen and helped some friends make carbonara for a few times before, I've never cooked it myself, so looking through the internet, mixing and matching different carbonaras to what I had at home and my personal taste I came up with this recipe... and it was good! Here's how to make it:

Ingredients:
Spaguetti/Fettucini/your favorite pasta
Sausage cut into small pieces (this is supposed to be bacon but we didn't have any bacon that time)
Brocolli
Parsley (about a handful)
Garlic (3-4 cloves)
All purpose cream
Quickmelt cheese grated or cut in small chunks
Milk
1 egg (optional)
Butter
Salt and pepper


Directions
1. Melt about half a stick of butter in a pan. When it is very hot, add the sausage bits.
2. Fry sausage in the butter until it begins to crisp.
3. Lower the heat, and then add in the brocolli. (Don't put in too much. I actually just added brocolli because I felt guilty that my sauce was going to be so rich.)
3. Add in the cream and milk (about 1:2 ratio)
4. When the sauce starts to simmer, add in the cheese (1 cream: 1 cheese)
5. Let the cheese melt and stir so that all will mix together well.
6. Add the chopped parsley (just about a handful) and the egg(egg is optional)
7. Mix in the chopped garlic
8. Stir all together for a few minutes and season with salt and pepper.
9. Pour some over cooked pasta, sprinkle a bit of parmesan on top and tada! :D

Mozarella Sticks

I love mozarella sticks. As a snack, on pasta, as an appetizer... It's just so yummy and comforting! Recently I saw Giada do this on tv and I tried to do it myself. It's not so hard after all!

Ingredients:
Mozarella cut into sticks
Panko (bread crumbs)
Egg
Parmesan
Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Whisk egg in a bowl.
2. Mix panko and some parmesan, salt, and pepper in another bowl.
3. Dip sticks into whisked egg and then into the panko. Repeat until the cheese is fully covered.
4. Put cheese sticks into a tupperware and put in the freezer for about 2-3hours or even up to a day.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan.
6. When oil is very hot, fry the cold mozarella sticks until they are crispy.

Voila! Best served with a salsa dip or marinara sauce. :D

Chicken Parmesan

I try to make dinner for my family once every few weeks. Today I made this for dinner along with mozarella sticks, the recipe of which in my next post. :)

Ingredients:
Pasta
Chicken Breasts
Parsley
Carrots diced into tiny, tiny pieces
Garlic, Onions
Canned whole peeled tomatoes
Tomato Sauce
Tobasco/Hot sauce
Salt, pepper, sugar, cayenne pepper
Mozarella Cheese
Panko (bread crumbs)
Parmesan Cheese
Whisked egg

Directions:
For the chicken
1. Rub chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Dip in egg and then the bread crumbs which are mixed with a bit of salt, pepper, and parmesan.
3. Repeat process until all the breasts are covered well.
4. Fry in high heat until golden brown, and then put aside.

For the sauce
1. Saute garlic, onion, and carrots until they all soften. (a handful of each except garlic > onion and carrots)
2. Then add the can of tomatoes and some tomato sauce. (1:1)
3. Put in the chopped parsley (less than handful, more than a few pinches)
4. Add salt, sugar, peppers to taste
5. Put in tobasco sauce!
6. Simmer until sauce thickens
7. Blend together in a blender until sauce is no longer too chunky

Chicken parmesan
1. In a pyrex, put in the pasta and mix it with the sauce.
2. Place cooked chicken breasts on top.
3. Grate lots of mozarella and parmesan on top of the whole thing
4. Bake in 350 F for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.
*In my case, I ran out mozarella so I didn't get to put too much into it. The more the better though, so don't hesitate in covering even the whole thing with the yummy cheese.

Chix and Cheese in Bacon

Ingredients:
Chicken Fillet cut into thin slices, slightly flattened with salt and pepper
Cheese
Saute'd Garlic and onion
Roasted red pepper (from a can is fine)
Bacon

Put one ingredient on top of another in this order:
Bacon, chicken fillet, cheese, garlic and onion, and red pepper --> ROLL (bacon will be like your wrapper) and put on a bbq stick. GRILL. :D

For remaining peppers, feel free to grill them... They become nice and sweet :D

Buffalo Chicken Wings

Ingredients
Chicken wings with wing from mini drumstick thing separated (Healthier option would be breast fillets cut into strips)

*Marinade in:
HOT SAUCE. The more the spicier
Salt and pepper (don't be afraid to put it in there)
Cayenne pepper powder
Pepper flakes

Buffalo wings sauce
Butter > sweet chili sauce
Salt and pepper, cayenne pepper
Spicy sili cut into small pieces/crushed and/or pepper flakes
Diced garlic

Directions

1. Bread chicken wings (optional) and then fry on medium to high heat oil until cooked and crispy in one pan. Take out wings and set aside.
   
2. In the same pan, leave only little of the used oil and then melt butter in it.
3. Saute garlic until it begins to brown
   
4. Add the sweet chili sauce, peppers, and a little salt
5. Add the crushed/cut spicy sili and/or pepper flakes
6. Stir on low heat til it begins to simmer.
7. Mix sauce and chicken together and voila!

You can use a ranch dressing dip or blue cheese dip with this. :)

Murdered Hotdogs

I remember eating and making this snack ever since I was a little kid. Making it my own by adding a few more ingredients, I've also discovered that aside from as an afternoon merienda, it also goes great with a bottle of cold beer.

Murdered Hotdogs
(Serves 1-2)

Ingredients
2-3 hotdogs sliced into small pieces (either all meat or red; doesn't matter)
regular ketchup
1 medium to large onion
hot chili/chili powder/hot sauce/red chili flakes (the more the spicier)
cooking oil
parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
1) Heat the oil in a pan, and then saute onion and hotdog pieces.
2) Add some chili, keep frying
3) After around 2-3 minutes, add ketchup (about half a cup --more if you're big on ketchup) and chili
4) Mix together in pan til ketchup begins to simmer.
5) Sprinkle with a bit of parmesan and serve! :D

Tom Yum!

Here is how to make Tom Yum soup.
Ingredients:
-Shrimp and/or squid
-Green chili (sliced on one side about thrice. The more slices and chili, the spicier)
-Tom Yum paste* (30g to every 500g of water)
-Tomatoes cut so that it kinda looks like potato wedges (sorry I don't know what that cut is called haha)
-Pechay/Leafy vegetable
-Fresh or powdered coriander
-Bunch of lemongrass
-Onion leaves (cut)
-Onions, garlic, a little ginger (all chopped)
-Salt and pepper

Directions:
1) De-shell and de-vein shrimp. Don't throw shells just yet. For squid, just slice ala-calamares
2) In a heated pot, saute the garlic and onions with 1/4 amnt of water (total amnt of water depends on how much soup you want.. just keep in mind the tomyum paste to water ratio). Add the shrimp heads in soon after.
3) When shrimp heads begin to change in color, add another 1/4 of water along with the ginger. Boil for a few minutes. Then take out the shrimp heads (which by then should be very orange already)
4) Add the remaining 1/2 of the water into the pot with the tom yum paste, shrimp, squid, tomatoes chili, and vegetables
5) Mix in the coriander and onion leaves as the water is boiling, put in a dash of salt and pepper to taste.
6) Soup is ready when the shrimps have turned pink and and squid has become firm. Put in the bunch of lemon grass when you are about to turn off the fire.
7) Wait for it too cool a little bit and then serve! :)

*Tom Yum paste
You can purchase tom yum paste in most Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Singaporean, Thai etc groceries. If not, what I do sometimes is I just mix tamarind powder (sinigang mix is fine too), curry mix, and patis (fish sauce) in a 1:1:1 ratio. I also add more coriander --this time fresh than when I use the tom yum paste.

Singapore and Philly cheese corned beef

So I just got back from my Singapore trip last January 2. It was awesome over there! The shopping, the sights, the nightlife, and of course, the food. On the left I've made a collage of some of the dishes I tried over there. My favorite is the Cereal Prawns which is the biggest one in the collage. It's fried prawns and cereal that is very crispy and slightly sweet. It's so good that even the shells can be eaten! I tried the dish over at Hawkers near Esplanade and of all the food I have tried in my stay there, that is the most unforgettable one! In a good way! We ate it with pineapple rice, another tasty treat, grilled stingray, and Tom Yum soup. The last two had quite the spices, so I wouldn't recommend it for those who mind sweating a bit and getting their tongue a little burned. I would gladly come back though. :D I have yet to try cooking it myself, but watch out for that. I will try some day soon.

Some other goodies really worth mentioning are the buffet breakfast over at the Singapore Zoo which made me forget that we went there for the animals and not the food haha, the spicy Mcwings over at Mcdonalds which was so juicy and slightly spicy, the swedish meatballs at IKEA which surprisingly went great with the sweetness of the linden(sp?) berries, the Sing ice cream sandwich sold in the streets which was great, especially because it didn't melt as fast as I expected, and the "BBQ Shabu Shabu" in Pasar Oleh Oleh, Bintan, Indonesia. Well I included it with the Sing food already because Bintan is very Singaporean; the currency used to pay for stuff there is even SGD. Tiger Beer, the Singaporean counterpart of my country, Philippine's "San Miguel/RedHorse" is lighter than I thought it would be. It's good though.. 'swabe'. It reminds me a little of Cerveza Negra, but lighter. Bintang Beer of Indonesia is quite like Cerveza too, but it feels very watery and thin. San Miguel Strong Ice and Red Horse are still on top for me. :)

For more info on these dishes, check out my flickr account over at http://flickr.com/photos/kamums

Meanwhile, let me go on with the recipe I will share with you today. Wanting to make a philly cheese steak sandwich since before I left for Singapore, I decided to finally make one when I got back. Unfortunately, we still did not have any good tenderloin/sirloin or any beef cuts for that matter so I settled with what I found in the pantry --corned beef.

PHILLY CHEESE CORNED BEEF
Ingredients
1 small can purefoods corned beef
1 red onion
1-2 cloves garlic
cheeze whiz
2 slices bread
olive oil

1. Heat a little olive oil in pan
2. Sautee chopped onion and garlic
3. Put on high heat, and then add corned beef
4. Keep on pan until corned beef is dry and begins to crisp
5. On one slice of bread, put the corned beef. Make sure to include the little burnt pieces stuck to the pan --those are the crunchiest, yummiest corned beef parts
6. On the other slice, spread on a rich amount of cheeze whiz
7. Put slices together, grill in sandwich griller or toast. :)