Brunch! :)

To celebrate the 3000th hit mark, I decided to make something special for my family! One of my favorite meals --brunch! Here I have some steak, grilled tomatoes, pork&beans, and scrambled eggs. I would've cooked some sausages, bacon, potatoes, and served it all with toasted bread and marmalade, but my parents still wanted to eat rice (we're Asian), so it would've been too much if I cooked more meat. Anyway, this here is pretty easy to make!

You just need: (serves 1)
Good quality steak, about 0.5 or less inches
small can of baked beans in tomato sauce (pork & beans)
1 small tomato, sliced
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper
rosemary; dried or fresh
butter
griddle and/or frying pan
olive oil

Directions:
1. Prepare the steak by rubbing it with some salt, pepper, and rosemary. Spread a bit of butter on it too, and just let the flavors sink in by putting the meat in a small tupperware or ziplock.
2. While the steak's enjoying its rub (haha), make the scrambled egg first: mix a dash of salt and pepper in your beaten egg, fry in hot frying pan with oil. While doing this, heat griddle.
3. When scrambled egg is done, put on serving plate.
4. When griddle is hot, pour a bit of olive oil on one side and put on the tomatoes
5. On the other side of the griddle, grill the steak 5-8 minutes on each side (if you have a small griddle, feel free to do this in batches)
6. When the steak is almost done, melt some butter on it.
7. As for the tomatoes, you'll know it's done when there are small burn marks on it already.
8. Put the steak and grilled tomato slices alongside the scrambled eggs.
9. Heat beans for about 30 seconds to a minute in the microwave or a pan.
10. Serve everything either with toasted bread or rice! :)

Enjoy!

Grilled Teriyaki Fish

For this recipe, you'll need the following (serves 3-4):

1. 3-4 pieces of good quality fish like Salmon or Gindara cut ala steak or steak fillet. (It's better to use fish with the skin on, so there will be a less chance of the fish breaking into pieces while being cooked or transferred from grill to plate.)
2. a small grill or griddle
3. rock salt and ground black pepper
4. 5.5 tbsp of teriyaki sauce
5. 1 tbsp of powdered ginger
6. 2 tbsp of lemon/lime juice

Directions
1. In a small bowl or tupperware, sprinkle the fish with a dash of rock salt and ground pepper, followed by the powdered ginger, lemon/lime juice, and 3 tbsp of teriyaki sauce. Cover container and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Make sure to turn over the fish in the middle of the marinating time.
2. Heat grill and brush with oil
3. When grill is very hot, lay down the fish steaks side by side. Grill only 5-8 minutes/side, so that the inside of the steak is still a little slippery and pink (if salmon is used). While grilling, baste using teriyaki sauce left in marinade container.
4. Transfer to a plate (be careful while doing so, if using skinless, boneless steak fillet, or else fish might break!)
5. Pour the 2.5 tbsp left of teriyaki sauce onto fish while it is hot.
6. Serve with a bowl or plate of hot rice, and maybe even a side of vegetables!

Enjoy! :)

Chinese BBQ Ribs

This recipe very, very easy and very, very tasty. I got it from the internet and just modified it a little. You just need the ff:
1. Pork Spareribs
2. Water
3. Chinese BBQ sauce
4. Garlic 3-4 cloves
5. 1-2 inch worth of ginger, sliced
6. Chili flakes/tobasco sauce (how much depends on how spicy you like it)
7. Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Boil the ribs with ginger and some salt until soft
2. Discard water and ginger (or you can use the broth for some other soup; up to you)
3. Saute garlic and then brown the ribs' sides
4. Take out ribs
5. In the same pan, add Chinese BBQ sauce (enough to coat ribs), chili flakes/tobasco sauce and mix with the garlic
6. When it simmers, put back the ribs and use a tong to rotate them so that they will be coated with the sauce (you can use a brush too, but I warn you Chinese BBQ sauce is very sticky, so that may be a little difficult)
7. Simmer for about 10 minutes when ribs have absorbed the sauce
8. Serve with hot rice! :)

Sweet and Sour Fish

Sweet and Sour Fish is very, very easy. You just need to fry a fish which has been seasoned with salt and pepper. When it's done, set it aside, and prepare the sauce. I don't know how to make sweet and sour sauce from scratch, so I just used a ready made one (our household uses Mama Sita) --the one you mix with water. Instead of water though, pour in the contents of a pineapple cocktail can. Mix it and simmer with the pineapple bits, sliced carrots, sliced onions, and red bell pepper. When it's a little thick (after about 10mins or so), pour over the fish and tada!

Upcoming!!!

So how'd you all like the kansi? I got so many hits after posting that recipe and I'd like to thank you! Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Tonight for dinner I learned how to make sweet and sour fish and vegetable spring rolls. I'll be posting the recipes soon enough!

In the meanwhile, I'm planning on making Sticky Chinese BBQ Pork Ribs and Bonchon in the days to come! I'm doing some research now, and it doesn't seem so difficult to make afterall! :)

Kansi

Hi, guys! I know I haven't updated for a while; I've been quite busy. I hope this one can make it up to all of you though, it's a very worthy first post for 2010.

This is a dish I first tasted when I lived with my cousin in Virginia. Her husband is a Filipino from Bacolod and his relative, Carmel, who is also from Bacolod made some Kansi for us during one of our parties. Kansi is an Ilonggo recipe that is sort of like a cross between Bulalo (beef bone marrow and vegetables soup) and Sinigang (sour pork soup). Carmel was kind enough to share the ingredients with me, and tonight for dinner, I finally got around to try and put it together. Here's how:

Ingredients
1.Beef Bones (3-5lbs) and/or Beef Shank (3-5lbs)
2.Lemon grass (2 stalk)
3.onion (1 medium)
4.Fresh ginger (1/2 cup, sliced)
5. 1 long hot pepper
6.Atchuete powder(1 Tablespoon)
7.sinigang mix (2 Tablespoon or to taste)
8.Canned Green Jackfruit (1 can)
9.salt & pepper (to taste)
*I also added some garlic to the recipe and tomatoes, and used fresh green jackfruit (sliced) instead.

Directions
1. Saute garlic and onions
2. Add beef and ginger into the pot and pour just enough water to cover most of the meat
3. Leave it to boil for about an hour, thirty to two hours
4. Lower heat to simmer, add more water into the pot until meat is completely submerged
5. Mix in sinigang mix, salt, and pepper (I used about half of the pack of sinigang mix since I liked it more sour)
6. Mix in pepper (add more if you want it to be spicier)
7. Put in sliced green jackfruit
8. Leave to simmer until jackfruit is cooked and beef is very soft
9. When it's almost done, put in lemongrass (tie it into a knot) and atchuete for color
10. Simmer for about 10 minutes and serve with hot rice.

I'm not sure if my version was as good or as authentic tasting, since it's still up to the cook to blend proportions up to his/her liking, but I loved it when I ate it, so you might too!

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!!! :)