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!

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

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! :)

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.