Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag sa bawang)

Who would not love the smell of fresh garlic from your garlic rice being cooked in your pan?  Just the smell of it makes one's tummies hungry.  This is the easiest and simplest sinangag that anyone could cook without any fuss.

  My father would always cook garlic fried rice for us using the day old rice we have in the fridge.  He would toast the rice first a bit before adding the oil and toasting the garlic.  The best treat for us would be the real toasted part of the fried rice, the ones which would get stuck at the pan.  My father would scrape them and shape them like small sausages. My siblings and I would eat them in a flash.  That's how yummy it is. 

This is actually my father's recipe as I remember it.

Igredients
4 cups day old rice
6 pcs of mashed and minced fresh garlic
salt to taste

Procedure
Mix the salt thoroughly with the rice.  You can use your hands if you like or use a spoon.
Heat a pan.
Toast the rice and make sure to stir it every now and then until is half way cooked (just when it's starting to change its color).
Put the rice on the one side of the pan.  Pour oil on the clean side of the pan and toast garlic. 
When the garlic is starting to go brown in color.  Mix the rice with it and cook for at least 3-5 minutes more.  Have a spoon of rice and taste if it suits to your liking.
Serve hot with garlic granules on top.
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TOCILOG (Tocino-Longganisa-Sinangag)

I actually had no idea that tocino in the Carrebean is not cured at all but just fried until it's crispy and added to another dish.  They would also use the backfat though just like the tocino we make in the Philippines.

The one we have in the Philippines is made thru curing for a number of days using brown sugar, saltpeter (salitre), anise wine, and annatto water.  Saltpeter or salitre is actually potassium nitrate similar to the ones used in fertilizers and medicines.  It has been used as a food preservative since the middle ages when freezers or refrigeration were not present yet.  I was really scared to use it since I have read somewhere any wrong dose would have detremental effect to anyone.  I decided to just stay away from it then.

Traditionally, to-ci-log dish is served during breakfast but I would love to eat them any time of the day which I am sure that other Filipinos do too.  Tocino's best partners on your plate would be garlic rice and sunny side up eggs plus fresh tomatoes.  My husband loved this meal that he had second helpings.

Ingredients
1/2 K pork (I used pork loin chops with the fat on)
1/2 C brown sugar
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp anise wine
2 tbsp soy sauce (light one)
2 tbsp annatto water (from soaking atchuete seeds)

Procedure
Mix all the ingredients except the pork in a bowl. 
Add in the pork and make sure that the mixture is infused in the meat all throughout.  Use ziplock or a bigger container with lid and shake until the meat is fully coated with the curing mix.
Cure the tocino for 1-2 days in the fridge before frying.

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Beef Soup Bones Mami

When I went to NSO, Quezon City years ago, I noticed this karinderia on wheels just across BIR.  It was lunch break and there were lots of people rushing to make their move in crossing the street. In a flash the rolling karinderia was full of customers.  I went near the place just to see what's there and I've found they're selling lunch meals and one of these was the Beef Mami.

I suddenly got transported in time in Sagrada.  Way back when we were still young, I remember there was a small table across the street from our house selling meals and the best seller was beef mami.  It was really delicious!

I don't  know why we weren't able to cook this dish in the house but instead we settled for those instant mami noodles.   I still prefer the homemade one with fresh veggies and lots of garlic. 

Craving for mami occupied my mind and tummy so I had to tell my hubby to get me some noodles.  I already have all the ingredients so it's not going to be a problem.

Cooking mami is just cooking nilaga except that you sautee onions and garlic for the first and just boil the onions with the meat for the latter.  Star anise is just optional so if you don't want the aromatic strong flavor of anise just don't add them.  My husband immediately knew that anise was in the soup.  He loved the soup and that made me real happy.

Ingredients
1 k beef soup bones
1 beef broth cube
3 star anise (optional)
1 medium onions, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)
1 bundle spring onions, minced
1 chinese cabbage, shredded
4 hardboiled eggs
pepper to taste
egg noodles
garlic granules (toppings)

Procedure
Tenderise the beef bones thru boiling.  Add the beef cubes.  The water you add would depend on how much you would like your soup be.  Add salt (just enough to your liking) and star anise  .  Set aside the meat and broth.
Sautee onions and garlic in a wok.  Put in the beef bones.  Pour in the broth and boil.
In a bowl, put some cooked noodles, shredded chinese cabbage and sliced eggs.  Pour the beef soup and put some beef on your bowl.  Top with garlic granules.
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Pinoy Bistek (Filipino Style Beef Steak)

One beef steak that I would always love to eat is the Pinoy Bistek that most Filipinos I'm sure would know how to cook.  It was my father who taught me how to cook this dish when I was just probably still in High School or Elementary.  I am not really sure but I know that I was quite young then.

This is also my nanay's favorite...so whenever she's here in Queensland, she would always request for bistek.  We normally use the calamansi or calamunding for the sauce mixed with soy sauce.  It's difficult to find this certain type of citrus fruit so we would use the fresh lemon juice extract instead.  To make the taste similar to the bistek we were used to have, I have to add a bit of vinegar.

Ingredients
2 pcs thin slice beef steak cut
juice of one lemon
1/2 c soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
1 medium size, onions, cut into rings
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

Procedure
Marinate the beef with soy sauce, lemon juice and vinegar for 10 minutes.
Heat a pan and sear the beef on both side. Remove the beef and set aside.
On the same pan, sautee onions and garlic.
Put in the beef. Make sure that both sides are infused with garlic and onion juice. 
Pour in the marinade to the pan. Simmer for a few minutes.
Serve hot with rice.

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Easy to Cook Italian Beef Steak

This is an easy to cook beef steak recipe that I have made.  I would usually do an Italian steak using pork chops but there's no more pork in my freezer so I ended up cooking the beef one.

Amazingly, the taste is quite good.  It's an honest to goodness dish that I'm sure you and your family will enjoy eating.

Ingredients
2 beef round steak cut
2 tbsp italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Procedure
Marinate each side of the steak with olive oil, salt and pepper and the italian seasoning for an hour. Make sure that you pat each side with your palm to make sure that the marinade is infused inside the meat.
Use a non stick pan in frying.  Do not put oil anymore in the pan since the steak has olive oil.
Cook the beef to your liking. 
Click this ---> steaks for your guide to cooking steak

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Easy Bake Chewy Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like chewy chocolate chips? Everybody loves them! And it's always best to make homemade ones that buying those in jars.  This recipe that I did, has this nice chocolaty goodness in it.  I guess the more chocolates the better.  You see the family is chocolate lover...not a chocoholic though.

This particular type of cookie is actually a drop cookie (meaning you just have to drop a spoonful or so in your baking sheet and the heat in the oven will do the rest).  It originated in the US and has distinctive ingredients that you wouldn't miss --- chocolate chips.  There are so many recipes of this cookie in the internet and cookbooks. Some have nuts and others have oatmeal.  I prefer to add oatmeal though...convincing myself that this cookie is healthy...haha! According to a cookie book that I have read before, it was accidentally discovered by Ruth Graves Wakefields in 1930 in Whitman, Massachusetts. I should try to find the original recipe and I will share it with you after I tried it.

Anyway, here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 1/4 c plain flour
1/2 c cornflour
1/2 c quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 c butter, melted
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
350 g chocolate chips
2 large eggs (or 3 medium ones)

Procedure
Cream the butter and the sugar in a big bowl.  Add one egg at a time.
Sift flour, salt, baking soda and cornflour in a smaller bowl.  Add the oats and mix well with hands.
Slowly add the dried mixture to the butter - sugar - egg mixture.  Do it a little at a time to make sure that everything is well blended and the dough would not stick to your hands. 
Put in the chips and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Shape the dough into a size of a golf ball or a little bigger than that.
Bake in 10 minutes at 180C or until the cookies are barely brown.
If they get brown in color the cookies would be quite tough when they cooled.
Remove from oven and let the cookies rest for awhile. When they are not too hot, put the cookies in the cooling rack.

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Easy Chicken Curry

Curry is actually an English word which believed to get its origin from the Tamil word "Kari" which means sauce with its components --veggies and /or meat cooked in spices.

 It is interesting to note that as early as mid 17th century, merchants had been selling this mixture of spices to the members of the British East India Company although it is also said that the word "curry" had been used already in 1390 even before India has contacts with Britain. (source:wikipedia). 

If your are familiar with India history, you would know that India was occupied and ruled by the British government for a long time until Mahatma Gandhi started his peaceful revolution and India got its independence.  India was divided into two after it won its freedom - Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan which up to now has not resolved the problem between them. 

Well anyway, back to curry, the spices which are found in a curry mix would be fennel, mustard, cumin and tamarind pods. This mixture had been popular even before the birth of Christ.  Later on, hot chilli peppers were added to it.  It later became popular all throughout Asia.

I had my first taste of curry when we went to Green Leaf Resto in SM city North EDSA.  It was not as strongly hot as I was expecting.  I actually enjoyed eating it even if I didn't really like the aroma of the dish.  When I came to Australia, my husband bought tins of curry mixes (green and red ones).  That's when I found out that he's a curry lover. 

Here is the recipe that I have made up myself.

Ingredients
1/2 k chicken breast, cut into pieces (depends on how big or small you want them)
1 tin Thai Green Curry soup base
1 medium onions, diced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 capcicum, sliced diagonally
1 medium carrot, diced
1 potato, diced
1 small tin green peas (optional)
1 tin coconut cream (or fresh ones from the coconut first squeezed juice)
fish sauce to taste

Procedure
Pour fish sauce onto the chicken and marinate for 15 minutes.
Sear the chicken.  Remove from fire. 
Sear the potatoes and carrots.  Remove from fire.
Sautee onions, garlic,tomatoes and capcicum in a wok.  Put in the chicken, carrots and potatoes.  Stir.
Pour in a cup of water.  Let it boil.
Pour in the curry sauce.  Let it boil. Stir.
Lower the fire.
Pour in the coconut cream. 
You can add more water or cream if the curry is quite strong to your liking.

Note:  If you want to use the curry powder instead of the ready mix soup base in tin, just add 2 tsp of the powder, small piece of ginger (ground), and small piece of turmeric (yellow orange ginger).  You can also add other veggies if you like.

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Sauteed Tomatoes and Eggs

You might be wondering why I am making two egg dishes in a meal.  One eggs with onions and this sauteed tomatoes and eggs.  You see, the first one is my husband's favorite and the latter is my favorite so I had to do two egg dishes. 

In our house in Bulacan, we would always partner this with tuyo (dried salted fish) and the tomato-egg dish balances its saltiness which makes it more wonderful to eat.

Here is my version.

Ingredients
3 eggs
3 pcs big red ripe tomatoes, minced
1 medium onions, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 stalks spring onions, chopped
1 chicken broth cube
Magic Sarap (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Sautee onions, garlic, and spring onions.  Add the tomatoes and caramelise in medium heat. 
Put in the chicken broth cube, magic sarap and salt and pepper to taste.
When the juice of the tomatoes come out, turn off the heat.  Put in the eggs and mix well.

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