Kare-Kare (Peanut Beef Stew)

Who wouldn't love Kare Kare?  I have always loved eating this dish with a spicy bagoong.  The peanut sauce has a nice sweet salty taste which makes the dish more delicious.  I remember cooking this years ago when the ready to use sauce mix was not around yet and cooking Kare Kare would get much of my time in preparing all the ingredients.

I would usually go to Malolos Market then to get the best tripe and beef cuts available. Tripes are very saleable so I had to go to the market early in the morning before everything is gone.  Near the meat stalls, you would find lots of small stores selling retail or wholesale the ingredients that you would need.  There's a certain kind of peanut butter made especially for kare-kare dish.  It's more pure and compact than the ordinary peanut butter in jar.  I would usually get both.  They would weigh the pure peanut butter and I would buy a quarter of a kilo and one medium size jar. 

I am in a different country now where the Filipino store is about 8 hours away (we used to have one almost two hour drive, but it went bankrupt : ( ..)  I have to use whatever stuff is available at the nearest supermarket. 
Ingredients
1 K beef round or tail
1/2  tripe
1/4 tsp anato seeds (atchuete)
1 tsp salt
1/2 c peanut spread (chunky or smooth)
1/3 peanuts (toasted and ground)
1 tsbp garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 Mama Sita Kare Kare mix soup base
1 bundle of string beans (snake beans) or baguio beans
1 bundle of pechay (bokchoy or wombok)
1/2 cabbage (medium size)
1 small banana bud
2 eggplants '
salt to taste
shrimp paste (bagoong)

Procedure
Soak anato seeds in warm water in a small bowl (about tbsp of warm water).  Set aside.
Use a pressure cooker to tenderise the meat and tripe or boil them until tender.  Set aside.
Sautee onions and garlic in a wok.  Put in the meat and tripe.
Pour in 6 cups of water and boil.
Put in the annato water, salt, peanuts, peanut butter and soup base.  Stir.
Add the veggies.  Cook until veggies are half - cooked or just right to your liking.
Serve with rice and bagoong.

Note:  If you do not have the soup base, toast 1/4 c of rice and then grind in a blender.  Add 2 cups of peanut butter instead of 1/2.  It's ok if you do not have all the veggies.  Just use whatever you can get.

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Kamias na Bilog (Philippine gooseberry)

    Kamias na bilog.  My siblings and I would always get them using a sungkit at the old house of Ka Juling, Ka Ligaya and Ka Ebeng.  Their house is just a few steps away from ours in Sagrada...very convenient. 

Nanay is a close friend of them especially with their sister, Nanang Norma (+), that's why we would always go to their place.  They also used to rent out Pinoy Komiks - Wakasan, Aliwan etc. and I was their number one customer eversince I have started to read.  They would always tell me that I'm the youngest Komiks reader they had hahaha.  One of the perks of being friends with them was our free kamias picking.  They're trees were really the best then.  I don't know why they had such so much fruits...it's like they never stopped bearing them.  The taste of their kamias was somewhat between sour and sweet.  We would always balance the taste with our salt dip.  But like any other tree, the life of their kamias would end too.  I am not sure what happened to them though.  Maybe a lightning strucked them?  Or they were cut down when they built their new house?  I would probably ask when we come and visit the Philippines again.

Although, kamias is called gooseberry in English, it doesn't really look like one.  In other countries in Asia and South and Central America.  Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing said that it was brought to the Philippines in prehistoric times and then later on spread throughout Indian Ocean, Mauritius, the Pacific then Hawaii.  In some countries, it's just an ornamental tree but  people can also make chutney, relish, candies, vinegar and syrup.  It is also good for rheumatism, blood enhancer for the liver, and purgative purposes.

hmmmm maybe we should start planting one now...

Source: http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/ and dost.gov.ph
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Crumbed T - Bone Steak

Another beef steak style that will make your palate crave for more.  I have made a different approach to it to make it more tasty than that ones that you would usually order at a steak house or any restaurant. 

My hubby is an Aussie and I guess all Aussies love steaks and sausages.  No barby would be barby without them.  A party wouldn't be complete without steaks. 

When I was younger, the only steak I love was bistik, the Filipino beef steak style (which I will feature one of these days...I don't want to see beef for a while after we have finished all the beef in my freezer...heheh...a friend of the hubby gave him 2 big chunks of beef rounds), but when my husband and I got married in the Philippines in 2008, that's the start of my romance with steak too..hehehe.  Well anyway, enough of that...here is the recipe that I know you will definitely enjoy.

Ingredients
2 T-bone beef cut
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp parsley
1 c breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
parmesan cheese (optional)
oil

Procedure
Season the beef with salt and pepper.  Set aside.
Mix the basil, parsley and breadcrumbs.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Roll the beef in the beaten eggs. 
Roll the beef in the breadcrumb mixture.
Fry both side in a heated non stick pan.
When cooked to your liking.  Serve in a plate at put some parmesan on top.

Note:  The difference with this steak recipe is that I seasoned the beef first with salt and pepper.


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Choco-Vanilla Pinwheel Cookies

I've been wondering how pinwheel cookies are made..  I have finally found a recipe that I can play with to bake this yummy cookies for my daughters.

The original recipe used 2 oz of melted unsweetened chocolates but since our family has a sweet tooth, I decided to add two more oz to it.  I also lessened the amount of sugar.  Instead of 1 1/3 cups, I only added a cup of sugar. I would probably get adventurous on the flavor that I would add next time.  I would use pandan flavor and vanilla...hmmm....and mint or lemon? heheheh...

Ingredients
3 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
4 oz chocolate
1 c butter melted
2-3 eggs

Procedure
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.  Set aside.
Beat butter until fluffy.  Add in sugar little by little and continue beating.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Beat until fluffy but not stiff.  Add vanilla and beat again.
Put in the flour-salt-baking powder mixture into the bowl and beat until mixed thorougly. 
Divide the dough into two.  Form one 4x4 inch square dough and wrap it in a clingwrap. Refrigerate. 
Put the half of the dough back to the bowl.
Melt the chocolates in a bowl on top of a pan with simmering water.  Make sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water because it will make the chocolates hard not fully melted.
Pour in the chocolates into the dough and beat again until just mixed.  Form a 4x4 inch square and wrap in a clingwrap.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove from fridge.  Cut both doughs into 4 (lengthwise).  Return the 3 strips of chocolate dough and 4 strips of vanilla dough back to the fridge. 
Put one chocolate strip in between two parchment paper and flatten in 6x7 inch rectangle using a rolling pin.
Get one vanilla strip from the fridge and roll it out into 6x6 inch square in between two parchment papers. 
Peel off top sheet of parchment from each dough and flip vanilla dough over onto chocolate, aligning top and bottom edges and allowing 1/2 inch of chocolate dough to stick out on each side.
Run rolling pin lightly over  the two doughs to stick them together, then peel off top sheet of parchment.
Fold extra 1/2 inch of chocolate dough over vanilla on 1 side. Starting on folded-over side and using parchment as aid, tightly roll up dough into log.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Repeat with remaining strips of dough to form 4 logs.

Slice when ready into 1/4 inch size.  Place a parchment paper in a cookie sheet  or pan.  Put the sliced cookies 1 inch apart from each other.  Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 9-10 minutes.

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Cup to Grams Conversion

Granulated sugar: 1 cup = 200 grams
Brown sugar: 1 cup, packed = 220 grams
Sifted white flour: 1 cup = 125 grams
White rice, uncooked: 1 cup = 185 grams
White rice, cooked: 1 cup = 175 grams
Butter: 1 cup = 227 grams
Almonds, slivered: 1 cup = 108 grams
Oil: 1 cup = 224 grams
Maple syrup: 1 cup = 322 grams
Milk, non-fat: 1 cup = 245 grams
Milk, sweetened condensed: 306 grams
Broccoli, flowerets: 1 cup = 71 grams
Raisins: 1 cup, packed = 165 grams
Milk, dry: 1 cup = 68 grams
Yogurt: 1 cup = 245 grams
Water: 1 cup = 236 grams
Confectioners sugar: 1 C = 110 g
Cocoa: 1 C = 125 g

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Potato Bake

What will you do if you have lots of potatoes in your pantry and you don't want to waste any of them?  You need to get adventurous and try your culinary skills in producing a nice meal out of potatoes.  Potato is a starchy fruit was first planted and domesticated in Peru between 8000-5000BC.  It belongs to the family of solanaceae or "nightshades."  Up to now, I am still thinking why are they called nightshades though.  There are about 5000 variety of potatoes in the world.  It is also interesting to know that it is the 4th world largest crop being consumed by people.  The name potato came from the Spanish word "patata."  It is also called "spud" which comes from the act of digging the soil before planting the potatoes.

The price of potatoes per kilo here in Australia ranges from $1 -3 while it is Php40-50 per kilo in the Philippines as of December, 2011. 

Last night, we had potato bake and according to my number 1 fans, my hubby and 21 month old daughter, it's sooo yummy!  I used 3 big potatoes.  Slicing them was a bit difficult because I still couldn't find my dependable knife.  I still think that I left it in the cabin where we stayed at before.  Good thing my hubby peeled the skins of the potatoes making my job a bit shorter and easier.  I have also fried the bacon without slicing it.  I just cut them with scissors when they're already cooked and cool.

You can follow this recipe en to to or you can add a bit of ham or other meat if you want.
Ingredients:
1 k potatoes
1 stick butter
100 g bacon
2 medium onions
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c cream
200 g fresh milk
1 tbsp cornflour or cornstarch
1 c cheese, grated

Procedure:
Slice the potatoes (around .5 cm).
Heat the butter in a non stick pan.  Fry bacon until a bit crispy.  Remove and set aside.
Cook the potatoes on the same pan until golden brown. 
Put in the onions, garlic and nutmeg.  Add the bacon.  Make sure that they are evenly distributed on the potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mix the flour, cream and milk in a small bowl.
Put the potatoes in a baking pan.  Pour the cream and milk mixture.  Top with cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes in a 220C preheated oven.


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Turbo Roast Chicken in soy, lemon and herbs

Turbo roast chicken has always been a favorite in our family.  I still think that no one can beat my father's roasted chicken. 

Each time he made one when he was still around, the whole family would devour the chicken like starving hyenas...hehehe.  I guess that's the exact way to describe it.  Everyone will fight over the legs and the wings.  I will get the wings of course!  Tatay would usually marinade the chicken with soy sauce and calamansi (calamondin) juice.  He then would put fresh tamarind fruits inside the chicken cavity and tied the chicken up with string tightly.  After it was cooked, Tatay would get all the tamarind and mix it with the chicken drippings...making a wonderful sauce for the roast chicken.  Believe me, it's one hell of a roast!  The succulent meat is sooo heavenly!  Oh if only we have fresh tamarind here, I would surely make that same roast that my father would usually make for us.

In this recipe, I made my own  concoction of herbs, soy sauce, lemon juice and olive oil.  My husband was asking me if I got the recipe from the internet and I told him no.  This is mine and mine alone haha!  So as usual, my husband is one curious guy when it comes to ingredients, he asked me how I made the roast...what herbs did I put on it ...and so on and so forth.  I think I've made him more amazed of my adventurous cooking skills.

Ingredients:

1 medium size whole chicken
2 lemon
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 c soy sauce
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp of each of the ff herbs

• thyme
• rosemary
• coriander (cilantro)
• parsley
• oregano
• basil

Procedure:

Make small slits or incisions around the chicken.
Rub olive oil on the chicken and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix all the rest of the ingredients and the juice of one lemon.
Marinade the chicken with the mixture.  Do this in a baking pan.  Slice the lemon into two and put inside the cavity of the chicken.  Set aside for at least 20 minutes.
Put the chicken in the turbo.  Set the temperature to 200C and the timer to 40 minutes.  After 40 minutes, flip the chicken to cook the other side. Set the timer of another 20 minutes.
Use the drippings as sauce.
    
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Apulid (Waterchestnuts)

When we were still kids, my cousins and I would usually sit in this big long table that they had next door while eating apulid....trying our best to remove the the fruit's skins...competing on who would do it quick without losing too much of the fruit.

The skin is thin like paper so we would really remove them carefully.   They were sold then not by a kilo but by the size of the tin.  I am not really sure if you can still buy them at the market.  Maybe the new batch of kids now don't even know that they exist.  It's a good thing to know though that we can still buy them on tins or jars....but still nothing can beat the fresh ones.

Apulid's taste is similar to chestnuts that we particulary buy during Christmas season. They are slightly sweet and a bit crunchy.  Their texture is quite good.  They never change  even if you cook them. I have proven  this true when I mixed them with my siomai meat mixture.   It is also interesting to know that apulid can sweetened your breath. 

Burma: ye thit eir thee
China: ma tai, po-chi
India: pani phul
Indonesia: tike
Japan: kuwai, kurogu-wai
Philippines: apulid
Thailand: haeo-song krathiem, haeo cheen
Vietnam: go nung
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Scotch Eggs

Despite its name, Scotch Eggs did not originate from Scotland but in Britain in 1738.  It became popular as a picnic food and then later on became a favorite in pubs and fairs.   If you are tired of the ordinary egg dish, this could be a good variation. 

When my husband and I tried this wonderful dish, we found out that they're quite heavy on the tummy.  What more if you eat them with fried rice?  Why don't you try cooking this one and enjoy its  lovely taste.

Ingredients:

500 g minced beef

6 pcs hardboiled eggs

2 tsp garlic granules
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp plain flour
1 egg beaten
bread crumbs

Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except of the eggs (hardboiled and beaten) and the breadcrumbs.  Use your hands to make sure everything is well distributed.
Remove the shells of the hardboiled eggs. 
Coat each hardboiled egg with the meat mixture.  Dip each scotch egg in the beaten egg and then roll into the breadcrumbs.
Deep fry the scotch eggs.
Serve with rice and your choice of dips. 

Note: You can remove nutmeg if you want.
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Wanted: Aratiles!

My sister's favorite fruit when she was a little kid was alatires.  To get her aratiles, we would go to Nanang Puring's  (Talucod) house in Sagrada.  We would use sungkit to get the fruits and my sister would be picking them up and put them in her pockets or plastic bags. 

As we walked back home, she would start eating them.  I did not like this fruit that much so I would usually let her have them all.  Unfortunately, my sister would have lots of red bruises all over her body after eating alatires.  She had an allergic reaction to alatires.  From then on, she was not allowed to eat aratiles.  It did not stop her anyway.  Whenever she had the chance, she would still eat them.

Aratiles tree is also known as Cherry Tree, Panama Berry or Seresa.  It originated from the Southern Americas and was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards during their occupation of the country.  It grows up to 10 m in height...but the trunk and branches are not sturdy that's why we wouldn't take chances in climbing this tree before.  The fruits are white when unriped and become reddish when going ripe.  It has a sweet taste on it, fleshy and lots of tiny seeds.  It's interesting to find out that this tree has a lot of use not only to satisfy your fruit cravings.  The flowers can be used as antiseptic and can  abdominal cramps, colds and headaches. 

So aratiles, is quite a versatile tree....I wonder if we could still see them around?

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