Easy to Prepare Tartare Sauce

Do you ever wonder how those tartare sauce that goes with your fish are made?  I thought it's difficult to prepare one but gee it is quite easy. I remember I used to hoard this sauce whenever we go to a fastfood chain...hehehe.  It really goes well with fish and other seafood.  You can buy the ready made one with different brands or you can opt to make your own.  This recipe can last up to 2 weeks as long as you refrigerate it and seal it in a jar.

Ingredients
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon rind
1 tbsp pickle relish (gherkins)
1 tbsp sour cream

Procedure
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Put the tartare sauce in a jar, seal and refrigerate.

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Crumbed Fish Fillet (Hoki)

For a change, we had crumbed fillet fish for dinner with matching tartare sauce.  This is a wonderful dish that is healthy and doesn't ask too much prep.  My husband and I both loved it and how I wish my daughters would start eating fish so they can also enjoy this dish.  You can also replace hoki fish with any filleted fish that you like.

Ingredients
500 fish fillet, hoki or any fish
1 tbsp lemon juice (or calamansi)
4 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs, whisked lightly
1 c breadcrumbs
30 g butter
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Drizzle fish with lemon juice.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roll fish fillet onto the flour.
Dip in the eggs.
Dredge onto the breadcrumbs
Heat pan. 
Put the butter on the pan.
Fry fih fillet.
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Pininyahang Manok

An old family recipe that has been present in many occasions in our home in Bulacan.  My husband calls this dish Chicken Aloha because of the pineapple pieces added to it.  Normally, I would add vienna sausage (Phillips brand) whenever I cook this dish.  I would also include its juice since it adds more taste to the dish.  However, I had to use the ordinary hotdogs because I forgot to grab some from the Asian store in Toowoomba.  The taste is slightly different because of this but still it tastes delicious. 

Ingredients
1 k chicken (any part)
1 c evaporated milk
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic, minced
8 pcs hotdogs, sliced (or vienna sausage)
1 chicken broth cube
1 300 g tin pineapples, sliced
fish sauce to taste
pepper to taste (optional)

Procedure
Marinate chicken with fish sauce.
Sear chicken on a heated pan.
Remove chicken from pan.
Sautee onions and garlic.
Put back the chicken to the pan.  Stir.
Add in the hotdogs.
Pour 1/2 c water and boil.  Make sure that chicken is cooked.
Let the water evaporates. 
Put in the pinapples with the juice.
Boil.
Add the milk. Simmer for 2 minutes.
Serve.
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Menudo

Menudo is a celebratory dish.  Feast, birthdays, graduations, and weddings would alway have menudo at the table.  Although this dish was brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards, it is of Mexican origin.  It is a traditional Mexican dish made of beef with clear broth or with a red chili base (wikipedia).  It is said that it is prepared by the entire family where everyone has his/her own part to do.  It is interesting to note that the cooking menudo itself is a way of socializing and uniting the whole clan or family in the Mexican culture.  I can say that it's the same thing for the Filipinos and  I hope that most of us are still doing this.

Ingredients
3/4 k pork cubes
1/3 k pork liver, cubed
1 c red capcicum, cubed
3 medium carrots, cubed
2 big potatoes, cubed
1 tin chickpeas (garbanzos)
8 pieces hotdogs, sliced diagonally
1 c tomato sauce (pinoy style)
1 tin reno liver spread (big one)
4 tomatoes, diced
1 medium onions, diced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
10 pcs calamansi
1/3 c soy sauce

Procedure
Marinate pork and liver with soy sauce and calamansi juice.
Sautee onions, garlic, and tomatoes.
Put in pork and liver.
Add in hotdogs.
Add in the carrots and potatoes.  
Pour 1/2 c water and the marinade and boil.
When the meat is tender, add in the liver spread and chickpeas.
Pour in the tomato sauce and simmer.

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Vanilla Puto (flour base)

This is my second puto recipe.  This time I am using vanilla as flavoring and plain flour.  Instead of steaming I baked the puto.  The result was just as yummy as my first puto.  I could have made a puto out of rice but having two daughters at home take too much of my time.  Hopefully next time I can make those puto made of rice flour.

Ingredients
4 c plain flour
2 c white or brown sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1/2 c butter, melted
1 c evaporated milk
2 1/2 water
2 eggs

Procedure
Sift together the dry ingredients.  Mix.
Make a well in the the center of the dry ingredients.
Put all the wet ingredient + eggs into the well.
Mix using wire whisk or electric mixer.
Pour the puto mix into a jug.
Grease muffin pans or prepare muffin cups.
Pour the batter -- 3/4 of the muffin pans or muffin cups.
Bake the puto in a preheated 180C oven for 13 - 15 minutes.

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Pepper Steak

Pepper steaks are quite yum yum especially with rice or chips or mashed potatoes.  We had this last week and it's worth cooking it since my hubby and I really enjoyed the peppery taste in the steak.  The capcicum added a bit of sweetness to it too which made the steak tastes even better.  You can always buy cream fraiche in any deli/grocery shops by the way. You can also choose not to use the cream too. 

Ingredients

2 beef rib eye steak

2 tbsp butter

1/4 c red wine

1 tbsp peppercorns, coarse milled

1/3 beef stock (dissolve 1/2 beef cube in hot water)

125 ml creme fraiche

1/4 c red capsicum, minced

salt to taste

Procedure

Dry the steak meat with kitchen paper.

Sprinkle salt on both sides.
Press the peppercorns on each side.  Make sure that they stick to the meat.
Heat up oil and butter in a non stick pan.
Fry steak according to your liking.
Deglaze pan with beef broth.
Add the rest of the peppercorns and cream.
Put the meat back on the pan to coat it a bit.
Remove the meat from pan and serve.
You can also pour the remaining of the sauce onto the steak if you want.

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Pinoy Style Cheese Sticks

A fingerfood that no one would not miss getting from the table in any party in the Philippines is cheese stick.  Kids love them and big kids do too! 

This one particular dish is so easy to prepare and to cook that even young kids can prepare.  Mum or Dad will have to be there though when deep - frying them.

Ingredients
1 block of cheddar cheese
1 packet spring roll wraps
water for sealing the wraps

Procedure
Slice the cheese into 1/2 cm thickness (all sides) with a length of 3 - 4 inches. Make about 40 sticks
Cut the spring roll wraps in the middle making 2 triangles.
Place one stick of cheese a cm away from the edge at the center of the wider side of the triangle.
Fold that 1 cm edge of  the triangle towards the top of the cheese.  Roll it once.
Wet the edges of the triangle.  Fold the two sides towards the triangle and then roll towards the remaining corner.  Make sure that you do this tightly.  Seal the edges again with water.
Deep fry and remove from pan when the color turns slightly brown.
Serve immediately with ketchup-mayo dip.
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