Adobong Pusit

Living far from the coast here in Australia means finding fresh seafood in the market would be difficult.  Being in the entrance of the outback makes it worst too.  How I wish I could buy fresh ones...just like the prawns, crabs, alamang, fish, squids etc. which you can find at the Hagonoy Market.  In our barrio, Sagrada, we would often just buy from those who would come to the house and sell u
s freshly caught seafoods and at a very fair price...you can haggle the price if you want too.  There is one seafood that I never failed to eat whenever it is on our table eversince I can remember --- Adobong Pusit.  My father would always be the one to cook this dish for us as he was the best cook in the family.  I remember him being so careful about not removing the blank ink which he said is the thing that really makes the pusit tastes better...adding a sweet taste to the dish.  Here in Australia though, aside from the difficulty of finding them, the squids that you can find at the shops would not have the black ink anymore.  I remember one time when we were in Emerald, Queensland for 4 months, I was able to get some with black ink still in them.  I was so happy and decided to cook half for adobo and the other for grilled pusit with tomatoes and onions.  My husband was so surprised that I did not remove the ink from the squids.  He never had squid dish with ink in the past so I told him to wait til he taste my squid dish.  I was so excited to see his reaction when he ate the adobo and hey!  He loved them!  He said they tasted different...a bit sweet and fresh.

Ohhh now, since I do not have fresh ones, the Saba Squid in tin will do then.  Good thing I was able to get them when we were at the Filipino store in Toowoomba.  We do not eat squid straight from the tin so I cook them the way I cook the fresh ones.  Although the taste is yummy, still nothing can beat the freshness of newly caught squids.

Ingredients
1 tin Saba squid in soy soy sauce or chillis or 1/2 K fresh squids
2 tbsp soy sauce (kikkoman)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/3 c vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
(add a bit of water if you're using fresh squids or you can add sprite or 7-up instead of water)

Procedure
Heat oil in a pan. 
Sautee onions, garlic and tomatoes until they caramelised.
Add in the squid and stir until it absorbed the taste of the onions etc.
Add in the rest of ingredients.  Do not stir after you put in the vinegar.
Simmer.
Serve with rice.

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Cream Cheese Covered Brownies

Brownies are our family's fave anytime, anywhere and that's why it's nice to experiment each time you bake them.  This time I tried to dillute the sweetness of the brownies with the cream cheese mixture and it did work!  The marriage between the two made this goodies yummier.

Cream Cheese Mixture
3/4 c cream cheese, softened (easier if you use the one in jar)
45 g butter, softened
1/3 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp vanilla

Brownies
You can use the ready mixed brownie
or use the following:
1 c plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
250 g chocolates
75 g butter
1/2 c cocoa
3 eggs
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla

Procedure
Cream Cheese
Cream butter and sugar.
Add in the cream cheese.  Mix until fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time while mixing.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.
Set aside.

Brownie
In a double boiler, melt together chocolates, cocoa, and butter.
Cool a bit.
In a bowl, mix together all the other ingredients.
Pour in the choco mixture onto the flour mixture.
Mix until well blended.

Place baking paper in a baking pan.
Pour the brownie batter into the pan.
Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter.  Make sure the chocolate batter is well covered.
Bake for 30 minutes in a 180C preheated oven.

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Choco-Banana-Walnut Loaf

What do I do with the over riped bananas? That's always a problem in our house.  My husband would always buy bananas but forget eating them...$4+ a kilo goodness!  Wish I were in the Philippines!  We definitely have better bananas and at a cheap price too...hehe!
Ohh how I miss the binutuan, senyorita and lakatan.

Anyway, this recipe calls for cocoa.  Since I have two girls who are a bit picky with bread and cake, I decided to add cocoa to make them happy.  The result was really yummy...moist loaf with rich chocolate and banana flavour.

Ingredients
1 c plain flour
1/2 c self raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
125 g butter, softened
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 c walnuts, chopped

Procedure
Cream butter and sugar.
Add in eggs one at a time.
Add in vanilla.
Add in cocoa, salt, and baking soda.
Put in the mashed bananas.
Add in the flour, half a cup at a time.
Fold in walnuts.
Bake for 40 minutes in a 180C preheated oven.

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Humba

One dish that my father would love to cook if he's still around is humbang pata ng baboy or carabeef that we buy in Malolos Market at the early hours of the morning so as not to lose the chance of buying the last piece.  My father would always tell me to buy the unahan or the front hock not the hind ones since the first has most of the meat than the latter.  I was always amazed on how he would gently and patiently tenderise the meat without using the pressure cooker.  He was indeed a good cook.  I hope he is proud that I turned out to have the same passion in cooking.  How I miss him...

Humba or Umba may have originated in the Visayas is a braised pork with sugar.  The best pork cut touse in this kind of dish would be those with fats like hocks and belly as they add more flavour to the the humba. 

Anyway, enjoy this wonderful dish that will certainly take your palate to another world when the meat and fat melt in your mouth with the burst of the delicious flavour.

Ingredients
1 pork hock (pata ng baboy)
6  pcs bay leaf
6 cloves, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1 1/2 c pineapple juice
2 tbsp peppercorns
2 tbsp kikkoman soy sauce
3 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
5 pcs or more, banana blossoms
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Boil the pork hock for 2 hours in water with 1 tbsp peppercorns, 3 pcs bay leaf , salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from fire when the meat is almost detached from the bones.
Heat oil in a non stick pan.
Sear the meat.  Remove from pan.
Sautee onions and garlic in the same pan.
Add in the remaining bay leaf and peppercorns.
Put back the meat.  Stir and let the meat absorb the flavour from the bay leaf, peppercorn, onions and garlic.  Put on low fire.
Pour in the pineapple juice.
Put in sugar and soy sauce.  Boil for at least 2 minutes.
Add in the vinegar.  Do not stir. 
Add in the banana blossoms and simmer until the juice has evaporated a bit.
Remove from fire.
Pour in the
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Tuna Pesto Penne Rigatto w/ Black Olives

I've found out that my former student, Jana (thank you for the photo). cooked tuna pasta with her home made pesto so I asked her if she could give me her recipe.  However just like me, she would sometimes cook using taste method...in short no particular rule in measurements of ingredients.  Anyway, that's what make us different and more at home with our cooking. 

Here is a good recipe in making this dish.  Trial and error until I was able to make a good one.

Ingredients
1/2 penne rigato
1 tin tuna in water
2 c fresh basil leaves
1/2 c freshly grated parmesan cheese or romano cheese
1/2 c extra virgin oil
1/3 c  walnuts
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and  pepper to taste

Procedure
Cook the penne according to package instruction
Grind basil in your blender using pulse mode.  Add the garlic and continue to pulse. 
Add olive oil slowly.
Add the cheese.  Continue grinding.
Put in salt and pepper and grind again.
In a small bowl, put in the tuna (tuna in water tin). Add in the pesto (will depend on how much you want). 
Serve with noodles
Top with olives.

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Ginataang Pakpak at Atay ng Manok (Chicken Wings and Liver Braised in Coconut Cream)

I have always loved coconut cream in my dish.  The aromatic flavour coming from it just makes me hungry.  They say the best meat that would really absorb this wonderful flavour would be chicken.  I have proven it true in this dish.  You can really taste the coconut cream in the chicken meat.  The herbs that I have added as an experiment worked wonderful with them too.

Ingredients
1/2 K chicken wings (tips removed)
1/2 K chicken liver
2 c coconut cream (kakang gata)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 chicken broth cube
1 ginisa mix
1 tsp sweet basil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder or use the fresh ones
1 tsp powdered ginger or fresh ginger
2 c fresh spinach (or malunggay leaves)
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 c water
salt and pepper to taste.

Procedure
Marinate the chicken wings with fish sauce for 15 minutes.
Sear the chicken wings.  Remove from pan.
Sautee onions and garlic.
Add in cube and ginisa mix.  Stir.
Add in the basil, paprika and ginger.
Put in the chicken wings.  Stir.
Put in the chicken.
Add in the liver.  Do not stir.
Pour in the water. 
Add in salt, pepper, and chili powder.
Boil until meat and liver are tender.
Pour in the coconut cream.  Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.

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Pancit w/ Sotanghon and Singaporean Noodles

I think  this is the best pancit I have ever cooked.  I cooked this one for my baby girl's first birthday and I tell you it's quite delicious.  You don't need to put any other additional seasoning befor you eat it because it is already well seasoned.

Ingredients
600 g pork, diced
200 g sotanghon noodles
200 g singaporean noodles
100 g snow peas
100 g green beans, chopped diagonally
100 g cabbage, shredded
4 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium size carrot, matchstick sliced
1 chicken broth cube
1 ginisa mix
4 tbsp kikkoman soy sauce
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 c water
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Season pork with salt and pepper. 
Sear the pork in a non stick pan. Remove from pan when the meat becomes a bit brown.
Sautee onions and garlic in the same pan. 
Put the meat back and stir in with the onions and garlic.
Add in the broth cube and ginisa mix.
Put in the sauces.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Add in the veggies. 
Pour in water.
Simmer just until the veggies are half cooked.
Add in the noodles.  Stir.
Simmer for two minutes.
Remove from fire.

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Beef Lumpiang Togue (Beef and Bean Sprouts Spring Rolls)

Normally in making lumpiang toge, pork meat is added.  This time I made my own recipe using beef instead of pork.  I have also added chicken broth cube and ginisa mix to enhance the flavour.  This has alwasy been my favourite since I was still a kid.  There would not be a Sunday when I would not buy this at that vendor near the trike waiting area.  They were really quite yummy. 

I have cooked this dish before but experimenting with my other recipe but my husband prefers this one though as the taste is better (which I definitely agree with). 

Ingredients
1/3 K beef, cubed and then cut thinly
1/2 c small prawns or shrimps
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, minced
2 c bean sprouts
1 small potato, cut into small cubes
1 medium carrot, cut into matchstick size
1/2 c green beens, cut diagonally but small size
1 chicken broth cube
1 ginisa mix
2 tbsp kikkoman soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
Sear the beef just until a bit brown.  Remove from pan.
Sautee onions and garlic.  Put the beef back to the pan.
Add the chicken broth cube, ginisa mix, soy sauce and salt and pepper.  Stir for 3 minutes.
Put in the veggies.  Stir.  Add 1/4 c of water.
Simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from pan and wrap in your spring roll wrappers.
I was able to make 20 pieces of spring rolls using this recipe.

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