Mini Palabok

Whenever I want to eat Palabok, I just buy Palabok Mix and follow the procedures written at the back of the sachet. I’ve been interested in preparing it without the mix so I searched the net and found some recipes from different sources and tried to combine them. Although the ingredients of this one are not as complete as the others’, I still would want to recommend this for those (like me) who want to eat even other ingredients are not available.

Ingredients:

- 2 500gms Super Q Special Palabok cornstarch sticks

Sauce:

- 2 tbsp cooking oil

- 1 medium sized onion

- 2 shrimp cubes

- 1 can Tuna

- ¼ cup Atsuete dissolved in ¼ cup water

- 5 cups water

- 4 tbsp fish salt

- 4 tbsp all purpose flour dissolved in ¼ cup water

Toppings:

- garlic

- 3 eggs

- 1 pack prawn crackers

- 1 pack cooking shrimps

 

Procedure:

Cooking the toppings:

- deep fry the minced garlic until medium brown

- boil the eggs for 20 minutes, and slice

- fry the prawn crackers, then grind

- boil the shrimps until cooked

Cooking the noodles:

- soak the rice noodles in boiling water for about 15minutes or until cooked

- stir gradually

- remove from heat, do not drain yet, and let stay in hot water for about 20minutes

- drain and transfer to service plate

Cooking the sauce:

- heat oil in a pan

- sauté onion

- add the tuna and shrimp cubes, mix well

- add fish sauce and water

- use a strainer and add the atsuete

- add the flour mixture, stir continuously until thick

- remove from heat

Combining them altogether:

- mix the rice noodles with the sauce

- sprinkle fried garlic, and crushed prawn crackers over the mixture

- add shrimp and arrange the sliced eggs

- enjoy!

Microwave-baked Apple Cake

The absence of conventional ovens (gas range) or electric oven limits me from baking cookies, cupcakes, and other fruit cakes. But upon searching the net, I found out that Microwave Oven can be an alternative baking equipment. Simply called Microwave, it is a kitchen appliance that heats foods by dielectric heating accomplished with microwave type electromagnetic radiation that is used to rotate and heat polarized molecules in food (wikipedia). Further information can be read in wikipedia. 

Apple Cake

This is my second time to use Microwave Oven instead of the conventional ovens in preparing a food. First trial was macaroons and since it is only cooked for very few minutes, there was just a little risk with it. Baking in microwave can be a little risky especially if you are not sure whether the container that you’re using is microwaveable or not. In my case, I am not sure about the rectangular container so I divided my baking time with 2 minutes out of the entire required time, so to check every now and then the container itself. But I made sure that the interval will only be a matter of five seconds or less to reach the desired leavening stage without interruption. 

Ingredients:

- 2 pcs apple, shredded (preferably pink lady)

- butter for greasing

- 1 cup sugar

- 2/3 cup oil

- ½ tsp vanilla

- 2 beaten eggs

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- ½ tsp salt

- confectioners sugar (optional)

Procedure:

- get a microwaveable container and grease with butter

- put in the sugar, oil, and vanilla, mix well

- add the beaten egg, mix well

- gradually add the flour, combine well with the mixture

- add baking soda and salt, combine well

- put inside the microwave oven and on medium heat, set the timer to 10minutes

- let stand inside the microwave for 5 minutes

- set the microwave on high heat, and set the timer for 8 minutes

- dust with confectioners sugar if desired

Seafoods Pad Cha

I once tried eating in a Thailand restaurant with friends and I found some Thai foods very delicious. The combination of sweet, salty, and spicy tastes of the foods that we ordered made my tongue crave for the same foods, or just similar to those.

Exploring the net provided me with Seafoods Pad Cha recipe. Pad Cha is a Thailand recipe which also means stir fried recipe with chilies and herbs. I found a lot of variants for this recipe but let me give you the most classic recipe in terms of ingredients. Since some terminologies are not familiar to me like krachai and shallots, I even searched for pictures using Google images just to give me the idea of how these look like and what it really is.

I hope friends from Thailand will accept this although some ingredients which may be significant with Pad Cha are not included here. Constraints include the unavailability of the other ingredients in the nearby grocery stores. 

My version of Seafoods Pad Cha

I also saw variants with very little (or almost no) sauce. But mine has more. I’d better reduce it next time I’ll try.This may not be as presentable as Thailand's original Pad Cha, but the foods that I tasted in the Thai restaurant is almost the same as the taste of this one.

Ingredients:

- 500gms mixed seafood

- 1 tbsp garlic, chopped

- 1 medium sized onion

- 1 medium sized ginger, cut into strips

- 1 tbsp fish sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp sugar

- ½ tsp chili powder

- 1 cup water (or at least ½ cup)

- cooking oil

Procedure:

- In a pan, fry mixed seafoods for 5minutes

- remove from heat, set aside

- on a separate pan, heat oil

- sauté garlic, & onions

- add ginger, and fry for some time

- add mixed seafoods, stir fry for about 3 minutes

- add water and let boil for some minutes

- add chili power, fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar

- mix well and let boil for some minutes

- remove from heat and serve

Chicken Tofu

Try this simple but healthy chicken and tofu recipe with mushroom and broccoli. Just to share with you some health benefits of brocolli, mushroom, and tofu that is why I love to eat them. Broccoli is good for the eyes, it improves our immune system, prevents colds for its vitamin C content, helps build bone mass for its more calcium contents, and since it has high fiber content but low in sugar, it helps fight against diabetes. Both Mushroom and Tofu help lower cholesterol level, they also help in preventing cancer.  

Chicken Tofu

Ingredients:

- Chicken breast, cubed

- Tofu, medium

- 1 medium sized onion

- Garlic powder

-  Brocolli

-  Sliced Fresh Mushroom

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- ½ cup water

- pepper to taste

Procedure:

-  fry tofu till medium brown

-  heat oil in a separate pan

-  sauté onion

- add chicken, cook until color turns brown

- sprinkle garlic powder

- add mushroom and stir fry until cooked

- add broccoli

- add soy sauce, oyster sauce, and pepper, mix well

- add water, let boil

- remove from heat

- transfer to a bowl, combine the tofu and enjoy!

Champorado de Gata

Champorado is a sweet chocolate rice breakfast meal in the Philippines. This is made by boiling sticky rice with cocoa powder and sugar. This is normally boiled in low heat while continuously stirring to crush the rice grains making the cocoa powder be absorbed by them. Once cooked, it is normally added with milk to add more sweetness to it. Another variant of this meal is the use of coconut milk while cooking; in this case, milk is optional. This can be taken also as snack, others eat dried fish together with this. 

Champorado

Since I ran out of supply of the sticky rice, I only used plain rice instead. I just let the rice boil while stirring and crushing them. Also, I used coconut milk in this one.

Ingredients:

- 1 ½ cup rice

- 5 cups water (or more depending on your preference)

- ½ cup cocoa powder

- ¾ cup coconut milk diluted in water

- 1 cup of sugar

Procedure:

- wash rice twice

- combine rice with water and cook for 15minutes in medium heat

- check if the rice grains are already cooked, lower the heat

- while boiling, stir-crush the rice grains continuously until the desired texture is met

- gradually add cocoa powder and mix thoroughly with the rice mixture

- add sugar and mix well

- add coconut milk and mix well, let boil while stirring for another two minutes

- remove from heat and serve

Stir Fry Chicken & Vegetable

Wikipedia explains Stir frying as a pair of Chinese cooking techniques for preparing food in a wok: chǎo (炒) and bào (爆). The term stir-fry was introduced into the English language by Buwei Yang Chao, in her book How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, to describe the chǎo technique. The two techniques differ in their speed of execution, the amount of heat used, and the amount of tossing done to cook the food in the wok.

This way of cooking enables food to be cooked very quickly. This uses small amount of oil compared to other forms of cooking. In order to have the output the way you really wanted, ingredients must all be prepared prior to heating up the wok so everything will be within reach while cooking.

 Stir-Fry Chicken Vegetables w/ sesame seeds on top of white rice

Stir-Fry Chicken Vegetable

If you want foods to be fully cooked, stir frying is not advisable as it is cooked very fast and one of the objectives is to retain its color and crispness. As vegetables are half-cooked, some people will not enjoy eating it.

Ingredients: 

 

  

- chicken meat, cubed

- 1 medium sized carrot

- baby corn

- green peas

- 1 tbsp cooking oil

- minced Garlic, Onion, Ginger

- 2 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tsp sesame oil

- 1 tsp sugar

- ½ cup chicken broth

- Salt and pepper

Procedure:

- heat cooking oil in a wok (versatile, round-bottom cooking vessel) or pan

- sauté the ginger, onion, and garlic

- add the chicken, stir-fry until medium brown

- add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, chicken broth, and sesame oil

- add the vegetables and stir-fry to cook for about 8 minutes

- add salt and pepper to taste

Serve on top of white rice, sprinkle with sesame seed (optional), and enjoy!

Turkey Ham Carbonara

According to Wikipedia, Carbonara is derived from the Italian word Carbonaro which means charcoal burner which some believe that it was first made as a hearty meal for Italian charcoal workers.

Turkey Ham Carbonara

There are several names given to the same recipe such as spaghetti, fettuccine, rigatoni, or bucatini. There are also several variants for this recipe, with different ingredients as well. Reading through it, I noticed that egg is one of the most common ingredients among them. Meat ingredient differs depending on the variant that the cook will prepare.

I’m not more of a pasta lover but I am craving for different taste that’s why I tried this version of Carbonara. This one's with Turkey Ham instead of other meat.

Ingredients

- 1/8 cup butter

- ½ tsp garlic powder

- 1 small onion

- 1 cup chicken stock

- 1 can nestle cream

- 1 small can mushroom

- 1 egg

- Turkey ham

- Salt and pepper to taste

- Pasta (similar to the one shown above is preferable)

Procedure

Cooking the Pasta

- Put water in a boiling pan and add few drops of oil and about ½ teaspoon of salt

- Add pasta before the boiling point and boil for 10 minutes or until cooked

- Drain and set aside

Preparing the Sauce

- In a separate pan, heat butter on medium heat

- sauté onion

- add turkey ham and garlic powder and cook for 3 minutes

- add chicken stock and let boil

-reduce heat

- add cream and bring to boil

- add egg, salt, and pepper

- remove from heat and set aside

Lastly, put the cooked pasta on a plate and combine the sauce. Enjoy with garlic bread if available.

Haleya

Back to my hometown and my paternal clan’s province, Cavite, during my younger years and as far as I can remember, whenever it’s time for All Soul’s day (or other holiday or special occasion), my grandmother used to cook Haleya, one of Filipino delicacies which is made of glutinous rice and coconut milk. What makes this different from the others is the presence of sweet tamarind. The combination of sweet and sour from the main ingredients isolates its taste from the other Filipino native delicacies.

 Haleya

Unfortunately, as of this writing, I could not find on the net the recipe of this delicacy so I asked my mother about the recipe and procedures in doing it. She did not give me the exact measurement so I had to estimate them. Good thing, I found the taste I used to eat from my estimated measurement. 

This delicacy is different from Ube Halaya which is common in different provinces. I'm not sure if this delicacy is only found in Cavite because friends of other provinces do not know this either.

Ingredients:

 

- 1 cup glutinous rice flour

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup coconut powder diluted in 1 cup of water

- 1 cup sugar

- 100g sweet tamarind

Procedure

- combine glutinous rice flour and water in a pan

- cook in low heat, stir continuously for 2 minutes

- gradually add coconut milk (coconut powder diluted in water) while stirring, stir continuously for another minute

-  gradually add sugar while stirring, stir continuously for 2 minutes

-  add sweet tamarind, stir continuously until texture becomes thick and hard to stir

-  remove from heat and enjoy

And in time for this All Souls' day, I prepared this recipe as I’m missing one important person in my life who used to cook this for us – our Lola Dioneng.