White Fish in Catsup Sauce

If you’ve got frozen white fish and don’t know what to do, try this simple version of fish in tomato and catsup sauce.

my version of fish in catsup sauce :)

Ingredients:
- 4 pcs medium sliced white fish
- 1 medium sized tomato, chopped
- 1 medium sized onion, chopped
- 2 inch long ginger, julienned
- Garlic, minced
- ½ cup tomato catsup
- ½ cup water

Procedure:
- On a small bowl, combine catsup and water, mix well
- On a pan, add oil and sauté garlic and onion
- add ginger and cook for 1 minute
- add tomato and stir cook for 3minutes
- add fish and stir cook for 10 minutes on low fire
- add fish sauce to taste
- add the catsup and water mixture, and cook for 3 minutes
- serve and enjoy!

Best with white rice as well! :)

Foo Yung Sauce

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp brown sugar

Procedure:
- dilute cornstarch in 4 tbsp of water
- boil chicken broth for 2 minutes
- add soy sauce and oyster sauce, boil for another 1 minute
- add sugar and mix well
- add cornstarch diluted in water and boil until thick
- remove from heat and cool down

Creamy Leche Flan

Leche Flan is a Filipino sweet made of egg yolks and milk. At first, it can be thought of as creamy caramel but Leche Flan is sweeter than creamy caramel. It has been my favorite dessert since elementary. My grandmother used to prepare it for special occasions like Fiestas. Since it’s my favorite, I took the risk of preparing the same since I became interested in cooking. Whenever I prepare Leche Flan, I do not normally add caramel because I do not remember my grandmother prepared Leche Flan with caramel. You may think that I am just an imitator and never an innovator in this case but honestly speaking, I consider caramel as a sweetener-extender. But my grandmother’s version is also delicious even without the caramel and I can consider mine delicious as well (bragging?! :) )

It’s been a challenge for me to prepare one with caramel because I’ve been tasting similar ones and it is more tempting to see and delicious to taste as well. I tried the first time but over cooked it and found my caramel and aluminum container so charcoal like after. Second time, I searched for online recipe and found out that water can be added. My ratio may not be appropriate with each and every ingredient making it watery like and never made caramel at all. Though I asked some caramel experts about how they do it, still I never tried and just contented with my version of Leche Flan without caramel, until today that I decided to try it once more.

First attempt of Leche Flan with Caramel

(texture may not be perfect yet)

Ingredients:
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 small evaporated milk
- 1 small condensed milk
- 1 cup of sugar

What you need:
- steamer
- aluminum container

Directions:
- make sure that containers are ready before you start with the mixture
- on a mixing bowl, separate egg yolks from white
- add condensed and evaporated milk
- mix well until fully blended
- on a pan, heat sugar on a low fire until caramelized
- remove from heat and pour directly to aluminum containers before it cools down
- using a strainer, pour in the egg yolk and milk mixture to the aluminum container with the caramel, making it ¾ high
- cover with plastic or aluminum foil
- steam for 20mins
- remove from heat and place on a plate upside down
- enjoy :)

Excited to have caramel, I added another cup to my one cup preference so it ended up too sweet. I'd better stick to one cup next time.

Special Espasol

Espasol is known as one of those Philippine Sweet Delicacies which is made of rice flour and coconut milk. It is dusted with toasted rice flour and wrapped in either banana leaves or paper.

I normally see and buy Espasol whenever we go to the province of Laguna where it is originated. It is one of those ‘pasalubong’ which is sold by vendors who goes up any provincial bus and sells to passengers before (and sometimes during) the trip.
Special Espasol

Ingredients- 3 cups toasted glutinous rice flour
- ½ cup toasted sweet rice flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 cups coconut milk
- 1 ½ cups toasted grated coconut

Procedure- toast glutinous rice flour until color turns light brown
- on a separate pan, toast grated coconut until the color turns light brown
- again, on a separate pan toast sweet rice flour until color turns light brown
- get a new pan and pour in the coconut milk, bring to boil
- add sugar and stir for about 10 minutes- add grated coconut and stir for another 5 minutes- add glutinous rice flour and stir until thick- remove from heat and cool down- dust a clean flat surface with sweet rice flour- using a rolling pin, flatten the mixture to desired thickness (or thinness)





- divide the mixture into smaller parts







- roll to sweet rice flour




- cut a rectangular wax paper and wrap a piece





- do this until the rest are wrapped- serve and enjoy

Beef Tripe Kare Kare

As it is included in my list of favorites, I see to it to cook kare kare once in a while. I know people who cook Kare Kare from scratch, but what is best for lovers like me who doesn’t know how to cook it that way is to depend on readily available kare kare mix :). Pardon me for including this trial as part of my recipe online but believe me, this will help people who have less passion for cooking but more on eating.

my version of karekare

Ingredients
- ½ kilo beef tripe
- string beans
- 2 pcs round eggplant
- garlic, onion
- fish sauce to taste
- Mama Sita’s kare kare mix diluted in 1 cup of water
- Beef broth
- shrimp paste

Procedure
- boil beef tripe for 1 – 2 hours or until soft
- in a separate pan, sauté garlic and onion
- add in the beef tripe
- add fish sauce to taste and simmer for 5-7 minutes
- add the string beans and eggplant
- add the beef broth, bring to boil until the vegetables are cooked
- put in the diluted karekare mix and simmer until thick
- serve and enjoy with shrimp paste

Siopao Asado

Ate Gie, one of my cousins, and her husband used to make and sell delicious Siopao. May it be Asado or Bola Bola, from the filling, to the dough, to the sauce, their siopao is really tasty and delicious. There were times that I watch them prepare but never imagined I would do the same soon, so I never ask for any of its ingredients. But the moment I craved for it, Internet will always be available to help me :)

This is my version of Mini Siopao Asado

Ingredients
Filling
- 2 lbs pork, chopped
- Garlic, onion
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce

Dough
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 ½ tbsp sugar (for the yeast)
- ½ cup sugar (for the flour)
- 2 tsp yeast
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ tbsp baking powder
- 6 tbsp shortening (alternatively, you can use butter)

Sauce
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 4 tbspwater
- Garlic, onion
- Pepper and salt to taste
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

What you need
- Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Steamer

Procedure
Cook the Filling
- Heat oil, sauté onions and garlic
- Put in the pork until color turns golden brown
- Add soy sauce, oyster, brown sugar then mix well
- Simmer for 15minutes
- Put in the cornstarch (diluted in water) until thick

Make the Dough
- Place warm water in a bowl; add yeast, and sugar and mix, leave the mixture for 10minutes
- In a mixing bowl, combine all purpose flour, baking powder, butter, and the yeast mixture then mix well
- Knead the mixture until the texture becomes fine
- Set aside for at least an hour to let it rise
- Knead and cut into individual slices
- Flatten using a rolling pin
- Put filling on the middle, wrap, and put over 1/8 piece of paper
- Steam for 15 minutes


Cook the sauce
- heat a saucepan and pour in the beef broth, bring to boil
- add onions, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ground black pepper, and simmer for 10minutes
- turn off and strain
- heat a clean saucepan and pour in the filtered mixture, bring to boil
- add the cornstarch diluted in water and stir until thick
- turn off heat and cool down

Enjoy!

Makes 30pcs of mini Siopao