Sukiyaki with Beech Mushrooms

My son and I visited the Seoul Food 2014 (International Food Exhibition) in COEX World Trade Center in Seoul. There were hundreds of participants and exhibitors with lots of food samples and giveaways. One of the samples that I received was from this mushroom supplier from Taiwan, Hokuto Corporation.

I was given two packages of these wonderful mushrooms classified as Beech Mushrooms. They looked amazing and I can't wait to try them out. When I asked the exhibitor if there was a difference between the white one and the brown one, she said there was no difference except color.

Tonight, I decided to try the white beech mushrooms. On the wall of the exhibit, they had a picture of a hotpot dish using the mushrooms. Aha! Sukiyaki it is then. So, a quick trip to the grocery was needed and I gathered my ingredients. Since I couldn't get konyaku noodles and the boys were not really keen in tofu, I omitted them from the recipe. I substituted Korean potato noodles for the konyaku noodles.

Following instructions from Victoria, the amiable Hokuto Corporation exhibitor, I trimmed the mushroom ends off and separated them into bite-size pieces. The smell of the mushrooms were fragrant and pungent.

 

This is the recipe I used from this Japanese cooking 101 website:

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 lb beef, thinly sliced
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp Sake
• 1/2 Nappa cabbage, cut 2" width
• 2 long onions, cut diagonally
• 1 bunch Kikuna (chrysanthemum leaves), cut 2" long (I actually had these but forgot to add)
• 1 package tofu, cut 1" width (omitted)
• 8 shiitake mushrooms (omitted)
• 1 package enoki mushrooms (substituted beech mushrooms)
• 1 package itokonnyaku noodles (substituted Korean potato noodles)

Instructions

1. Heat a pan at medium high and add oil.
2. Sear beef slices in the pan, and add sugar, soy sauce, and Sake when the color of meat has started turning.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook about 10-15 minutes.
4. Adjust seasonings if you like by adding more soy sauce and/or sugar.

Both my sons gave 2 thumbs-up. My eldest loved the mushrooms. I can't wait to get them here at our local groceries.

Crispy Adobo Flakes

When you mention the word Adobo, you think of the quintessential Filpino stew that is unanimously agreed upon as the Philippine's National Dish (or the iconic Mexican dish). But there is an incarnation of the stew that is a popular breakfast fare. Let me present to you - Crispy Adobo Flakes.

They're simply shredded Adobo meat. It can be chicken or pork but the meat, usually from leftovers, are shredded by hand and then fried over low heat until they turn nice and golden brown. Before you can make the dish, you must first have abodo, no? If you have adobo, good. If not, here's my recipe for Chicken Adobo. 

As Filipino as Adobo

My tip is to cook boneless and skinless chicken breasts. Now drain the cooked chicen adobo from the sauce. Now don't you throw away that adobo sauce, you will need it later. Now comes the hard part, shredding the chicken by hand. I do it while I am watching TV with my hubby. I put a breast in a small basin and meticulously start shredding the meat into the thinnest strands I can possibly can. Do this for all the meat. If you are using leftover meat from your adobo recipe, discard the skin and the bones before shredding the meat. So have you shredded all your meat? It's time to fry it.

If you followed my recipe for adobo then you would have some fat that you have skimmed off the sauce while it is stewing. If you saved the fat then you're a good cook. Take that fat (about 2-3 tablespoons of it, yes I know it's a lot but trust me it will add great flavor to your flakes). Put it in a nonstick pan and set the heat to low. Dump all the shredded meat and start stirring. It's best to use two spatulas to toss the meat around. Keep tossing the meat until everything starts to get nice and golden-brown. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how low your heat is.

                    

Now to serve this, you would need rice (garlic fried is the best kind), a sunny-side up egg, and some tomato slices on the side. I made this late at night so that my youngest can bring it to school for his lunch. Eldest son aka (Bottomless Pit 1) was still up so he asked for some as a midnight snack. This is him after taking the first bite. 

It was all worth it.

Crispy Tofu & Chicken Dumplings

I love dumplings. Wontons, siomai, gyoza, mandu, whatever you call it, I love them. We had a slight blunder in ordering chicken delivery (what we got was super-spicy fried chicken). There were only a couple of pieces that were eaten from that order so I decided to strip the meat from the bones and chopped it up. I figured I could use it in burritos, quesadillas or even dumplings. I decided to do the latter.

Fried Tofu and Chicken Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 pack dumpling wrappers 

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup crumbled tofu (firm variety)

1 egg

2 tablespoons grated carrots

1/4 cup grated onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons soy sauce

salt & pepper

oil for frying

Directions:

1. Combine all the listed ingredients (except for the oil) in a large mixing bowl. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste. Make sure everything is well combined.

2. Take one dumpling wrapper and place a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle, seal up the edges with egg white (the best "glue" to seal your dumplings). Set aside on a plate.

3. Do the rest for all the wrappers and mixture.

4. Prepare your steamer and steam the dumplings for about 5-7 minutes. Remember, these will be fried later.

5. When all the dumplings are cooked, take them out and let them cool on a plastic-lined tray (or oiled, so that the dumplings don't stick to the surface).

6. Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a deep frying pan. Put the heat to medium and drop dumplings one by one. When one side gets golden-brown (about 1-2 minutes) flip them over and fry that side. Take out the dumplings and put them on papertowels to drain.

Serve hot with your preferred dip: ketchup, soysauce with vinegar, chili-garlic sauce, etc.

I tried one, it was amazing!

I fried a couple to test them out. They were amazing! The first bite was crunchy and then the filling was good and savory. It went well with my soup and tofu salad meal for lunch. If you can see below the filling turned out nice and done. If you plan to freeze them, do it on a tray first (spaced apart, not touching together). Then once it's frozen, just take them out and let thaw a bit and fry them. 

This was a serendipitous recipe borne out of a botched chicken order. I can't wait to have these again tomorrow for a late afternoon snack.

Egg Drop Soup for a Sick Boy

A couple of weeks ago, my eldest son and I had the cold virus. After a week's rest and a gazillion of horse pills from my doctor, I am finally over my cold. Eldest son is still coughing a little but it looks like he's getting over it soon. The bad news is, my youngest son Billy woke up with a slightly sore throat. He still went to school because he thought it will be gone after a couple of hours. When he came home, the sore throat had worserned and he had a raging headache.

I knew Billy was sick when he wasn't hungry after coming home from school. He always ate a big snack (growing boy = Bottomless Pit). He promptly headed to his room and laid down. For dinner, he asked if he can have some soup. When I asked him what he wanted, he replied he wanted some of my Egg Drop Soup. Thank goodness I just made some chicken broth the previous day. I had everything in my refrigerator for the soup.

Egg Drop Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp. grated ginger

1 tablespoon finely minced white onion

1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water

1 tsp. finely chopped spring onion or chives *(optional)

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Boil the chicken broth in a large sauce pan or a small pot. When it starts to simmer, add the ginger and onion.
2. Let it simmer for five minutes. Taste the broth, if it needs it, salt it to your liking.
3. Bring it to a boil and add the cornstarch slurry that you made with the cornstarch and water. Add the slurry slowly in a thin stream while slowly stirring the soup. If you see the soup thicken up to your liking, stop pouring the cornstarch mix.
4. Turn the heat down and let the soup simmer for about a minute. Turn the heat off and slowly drop in the beaten egg. While you are pouring the egg, use your ladle to stir the soup to create wispy feathers of egg throughout the soup.
5. Ladle into individual bowls and sprinkle with black pepper and chopped spring onions/chives.

Filipino Pork Barbeque - Sinugba-style

One of my favorite Filipino dinner to fix is Sinugbang Baboy (which means Grilled Pork or Pork Barbecue in Tagalog). Like what I mentioned before, Filipinos love pork, they love Spam, too. But pork is revered in the Philippines. There would be no Letchon (Roasted Pig), Adobo, Crispy Pata (Pork Leg), etc. without our beloved porcine meat. And topping that list would be Sinugbang Baboy.

Like there are many ways to cook adobo, there are myriad ways to make this simple dish. Now, this is my go-to recipe.

Filipino Pork Barbeque

Ingredients:

1 kilo sliced pork (fatty cuts like pork chops, pork belly, etc.)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
1/2 cup ketchup (yes, ketchup trust me on this)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tablespoon oil

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade: soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ketchup, salt&pepper in a large mixing bowl. The ketchup will add a balance of sweetness to the pork and at the same time giving it a nice red tint. Make sure that the bowl is non-reactive (metal). Cover the pork and let it marinade for a couple of hours, or if you can wait, overnight in the fridge.

2. Set your grill out. If using coals, make sure that the coals are nice and hot before you slap the meat on the grill. If you use an electric grill like I do, brush the grill with oil when it gets hot before you lay down the meat. Grill over medium heat, about 10-15 minutes each side (this depends how thick your slices of meat are, the thinner, the faster it gets cooked).

Now when your pork is done, set it out with steamed rice, salad (I love oysters cerviche with this) and a dipping sauce made out of equal parts of soy sauce and vinegar with a dash of lemon in it.

Roasted Eggplant Salad

I love eggplants. I love them in moussakas, in lasagnas, in tempuras and most especially, roasted in a salad. This salad is very versatile. It can be served as a light appetizer, or as a side dish for anything barbeque'd. I love this salad when I eat my very Filipino meal of fried fish and rice. It adds a zing to the meal and wakens the appetite even more. Let me show you how I prepare this kind of salad.

Ingredients:
2-3 oriental eggplants (long thin purple ones)
1/2 medium onion
1 large tomato
Bagoong (sauteed Filpino fermented shrimp)**

1. On a grill, roast the eggplants until the skin is nice and charred. You can also use the direct flame method (that I use) using a metal rack placed on top of your stove and roast the eggplants directly over the flame. You can also use an oven but you won't get that charring effect on the skin and the taste is slightly different. Remember to pierce the skin with a skewer or a fork all over. You don't want it exploding on you while you are grilling or roasting it. (It happened to me and the results were not pretty. Pretty much my kitchen was sprayed with eggplant innards).

2. When the skin of the eggplants are nicely charred and cooked, pop them in a paper bag and let them sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes. The steam from the cooked inner meat of the eggplant will soften the charred skin and make it easy to slip it off. Take the eggplant out and gently rub the charred skin away. Chop or dice the eggplant in small squares and put in a mixing bowl.

3. Roughly dice or chop the onion and tomatoes and add to the mixing bowl. Toss all the ingredients together. Add a tablespoon of bagoong and toss again. Serve as a side dish to your meal.

**If you don't have bagoong, use other fermented shrimp pastes as a substitute.

Roast Thyme Pork Loin - A Family Favorite

My family is a family of meat eaters. My boys and my hubby always crave for a good portion of meat with a starchy side dish (rice, potatoes, bread, etc.). One of the perennial family favorite is my Roast Pork Loin redolent with Thyme. I don't marinate the loin, I dry rub it. 

Marinate is when you soak the meat in a liquid-type mixture of sauces, condiments and spices. Dry-rub is different. You basically take your meat, rub it with whatever spice powder, herb mixture, flavored salt, etc. that you have and let it sit for a while. The best time is 1 hour. But in my case when my days are busy and my men are hungry, I just rub my herbs and powders on and then pop it in the oven.

Here's my go-to mixture of dry rub:

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Lawry's seasoned salt (*if you don't have this, substitute with your choice of flavored salt)**

Dried thyme leaves

1. Put your pork loin on a big platter and pat it dry with a paper towel or a clean dish rag.

2. Sprinkle onion powder evenly to coat all the surface of the loin.

3. Do the same with the rest of the ingredients.

4. Once the meat is thoroughly covered, let it sit for an hour (optional).

5. Heat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius and pop the meat in and cook for about 50 minutes to an hour (depending on the size and thickness of the meat).

6. The roast is done when the surface of the meat is evenly browned and the juices run clear when the loin is pierced with a fork.

7. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for about 5-7 minutes. This will allow juices to come out (for gravy or for drizzling over the starchy accompaniment).

8. Slice and serve the roast.

**(if you don't have flavored salt, just use salt and pepper).

Sopas for a Rainy Day

One of my friends warned me that a storm was coming to Korea. Sure enough, it did and arrived at midnight. That morning,  I kept our youngest son from going to his elementary school (and sent the teacher a text message why). I looked inside the fridge and saw I had chicken pieces, some veggies, and milk. Ahhh, time for Sopas.

In my country, rainy days means hearty soups for afternoon snack after school. It can be savory like Arroz Caldo (Chicken Rice Porridge) or sweet, Guinataan (Sweetened Fruits and Root crops in Coconut Milk). And then, there is Sopas. Sopas, literally means soup in Filipino and Spanish (yup, our colonial ancestors brought it to us) and is usually a savory chicken soup with pasta and diced vegetables with a milk broth.

Here is my version of the Sopas.

Ingredients:
250 grams of chicken meat (1/4 kilo of meat, either with bone or plain meat)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 carrots, diced
1 stem of celery, diced
1 large potato or 2 medium ones, peeled and diced
2 tablespoon oil
2 cups pasta, you can use any kind tht is small (macaroni, penne, spiral, etc. I used spaghetti which I broke into 1-inch long pieces)
6-8 cups of chicken broth (or 6-8 cups of water plus a chicken bouillon cube)
2 cups of milk

1. In a large wok or heavy bottom pot, add your oil. Heat until it is hot and add your garlic and onions. Saute them until their fragrance fills the room (the garlic will be golden brown while the onions will be translucent).

2. Add your diced carrots and saute for about 3 minutes. Add your chicken pieces now if they cut-up with bone still in them. Sprinkle about 1/2 tablespoon of salt. If you have shredded chicken meat, add that later. Saute until the chicken pieces are slightly cooked (they would look white and not raw).

3. Add your celery and saute for about 1 minute more. Now it's time to add the broth/water. First add a cup to the wok/pot. Stir the bottom, scraping it so that all the crunchy bits that are sticking gets mixed. This will add flavor to your soup. Now add the rest of the water/broth.

4. Bring the pot to a boil, when scum rises, try to skim all of it off. This will make your soup look cloudy and dirty. Keep skimming the scum that floats up. Lower the heat to medium and add the pasta. Stir every now and then so that the pasta won't clump up.

5. Continue simmering the soup until the pasta is half-cooked. Add the diced potatoes. Add another 1/2 tablespoon of salt, a sprinkling of pepper and chopped herbs of your choice (it can be dried parsley, dried oregano, dried sage... in this recipe, I used dried tarragon because I wanted to try it - it worked out great!)

6. Simmer until the pasta and potatoes get cooked really well. Add a cup of water or broth if the soup seems to be drying up. When the pasta and potatoes are done, add your milk. Bring to a simmer and then turn off the stove. Serve the soup hot with crusty bread or garlic toast.

Tips:

1. This can be your clean-out-your-fridge soup. I have been known to put chopped ham, diced hotdogs/sausages, diced hardboiled eggs in the soup.

2. When using herbs, stick to one. For this soup I used tarragon. Another great herb to use is parsley.

3. The diced veggies you can add is unlimited. You can add zucchinis, mushrooms, squash (my mom did this all the time), etc.

My Favorite Fudgy Brownie Recipe

Thank you King Arthur Flour for publishing this awesome fudgy brownie recipe. I have made it time and time again and it has never failed. Two words for those searching for an awesome brownie recipe - MAKE IT.

King Arthur's Fudge Brownies

*1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
*2 1/4 cups sugar
*4 large eggs
*1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
*1 teaspoon salt
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
*1 tablespoon vanilla extract
*1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
*2 cups chocolate chips

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

2. In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

3. While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.

4. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

5. Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

6. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.

7. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

A very sinful Chocolate Pie

I had a hankering for a rich, chocolatey pie that was truly sinful. I searched and found many recipes for chocolate pies but this one seemed to be a winner. Once I made it, it proved that it was - a keeper.

Bev's Chocolate Pie

Ingredients

2 cups white sugar

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup butter

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie

4 egg whites

1/4 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	In a saucepan, whisk together 2 cups sugar, cocoa and flour. Blend in evaporated milk and vanilla. Beat egg yolks, and stir into pan. Add the butter or margarine. Heat, stirring constantly just until butter is melted. Pour filling into unbaked pie shell.
3.	Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until pie is not "wobbly" when shaken.
4.	Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, beating constantly, until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue on pie.
5.	Return pie to oven, and bake until meringue is golden

Mexican Chicken

Hubby was getting burned out from the grilled Mesquite Chicken salad that he was having day after day for about a couple of weeks. One night, he suggested I stirfry the chicken breast strips with taco seasoning and veggies. This is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients:


3 chicken breasts, cut into strips

4 bell-peppers, cut into strips

2 onions, you know what to do ;-)

1 tablespoon Lawry's Seasoned salt

3 to 4 tablespoon taco seasoning

2 tablespoon cooking oil

1. I stir fried the chicken breast strips with Lawry's Seasoned salt. Once the chicken wasn't pink anymore I added the veggies.

2. First, I added the bell peppers and after ten minutes of stri-fryingI dumped the onion slices.

3. When the onion was cooked translucent, I added a whole lot of taco seasoning and a cup of water. I let it simmer until almost all the sauce has evaporated.

Serve with Crispy Fries.

What to do with leftover roast beef

If you are lucky enough to have leftover roast beef (like what happened to me after a sumptuous Father's Day dinner), here's an easy Beef Stew Recipe.

Easy Beef Stew

About 3 cups of leftover roast beef, cubed
1 cup of diced cooked carrots (the ones cooked with the roast beef in the crockpot)
2 cups cubed celery
1 large white onion, diced
3 medium potatoes, cubed
1 cup leftover gravy
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons cornstarch miexd with 1/2 cup water


1.In a large wok, saute onions and celery in the oil for 5-7 minutes until they are soft and browned on the edges.
2. Add about 4 cups of water, the beef cubes and bring to a boil.
3.Add the beef cubes and potatoes next. Simmer until the potatoes are almost done. Add the cup of gravy, diced cooked carrots and simmer for a minute or more.
4. Then add the cornstarch slurry to make it the sauce thick. Salt and pepper according to your taste.

Tofu Pockets

I love tofu. There are days when I crave it. Of course, I buy them fresh from the local artisan tofu maker in town and I get fresh, steaming blocks of tofu. The problem with tofu is that a block of tofu is a LOT of tofu. I bought 2 blocks of tofu, thinking I needed two to make a dish of Mapo Tofu to bring to a potluck dinner. Turns out, I only needed one. So, what can I do with my extra tofu? Make Crispy Fried Tofu Pockets!





I modified this dish from a Chinese recipe that uses minced meat to stuff square tofu blocks and steamed. I make mine by crispy-frying it and then covering it with a savory sauce. First thing you need to do is to drain that block of tofu. Now cut it carefully into little blocks, say 2 inch by 2 inch pieces. make sure you have firm tofu, the soft ones will crumble on you. Then with a teaspoon, carefully dig out the center of the tofu square. Make sure you don't puncture the bottom.





Do this with all the tofu blocks. Save those tofu discards for later. They make for good tofu crumble to add to stews (as a thickener) or minced meat stir-fry (as an extender).





Now we need to season the minced meat. You'll need about a cup of minced pork. Make sure it has some fat in it, it'll add to the flavor. Add about a teaspoon of each:

> Light soy sauce
> Oyster sauce
> Rice wine or sherry
> minced garlic
> grated onion
> grated carrot

Also add 1 egg (to make everything combine together), 2 tablespoon of cornstarch plus a dash of salt and pepper. Mix everything well in a bowl and use about two teaspoons of meat to stuff the hollow centers of the blocks.


Now heat enough oil to deep-fry these stuff pockets. When the oil gets hot, lower the pockets into the oil with the stuffed side facing down on the pan. This is to help cooked the minced meat stuffing. Then after about 5-7 minutes, or when that side turns golden brown, turn it over to cook the other side.



When everything is golden brown all over, drain the tofu pockets on paper towels. Let them sit for a minute or two. These will be too hot to serve. Which gives you enough time to make your garlic-soy sauce dip.



In a little bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of vinegar to 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Add 1/2 teaspoon minced raw garlic. Stir to combine. Now you can use this dip for your tofu pockets or as a sauce that you can pour over the entire dish.

From old to new ~ Bread Pudding

If you have a family with finicky eaters like mine, you will end up with a lot of bread. I mean bread trimmings. My hubby and youngest son don't like the edges of sliced bread. So, they slice them off and just eat the white part of the bread. Well, me and Bottomless Pit (eldest son) don't care and eat the whole thing.

What I do with the bread trimmings is that I gather them in a resealable plastic bag and stuff them in my freezer. When I see that the bag has morphed into two bags of bread trimmings (along with old bread), I take all of the bread and dump it in a large mixing bowl. Let's say, it'll be about 10-12 cups of bread. Add some eggs, sugar, sliced fruit, milk, etc. and you'll find that old, unwanted bread becomes yummy, delicious snack/dessert called bread pudding.




Here's my own recipe: Bread Pudding




Ingredients:

10-12 cups of bread (or two loaves of old bread)
1 liter of milk (or 2-3 cups of milk)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
2-3 cups of diced fruit (choose firm, crunchy fruit like pears, apples, or even pineapples)
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cinammon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two cake pans and set them aside.

2. Take your old bread and dump into a big mixing bowl. Add milk and make sure all the bread gets soaked. Cover and leave in the fridge for about 1 hour.

3. When the bread is nice and soft, with clean hands mash the bread together until everything is mushy and well-mixed. Add the four eggs and mix with a spoon.

4. After mixing the eggs into the bread mixture, add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix very well.

5. Add the diced fruit. I make my diced fruit even better by pre-cooking the apples and pears in a pan with butter and sprinkling it 2-3 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon. This makes the fruit nice and tasty. The pineapple I just dice in small cubes and mix it without pre-cooking it.

6. Again, make sure all the diced fruit is thoroughly mixed in the bread mixture. Now divide the mixture between the two cake pans. Bake for about 45-50 minutes in the oven or until the tops of the pudding are golden brown and when pierced with a toothpick, the stick comes out clean.

7. Let cool and slice into squares before serving. Makes about 40 squares. This recipe can be halved for those who prefer to make a smaller batch.

Baked Potato Skins

When the kids and the hubby go to our local Pizza Hut, we usually order assorted appetizers. One of our favorite appetizers is the Baked Potato Skins. Since we have a dearth of potatoes at the house at the moment, I decided to fix it for our afternoon snack.

What you need:

Whole Cooked Potatoes with their skins on them (Baked, Steamed or Boiled)
Mozzarella cheese
Oil (Bacon or vegetable oil)
Savory toppings such as Bacon, Sausage, Pepperoni, etc.

How to fix it:



1. Take a cooked potato, and cut it in half.




2. Hollow it out with a spoon. Make sure you leave about half a centimeter of potato flesh on the skin. Do that with the rest of the potatoes.








3. Take a baking tray and lightly grease with oil. I believe bacon grease is the best but that is just me.




4. Put the potatoes, cut side down, on the baking tray and baked it in a 350 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes until the skin gets crispy.


5. Turn it over and add your cheese first and then add your savory topping. Make sure the cheese covers the entire potato bottom.

6. Bake the loaded potatoes for about 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is golden. Take out the finished potatoes and wait for about 3-4 minutes before serving (the hot cheese would be molten and would burn eager tongues and lips).

Enjoy!

Crispy Spam Rolls

There are those who hate this word with a passion - SPAM. No, I am not talking about that rubbish you get in your inbox. I'm talking about that pink luncheon meat in a can. Hey, I'm Filipino and we inherently love Spam (it saved us from hunger in the 2nd WW).

Now there are different ways to fix Spam and make it more tasty for those who can't stand it. One way, wrap in spring roll wrapper and deepfry. Dunk in a lemony-salty sauce and you've got yourself a winner. Now let me show you how it's done. (I first encountered this when I was in high school and in one of our dances, this was served).

CRISPY SPAM ROLLS



This makes for great appetizers or party food for kids.

Ingredients

1 can of spam
the egg white of 1 egg (save the yolk for other uses)
any preferred cheese, the meltier the better (heck you can use Velveeta if you want)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
spring roll wrappers
oil for frying


Directions:

Cut spam into think sticks, maybe McDonald's french fry thickness.
Do the same with the cheese.
Take your spring roll wrappers and cut it into half (either in triangles or long rectangles).




Place a Spam stick and a cheese stick at the edge of the spring roll and proceed to wrap tightly. Make sure everything is covered so that the cheese won't leak out.
Do the same for all the other spam/cheese and wrappers.





Heat up the oil in a deep dish pan and start frying the rolls when the oil gets medium hot. Take out the rolls when the skin gets golden brown. (Tip: Take a tall colander, line up with paper towels and drain your rolls standing up. All the oil will drain leaving your rolls staying crispy longer).

Make your dipping sauce with soy sauce mixed with lemon juice.

Serve rolls hot with the sauce. Enjoy!

Chicken Curry for my Hubby

When my hubby first had my Chicken Curry, it quicky became his favorite. I was so glad that my mom taught me how to fix it. Which is amusing since she was taught by her friend who was Indian when we lived in Mindanao during the late '60s. So what I am actually fixing is authentic Indian Chicken Curry.

So let's start, shall we?

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 piece of ginger, about 2 fingers big, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 onion, sliced
2 tablespoon curry powder
1 bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 large potato (peeled and cut into quarters) or 1 dozen baby potatoes, unpeeled
1 coconut, shredded and milked or 1 can coconut cream
2 tablespoon of cooking oil

1. In a big wok, heat up the oil to a medium hot. Carefully lower the chicken pieces and let them brown in the oil but not fully cooked. When the skin is brown, take out the chicken and set them aside in a bowl.

2. In the same wok, add the potatoes and stir-fry them until they are half-cooked. Take them out as well and set them aside. Do the same with the bell pepper slices until the edges are brown and set them aside.

3. In the same wok, add the ginger slices. Saute them for 2 minutes.

4. Add the minced garlic and saute them until it becomes golden-brown. Add the onion and saute until they've become translucent.

5. Add the curry powder and saute for 1 minute. Add the chicken pieces along with the juices that pooled in the bowl. Stir-fry the whole pan until all the pieces are covered in curry powder.

6. Add the potatoes and the coconut milk. If you are using coconut powder, mix it first with a cup and a half of water.

7. Let the wok simmer for 20 minutes. Stir the pan every now and then to prevent the bottom from getting scorched.

6. Add the bell pepper slices and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more. Or until the sauce has thickened up. Serve hot with rice or crusty bread.

Garlic Fried Rice (A Filipino Breakfast Staple)

A friend asked for the recipe of Garlic Fried Rice and I thought I had it posted here in my blog. Imagine my surprise that I had none! Good thing I blogged about this in a food forum and I just copied my recipe.

Garlic Fried Rice is a breakfast staple for many Filipinos. Usually it is paired with a cooked egg (fried, scrambled, etc) and a savory side dish (Fried Spam slices, fried dried fish, Filipino ham ~tocino~, Filipino sausage ~longganisa~, etc). I usually serve Garlic Fried Rice with my chicken adobo, grilled chicken inasal (chicken in vinegar & lemongrass marinade), and hubby's BBQ ribs. It has converted a lot of our friends who have tried it (and previously hated or didn't like eating rice).

You start by having minced garlic and cold leftover rice on hand. I use this pre-minced garlic here in Korea.


Garlic Fried Rice

2-3 tbsp minced garlic
4-5cups of cold cooked rice*
1 to 1 1/2 tbsp veg. oil

*Best to use leftover rice. Freshly cooked rice does not make good fried rice.


1. In a non-stick pan or wok add the veg. oil and turn the heat up to medium, add the minced garlic and cook over medium heat until golden brown.

2. Add the cold rice and stir, mash and mix in thoroughly with the garlic and oil. Keep folding the rice over the garlic, making sure it gets evenly mixed.

3. Continue stirring and mixing until the rice becomes a uniform golden brown color and the garlic has been thoroughly mixed uniformly throughout the pan.

4. Serve hot with bacon, ham, scrambled eggs, etc.



(PS. you can do this recipe even with just a cup of cold rice, just adjust the ingredients). Just a tip! (This is for you MissyKaye!)