Cabbage Rolls with Ground Chicken

It's been a while since my last post, I'm guilty of laziness and many other valid reasons ;)
We move in to our new place and there were so many things to fix and arrange. Since we are blessed enough to find a nice small studio, I could now cook whatever and whenever I want.

These past few months, we were trying really hard to add healthy options to our daily meal. It is not a physical but mental challenge. However, we chose to slightly change our lifestyle. So a little sacrifice, specially for my husband is needed. Yes, he's not a vegetable fan, so I need so many tricks just to push him to eat it.

I tried to do a cabbage roll with ground lean chicken meat with vegetables. He had few rolls and I think he enjoyed it.

Ingredients:

• Cabbage leaves (Trim the thick center vein from the bottom of each leaf.)
• 2 medium minced onion + 1 medium minced onion
• 5 cloves minced garlic + 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups tomato chopped
• 1/2 kg ground lean chicken meat
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup minced cabbage
• 1 + 1 teaspoon ground dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Grated cheddar cheese
• Salt and teaspoon to taste  
• water

Procedure:

1. Boil water and put cabbage leaves for 2 minutes or just when it becomes tender to roll. Drain and set aside.
2. In a pan, sauté 2 medium minced onion and 5 cloves minced garlic.
3. Add ground chicken. Let it simmer for 7-8 minutes or until it lost its pink color.
4. Season with salt, pepper, 1 tsp oregano and 1 tsp of paprika.
5. Add minced cabbage and baby spinach. Let it simmer for 2 minutes more. Set aside.
6. In a pan, sauté 1 medium minced onion and 3 cloves minced garlic.
7. Add chopped tomatoes.
8. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Set aside.
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
10. Lay flat the soft boiled cabbage leaf and put about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture on its center. Fold the sides over the filling, then roll the leaf up tightly.
11. Place each roll on a buttered baking dish. Pour over the tomato mixture on the rolls.
12. Top with grated cheese.
13. Bake for 40 minutes.
14. Serve and enjoy!

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Ginulay na Mais na May Baboy at Malunggay (Corn Soup with Pork and Moringa Leaves)

One of the easiest and tastiest soup that my husband and I love is Ginulay na Mais (Corn Soup). It is best to pair with fried or grilled dishes or just with plain white steamed rice. 

My brother and sister-in-law invited us for a lunch last weekend. I requested my brother to grill pork for us. Yes, I am spoiled :) And he requested atsara in return. Well, I did prepare atsara to bribe him for the grilled pork but I also prepared Ginulay na Mais sauteed with pork and garnished with malunggay, which I think is perfect for grilled pork. Aside from it is easy to prepare of course, I knew that my husband would love it also.

I remember how my mom or grandmother usually prepares their corn for ginulay. It is finely grated which makes the soup very thick. I like it but I also like to have something that I can chew. That is why I mixed whole corn kernel and grated corn in this recipe. I love it when they put squash leaves and flowers (dahon at bulaklak ng kalabasa) but unfortunately, we don't have it here in UAE so I used malunggay which works great also :)

If you prefer not to add pork or meat, it is definitely fine. It will still be delicious with plain vegies :)

Ingredients:

• 1 can Whole Corn Kernel
• 3 Pieces fresh corn - grated
• 1/2 kg pork - cut into small slices
• Moringa Leaves
• 5 Tablespoon Fish sauce
• salt
• pepper
• 3 cups of water + 1/4 cup
• 1 medium sized onion - chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic - minced
• Oil

Procedure:

1. Season pork with salt and pepper and put in a casserole with 1/4 cup of water. Let it boil.
2. Once the water is almost dry, add about 4 tablespoon of oil and fry it until golden brown.
3. Add onion and garlic to saute.
4. Add fish sauce  and pepper.
5. Put in the whole corn kernel and the grated corn.
6. Pour in the water.
7. Let it simmer for about 3 minutes.
8. You may adjust the seasoning depending to your taste.
9. Once boiling, add the moringa leaves and remove the casserole from heat.
10. Serve and enjoy!

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Fried Tuna Spring Roll

An easy yet delicious dish that takes few ingredients to prepare is something I've always wanted everyday after a very exhausting work in the office. Innovation is one solution but when your brain is just so drained, you won't even be able to think of a good recipe to improvise. So, at times, I just have to open my fridge and cupboards to check what I have and just do something edible out of it.

One lazy night, luckily I have some stock in my kitchen, so we didn't end-up with fast food delivery dinner, which sometimes is our weakness. I came up with canned tuna spring rolls but to add a twist, or should I say, to make use of some left-overs in the fridge, I added mung bean sprout.

Here is my easy recipe for you to enjoy :)

Ingredients:

• 3 cans of tuna flakes in brine or oil - drain
• 2 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup minced coriander
• 1 cup Mung bean sprout
• 1 egg
• salt
• finely ground pepper
• 1 pack wrapper
• 1 1/2 cups of oil 

Procedure:

1. Drain tuna in a strainer until the liquid is gone.
2. Place tuna in a mixing bowl with onion, garlic, coriander, mung bean sprout, egg and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
3. Peel lumpia wrappers one by one.
4. Place one wrapper on a flat, clean surface. Scoop one tablespoon of the filling at the center of a wrapper. Fold and roll to seal the filling.
5. Repeat the same procedure of rolling the spring roll until all the filling is done.
6. Heat oil on a pan.
7. Fry spring rolls until golden brown.
8. Drain in paper towels to remove excess oil.
9. Serve and enjoy!

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Molo Soup

My mom used to cook Molo Soup on almost every occasions back home when I was a kid. It was a sure hit for everyone! From my recent vacation in the Philippines, I once again tasted her culinary expertise, especially with this dish on her birthday. I wonder why I didn't even tried it yet, where in fact it is so easy to cook and the ingredients are not difficult to find - almost effortless!

After few weeks of being back to reality that I am here in UAE, I already miss everything in the Philippines. And to help relieve my change of weather sickness, first thing I got in mind was to cook Molo soup. Well, my husband loves it! It was indeed a comfort food.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg ground pork (or beef)
• molo / wanton wrapper
• 1 medium white onion, minced
• 1 medium white onion, sliced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally
• 1/2 cup celery, cut diagonally
• 1 1/2 cup cabbage, cut into small (about 1 inch x 1 inch)
• 1 cup mushrooms cut into two
• 2 liters of water
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Mix pork, minced onion, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
2. Wrap about 1 1/2 teaspoon of the pork mixture in a molo wrapper. Do the same until you finish with the pork mixture. Set aside.
3. In a big casserole, boil water.
4. Once boiling, lower the fire to medium-low heat.
5. Add the Molo wraps and sliced onion. Let it simmer for 15 mins or until the molo wraps are cook.
6. Add carrots and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Add celery, cabbage, mushroom and the cream of mushroom. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Serve and enjoy! 

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Lettuce, Beets, Chickpeas and Corn Salad

Well, from the title itself you will know exactly the ingredients of my post. On a healthier side of me, I love salads! I've been craving for salad these past few days so I decided to buy some ingredients in a grocery nearby my office for lunch.

I used to have this kind of salad from Pizza Hut and it is quite good. Simple yet appetizing! Since I was in the office, I couldn't prepare fresh beets, chickpeas and corn, so I just have to buy them in canned. Anyhow, I would probably not spend my time preparing those fresh ingredients just for salad. Yes, I know, I am lazy, but maybe for some other dish though.

Loaded with too much work, I'm sure vegies will be too light for a lunch treat so I added a canned tuna. So, here are the quick procedure and simple ingredients for this salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Iceberg lettuce - chopped
• 1/2 cup beets - (cooked/canned) cut at least 1"x1"
• 1/2 cup corn (cooked/canned)
• 1/2 cup chickpeas (cooked/canned)
• 2 tablespoon tuna (cooked/canned)
• 1 tablespoon light caesar dressing
• pinch of salt

Procedure:

1. Mix everything together.
2. Serve and enjoy!

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Chopsuey

Chopsuey (Chop Suey) is a dish that consist mainly of different vegetables with chicken, pork, seafood (shrimp or fish) and/ or quail eggs.

It has been a long time since I've noted myself to feature Chopsuey here in my blog, but everytime I cook this recipe, my husband always requested to add noodles on it. Luckily, he is in the mood to have a plain Chopseuy. Yeah, without noodles! =)

So, here is my fabulous Chopsuey!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon garlic - minced
• 1 medium-sized onion - chopped
• 2 tsp cornstarch - diluted in 1/4 water
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 cup green bell pepper,sliced
• 1 small cauliflower, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup carrots, sliced
• 1/4 kg chicken breast - strips
• 1 cup chicken heart, sliced
• 1 cup quail eggs (Cooked)
• 1 can whole button mushroom
• 1 cup shitake mushroom - sliced
• 1 cup young corn - sliced into 2
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoon fish suce (patis)
• Salt and pepper

Procedure:

1. Saute the garlic and onion
2. Add the chicken and saute for 2 minutes
3. Put-in the chicken heart and let cook for 3 minutes more
4. Pour in the fish sauce and 1/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add the oyster sauce and simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Put-in the cauliflower and carrots then mix well
7. . Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
8. Add the bell pepper, button mushroom, shitake mushroom, and young corn. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes or until vegetables are cooked
9. Dilute the cornstarch in 1/4 cup of water then pour mixture in the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
10. Share and Enjoy!

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Okoy (Revised Version)

This recipe is one of the very first posts I've wrote here in my blog. Aside from the fact that it is very easy to cook, authentic Filipino dish and healthy (well not considering the oil =D), it is also very good as snack or main course served with rice.

What I personally don't like about this is that it takes so much time in chopping all the ingredients. Yeah, I'm lazy.... he he he.... Any how here's my new version of Pinoy Okoy =D

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Bean Sprout (toge)
• 1 cup Sweet Potato - Julienned
• 2 cups Squash - Julienned (Kalabasa)
• 1/2 Kg Shrimp
• 3 Tablespoon Onion - Minced
• 2 Tablespoon Garlic - Minced
• Salt & Pepper
• oil

To make batter:

• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water

Procedure:

1. Make batter by mixing eggs, cornstarch and water. Set aside.
2. Mix all together the vegetables, onion, garlic and seasonings.
3. Pour in the batter and mix.
4. Once everything is properly blended, heat pan with oil.
5. Put about 2 tablespoon of the mixture on a hot pan and top with shrimp. Fry for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden brown.
6. Best serve with chili-vinegar dipping.
7. Serve and enjoy!

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Birinhing Mais

Birinhing Mais or Ginisang Mais (Sauteed Corn) is one of my personal favorite, easy-to-cook recipe. I've tried to Google the recipe of this Birinhing Mais but I couldn't find anything in the web. So, like the usual, maybe this recipe was just originated in our kitchen during my childhood days.

I remember my grandmother cooking this dish, sometimes together with a similar dish of Ginulay na Mais (Filipino Native Corn Soup with Bitter melon leaves or Chilli leaves). So, we have two dishes of the same ingredients, one was dried version and the other was soup version. =D

Any how, since my husband and I were in a no rice diet for the past few days, I guess this dish is just great as an alternative for our dinner.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Whole Corn Kernel
• 1/2 Kg pork - cut into half inch
• 2 tablespoon garlic - chopped
• 1 medium onion - chopped
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Procedure:

1. Boil pork until tender. Let the water evaporate until completely dry. Lower the heat and let the pork release its natural oil. Fry pork with its own fats.
2. Set aside the pork in the wok.
3. Saute garlic and onion.
4. Mix the sauteed garlic, onion and pork.
5. Season with fish sauce.
6. Put the corn. Let it cooked for 7-10 minutes.
7. Serve and enjoy.

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Simple Bulanglang / Dinengdeng

The easiest way for me to lose weight is thru vegetable soup diet. I've tried cabbage soup but I guess it is not for me. Especially with the kind of hectic lifestyle I have, cabbage soup can't keep my stamina going for the whole day. So, I've tried Pinoy's native style of cooking vegetable.

Some called it dinengdeng (Ilocano term) while some from Tagalog region called it bulanglang. Well, I don't see much difference with it since in general they are both boiled vegetables. It contains different kinds of vegetables, like squash, ampalaya (bitter melon), string beans, okra, tomatoes, eggplant, etc. Yes, you can include many different kinds of vegetables. It is always up to you =D

For this particular recipe I've cooked, I only made use of the vegetables that my husband and I usually eat. That is why I called it simple bulanglang/dinengdeng, because I only used few known vegies. So here's how it is =D

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Squash Cubes
• 1 Cup String Beans - cut for about 2 inches
• 2 tablespoon onion - chopped
• 1 big tomato - chopped
• 1 tablespoon bagoong (guisado)
• salt
• pepper
• 2 1/2 cups water

Procedure:

1. Heat water to boil.
2. Put onion, tomato and squash. Let it boil until squash is almost cooked.
3. Put string beans, bagoong and season with salt and pepper.
4. Let it boil until the string beans are cooked.
5. Serve and enjoy!

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Braised Chicken Breast and Sauteed Bean Sprouts

It was a lazy yet healthy dinner we had last night. Since I've been pushing my husband for few days diet before EID (yes, very long holidays for us here in Middle East), he suggested to have sauteed bean sprouts for our last night's dinner. It is really a great recipe - easy to cook, healthy and affordable. However, because we were on a "No Rice Diet", my husband asked for a little favor. He wanted the sauteed bean sprouts with tofu, plus, just any meat for the main course. Well, OK then. I have chicken breast in my fridge and the easiest way to cook it is to have it braised. DONE, we had a our food within 30 minutes!

Ingredients:

For Braised Chicken Breast:

• 1/2 Kg Chicken Breast (2 pcs)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sweet soy sauce
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoon oil

For fried tofu:

• 2 cups of tofu cut into cubes
• 1 cup oil

For Sauteed Bean Sprout:

• 2 tablespoon garlic
• 3 tablespoon onion
• 3 tablespoon oil
• 3 cups bean sprouts - wash and drained
• 2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

  
Procedure: 

1. Marinate chicken breasts with lemon juice, salt, pepper, soy sauce and sweet soy sauce.
2. Heat oil in heavy, large saucepan over medium-high heat.
3. Add chicken breast pieces to hot oil. Set aside the marinating mixture.
4. Cook 3-5 minutes per side or until chicken is browned. 
5. Add the marinating mixture to saucepan. Bring to a boil until it thickens. Once cooked, set it aside.
6. In a new sauce pan, heat oil over high heat.
7. Deep fry the tofu until golden brown. Set aside.
8. In a new sauce pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Saute garlic and onion.
9. Add the bean sprouts.
10. Add fish sauce and pepper. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
11. Put in the fried tofu and 2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce.
12. Serve plate with chicken breast side-dished with sauteed bean sprout.
13. Enjoy =D

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Sauteed Sardines (Ginisang Sardinas)

Yes, it has been a long time since I've blogged about my recipes and food trippings. I have just been swamped with work. October was a busy month indeed. Any how, being off from my blog for few weeks didn’t hamper me from collecting recipes to post. I still took photos and note down my ingredients and procedures. I just couldn’t find enough time to post it here. Plus, the internet connection problem we had for several days now was really a disaster.

Excited on what will be my come-back post after my long blogging break? Well, so am I….

I have several recipes in queue but I’ve decided to start with a humble yet nutritious, delectable and budget-friendly recipe.

It is common for some Filipinos to connote that families serving sardines on dinning tables are poor. Well, I would say, maybe or maybe not. I don’t think it is logical to judge that way. Canned sardines were not made to distinguish our economic status, thus to give us a better option of food. Though, I was not raised from a rich or poor family, I’ve enjoyed eating canned sardines even if it’s freshly served from its can or sautéed.

More so, sardines are calcium-rich fish, high in protein and have no carb. So much about the intro, now let’s get busy! =D

Ingredients:

• 2 Cans of small or 1 large can of Sardines
• 1 Cup Bitter Melon Leaves (Dahon ng ampalaya)
• 1 Mediun onion sliced
• 5 Cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 Tbs. Fish sauce
• ½ Tsp. Ground black pepper
• 2 Tbs. oil
• 1 Cup of water

Procedure:

1.      Saute garlic and onion in a large pan with oil.

2.      Add the sardines, fish sauce pepper and water.

3.      Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.

4.      Mix in the bitter melon leaves and let it simmer for a minute.

5.      Serve with hot white rice.

6.      Enjoy!

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Laing

Laing is a spicy and creamy renowned Filipino dish mainly composed of taro leaves (tuyong dahon ng gabi) with coconut milk. This authentic dish is made special with its different variation of extra ingredients, such as pork, beef, shrimp, crab, dried fish (dilis).

For my particular recipe in this post, I made use of pork – sautéed with shrimp paste. Luckily my husband found a pack of dried taro leaves in grocery. Usually it takes 1-2 days for fresh taro leaves to be dried and have a nice texture for laing. I actually don’t know the process since I never cared at all when my mom used to prepare the taro leaves to cook laing. So today, I have to browse online to learn how to do this recipe. My husband called his mom and she suggested, not to over-stir the leaves while cooking so it won’t result to itchy effect when we eat it.

I know that there were different adaptations in cooking laing nowadays. So I’ll be sharing my own version of laing. As my mom said, the more coconut milk you use the tastier your laing will be... Here's how it goes. =D

Ingredients:

• 1 pack dried taro leaves (120 grams)
• ½ lb pork, cut into thin strips
• ½ cup Shrimp paste
• 2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 pcs chili
• 2 cans of Coconut milk (6 cups)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• Salt to taste
• oil

Procedure:

1. In a large pan, sautée garlic and onion in oil.
2. Add the pork meat and 1/2 cup water. Let it simmer until the pork is tender and the water evaporates.
3. Lightly fry the pork.
4. Add shrimp paste and stir continuously.
5. Put in the chili and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Pour-in the Coconut milk and bring to a boil.
7. Add the fish sauce and dried Taro leaves and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
8. Add some salt if needed.
9. Serve and enjoy.

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Chopsuey with Bihon

Having pork in our meals for 2 consecutive days made me feel bloated. So I suggested having Chopsuey for our last night’s dinner. But as usual, my husband cannot bear eating plain vegetables, so he recommend to put chicken liver, quail eggs and small amount of bihon noodles in it. OK, so my chopsuey will turn-out to be Pancit bihon? Chicken liver and quail eggs are fine, since it blends well with the vegetables for chosuey, but bihon, it will make my original dish to another kind…. He even defended that it will still be chopsuey since there will be more vegetables than the bihon…. Yeah right!

So, we ended-up having Pancit Chopsuey, side-dished with fried tofu. Yes, I cooked 2-in-1 dish. So if you prefer chopsuey, just remove the bihon in the ingredients, or if you prefer pancit bihon, you can add some more bihon noodles in my recipe. =D

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon garlic
• 1 medium onion - chopped
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
• ½ piece cabbage, chopped
• 1 cup green bell pepper,sliced
• 1 ½  cup snow peas
• 1 cup carrots, sliced
• 1 cup celery - chopped
• 1 ½  cup young corn
• 1/2 kg chicken liver, sliced
• 2 cups quail eggs - cooked - remove shells
• 1 cup mushrooms - sliced
• 2 cups water
• 1 chicken cube / chicken stock powder
• 3 cups of bihon - soak the bihon noodles to soften for 5 minutes before putting in the wok
• salt and pepper

Procedure:

1. Saute the garlic and onion.
2. Put-in the chicken liver and let cook for 5 minutes.
3. Pour 1 cup of water and bring to boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the sweet soy sauce and simmer for 2 minutes.
5. Put-in the carrots,young corn, snow peas, mushrooms and bell pepper. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes or until vegetables are cooked
6. Add celery and cabbage.
7. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Mix well.
8. Dilute the cornstarch in 1 cup of water then pour mixture in the pot.
9. Add quail eggs and soft bihon. Mix well and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
10. Serve and enjoy!

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Fried Vegetable Spring Roll (Pritong Lumpiang Gulay)

There are two kinds of Lumpia, the fried ones and the fresh version.  The fresh version is called Lumpiang Sariwa, made up of sautéed vegetables with some mince pork or prawns.  Wrapped in a freshly made thin crepe with lettuce leaf and topped with a sweet sauce with sprinkled with chopped peanuts. We also have Lumpiang Hubad where as the sautéed vegetables are served on top of lettuce leaf.  In the fried version, we got the Lumpiang Shanghai which is made up of ground beef or pork, beaten egg, seasonings, minced onion and carrots, rolled into mini spring rolls. 

For this particular recipe, I made Fried Lumpiang Gulay (Fried Spring Roll) served with a spicy vinegar and soy sauce dipping sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole garlic – chopped
• 1 Onion – chopped
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup carrots –thinly sliced
• 1 cup green beans – thinly sliced
• 2 cups Mung bean sprout (togue)
• ¼ Kg. Ground beef
• Lumpia wrapper (spring roll wrapper)
• Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a wok with medium low heat.
2. Sauté garlic and onion.
3. Add in the ground beef. Sauté ‘til light brown or until cook.
4. Mix in the carrots, green beans, cabbage and bean sprout in the wok.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Once cook, set aside.
6. Prepare the spring roll wrapper in to single sheet.
7. Put a spoon of the sautéed vegetable in the middle of a wrapper and rolled it carefully making the vegetable well-sealed inside. Do the same in all the remaining vegetables. Set aside.
8. Heat oil in a frying pan with medium high heat.
9. Fry the wrapped vegetables ‘til the wrappers turn into golden brown.
10. Serve with spicy soy sauce and vinegar dipping sauce.

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Crispy Oyster Mushroom

One of my favorite healthy snacks is Crispy Oyster Mushrooms. I usually have stock of oyster mushroom cans in my cupboard in case my husband and I crave for this dish. We commonly have this snack for mid night. It is also excellent as “finger-food” pair with iced-cold beer =D. Some of my friends thought that it was “Chicharong Bulaklak”.

 

Ingredients:

• Oyster Mushroom
• Flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oil

Procedure:

1.     Wash the oyster mushroom. Drain the excess water.

2.     Add flour (seasoning with salt & pepper),

3.     Heat up the oil on wok

4.     Deep fry until golden brown.

5.     Let excess oil drip over a strainer or on paper towel.

6.     Serve with Thai chili sauce (optional)

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Ginisang Munggo (Sautéed Munggo Beans)

Ginisang Munggo (Sautéed Munggo beans) is a favorite and classic Filipino cuisine that can be served as a separate dish or usually serves with Fried Fish, Tinapa or any other fried meat. It is also known to the Filipinos’ as a poor man’s dish, but conversely it is rich and nutritious.

This is an easy recipe, but the way Filipinos prepares their Ginisang Munggo varies in the garnishing or other ingredients such as pork cracklings, bits of pork flesh, vegetables, smoked fish, shrimp, etc. I personally love my Ginisang Munggo with pork cracklings while my husband loves it with slices of bitter melon (ampalaya).

Having a hot bowl of Ginisang Munggo, steamed white rice and smoked fish (tinapa) on a rainy day (just like this morning here in the midst of the desert – love it!) brings back memories of the weather way back in the Philippines when the winds are blowing– a season for an extreme comfort food!

Well, for my tonight’s Ginisang Munggo I just did it the very basic way, I mean literally basic. =D I just side-dished it with fried King Fish and served with plain white rice.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Munggo beans
• 6 Cups water
• 3 Tbs. Cooking oil
• 1 Garlic – minced
• 1 Onion – sliced thinly
• 2 Medium tomatoes – diced
• Salt to taste
• Beef or Pork Stock Cubes/powder

Procedure:

1.    Rinse munggo beans thoroughly, place in a casserole dish, and boil in 6 cups of water on medium low heat for about 45 minutes. Add more water if necessary.

2.    Remove the beans and set aside.

3.    In another casserole add oil and sauté garlic, onion and tomatoes.

4.    Add the mungo beans.

5.    Put in salt and beef/pork cubes. Stir then cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes on medium low heat.

6.    Stir it every 5 minutes to avoid scorching. Taste it and add salt and pepper if needed.

7.    Serve with rice and fried fish.

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Sautéed Radish with Beef (Ginisang Labanos na may Baka)

I already feel bloated for having so much meat these past few days (tea please =D). So I requested my husband to think of cuisine that includes vegetable. Well, no wonder what will be his answer for the fact that he rarely eats vegetables, and if he does, only very few would be on his list. One of it is Labanos (radish). He loves sautéed radish with pork or beef. It is quite easy to cook and the ingredients are very basic.

I’ve been asking some of my flat-mates if they knew about this recipe since they came from different provinces in the Philippines, but surprisingly, it is their first time to encounter this recipe. So I guess Bulakeños might be its chef in origin.

After cooking this cuisine I share some of it to my flatmates and as they judged, they said it taste good and I gave them an idea on how to cook radish in a different way aside from their usual recipe. =D

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces Big Radish (Labanos) Sliced
• 3 pieces Medium-Sized Tomatoes
• 1 Medium Onion (sliced)
• 1 Garlic (minced)
• 2 pieces Chillies
• ½ Kg. Beef Sliced
• 1 piece beef stock (powder or cube)
• Salt / patis (fish sauce)
• Pepper
• Water
• Oil

Procedure:

1. Heat casserole then put oil.
2. Sauté garlic, onion and tomatoes.
3. Put in the sliced beef, beef stock, salt or patis, pepper and ½ cup water. Let it simmer ‘til the beef is cooked.
4. Add in the radish and chillies.
5. Add more water. Let boil ‘til radish is cooked.
6. Serve with rice.

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Ampalaya Con Karne

"What's for dinner honey?"

This is an everyday question either from me or from my husband. Well, for tonight I decided to cook vegetable for dinner and my husband suggested Ampalaya Con Karne. He was in-charge of the grocery and chopping preparation (aside from his everyday task of steaming our rice =D). My husband also sautéd the pork already. So, when I came home everything were prepared - ready to cook!

Ingredients:

1/4 Kg Pork

3 Ampalaya

2 beaten eggs

1 Big tomato chopped

1 onion chopped

1 Garlic chopped

Salt/Fish Sauce (patis) and Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon Pork/Beef Stock powder (or 1 cube)

Cooking oil

Procedure:

1.     Cut ampalaya length wise & remove the seed. Slice to thin cut size.

Tip : To eliminate the bitter taste, add some salt, lightly squeeze, drain the juice and wash with water.

2.     In a separate cooking pan, sauté the chopped pork add salt. Cooked till golden brown. Set aside.

3.     In a hot oil pan, sauté the garlic, onion, tomato.

4.     When the tomato become creamy put the ampalaya and pork.

5.     Add Salt/Fish sauce (patis) ,Pepper, and the pork/beef stock powder for more flavour

6.     Add the eggs

7.     Simmer and serve hot!

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