from the sea to my kitchen

Fresh catches from the sea_ of my hometown G.Q.

6 hours drive from Manila, here are my rewards! Fresh,prime quality and cost 50% cheaper from Manila markets.







Taking them home to my urban kitchen I try to be a lil' creative, add some colors and texture to these gifts from mother ocean.






- greens for this sea food soup

- saute' everything ( crabs,prawns & squid) in garlic,onion & ginger. submerge them in broth and sprinkle with chopped greens. salt & pepper to taste.

















-turns the blue-ness of these crabs to orange-ness

- steam the crabs











- and pair with my own vinegar dip concoction














- out of the shell and a cake creation

- crab cake recipe * see in my Sept. archive_ posted as "Crab Cake"












- lace the prawns with white sotanghon thread in a piping hot soup
- submerge the prawns in a sea food broth. add in sotanghon noodles and petchay.













- balance the sea saltiness of the shrimp with the sourness of the tamarind in an all time pinoy favorite sinigang soup

- create sinigang broth with natural fresh tamarind or use prepared powdered pack. add in the veggies and last in the shrimps.











- all in now_ Fiesta Palabok

- see recipe in Oct. archive_posted as "Pancit Palabok"






Serve to and enjoy by my family of voracious eaters. Prepare and cook by a frustrated chef of the family=> meeh!!!

Palitaw Ni Nanay B

Nanay B, my aunt, is the only surviving elder on my mother's side of family. Everytime we visit her, there's always palitaw on the table, (especially on New Year's Eve). It's a favorite, maybe because it's so easy to prepare/cook :

Ingredients:

-500 gram glutinous rice flour
-3/4 cup water
-coconut flakes-white sugar
-sesame seeds (toasted)

Directions :

- Mix rice flour with water to make dough
- Make little balls then flatten, shape like tounge
- Boil water in a saucepan
- Drop flattened dough balls into boiling water
- They are cooked when they float
- Remove from water, let cool a little bit
- Roll in combined sugar and toasted sesame seeds and coconut flakes

Yummy yum!!!

Stormy Pancit Palabok

At last I was able to cook pancit palabok at home. One look in my freezer and I saw squid,prawns and crabs. I opened the lower door of the fridge and found leftover porksteak, spam, egg and some chicken. The vegetable drawer was cooperative too, it offered some green leaves,carrot, and spring onion.

Wella, well, what else were missing? The noodles, tinapa (smoked fish) and coloring for the sauce!

I ran quickly to a nearby store and found everything I needed. Even the tinapa! The store was at the entrance of our village and there was a dried fish vendor infont. Lucky me! Since, this was a first time, I let an expert help me with this, I bought Mama Sita's powdered pancit palabok mix.

The noodles cooked easy. The toppings were quite tedious : I fried the leftover porksteak to dry and sliced thinly. I sauteed the prawns,squid and crab meat. I heated the spam to crunchy and chicken. Cut the veggies and sliced the eggs.

The sauce was a bit challenging: I figured, a pack of the prepared mixed sauce was not enough. I thought I wouldn't be needing any colorant for the sauce because of the Mama Sita's. Improvision was the answer. I added more shrimp-water (shrimp head & skin's juice) than told by the pack, then added more tinapa flakes, dropped a dash of food color ( found in my fridge door_Mccormic, red&yellow), thicken the sauce by cornstarch_ voila! It was perfect!



When my voracious family smelled what I was cooking, everyone found his nose in the kitchen and rushed me to serve the dish. That expalained the "rush look" of my pancit palabok.

Ps: It was a success thu'. They loved it! Worth the effort and love :)

Adidas (chicken feet)

How far would you go for chicken parts? You know, this is one country where every part of chicken is being eaten. Except the feathers, but everything as in the head, skin, innards,bottom, and ofcourse the feet. Locally, in street food lengua, chicken feet is known as adidas. In the streets, it is actually barbecued or grilled.



At home it is given more time and flavors.



Ingredients :

12 chicken feet
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 cloves, finely minced
3 sliced green onions
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 star anise
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cups water

Directions :

Put everything in a pan. Aim to tenderize the meat and bring the stock to syrupy consistency. I do it very similar to my adobo and asado.

Atleast, an hour of your day would be consumed by this recipe. If at anycase, you don't have the time..well, why not try the foodcourt of a mall. You may get it there a lot better than yours :))

New Flavors

One ordinary afternoon, you had a sudden cravings for your good old favorite fried chicken. You went to the nearest branch of that fastfood. While you were lining up to the counter, you suddenly took a fancy to the newest product of the house. You gave in to that sudden change of heart and you ordered for the new one. You grabbed a table and excitedly took a bite of the latest delight..

.. a bite was all you need to get disappointed. You didn't like it at all!. You lost your appetite and paid your attention to the equally new drink of the house.


This might save my afternoon, you thought.. You took a sip and that one sip was all you need to get the second disappoinment of your day.

You went back to the counter and asked for a doggie bag.













... tsk,tsk..

Pasalubong from Bicol

Spicy and Sweet

If you get burned from eating too hot spicy food, drinking plain water is not the solution. The burning sensation is caused by spice oils in the food that water can't wash away.

Best way to deal this is to grab something sweet to eat or drink like yoghurt, milk or bread.