Sapin-sapin (Layered)

I was very excited to try this ilonggo's delicacy for the first time. I always thought it's very complicated and too much work involve but no, no, no....it is a straight forward recipe, promise! :) I'm not boasting but it's delicious, even my hubby likes it so much that he's scraping the plate, finishing every little bit left. Btw, I added purple yam (from frozen) with the purple flavouring for a bit of texture and you can add sweet potato with the yellow bit if you want.

All You Need:

•     1 Cup Glutinous Rice Flour
•     1 Can Condensed Milk
•     2 Cups Coconut milk
•     1 Cup Sugar
•     1 Tbsp. Vanilla Essence
•     1 Cup Purple Yam (mashed)
•     Yellow food Colouring
•     Purple Food Colouring

Procedure:

•  Mix flour, condensed milk, coconut milk, sugar and vanilla essence together into smooth batter                                  (except  mashed yam and food colouring).
• Divide Into 3 equal parts: Take one part, add purple yam, add a dash of purple(blue & red) food colouring. Mix well.    Take second part, add yellow colouring. Mix well. Leave the third part plain.
• Grease baking pan, then pour in purple mixture. Spread evenly.
• Steam for 20-25 minutes or more, until firm. Note: cover the baking pan with cheese cloth before steaming.
• Pour in yellow mixture (2nd layer) on top of the purple mixture. Cover again and steam for 20-25 minutes.
• Lastly, pour in 3rd layer or the plain mixture. Again, steam for 30 minutes or until firm.                                         Note: use toothpick to check if mixture is cooked enough, if toothpick is clear then that's good to go.
• Cool before slicing.

Combo (saging)

Just got home from work one day and feeling a little bit peckish. Too early for tea and just needed a bit of something to see me through until supper's ready.
Anyway, this idea came to mind when I saw a ripe plantain waiting for its final judgement..lol
I've not had this (merienda) for a long time, well I can't find a recipe to start with but I made up my mind that I'm going to improvise a recipe for myself and hopefully be able to share it with you too if the experiment is a success :)


You will need:

2 Pcs Banana (I use Plantain)
1 cup Self Raising Flour
1/2 Tsp. Bicarbonate of soda
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
1 1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup Flour
Oil for deep frying
Sugar

Procedure:

Cut and slice banana into thin slices, coat them with flour.
In a bowl, Sift self raising flour and bicarbonate of soda. Add water and vanilla essence and mix to a smooth batter.
Drop banana pieces into batter and deep fry until golden brown.
Remove from oil and drain excess oil with kitchen towel.
Sprinkle granulated sugar and Enjoy!!

Mince Beef with Mixed Veg.

When I get stuck with my cooking, I can always depend on this dish...So easy and simple to cook.
This is one of my hubby's favorite dishes, actually second to guinisang monggo :) Well, let's get started...

All You Need:

• 250 Grams Mince Beef
• 1 Pc. Onion Chopped
• 2 Tbsp. Oil
• 1 Pc. Red bell pepper Diced
• 1 Pc Small Carrots Diced
• 2 Pcs. Potato Diced
• Peas
• 1 Small Pack green beans
• 1/2 Can Sweetcorn
• 2 Tbsp. Seasoning Sauce
• 1 Beef Cube
• 2 CupsWater
•  A dash of Salt, Pepper and Sugar
• 1Tsp. cornflour (dilute in water)

Procedure:

In a pan, heat oil and sauté onion and add in mince beef, cook until well browned.  Add in all mixed veg, seasoning sauce, pepper, sugar, beef cube and water.  Mix well, cover and simmer gently for 20 - 25 minutes. Add cornflour for thicker sauce and simmer again for 2-3 minutes. Serve it with rice.

Banana-que

The all time favorite I suppose... It's very easy and it's yummy too.

Since Saba (shorter version plantain) is quite difficult to find here in the UK, I use the longer version Plantain as substitute for when I make my banana-q. I hope my take on this plantain makes sense when I post picture of it.

All You Need:

• 2 Pcs Plantain Banana (ripe)
• 1 Cup Oil
• 1/4 Cup Sugar

PROCEDURES:

• Trim both ends of each banana and peel off skin, since we're using plantain, cut it into 3 pcs per banana.
•  In a large wok  heat cooking oil,  put 3 Tbsp sugar, and wait till sugar melted.
•  Put in the bananas and stir until all are coated about 3-5 minutes.
• Sprinkle remaining sugar unto bananas if needed. Stir again for another 2 minutes.
• Drain excess oil.
• Serve...Yummy with soda or cola.

My cooking banana

Saba

Nilagang Baka

I was so excited to do this dish...I was craving for it for ages.  Don't laugh, but was so pleased to see lemongrass with its grassy bit on it, don't know how to describe it , but we don't get all the nice bit here really, I was like a little girl in a candy shop.  Anyway, Got the ingredients to finally make one. Oh, beef shank or pata is quite difficult to find so I used beef skirt and bit of beef  rib bones.

All You Need:

•  Beef skirt or Beef Shank
•  Half a packet sinigang mix as souring agent for the dish
•  Green Jackfruit (Langka)
•  Lemongrass
•  1 Small Onion chopped
•  2 Cloves Garlic
•  Dash of salt
•  2 Pcs Chilli
•  1 Tbsp of Annato seeds
•  2 Tbsp oil

Procedure:

1. Saute garlic and Onion in a pan.
2. Add the beef shank or beef skirt, brown the meat slightly.
3. Add water enough to cover the meat, and add in lemongrass and bring to boil.
4. Check after half an hour and add in Jackfruit, sinigang mix and continue cooking until both beef and jackfruit are fork tender.
5. In a cup, put annato seeds and add hot water and let it sit for a while until colour comes out.
6. Add extract from Annato seeds in a pan together with whole chillies and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
7. Serve Hot.

Pork Siomai

This recipe is inspired by my favorite chinese Chef Ching, I love to watch her cooking programme and she always inspires me to dish up these delectable meals, She definitely makes it looks so easy on the tele..hehe
Anyway, It's my first time to experiment on this dimsum recipe and actually it's not as difficult as I thought. It takes about 35 minutes to prepare and 6-8 minutes for the steaming process and it makes 16 dumplings. Well, it looks like siomai and it definitely tastes like siomai so maybe I did something right.

All You Need:

• 200 Grams Minced Pork
• 200 Grams Uncooked, peeled, deveined and chopped Prawns
• 1 Pc  Small Carrots,  chopped finely
• 1 Pc  Large Spring Onion, chopped finely
• 1 pc  Ginger about (2-3cm), chopped finely or grated
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 Tsp Sesame oil
• 3 Tsp cornflour
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Pepper
• 1/4 Tsp sugar
• Wonton Wrappers

Procedure:

         Mix all ingredients in a bowl (wonton not included)
         Cut wrappers in a circular shape, put filling in the middle and gather the wrapper to make ball shape.
         Leave the the middle bit unwrapped.
         Oil the bottom of the steamer and steam dumplings for about 6-8 mins or until filling is cooked.
         Serve with soy sauce as dipping sauce.

Creamy Chicken Curry


Thursday night is a curry night!!!
Thought I'd surprise my number 1 critic when he gets home from work from a late shift with his favorite dish.
Well... he seemed to be well pleased to see what he's going to have for tea. Thank God for that :)
For me, this is an easy meal to prepare. If you want a curry in a hurry, you might want to try  and have a go with this one.

All YOU NEED:

• 3 Pcs.     Chicken fillet, cut in serving pcs.
• 3 Tsp.    Curry powder
• 1 Pc.       Large onion, peeled and quartered
• 2 Pcs.     Carrots, peeled and quartered
• 3 Pcs.     Potato,  peeled and quartered
• 2 Tsp.    Olive oil
• 3Tsp       Seasoning sauce
• 1  Cup    Water
•                Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 Cup  Cream

Cooking Procedures :

1. Par boil potatoes and carrots for about 5-8 mins (tender enough with a bit of a crunch). Set aside.
2. In a pan, fry chicken pieces and brown a little.
3. Add onion. Sauté for a few minutes until soft.
4.  Season with curry powder, salt, pepper and seasoning sauce. Stir for 2 minutes.
5. Add water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, add in potatoes and carrots. Simmer for 15-20 mins..
6. Add cream and stir. Cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat. Serve hot with rice.

BON APPETITE!!

Chicken Inasal (Chicken Barbeque)

Another day, another meal to prepare...
Today whilst I was at work, for some reason I was drooling over chicken inasal (bacolod style), so, As soon as I got home I prepared all the ingredients to get me sorted with my din-dins.

YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 Pcs Chicken legs (depending on how many pcs. you will need) 
• 3 Tbs Soy Sauce **
• 3 Tbs Vinegar/ Lemon Juice **
• 3 Tsp Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Ginisa mix or 2 Tsp Rock Salt
• Bamboo Skewer***
• Annatto Seeds/oil *
• 2-3 pcs garlic clove- bruised/crushed

PROCEDURE:

•  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
•  Marinate in the vinegar/lemon juice, garlic and salt for at least half an hour or overnight. 
•       (if you've got plenty of time)
• Preheat grill to 350 degrees. Cook over indirect heat for 20 minutes, basting with the achuete oil.
• Turn and cook for 10-15 minutes more or until thickest parts of chicken exude clear juices when pierced. 
• Serve it rice and sawsawan or dipping sauce (vinegar and soy sauce)

TIPS:

* Annatto oil: Add 2 Tbsp of annatto seeds in 1/2 cup hot oil in a pan and wait till it creates little bubbles and take it off     the heat and set aside to cool down and transfer it to a container for use, discard the seeds.

**Btw, I usually make my measurement with the liquid mixture equal all the time.

***Soak bamboo skewer in a cold water so It doesn't burn quickly.

Always put small quantity when seasoning food, always taste your food and base your seasoning to your liking.

  

Thanks, Have a nice day everyone.