Peanut Butter Cookies

You can count the number of times I bake. This is just one of the few. We're trying to cut on sugar and fat but we just can't resist this recipe from the Best of Bridge Series.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
sugar for coating

Cream together butter and sugars. Add Peanut Buter and mix well. Add egg and then the dry ingredients. Roll into ball and then in sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet. Press flat with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Salay with Tausi

Called Yellow Striped Trevally, this fish simply called Salay in Pangasinan is one of my husband's favorites. He admits that it's one of the familiar fishes he knows his mom served him when he was growing up. You should have seen the glitter in his eyes when I brought home a pack one day from the Filipino Store.

Ingredients:

Oil for frying
1 lb of Salay, gutted and cleaned
1 can of Temple Black Beans (Tausi)
1/2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1/8 cup of lemon juice
2 stalks of green onions finely chopped

Fry the salay in a frying pan and set aside. Pour water over black beans to rinse. On the same pan, saute onions until translucent. Add the black bean sauce and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the lemon and fried fish. Garnish with green onions and serve.

Antipasto

This appetizer was something I have tried from a friend's friend Donna. Over the years, I have been canning this for friends. Oh, they really are great christmas gifts for friends. However, I took a rest because this really entailed a lot of chopping. Choppers are no help either. Now that my kids are older and are now becoming good kitchen helpers, I am back to making this. In fact, my son had a great time chopping the ingredients with his special chopper from Alaska.

Ingredients

1 cup of olive oil
1 head of cauliflower, finely chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 250 ml of pitted greed olives, chopped
1 can of mushroom stems, chopped
1 liter of mixed sweet pickles, chopped (save the liquid)
500 ml of hot mixed pickles , chopped)
750 ml of ketchup (quality)
1 can of anchovies, chopped
2 cans of solid tuna


Put all ingredients except tuna in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally. In the meantime, pour boiling water over the tuna to rinse. Add to mixture and simmer for 10 more minutes.Serve with crackers.

To process, make sure that your jars are sterilized. Pour cooked antipasto in jars and let boil in a large pot. Make sure that water is tree quarters of the way up the jars. Boil for at least 20 minutes. Once cool, tighten lids and store in cool dry place.

Canning

So what have I been doing last weekend? I canned antipasto, Bangus in Olive Oil and Salmon in Olive Oil.

Canning of Antipasto was something I learned from a friend's friend and the Bangus and Salmon were just something I thought could be done after observing that they're sold in stores. Oppss, just the bangus. The salmon was something suggested by another friend. The antipasto recipe will follow very soon.

Processing food is not something you should dread as long as you're following the instructions properly. One thing I found out is you can only can freshly cooked food. Make sure that you boil the jars with the food in them for over 20 minutes. Especially with the Bangus and the Salmon, make sure that the mouths of the jars are free from oil drippings when putting fish in the jar before putting the lids on. You will definitely have a hard time sealing the lids if you don't wipe the oil drippings.

Lasang Pinoy 3: Pinoy Street Food

Filipinos are fond of street food. Kai who happens to be the host of Lasang Pinoy for the month of October has actually given a total picture of what street food means to every Filipino. Way back in high school, my friends and I frequented this corner along General Luna Road in Baguio City which sells fishballs. As far as I can remember, it is the only one I bought fishballs from. Not that I was very fuzzy or what but since my mother was a health worker, it's an exageration to say that since birth, she never failed to remind us of the dangers of buying from unsanitary places.

The corner called "Hang-out" was owned by a doctor, so we expected that he would have taken extra measures to keep his space clean otherwise he will see the end of his career. Hang-out was not an ordinary place. It was actually a casual place to dine-in but just before you enter the place, there was this teenie corner where fishballs were cooked. I think I always had fishballs for lunch because for 1 Peso, I had 20 fishballs. Back then, they were being sold for 5 pieces for 25 cents. Hmm, don't ask me what year it was, because I am not ready to tell you.

Hang-out had a simple recipe for its sauce: Soy sauce, vinegar, onions, sugar and garlic. Back then, Hepa-B was not yet a big concern but mother was already concerned about me dipping my fishballs in one big jar where others dip theirs as well. She suggested that instead of me buying from the corner, I should just buy the uncooked one from the market and cook them at home. Yes, it was such a bright idea.


Having fishballs at home is definitely a two-thumbs up for my kids, nieces and nephews. It's one of the things my kids look forward to everytime we go home to the Philippines. It's at the toppest part of our "To eat list". There's so much involved in cooking fishballs for a bunch of kids...emotionally, that is. By the time one kilo is gone, someone would be crying for not having his equal share of the fun. Another one would be crying for stolen pieces he's left in the bowl (to absorb more sauce); or someone else has picked someone else's skewer. I personally think that there's more to than just having fun when I see them rush to the bowl to dip theirs in. It's a priceless moment to see everyone bonding just because of fishballs.

Just before I bring out the skewers I never fail to lay out my only simple rule: NO DOUBLE-DIPPING. ATTACCKKKKK!!!!

Salmon in Olive Oil, Spanish Style

Inspired by a friend who was a recipient of one of my favorites, she asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to try cooking salmon the way I cooked my bangus. She had a point. Salmon was in abundance when she suggested it to me.

Out of curiosity, I escaped from hubby and went to buy salmon one night. He gets suspicious everytime I become uneasy. Luckily, the fish was gutted and dressed so all I needed to do was slice the fish and cook it. It wasn't bad considering that it was my first time to try it. I also had the chance to can my second try and gave away some jars to my friends. This reminds me of the "Mackerel" in cans we used to have when I was young.

Ingredients:

5 lbs of sliced salmon (steak)
10 pcs of bay leaves
10 pcs of hot chilies
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 tsp of peppercorns
1/4 cup of sweet pickles
1 1/2 tbsp of sea salt (adjust to taste)

Arrange sliced salmon in a pressure cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients. Add olive oil half an inch of the way up the pile. Cover the pressure cooker and bring oil to boil. Bring heat to medium once pressure cooker starts indicating that it has reached the pressure where it creates that funny sound(a little comedy here) . Cook for about an hour.

To process: Arrange cooked fish including oil and other ingredients in jars and put in large deep pot. Add water three quarters of the way up the jars. Cover and bring water to boil. Simmer for at least 20 minutes. Let cool. Tighten lids and store in cool place.

Liver Steak

I had to hide the liver with tomatoes and onions so my kids will eat it. It's actually one of the best sources of iron but you should have this only once in a while because even if liver is rich in iron, it is also rich in cholesterol.

I used to hide my share under the chair when I was young. I had a sister who was sick of leukemia and my parents were advised to serve her liver because it's rich in iron. Over the years, I have learned to like this and to this day, I love cooking it.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
juice of one lemon
1/4 tsp of ground pepper
1 lb of beef liver, thinly sliced
oil to fry
1/2 cup of flour
2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

Pat the liver dry with paper towel. In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, garlic, ground pepper and lemon juice. Marinate liver with the soy mixture for about 10 minutes. Dredge liver slices in flour and pan fry. Set aside. Do not throw soy mixture away.

In a separate pan, saute onion and tomatoes. Add the fried liver slices. Season with the soy mixture set aside earlier. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Serve.

Shanghai Lumpia

I know I should be talking about my thanksgiving dinner but after preparing for two turkey dinners this weekend, I am so turkeyed-out, I hardly even want to say turkey anymore.

Today, I prepared Shanghai Lumpia for a cousin for a change. She hasn't had any turkey so far and she was expecting me to have one for lunch. Normally on Thanksgiving Day in the past, we always have one at home . Too bad. She had to make do with the left-overs but I made sure the Lumpia would compensate for whatever she was craving for.

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground pork
1 medium onion, finely chopped
5 tbsps of soy sauce
2 eggs
2 tbsp of corn starch
1/2 tsp of ground pepper

Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Wrap the mixture in lumpia wrappers. Deep fry. Serve with sweet and sour sauce. Relax and enjoy the company of cousin.

Just having a good time!

Lasang Pinoy Series

(button courtesy of dexie)

Some of you are wondering what Lasang Pinoy is all about. So what is Lasang Pinoy? Lasang Pinoy is a monthly Pinoy food blogging event aiming to discuss about Pinoy food in general. Theme for the month will be decided upon by the blogger host. A theme could be about Pinoy food ingredients; memories or any pinoy-food-related item but not necessarily edible.

Each Pinoy Blogger will take turn in hosting such event, with a roundup of all the entries at the blogger host's site. It is open to all pinoys, even readers who are not bloggers, and bloggers who are not good in cooking but have definitely something to share about Pinoy food.

This event aims to create awareness that there are interesting Pinoy Food recipes on the net not just on published recipe books and TV shows. It also aims to promote Filipino cuisine internationally; to Filipinos who have been away from the Philippines, Filipinos who were born and raised in foreign countries and others who just want to learn the basics of Pinoy cooking.

Should you want to be a "host-for-the-month", please send your intents to lasangpinoy@gmail.com and state your intended theme.

Here are the round-ups for your reading pleasure:

Lasang Pinoy 1- Launching on Ninoy Aquino Day ; My contribution

Lasang Pinoy 2-Cooking Up a Storm; My contribution

Lasang Pinoy 3 - Pinoy Street Food; My Contribution

Tofu, Shiitake Mushroooms and Vegetables

One of my kids favorites. You don't need a lot to prepare this sumptous recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp of cooking oil
4 tbsp of hoisin sauce
4 pieces of deep fried tofu
2oo gms of shiitake mushrooms
1 medium onion, quartered
1 medium carrot (I was a little inspired in cutting mine)
1 250 gms of canned young corn
100 gms of snow peas

Heat the cooking oil in a pan. Add the hoison sauce and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the deep fried tofu making sure that you flip the tofu on each side in a careful manner so as not to crumble the tofu blocks. Add the shiitake mushrooms and the onion and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the sliced carrot and the young corn. Cover the pan and cook for about 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the snow peas last making sure not to overcook the peas. I sometimes adjust the taste by adding a bit of black bean sauce.