Indian Chicken Curry

Officemate says this is called chicken masala. I must warn you though that loving this recipe does not happen overnight. For some, it's an acquired taste. It wasn't a popular one at the office initially.

Ingredients:

5 tbsp of olive oil
1 kg chicken
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsps chilli powder
2 tsps coriander powder
Salt to taste

1/4 curd or yoghourt

Cut chicken into pieces and marinate with curd and salt for about an hour. Set aside.

Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add onion and fry till until translucent. Add turmeric, ginger and garlic powder. Stir well. Add chilli and coriander and about 2 tbsps water. Stir well until the oil comes out clear.

In the same saucepan add the chicken. Cover and simmer on gentle heat till chicken is done adding about 1/4 cup in the process.

Serve with rice.

Satay Hot Pot

Another acquired taste for me. It took me sometime to love the taste of the base. I first tasted this in Indonesia the other year. Apparently, the base seems to be common in Malaysia and Singapore as well.

The base can be prepared ahead and can be frozen. I used a blender to mix the following ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic
2 inches of cinnamon sticks
5 cardamoms
thumbsized peeled ginger
1 mace
1/2 tsp of peppercorns
2 coarsely chopped medium onions
5 bay leaves

Blend the ingredients until you reach paste-like consistency. Use only an amount enough to give flavour to your soup. Wrap the left over in plastic wrap and freeze it for future use.

Now here's what you need to prepare the Hot Pot.

1 cup of fish head with flesh (white preferably)
1 cup of mussels
1/2 cup of prawns (optional)
about 1/4 cup of peeled radish
1/2 cup of snow peas, cleaned
1 cup of green leafy vegetables

In a saucepan, boil 3 cups of water. Add the soup base. Season with salt. Once the water boils, add all the ingredients at the same time putting the green ones last or on top. Watch that once the soup boils, you have to take the saucepan out of the burner and pour the soup in a serving bowl.

Serve.

Why do you blog?

Dinner scenario at home is now slowly changing. Two weeks ago, my son was away for his sailing lesson. Last weekend, he went for a YAG cruise required by his being a sea cadet. I find that weeknights are slowly changing as well. If a few months ago we'd eat together at dinnertime, not anymore. My daughter goes to her piano lessons on Thursdays so I'm forced to do side trips for cooked food so she doesn't have to rush. Oh and many more in between.

So when I used to cook for dinner, sometimes I now blog and blog hop. Blogging is so fun. So how did I start blogging?

Rewind, a year and a half ago. I was looking for a recipe on the net and guess what? I found this blog originally known as the Radical Chef. What was impressive was that the cook was not only a good cook but also a lawyer. It used to be that whatever she had the night before would be our dinner the next day. I've literally watched her blog grow to what it is now. I have not met her personally as other bloggers have, like Jet and Jay but someday when I get to meet her, I am sure we'll have so many stories to share.

Sassy as I fondly call her (lifted from her journal) has at some point put on her sideblog a list of other Filipino Bloggers. One click did the trick and led me to Doc Emer's blog. Wow, so even a doctor has a blog! I would read comments on his posts and Tito Rolly, a teacher would be one of them. Curiosity killed the cat? Nope, the cat has nine lives and so Doc's blog led me to the rest.

The fun did not end there. I was able to become part of a Food blog circle. I've been to different kitchens, stealing recipes or exchanging ideas with them. We do cyber parties now too.

Starting was not easy. Blogging does require a lot of your time. Since I concentrated on my food blog, I made sure that I made a photo of everything I cooked, which made my family wait forever before they could start to taste my recipe. It's all right because they learned the art of anticipation and cooperation. They would prepare my camera while I am cooking and grab the appropriate plate or bowl so that all I need to do was just scoop into the plate or bowl what I cooked, take a picture and eat away.

Blogging is very rewarding. I've even met people from different countries like Mrs Tweety, Fish Fish and Obachan. But the most rewarding part of it all is I became part of this and I got a beautiful template for free from her.

It is intimidating at first. You don't know what to expect. But you know what? As long as you do your blog to your heart's content, you'll be fine.

It's your turn. Why do you blog?

It's my turn at Blogkadahan

Okey, today's my turn at Blogkadahan. Remember about my invitation in March?

For some who do not know what Blogkadahan is, it's a group of eager, happy bloggers but not necessarily famous ones. It was initially a group of bloggers who in one way or another shared similar interests in various ways and points. Eventually, the group has grown and a brilliant idea of making it into a mega-blog was hatched. Because of its rapid growth, the group put a halt into accepting more members with the idea of managing the small group first and eventually grow again. When? I have no idea but logistics are being put into place now.

The group did not mean to leave others out. In fact it welcomes the idea of others to form their own groups. We are aware that a lot of our readers have expressed interest in joining us. Hey, there might be some light to your wish one day. Everyone is always welcome to say something there.

A reader e-mailed me to write in English so he can understand what I was saying. Mark, I will with our next topic but I am a little bit pickled on this....the next topic deserves to be written in our mother tongue.

Remember..come and visit me at Blogkadahan and when you do, don't forget to leave a trace.

Lobsters for May 25th

Okey..the list is getting longer..hmmm..mrst is coming..karen too..don't miss the boat guys!

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I hope you guys will come prepared to feast on these lobsters. The timing couldn't be better for Mama Stel's party. Kamayan is allowed, I hope. Time to take off those manicures, just for a day. Mama Stel, just be ready with a bowl of water and sliced lemons in it please to keep their fingers from the smell afterwards. And oh, the towels Mama to wipe their hands dry after.

We get these lobsters for a low price during the month of May. In fact, there is a store here which sells them at half the price on Mother's day. For three years now, we've made it a tradition to indulge on seafood on Mother's day. I saved some for Stel's party of course. The steamed ones on top can be enjoyed with a small bowl of vinegar, salt and minced garlic. That's all you need. Sawsaw galore.

Wait don't go home yet if you don't want the steamed ones. You get so disappointed easily. I really plan to come prepared. Here's for you guys who are "seafood-cooked-in-coconut-milk" lovers. Paborito ni Tito Rolly 'to. (Tito Rolly puwedeng kumanta ka na lang. I'll take care of the food)

I cooked these with lots of finely chopped ginger, minced garlic, 2 tbsps of alamang, finely chopped medium onion and a can of coconut milk. I made sure that I reduced the coconut milk from a can to almost 1/4 or lesser by letting it boil for quite a while. And then I added the rest of the ingredients and cooked them for about a minute or two. 'added the lobsters afterwards. I seasoned the dish with love (and a little salt if needed, otherwise the alamang will do it).

You see, our friends are so used to this package deal when inviting us. I mean, when one of us in the family is invited, everyone goes. I had to warn my family that they can't join me though because Stel's is quite a ways. With the fare alone, I'd go bankrupt.

Anyhow, to appease my son, I let him take pictures of the lobsters. I left 2 pieces for them, don't you guys worry.

I can't wait. My barkadas will be there: JMom, CeliaK, Mommy Beng, Ms Thess, Annabanana and Schatzli. Of course I am so excited to meet Cacofonix, Stef, Atinna and Cheh. Others are still welcome. We've got lots of time. Right Mama Mia?

On a side note, you guys are invited to my house warming next month. Mommy Beng made a complete overhaul of my kitchen. She's moved the pots and pans around. I plan to hold a barbecue party. Let's have a casual get together. Barbecue, Wine, Cheese. Hey, Tokwa't Baboy will be nice.

How do you like my new template?

Oh please spare me! It is not my fault that I get a lot of oohs and aahs today. Blame it on Mommy Beng, a computer-savvy, first class web-designer, focused and determined techie to create a template for me.

I did not ask for it. Well, it's a lie. I did envy her web templates and I kept rubbing in that I wanted one too every time I went to her site. She used to claim she was just an amateur, one learning how to get around the designing of pages. LIAR!! Look at what she did to my site? She made it look like it was made by a pro. Now I have to cook something to fit this classy template!

Just to warn you, this cost me a lot. A lot of sleepless nights of excitement, that's what. She hinted that she was going to make me one awhile back and I knew she really meant it.

Anyway, so much for bragging. Thanks for this classy template Mommy Beng. May I have more templates to come from you! Mommy Ting loves you.


PS: Did I tell you guys that I had this for free?

Garlic Flavoured Mashed Potatoes

This is my daughter's masterpiece. Thanks to numerous unannounced visits from friends and relatives. I have had short notices in the past and usually, they're just laying off for a few hours in our city before they move on to their next leg.

Usually, I do not want to pass up the chance to spend even just a few minutes with them especially if I haven't seen them for ages. Given such short notices and usually I work from 9-5 and my daughter usually is home before 4, she has more time to go to the grocery store to buy potatoes, fresh beans and a whole chicken.

Aha, there you go. Mashed potatoes go well with baked chicken and steamed vegetables like carrots, beans and cauliflower. What makes her mashed potatoes taste good? Club House Garlic Plus Seasoning and a couple tablespoons of margarine and her gravy sauce.

I have taught her once to make gravy. I must say she's been good in keeping notes because she still has that note to keep her company in the kitchen. She has modified my initial recipe and I admit that hers is better.

Dare to have an unannounced visit? Well you know what to expect.

Egg Fried Rice

My officemate one time asked me why I always take home the leftover rice everytime we have a "chinese dish" for lunch at work. See, my officemates throw them out. Not me. My parents have always taught me not to be wasteful. Mother always reminded me to think about the people starving in other parts of the world whenever I threw out food.

Now that I have a family of my own, oftentimes I seem to mimic what my mom used to tell me. Well, I've become more creative than her. She often fried the rice just with garlic. I fry mine with garlic, egg and green peas. Other days I add diced ham or whever I have leftover barbecue, I add it too.
The process is really easy.

Here's what you need.

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
2-3 cups of leftover rice
1 egg
1/2 cup of green peas

In a pan, heat the oil. Saute the garlic until brown. Add the rice. Create a hole in the middle and add the egg, cooking it for about a minute. Mix the rice with the egg. Add the green peas and cook the rice for another 3 minutes stirring it occasionaly making sure that the rice does not stick and burn at the bottom of the pan.

Serve hot.

Mezethes

I know I shouldn't be blogging about this now. It's way too late. Well, you see my daughter turned 16 a month ago. I am a sucker for milestones. I celebrate every milestone. I invited 10 of her friends. I had to be careful because her group was a mixture of all races and they all observed different religious practices. One girl does not eat beef while another one does not eat pork.

Spring just sprung when we two were deciding. I had thought of bringing the girls bowling and drive them to a pizza house afterwards. My daughter thought it was gay, nevertheless she went with me to the bowling alley to take a look. She had to be careful. Not all her friends were invited and she didn't want to hurt the feelings of the rest she did not invite. She wanted it to be an intimate one. She's been invited to other "16th birthdays" lately. Afterall, all her friends are turning 16 one way or another this year. The bowling idea did not make it to the top of her list. Instead my other suggestion of having it at a Greek Restaurant was a hit.

Just before the Hors D' Oeuvres were served, the girls thought of singing her a "happy birthday" song. My husband, my son and myself were a little embarrased. What with the crowd watching us? Mind you, the restaurant was quite busy and almost all the tables were taken. We were set up right in the middle but it was quite a huge group. Guess what? The crowd clapped for her after they sang. And then the picture taking followed. Man, you could tell these girls came prepared. We were like in a photo shop.

Oh, and did I tell you the girls asked for seconds? the pita bread was just so good and the restaurant's tzatziki and hummous were the best I've ever had so far. The girls were so full even before the main course was served. As if they haven't caused me enough embarrassment, the girls wanted my daughter to open her gifts. And so she did. Oh, it was such a riot. Some of the girls said it was their first time to go to a Greek Restaurant.

They decided to go and take some sunset pictures after dinner. It didn't take them long. It was so windy that night and something funny happened..they are ran out of battery for their cameras.

Well, how about Starbucks? I took them to a chocolate house instead and we were lucky enough that a band was playing that night.
Now my children are growing and already are starting to drift away from us. Their activities seem to consume all the time I used to enjoy having dinner with them. I'd be very glad if we all sat down together for 3 dinners a week now.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Using my most precious Lee Kum Kee Seasonings in pouches, I was also able to cook a very inviting dish not only by how it looked on this picture this but at how it tasted too. The ingredients are really readily available and you won't need much to be succesful in cooking this. Red and Green peppers, onions, eggs, ground pork, ground pepper are all you needed, aside from the infamous Lee Kum Kee of course. Hmm, flour to bind the meatballs too.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

1 lb medium ground pork
1 egg
1 tbsp of finely chopped onion
2 tbsp of flour
Salt to taste

Mix everthing in a bowl. Form the mixture into meatballs. You can either deep fry the meatballs or just bake them. Once the meatballs ar cooked, set them aside. Deep frying the meat balls gives you a bit of crunchieness in them but if you are conscious about fat, baking would be just fine.

For the sauce

1/2 green pepper, sliced into bite sizes
1/2 red pepper, sliced into bite sizes
1/2 medium onion, sliced into bite sizes
2 pouches of Lee Kum Kee Sweet and Sour Sauce

In a pan, saute the onions for about a minute. Add the red and gree peppers. Do not overcook the peppers. A minute might be just fine. Pour the sauce and let boil. Turn off the burner and mix the meatballs in. Voila, it's not delivery..it's home-cooked..

Kare Kare

When I was in the Philippines, I used to prepare Kare-kare by cooking the whole ox tail, cut in about 2 inches lengths and a bit of the beef skin overnight using charcoal. I would fill our "kalan" with lots of coal and just leave it boiling in a big pot with lots of water in it. It wasn't actually as tedious as others thought. The thing is, you just have to know whether the meat is done or not. You know that the oxtail pieces are ready if you can poke them and the skin with a fork and they are as soft as a chiffon cake.

Now that I am not in the Philippines anymore, a pound of oxtail is so expensive and the skin is discarded by the shop before it even makes it to the shelves. The real atchuete could hardly be found. I noticed though that our importers from the Philippines are learning what to export these days although the ready mixes have become helpful to me now. I learned from my friends that they use tripe instead of the skin. I now use a combination of tripe, brisket and oxtail and lately i also started using the pressure cooker instead of the coal. I still do not get the taste I used to have when I was in the Philippines, but better than nothing, anyway.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of tripe sliced in bite sizes
1/2 lb of brisket
1 lb of ox tail
2 medium eggplant, cut in about 1.5 inches lengths
1 can of canned banana blossoms
about 10 pcs of long beans cut in 1.5 inches lengths
Pechay (optional)
2 packs of Mama Sita Kare-kare Mix
1/2 cup of peanut butter

Cook the tripe, brisket and ox tail in a pressure cooker. Adding about 6 cups of water. Cook for about an hour. Once cooked, add the eggplant, banana blossoms and long beans. Add also the peanut butter. Mix kare-kare mix in 1/4 of water and add to the pot and stirring the pot occasionally to avoid the mix from burning at the bottom of the pot. Add the pechay last and make sure you don't overcook.

Serve with Guinisang Alamang (Shrimp Fry)

Filipino Style Spaghetti

We went downtown one day purposely to eat at a well-known Filipino Restaurant. My kids are not racists. In fact they grew up in an environment where "multiculture" seems to be the most common heard word if you are talking about anything social. However, they could not help themselves from paying too much attention to this couple sitting in a corner eating rice and spaghetti. Well, the man was caucasian and the lady was of course a Filipino. "Rice and spaghetti, whoa, too much carbo" said my daughter. Funny how they thought about it.

Of course, the man probably could not complain. He was in a different territory, if you know what I mean. At the back of my mind was a different question, "is their spaghetti here sweet?". Filipinos are so fond of putting sugar to anything they cook. My kids could not remember it but once I mentioned to them about "Greenwich", they finally remembered that indeed, Greenwich' spaghetti was sweet. I tried reminding them about the Philippines one day and cooked this for them.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of ground pork
1/2 medium onion coarsely sliced
3 pcs of hotdogs, sliced
1 can of 225 ml tomato sauce
2 tbsp of white sugar
salt to taste
spaghetti noodles cooked according to packaging instruction
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

In a pan, brown ground pork. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add hotdogs and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, sugar and salt. Cover pan and simmer for about 10 minutes on slow heat.

Serve noodles with sauce topped with cheese and garlic bread.

Sauteed Vegetables with Ground Pork

My children once complained that they were getting tired of my usual vegetables with chili sauce and sesame oil. Tired and weary, I asked them to cut any vegetables of their choice and I was going to make something out of them. My son brought out the frozen peas and my daughter cut some potatoes, carrots, cabbage and green beans.

With the help of about half a lb. of ground pork, I made this dish. I seasoned it with fish sauce and voila! Sauteed Vegetables!!

Spicy Eggplant

Okey, on this one, I used Lee Kum Kee Spicy Eggplant seasoning. Cooking it was also simple. I used the white onions here. First, cook the ground pork until brown. In the same pan where where you cooked the pork and add the onions. Cook until translucent. The add the sliced eggplants. Once the eggplant is cooked, add the seasoning. Voila, it's as good as what you order from Chinese restaurants.

Word of caution: Spicy. I love it.

Black Bean Garlic Chicken

Okey, just to give you an example of what I was talking about here, I fried(shh) a few pieces of chicken wings and set them aside.

In a pan, I sauteed about 1 tsp of finely chopped ginger few shallots just for a few seconds. I did not want the shallots to become transparent. Added the fried wings in and poured the seasoning. In this recipe, I used the Black Bean Garlic Chicken one. You have to be careful not to cook it for a long time because the sauce dries up easily.

Just before serving, add the onions in. It's that simple.

Actually, at the back of the sachet, the instruction on how to cook this was only 1 sentence, and I am not kidding.

Lee Kum Kee Seasonings

Okey. It took me a while to figure out I was doing something wrong in the way I was posting my images. I thought it was just blogger having problems. Somebody, please give me a knock on my head.

Anyway, these past few days, these Lee Kum Kee Seasonings have been my constant companion in the kitchen. I am loving the fact that I only need green onions, red onions or shallots (if available) and meat of your choice. I hope I won't get used to it. Talk about having too much MSG in your system. We'll, they're good once in a while and it saves you from buying endless bottles of say oyster sauce, black bean sauce, etc. when you only want to cook a small amount once in a while.

Beef Stew

Beef stew cooked without using any cheat seasonings. It never tasted so good.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of stewing beef cut in bite sizes
1 cup of water
1 medium onions, quartered
5 medium potatoes, quartered
2 carrots, sliced in bite sizes
2 celery stalks, cut in 1 inch long
1/2 each of red and green pepper, cut in bite sizes
1 can of 225 ml tomato sauce
salt to taste

Dredge beef in flour and fry until brown. Throw into the slow cooker. Add water and cook for about 2 hours or until beef is tender.

In a separate pan, fry potatoes until cooked. Set aside. On the same pan, saute onions for about 1 minute. Add carrots and cook for another one minute. Add celery and potatoes. Add cooked beef and tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. About 2 minutes before serving dish, add the green and red pepper and cook for about 1 minute. Add salt to taste.

Carrot Cake

You don't need to look very far for a moist carrot cake recipe. This is it. Brag, brag brag and brag some more. It's not mine though. An officemate who hails from UK shared her recipe to me. It truly is delicious. Try it.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ cup oil
2 cups grated carrots
1 small can pineapple, drained

1. sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl

2. add sugar, oil and eggs and mix

3. add carrot and pineapple and mix (mixture is quite moist)

4. place into 13 X 9” pan and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 40 minutes or when it fails to leave fingerprint when touched in centre

Cream Cheese Icing

1 4 oz package cream cheese
½ cup butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. measure all ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth

2. spread over top and enjoy

Embutido

A very traditional Filipino Dish. Sausages, Eggs, and vegetables rolled into a layer of ground pork.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of ground pork
2 eggs
ground pepper
soy sauce to taste
1/4 cup flour

4 boiled eggs, quartered
2 sausages, quarted (I used honey-dijon sausages)
1 medium carrots, peeled and quartered
2 pcs of dill weed pickles, quartered

Mix the first five ingredients in a big bowl. Flatten the mixture on a wide and smooth chopping board or on a clean counter top. Arrange the last four ingredients in the middle and roll the ground pork making sure that all the last four ingredients are not sticking out of the ground pork mixture.

For some, they wrap them in tin foils and bake them. I just drenched the rolls in flour of flour and fried them in a pan.

For a healthier recipe, I also add grated carrots, thinly sliced celery, pickle relish in the mixture.

Want to know more about me?

Visit me at Blogkadahan. Unfortunately, it's written in Tagalog. Visit me just the same. It's a group of Filipino bloggers with different personalities and varied interests.

Hey, you're welcome to say something there.