Grilled Pork Chops

 Another easy recipe which you can enjoy with the family.

6 pork chops,
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 teaspoon (or more) hot sauce (Tabasco, etc.)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste


Sprinkle pork chops with a little salt and pepper. Grill pork chops over medium coals for 35 minutes, turning once.
Meanwhile, make barbecue sauce. In small saucepan, combine tomato sauce, water, onion, ketchup, hot sauce, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Bring sauce to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Brush pork chops with sauce; grill 5 minutes. Turn, brush the other side, and gill 5 minutes longer.
 If you want, you can slice the porkchops in bite size pieces before serving,

Kimchi

Hubz went home with this pasalubong this evening.... 

Freshly made Kimchi,

He bought it from a korean store at Paseo at Sta. Rosa Laguna. I love kimchi. I could eat it alone like a salad. Yum yum

Few months ago,  I posted here the recipe for kimchi fried rice. The husband loves it and I think, I will be making this again this weekend. :)

If you want the recipe for Kimchi Fried Rice, you can have it here.

Happy weekend everyone and Happy Food Friday everyone!

Gising gising

I love spicy food and this is one of my favorite vegetable dish next to laing. Here is my recipe for gising gising.

You will need;

2 Tbsp. Cooking Oil

3 cloves of Garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cups chopped Baguio beans

1/4 kilo lean ground pork

1 Tbsp. Fish Sauce

 

1 pack of Knorr gata mix

2 fresh chili peppers, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Then you have to;

Heat pan then saute onion and garlic using as little cooking oil as possible. Add ground pork and saute some more. Once the ground pork is already cooked, remove excess cooking oil . Throw in the baguio beans and add little water bring to a simmer.

In a bowl, add the coconut mix, salt, and pepper. Mix well before adding to the pan.

Add the chili pepper . Season with fish sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes. Until sauce thickens.

Serve with plain rice.

Easy lang di ba. :)

Happy food Friday everyone!

Easy Sweet and Sour Pork

For this you need:

half kilo pork. cut in serving pieces

1 pack breading mix bought at the supermarket (this save my time)

For the sauce you need:

2 tsp brown sugar

half cup pineapple chunks, set aside the syrup

half cup pineapple crushed, set aside the syrup

1-2 tsp of thai chili sauce

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 bell pepper cut in squares

1 onion quartered

Now what you'll do;

Put the breading mix on a bowl and dredge in the pork pieces.making sure that the pork is well coated.

In a pan, heat enough oil. Then throw in the pork pieces in the hot oil. Cook until both sides are brown. Place on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

In a separate saucepan, dissolve sugar in pineapple syrup.  Simmer for a minute or two. Add in the onions, bell pepper, chunk and crushed pineapples, tomato sauce and the Thai chili sauce. Simmer again for a minute. Turn off the heat. Add the fried breaded pork pieces and mix until the pork is well coated with the sauce.
Serve and enjoy.

Marciano's Resto

Vegetable Salad

If my memory is right this dish is called Brad Shaw Pork Saltimocca with mashed potato

Last Tuesday, we had lunch at Marciano's at Greenbelt 3. The price was okay, food was okay too but nothing to rave about. According to reviews, their pizza is a must try, maybe I will try them soon. Oh well....

Happy Foodie Friday everyone.

Pancakes anyone?

I know...there are lots of premix pancakes available at the supermarket but just for fun, I made my own home made pancake last weekend.

You will need;
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Then you have to;
Beat the egg and add remaining ingredients until stir until smooth. Butter preheated non stick pan. Be sure it’s fully hot before putting batter down.
Pour batter onto hot pan. Flip the  pancakes as as they are puffed and full of bubbles but before bubbles break to cook the other side.

Serve with butter and maple syrup or chocolate syrup.

Yehey...I did my first ever home made pancakes. :)

Hmmmm....was thinking of making home made ice cream soon...hahaha!

Maki Dream



After making my own gyoza, I wish I can make my own maki too. Kaya ko kaya? Keeping my fingers crossed,

Happy Food Friday!

Gyoza

Let me share you the recipe of one of my favorite japanese food. Yaki Gyoza!!!!yummm!

You will need;
1/2 pound ground pork
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tsps soysauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp grated garlic
1 fresh egg
1/3 cup chopped cabbage
2 Tbsp chopped green onion
20 gyoza wrappers (the round ones)
1 Tbsp sesame oil for cooking
salt and pepper to taste

So you will do

In a bowl, mix in the ground pork, soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh egg. When everything is incorporated add the chopped cabbage, grated ginger and spring onions . Set aside and cover the bowl with cling wrap. I did this to make sure that the taste of  pork and the vegetable blends well together.

Place a teaspoonful of filling in a gyoza wrapper and put water along the edge of the wrapper by fingers. Make a semicircle, gathering the front side of the wrapper and sealing the top.

Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil (or whatever cooking oil you have)

When the pan is hot, place the gyoza in the pan. Add a cup of water or enough just to cover the gyoza. When the water disappears, drizzle some oil (I used sesame oil) and fry  for 2 minutes or until the bottom side turn brown. Use a spatula to scoop the gyoza out.

Serve with dipping sauce which is one part soy sauce,one part rice vinegar and one part chili oil. If you don't have rice vinegar and chili oil it tastes great in just soy sauce too.

Itadakimasu!!!

Boiled Eggs anyone?

I love hard boiled eggs. The only thing is I do sometime experience difficulties in cooking it. Here's are some tips and tricks in cooking hard boiled eggs, that my friend thought me.

Place raw egg in saucepan.

Run cold water into the saucepan until the water is 1 inch above the egg.

Place pot on stove and cook over medium heat until it boils

Boil for 2-3 minutes for soft boiled eggs, 10-15 minutes for hard boiled.

When cook, drain the hot water and replace with cold water. Add some ice cubes to the water.

When peeling the boiled eggs..
You may want run the eggs under cool while doing that. This often helps separate it from the shell easier.

So there you go...perfect boiled eggs :)

Happy Food Friday

Beef Bulgogi

As promise, here is the recipe I used for making Beef Bulgogi.
 
What you will need;

1 1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp Sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Mirin
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Ginger, grated
2 tbsp Sesame seeds,toasted
1 onion sliced
Garlic, minced
1k Sirloin, sukiyaki cut
Cooking oil for frying

Then what you will do;

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly except the sliced beef.
Add the beef and marinate for about an 1 hour.
Heat some cooking oil in a large frying pan.
Fry the beef in high heat and take out as soon as there are no pink parts on the meat.
You can add the marinade slowly while cooking to that the bulgogi wont be dry.
You can add mongo sprout and diced carrots if you want.
Garnish with toasted sesame seed.

Serve and enjoy. I like eating this with Kimchi Fried Rice

Kimchi Fried Rice

I wanted to make something different for breakfast last weekend so I decided to make kimchi fried rice and beef bulgogi. Let me share first the recipe for Kimchi fried rice.

To make this you will need;
Cooking oil
2 cups of cooked rice
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 cup kimchi, cut to bite size pieces
2 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsp kimchi juice
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seed

The what you have to do;

Saute onion, then garlic. When the onion is translucent add the chopped kimchi. Cooked for a minute. Then throw in the sugar. Stir everything and fry for 5 minutes. Add the 2 cups of rice and mix until everything is incorporated. Add the sesame oil and mix again. Cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt depending on your liking.
Transfer in a  plate and drizzle with the toasted sesame seed. Serve with sunny side up egg.

Will share the beef bulgogi recipe later on.

Happy Eating!

No to overcooked Pasta.

Anyone can make perfect pasta. Here are some tips shared by my friend. You see her brother works as a chef in an Italian resto here in the Philippines.

To start off...

Fill a pot with one quart (1 liter) of water per serving of pasta (1/4 pound, 100 g)  and set it to boil. Stir to ensure that all pasta is in the water and that the pieces are separated. Cook 7 - 8 minutes for long cuts like spaghetti, 8 - 10 minutes for short cuts like penne.
A minute before the pasta's cooking time is up, fish out a piece of pasta and check for doneness. You want an al dente, or chewy texture- Taste, or break open a piece of pasta to test for doneness. When it's ready, drain the pasta in a colander and serve immediately with your favorite sauce.

Now to make your sauce and pasta blend together try this strascicata technique.

To do this... Warm the sauce in a skillet while the pasta is cooking. Just before the pasta is done, transfer it, while it is still dripping, into the skillet. Turn to high heat and toss the pasta and sauce. This technique helps the pasta to absorb the sauce, imparting a more complex flavor. This is the technique that I usually do and for me it's a magical way of making my pasta dish more yummy.

Mangiamo!

Chorizo Fried Rice

One reason why I love weekend is because its the only time the husband and I can eat decent breakfast together. So I always make it a point to make a real good one. Like just this weekend, we had vigan longanisa  and chorizon fried rice. :)

Now let me share you the recipe for Chorizon Fried Rice.

You will need;

2-3 pcs chorizo de bilbao cut into rings

2-3 cups cooked rice

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 sili labuyo

1 eggs, lightly beaten

Olive Oil or any cooking oil will do

Then what you'll do;

First...
In a non-stick skillet heat a little oil. Add egg and cook until set. Flip the egg  until the whole thing has set. Slice egg into strips then set aside.

Then lets cook the Chorizo Fried Rice...

In a wok, heat oil and saute onions then the  garlic, and sili. saute until onion is soft and garlic slightly brown.

Throw in the chorizo to the pan and sauté until  it's cooked.

Add rice to the pan and toss until heated through.  Add half of the portion of sliced egg and toss.Take the pan off the heat and transfer in a serving place. Use the remaining sliced egg as garnishing.

Serve and enjoy!

Car Air Filters

We knew that as with most things, cars will break down, will need upgrading or replacing at some point.

The same thing goes for our car’s Air Filters. We must be wise enough in choosing a good one so that the cleanliness of your machine can be maintained adequately.

Car air filter is very important, think of it as lungs for our car. If these get clogged, damaged or worn down it reduces its efficiency in your car. Without an air filter, these could eventually cause big damage, even leading to complete engine failure. Because it performs such an important function, replacing your air filter is one of those simple jobs that we should do regularly to maintain our car’s performance and extend its life.

If you want to find out more about air filters as well as where to purchase a reliable one, check the CARiD website.

CARiD by the way had been trading since 2003 and has different kinds of car and truck accessories as well as the filters that you needed.

They also have a wide array of dash kits, body kits, custom gauges, license plates, HID kits and allot more. It's worth having a look around, who know you might just to find something worth using for your cars.

Padthai

Whenever we eat at Thai resto, padthai is a must to order. Since this is my favorite, I wanted to make my own PadThai so one weekend I brave myself in making this dish.
With the researching and reading (online and cooking magazines) I did about this dish, I come up with this version....

What you will need;

8 oz. Hofan  noodles, available at  the oriental section of the supermarket

1 to 1 1/2 cups raw chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion chopped
1 cup tofu cubed
1 fresh egg
3 cups fresh bean sprouts
3 spring (green) onions, sliced
1/3 cup crushed or roughly chopped peanuts
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
lime wedges for serving
oil for stir-frying,

PAD THAI SAUCE:
Just mix everything.

3/4 Tbsp. tamarind mix (I used sinigang mix) dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1-3 tsp. chili sauce
3 Tbsp. brown sugar

Then what you have to do;

1.Bring to boil a pot of water and  dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. I boiled my Hofan Noodles for 3 minutes. Do not overcook as it will be soggy. Remove from heat, wash in cold water and drain.  Set aside.

2.Heat a large wok over high heat until very hot, saute onion then garlic. then add the chicken strips. About 1-2 minutes add the tofu.

3. Then add the Pad Thai sauce and simmer for a minute. Season with salt and pepper.

4.Low the heat and add the noodle, Stir rigorously, keep everything moving in the wok.

5. Then when everything is mix, push the noodles to one side of the wok and crack an egg into the middle. Let it set for 10-15 seconds and toss everything all together.

6.Add the beansprouts. Keep things moving. Add more sauce if it looks a little pale.

7. Throw in the spring onions. Turn the heat off, and quickly give the wok a good stirring to mix everything together.

8. Turn off the heat and transfer in a serving plate, topped it with spring onions and add fresh lime wedges :)

Pork Menudo

Menudo, is another comfort food that brings childhood memories. When we were kids, my mom owned this small food business. She offered dishes to her customers such as picadillo, dinuguan, kaldereta, sauted corned beef and menudo. So during lunch and dinner, my siblings and I can pick any viand that we wanted from our small carinderia. My siblings would picked picadillo while I preferred menudo. :)

I remembered we would helped mom chopped the onions and crushed the garlic she used in her cooking. That was the time I started to love cooking too. :)

Anyway, here is my simple Menudo recipe I learned from my mom.

You will need;

1/2k pork kasim, diced
1 cup diced pork liver
(marinte both pork and liver this also in soy sauce and pepper)
2-3 hotdogs sliced
2 cups pork broth
2 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup cubed red ripe tomatoes
1/4 c. tomato sauce
1 green bell, diced
2 cups diced potatoes
1 carrots cut in cubes
2  tsp fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Then what you will do;

1. First fry the potato and carrot cubes, in batches, until the edges are lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

2. Sauté onion, garlic and tomatoes then add pork then simmer uncovered, reduce the liquid to half.


3. Add the pork liver then mix, mix, mix.

4. Add tomato sauce, carrots, potatoes. Simmer stirring occasionally.


5. Then pour 1/2 cup pork broth. Season with salt.

6. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

7. Serve hot.

This is my entry for Food Friday. Happy FF day everyone!

Korean Army Soup

There are many version in making this soup. I am sharing you how my husband cooked this last weekend. I tell you, I super love this hot and spicy soup. :)

You will need;

1 tin Spam, sliced
4 hotdogs sliced on the diagonal
1 package Kimchi Ramyun
1 heaped tbsp chili paste
Sliced firm tofu
Kimchi

Then what you will do...
1.In a pot, place 2 cups of water. Let it boil

2.Then add the sausage, spam and sliced tofu. Simmer for a minute

4. Throw in the ramyun

4.Then add the kimchi according to your liking.

5. You can add korean chili paste if you want it more spicy.

6. Voila… Budae Jigae (부대찌개)!!

Yummeh!!!

Food Friday: Packed Lunch

My packed lunch for today at work would be penne with tuna and tomatoes .  I don't bring rice and viand for baon. So If not pasta, it would be sandwich or I will eat out na lang. Its only during weekends that I make home cooked meals. You know, busy with work,. I really dont have that enough time to  prepare or cook during workdays.

Do you bring baon  at work or in school din ba?

Happy Food Friday!

Arroz Caldo

Arroz Caldo is my favorite meal during rainy days because its warm and calming though I can have it anytime of the day. :)

Since yesterday it was raining all day, I decided to make a pot of this yummy meal. Here is my recipe for arroz caldo

You will need;

3 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 head of chopped onion
Thumbsize ginger, minced
4 chicken thighs or drumstick, cut into serving piecies
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 qts. chicken stock or water
2 cups uncooked rice
1/4 cup chopped scallion
Kasubha
freshly ground pepper to taste
Hard boiled egg
toasted garlic
 
Then...

In a deep pot, sauté over low heat the onion, garlic and minced ginger until fragrant. Add the chicken pieces and cook until skin turn light brown then season with fish sauce and pepper. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and kasubha. Simmer then add the uncooked rice. Stirring often to prevent sticking, simmer for 25 minutes over low heat or until chicken and rice are tender. Add chopped scallion and pepper before serving.

Add hard boiled agg and toasted garlic.

Serve and enjoy.

Sarap talga pag maulan.

Very Chocolaty fudge brownies

 I still got pieces of chocolates (like toblerone milk chocolate, lindt, and hersheys) from my last travel. Since I got bored eating them, I decided to make them into something yummier.

Tada!!!!!

Brownies.....my favorite. :)

You want to make your own, here is how I did it.

You will need;
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine (melted)
1 1/2 cups sugar (brown sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup Cocoa
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips ( I used 200g toblerone Milk chocolate, chopped)
1 cup of bitter sweet chocolate ( I used  lindt madagascar, melted in a 2 tsp of butter)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Then for the direction;

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Place butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 2-2 1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Then add the melted lindt chocolate. Throw in the  flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Throw in the chopped toblerone chocolate. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan or toothpick inserted at the middle comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare chocolate ganache; spread over brownies.  Let it cool for an hour then cut in squares.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

I used hershey's milk chocolate and hersheys kisses. I chopped them into pieces. So about  2 cups of chopped chocolate and 1 cup cream in microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave at  30 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave an additional 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth when stirred.

This is my entry for this week's Food Friday. TGIF everyone!

GT: I love Me - Mentally

I love myself...

I believe that I am smart, I have achieved things that allow me to be where I am right now. I have things that I wanted because I earn it from hard work and lots of decision making. I may not be perfect but atleast, I learn from all my mistakes. Most of all, I am smart because I married the perfrect man for me. :)

I love Me - Mentally is our week's theme for Girl Talk.

To see more entries please visit here

 

Kare-Kare

kare-kare was cooked traditionally with freshly ground roasted peanuts and rice. I haven't tried though. I find the procedure too much time for today’s busy lifestyle. So What I do, I used ready mixes. :)

So for my easy kare-kare here is my recipe...

You will need,

1k pork (I used kasim)
1 bunch of pechay
1 bunch of string beans
3 eggplant sliced diagonally
1/4 cup banana blossom
1-pack mama sita kare kare mix dissolve in 1 cup broth/water
1 tbsp of peanut butter
another 1 cup of broth
onion chopped
garlic chopped

Then...

In a pot, boil the pork for 10-15 minutes until tender. Cut in serving pieces and set aside the broth

In a saucepan, saute the onions and garlic. Then add the eggplant, string beans saute for 5 minutes. add the pechay then the banana blossom. Set aside. (I do cook my vegetable separately so it wont be overcook)

In a separate saucepan, drizzle oil. Thrown in the onion and garlic. Add the pork. cooked for 5 minutes. Then add the cup broth let it simmer. Then add the mama sita kare kare mix dissolved in broth/water. Then peanut butter. Mix until the peanut butter is dissolved. At this time, the sauce will slowly thickens. Make sure you lessen the heat. Simmer for another minute.

You can add the vegetable at the pot or add the vegetable when serving. I prefer the last option. :)

Serve hot with bagoong alamang.

By the way, I posted seafood kare-kare before. Maybe you want to check it too.

Food Friday: My Favorite Chicken

Quarter chicken, java rice, steamed vegetable and corn muffin,  is my favorite meal combo whenever we eat at Kenny rogers. Actually sa kenny rogers (maliban sa max's) ako madalas kumain ng chicken. I always prefer  roasted/ grilled than fried. Well trying to be health conscious kasi :)

kagutom yung pic noh?

Happy Food Friday everyone!

Hot and Sour Fish Soup

We usually had hot and sour soup when we are eating at Thai resto. So I decided to cook it in my kitchen last weekend!

The husband love it, here is the recipe just in case you wanted to try making.

To do this, you will need;   

200 gram fih fillet (any white meat fish ), cut in serving pieces
4 cups water
1 sahet tamarind soup base mix
1/4 cup calamansi juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh ginger
4 pieces dried chillies
2 pcs bay leaves
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons minced garlic
6 pcs tofu, fried and cube
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups chicken
2 pcs eggplants, sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water
sliced scallions

To make the stock, put the water into a large saucepan with the tamarind soup base mix, chiles, bay leaves, ginger, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

After 20-30 minutes, strain the broth, discarding the solids.

In a large saucepan, saute the onion then the garlic, add the prepared stock

Boil for 15 minutes then add the chicken broth.

Simmer for 4 minutes. Increase the heat and bring the stock to a rolling boil, then add the fish and the fried tofu. Let the mixture boil then throw-in the sliced eggplant.  Simmer again and add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Finally add the cornstarch dissolve in water. Keep simmering until the soup thickens. DDrizzled with hot chile oil, to taste, and garnished with some of the sliced scallions.

Serve while hot. :)

Instruction is a bit long but rewarding after you taste it, its yummy kasi according to hubz.

 

Brownies anyone?

I was browsing my files when I saw this old photo of the brownies I made last December.  I baked few batches because a friend of mine ordered these for Christmas give-aways.

Anyway....this photo made me drool,  parang I wanted to have some as in now na hahaha. Cannot wait for this weekend, will bake some to satisfy my craving. Hmmm.....

Whats your recent craving pala?

Happy Food Friday.

GT: I Love Me Physically

What I love most about my physical self  is this week's topic for Girl Talk which by the way has a new home. Kaye of Beauty Queen Gene is our new host. :)

So.....what do I like about myself, hmmm.Let me think...think and think...

I guess it's my smile.

Fish Fillet with Mushroom Gravy

I've been experimenting in the kitchen lately. Since our fridge has the remaining half of the cream dory from my last time cooking, I decided to just make fish fillet with mushroom gravy sauce.

To make this the fish fillet
300 grams of fish fillet cut in serving pieces
5 tbsps. of cooking oil
3 tbsp. of flour
1 beaten egg
2 calamansi

First Season the fish fillet with salt and pepper then add calamsi juice. Marinate for 10mins. Then heat the pan with cooking oil.

 Dust the fish with flour then dip it in egg then dust again with flour.  Cook the fish fillet on both sides until browned. Keep the heat at medium-high so that a crisp crust forms on the outside of the fish while the inside remains moist. Never overcook fish. Drain the cooked fish fillet on absorbent paper towels. Set aside the fish fillet.

For the mushroom gravy, I tried an easy recipe before which I got here. But this time I was tinatamad so I did a more easier way, since I got a pack of mushroom soup. I just followed as per pack direction. Add more sliced mushroom. I then let it simmer. When the soup became a bit thick,  get a cup of the mushroom soup and add a tbsp of oyster sauce. Magkalasa..pwede, hehehe!

Arrange the fish fillet then pour the musroom gravy over it.

So our dinner was so filling, we had steam rice, fish fillet with mushroom gravy and syempre the mushroom soup. Perferct kasi it was raining that night.

Have a splendid week everyone!

Seafood Paella

 

Cooking a paella requires high heat for sauteing and then moderate to low heat for simmering. While this sounds easy, it takes a bit of practice to master.

I've learned that...

When making paella the most common mistake is to cook it with too much heat that will end up with undercooked rice. So what to do, add a cup of water or broth and must lower the heat to cook the rice.

Another mistake is too much adding of broth that will end up in a soupy paella. To fix this,  increasing the heat just long enough to boil off the excess water will help though  too much heat will burn the rice. What also works is to remove the excess broth with a large spoon. 

.It was my 3rd time to cook paella and I may say, somehow my paella cooking is much better,  yummier and less messy on the preparation hahaha.

Want to try making paella you can grab the recipe  here .

Happy Foodie Friday!

GT: Whats inside my Bag

Few year ago, I posted a tag about whats inside my bag in my other blog. I so enjoyed doing that tag. Now I am sharing you again what's inside my bag. :)

I am using different bag depending on what I wear and depending on my mood. Yesterday, I used this green nine west bag. A gift from my friend who came from Dubai. :)

Now let me show you what is inside.

Fossil Wallet (remembrance ko when I was in Sydney), coin purse, pocket size notebook, WD external hard drive, digicam, cellphone, ipod, moisturizer, lotion, perfume, my office badge, bag hook, hairbrush, intradental floss. Mints.
My kikay pouch (inside are lipstick, lip gloss, blush on, face powder, eye liner, etc.)

A small bag wont really work for me. Whenever I buy bag, I consider its size and shape. Hay sabi nga ni hubz, I always bring the whole house with me hehehe.

So there....that is what inside my bag. Whats yours by the way?

See more of Girls Talk entry here.

Sweet and Spicy Squid

This is an impromptu dish.

I cooked paella last night for our father's day dinner then I had this extra squid. I planned to throw in everything in my paella but I remember one cooking show I saw on tv, dont over dump everything. So okay....what do do now with the extra squid rings.

Calamari...pwede kaso, its a messy thing to do and Im not in the mood to cook that.
I checked my kitchen for any idea. Then I saw a bottle of Thai chilli sauce.

So ayun, an idea popped! I made this Sweet and Spicy Squid.

To do this, you will need the following...

5 pieces of squid. cleaned and cut into rings
2 onions quartered
1 green bell pepper
3/2 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
Thai chilli sauce

Then in a sauce pan, drizzle some cooking oil, saute the quartered onion, do this for a minute. Remove the onion from the pan and set aside. On the same pan, put half cup of water, then sugar. You can add sugar if you want to be sweeter. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. As the Thai chilli sauce. Its up to you how much chilli sauce you will add. Then throw in the squid rings. Stir until all the squid rings are coated with the sauce. Dont over cook.

You can do this also serve this dish on a sisig plate. When the spicy squid is ready. Get your sisig plate then place it on a stove. Heat it for 5 minutes or so. Make sure that the sisig plate is hot, hot, hot ha! :)Then put the sweet and spicy squid.

Remove from heat and serve with rice (pwede rin with beer)

Ipod for Father's Day

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

Father's day maybe over but the gift giving for this special day is still on.

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Steam fish fillet with ginger sauce

This is hubz favorite lately,  for this week, I cooked this twice for him. Again I am sharing another easy recipe.

To make this very easy dish, you will need the following;

200 gram fish fillet (I used cream dory)

2 inches ginger cut into thin strips

3 tsbp olive oil

1 tsbs sesame oil

3 tbsp soy sauce, mix with a tbsp of brown sugar and and 1/4 tsp of sesame oil

Onion leeks cut into 2 inches

salt

fresh cracked pepper

When everything is ready...you will then...

Pat the fillet dry with paper towel. Season with little salt and fresh cracked pepper. Place the fish on a foil and  put few pieces of ginger on the fillet then wrap it up. Place into a steamer, set over several inches of gently boiling water, and cover. Gently steam for 10 to 12 minutes. When is ready, remove from the aluminum foil and place on a serving plate.

Then prepare the sauce.

Heat up a pan over high heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, swirl around until it’s hot. Thrown in the remaining ginger. Stir it for a minute. Pour the hot oil with ginger over the steamed fish. Put the pan back onto the stove, add the soy sauce mixture and stir well. As soon as the sauce bubbles up and boils, pour the soy sauce over the fish. Topped with onion leeks. Serve the steamed fish immediately with white rice.

Mocha Cupcake with Marshmallow frosting

For the cupcake you will need;

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup water

1 sachet of 3 in 1 instant coffee

1/2 cup white sugar (I used caster sugar)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven at 350F or 170C. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners.

Stift together flour, bakins soda and salt. Set aside.

Add the instant coffee to water. Stir until the coffee dissolves.

With an electric mixer, beat butter sugars and salt.  Do this until  its light and fluffy.

Then add egg and the vanilla. Beat well.

Lower the speed and add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternating the coffee mixture. Increase speed to medium until exverthing is incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly on the muffin liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes of until toothpick inserted at the middle comes out clean (I bake mine for 18mins only) Cool on a wire rack.

Then make your marshamallow frosting.

To do this you will need;

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

2 eggs whites, unbeated

1/4 tsp salt

3 tsbp water

Then what you will do,

Combine the egg white, water , sugar, cream of tartar and salt in a heatprof bowl over a pan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolves and mixture turns white.

Transfer mixture in an electric mixer with whisk attachment starting with low speed and gradually increasing to high, until the mixture becomes stiff, glossy peaks form about 7 to 10 minutes. Add vanilla and mix. Use immediately.

Tuna Pesto Pasta

For tonight's dinner we had Tuna Pesto Pasta. A vey simple pasta dish that I am sure you will surely love.

To make this, you need

200 grams Classic Pesto Sauce (I got mine from the supermarket)
2-3 tablespoon virgin olive oil
Tuna chunk100 ams tuna in water
500 grams Pasta, al dente ( I used Penne)
Freshly grated Parmesan for serving (optional)
Salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste

Then....
Heat the pan, drizzle voo. Stir in the pesto sauce then the tuna. Throw in the cooked pasta. Mix make sure the pasta is coated by the pesto sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in a serving platter. Drizzle with voo.
Serve with parmesan cheese on top.

Enjoy!