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 :)