Escabeche (Sweet and Sour Fish)

Escabeche is a typical Mediterranean cuisine which refers to both a dish of poached or fried fish, that is marinated in an acidic mixture before serving, and to the marinade itself. The dish is common in Spanish, Salvadoran, Panamanian, Peruvian, Philippine, Puerto Rican, Mexican and Guatemalan cuisine, and popular in Catalonia, Portugal and Provence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escabeche

We usually call this Escabeche than the common name "sweet and sour fish".

Ingredients:

1-2 Big Tilapiya fish (seasoned with salt and pepper, deep fried)

5 pcs. of Scallion or the spring onion

1 small red bell pepper

1 small green bell pepper

1 small can of pineapple crushed

1 small carrots (chopped thinly)

4 cloves of garlic (crushed and chopped)

5 pcs. small red onion (from the scallion)

2 inches ginger (peeled and chopped)

1 pack of tomato sauce

cooking oil

1/2 cup of water

sugar and salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a deep frying pan, heat it with high temperature. Then, add the cooking oil. Add the seasoned tilapiya fish if the cooking oil is already hot. Deep fried both sides. Remove the cooked fish and put it on the plate, Set aside.

2. Remove the excess oil just make sure that the oil left is about 2 Tablespoons. Saute garlic, onion, ginger, bell pepper, pineapple chunks and carrots. Do not burn or overcook.

3. Add the tomato sauce and the scallions. Put the 1/2 cup of water, sugar and salt to taste. Boil for 5 minutes.

4. After the seasoning is cooked, pour the sauce over the deep fried fish and ready to serve.


Eat it with rice.

Korean Food: Gim Bap (Sushi / Rice Roll)

Gimbap is a popular and traditional dish in Korea, it is made from steam white rice (bap in Korea) and various other ingredients, rolled in gim (sheets of dried lever sea weed) and served in bite-size slices.

Gimbap is usually prepare during picnics, camping, outdoor events or as light lunch, served with danmuji (pickled radish) or kimchi (pickled cabbage).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbap

I have lived in South Korea years ago and still remember how it is done. Probably because I love Korean dish and their language :)

Oooppps! sorry for the blurred images here because I just used my mobile phone and they aren't any good but I enjoyed doing it anyhow :p


Ingredients:

10 sheets of dried laver seaweed or 1 pack (you can find this at the supermarket or grocery or if you can find a Korean supermarket.

medium sized fresh carrots, chopped into long strip

medium sized cucumber, chopped into long strip

2 fresh whole eggs (beaten/scrambled)

a pack of bulkogi sticks (korean beef steak sausage)or crab meat sticks

a pack of yellow pickled radish, chopped (in stick slices)

6-8 cups of white rice

1 1/2 Tablespoon of sesame oil

2 Tablespoons of Sesame Seeds

1 Tablespoon cane or apple vinegar

a dash of salt (if you're ingredients are not too much salty)

1 teaspoon of white sugar

a dash of black pepper powder

2-3 Tablespoon of Cooking oil

Procedure:

1. Cook rice with less water but make sure it is not hard to chew. A soft but firm rice is best. When you're buying rice, you should choose the ones which is newly harvest because it is better when making rice roll as they are a little sticky but not soggy and sloppy.

2. Put the cooked rice in a mixing bowl, seasoned it with white sugar, salt, sesame oil and vinegar while the rice is hot. Mix them well and gently to blend with the seasoning. Do not press or mush the rice. Then, set aside to cool down.

3. In a frying fan, slightly pan fry the carrots until they are slightly soften, seasoned with a pinch of salt, but do not overcook. Also, fry the bulkogi sausage meat sticks into the pan with less oil.

4. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add a dash of ground black pepper and salt. Heat the frying pan, add a little oil and pour the egg in a low heat.

5. Cut the cucumber into long strips and remove the seeds as the seeds portion is watery. but do not peel off the skin.

6. Some other ingredients are already prepared when you buy them at the supermarket. Or for less work, buy yellow pickled radish, crab meat, etc in sticks already.

They will all look like this above image.

We need a sushi roller to make gimbap. This looks like a little bamboo mat and you can buy this in any Korean or Japanese grocery/supermarket.

Rolling Instructions:

1. Using a bamboo sushi roller, lay the dried seaweed shiny side down.

2. Spread about ½ cup of rice onto 2/3 of the seaweed, leaving the top 1/3 bare (if you moisten your fingers or a spoon to pat down the rice, you'll get less of a sticky mess).

3. Lay the first ingredient down around 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the seaweed and the rest of the fillings down on top.

4. Roll from the bottom (as if you're rolling a sleeping bag), pressing down to make the fillings stay in.

5. As you continue to roll, pull the whole thing down towards the end of the bamboo mat.

6. Spread a tiny dab of water along the top seam to hold the roll together.

7. Set aside and continue with other seaweed sheets. Cut each roll into 7-8 pieces

Food Trip of the Day: Ginataang Halo Halo & Turon

Oh! I love these two. They are both Filipino food and I can proudly say that they are really delicious! I couldn't find it here in Thailand. So when I went home last January, I bought these yummy goodies :P

Although, I could make some of these, I wanted to enjoy the eating :D (smiley)

Ginataang Halo-halo (Coconut with variety of ingredients like banana, cassava, sweet potato and sticky rice. Halo halo means mixed up in Filipino and ginataang from the word "gata" means coconut milk.

Turon is one of my many favorite snacks in the Philippines. It is made up of the "lumpiya wrapper", the ones we used to make a spring roll. And instead of meat as filling we put banana and a little of langka fruit to make it more delicious and has good smell. It is deep fried and added with brown sugar to make it sweeter.

Chocolate Molding and Choco Mallows

Chocolate Molding is as easy as one, two, three! Just follow the steps below, and you will be able to have a yummy goody chocolate for the family or if you plan to put up a small business.

I bought my ingredients and utensils from Chocolate Lover Store please check the link so you will be able to know on how to get there: http://elektra-journey2haven.blogspot.com/2011/02/chocolate-lover.html

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo of Chocolate Bar (Premium)
1 small cup of Rice Crisp (crushed)
6-10 pcs. of Marshmallows


Materials:

Chocolate molders (shaped of shells or chocolate kisses)
a Teaspoon
Fridge
Knife
Chopping board
Ribbons and Plastic for packaging
Deep pan
Casserole


Procedure:

1. Chopped the 1/2 kilo chocolate bar on a chopping board, make sure they are cut a little so that it is easy to melt.

2. Put a water in a casserole, it should be half filled and let it boil in a high temperature for 10 minutes or so.

3. Then, put the deep pan on top of the casserole. Let the water below boil for 5-10 minutes and as soon as the chocolate melts on the deep pan. The chocolate pieces will melt due to steam process.

4. Mix and when the chocolate melts already, add the rice crisp and mix it well

The rice crisp must turn brown like this.


5. Remove the deep pan on top of the casserole and turn off the fire. Get the molders and put in the chocolate with rice crisp, make sure that the shape of the molders has filled in well carefully. Use a teaspoon.

6. Roll over the marshmallows on the chocolate crisp, do it quickly as the chocolate is still soft. Carefully, arrange them on a plate and keep a distance to prevent them sticking together when they are hard.

7. Then, keep them in the fridge for 8-10 minutes. I sometimes put them in the freezer so it will be easier to become solid.

It is up to you how to package them depending on how much are you going to sell them. In my case, I put 10-12 pieces of tiny chocolates in a plastic and seal it with beautiful ribbons. I sell them about 15.00 each small bag. Or if you wanna make it more cheap. Get a plastic jar and put them there, sell them at 1.50-2.00 pesos each. The chocomallows cost about 2.50-3.00 pesos each. So it is up to you!


Reminders:

1. When you remove the chocolate and mallows in the fridge or freezer, make sure they are hard enough, you can tell by the color of it. Of course, if it looks wet or glossy it means it is still not hard.

2. DO NOT PUT THE CHOCOLATE BAR IN FRIDGE after you bought them from the store because it will not melt easier or not at all when you steam them. Unless, you just want to eat them as it is.

3. Rice crisp is delicious and serve as extenders which means it can help on having many output. I use it to produce more income.

Tikoy or Chinese New Year's Cake (Nian_gao)

Tikoy is a food prepared from glutinous rice and consumed in Chinese cuisine. It is available in Asian supermarkets and from health food stores. While it can be eaten all year round, traditionally it is most popular during Chinese New Year. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time, because "nian gao" is a homonym for "higher year." The Chinese word 粘 (nián), meaning "sticky", is identical in sound to 年, meaning "year", and the word 糕 (gāo), meaning "cake" is identical in sound to 高, meaning "high". As such, eating nian gao has the symbolism of raising oneself higher in each coming year (年年高升 niánnián gāoshēng).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nian_gao

Some people might be thinking on how to eat it. Should it be cooked or just eat the way it is? Are you wondering how to cook "tikoy"? Here's how!

Ingredients:

Part 1

2 white Eggs (scrambled)
Tikoy (chopped into thin bite size)
Cooking oil

Part 2
Tikoy (chopped into thin bite size)
1/2 cup of All Purpose Flour
Cooking Oil

Procedure:

There are two ways on how to cook tikoy: the one with egg or the other one with flour. If you want a little tasty but oily one try the Part 1 ingredients. But, if you want them crunchy and not oily... try the Part 2.

Part 1: Tikoy with scrambled eggs

*In a bowl, beat two eggs.

*Cut the whole tikoy in half. We just need the half of it unless you want more for parties. The half size of a regular tikoy is good for 3-4 persons already. It is a little heavy snack or breakfast.

Tikoy should be cut into small bite size and then put them in the scrambled egg and combine.

*Turn on the stove and fry the tikoy coated with egg in a medium heat using a deep fry pan. Others cook it like a omelet. But, that will be messy. We usually cook it separately. It is tikoy coated with egg and not tikoy omellete.

You will notice that tikoy with eggs absorbs more oil quickly. Try to experiment and compare these two procedures and you will know why.

*When the tikoy is already soft and the egg coating is turned into light brown, it is already cooked, remove from the heat.

*Get a plate and drain the excess oil using the kitchen tissue. CHOW TIME!


Part 2: Tikoy with All Purpose Flour

* It is just the same, the only thing is we used the all purpose flour to coat the tikoy small bite size and not the scrambled eggs.

* Roll over the tikoy slices on the all purpose flour in a plate, make sure it is coated with flour both sides.

* In a deep pan, medium heat, put the slices of tikoy coated with flour and turn them both sides until it is brown but do not burn.

* If it's brown, it is ready to eat! but let it cool down so your tongue won't burn (lmao)

I prefer to cook the part two than the part 1, though. So here below how it looks like :D

Food Trip For The Day: Tikoy & Lumpiyang Shanghai

Our neighbor gave us a little snacks for this afternoon. For those who aren't aware, Filipinos eat about three times a day (with rice) and two to three times a day snacks and we are talking about heavy snacks here (laughs). We usually eat breakfast at 6 or 7 am but at 10 am, we have a morning snack and after lunch at 12 noon we have an afternoon snack at 3 or 4pm. Finally, after dinner at 7 or 8pm, we also have a midnight snack just before we go to bed!

But because of severe poverty, not many Filipinos could be able to eat atleast three times a day. That's the ugly truth about that. And for those Filipinos who are figure conscious, they eat three to five times a day, but they only eat light meals.

It was strange though because I've been dealing people from other parts of the world and some of them eat like twice or once a day! I don't know how they could bear NOT TO EAT like people who does three times a day. Anyway, people aren't the same anywhere.

The featured snacks today are tikoy or the Chinese New Year's cake and lumpiyang shanghai or the spring rolls. They are both Chinese-Filipino dish.

Yum, yum, yum! :P

Food Trip: Sukishi, The Japanese Sushi Buffet Restaurant in Bangkok

This is one of my favorite restaurants here in Bangkok. Sukishi and Shabushi is owned by Oishi, a Japanese Restaurant. They are famous for sushi, sukiyaki or the shabu-shabu.

Shabu-shabu is a Japanese variant of hotpot, related to sukiyaki in style, in that both use thinly sliced meat and vegetables and are usually served with dipping sauces, but it is considered to be more savory and less sweet than sukiyaki. It is considered a winter dish but is eaten year-round.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu-shabu

The Kitchen where they prepare delicious food

The food/ingredients for shabu-shabu move around the customers' seats where they could reach them quickly or more accessibly.

This is my sushi plate with different variations, I got this from the sushi bar.

The sushi plate, shabu-shabu and the sauces. I just love Japanese food really.

Oh wait! I forgot.. This is also one of my favorite side dish. Kimchi or the pckled cabbage. I love both Japanese and Korean dishes.

Sushi and Sukiyaki Buffet, for only 288 baht each person (drinks and desserts included). Take note: They will give you an hour to eat so make sure you consume your favorite food. No left over and no sharing, for they will charge you.

Enjoy pigging out!!! :D

Korean Beef Barbecue (Bulkogi)

Beef Bulkogi



(3 to 4 servings)

Ingredients

For the marinade
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon mirin
1/2 medium onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the bulgogi:
1 pound rib eye, thinly sliced
Lettuce, romaine or bibb
1 cup cooked white rice
1/2 cup kimchi
4 teaspoons hot bean paste
Procedure

1. Add the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, mirin, onion, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, and black pepper to a large bowl. Whisk until combined. Toss in the meat, cover, and set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat a grill pan or a large iron skillet to high heat. Remove the meat from the marinade, and then toss in the pan. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

3. Serve the beef with lettuce, white rice, kimchi, and hot bean paste.

Food Trip For The Day: Sausage & Cheese Sandwich With Chili Beans :)

Below is the picture of the food I ate yesterday at lunch. My hubby prepared this for me. This is called sausage and cheese sandwich with chili beans. First, he grilled the sausages (or he called it hotdogs). It took about 5-7 minutes in low temperature so that the meat will be cooked evenly. Next, he toasted the hotdog buns. After that he just put the sausage on the bread together with the sliced cheese then he added the left over chili beans that he cooked last night for our dinner. Couple with that, he put a little of mustard sauce and tomato ketchup. VOILA! Instant yummylicious food.



I ate these two sandwiches... plus one! hehehe it was indeed very delicious so all in all... I had three sandwiches and I enjoyed them... :D

Korean 101: Cheong Guk Jang Chigae

How can something that smells so bad taste so good? I am referring to sauteed shrimp paste, fish sauce, durian fruit, etc. They smell like hell but taste heavenly hahaha

And this recipe is one good example :D

Cheong Guk Jang is a strong soy bean paste (jang means paste) and chigae means stew.

Ingredients:

2-3 Tablespoons of Cheong Guk Jang
5-10 pcs of medium sized dried anchoves (myeolchi)
2-3 small sheets of dried sea weeds (dasima) or ¼ of A4 size
½ medium sized onion (sliced)
2 pcs. pyeogo mushroom (chopped)
2 stems of peng-i bosot (white, long and thin mushroom)
3 inches sliced squash (Korean squash long in size like cucumber)
1 cup of soya meat (chopped in cubes)
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
1 cup of spring onion
3-4 cups of water
2 cups of aged pechu kimchi or the cabbage kimchi (drain the liquid and chopped)


Procedure:

1. Pour 3-4 cups of water in a pot, add dried anchoves and dried sea weeds. Let it boil for 10-15 minutes. Then, remove or take off the dried anchoves.

2. Put 2-3 Tablespoon full of Cheong Guk Jang, boil for 3-5 minutes.

3. Add aged cabbage kimchi and let it simmer for 6 minutes
squash and boil for 2 minutes

4. Next, the mushroom, onion, soya meat, spring onion, and minced garlic, boil for 15-20 minutes

5. Lastly, add peng-i mushroom , boil for 1 minute and cover the pot. Served smoking hot.

Korean 101: Potato Stir Fry (Kamja Moochim)

All the recipes, I have posted in here are all based on my cooking experience, means that I've already tried cooking them. I have lived in South Korea for a year and I was accustomed by their cooking style and their tradition. Not only that, I have learned to speak, read, write and understand their language. I have gained many friends there too and up to now we still have communication. I kept and compiled list of my favorite Korean recipe taught to me while I was there. So that everywhere I go, I could still remember to cook it for myself and my family.

Having problems on how to get/buy these recipes? There are Korean grocery stores around Quezon City, Manila and Makati area. You may want to google the address so it will be easier to find. I know there is one near the QC hall but I am not sure if it's along Kalayaan Avenue and another one, along Jupiter street in Makati, Philippines.

Here is another easy Korean side dishes. I hope you enjoy it! ;)

Ingredients:

2 medium sized of Potato (thin shoe string cut)
3 inches Carrot
A dash of salt
1/2 Tablespoon of minced garlic
1 Tablespoon of spring onion
2 Tablespoon of Olive oil

Procedure:

1. Prepare the potato and carrots, slice them into thin shoe string cut.

2. In a hot pan, pour two tablespoon of olive oil, add the carrots and potato in high temperature, but constantly mix them to avoid sticking into the pan

3. When the carrot and potato are already half cooked, add the minced garlic and turn down the heat (low temp.), the garlic should be crunchy.

4. Then, put the spring onion and ready to serve.

Korean 101: LETTUCE SALAD

This time, I would like to share an easy Korean recipe. It is usually served as one of those many side dishes on the table. Have you watched Korean drama based on history called "Jewel in the Palace" (Dae Jang Geum)? If you don't then see this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dae_Jang_Geum. In this story, she was trained to cook in the palace and later on due to her perseverance, she became a first lady physician. You will notice that in this drama or any Korean drama, you will observed that there are many side dishes on the table. In every meal, there are always soup, main course, side dishes (10 or 12 kinds or even more) and the deserts.

Ingredients:

20 Lettuce leaves (cleaned)
1-2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
3 Tablespoons of Spring onion (chopped in circles)
1 Tablespoon of Sesame oil
1 Tablespoon of Sesame seeds
½ Tablespoon of White sugar
1 Tablespoon of korean red pepper powder (Kochu-karoo)


Procedure:

1. Wash and clean the lettuce leaves and drain them.

2. In a mixing bowl or plastic container, add the lettuce, soy sauce, and the rest of the ingredients.

3. Mixed them with your hands (put disposable plastic gloves) and ready to serve.

Note: If there is left over of your lettuce salad or you don’t wanna eat it right away, remember to put them in the refrigerator so it won’t spoil too soon.

Thai food: Spicy Prawn Soup (Tom Yum Gung)

I know that this soup is indeed spicy but I love this so much. Actually, I can make this soup not so much spicy by adding more water and putting less chili in it. This my favorite Thai soup, but I love the taste of Tom Yum without the milk. There are two kinds of Tom Yum soup one is with milk and the other one is clear soup. I prefer the last one because I feel like vomiting whenever I smell the soup with milk (laughs). And I don't know why. Maybe because of the strong smell of the spices mixed up with milk.


Ingredients:
200 g mushrooms
2 spring onions
16 peeled prawns (shrimps)
3-4 medium sized squid
1 liter of chicken soup stock
3 tbs lemon juice
1 ts chili paste
3 tbs fish sauce
1/2 Kaffir-lime

Procedure:

1. In a pot bring chicken soup stock into a boil.
2. Cut mushrooms into half. Cut spring onions into 2 cm long pieces. Wash and
clean the prawn and squid.
3. Add lemon juice, chili paste and fish sauce to the chicken soup stock and stir.
4. Add mushrooms, spring onions and prawns and let simmer for ten minutes.
5. Reduce heat and season with Kaffir-lime juice.

Chicken Barbecue

I love the taste of chicken barbecue here in Thailand. I've been searching and studying on how to make my chicken or pork barbecue perfect because my husband loves the grilled meat all the time.

Here is a very easy and short recipe for my chicken barbecue courtesy of www.easy-thaifood.com.

Ingredients:

500 grams of chicken breasts`
3-5 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
2 tablespoons of honey syrup
2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of chili paste or chili sauce

Procedure:

1. Wash the chicken breasts and chopped the garlic
2. Marinade the chicken breasts with chopped garlic, honey, soy sauce and chili paste/sauce for about 6-12 hours.
3. Grill the marinated chicken breasts for 30-40 minutes.


Serve hot with plain white rice.

Thai Food: Omelette With Mince Pork

Do you wanna try something new about making an omelette? This is fun to do because you can make many variations according to your taste and availability of your ingredients at home.

Basically, omelette is simply a scrambled egg topped with various ingredients or "stuffed egg" for short. You can add chopped onions, tomatoes, ham, bacon, cheese and spring onion in your omelette.

But here's how they make an omelette with mince pork in Thailand.

Ingredients:

3 large sized eggs
75 grams mince pork (giniling)
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of fish sauce (patis)
1/2 teaspoon of white sugar
10 grams coriander leaves (kintsay)
10 grams spring onion (approx 1 whole stem)
2 red chillies (sili labuyo)
ordinary cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper


Procedure:

1. Chop the coriander (kintsay), spring onion and chillies.
2. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the minced pork, light soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, spring onion, coriander (kintsay), and pepper. Mix them well.
4. Add the cooking oil into frying pan in medium heat.
5. Fry the eggs mix for 1 minute.
6. Turn the omelette over and fry the other side for a minute.
7. The omelette should be golden brown. To make sure it' s already cooked squeeze it with the frying ladle, see if no liquid comes out. If there is then you will need to cook it a little bit.

Serve With:

Salad Vegetable
Hot Plain Rice
Sweet Chilli Sauce


This recipe makes two servings.

Korean 101: Miyeok Gook (Sea Weeds Soup)

"Miyeok" means sea weeds and "gook" or "guk" means soup. Every meal in Korea must have a soup and side dishes. This soup is very easy to cook among other Korean soups. This recipe is very good for pregnant women or lactating mothers.

Ingredients:

Fresh or dried sea weeds
1-2 Tablespoon of sesame oil
5-8 cups of water
4 Tablespoon of Gook Kan Jang or the Strong Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
1/4 cup of myeolchi or dried anchovy
a dash of ground black pepper

Procedure:

1. If you bought dried sea weeds, rehydrate it for 30 minutes - 1 hour, then drain and wash and cut it into 2 inches long.

2. Add 1-2 Tablespoon of sesame oil in a pot/casserole in a medium temperature and put the sea weeds, fry a little bit about 3 minutes then add 5-8 cups of water (water level must be half of the size of the pot)

3. Put the myeolchi or dried anchovy (small dilis in the PH) and let it boil for 10 minutes.

4. Pour the 4 Tablespoon of strong soy sauce.

5. Add 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic and a dash of ground black pepper.

Serve while hot.

Korean 101: Soon Dooboo Chigae

This is one of my favorite Korean recipes - Soon Dooboo Chigae (soft soya or tofu), When I was in the Philippines, I found it difficult to buy the ingredients because you can only buy those at Korean grocery shops. A friend of mine told me that there are Korean convenient stores along Jupiter St. in Makati and there's another one in Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City.

Thai food is more spicy than Korean so the red pepper powder for korean food is not actually spicy, unless you put so much of it. It is more aromatic. You can also add pork chunks, if u like.

Ingredients:

1 Soon dooboo pack or tube (soft soya or tofu)
1 pack Soon dooboo sauce
1/2 Squash/pumpkin medium sized (cut into cubes)
1 medium sized potato (cut into cubes)
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 of medium sized onion
1/2 cup of spring onion (chopped)
1 egg (not scrambled)
1-2 Tablespoon of red pepper powder
2 cups of water

Procedure:

1. Put soon dooboo sauce in the pan and add two cups of water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
2. Add soon dooboo pack, boil for another 5 minutes
3. then the potato cubes boil for 2-3 minutes, add the squash/pumpkin boil for 2 minutes.
4. Add onion, spring onion, and garlic boil for 3 minutes
5. Put the red pepper powder boil for 3 minutes.
6. Finally, add the egg but do not stir yet, wait for 3-5 minutes to stir.

Serve it hot with or without rice. It is best if you have kimchi as side dish.

French Toast

I would like to share another easy to make recipe for breakfast or snacks - the French Toast. Before, I thought that it was difficult to make because of the ingredients which I wasn't even sure of. Maybe because I thought of the name "french" and to find ingredients seem to be expensive or couldn't find it anywhere in the Philippines. But I was shocked because my husband prepared it for me one morning, it was really breakfast in bed and I felt I was a princess to be served that morning.

Ingredients:

4 slices of loaf bread
1/2 cup - 1 cup of fresh milk
1 egg (beaten)
1 Tablespoon of honey or maple syrup
a dash of ground black pepper and salt
1 Table spoon of butter or cooking oil
Cinnamon flavor powder (optional)

Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a plate or container (except the bread, honey or maple syrup and butter).
2. Put the slice of bread into the mixture, until it is covered evenly.
3. In a frying pan, put the butter or cooking oil.Make sure the stove is in low heat
4. Add the loaf bread coated with the mixture of milk and egg into the pan. Toast or turn the bread both sides until slightly brown.
5. Then put the toasted bread in a plate, pour honey or maple syrup on top or both sides and a dash of cinnamon flavored powder.

Serve while hot. It is best to pair it with hot or cold milk or coffee

Food Trip For The Day: Barrio Fiesta Medley

I've tried this at home when I was in the Philippines. My mom make this for us, as one of the main dish, to pair it with boiled okra and eggplant or any fried fish. This is so easy to prepare because it is similar to salad, which means that there's no need to cook, just mix all the ingredients and presto! It is ready to eat.. :D

Ingredients:

2-3 preserved/salted egg (red colored egg shell usually specially in the PH)
2 medium sized tomatoes
1/2 medium sized onion
1 green mango (unripe one, sour in taste)
1-2 Tablespoon of Barrio Fiesta's sauteed shrimp paste or you can just use your home made shrimp paste

Procedure:

1. Clean and prepare all the ingredients, chopped them finely then, put into a ceramic bowl or plate.

2. Mix well all the ingredients. If it turns out super salty, add more tomatoes.

Ready to serve, pair it with boiled or grilled eggplant and okra; and any fried or grilled fish. Serve with hot rice.

Pork Steak Tagalog

This recipe is really taste good, If I were to choose between adobo and pork steak, I'd rather choose the last one because it is tastier indeed. I tried cooking this last week and my sweetheart loved it! :D

You can try beef if you like. Anyway, the original version of this recipe is really beef steak tagalog, I just made my own version because there was no beef left in the fridge when I decided to cook it lols.

Ingredients:

3/4 kilo tender pork or beef steaks, sliced
1 tablespoon kalamansi or lemon juice
5 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped finely
1 small piece ginger, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup onions, sliced in rings
4 tablespoons cooking oil

Procedure:

1. Marinate the pork or beef steak in kalamansi or lemon juice, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and ground black pepper for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2. In a frying pan, add cooking oil. Add the marinated pork or beef steak and cook in a low heat. Turn up the heat for a minute or two to make sure it's cooked evenly.

3. Add the sliced onions and continue to cook for another minute.

Serve on a platter including the oil and sauce. Best served with hot plain rice. Makes 4-5 servings. Estimated cooking time 45-50 minutes.