Daddy's Day Chicken

June 20, 2010

The name of our very late dinner for tonight... "Daddy's Day Chicken."

Why? Because Daddy Eio invented this dish right after his mini concert at home. I know, he should be pampered today, but let me tell you my errr... excuse. *grin*

We had our late lunch around 2:30 -3:30 p.m., after attending Sunday mass, at Paulaner inXintiandi. Wanting to have a little exercise after a heavy lunch, we walked home from Xintiandi, bought milk tea with pearls along the way and reached home at about 4:30p.m.

As we got home, we decided to sing along with our magic sing.

Snowe massaged daddy's feet while I set up the machine (she said it's her gift to dad). Skye started selecting her favorites songs. Then, the magical voices filled the airs in parkville :-) the four of us take turns with the microphone, and i noticed that the line-up of songs are all for Daddy. It's his day so let him be.

At 7 p.m. I asked him if he's hungry and if so what does he want me to prepare for dinner. He said he's still full and we should have dinner later. Okay, I said, anyway the kids are not hungry yet. I just took out the chicken middle wings from the fridge to thaw.

When Eio got tired of singing he decided to cook the chicken. I don't exactly know the amount of the ingredients he put in but he said he boiled half-a-kilo of chicken first with water, fish sauce and a few cloves of crushed garlic, when the chicken is almost done he added some light soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar and sprinkled ground pepper. There's also his trick of alternating a little cold water while frying the chicken in the final stage. The result was very delicious, the taste is something new to us. He asked me to take photos as he put the cooked dish on the dining table and teased me to post here :D

And we had the very late dinner at 10:30 pm.

Fried Espada Fish and Steamed Okra with Bagoong Isda

I haven't cooked Espada fish back home, but I remember tried eating one. Espada is always available in the wet market and is also one of the cheapest fish sold here. I bought one piece, about 750 grams and decided to fry it to match the Okra Eio bought the other day. The fish vendor cleaned it for me, so i just have to wash it thoroughly before frying.

For frying the espada fish, I used:
1/2 cup cooking oil
a teaspoon of salt
ground black pepper

Rub the salt inside cavity and on the fish, sprinkle some ground black pepper, heat the oil in a frying pan over high-heat, and fry the fish just until golden brown.



For the steamed Okra:
Wash the Okra and place it on a pan and add 1/4 cup of water, over low-heat cover the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Serve with kalamansi and Bagoong fish. 

Skye loved the Okra dipped in bagoong isda and kalamansi sauce on her first try, and immediately saved some pieces of okra on her plate. Snowe likes the fried fish with vinegar and patis, she finished her food on her own! Yay, for Snowe! 

Tree Planting and Champorado and Dried Fish (Tuyo)

It's raining on a Saturday morning in Shanghai. We woke-up early today because Skye and her Dad are going to Minhang district. There is a tree-planting project by the Chinese Government, and they are joining with some of Eio's officemates.
I decided to cook Champorado for our breakfast because Skye and her Dad love it, and I believe it will boost Skye's energy for the day... (chocolate!) and here's how i prepared it, very easy!

For the ingredients:
1 cup malagkit rice
6 cups water
3 tablespoons of Cocoa
1/4 cup White Sugar
Powdered Milk (usually served with evaporated milk, while others prefer adding coconut milk)

How to:
Wash and drain malagkit rice and place in a casserole, add 6 cups of water and let boil until the rice puffs with occasional stirring. Dissolve cocoa in hot water and add to the congee. Let boil for a few minutes, add more water if needed. Add sugar depending on how sweet you like your champorado. Serve with milk.
I usually add sugar depending on who will eat it. Skye prefers a sweeter champorado and not mixing the milk into it.


And she'll eat this way....

I love it with Tuyo,

and Eio, too!


And Skye planted two trees, she said it was fun planting trees.

Skinless Longanisa

Ingredients:
750 grams of ground pork with a little fat,
a head of garlic - crushed,
A tablespoon of rock salt,
half a cup of brown sugar,
ground black pepper

Procedure:
Combine first the crushed garlic, salt, sugar and ground black pepper on a glass bowl until all wet with the juice of garlic, then add the ground pork. Mix thoroughly (mas masaya i-mix by hand ito). Refrigerate overnight or for at least an hour. Cut square pieces of aluminum foil 5"x5" will do. Form into a log (I used 1 heaping tablespoon) then place on a foil and roll tightly. Do this with all the remaining mixture. Your skinless longganisa is ready for cooking after chilling for two hours, make sure you take off the foil before fying. You can stack the remaining portions on a sealed container in the freezer for weeks :-)

Grilled Oysters

Wash the oysters carefully and place on the hot grill for a few minutes until the shell opens. Serve each oysters on the half shell with a dipping sauce or sliced lemon.

I prefer this vinegar-onion sauce:
Combine chopped red onions, a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of sugar and ground black pepper in a cup or individual soup bowl. Stir until the juice of onion dissolve the crystals, then mix in a half cup of vinegar. You can add chillies and chopped spring onions if you like.

Sarap nitong pulutan!

Crispy Pata and Fresh Vegetable Salad

We had this for dinner last night. Eio bought about a kilo of pork shoulder last Sunday and asked me to cook it for dinner the next day. I thought, that would take hours to prepare. So, before we started watching Stargate SG1 series on dvd, I washed the pork, placed it in a casserole covered with water, added some salt, black peppercorns, cloves of garlic and onions. After removing the scum as it started to boil, I left it covered for about 90 minutes in low heat. I put it in the fridge in the morning and took it out before 6 in the evening.

While heating the oil in the casserole, I prepared the sauce. I mixed together half cup of rice vinegar, 1/4 cup kum chun soy sauce, minced 2 shallots, crushed a clove of garlic , sliced a piece of green chilli, a teaspoon of sugar, salt and ground black pepper. I also prepared All-around-Sarsa ni Mang Tomas for the kids' sauce.

Before putting the pork in the casserole for deep frying, I added a pinch of salt in the hot oil, Mom said it would reduce the spattering of oil. While waiting again, for the pork to brown, I prepared the veggies. I placed pieces of romaine lettuce, slices of cucumber, tomatoes and fresh mint leaves on the serving dish. The dressing for the salad would be Kewpie's roasted sesame salad dressing.

When the pork is already brown, I added about a tablespoon of cold water in the oil before i took out the cooked pata, TF said to make the skin crispy. And just after taking the photo, hubby arrived. I served this with hot steamed rice and a bottle of sprite. I thought there'd be left-over pata for today but we were able to finish it all last night.

Fried Milkfish and Nipa Vinegar of Hagonoy

One of my favorite Ulam, Fried Bangus or milkfish, The best when matched with different dippings or side dish - pure vinegar from Hagonoy, fried eggplants, fresh tomatoes and "bagoong" or shrimp paste.
Yes, the dish looks like Daing na Bangus or marinated milkfish but it's not, we just fried it that way. That is, fresh milk fish cut half from the back, head to tail, and divided into four pieces, add a little salt and pepper and it's ready to fry.
Another thing I really miss is the Sukang Hagonoy, just like Sukang Paombong, there's sweetness in it's sour taste, only thing is I'm sure I'm having pure vinegar because it's from my Uncle's Sasahan (nipa cluster) and Tuba (it's like an alcoholic drink among the farmers) straight to the Tapayan (big clay jars).
My Mom prepared this dish many times when we're home back in the Philippines last December, because she knows we really miss the kind of fish not present here in Shang. Thanks Mom!

Palitaw

Palitaw, Palitaw!
Ilulubog, Lilitaw!

Palitaw, one of my favorite Pinoy Kakanin, it's very easy to prepare and cook. I've been dreaming of this for months.

Made with Glutinous rice flour mixed with a little water just enough to form a ball and pressed to make it shaped like a tongue.


Arrange on a plate while shaping the rest of the mixture. Meanwhile, boil about a liter of water on a pan.


Put the glutinous rice dough in the boiling water.


Wait until they float, it means it's already cooked, and scoop it out.


Submerge in cold water to prevent it from sticking together.


Drain.


Roll the Palitaw in grated coconut.

Arrange on banana leaves (kailangan yun para kakanin talaga ang dating).


Mix some toasted sesame seeds with white sugar.


You can sprinkle sugar on top or roll it on the sugar mixture and they're ready to eat. Yummy!

No, I didn't cook this. I just watched my TF (Tita Fanny) and Mom while they're busy preparing the snack. I was having coffee when they decided to cook this kakanin and too bad, it's almost done when I thought of taking photos.

PinoyCook's Baked Macaroni

I've been a stay-at-home-Mom for many years now, 6 years it is, and living abroad has made me focus on experimenting in the kitchen. I've done lots of my Mom's and my TF's recipes, and for the many times I ran out of ideas, I just browse the internet and look for some dishes I never tried before.
One of the websites I got hooked on was shared to me by Mare Hershey where she got her recipe of Bopis. It was houseonahill(dot)net in 2004, where I got the baked macaroni recipe, which is now a hit to most of our friends here and back home. Last November, some friends are asking me to bake for them for their Christmas party, but I was scheduled to fly home first day of December. Oh, I missed that oppurtunity to earn some extra money.
I haven't thanked enough Ms. Connie Veneracion of Pinoycook for the praises I get whenever I serve her bakedmac, and for continuously inspiring us, her readers, to cook at home.
So, this post is to show the many times I was able to put Pinoycook inspired dishes on our table.

This is the first time i made bakedmac , funny because it's on a round tray cannot find rectangular baking pan then, served with Pinoycook's Roasted Chicken. - July 2006


Snowe's 1st Bday - Baked Mac, Pork Menudo, Beef Cutlets with Buttered Vegetables, Roasted Chicken and Chicken Pineapple - November 2006


2 trays of BakedMac i brought for potluck in Pinoy Christmas Party in Shanghai, December 2006

Snowe's 3rd Birthday - Baked Mac November 2008

Bakedmac for the New year's eve of 2009 in the Philippines

Chinese New Year 2009, Shanghai

Kalan de Uling

 

Modernized "Kalan de Uling" made in Pungo, Calumpit, Bulacan

We love to celebrate!

We're a family who loves celebrations - birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, Christmas, New Year, etc.. we do celebrate and "Who would cook?" was never a problem. Both my Mom and Dad's side of the family has it's own specialty, like my Dad's Mother, Lola Isyang (RIP), whose line is into Kakanin, she's made the best Kutsinta with Monggo and Puto (steamed rice cake). Aunt Glo, Dad's sister, however managed to learn the way Lola cooks it, but because she's busy with her own "halamanan" she can only share with me her bestest "Atchara" or pickled papaya. Ta'nio (short for Tito Onio) is loved by his famous Kare-kare.
While Tita Rosie, Mom's eldest sister, never ran out of "Suman" the one you dip into a little sugar, she sells it almost everyday in Calumpit and Pulilan where they live. I also love the way Tita Letty cooks "Kilawing Labanos" and "Dinuguan". TF or Tita Fanny is the best nowadays, she knows a lot of pinoy food, name it she can do it. She was our cook when we had our "Greenyard Coffeshop and Kambeerngan sa Halang" and when we were catering for Tierra International or TICC. She's there for most of the occasions in our life, anytime we need her, she's just a text away.
Below is a photo of TF's dishes - Tiffany (inside white cups), Lumpiang Shanghai, Pancit Malabon, Spaghetti and Biko. I did the Macaroni Salad in the bowl.

Until now TF never fails to please us whenever we have occasions at home.

Special Salted Eggs and Tomatoes

I have nothing much to say about this salted-egg-tomato-salad. I just called it “special” because my dear daughter, Skye, prepared this for dinner. It’s one of her favorite ulam these days (at least my kids are prepared for the crisis, because that will be all for tonight). He he he…
Skye loves assisting me in the kitchen. She likes peeling and chopping vegetables under my supervision. Today, I think she’s ready to do it alone. So, while I was busy on YM chatting with her Dad (who’s in Hongkong for 2 nights and is in an internet cafe), and because we came home late from Century mart, I asked her to prepare our dinner. I instructed her to chop some cherry tomatoes and salted eggs and there, she's ready for dinner.She can prepare dinner by herself, Yahoo! (proud Mommy *winks*)
This combination of salted eggs and tomatoes usually goes with fried or smoked fish, but to us, we can have it as the main meal. We also sometimes have hardboiled eggs, tomatoes and fish sauce and the girls will feast on it already.

Talangka or Hairy Crabs

There’s a lot of food scare going on these days, and I'm thinking “what’s next?” Wala na bang safe kainin!? From Milk to Eggs to crackers and so on… do we still have any options? Well, for me I just don’t mind them, because I know everything eaten in moderation is just fine. Besides, healthy or not, our time will come and we'll all die. Nyahahaha!
Just like eating Crabs. Oh, I soooo love crabs! Small crabs, alimango (mud crabs), alimasag (blue crabs). I even tried eating damuko.
In our childhood days (oh, don’t count back!), my siblings and I walk a kilometer long to and from our school. Along the road are lots of rice fields and a number of prinsa (it’s a wooden gate for letting the water in and out of the rice fields)
-or irrigation canal, and on these prinsa we can see baby crabs or pakot swimming and climbing up and down the wooden gate. Sometimes, we’d be curious and take a handful of them only to put them back and wait for the peak season of catching small crabs or “talangka.” It’s during the rainy seasons when you’d be able to find lots of talangka in the ricefields. We’ll use a fishing rod with fish bait or bintol (a square net with bamboo frame) or bikbik (made of coconut shell) to trap the crabs. We don’t only have fun then; we also earned some money, especially if we were able to catch more female than male crabs, because it’s sold separately, the female costs higher than male. (Of course females are more valuable… biased me… hehehe).
I really miss that part of my childhood, sighs...
Talangka is now rare in Hagonoy (Bulacan), maybe one of the reasons is the change from rice farming to fish farming and another is the use of fertilizers and processed feeds.
Gladly, I still can enjoy female crabs in this part of the world… not as how I enjoyed it before but a bit close. They are called hairy crab here, very much like talangka but bigger, but I'm sure it’s talangka.

I asked my suki in the wet market for this, “ci maoxie” or female crab, and this is the "smallest" i get when i asked for small ones.

I washed them clean and put it in the casserole. Place it covered on the stove top, of course you should turn the heat on...

and wait till they turn orange-y...

and there they are trying to run away from me….ha ha ha!


That's how i usually cook my talangka - steamed or halabos. I also make burong talangka whenever there are smaller ones available.

Storing Shrimps or Prawns

I love shrimps! It’s sweet and juicy specially when cooked fresh. It can be cooked in many different ways and can be added to a lot of vegetable dishes. I believe shrimps are rich in Iron and Omega-3 fatty acids.

There are different kinds of shrimps, but my favorite is called “Swahe” in Hagonoy. In my hometown Shrimps and Prawns or Sugpo is abundant (will post about this in the future). Here in Shanghai they are called duixia, and in the wet market they are often sold swimming in a big basin. 

I bought some shrimps yesterday and store it for later use. I always buy them alive to keep them fresh even if I store them in the freezer for weeks. Dead shrimps are smelly and keeping them in the freezer will make them mushy when cooked and of course the taste is different.

I learned from my Dad this simple technique of storing shrimps, he said you should place it in a plastic container and then cover the shrimps with water before putting it in the freezer so it will retain its freshness and won’t turn orange-y.

And true, to my experience I can keep them in the fridge for weeks until needed.