Salmon with Hollandaise/Tarragon Sauce

 

Ingredients:

    1 lb. Salmon

    1 stick of butter

    1 tblspn. cooking oil

    pinch of salt & pepper

    Hollandaise/Tarragon Sauce

        1 egg

        1 stick of butter

        1 lemon

        pinch of salt

        pinch of tarragon

In a frying pan, add the cooking oil and butter and bring to a medium/high heat. Saute the salmon and upon finishing add a pinch of salt and pepper.

In a deep pan, add around 3 cups of water and set to medium heat. In a small bown, heat a stick of butter and clarify using a spoon. Place a stainless steel bowl on top of the pan with heated water. Add an egg and stir/beat using a wisk. Add the clarified butter a little at a time while constantly stirring. Add half a lemon juice and a pinch of tarragon and stir until the sauce thickens to a consistency that of a gravy. Turn the heat off and pour the sauce on the salmon.

Serve with rice, sauted carrots and zucchini and corn.

        

    

Barbecued Tuna Belly

 

The Philippines is known for its bountiful tuna and is served in most Filipino restaurants. They are usually caught in the waters of General Santos and Davao and are sourced all over the country. Two of the more famous tuna meat parts served in restaurants are the belly and jaw.

Ingredients:

    1 Tuna belly, cut into 3 parts

    Marinade:

        1/2 cup soy sauce

        1/2 cup Sprite

        1 lemongrass stalk, cut into strips and pounded

        3 tablespoons, calamansi or lime juice

        3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

        2 slices of ginger

        1 teaspoon of black pepper

        1 tablespoon of cooking oil

        1 hot chili, diced

        2 tablespoons of oyster sauce

To make the barbecue sauce, bring the marinade to a boil then add a teaspoon of water mixed with corn starch. 

When cooking/barbecuing the tuna, brush every so often with the marinade as the tuna meat opens in the process of cooking.

Shanghai Rolls

 Ingredients

Using the previous ingredients from the fish relleno, add 1/4 kilo of diced shrimp and 1 more egg and mix well. Using an egg roll wrapper, roll about 3/4 of an inch thick and seal the eggroll by brushing egg on the sides to seal the eggroll. Deep fry the Shanghai rolls for a minute or more until it turns light brown. Set aside to cool and cut diagonally in half.

Sweet & Sour Sauce:

    1 orange, press to extract juice

    2 tablespoons light brown sugar

    1 teaspoon soy sauce

    2 tablespoons of UFC banana ketchup

    1 teaspoon corn starch mix with 1/2 cup water

Mix ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil and until sauce thickens, and serve.

Whitefish (Bangus) Relleno

 Ingredients

    1 whole Bangus fish, deboned

    1/4 ground pork

    2 eggs

    1 carrot, diced

    2 tblspns pickle relish

    1 sml box, raisins

    1 small onion, diced

    1 clove garlic, diced

    1 teaspoon black pepper

    1/4 cup soy sauce

    2 tblspns oyster sauce

    3 calamansi juice or 1/2 lime juice

When buying the fish, ask your fish monger to clean and separate the meat from the skin so you won't have the trouble of doing it yourself (as I did). In a bowl, place the skinned fish and add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 3 calamansi juice. Using another bowl, debone the fish meat and add the rest of the remaining ingredients except for the eggs and saute the meat in a pan until the pork is well. Put aside to cool for 30 minutes and add the 2 eggs while mixing.

After 30 minutes, using a spoon, fill the skinned fish with the filling using the opening of the fish head and seal it using a toothpick.

Cook the fish in a wok filled with oil or on a grill but wrap the fish in aluminum foil so it does not stick to the grill. Slice and serve with soy sauce mixed with lime or calamansi juice.

Chicken BBQ (Inasal)

Ingredients

    1 Whole chicken cut to 4 pcs.

    1 lemongrass stalk, diced

    3 slices, Ginger, diced

    2 tablespoons, sugar

    1/2 cup soy sauce

    1/2 cup vinegar

    1/2 cup Sprite

    5 calamansi juice

    3 tablespoons, Anato seeds

    1/2 cup cooking oil

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl except for the Anato seeds and cooking oil. In a plastic bag, add the cut up chicken and the marinade and place in the refrigerator overnight. Mix the 1/2 cup of oil with the anato seeds until the oil turns reddish in color.

Heat a bag of charcoal in a grill and cook the chicken. To make sure the inside meat of the chicken pieces are well done, constantly brush the chicken pieces with the marinade and turn them as often as possible. Brush the chicken pieces with the anato oil when nearly done to add color to the meat. Serve while hot!

   

 

Crab with Fiddlehead Fern (Pako) & Coconut Milk

 

Ingredients

    2 whole mud crabs, chopped

    1/4 Squash, sliced

    1/4 lb. Fiddlehead fern

    1 cup Coconut milk

    1/4 butter

    5 heads of diced garlic

In a deep pan, heat butter then add the garlic. Saute for a minute then add the coconut milk and squash. Cook until squash is soft then add the crabs and fern leaves. Fern leaves need to be aldente! Mix well for about a minute and a half then add salt & pepper to taste. Bona petite! 

 

Chicken Curry

INGREDIENTS:

    1 whole chicken cut into equal sizes

    2 large carrots cut into 1 inch sizes

    2 large potatoes cut into 1 inch sizes

    1 large green bell pepper cut into 1 inch sizes

    3 green chilies (siling haba)

    1 cup coconut milk

    1 tablespoon turmeric

    1 tablesppon curry powder

    2 tablespoons vegetable oil

    5 cloves garlic, diced

    1 medium sized onion, chopped

    salt & pepper to taste

In a deep pan brown the chicken with the cooking oil. Set aside the chicken, set the heat to medium heat and saute the garlic and onion. After about 2 minutes, add 2 cups of water and add potatoes and carrots and the half cooked chicken. Add the green chilies and coconut milk. Set the heat on simmer and add the turmeric and curry powder, and cover the pan. Stir every 15 minutes to check if nothing sticks at the bottom. After 30 minutes, add the bell peppers and check if the potatoes are done and sauce becomes thick. Serve while hot!
 

Pandan Chicken

 INGREDIENTS:

• 350 g skinless chicken thigh (cut to bitesize pieces)

   

  16 pandan leaves

• 4 pcs coriander root

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1½ tbsp coconut milk 

   

• With a pestle and mortar, pound and grind coriander roots, garlic, white peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and 1½ tablespoon of coconut cream until well combined. 

• In a bowl, mix chicken pieces with marinade until evenly coated. Let it marinate for 30 min.

• Twist the middle part of the pandan leaf (with both ends sticking outwards) to prepare a pocket where you can put a piece of marinated chicken. 

• Wrap the pandan leaf around the chicken by looping the ends of the leaves into the pocket. Cut off any excess leaf. Repeat for all.
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• In a pan or pot on medium-high heat, heat up enough oil for deep frying. When the oil is hot enough, about 180 degrees Celsius, deep-fry wrapped chicken for 3 to 4 minutes until the chicken is golden brown. 
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• In a small pot on high heat, mix palm sugar, 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sriracha hot sauce and 1 tablespoon of tamarind juice until sugar dissolves and sauce thickens. 

• Set aside to cool and transfer to the sauce dish.

Heart of Palm & Papaya Eggroll with Tamarind-Peanut sauce

 

INGREDIENTS:

    Papaya

    Carrots

    Heart of Palm

    Cilantro

    Eggroll wrapper

    Shrimp

    Onion

    Garlic

    Salt & Pepper

    2 cups peanut oil

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

    1/2 cup Water

    2 Tblspns Soy sauce

    2 Tblspns Tamarind sauce

    3 Tblspns Sugar

    2 Tblspns Molasses

Cut the vegetables julienne style and chop the shrimp. Saute the vegetables and shrimp in a pan with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and add salt & pepper to taste. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes then wrap the vegetables burrito style.

In a deep pan, pour 2 cups of peanut oil and fry the eggrolls in medium-high heat and arrange in a strainer to let the excess oil drip.

In a sauce pan, add water and bring to a boil. Using a wooden spoon, stir the pan while adding the peanut butter until it dissolves in the water. Keep stirring while adding the molasses, sugar and tamarind sauce. Set aside to cool.

    

Tuna Mackerel Wrapped in Banana Leaves

 

 

 

Sinaing na Tulingan, is what people from the province of Batangas call this dish and is usually steamed in a clay pot. The ingredients are simple yet it should take proper cleaning as it can cause an allergic reaction. It is best to let your fish monger clean them before cooking.

Ingredients:

    1 kilo of Tuna Mackerel

    1 whole banana leaf

    5-6 pcs dried Bilimbi (Kamias)

    2 slices of Ginger

    1 tspn. black peppercorns

    1/2 cup vinegar

    2 tblspns course salt

    1 cup of water

Massage the mackerels with salt to loosen the bones. Wrap the fish with a strip of banana leaf covering the head so it won't fall off when cooking. Place the rest of the ingredients at the bottom of a crockpot and fill with water covering the fish. Set the crockpot on high heat until boiling point, then set it to low. Cook for 4 hours, then serve.

 Baked Fillet of Sole with Lemon & Butter

I was looking for cod fillets but the cold storage place next door had none in stock, so I opted for sole. Here,s a simple recipe where any 6 year old kid can cook!

Ingredients:

    1/2 kg Sole fillets

    1/4 lb. butter

    1/2 bulb garlic, chopped fine

    1 lemon

    Italian parsley, chopped fine

    Dash of salt & pepper

In a pan, heat the butter and garlic. After the butter has melted, pour the juice of half a lemon. 

In a baking dish, assemble the fillets and sprinkle salt and pepper. Pour in the heated garlic-butter-lemon and bathe the fillets. Sprinkle the chopped parsley and slice the remaining lemon and arrange on top of the fillets.

Set the oven at 180 degrees and after heating for 5 minutes bake the fillets for 25 minutes then serve.

Winged Bean (Sigarillas) with Coconut Milk

 

The Bicol province in the Philippines is well known for its cuisine using coconut milk and chili as its main ingredient. They can create a variety of menus using different vegetables such as lotus leaves, string beans, bamboo hearts, banana hearts, papaya, jackfruit, etc.

Ingredients:

    1/2 Kg Winged Bean chopped

    2 tblspns cooking oil

    1 large Onion, sliced

    1 Garlic, chopped

    1/4 Kg Pork, diced

    1/4 Kg dried Shrimp

    1 cup Coconut milk

    5 pcs. green chilies, diced

    5 pcs. red chilies

    2 slices ginger

In a deep pan or a wok, saute the onion, garlic, ginger in oil for a minute. Mix the pork and dried shrimp and cook for 5 to 8 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and the chopped winged bean and bring to a boil. After 5 minutes, bring to a simmer and cover pan and check until the winged bean is tender. Top the dish with red peppers.

    

    

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Pork Belly Humba with Cua Pao

 

Using Pork belly, this sumptuous meal is cooked the same style as the Filipino Adobo but with a twist. The same ingredients are used plus an additional pineapple juice is added to sweeten the meat.

Ingredients:

    1 kg. pork belly cut 2"

    2 to 3 star anises (optional)

    1/2 cup soy

    1/2 cup vinegar

    1/2 cup pineapple juice

    1 tblspn sugar

    1/4 tspn salt & pepper

In a pot mix all the ingredients and bring to a boil. After 5 minutes, bring to a simmer until the meat is tender then add the salt and pepper. Serve in a cuapao bun sold in Chinese oriental food stores for about P1.20 a dozen.

    

Grouper with Zucchini & Onions cooked in Lemon Butter & Garlic

Ingredients:

1 Fillet of Grouper (Lapulapu)

1/4 stick of Butter

1/4 clove of Garlic, chopped

1 Zucchini, sliced

1 Onion, sliced

1 tblspn Oyster sauce

1/2 lemon slice

Blanch the zucchini in boiling water for a minute and saute with oyster sauce along with the onions. Set aside on a platter.

In a pan, saute the garlic and butter with 1 tspn of olive oil. After 2 minutes, add the lemon juice and the fillet and cook for 1 minute on each side. Place alongside the zucchini and add salt & pepper to taste.