Typical soup of the Gallician region northwest of Spain, this flavorful dish constitutes a meal in itself. You can modify this and use any meat or combination of meats and vegetables you desire and still maintain that Gallician flavor.
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (with bones)
1 Spanish chorizo (cubed into 1/4" sizes)
1 ham bone
5 cloves garlic (diced)
1 carrot (cubed into 1/4" sizes)
1 large potato (cubed into 1/4" sizes)
2 celery stalks chopped
1 small cabbage (sliced)
1 cup hot pepper leaves (sili leaves)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 mid sized tomatoes (cubed into 1/4" sizes)
1 madium sized Spanish onion chopped
1 tblsn. pimenton (red pepper powder)
1 tspn. salt.
dash of black pepper
Recipe:
In a soup pan, heat olive oil, pimenton, tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic, ham bone and chorizo. Once the garlic turns brown add carrots and 4-5 cups water and bring to a boil. Add the chicken breast. Turn heat on low to simmer for 45 minutes. Take the chicken breast out while adding the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 15 minutes. Debone the chicken, dice it and put it back on the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve while hot!
I discovered an easy economical 30 minute Vietnamese dish using a P60 package of Filipino beef tapa. First you have to purchase 2 strands of Tagalog Pechay costing P15 pesos and a P60 package of Pho rice noodles at your favorite Oriental store. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 lb. of beef tapa sliced
1/4 k or 1/2 package of Pho noodles
2 tblspns. flour
2 trands of bok choy (Tagalog pechay), sliced 1 inch long
2-3 tblspns. oyster sauce
1 tblspn. sesame oil
2 tblespns. crushed dried hot peppers
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/3 cup white wine
dash of black pepper
Instructions:
Boil noodles for 3 to 4 minutes and set aside in a bowl. Mix the sliced beef with flour, hot peppers, garlic. Heat pan and pour 1/4 cup cooking oil and sesame oil and saute the beef for 2 minutes adding the oyster sauce. Add the white wine and stir until sauce thickens, then add the bok choy. Continue stirring for about 2 minutes then add the black pepper. Pour the mixture over the noodles and serve while hot. Enjoy!
Picnics are a thrill especially in the days of my youth, and
dining on banana leaves brings me back to those memories. On the second floor of the Podium is a Thai/Singaporean/
Malaysian restaurant called Banana Leaf... and you literally dine on the leaf.
As you enter and sit on your table, you are given a free Roti bread with a dip to entice your palate. Our first order was the Tom Yum soup, similar to the Filipino version of Tamarind soup but instead, they use lemongrass for sourness. Next was their signature Garlic Crab dish where they pour mounds of sauteed garlic on the crab. I particularly loved the Grilled Pompano being an avid amateur fisherman myself. We also had their Curry Chicken, Pad Thai Noodles, Egg Rolls, Fried Calamares.
Average cost per entree is between 250 to 350 pesos except for the crab dish which was around 120 pesos per gram. A great place especially for a family dinner or just for two!
Across from my house is a small Chinese grocery store that sells cooking ingredients and some prepared food items. I bought some siomai dumplings and saw packages of Lomi noodles inside the cooler so I decided to try making this brand of noodle soup fro a change.
Ingredients:
1/2 kilo Lomi noodles (soaked in water for 30 mins)
1 breast of chicken
1/2 cup of chopped celery
1/2 cup of chopped carrots
1/2 cup of chopped onions
6 siomai dumplings
1 tspn salt
1 tspn chicken powder
3 tblspns soy
1 egg beaten
2 tblsns corn starch
1 tblsn white pepper
1 lemon or calamansi
Directions:
In a pot, boil the chicken breast with 3 to 4 cups of water. Add salt and chicken powder, carrots, onions, and celery and turn the heat to medium. After 40 minutes, remove chicken breast and dice and put back in the pot. Add the Lomi noodles, siomai. After about 10 minutes, in a cup, add cornstarch and mix with half a cup of water and pour into the soup until it thickens. Add the egg while stirring. Add the soy and the lemon to taste.
Coming back from a trip to Tagaytay, I chanced upon a roadside fruit stand where I bought some pineapples and the vendor offered to sell me some yellow ginger while explaining the health benefits of this root crop. I began to experiment by using the root plus the pineapple I purchased and came up with chicken adobo. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 kilo chicken (chopped)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy
1 slice pineapple (chopped)
3 cloves garlic
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn salt
1 yellow ginger sliced thin
2 cups water
Directions:
In a pot, mix all the ingredients and heat to a boil. After boiling for 10 minutes, put the heat on medium for 40 to 45 minutes until liquid is reduced and oil is formed from the chicken fat. Turn off heat and chicken is ready to serve.
Tucked away in the back
of the Cliffhouse across
Yellow Cab in Tagaytay is
Fire Lake Grill, owned and operated by Chef Huang. I ignored the restaurant specialties which were grilled steaks so I opted for
the Lamb shank braised in mirepoix on a bed of risotto (P1200). To compliment the meat, I ordered the grilled Chilean seabass on a bed of sauteed greens (P900). Their dessert was to die for which was a mixture of the senses, a home made coconut ice cream laid on top of a sugar crusted cone placed on a bed of seared pineapple (P250). Fire Lake Grill was chosen as one of the top 10 restaurants in Tagaytay...it was quite a heavenly experience!
Located at the back of the Mall on Boracay Station 2 is the wet and dry market where tourists on a budget, can find fresh meat and seafood. Around the market are "Dampa" restaurants where you can have them cook for you whichever way you want your food done. The average price is around P150 per kilo. The best way to maximize your budget is for you to ask them to utilize every means, like for example using the crab broth to make crab and corn w/cabbage soup by requesting them to charge you a minimal fee for that purpose.
