Overseas Pinoy Cooking

Lasang Pinoy 21, the Anniversary Edition: Cooking for Heroes My heroes : Being from Vigan my choices would be husband and wife Ilocano heroes Diego and Josefa Gabriela Silang . Diego Silang led a revolt against the Spanish government. Diego was able to expel the Spanish provincial governor of Vigan. The Spanish authorities hired Miguel Vico, a Spanish mestiso friend of Diego to assassinate him. On May 28, 1763, Diego Silang was shot in his own house in Vigan. After Diego’s death, his wife, Josefa Gabriela Silang , took over the revolt and fought courageously. From Abra Josefa led her troops towards Vigan on several attempts, but she was driven back and was forced to retreat to Abra riding a fast horse. And finally a strong force was then sent against her to Abra, this time she was captured. On September 20, 1763, Josefa Gabriela Silang and about 100 followers were executed. My food: Pakbet , the authentic pakbet cooked in Ilocandia is not a sautéed vegetable in onio

Sweet and Sour Maya Maya . Sweet and sour fish or escabeche is a special dish serve on special occasions. There are countless variations of this dish, from the Spanish adaptation of escabeche to the popular Chinese sweet and sour . I would like to share my easy to prepare version. Sweet and sour fish is best serve immediately to enjoy the crispiness of the fried fish. For more appealing presentation it is recommended that the fish should be fried as whole. But you can always cut or slice the fish for easier frying if a big frying pan or an oval shaped frying pan which I used on this recipe is not available. What ever frying method used the fish must be fried until crispy. With the availability of commercial tomato sauce preparing the sauce has become easy as one two three. Just sutee some ginger, garlic, onion and throw all in your vegetables, give it a quick stir and sweeten with sugar olla! You have your instant sweet and sour sauce, you can’t go wrong. Here is the recip

Ensaladang Katuray , I am sure a lot of you are wondering what katuray is? Katuray is a small tree that is normally grown at backyards in the provinces. When in bloom you wont miss the tree full of white butterfly like flowers. The flowers are harvested before it is fully open and it is normally cooked with other vegetables like dinengden or bulanglang and of course this beautiful salad on this post. There is no special way of cleaning just remove the stem, open up the petals and remove the stamen and /or pistil of each flower. When cooked it gives a bitter sweet taste and a slight leathery texture. Once in a while you could find them in the supermarkets, but when they are in season surely you could buy them at wet markets. Ingredients: 1/2 k. katuray flowers 1 medium size tomato, chopped 1 small size onions, chopped thinly 2-3 tbsp. bagoon na isda 2 tblsp. vinegar Cooking procedure: Trim stem and remove stamen and/or pistil of each k aturay flower and rinse. I

Pork Spareribs with Tausi , have you wonder what is inside with that pork spareribs with tausi rice toppings at Chowking. I still remember when they were still starting. If I remember it right before Chowking there was Ling Nam, I still remember their outlet at the old Glorieta. During that time their food was far more better. I have to admit when ever the family eats out at Chowking we used to order beef or wanton mami and pork spareribs or braised beef rice toppings. At that time I was trying to recreate their pork spareribs with tausi and braised beef of course it was not exact duplicate but sometimes it was close enough, I am not a professional cook or a food expert I only did it for the reason that I want to please my kids. Today I wouldn’t even recommend eating at Chowking for some reason that their food has now tasted bland. There is no trace of Chinese cooking on their food, imagine eating boiled pansi t canton disguised as guisado . Well I would admit that their halo-h

Bistek is a beef dish coined after the western beef steak. There is no similarity unless of course sirloin is use but you can always use any lean part. Other less tender part is more flavourful but it has to be cut thinly and pound each slice lightly to tenderize, otherwise it has to be cooked a little longer. It is a tasty, saucy and tangy, it goes very well with piping hot rice. Bistek is one of the best seller at carenderias , canteen and any other eatery. I my self really love this dish, because it is salty and tangy it make you crave for a second serving. Ingredients: 1 k. beef sirloin, cut into thin slices 2 medium size onion, sliced into rings 1/2 head garlic, finely chopped 1/2 c. soy sauce 1/4 c. kalamasi juice 1/2 tsp. sugar pepper cooking oil Cooking procedure: Marinate beef in a mixture of soy sauce, kalamansi juice, sugar garlic and pepper for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator. Separate the beef from the marinade reserving the marinade on

Pinoy Chicken Curry . Curry is not a regular spice use in Pinoy cooking as against our neighboring countries in Asia. The only curry dish that has gain acceptance to most Filipinos is the popular Pinoy version of chicken curry. The curry powder used is just a fraction of the curry spice in an authentic Indian curry, a little more will make the dish very spicy and will not be acceptable to most. But with the right amount of this spice this chicken dish is unforgettable, I know from experience when ever I cook chicken curry surely it was always a hit. Ingre dients: 1 kilo chicken 1/2 head garlic,crushed, peeled, chopped 2 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2” strips 2 thumb size ginger, skinned, cut into strips 2 small size potato, skinned, quartered 1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped 1 small size carrot, skinned, cut into wedges 2-3 stalk celery, sliced diagonally 1 cup coconut milk, kakang gata 3 cup coconut milk 3 tbsp. curry powder 1/2 tsp. chilli powder 1/4 c

Ginisang Bulaklak ng Kalabasa .How would you like unique vegetable dish of squash flowers. Our Bulaklak ng Kalabasa Recipe or dish is made up of bulaklak and talbos ng kalabasa with the addition of sitaw. Wait till you get a bite and you could just feel the velvety texture of kalabasa flowers and tops tickle your taste buds.  This is one of my favorite vegetables, when ever squash flowers are in season I always make it a point cook it at least once in a week. The simplest universally acceptable way of cooking is of course ginisa. Here is the recipe. Ingredients: 1/4 k. pork, boiled, diced 1/4 k. medium size shrimp, shelled 2 big bundle bulaklak ng kalabasa, trimmed 1 big bundle talbos ng kalabasa, trimmed 1 big bundle sitaw, cut into 1 1/2” length 1/2 head garlic, minced 1 medium size onion, chopped 1 big size tomato, chopped 1/4 c. patis salt vegetable oil Cooking procedure: In a sauce pan, sauté garlic, onion and tomato. Add in the pork and shrimp, stir fry

Paksiw na Pata ng Baboy . Pork leg is cooked in vinegar and soy sauce, it is basically similar to cooking adobo or humba except that dried banana blossoms are added. I want it sweet as well so a table spoon of sugar was also added. Paksiw na Pata ng Baboy  is best cook very tender, cooked till the meat start to peel off the bones and the skin texture is almost like gelatin. This dish is best eaten with piping hot rice. Try our other Pork Paksiw recipes;  Paksiw na Pata Batangas Style   Paksiw na Lechon   Paksiw na Tokwa at Baboy   Ingredients: 1 small piece pork pata 1/2 cup vinegar 1/3 cup soy sauce 1 head garlic,peeled, crushed 1 small packet dried banana blossoms 3-5 pieces bay leaf 1-2 tbsp. peppercorns sugar salt Cooking procedure: Ask the butcher to saw cut pata crosswise at 1 1/2” in thickness, Wash pork pata thoroughly and drain. Marinate the pork pata in the mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic for 30 minutes to 1 hour. In

Poqui Poqui or Poki poki . Sounds weird for the green-minded, it is a sautéed grilled eggplant in onion, tomato and egg. It is a breakfast dish native to Ilocos region. I don’t know why it is called that way but this dish is really good. It is simple to prepare, should you want another way to cook eggplant I would recommend to try it. If you hate the mess of grilling you could also boil the eggplant, of course you would not get the burnt aroma but it as good Ingredients: 4 medium size eggplant 2 medium size tomato, diced 1 medium size onion, diced 3 pcs. egg, beaten salt cooking oil Cooking procedure: Grill each eggplant until skin is charred, let cool. Remove skin of each eggplant and cut/chop at about 1/2” crosswise, set aside. In a sauce pan, sauté onion and tomato. Add eggplant and stir cook for 3-5 minutes or until eggplant start to disintegrate. season with salt to taste. Add in egg and continue to stir cook for 2-3 minutes or until egg start to solidi

Sisig , this dish is truly Filipino. It is said that it originated in Pampanga. Over the years it has evolved to countless variations and the most popular is served on a sizzling platter and toped with egg. Other than pork, there is the sisig chicken, tuna, bangus, tofu ect. Here is my version of sisig. Ingredients: 1 pig head, cut into four parts 1/2 k. pork liver 6 large size onion, chopped 6 pcs. green sili, chopped 2 pcs. pork bouillon cube 2 c. vinegar 1/3 c soy sauce 2 tbsp. liquid seasoning 1 tbsp. peppercorn 3 pcs. bay leaf kalamansi salt and pepper Cooking procedure: In a big casserole boil pig head, peppercorn, bay leaf and salt for 30 to 45 minutes or until tender and skin can be separated from the skull. On the last 5 to 10 minutes of boiling add in the pork liver. Remove from casserole and drained in a colander until dry or wipe with paper towels. Cut head parts and liver into grilling size and grill until brown and crispy. Dice face p

Pork Barbecue is another popular food of Pinoys. It is often sold at neighborhood street hawker in the evenings. Pork barbecue is one of the favorite of children and of course by all. There are no rules on the ingredients of the marinade, from soy sauce with kalamansi to the banana ketchup laden street barbecue or to the worcestershire sauce spiced barbecue of your favorite restaurant. The easiest and fastest way is to use the commercial barbecue marinade. The best barbecue should be grilled just cook with the slight charcoal burnt on the meat. Definitely do not overcook if you don’t like dry and hard barbecue. If its possible always cook in an open flame charcoal grill. Ingredients: 1 k. pork meat with fat 3/4 c. Mama Sita’s Barbecue Marinade bamboo skewer cooking oil Cooking procedure: Wash pork, remove any traces of blood. Drain in a strainer. Slice pork and cut into 1 1/2 by 2 inchess strips, discard pork skin. Marinate with Mama Sita’s Barbecue Marinade for 3

Pinoy Spaghetti , have you wondered why our spaghetti is totally different with the Italian spaghetti or any other spaghetti. It is sweet and with a tinge of spiciness. It has something to do with our love of sweet foods, especially with food cooked in tomato sauce. Pinoy spaghetti has come to be love by our kids. And of course every kids birthday celebration there will always be the sweet Pinoy spaghetti. Here is my version. Ingredients: 1 k. spaghetti, cooked 1/2 k. ground beef 1/2 k. ground pork 6 regular hotdog, sliced 6 sliced ham, cut into 1/2” square 4 c. Filipino style tomato sauce 2 medium size onion, finely chopped 1 medium size carrot, finely chopped 2 stalk celery, finely chopped 2 pcs. red and green bell pepper, finely chopped 1 big can button mushroom, finely chopped 1/2 c. pickled relish 1/4 c. soy sauce 1/2 c. corn starch 1/4 c. sugar 1-2 tbsp. chilli sauce salt and pepper grated cheese cooking oil Cooking procedure: In a large sauce

Rellenong Bangus, Relyenong Bangus is a special dish because of the amount of work involved in cooking. Cooking process itself involves several processes, preparing the vegetables and fish. Removing the fish meat leaving the fish skin intact, steaming, de-boning, flaking, marinating, stuffing and frying. Preparation of the bangus for relleno is equally tedious. After selecting the right size of bangus, it is then scaled, gutted, and the intestines removed. There are three ways to remove the fish meat off the skin: Pounding , gently pound fish to loosen meat from the skin. Use flat side of a knife in pounding. The spine is then snapped at the nape and near the tail. Insert the end of the handle of a sandok through the fish neck. Gently scrape the meat off the skin by scraping down to the tail, going around and on the other side of the fish. If the meat is entirely separated from the skin, remove the handle, squeeze and push out meat starting from the tail going out through

Buko Pandan Salad , pandan has become a craze for the Pilipinos. I remember when I was younger that the only use of this plant was added to cooking the rice to add the aroma of pandan. Today pandan has become distinctively Pilipino. You have probably have them on your bakery products, drinks, desserts and other food products where vanilla was the only preferred flavor. The most popular is the buko pandan salad and here is the recipe. Ingredients: 8 fresh buko, scrape meat 2 cans Nestle cream 2 boxes unflavored green gulaman 6 pcs. pandan leaves 2 big cans condensed milk 12 cups buko water pandan essence/flavour concentrate Method: In a sauce pan dissolve gulaman in buko water, add pandan leaves. Simmer until gulaman dissolves, add 3 drops of pandan essence. Pour gulaman solution in a wide shallow container, let cool and allow to set, discard pandan leaves. Cut gulaman into 1/2” cubes, set aside. I a large bowl combine buko, gulaman, Nestle cream and conden