Overseas Pinoy Cooking

Paksiw sa Gata, Ginataang Tulingan . If you have a tulingan what kind of dish would you cook it. At times it’s a little difficult to decide on how to cook it. The smaller sizes can be of course cooked as sinaing or even fried or walang kamatayang paksiw . The bigger sizes can be cut into slices best for frying, and of course you can always cook it as paksiw or adobo. Tulingan is also good for ginataan. The big ones are good for grilling, just grill the whole fish in charcoal. I have these 1 kilo piece of tulingan and I didn’t think twice I want to cooked it paksiw sa gata and here is the recipe. Ingredients: 1 k. tulingan , skipjack tuna, about 1 k. a piece 1/2 head garlic, crushed 2 thumb size ginger cut into thin slices 1/4 c. vinegar or 3 tbsp. sampalok sinigang mix 1 medium size onion, quartered 1 tbsp. whole black pepper 2 cups coconut milk cooking oil 3 whole green chilli 3 pcs. bay leaf 2 stalks leeks, chopped salt Cooking procedure: Remo...

Chicken Tocino was a popular grilled item on food courts during the 80’s before the coming of crispy breaded fried chickens. It was even sold on street food barbecues. It was one of the favorite grilled chicken of my then young kids at Cindy’s at that time because it was sweet. Today I still see grilled chicken tocino at some fasfood outlets but not as popular as before, kids today prefer crispy breaded fried chicken. For those of you who have missed the old chicken tocino here is my simple recipe. Ingredients: 1 kilo chicken thighs or breast de-boned 1 tsp. annatto powder 2 tbsp. salt 1/2 cup sugar 1 head garlic, crushed (optional) cooking oil Curing Procedure: In a bowl combine annatto powder, sugar and garlic. Coat evenly each piece of meat with the mixture. In a container with cover, pile chicken pieces one on top of the other. Cover and keep refrigerated for 2 to 3 days to cure. Cooking Procedure: In a frying pan fry to medium heat each chick...

Kinilaw na Baboy at Labanos , Here is a special kinilaw pork dish that is different from the usual raw and soak/cook in vinegar kinilaw. Pork kinilaw at times is first lightly grilled or quickly stir fried before cooking with vinegar. For this post I have used pork loin and liver I first quickly stir fried the pork, the Ilocano term is imbaliktad (seared on booth side) this is of course best for very fresh meat, other wise I recommend that the meat should be stir fried until done as I did with this dish. Here is the recipe of my  Kinilaw na Baboy at Labanos, enjoy! Ingredients: 1 pc. pork loin, about 1/2 kilo a piece, sliced thinly 1/4 pork liver, sliced thinly 4 medium size labanos , sliced crosswise 1/2 head garlic, minced 2 medium size onion, sliced thinly 1/4 cup vinegar 3 pcs. siling haba , chopped salt and pepper cooking oil Cooking Procedure In a wok stir fry pork loin at high heat for 2-3 minutes or until it start to sizzle remove from wok...

Sinigang na Bangus sa Bayabas . Bangus is good for sinigang, in fact it is one of the prepared way of cooking fresh bangus. Today cooking sinigang is as easy as 123, no more messy preparation of souring ingredients, new food innovation has brought to us sinigang seasoning of your choice in powdered form. I my self use these mixes all the time they are convenient and available all year round unlike the fresh fruits used in sinigang which are in season. This time I am not using sinigang mix on my sinigang na bangus sa bayabas I am cooking it from scratch using fresh guava fruits. Here is the recipe, enjoy! Ingredients: 1 large size bangus , about 1 k. a piece 6 pcs. large size ripe bayabas (guava) 1 medium size onion, quartered 1 bundle kangkong , separate leaves and stalks 3-5 pcs. siling haba salt to taste Cooking procedure: Remove scales, gills and innards of bangus . Using scissors cut fins and tails. Wash fish thoroughly drain and slice diagonally kee...

Bicol Express, Gulay na Lada . Here is a fiery dish associated with the Bicolanos as the name connotes. It is widely acknowledged that Bicol express was invented in Manila, what’s in a name, it is a fact that these dish is similar to gulay na lada which is a popular native Bicolano dish. To tune down the fieriness of the original dish I have used mixed jalapeno chilies and siling haba, again you could always use your own ratio or if you can handle really hot use only siling haba . For an added zest I added a couple of pinches of turmeric this will also give little color to the whitish original dish. Ingredients: 1/2 k. lean pork, thinly sliced into strips 300 g. jalapeno chili, seed remove, sliced, (quantity optional) 200 g. green siling haba , seed remove, sliced, (quantity optional) 2 tbsp. bagoong alamang 2 1/2 cups coconut milk 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1 medium size onion, chopped 1 thumb size ginger, thinly sliced into strips salt and pepper cooking oil turm...

Ginisang Munggo with Sotanghon . I love ginisang munggo especially if it is topped with tinapa or dried fish. I also like my munggo sautéed with ginger and a lot of ampalaya. It is one of the most loved Pinoy comfort food. See my previous post on ginisang munggo . Cooking munggo is fairly easy everyone has their own way of cooking, in fact there are countless variation. Here is another one with sotanghon noodles. Ingredients: 1 c. munggo (mung beans) 100 g. pork,boiled, cubed 100 g. shrimp, shelled 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1 medium size onion, chopped 1 medium size tomato, chopped 1 thumb size ginger, cut into strips 3 pcs. dried fish, cut to pieces 1 medium size ampalaya , sliced 100 g. sotanghon noodles, soaked, drained 1 bundle, talbos ng ampalaya 1/2 c. patis cooking oil salt Cooking procedure: Wash munggo beans, check and remove stones that might have mixed with the beans. Put in a medium size pot and add water to cover, bring to a boil for 2 to ...

Crispy Fried Dilis, Deep Fried Fresh Anchovies . Dilis is one of the several fish that are always available in wet markets and not to mention it is also cheaper than the other fishes. This probably because it is troublesome to clean and of course removing the bones before eating. Well if you have time to de-bone each fish and are really fresh, dilis are great for kinilaw. Other than that dilis is cooked as paksiw or fried. Here is how I fried it, it is so crispy even the bones can be eaten. Ingredients: 1 k. dilis 1/4 c. kalamansi juice 1/2 c. corn starch salt and pepper cooking oil Cooking procedure: Remove head, gills and innards of each dilis . Wash fish thoroughly drain. Marinate fish for 10-15 minutes with kalamansi juice, season with salt and pepper. Keep chilled in refrigerator. In a deep frying pan heat oil until it start to smoke, drop and arrange each dilis in the frying pan and deep fry for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Serve crisp hot with a dippin...

Seafood Sopas is probably new to most, the regular sopas is usually cooked with meat and hotdog. See my previous post on chicken sopas . I have cooked seafood sopas on several occasions, there were no exact measurement on seafood ingredients for the reason that, any mixture or cocktail of seafood available is good enough. Try this version of sopas for a different experience, enjoy! Ingredients: 3 c. macaroni 250 g. shrimp, shelled 1 cup mussels, tahong, boiled and shelled 2 cups seafood cocktail 1 medium size carrot, sliced thinly 1/2 small size cabbage, shredded 1 thumb size ginger, cut into strips 1/2 head garlic, minced 1 medium size onion, chopped 3-5 stalks wansoy , chopped 2-3 stalks spring onion, chopped 1/2 c. evaporated milk 1/4 c. patis salt and pepper cooking oil Cooking procedure: In a big pot boil and the macaroni and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes or until soft and tender add more water if necessary. In a pan sauté garlic, ginger and on...

Chicken Adobo, Adobong Ilocano . Chicken adobo was always cooked with laya and lasona or ginger and garlic on our household and in my native province of Ilocos Sur . Of course there are countless variations of chicken adobo but that’s how I remember my aunt’s cooking at least. Since ginger and onion are two of the several farm products of Ilocos Sur it is widely used in adobong manok or any other popular Ilocano dish . I also remember that my aunt used to saute the chicken first with the aromatic before adding the bagoong patis , sukang Iloco (use regular patis and cider vinegar as an alternative) and soy sauce . And slow cooked at low heat until the liquid turns to an oily sauce. Here is the recipe of my  Chicken Adobo, Adobong Ilocano.  Ingredients: 1 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces, bones intact 2 thumb size ginger, skinned, sliced 1 head garlic, peeled, crushed 1 large onion, peeled, sliced 1 tsp. peppercorns 3-5 p...

Adobong Sitaw . Here is an adobo dish for the vegetarian . These is a simple vegetable adobo , there is no meat required just the basic adobo ingredients of garlic , onion and pepper and of course suka at toyo . It is 100 % vegan if you use vegetable oil for sautéing . Enjoy a crisp sitaw or string beans adobo and here is how I cooked it. Ingredients: 2 bundles sitaw , trimmed cut into 2” length 1/2 head garlic, peeled, crushed 1 small size onion, peeled, chopped 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/8 cup vinegar 1/4 tsp. peppercorn, crushed cooking oil Cooking procedure: In a wok, stir-fry the garlic until it start to turn to golden brown, add in the onion and continue to stir fry until translucent. Add in 1 cup of water and the peppercorns, soy sauce and vinegar. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes with out stirring. Add in sitaw and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the  sitaw are cooked but firm. Serve hot. See other related Vegetable AdoboRecipes;...

Bam-e or Bam-I? Pansit Bisaya  is basically the same as to other ginisa pansi t except probably to some ingredients or spices akin to or available to local Visayas. This ginisang mixed pansit canton and sotanghon for some reason it is called bam-e that I myself also can not explain. Anyway bam-e is regularly cooked by the owners of the flat I am staying here in Abu Dhabi , they are from Cebu. Bam-e is a party dish, whenever someone’s birthday, wedding or any other celebration these dish is part of the menu. In fact it was one of the dish prepared on our little New Year celebration . I have tried to replicate it and here is the recipe. Ingredients: 1/2 k. sotanghon noodles, soaked 1/2 k. canton noodles 1/4 k. pork 1 cup pork liver 1 pc. chicken breast 1 cup shrimp, shelled and de-veined 2 pcs. bay leaves 1 tsp. peppercorns 1 medium size onion, quartered 1 pc. Chinese chorizo, sliced crosswise 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1 medium si...

Humba, Adobong Bisaya is very popular dish in Visayas and most part of Mindanao , at some places they call it adobong Bisaya . Humba is basically cooked same way with adobo , it is a bit salty and sometimes sweetened with panocha or brown sugar but not too sweet compared to the Tagalog version. It has to be cooked dry and oily, to keep the shelf life longer with out refrigeration. It is during fiestas that this dish is prepared when the pigs are slaughtered for the celebration. Most of the extra pork meat would be cooked to humba and preserved in its oil in tin cans or containers. Weeks after the fiesta there would still be humba on surprise visits of friend and relatives. I even have some friend who brought humba here in Abu Dhabi . If you are now craving for that extra soft, melt in the mouth humba here is my recipe . Ingredients: 1 kilo pork belly, cut into big cubes 1/2 head garlic,peeled, crushed 1/2 cup vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tb...

Chicken Menudo , me nudo is one of Pinoy’s popular meat dishes. See my previous post on menudo . Most of us probably love pork menudo , in fact it is most likely that menudo is on the menu on most handaan. How ever there are places where pork is not available or some people don’t take pork because of health reasons, the pork menudo is out of the menu. On this post I would like to share a healthier option if you love menudo but pork is a no! no! for you… Instead of pork you could always substitute it with chicken and use canned liver spread instead of the pork liver, all the other ingredients are more likely the same. Here is the recipe of my Chicken Menudo,  enjoy! Ingredients: 1/2 k. chiken breast and thigh 3 pcs. jumbo hotdog, cut into cubes 1 bell pepper, cut into squares 1 small can liver spread 1 medium size carrot, cubed 1/4 cup green peas 1 medium size potato, cubed 1 medium size onion, chopped 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1 cup tomato sauc...

Paksiw na Tokwa at Baboy . A day after New Year dish, one kilo of pig’s face and two cans of tokwa for tokwa’t baboy are too much for our New Year’s pulutan. Our little New Year celebration was a shared potluck of dishes with my colleagues. My contribution was a bottle of Fundador and my tokwa’t baboy. See my previous post on tokwa at baboy . About half of the tokwa’t baboy was left-over at the fridge. I did mention that you could always reserve if you have more than enough of the pig’s face for sisig. See my previous post on sisig . It’s too late now I have made the whole of it into tokwa’t baboy. I have to recycle it into more palatable viand dish fast before it goes to the waste bin. I cooked it into paksiw na tokwa at baboy why not it has all the right ingredients for paksiw in fact it was already marinated, I have to add tuasi though to at least neutralize all those fats. Don’t take that as an advice, I only thought about it, cholesterol is still bad for the health t...