Overseas Pinoy Cooking

Chicken Meatloaf, Chicken Relleno Style . December is a celebration month for OPC and I will be featuring celebration dishes for the whole month up to the first week of January. This is now the third year of the exercise, the tradition started 2 years ago during that year I was able to share a total 13 post. Last year there were 16 post. This year I will try to post as many as I can. It will be a bit difficult, I am not going home for the Christmas Holiday Seasons this year due to expected work schedules, but I will have to innovate on ingredients that are available here in Australia to make this year’s Celebration Recipes as close and as uniquely Pinoy. See other Meatloaf recipe: Marikina Everlasting Special Lucban Hardinera Special Meatloaf, Christmas Meatloaf   For 2010 Celebration's Recipe series I am sharing a new innovative Chicken Meatloaf, Chicken Relleno Style. The chicken relleno on last year’s celebration recipe was a hit however I was not happy in terms o

Beef Stirfry in Dark Soy Sauce and Lemon . When we are busy we just have to settle on what is available in the refrigerator for dinner. We always come home starving and we just want to prepare our dinner as quickly as possible. One out in the refrigerator quick dish I want to share today is made up of strips of lean beef hat I have bought yesterday, quickly stir-fried with dark soy sauce and lemon. This recipe just takes about 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. The beef has to be marinated with the soy sauce and lemon while the other ingredients are being prepared. Here is the recipe. Ingredients: 250 grams beef stirfry (pre-cut into thin strips) 2-3 clove garlic, chopped 1 small size onion, sliced 1 red/green bell pepper, julienne 1-2 pieces chili, sliced 3-4 stalk spring onion, chopped 1/4 cup dark soy sauce juice from 1/2 lemon garlic powder salt and pepper cooking oil Cooking procedure: Marinate beef strifry with the soy sauce, lemon juice and a dash of garlic powder for about five minu

Sardinas at Sotanghon, Canned Sardine Soup with Sotanghon . A lot of Pinoy love canned sardines it’s a comfort food to most including myself, not unless perhaps you belong to the upper class who have never tasted canned sardine and the only sardine you know are those imported sardines in olive oil that come in fancy bottles. Hey I made some bottled sardine check the post here . Back to the subject, while I was browsing the web I stumbled upon a site ( click here ) where no other than Charice Pempengco is pictured eating sardinas, and there was also a video ( click here ) of her that mentioned her love of sardinas with suka and toyo (vinegar and soy sauce), that made me crave for canned sardine. This morning I made my self a canned sardine soup with sotanghon . This is not new it’s a comfort food in the household we regularly have the dish in the mornings or whenever the time is bad I mean when the budget get tight. There is no special cooking method every novice can cooked it, you

Ampalaya Salad with Crispy Fried Dried Dilis . This a dish I learned from a colleague. The original dish was actually kinilaw na ampalaya with dilis . He would usually just slice the ampalaya then toss some chopped tomatoes and onions then with fried daing na dilis. That version was really bitter I myself who like ampalaya could not comfortably take it because I could taste the rawness of the bitter gourd . However I thought that this is a good dish only the raw taste of the bitter gourd has to be mellowed down. Today I tried to make my own version by blanching the bitter gourd with boiling water for about a minute and immediately soaking it in ice cooled water to maintain the bitter gourd crisp and also retain its natural vibrant green color. The dried dilis are already salty salt was no longer needed, not perhaps unless you have those less salty dried dilis. The dish is somewhat similar to my previous ampalaya salad without the bagoong na isda. Here’s how I made my version of Amp

Dilis and Chips with Tartar and Honey Dip . In the tradition of fish and chips , I would like again to share this innovative dish that uses crispy fried fresh dilis instead of the usual fish fillet . Sometimes when we see small anchovies in the fish market we always wonder what is the best method of cooking it. For a change I tough I could have it with potato fries . Fried fish are best served with tartar dip , again I also innovate the dip to adapt to the Pinoy preference of sweet food. To make that sourly tartar dip sweeter I blended it with honey . All I needed was some potato fries you may want to fry them yourself using the ready to fry chips from the supermarket or buy a large serving of French fries, I just bought the a large serving of chips from a fish and chips store. Here’s how I made my Dilis and Chips with Tartar and Honey Dip , enjoy.   Ingredients: 1/4 kilo fresh small size anchovies, wash and drained 1/4 cup cornstarch salt and pepper to taste chili powder (optional)

Fettuccine Pasta, Vigan Miki Style . When your overseas most of the times you have to innovate and use alternative ingredients to continue to enjoy foods that you've always enjoy back home. Vigan miki is one of the favorite noodle soup dish in our household, cooking is not a problem when in Manila I know where to source the handmade miki noodles from Vigan but overseas it's either you make yourself the noodles or discover alternative ingredients. Vigan Miki with Red Soup YouTube Video Aside from the flat egg noodles available at most supermarkets, I recently discovered that fettuccine pasta is a good substitute for the Vigan miki as well. Make sure that you chose the thinnest fettuccine pasta that you could find at your favorite supermarket, I found out that fettuccine pasta is easier to find compared to the flat egg noodles. Cooking is basically the same, click here to see the previous Vigan miki recipe . Now here is the recipe of my innovative Fett

Paksiw na Dulong, Silverfish cooked in Vinegar . Dulong when in season always available in wet fish markets in Metro Manila, they are usually caught in open seas and arrive in the market ice chilled or frozen. When is season silverfish prices get so cheap and most will end up as dried silverfish . Mos Pinoy are usually undecided on how it is cooked and most will cooked it as tortang dulong or the quickest method cooked as paksiw . The silverfish I bought was not really fresh, I was hoping that I could cooked sinigang na dulong but ended up cooking it as paksiw na dulong , here is the recipe. Ingredients: 1/2 kilo silverfish 2 thumb size ginger, cut into slivers 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed 1/2 small onion, chopped 2-3 green long chili 3-4 stalks spring onion, cut into 2” length 1/2 tsp cracked peppercorns 1/4 cup vinegar 2-3 tbsp. cooking oil salt to taste Cooking procedure: In a small pan place the ginger, garlic, onion and cracked pepperc

Ginataang Manok with Spinach, Chicken in Coconut Milk with Spinach is another coconut spinach dish I would like to share. A couple of weeks ago I made a laing style dish using spinach with pork called Pork and Spinach in Coconut Milk, Pinoy Laing Style , today I used chicken but with less quantity of spinach. Cooking is similar to other ginataang dish the chicken is first sutteed with garlic, ginger and onion then stewed with coconut milk. I used baby spinach but any variety of spinach is fine. Actually the best vegetable for this dish is malungay or horse radish leaves , I just substituted it with spinach. The dish has to be stewed till only a thick creamy coconut sauce remain. I used a Lot of chili since I like it really hot but again you may reduce the amount. If you love guinataang dish then I would recommend that this dish is worth a try. Here is the recipe of my Ginataang Manok with Spinach, Chicken in Coconut Milk with Spinach . Ingredients: 1/2 kil

Imbaliktad a Baka, Ilokano Stirfry Beef . You may at one time heard about this Ilokano dish , it is basically a beef stirfried pulutan dish that uses the freshest beef or carabeef, the meat cut may not necessarily be the tenderloin, any lean meat part is used. The beef is just stirfried with the usual aromatics garlic, ginger and onion and to spice it up some hot chili. A little vinegar, sukang Iloko is added and season with salt and freshly cracked peppercorns. The beef is strifried to half cooked. Imbaliktad literaly means flipped over therefore the beef is just quickly stirfried at high heat on a few turns or flip until the red color of the meat disappears. The reason is that, if the beef is cooked after this stage or overcooked it becomes rubbery especially if other beef cut except the tenderloin is used. Imbaliktad is one of the following several popular Ilocano must try dish when visiting the  Ilocos Region . Papaitan Kambing Pinapaitan Baka Papaitan Soured with Kam

Babi Kecap Manis, Pork in Sweet Soy Sauce is one of my favorite Indonesian pork dish. It is a sweet pork dish that is braised with an Indonesian condiment kecap manis. Kecap manis is made up of thick soya sauce sweetened with palm sugar. It is a popular condiment that is added to nasi goreng (fried rice) to mee goreng (stir fried noddles) and other uses in Indonesian cusine . Babi ketcap manis is made up of thick strips of porks sautéed with garlic and onion then braised with the sweet soy sauce until it renders oil. The dish is really sweet and it is suitable to the sweet food preference to most Pinoy. Here is the recipe, enjoy. Ingredients: 1/4 kilo pork, cut into thick strips 3-4 tbsp. of ABC sweet soy sauce 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped 1/2 small size onion, chopped salt and pepper to taste cooking oil Cooking procedure: In a small sauce pan saute garlic and onion until fragrant. Stir in the pork and stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the sweet soy sauce and s

Seafood Sotanghon Noodle Soup . Sotanghon noodle soup is one of the favourite merienda and sometimes as viand for a lot of Pinoys. I have in the archive a recipe of sotanghon noodle soup with the pork and chicken version . Today I tried to make a seafood version using fresh mix seafood marinara I bought from the supermarket. Cooking is somewhat similar to my previous sotanghon noodle soup that uses meat.  Seafood  cook fast so I have to remove it from the pan after sautéing then add during the final stage of the cooking. Another advice is don’t over soak the  vermicelli noodles  to avoid the noodles to disintegrate. In fact I would advise that it should only be rinsed with warm water and drain. The soup is to be serve immediately as the vermicelli noodles will absorbed the broth as it cools down then it disintegrate. Here is the recipe of my Seafood Sotanghon Noodle Soup. Ingredients: 1/4 kilo sotanghon noodles, vermicelli noodles, rinsed 1/4 kilo fresh mix seafood marina

Oxtail with Mushroom Sauce is another original recipe of OPC. I though of the idea of combining the rich flavor of slow cooked melt in your mouth oxtail meat with the equally rich flavors of a mushroom sauce and the result was a fantastic super yummy meal. Cooking is simple except for the usual long process of slow cooking the oxtail and everything is closely similar to my other recipe with mushroom sauce and other recipe with gravy. Salisbury Steak Porkchop with Mushroom sauce T-Bone Steak with Mushroom Gravy Bulalo Steak Beef Stroganoff The oxtail is first boiled for hours with usual  Pinoy aromatics  garlic, onion, peppercorns and salt until very tender then separate from the stock, seared and cooked with the mushroom sauce. The dish could be served with rice but goes well with mashed potatoes. This one is highly recommended if you are looking for new style of cooking oxtail. Here is the recipe of my Oxtail with Mushroom Sauce. Ingredients: 1 kilo oxtail, cut in

Ensaladang Repolyo with Chicharon is another Ilokano inspired dish that I would like to share. There are no special cooking method for this recipe except for the chicharon option. Cooking method is similar to my other ensalada post. The vegetable is quickly blanch with boiling water then tossed with tomatoes, onion, bagoong na isda and some vinegar. You may top with crushed chicharon baboy or serve on the side. The chicharon I used are with laman. It would have been ideal if the Vigan bagnet is available. Here’s how I made my Ensaladang Repolyo with Chicharon, enjoy. Ingredients: 1/2 small size cabbage, julienne 1 medium size tomato, chopped 1 small size onion, chopped thinly 2-3 tbsp. bagoon na isda 2 tablespoon. vinegar Cooking procedure: In a casserole boil water and blanch the cabbage for 1/2 to a minute, remove from water and drain, let cool. In a big bowl toss cabbage, and all other ingredients. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve top with chicharon o

Pork and Spinach in Coconut Milk, Pinoy Laing Style is another innovative dish that I want to share. The idea of the recipe comes from one of my favorite Indian lamb meat dish with spinach in coconut milk. Today I was wondering if I could cook it laing style. Dried taro leaves is already available where ever you might be just visit your any Asian store near your place, and sometime available also on some large supermarket but for overseas Pinoy who have no access of dried taro leaves you may now use spinach as an alternative to your favourite laing dish. Click here and here to see my previous laing recipes. The recipe will use 1/2 kilo of frozen chopped spinach leaves and some fresh spinach for texture, I used baby spinach but the usual mature leaves can be used just coarsely chop them. I also used canned coconut cream instead of the fresh coconut milk. Pork is used as sahog but if you wish to use shrimp, dried fish or whatever available. The secret here is to s

Crispy Chicken Lollipop . The chicken lollipop is one of the countless chicken dishes that is being widely replicated in the net, most of the recipe are almost identical that obviously evolved from a single source including the methods of how to cut the chicken wings into a chicken lollipop. I will not discuss the methods of cutting the chicken wings into lollipop since you have probably watch these videos or blog post about chicken lollipop, if not I would advise you to check any one of the how to chicken lollipop videos . On this post I will instead share to you my crispy version. I wanted to have a really crispy chicken lollipop inside out. Why inside out? The usual chicken lollipops you see on the net are made in such that the chicken skin is right at the center of the meat, then the chicken lollipop is coated with egg cornstarch batter with breadcrumbs. They may have a crispy batter breadcrumbs coating but I doubt if the skin which is now located at the center is properly cooked a