Overseas Pinoy Cooking

Special Chicharon Bulaklak . The chicharon bulaklak is made up of pig mesentery , the fatty tissue that hold together the pig’s small intestines . Usually for economics reason the small intestines are separated from the mesentery to make two types of chicharons , Chicharon Bulaklak using the mesentery and Chicharon Bituka using the small intestines . For today’s Special Chicharon Bulaklak I did not bothered to separate the intestines from the mesentery this makes this Chicharon Bulaklak special. Anyway it would be also difficult to buy the mesentery separately from the intestines . To make the dish the pig innards are pre-boiled till tender with P inoy aromatic ingredients . For best results I used an electric deep fryer, this is also safer and easier compared to using a deep frying pan or wok. But again if you do not have the convenience of an electric deep fryer you can use the c onventional deep fryer just be very careful as there will be a lot of hot oil spl...

Black Eyed Pea with Pork Belly, Pinablad a Pusi . I have searched high and low for the correct Pilipino word for black eyed peas but it seems there is not in the Google at least. I still remember when I was a kid we call it pusi in Ilocano , but pusi sometimes refer to all dried beans . Pinablad is the Ilocano word for boiled beans similar to Ginisang Mungo – Pinablad a Balatong or KBL – Kadyos, Baboy at Langka . Pinablad a Pusi is a very popular boiled beans soup dish usually with pork or beef hocks or bones. To make the dish it is basically the same with ginisang mungo . Here is the recipe of my Black Eyed Pea with Pork Belly, Pinablad a Pusi . Ingredients: 1 kilo pork belly cut into large pieces 3 cups dried black eyed pea, soaked with water for at least 15 minutes 2 large bag baby spinach 3-4 pieces long green chili 1/2 head garlic, chopped 2 thumb size ginger, peeled, cut into thin strips 1 large size onion, chopped 2 large size tomato, chopped 1/2 cu...

Isdaan sa Calauan, Laguna . There is a popular themed park and restaurant in Laguna called Isdaan Floating Restaurant sa Calauan , it has gain so much popularity because of its proximity in Metro Manila and the improvement of the SLEX – South Luzon Expresway travel time is significantly reduced. The theme park restaurant offers visitors and diners lifelike and giant statues of Buddas , Mermaid , Fishes there is even a life like statue of Erap , Cory and Obama , but the grandest is the giant gorilla sitting in the middle of the park and restaurant. To learn more and see more photos of the restaurant visit our travel blog Overseas Pinoy Travels latest post on Isdaan Floating Restaurant sa Calauan, Laguna . There’s a wide array of Filipino food to choose from the menu but other food are also available. Try their signature Pinoy soup dishes Pinatulang Baka and Kinalabasang Hipon . Recommend also to try their fresh fruit juices instead of soffdrinks. Isdaan F...

Malaysian Stuffed Crab . It is said that the best Malaysian Stuffed Crab is the famous Stuffed Crabs of Tong Juan Restaurant in Chukai, Kemaman in Terenganu . Chukai is a small town that is adjacent to the oil town of Kerteh, Terenganu. The place is an alternative transit town of Oil and Gas Offshore workers on their roster day-off runs. I was lucky enough to visit Chukai during my recent work related travel to Malaysia and have a first hand taste of the famous Stuffed Crabs of Tong Juan Restaurant . The crabs were good! With plenty of crab meat with vegetables onion. This is definitely a must-order if you happen to be in that part of Malaysia . I am not sure but I suspect the crab meat vegetables mixture was already stir cooked before filling in to the crab shell, then dipped in well beaten eggs and fried to perfection. The difference with our Pinoy stuffed crabs or Rellenong Alimasag is that the meat crab mixture of the Pinoy version is bind with beaten eggs and s...

Braised Pork Knuckles and Tofu with Black Beans . Pork leg knuckles are always a winner to most pork loving Pinoys . This pork is nothing to do with the pork barrel that we Pinoy want abolish. This pork is however sinfully delish . Braised Pork Knuckles and Tofu with Black Beans is another OPC original dish that I would like to share. Tokwa or firm tofu goes best with braised meat dishes beside being healthy it is also good as meat extenders. I have been regularly using firm tofu on my recipes both as meat extender or as an healthy alternative to meat. For today’s Braised Pork Knuckles and Tofu with Black Beans , tufo is used or added because I thought it will best compliment the fatty fork leg. As expected the dish came out extremely delicious. Here is the recipe of my Braised Pork Knuckles and Tofu with Black Beans . Ingredients: 1 pork leg, knuckle, sliced/cut crosswise 1 piece big block tofu, sliced into thin rectangles, fried 1/2 cup tausi, salted black bean...

Beef Pochero . I have a Pork Pochero in the archives which was posted during the early years of OPC . That version was cooked with baked beans instead of garbanzos and a lot of tomato sauce. It is different from the soup based Pochero recipe of Nora Daza . Click the link to see the recipe of Pinoy Pochero, Pochero with Eggplant Sauce . And of course entirely different from the famous bulalo dish Cebu Pochero . Today I am sharing the beef version of my Pochero with baked beans . To make the dish I have to make sure that I have that frozen saba or plaintain banana that most likely available in your favourite Filipino store if you are overseas. Otherwise just use fresh saba banana if it is available in your location. Cooking is similar I have just substituted the pechay with bok choy . Here is the recipe of my Beef Pochero . Ingredients: 1 kilo beef short loin 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1 medium size onion, chopped 4 pcs. saba, plantain banana, sliced diagonally 2 ...

Pork and Prawn Stirfry with Oysters Sauce . It’s been some time since I posted stirfry . Stirfry dishes are one of OPC’s favourite food category . Today I would like to share a version of pork and prawns stirfry combination , it is fairly easy, simple and obviously similar to some of my stirfry dishes . I have been using oyster sauce in most of my stirfry dishes and I have mentioned on several of my stirfry dishes that you’ll never go wrong using oyster sauce, it has a salty and sweetish taste that we Pinoy loves. To make the dish as I mentioned above is fairly easy, just marinate the pork in soy sauce for a few minutes. Then it is straight forward stirring all the ingredients at the right order. For this recipe I opted of using pork belly instead of the usual pork loin, with this I have included an extra step in cooking the pork belly which requires longer time to cook. This is done by simmering the pork with the wok covered for a few minutes before stirring in the other in...

Pinoy Food Kuala Lumpur? One of the popular overseas cities that Pinoy usually go both as tourist and OFW is Kuala Lumpur the capital city of Malaysia . Just recently I have visited Malaysia for a job related travel. It has been almost ten years since the last time I was in Kuala Lumpur , I used to work in the Oil and Gas Construction in Malaysia with a multinational inspection company that was based in Kuala Lumpur . Kuala Lumpur has change ten folds since then. OK this post is about my Pinoy food travels so let’s limit our subject matter to P inoy Food Kuala Lumpur? Having not visited Kuala Lumpur for some time, I have to ask around from some Pinoy that I have met on the streets and in the Hotel that I have stayed, for the reason that I was not able to get sufficient information from the internet. All pointed to Kota Raya an old S hopping Complex opposite the famous Petaling Street in China Town . The place is where most of the maids and OFWs will spent the...

Pinakbet, Overseas Pinoy Version . When overseas and whenever we crave for Pinoy food we Overseas Pinoy will innovate and substitute ingredients that are not available in our location. This is not the first time that OPC have featured Pinoy dishes using alternative ingredients. Living in rural Australia or any remote areas around the world will of course not hinder us from cooking our favorite Pinoy dishes. Today I would like to share another popular Pinoy dish Pinakbet using alternative ingredients. The usual vegetables ingredients of pinakbet like the okra , ampalaya , sitaw and kangkong are not available here. I have always thought that zucchini and yellow squash button will make a good vegetable substitute for Pinakbet. This is my first time to cook pinakbet with zucchini and yellow button squash , to cook the dish I just tried to stick to the traditional cooking method of pinakbet . The resultant dish was superbly good, the crispy half cooked zucchini and yel...