Lechon Kawali ( Crispy Pork Belly)

Lechon Kawali derived its name from pork belly that’s deep-fried in a wok or kawali. It is usually part of ordinary day’s menu or sometimes served on special occasions.

Estimated Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Makes 2-4 servings

Lechon Kawali Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs pork liempo (pork belly)
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 pcs. bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• salt
• water, for boiling
• oil (for deep frying)

Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 5 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 shallot, minced or 1 small onion, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• chili peppers (optional)

Cooking directions:

In a pot, combine pork slices, water, salt, and bay leaf. Boil over medium heat until almost all the water has evaporated. Remove the pork then drain it with strainer or paper towel, and cool.

Preheat wok with oil. Deep-fry the pork slices over medium heat until golden brown. Drain and cool.

Chop the pork into 1-inch slices. Serve warm with sauce like catsup (or ketchup), garlic-vinegar dip, soy sauce and vinegar, or soy sauce with lemon, lime, or calamansi.

Or, mix all the sauce ingredients and serve lechon kawali while it’s hot.

Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup pig liver paste (use a food processor to liquefy slices of liver)
• 2/ 3 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 2 ½ cups water
• 2/3 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
• ½ cup onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

• 1. Heat a pan and put-in the cooking oil.
• 2. When the oil is hot enough, sauté the garlic and onions until the texture becomes soft.
• 3. Put-in the liver paste and cook for about 5 minutes in medium heat while stirring.
• 4. Add the vinegar and bring to a boil. Stir for a minute.
• 5. Pour-in water and bring to a boil.
• 6. Stir-in the brown sugar and cook for 2 minutes.
• 7. Add the bread crumbs and cook for another 2 minutes while stirring constantly.
• 8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• 9. Turn off the heat and allow the sauce to cool down.
• 10. Place the sauce in a blender then blend for a minute.
• 11. Transfer the sauce in a serving bowl.
• 12. Serve along with the Lechon Kawali. Share and enjoy!

Biko

Biko consists of malagkit (glutinous) rice, coconut milk, sugar, and topped with “latik”.

Biko is a rice cake with caramel topping or latik and here is the recipe for Biko. Biko is usually served during birthday parties, fiestas, Christmas, New Year and other celebrated events in Philippines.

Preparation time: 10 minutes.
Cooking time: 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Serves 12.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups malagkit (sticky rice)
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3 1/2 c. diluted coconut milk
• 1/8 lb. butter
• 1 egg, beaten

Topping:

• 1 can (15 oz.) condensed milk
• 3/4 cups rich coconut milk
• 2 to 3 tbsp. flour for quick thickening

Procedure:

1. Grate and squeeze out milk from 2 coconuts. Save 3/4 cup of the first milk squeezed out (rich milk) for topping. Dilute the rest of the coconut milk to make 3 1/2 cups. Or use 1 can (12 ounces) frozen coconut milk, saving 3/4 cup of the thick milk for topping and diluting the rest to make 3 1/2 cups.
2. Boil rice and coconut milk in a heavy pot stirring constantly to keep from burning (about 15 to 20 minutes). When the rice is done and almost dry, lower the heat and add the sugar and butter. Mix well and set aside. When cool, add the egg.
3. Spread the rice mixture in a well buttered Pyrex dish (11 3/4 x 7 1/2 x 1 3/4 inch) and bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 20 minutes.

• To make latik or topping: Combine all topping ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat stirring constantly until thick (about 15 minutes). Pour topping over rice mixture in dish. Increase oven heat to 350 degrees. Bake until top is brown (about 15 minutes).

Maja Mais ( my personal favorite! )

• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 370 ml. can evaporated milk
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cups whole corn kernel

Procedure:

1. Combine all ingredients in a pan and stir until free of lumps. Cook stirring constantly over low heat until thick (about 30 min.).

2. Pour into molders. Cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Suam na Halaan (Clam Soup)

Malunggay (Moringa oleifera,) is a tree; both the leaves and the fruits are edible and highly nutritious and has been referred to as nature’s medicine cabinet and a miracle vegetable. The best part is… oh, okay, there are two. First, malunggay is very cheap. PhP 5.00 worth of malunggay is quite enough to cook a soup for 4-6 people. Second, malunggay leaves taste good. No bitterness, no hard fibers, no aftertaste. As malunggay is not readily available here in the US. Or you can purchase it frozen at the Filipino Store. But if you're in the Philippines, malunggay trees are seen everywhere. I used to get leaves from a tree nearby when i walk my son to school in the morning. :)

Ingredients :

• 1/2 kilo of fresh clams (halaan)
• 8-10 stalks of malunggay or sili leaves (chilli leaves)
• a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and julienned
• an onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 tbsps. of vegetable cooking oil
• patis for seasoning (optional - seafood is quite salty already as it is)

Cooking procedure :

• If available, buy live clams–the ones that visibly still spurt water. Wash, drain and place in a bowl. Cover with water and let sit in the fridge for several hours to allow the clams to expel sand. Change the water every few hours. From personal experience, they require a longer soaking time than mussels (tahong). When I buy clams early in the morning, I let them soak the entire day and cook them for the evening meal. I have had the unfortunate experience of cooking them after letting them soak for only about three hours and the result was disastrous–there was sand in the broth.
• The nice thing about clams is that unlike mussels, you won’t need to do much after soaking them. No “beards” to pull out. Just give them a good washing in clean water, drain and they’re ready to go into the cooking pot.
• Prepare the malunggay by removing the leaves from the hard stalk. The easy way to do this is to place the top of the main stalk between your forefinger and your thumb. Slide your fingers down and the smaller stalks to which the leaves are attached will come off. The ones on the top portion are tender enough–you don’t need to pick each leaf one by one. But the stalks at the bottom of the main stalk are not as tender. Locate the top of each, place it between your forefinger and thumb and slide your fingers down like you did with the main stalk.
• Heat the cooking oil in a pot. Saute ginger, then add the sliced onion. Pour about 5 cups of water; season with patis. Bring to a boil. Add the clams and allow the water to boil once more. At this point, the clam shells would be open halfway. Add the malunggay leaves, cover and simmer gently for about two minutes.

Serve at once.

Chicken Afritada

This is my personal favorite dish to cook and eat. I love anything with tomato sauce!

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo chicken cut into bite size
• 1 large potato cut in bite size
• 1 small carrot cut in bite size (optional)
• 1 medium can tomato sauce or paste
  
• 1/4 cup green peas
• 1 small onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 red or green bell pepper cut in strips
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup water or chicken stock
• cooking oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
  

Chicken Afritada Cooking Instructions:

• Heat cooking oil In a frying pan.
• In the same pan, saute onion and garlic until soft and fragrant.
• Put the chicken in, season with soy sauce and pepper. Stir until combined.
• Pour in chicken stock(or water) and tomato sauce and vinegar. Bring to a boil.
• Cover and simmer over low heat for at least 25-30 minutes.
• After simmering, add in potatoes, and carrots. Simmer for few minutes until tender.
• When vegetables are tender, add the green peas and bell pepper. Simmer for few minutes. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat.
• Serve with hot rice.

Back after a year...

Hibernation - is a state of inactivity

yes, it's been almost a year that i haven't blogged about my favorite dishes and some everyday dishes that i prepare. there were things that i went through, good and bad. but the thing is, they're over! God is always good, all the time.

So, if you're having doubts or problems in mind, just call unto Him. He will never turn back or not answer in return. it may not be the answer you expect or what you hoped it would be, but God knows what is best for us. Just hang in there.

Lumpiang Shanghai

Lumpia is a traditional Filipino appetizer, not unlike eggrolls. I just had these over the weekend at a birthday party, so here's a recipe. enjoy! :)

For the Filling:

1 pound ground pork OR

1 pound ground chicken

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 carrot, grated

5 stalks Chinese parsley, chopped

2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 (16 ounce) package spring roll wrappers

1 1/2 quarts oil for frying

salt to taste or fish sauce

Cooking Instructions:

• In a Large bowl, combine ground pork, ground beef, onion, and carrot. Make sure to completely mix everything. I suggest getting down and dirty and use your hands. Knead the meat in the bowl if you must.
  

• Gradually blend in the soy sauce , black pepper, garlic powder, and salt until all ingredients are evenly distributed.

• Lay out a few wrappers at a time on a flat surface, and place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in a line down the center of the wrapper. Make sure the filling is no thicker than your thumb, or the wrapper will cook faster than the meat.
  

• Take the bottom and top edges of the wrapper and fold them towards the center. Take the left and right sides, and fold them towards the center. Moisten the last edge of the wrapper to seal. Now repeat using the rest of the wrappers, and have hubby or the kids help you out.

• Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or heavy skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry 3 or 4 lumpia at a time. Fry for about 3 or 4 minutes, turning once. Lumpia are cooked through when they float, and the wrapper is golden brown.
  

• Cut in half, or serve as is with dipping sauce. We like sweet and sour sauce, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce with lemon, or banana ketchup.