Bake when in quarantine

I take this COVID 19 pandemic seriously.  And one simple way to prevent me and my mom from getting it is to self quarantine in our home.  I only go out to work and the essential errands like grocery.  Since I am home a lot, I keep myself busy by tending to my yard and learning to bake.  I recently discovered how to make Leche flan from youtube and it was a success.  I dare say my flan is tasty.  The problem with making flan is it only needs egg yolk in the recipe.  So what am I to do with the egg white???  I do not want it to go to waste so I scower the internet for a simple meringue cookie recipe since I know it only uses egg whites.  I made some but it can get quite messy filling the piping bag with the beaten egg white.  Using a simple spoon or spatula makes for some oddly shaped cookies.  Mom suggested Angel food cake so I searched the internet once more for that recipe.  I tried making it and it was a success again.  Instead of using vanilla extract as the recipe calls for, I used orange extract.  It is yummy indeed.  Maybe next time I will use a different extract like banana or purple yam.  I dunno...

Pinakbet ilocano taught to me by my Ilocano friend.

Ingredients:

-  Okra.  About 10 pieces.  Both ends sliced and discarded.
-  eggplant. Two long ones.  Slice and discard the top end.  Sliced this only when about ready to add in the pot.  If you slice this ahead of time, let it soak in water.
-  Tomato. Two large ones.  Sliced 5 times into desired shape.
-  garlic. 5-8 cloves skinned.
-  Long green beans.  About 10 long pieces cut to about 1.5 inches long.  Discard ends.
-  Shrimp paste aka bagoong.  about 2-3 table spoon depending on your taste.
-  Ampalaya aka bittermelon.  1-2 pieces. Seed and inside discarded.  Slice to desired shape.
-  Lechon kawali.  About 1/2 pound cooked.  Cubed into desired size.  Making one from raw pork belly is another labor intensive task.
-  Kalabasa. 1/3 of a whole kalabasa.  Skinned and cubed.
-  onion. 1 whole one skinned and sliced.
-  cooking oil.  About 1/4 cup and optional.  Usually the fat from the lechon is enough.
-  salt and pepper to taste.
-  About 1 cup of hot water as needed if the dish in the pot looks too dry.  Usually the water from the veggies is enough.
-  I omitted 2 more veggies that I am not familiar with.  I do not think it affected the dish.

Procedure:

-Mix cooking oil, garlic, tomatoe, lechon kawali, onion and shrimp paste in a large pot.  Cover pot and let it cook and simmer on medium heat for about 3-5 mins.  Stir occasionally.
-Then add long beans and kalabasa.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cover pot and let it simmer for  about 5-8 more minutes.
-Then add eggplant and okra.  Cover and continue to cook and simmer for another 5-10 mins till all veggies are cooked.  Stir occasionally.
-You are done and the pinakbet is ready to serve.  Kain na tayo!

Slow cooked Oxtail soup

Ingredients:
  Peeled and sliced ginger
  2-3 beef bouillon
  minced green onion
  Oxtail
  washed and sliced bokchoy
  Peeled and sliced carrots
  can of washed green jackfruit

Procedure:
  Mix in a slow cooker/crockpot 2 cups of hot water, beef bouillon, oxtail and ginger and cook for 6 hours.  May substitute beef stock instead of hot water and beef bouillon.
  Transfer contents of slow cooker after 6 hours to a large pot.  Add green onion, bokchoy, carrots and jackfruit in and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.  Optional to add bokchoy leaves last since they will cook easier.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add one more cup of hot water as needed.

Arroz Caldo

Ingredients:
  Cooked Rice
  Minced Green Onions
  Peeled hard boiled eggs
  Can of peeled straw mushroom - washed
  Can of chicken broth
  Minced garlic
  Peeled and sliced ginger
  Chicken strips

Procedure:
  Saute garlic in oil till brown.  Set aside.
  Mixed in a pot chicken broth, sauteed garlic, hard boiled eggs, chicken strips, straw mushroom, green onions, ginger and chicken strips.  May add some water if not in a soupy consistency.  Bring to  boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Season with pepper and sea salt.  May add a teaspoon of fish sauce.

Pork Ampalaya

Ingredients:

2 ampalaya (bitter melon) sliced
baby carrots
garlic (1 table spoon when minced)
one onion (sliced or minced)
one tomato (sliced)
2 table spoon pine nuts
1 bag of ground pork
2 table spoon cooking oil
soy sauce, fish sauce, salt, ground pepper, tumeric powder


Procedure:

Heat cooking oil then add garlic for 1 minute.  Then add onion and tomato for another minute.  Add pine nuts for 2 minutes.  Constantly stir the mixture.  Add defrosted pork and stir for about 4-5 minutes.  then add ampalaya and carrots.  Flavor to taste with salt, soy sauce, fish sauce, tumeric and pepper.  Stir for another 3 minutes.

Chicken Pasta in Pesto Sauce

The recipe I have below is by no means an original.  But I have made some twist to it to cater my own taste.  It is a perfect recipe for any left over Chicken or even turkey.  It is easy and delicious.  Hope you like it.

Ingredients:

- Left over fried or roast chicken .  In my case the breast meat.
- Pesto sauce that you can buy in the grocery.
- Pasta.   Does not matter what kind.
- Onions (one small one)
- Garlic (about 1 table spoon when minced)
- Cooking oil (2 table spoon) and Olive Oil (one table spoon).
- Pine nuts (about 1/2 cup)

Procedure:

- Cook pasta by boiling it accordingly.  Pour Olive oil to cooked and drained pasta to prevent it from clinging to each other as you set it aside for later use.

- Mince garlic and onions.  Chop up the chicken meat to sugar cube size.  Heat up Cooking oil and saute the garlic first till slightly brown and then saute the onions for about 40 seconds.  Then saute the pine nuts for about 1 minutes.  Add the chicken cubes and saute for another minute.  Then add the pasta set aside earlier along with as much pesto sauce as you want.  Constantly stir the whole mix for about 1-2 minutes. Voila, you got yourself a Chicken Pasta in Pesto sauce.

Fish sinigang

Ingredients:

- Fish preferably Pompret Golden (pampano).
- 1 pack of tamarind soup mix or Guava sinigang mix.
- Ginger root
- Sea salt and Iodized salt.
- Tumeric powder, onion powder and garlic powder
- dill weed
- daikon root (rabanos)
- bokchoy (pechay)

Procedure:
Wash unfrozen or defrosted fish and boil them in water. Before the water actually boils, you can put in the sliced ginger root. Also put in the tamarind mix along with a dash of sea salt, iodized salt, tumeric, onion powder and garlic powder. Season to taste. Also add a pinch of dill weed and the peeled and sliced daikon root. Let it boil for 5-10 minutes and then add the chopped medium size bokchoy. Put the stalk first and let it continue to boil on medium heat for 5 minutes before adding the leafy parts of the bokchoy. Let it boil for another 5 minutes and you got yourself a sinigang pampano fish. Don't let it boil too long cause the fish might crumble into small pieces.


You can experiment with the vegetable you mix in. You can use green papaya, carrots and cabbages too.

stir fried chicken and veggies on oyster sauce

I hate chicken breast. I prefer red meat in the chicken and whenever I buy a whole chicken rotisserie, I really do not know what to do with the breast part. My coworker gave me a tip on what to do with it. Here is the end result dish.

Chop the left over breast into sugar cubes size pieces.
Chop one whole onion into small pieces as desired.
Chop 2-3 tomatoes into thumbs size pieces.
Peel and chop ginger root into pencil size pices.
Cut asparagus 2 inches from the tip and discard the bottom part.
Wash and prepare broccoli and peas snaps. (amount arbitrary as desired)
Peel carrot and chop into small pieces. (amount arbitrary as desired)
Prepare one tablespoon of minced garlic.

Saute garlic, ginger, onion and tomato for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and saute for another 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt, a pinch turmeric, a pinch of dill weed, a pinch of ground cumin and a pinch of Mrs. Dash into the sauteed dish. Pour one cup of Oyster sauce into the sauteed dish. Continue to stir and simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Add all the vegetable. Stir and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Atchara - Jon's style

This is an appetizer that is super appetizing and guaranteed to make your mouth water. Just not meant to be consumed in large amounts.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of bitter melon
1 long daikon
4 pieces of tomatoes
1 red onions
2 cup of vinegar (any kind)
6 table spoon of sea salt (or iodine salt)

Procedure:
Dice the bitter melon and sprinkle 2 table spoons of sea salt then mash and squeeze the bitter melon for 1 minute. Drain the juice well.Dice the daikon and sprinkle 2 table spoon of sea salt then mash and squeeze the daikon for 1 minute. Drain the juice well. Dice the onion and tomatoes and mix with the bitter melon and daikon. Add the remaining 2 table spoon of sea salt and vinegar and mix well. Let it stand for one day in the refrigerator. Mix every so often to assure the top part gets soaked in the vinegar.

Voila, you got yourself an appetizer that can also be called atchara in the Philippines.

Ham

The first and only time I made ham was the Thanksgiving of 99. My BF then was spending Thanksgiving with me and his request was Ham. And I have not made Ham ever so I got some recipe from my friend Franny. I dare say it turned out good. It was not that hard to make. Perhaps I shall make some to celebrate my Blog's anniversary.

Ingredients: Round Ham, Honey, 7-up, brown sugar and sliced pineapple.

Procedure:
1. boil whole ham on 7-up and pineapple juice (half filled) for 1/2 hour.
2. slice ham 1/2 inch thick then garnish sliced pineapple on top.
3. pour a mixture of brown sugar and honey on the ham.
4. pour some boiled 7-up and pineapple juice over ham.
5. bake ham for 1 hour at 400 F until it becomes brown. turn ham upside down half way.

moshu pork by auntie

This is a recipe my cousin gave me. Her mom evidently cooked this once for them.

Ingredients:
1 kilo pork
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup minced garlic
3/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS salt
1 TBS pepper

Procedure: Sautee garlic then add Pork till brown. Mix in everything and bring to boil till fat melts or meat softens.

How easy is that? Anybody wants to try it?

looks delicious...

Here is a recipe I have written on a paper and for the life of me I do not know what it is. But based on the ingredients, it looks promising. And it is very easy to make too.

Ingredients.
ginger the size of a thumb
2-4 pounds pork (with skin and fat optional)
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine (any cooking wine will do)
sesame oil (1 table spoon)
sugar (1 table spoon)

Procedure: Skin and slice ginger into thin pieces. Slice pork into bite sizes. Mix everything and simmer on low fire till pork is soft and fully cooked.

miso soup with a twist

Empty the contents of one Miso soup packet into a bowl. Add a dash of ginger powder, Mrs. Dash, ground pepper, turmeric and MSG (optional). You may also slice small pieces of green onion and add to the bowl. Add a cup to a cup and a half of boiling water. Stir and let sit for about a minute. You got yourself an instant soup for dinner!

Turmeric has been link to have good benefit in preventing Alzheimer's Disease. India has the lowest cases of Alzheimer's Disease because they eat a lot of Turmeric. So from now on, I always put a dash or two of Turmeric in my soup. It gives the soup that "sweetness" flavor that is yummy.

(pic from kidsregen.org)

The Yummy Soup by Bing.

PAPAYA
BOKCHOY

GROUND CUMIN
DILL WEED

Here is a recipe I like to share of a yummy soup that I created. This recipe is flexible and you can use chicken, pork or beef. I do not find enjoyment in cooking like some people but I am not a bad cook though.

Ingredients:
1. ginger the size of a male thumb or more if you like more ginger taste to the soup.
2. bokchoy (one stalk) you can use cabbage or chinese brocolli
3. one piece of papaya (green/unripe)
4. half teaspoon of ground cumin
5. half teaspoon of dill weed
6. half teaspoon of sea salt NaCl
7. half teaspoon of Iodide salt
8. 3-4 cubes of chicken, beef or pork bouillons or its equal about of powder.
9. 1.5-2 pounds of chicken, beef or pork
10. half teaspoon Mrs. Dash
11. 3 stems of carrots

Procedure:
1. Boil the meat of choice in a big pot. Make sure the water covers all the meat. Watch for foam to form as the meat boils. That is the blood that curdles. You must scope it out with a big ladle. This process will have to be repeated as long as foam is forming.
2. Slice ginger to layers or cubes. You may peel it or not. The ginger just serves to remove the foul odor and taste that meat sometimes has. Add the ginger to the soup mix as soon as no more foam is forming.
3. Add the chicken, beef or pork bouillon to the soup. Remember that the bouillon must match the meat of choice.
4. Add the cumin, dill, salts and Mrs Dash. Flavor to taste. The amount of the spices can vary to your taste.
5. Peel the papaya, slice open and discard the seed. Then slice it to bite size cubes. The bigger the slices, the longer the papaya will need to be cooked to soften.
6. Peel the carrots and slice to small pieces.
7. When you are satisfied that the meat is at least half to 3/4 cooked to its tender state. This can take 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the meat. Add the papaya and carrot. Let is simmer for 5-10 minutes just to allow the carrots and papaya to soften.
8. Slice the bokchoy to size of your choice. Add the stalk first because they require longer time to soften. Let it simmer for 3 minutes then add the leafy portion. As soon as you added the leafy part, you may turn off the fire. The remainder heat will be enough to cook the leafy bokchoy. That way the greens are not overcooked.

This recipe serves 4-6 people. It should have some sweetness to it coming from the papaya, carrot and cumin. The dill and ginger will give it a distinct taste. It's yummy and good to have on a cold night.