Vietnamese Fried Chicken

This is another way of deep frying your chicken.

Para maiba naman...

Wash, cut and rinse the chicken(1kl)

Marinate for at least an hour with salt(3g), black pepper(5g), five spice powder(8g), fish sauce(30mL), lime juice(20mL) and chilies (labuyo)(5g)

Slightly beat the egg(2pcs) and combined with cornstarch(300g)

Fold over the egg mixture into the marination and mix well with the chicken.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by mixing the thai fish sauce(25mL), sugar(50g), cold water(10mL), red chillies (2.5g)  and fresh coriander (5g).

Then deep fry the chicken at 180C for 10-15 minutes until done.

Finally, serve with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce.

:-)

Baked Potato

This is a very simple side dish for your grilled and roasted meat entrees.

You'll be needing, potato, aluminum foil, sour cream, bacon bits, chives and rock salt.

Just wash, rinse and sanitize the potatoes. (No need to peel)

Wrap them individually with a foil.

Place rock salt on a baking tray and arrange the potatoes on top. (Rock salt's purpose is to prevent potatoes from burning caused by direct heat and so that they will sit evenly on the tray.)

Bake potatoes at 180C until cooked.

Cut the potato on top crosswise and press to open.

Sprinkle on top with bacon bits and chives and drizzle with little bit of sour cream.

Easy!

:-)

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

I saw nice ribs at the supermarket last week and I thought of doing some BBQ.

It was sarap to the bones.

Here's how it's done.

Boil the baby back ribs with salt, pepper, bay, leaves, soy sauce, pineapple juice and water until its tender.

(best to leave it in the stock to cool down)

Meanwhile, prepare the BBQ Sauce:

In a bowl, mix, ketchup, honey, calamansi, sprite, oyster sauce, worcestershire, garlic, mustard, brown sugar, cajun spice, paprika powder, soy sauce, black pepper and some chili powder.

Put the ribs in a food pan and cover generously with the sauce.

Heat up the oven and roast the ribs.

Baste with BBQ Sauce once in a while.

Best served with grilled corn, baked potato and buttered vegetables on the side.

:-)

Beef Mechado

It's been a while since I last ate Mechado.

It is our version of Europe's Beef Goulash...the only difference is we don't use red wine, sweet paprika, caraway seeds, marjoram, etc.

But the cooking method is exactly the same.

Since most meats here are tough (unless it's imported) I first boiled the beef (top round/kalitiran) in the pressure cooker for half an hour.
(put some bay leaf, soy sauce and beef bouillon to add more taste)

Heat up oil and butter and sear the meat(yes the boiled ones) then set it aside.

Saute the onion, tomatoes and garlic.
Add some fish sauce.

Add the tomato paste and saute briefly to remove the acidity taste and then add the tomato sauce.

Bring back the meat and cover with the beef stock.

Add the potato and simmer for 30 mins. or until meat is tender and the potatoes are cooked.

Adjust the taste with fish sauce and pepper.

Finally, serve with steaming cup of rice.


Sarap!!!

:-)

Tibok-tibok / Akay-akay

The Philippines is really rich with culinary delicacies, every province has lot's of "kakanin" as we call it to be proud of.

One of which is tibok-tibok from Pampanga which is like
the akay-akay as they call it in Obando, Bulacan.

I really don't know what differs them... maybe the ingredients or method perhaps.

In Pampanga they use carabao's milk while in Bulacan, coconut cream is used.

It's one of my favorite "kakanin"... so every once in a while, there's always one present at the ancestral house during Sunday lunch.

Last week, I re-created it after my mom took out an old recipe book which I believe belongs to my late grandmother.

The method was different so I prepared it as simple and as easy as I could.

Having no stone "gilingan" to make the "galapong"/"malagkit", I opted for the glutinous rice flour which fairly makes sense.

Bought two coconut meat and squeezed every bit of cream I could using the potato riser to get the authentic taste of the “gata” even though the canned ones are very tempting to use (again for convenience).


I soaked and then boiled the red monggo beans and sweetened it after which it was cooled down to be used as the filling.

I really don’t have the exact measurement, so I just made it by feel.


Prepared the “malagkit” filled the center with the monggo beans and made it into round balls.

For the sauce... which to me is the highlight of this "kakanin"... I heated the second squeeze of the coconut cream, added the glutinous rice flour and then the sugar.

Then the mistake occurred... I added in the sauce mixture the "malagkit" filled with beans. Of course, it shattered... as I need to continiously stir the mixture... the red monggo beans were all over it! hahaha (I told my mom what happened and she laughed at me... according to her, I should have boiled or steamed it separately)

So, the show must go on... I finished it up by adding last the first squeeze of the coconut cream and adjusted the taste by adding some more sugar and for no reason, a pinch of salt.

Finally, I finished it off at the oven to gratinate it.

And the end result?

It was by far, exceptionally good! hahaha

I was able to reproduced the taste and texture of the Akay-akay that I grew up loving.


* Up next: standardized the quantity of the ingredients.

:-)