Sweet Potato Top Salad (Ensaladang Talbos ng Kamote)

I am in love with all vegetables boiled, blanched or steamed. The simplicity of making a quick salad-cum-side dish without any frills or with the addition of spices and fruits as you please makes this dish worth trumpeting; also worth noting that this is healthy as long as you lay low on the condiments/dressing you pair it with. 

The list of local vegetables you can make into a dish such as this one is endless: from okra (lady's fingers) to kangkong (water spinach) to young squash leaves to sayote leaves (young chayote leaves) to ampalaya (bitter gourd/bitter melon), both the fruit and the leaves to sigarilyas (winged beans) to pechay or bok choy (Chinese cabbage). 

How to prepare it

Wash the sweet potato tops really well. 

Bring water (about 2 1/2 - 3 cups) to a boil and place the leaves in it. 

Drain it after 2 - 3 minutes*, you don't want the leaves to be overcooked. And the crunchy texture is great! 

Let it cool a little before adding chopped tomatoes and red onions. You don't really want to cook them in with the hot sweet potato leaves.

Add the calamondin (kalamansi) juice. You can replace this with fresh lemon juice if you don't have calamondin. Add bird's eye chilis if you want it spicy. 

For the salty dressing/condiment/dip, you can pair it with a little soy or fish sauce, salted shrimp fry (bagoong) or fermented fish/shrimp (bagoong alamang) or just add a dash of salt. 

*The time you need to cook the vegetable will differ depending on which vegetable you are using for the recipe. Okra and ampalaya (fruit) usually takes longer; for sigarilyas you might want to just blanch it and wash it with cold water right after to keep its crunchy texture. 

The "love story" between me and this dish probably started when I worked for an urban poor non-government organization in 2004. My colleagues introduced this to me during our lunch cook-offs. And as they say, the rest is history. 

Okra (lady's fingers) with sliced tomatoes, red onions and bird's eye chil with calamondin sauce. 

Our Take on Pepe's Tinolang Manok

Tinolang manok or chicken stew with green papaya wedges and chili leaves is a dish often associated with our National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Although I am not aware of any other historical accounts to support many claims that this dish is indeed "among his favorites" aside from his mention of it in his famous novel, Noli Me Tangere (The Social Cancer) in Chapter 3: "Ang Hapunan" (The Dinner). Here's an excerpt from the chapter, from Project Gutenberg: 

"A large steaming tureen was brought in. The Dominican, after muttering the benedicite, to which scarcely any one knew how to respond, began to serve the contents. But whether from carelessness or other cause, Padre Damaso received a plate in which a bare neck and a tough wing of chicken floated about in a large quantity of soup amid lumps of squash, while the others were eating legs and breasts, especially Ibarra, to whose lot fell the second joints. Observing all this, the Franciscan mashed up some pieces of squash, barely tasted the soup, dropped his spoon noisily, and roughly pushed his plate away. The Dominican was very busy talking to the rubicund youth."

How to prepare

Parboil the chicken in a pot with 1/4 cup water and a dash of salt. If frozen, thaw the meat first. 

Take off from the pot portions of the chicken without skin. Let the remaining chicken in the pot cook until it turns brown and its oil comes out. This way, you don't need to add additional oil for sauteing. 

Once the chicken oil is out, add the ginger until it turns brown, add the garlic and the red onion. 

Add the portions of the chicken you have set aside earlier. Add fish sauce (initially about 1 tablespoon) to taste. You can add more of either salt or fish sauce to fit your desired taste. 

Add water and bring to a boil. 

Add the green papaya* wedges. To check if the green papaya is cooked (it takes about 2 - 3 minutes or more), poke it with a fork. 

Turn off the stove and add the chilies and leaves. Put the pot lid on to let the leaves cook before serving.

*Sayote (chayote) is often used to replace green papaya in this recipe; and in some preparations, malunggay leaves (moringa) is used to replace chili leaves. 

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Curious about the health benefits of eating green papaya? Check out The George Mateljan Foundation's blog about it. 

Steamed Cream Dory Fillet

Trips to the wet market are not frequent these days for me. Lately it happens only twice a month, if I get lucky, and only on weekends since it's still a drive away from where I live. With work and tons of errands, I couldn't find time to go as often as I want to get fresh seafood. I recently discovered that the neighborhood meat shop sells frozen cream dory and I was curious enough to try if it is any good. 

I was raised with a practice that "fresh" meant getting your seafood right after the fishing boat docks or at the wet market in our small town in Sorsogon (south of Philippines) early in the morning. For my maternal grandmother, Lola Onie, early in the morning meant 5:00 AM, just right before sunrise. If not from the fishermen and the early market trips, Lola would take us along the shore to pick up shellfishes or managunhas. All of these turned me into a seafood snob of some sorts. My Lola taught me well on how to spot a good one. When I moved to the city, my trips to the wet market involved endless debates with fish vendors. It took me years to build a relationship with my fish vendor who, in time, got used to having items being returned back if they were not as fresh as she claimed but she loves me as a suki (loyal customer).

Supermarkets might not be a great place to find good quality seafood, at least in the Philippines. I had numerous experiences buying seafood at several of them (with big names, which I will not mention) which I regret doing so to this time. They usually stock up a lot, store the unsold ones until they are "acceptable" to be sold and display them again the next day. The worst ones are usually the ones which were put on sale. This also works for meat sold at supermarkets, never get those which are on sale. 

The advantage of getting your fish from a "small" fish vendor (small was used here for the lack of a better term), they do not stock more than they can sell because they operate daily on a revolving fund, which means that when you come back tomorrow they will have new stocks, i.e. the most fresh you can probably get in Metro Manila. Most importantly, you can always haggle to get a better price. A disadvantage of this would be that small fish vendors offer less variety; often they have only the types of fish which people commonly buy like galunggong (big-bellied round scad), tilapia, tahong (mussels) and the likes. The key to overcoming this is have a good relationship with your fish vendor so you can order other varieties should you need to. 

(NOTE: Wet markets might not be the cleanest place and the water they use after cleaning your fish might not be good so it is a must to have them cleaned and washed well before cooking them.)

How to prepare it

After washing the frozen fillet, rub it with an ample amount of salt and ground black pepper. 

Add minced or crushed garlic and ginger. 

You might need to use foil if you are using a rice cooker steamer. Set the foil just around the steamer and place  the fillet. 

Steam for about 8 - 10 minutes. 

Set on a plate and squeeze as much lemon juice as you want. 

I added Java mint for additional kick, just tear the leaves up and spread on top. 


If you tried this recipe with another type of fish, do tell us how it worked. :) We have been meaning to try as many recipes as we can which doesn't use oil as in frying and sauteing and less soup-y (like cosido). 

If you are not THAT confident when checking if the fish or shellfish is fresh, check out these tips from Hank Show in Before You Buy Fish or Shellfish at About.com. 

Burong Mustasa (Fermented Mustard Greens) Revealed

We have stopped blogging for a long time, attending to life's lemons; but we have never stopped cooking (and eating, of course!) We have slowly (like a drunk snail) kept updates on our Facebook Page every so and so. It's here.

In the middle of a summer thunderstorm yesterday, I was able to score great mustard greens (Tagalog: mustasa) at the wet market. I took nearly two kilos of it and decided to make fermented mustard greens (Tagalog: Burong Mustasa, a dish attributed to Southern Tagalog, Philippines) which I missed so much.

Being part Batangueña, I have kept and honored this dish. I learned about the recipe from my fraternal grandmother just before she died in early 2000. My grandmother was known to make these in her town in Batangas. I remember how my dad joked about it, that it was the burong mustasa which has enabled him and his siblings to attend school. That might be half truth but the idea has created a nostalgic feeling which I kept every time I prepare the dish.

It took a while for me to perfect it. During the first tries, I had to eat the whole batch of burong mustasa which were extremely bitter even after fermentation. Also, I had saltly ones. I have to say, years of practice has made me confident to finally share how I was taught it is done.

How to make it

Make sure you wash the mustard greens well to take off dirt.

Slice in half-inch length. Or your preferred size. I have seen some prepare it without slicing, but this size works for me.


Put salt and squeeze the sliced mustard greens until the bitter juice separates.

Drain the bitter juice.

Wash the squeezed greens with water to take off the extra saltiness.

Drain it again to take the water out. Place them in sterilized bottles and set aside.

Preparing the rice milk

Usually, I put extra water when cooking rice to get the rice milk, but in case you missed doing that, here's how to prepare it.

After washing it with water to clean, put the rice in a pot with 2 cups of water.

Bring to a boil to create rice milk (that's the sticky starchy liquid which you get from boiling rice).

Set aside.

Let it cool down completely.

Once it has cooled down, drain the rice to separate the rice milk. (Don't throw the rice, you can still eat it. Just add yogurt, a dash of honey and some fruits!)

Pour it in the bottle with the mustard greens.

The fermentation process for burong mustasa takes about 2 to 3 days. This is best served as side dish (a personal favorite is this with fried tilapia) or this can be used as vegetable to sauteed dishes.

UPDATE (Sunday, 8 June): It was a happy ending for our burong mustasa today. We had it over breakfast with black rice and fried dried squid.

***

What to know how traditional fermented food benefit you? Jyoti Prakash Tamang of Sikkim Central University talked about it here.

***

Don't have time to make one? I found one seller of burong mustasa at SIDCOR Sunday Market (Eton Centris, EDSA corner Quezon Avenue in Quezon City; of course, during Sundays only) and also available, ready-to-eat in the markets of Tayabas, Quezon and Los Baños, Laguna. 

Ice Cold Tea with Calamondin (Kalamansi) and Honey

We love the idea of preparing our own iced tea. This is perfect for summer and picnic.

Brew the tea in a pot, usually two teabags of Earl Grey Tea for about 2 1/2 gallons of water (around 324 oz/40 cups). You can choose what type of tea to use.

Add sugar, honey or any desired sweetener. (Although a personal preference is honey.) Let it cool down.

Add kalamansi (calamondin) or lemon juice, the fresh ones of course.

Chill or serve with ice.

Throw in some mint leaves if you have some!

A Whole Lot of S...

Shrimp and Squid Scampi Pasta

The stats of my life these days would reflect 80% work and 20% play. It seems desolate but honestly, it isn’t. As I see it, majority of what I do at work recently involves constant scampering to different tasks that can be physically strenuous at times, but can get really fun as well; what with all the free travels, opportunity to work with interesting people and of course being able to try a variety of food in the places I visit.

I am always grateful for the fact that development work has spawned useful skills in me that have become part of my everyday life. I’ve learned, among others, to see and value the singular in the plural - every single thing as unique on its own, a speck connected to other specks that make up a particular whole, which also forms part of a bigger dimension, and so on. Just like a single person in a community, and just like one custom in a diverse culture. As in cooking, every single ingredient makes up a whole dish. One ingredient can make all the difference, but we won’t know the difference unless it is mixed with all the other ingredients.

Lost in Translation: Mejillones en Salsa de Pimenton (Mild)

I had no idea I was reading a Spanish website containing the recipe for our European-themed afternoon feast for Ningning's birthday, (thanks to an auto-translation by Goggle Chrome) until I opened it on a mobile device while attempting to copy it on my little black notebook as I rush to Meleguas. Instantly, I had a really strange feeling that somewhere my professor in Spanish 1 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Señor Wystan Dela Peña, is doing his evil laugh and had this charming “You should've listened more” face on. I should have, but Señor, I still figured everything out. (I guess.)

After all, centuries of Spanish colonization are embedded in our veins, six units of language classes still stack-piled somewhere in my brain's recycle bin and guts, which I seem to use more of in the kitchen lately, I was able to make mejillones en salsa de pimento (mild).

A (Not-So) French Onion Soup

Onion soup on a humid Sunday seems quaint,
but it surely tamed six hungry tummies!

Onion soup cures colds and heartaches. Well, at least for me.

When Patrick asked the ingredients for the onion soup while doing his shopping for the feast, I didn't know I'll be preparing it. Taken by surprise, I had to make it from how I usually do it - not the French way.

There are two ways to prepare your onion for the soup, each depends on the length of time available to cook it:

- Minced onion: Short-time preparation. Personally, I like taking bites on the sweet white onion while sipping the soup. It gives a kick to its otherwise gooey texture.

- Peel it, leave it whole: Longer time required. Aside from the length of time which takes an hour at least, you need a good thick-bottomed pot to avoid burning your onions. Burnt food NEVER taste good. If you prefer just taking the taste of onion on the soup, this is for you.

Eat and Run and Vice Versa Because Life is All About Running Around Anyway. C’est la vie!

oh the chaos!

Whilst Edith Piaf’s Non Je Ne Regrette Rien blasted on the stereo, the chopping boards sounded in (un)rhythmic staccato to Abba’s Mama Mia. The kitchen was in total confusion, with aroma of Europe blasting in that humid Sunday afternoon, and the sound of the frying pans banging on the floor to the occasional ohhs and ahhs and yays of the clumsy cooks!

fiesta eh!

It was a muddled European fantasy fished straight out of Danny Boyle’s psyche. With the Eifel Tower and Big Ben within arm’s reach, and the Pissa leaning side by side Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia amid confetti and yellowbells adorning a sun-spotted, star-spangled tablerunner with a wee pine tree at the middle.

She was named after the star: Maria Luningning, oh how telenovela-ish

Madness not even the Madhatter’s Tea Party was at par. The disjoint was pretty obvious. We started the day quite early with half of the clumsy cooks running for Nat Geo’s Earth Day finishing our line at Tapa King then heading straight to the grocery and the wet market where a spitting clam and a transvestite mutually coexisted.

Blimey! Oh my Gulay!

Moby. Morrissey. Morissette. Natalie Portman. Oliver Stone. Paul McCartney. Pink. Voltaire. Wolfgang Peterson. Zooey Deschanel. Michael Jackson. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Albert Einstein. Mahatma Gandhi. Ashley Judd. Great people. Vegetarians. Surprised?

Previously, I abhorred ve-ge-ta-bles like I was the absolute anti-thesis to Lucky Me’s makulay ang buhay sa sinabawang gulay campaign. As much as I liked to sing to the Bahay Kubo as apap would cultivate his greens around the house, vegetables and its other forms were total nightmares to me at the dining table. Think the Attack of the Killer Tomato with its minions: the pungent radish, the evil ampalaya, the yucky okra, and the vicious malunggay!

But, by fate or circumstances, by my quarterlife I started to love oh my gulays oh so dearly- and of all places pa, in the UK! It was rather (un)fortunate that whilst managing the Global Xchange Programme- a 6-month cultural and volunteer exchange in the UK and PH, I got to live with errr, ethical people? Yeah, you heard it right- a bunch of cool dudes espousing ethical living whose products in the flat spelled local, organic, fair-trade, child-labour free, vegetarian, and so on and so forth. Because I so loved my flatmates and their tree-hugging radical friends, out of respect I started not to devour anything with feet and eyes in front of them so I can join them over campfires and booze, and football and shit at the park! In short, I’ve become vegetarian, que horror!

The Birth of Awesomeness!

Of all the special occasions in my life, my birthday would probably be the least I am eagerly anticipating.

The enthusiasm I have on my birthday is weirdly going downhill as I grow old. Maybe because it’s the realization that as you grow old, having your birthday celebrated means you’re the one who’s going to spend for it. There are no moms and pops that will give you a party and buy you a cake. No ninangs and ninongs giving you gifts. This is now the point in your life you realize that, as a grown-up, you are now responsible of making that day memorable.

So in the advent of my looming 25^th birthday, I realized that I have the choice to make it fun and unforgettable. That’s why when Patrick insisted that I should probably celebrate my birthday with another cookfest with the explocook gang, I texted Maggie right away if we can abuse her house again and she said yes. 

A Copycat's Take on a J. Oliver Recipe

Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with New Potatoes and Asparagus in Herby Yogurt

This is based on a recipe of the same title
 from Cook with Jaime Oliver,  2006 Oct, UK.

I am one among millions of Jaime Oliver followers, because:

- I like the way he cooks: crude, disorganized in an adorable way;

- He has meltdowns. I do too. When it happens, he moves on, tries it again and makes it better. I don't; I stop and never go back, my dinuguan in 2002 is the perfect example;

- Aside from cooking, he plants, and; 

- I have always imagined ending up with a Filipino version of him (OH YES! I AM A DREAMER!). Instead, I got a mutated Larry Page stalker-in-denial, Michael Greer-wannabe, Andrew Dan-Jumbo in-the-making and a devout Ric Segreto fanatic who once cooked a very tasty chicken adobo on our second date and was never able to recreate it years after. I say, typical one-hit wonder.

Often when I serve meals I got from Mr. Oliver, most of my friends find it too “foreign” for their taste. When you have friends with tongue predisposed to eating saucy Spanish, salty Filipino, overcooked Tsinoy (Filipino-Chinese) food, all others are foreign.

Death By Chocolate ver 2

Death By Chocolate ver 2 with fresh mint leaves.

Everybody LIKES chocolate – somehow. No, don't shake your head in disagreement. As a hilaw na manga and bagoong-person (my soul tingles at the sight of green mango and sauteed salted shrimp fry), I would probably do the same if I hear that statement from someone else. But you have to admit, we all have chocolate fixes. Mine is a candy-coated dark chocolate with peanuts. Yes, Patrick, I agree that it is indeed a rip-off since the candy coating is relatively thick, there's too little chocolate in it and the peanut inside is more or less 400% bigger than an average-sized peanut in a Prinsesa pack. If you grew up in the Philippines, circa 80s to 90s, you probably know what Prinsesa is.

When Ryan asked for a chocolatier cake for his birthday, I knew I had to come up with something that will make his pores bleed chocolate and his eyes pop in overload.

I landed on Cacaoweb's Death By Chocolate which I consider version 1. It is a fairly simply recipe but it requires an oven. If you intend to make this, you do not need to buy an oven (yet, although it is a good investment); if you have friends who own one, visit them, bake and increase your pogi/ganda points.

Gusto ko ng baboy!

“My brother is not a pig!”, sobbed Nora Aunor in Minsan May Isang Gamu-Gamo to an American Serviceman who shot his brother who mistook him for a wild boar. The incident compelled Corazon de la Cruz (Aunor) to cancel her trip in the land of milk and honey to work as a nurse.

This scene was so powerful that aside from awakening my senses to the struggle of Filipinos against the Americans in the Philippines, also introduced me to the use of the word pig. Prior to that, the only pig I knew were the ones in the corral which my dad raised, but from thereon I got the liking of using pig or baboy in anything I find unacceptable- mostly on how people behaved.

Sun and Squash

The meaning of the word fest stays true to my friends who never seem to lose the energy to celebrate or come together for anything whenever, wherever. That Saturday was no different; in fact even more so because there WAS indeed something to celebrate. It appeared that even a mabangisnalobo can actually remember that he was turning a quarter-century old. I wanted to give him a “savagely fierce balloon”, but I don't know what it looks like so I ended up not getting him one.

I remember that I had my 'biggest' birthday celebration when I turned his age. I invited most of my friends and had a blast cooking for everybody. It’s nice to look back and realise that I've been cooking for years now, although not as often as I want to. And as years passed, all I was certain of is that being amateur and clumsy got nothing to do with age.  

Of Karl Marx, Tyler Durden (a.k.a. Edward Norton), Martha Stewart, a Whole Gamut of Isms, and my Own Meandering Experience

Artwork: batanggala; Images:theinspirationroom.com, coulaslourdes.com,
clker.com, flixster.com, utahstories.com, overgrownpath.com, arthursclipat.org

Tyler Durden: We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.

Narrator: Martha Stewart.

Tyler Durden: Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha's polishing the brass on the Titanic. It's all going down, man. So fuck off with your sofa units and Strinne green stripe patterns.

Again, Martha Stewart- cook, artist, entrepreneur, innovator, prisoner. Now, that’s what you call a lady with balls. Man, if I were a she, I would be her. But, I reckon I don’t need some castration as lately, the dining table is slowly turning around as more and more hombre are staying in the kitchen more than the pub. Introducing a new breed of men- [drum roll please] the gastrosexuals! Think Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver. You know, this new generation of men who can actually cook and uses their kitchen prowess and seduce prospective partners. Thus, a man donning an apron is no longer sissy but sexy. Woot woot.

La Bouche, Coming Home and The Night Jose Ruled Drunken Pinoy Henyo

When Portia came back from her Australia trip loaded with stories and photos, we gathered together along with a bottle of Pareng Jose (the tequila), tacos with homemade beef, cheese, chili and tomato dip, and a game of Drunken Pinoy Henyo (yes, "truth or dare" is now old school) and we came up with the idea of "cooking together". Since we are amateurs and with experience only of "cooking to satisfy our hunger" we have convinced each other that we want to be each other's "lab rat", an audience, a critic (of which we find ourselves really good at, in the most amusing way).

There, the idea of "cook fest" was born.

The first cook fest-cum-welcome dinner-cum-late birthday celebration for Portia ended up with a delightful meal of Balsamic Chicken and Pears, Banana Bread, Lemon Tuna Pasta, Ripe Mango Shake and Margarita.

If Life Gives You Lemons, Say Thank You! (Nothing's Free Nowadays)

If there’s one thing I can be proud of with my Mom’s culinary expertise, it is her own version of Lengua Estofado, Menudo, and Calloz Royale. Those three are phenomenal! And if there’s one thing I am very ashamed of, it’s her Spaghetti a la Ketchup. That one is dangerously horrendous!

No wonder they call this Depression Spaghetti http://www.convergingcuisine.com/?p=28

I really don’t understand why my Mom still uses her spaghetti ketchup recipe. When we were kids, probably it tastes good, but now, it seems like I am eating pasta soaked in Jufran’s Banana ketchup. Yes, that’s how my palates become more sophisticated after writing several articles on wedding food during my stint in Manila Bulletin.

Mango Shake Delight!

Ripe mango photo from Jun Lisondra

Being one of the most common fruits around, it is easy to disregard mangoes but I’ll bet my life to it that the Philippines has the best-tasting and sweetest mangoes out there. With its availability all-year round, you can experiment a lot of things with it and you make it into any kind of dessert that you wish. The easiest and most refreshing way you can enjoy mango is to make it into a smoothie or a shake.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 Ripe mangoes (make sure that it is sweet)

Crushed Ice

½ cup Evaporated filled milk

2tbsp Sugar

Balsamic Chicken and Pears, O-ha!

Eat it or leave it! That was the mantra over the dining table whilst growing up. And to further this agony, our mom would always remind us to consume to the last bit whatever was on the plate as if we’re living the lyrics of “bawat butil ng palay, ay butil ng pawis ng luha at dugo”.

The song plus the incessant reminder has probably scarred my subconscious that up to these days it pains me to see food wastage. It is probably also to blame my being frugal in a lot of things that’s why I can’t help but exclaim of the rising prices everywhere! IBON said that the value of the P382-minimum wage in NCR is worth only P235 in 2004, see?

One day thinking of what to cook and wanting to utilise what’s only available in the fridge and the kitchen condiments- chicken, pears, olive oil, balsamic vinegar I asked myself “what to do eh?” I may be knowledgeable about a lot of stuff (mostly chismis), but not in the kitchen. Thank goodness for google, I just typed in the available ingredients and voila from www.inmamaskitchen.com, the Balsamic Chicken and Pears.