How To Cook Chop Suey With Chicken Livers

Chop Suey

Chop Suey is a vegetable dish of Chinese origin, this dish is found in menus of most Chinese restaurants. Filipinos have adopted this delicious vegetable medley into their own collection of special celebration foods. 

Different vegetables known as Baguio vegetables are chosen as to their availability and those vegetables that are not seasonal are just omitted just to have this exciting stir fry on the table. 

Some favorite meats and seafoods are added to this colorful dish just to ensure everything you want in this special dish is included. 

Seasonings of Chinese origin are added, too, to ensure that it tastes like the ones found in the restaurants. 

The final dish may be thickened with cornstarch slurry and sprinkled with sesame oil to give it the final Chinese taste touch.

Here is one of my versions of my Chop Suey, with chicken livers.

Baguio Vegetables for Chop Suey

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 kilo chicken meat, sliced thinly
1 kilo chicken liver, cleaned
150 grams fresh shrimps meat, cleaned
dash of salt
dash of black pepper
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/4 cups water, or shrimp broth or chicken broth
1 teaspoon chicken powder
1 cup cauliflower
1 cup broccoli
1 cup carrot florets
1 cup chicharo, sweet peas
1 cup sweet peppers, red and green

2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water, slurry
1 teaspoon Sesame oil

Procedure:

• Heat 2 Tablespoons cooking oil in a wok or frying pan.
• Saute in hot oil garlic and onions. To this add the shrimps and saute until pink, remove just the shrimps from the pan and set aside.
• In the same pan add more oil to saute the chicken meat, cook for 3 minutes. 
• Add the chicken liver and cook for 3 minutes.
• Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, and pour the water or broth made from shrimp heads or a combination of water and chicken powder. Allow the mixture to boil.
• When boiling start adding the vegetables in this order, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, chicharo, cabbage, and bell peppers. Continue to cook and simmer the vegetables until all the vegetables are cooked and done. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Taste for seasonings and adjust.
• Thicken the sauce with cornstarch slurry, mixing well to cook evenly until everything is thickened and done. Remove from  fire. 
• Sprinkle with sesame oil.
• Serve warm. Share and Enjoy! 

Chop Suey with Chicken Livers

A Serving of Chop Suey with Chicken Livers

How To Cook Miswa Patola Soup

Miswa Patola Soup

Miswa Patola Soup is a good tasting vegetable soup with fine noodles known as miswa , most enjoyed during rainy days. I cooked this dish many times when my own patola (loofah) plant in the backyard gave me the freshest tasting patola fruits after the rest of the harvest was shared with my neighbors, but nowadays, I just buy patola when in season from my vegetable dealer. When the patolas are freshly harvested, they are the best to use in cooking a great tasting Miswa Patola Soup.

Here is my version of this popular vegetable soup. 

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 pieces small onions, chopped
1 Tablespoon shredded ginger
100 grams fresh shrimp meat, cleaned
8 cups plain water
2 pieces Knorr chicken cubes
2 medium-sized patola (loofah), cut into chunks
2 bundle miswa (fine noodles)
1 teaspoon salt
Some freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 whole fresh eggs, beaten

Procedure:

Saute in olive oil the garlic, onions, ginger and when fragrant add the shrimps.

When the shrimps are nicely colored add the water, cover the pot and bring to boil.

When boiling add the chicken cubes, the patola, salt and pepper and then cover the pot and bring to boil again then lower heat to just simmer until the vegetables are cooked. 

At this point add the miswa and cook further for 2 minutes. Adjust the seasonings then turn off fire. 

Using a strainer add the eggs in the hot soup then cover for a minute to cook the eggs. 

Serve the soup hot. 

Enjoy!

Ingredients of Miswa Patola Soup

Cooking the Miswa Patola Soup

Adding Eggs to Miswa Patola Soup

How To Make Puto Pao

Puto Pao

Puto is a traditional rice cake in the Philippines. It is usually made from rice, sugar and coconut milk, flavored with anise or pandan. The rice is soaked in water to soften it then ground to make it smooth. Water or coconut milk is added and sweetened with sugar. A leavening agent is also added like baking powder. 

When ready, the batter is poured to a puto mold and steamed for a certain time until the puto is cooked. Oftentimes the puto is served with freshly grated coconut or buttered and sometimes eaten as is. 

In the Philippines puto is a good snack and served during parties to pair with noodle dishes and other snack favorites like dinuguan, noodle soups or even rice porridge. 

Puto can be flavored according to your taste. Cheese is the favorite topping and butter is also brushed on top after steaming. 

On special occassions puto is colored to give it an eye appeal to match flavors like green for pandan, yellow for cheese, plain white for coconut, violet for ube flavor and so on. My favorite flavor is asado, a meat dish used to fill Siopao or Chinese steamed buns. 

Here is how I make my Puto Pao. It is puto filled with Asado Meat and topped with salted egg slice. The texture of the dough is similar to siopao and the taste is as good as the soft siopao I use to make at home. 

Ingredients:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 Tablespoons Powder milk

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 1/2 cups hot water

3/4 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons Soft Butter

For the Topping:

2 salted eggs, sliced

Procedure:

Whisk dry ingredients flour, powder milk and baking powder together in a bowl. Sift them to remove lumps. 

Combine hot water, sugar and butter in a glass pyrex bowl and mix to dissolve sugar and melt the butter. When liquid is lukewarm add 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast into the sugar mixture. 

Add the liquid mixture to the sifted dry ingredients to make a batter without lumps. Rest the batter for 30 minutes at least to 1 hour. 

Fill oiled puto molds 1/4 full of the batter mixture then add a teaspoonful of Asado filling into it then cover the filling 3/4 full of the mold. 

Steam for 10 minutes, top risen puto with salted egg slices then steam again for another 5 minutes. Adjust time according to the size of your mold. 

Serve, share and enjoy! 

Puto Pao Reheated

Puto Pao Serving

How To Cook Pancit Palabok

Pancit Palabok

Pancit Palabok is a native Filipino pasta dish made with boiled rice noodles covered in a tasty red sauce made of ground meat, flavored with shrimp, colored with achuete extract and topped with meat strips, boiled shrimps, sauted tofu, cooked squids, toasted flaked smoked fish, crushed pork crackling, fried chopped garlic, crispy fried native onions and garnished with egg slices and chopped green onions.

Pancit Palabok is also known as Pancit Luglug or Pancit Malabon but the tastes are similar and differ only with slight addition or omission of  one or two ingredients, the basic preparation is almost the same.

The Pancit Palabok I grew up with uses fresh noodles which are thicker and made fresh daily by a family in my home town. The recipe I am providing here uses any form of rice noodle available in your neighborhood, satisfaction is guaranteed using the ingredients suggested. 

Here is how I cook my Pancit Palabok.

Prepare The Palabok Noodles

• 500 grams palabok noodles (dry palabok noodles)
• Soak the noodles in water to soften for at least 10 minutes
• Boil the soaked noodles, stirring twice until tender
• Turn off heat and leave the noodles in hot water for 30 minutes to 1 hour
• Drain the noodles and transfer to a large serving pyrex or bilao lined with banana leaves or aluminum foil. Here you can pour the sauce, garnish with toppings and serve with your favorite patis (fish sauce) with calamansi.

Palabok Noodles

Cook The Palabok Sauce

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons Cooking oil
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped

1 red onions, chopped
300 grams chicken meat chopped
4 cups shrimp broth (from the shrimp heads and shells)
1 piece Knorr chicken cubes cubes
1 cup achuete extract (use magic atchuete, 1 Tablespoon per cup of water)
3 Tablespoons Patis
3 Tablespoons Flour, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

• Saute in oil the garlic, onions and the chicken.
• Add the achuete water.
• Add 6 cups shrimp broth.
• Add the Knorr chicken cubes.
• Add 3 Tablespoons Patis.
• When mixture starts boiling, slowly add the dissolved flour and cornstarch to thicken the sauce, stirring well for 10 minutes. You may use other thickening starch like ground rice, only flour or only cornstarch, or both.
• Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Remove from fire and pour all over the cooked noodles. 

Red Sauce for Pancit Palabok

Prepare the Toppings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup crispy fried garlic

1/2 cup crispy fried shallots (sibuyas Tagalog)

1/2 cup steamed shrimp suaje meats, 300 grams fresh

2 pieces tokwa, chopped coarsely and sauteed in oil and flavored with salt and pepper

1/2 cup  pusit (squid), sauteed in oil, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice, 300 grams fresh 

1/4 cup flaked tinapa (smoked fish), toasted dry

1/2 cup chicharon, crushed finely

2 pieces hard-boiled eggs, sliced into rounds or wedges

2 pieces salted eggs, sliced thinly

1/4 c chopped green onions

6-10 pieces calamansi for serving

Toppings for Pancit Palabok

Assemble The Pancit Palabok

• Place the cooked noodles in a big serving platter.
• Pour sauce all over the noodles.
• Add the prepared toppings in this order: toasted tinapa flakes, flavored tokwa cubes, fried garlic, fried shallots, crushed chicharon, sauteed pusit, steamed and peeled shrimps, sliced boiled eggs and salted eggs. 
• Garnish with chopped green onions.
• Serve with lemon slices or calamansi and patis, (fish sauce).

Pancit Palabok Assembly

Share and Enjoy!

Pancit Palabok Family Size

Pancit Palabok Solo Size

How To Make Homemade Kalamay Hati

Homemade Kalamay Hati

Today I made Kalamay Antipolo or Kalamay Hati or Kalamay Perya. Remember those thin kakanin in banana leaves we see on the streets during Town Fiestas? They say those are from Antipolo, others say they are from Bohol or some from Iloilo accordingly. 

Wherever they are from, I like them very much. In Baguio, they sell them inside small ball containers wherein just a pea size of the sticky snack can be found inside. Later on I found some of these kalamay inside coconut shells wherein you get more delicious concoction. 

Whatever it is called, I like it specially when it has more latik. The texture is almost similar to soft tikoy, a sticky Chinese sweet rice cake. 

Here is a recipe I followed when I cooked this Kalamay Hati which is super better than those bought in the streets sold by ambulant vendors during town fiestas. We need only a few ingredients like sweet rice powder also known as glutinous rice powder, muscovado sugar, coconut cream and milk plus a lot of patience.

Ingredients:

2 cups malagkit rice powder

2 cups muscovado sugar (packed), use all 1/2 kilo in the bag

4 cups gata from 2-3 coconuts,  (2 cups cream, 1st extraction) + 2 cups diluted with water from the 2nd extraction

Procedure:

Combine all malagkit rice powder in a big kawa with 4 cups combined coconut milk and stir to dissolve. 

Cook this in low heat, mixing and scraping the bottom of the kawa until the mixture turns pasty and makunat.

Add all the muscovado sugar to the pasty mixture, stir to dissolve the sugar and continue to cook on low heat, stirring and scraping the bottoms and sides non-stop. 

Continue cooking and scraping the bottom on low heat, the color will turn dark and becoming more makunat. 

Continue cooking for a total of 45 minutes doing the same stirring and scraping until you cannot stir it anymore. 

Transfer the cooked kalamay in an oiled platter ( you can line it w/ oiled banana leaf ) and spread it thin just like those we buy in the peryas (fiesta fairs).

Plain Kalamay Hati 

Top with latik. I'm sure you know how to make latik. If not, just cook a cup of coconut cream until reduced to solids and continue to cook it until it browns but not burnt in its own oil. You have to do it stirring from start to end. Do this before you cook the kalamay so you have oil to use.

"Latik"

 Try it, it's yummy. 

Hope you like it.

Kalamay Hati With "Latik"

Quail Eggs And Shrimps Special

Ingredients:

24 pieces quail eggs, boiled and shelled

1/2 kilo fresh large shrimps, shelled and deveined

200 grams sweet green peas

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced mushrooms

1 cup diced ham

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 Tbsp. Virgin Olive oil

1 Tbsp. Minced garlic

1/2 cup diced onions

2 Tbsp. Flour

1 piece Knorr chicken cube

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup cream

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

Melt half of the butter in a saute pan and quickly stir fry the cleaned shrimps just until they turn pink, you may do this in batches. Set aside the cooked shrimp. 

On the same pan melt the rest of the butter and add the olive oil, stir fry the garlic, add the onions, cook for a minute until onions are translucent. 

Add the carrots, the green peas and stir fry for two minutes. Add the mushrooms and the ham, continue cooking for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. 

Sprinkle the flour into the vegetables and ham, continue stirring and stir frying for a minute until you do not see any more flour. 

Add to the mixture in the pan the Knorr cube and all the water, bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat, continue to stir until sauce has thickened. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. 

Add the cream to the mixture in the pan, stir and allow to simmer on low heat for a minute. 

Add the quail eggs and the cooked shrimps last so that it will not be overcooked, until they are just heated and mixed well to blend with the other ingredients. Remove from heat and transfer to a serving plate. 

Serve and Enjoy!

How To Make Homemade Caesar Salad

Caesar Salad Made At Home

A Caesar Salad is a fresh vegetable salad of Romaine lettuce, crispy croutons, crispy bacon bits, Parmesan cheese and dressed with a creamy dressing made of egg yolk and oil usually olive oil or a combination with other oils, whisked to make an emulsion.

To this emulsion or mayonnaise like mixture other ingredients are whisked in like lemon juice, minced garlic, anchovy fillets, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.

When everything is smooth and glossy, Parmesan cheese is incorporated into the mixture. The result is the creamy dressing that gives Caesar Salad that very special taste we enjoy only when we go to fine dining restaurants that offer this specialty which is usually prepared on the table side by a competent personnel of the restaurant.

But going to fine dining nowadays is too costly and going alone is no fun, so I make it at home whenever there is a craving for this delicious salad. My recipe for Caesar Salad is practical and easy to follow.

If you like your restaurant Caesar Salad, you will also like this homemade following this simple recipe.


Caesar Salad Dressing Ingredients:

1 cup Real Mayonnaise by Lady's Choice
2 Tbsp. Lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. anchovy fillets, canned
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper


Procedure:

Put the mayonnaise in a glass bowl and add all the rest of the ingredients.
Whisk everything well to combine. Transfer to a clean jar with cover. Chill in the refrigerator while preparing the other ingredients.

Other Ingredients:

1 head of fresh Romaine lettuce, washed and dried well
Some crispy bacon bits, you make your own
1 cup of homemade croutons, you make your own
1/4 cup more Parmesan cheese for topping

Croutons

Make your own croutons by using day old crusty breads like baguette, tear them or cut into small cubes, toss in olive oil, season with salt and pepper or you may add some herbs like chopped parley or chives. Bake the croutons until they are golden and crispy for 10 minutes. Cool.

Crispy Bacon Bits

Make your own crispy bacon bits by slicing finely some bacon slabs and render fat using a non-stick pan until the bacon has turned golden and crispy. Use paper towel to absorb the oil



To Assemble:  

Arrange the lettuce into a serving plate,  sprinkle with the creamy dressing, top with crispy croutons and crispy bacon bits and finally top generously with extra Parmesan cheese.

Serve immediately!

Caesar Salad Solo Serving

Enjoy!


   

How To Make Frozen Buco Fruit Salad

Buco Fruit Salad

Buco Fruit Salad is the most popular fruit salad in the Philippines. It is mostly popular during Christmas season and festivities like fiestas, anniversaries, receptions and for catering it is the most requested of all desserts.

When buco fruit salad is served in buffets, it is the first to disappear in dessert tables, but do not worry, you can easily make them at home because all the ingredients are available in the market.

You only need a few ingredients like young coconut meats or buco, which can be grated or scooped with a spoon or even sliced whatever you fancy, the buco will taste delicious.

Then you mix the buco meat with other favorite ingredients like imported Del Monte Fruit Cocktail, some nata de coco or coconut gels, some kaong or palm fruits, some condensed milk and some Magnolia All Purpose Cream, so easy.

You can chill the buco fruit salad for two hours to enjoy it right away and freeze the rest to serve it later as frozen buco fruit salad for snack or dessert or anytime of the day, very nice for Philippine climate.

Frozen Buco Fruit Salad

Here is how I make Frozen Buco Fruit Salad.


Ingredients:

1 can (850g) imported Del Monte Fruit Cocktail, drained well
2 young coconuts, grate the meats, must be tender like cooked rice
1 cup Nata de Coco, drained well
1 cup Kaong, drained well
1 cup Pineapple Tidbits, drained well
1 can Condensed Milk
2 bricks Magnolia All-Purpose Cream


Procedure:

1. Combine condensed milk and the all-purpose cream in a large bowl. Mix well.

2. Add all the coconut meat, nata de coco, kaong and pineapple tidbits. Toss to
    blend well.

3. Transfer to an empty ice cream container or any freezer-proofed container and      freeze before serving.

4. Serve frozen in ice cream cups topped with red cherries.

5. Share and Enjoy!


Note: You may add the following if you like:

           1 cup diced apples or seedless grapes
           1 cup small marshmallows

A Serving Of Buco Fruit Salad

Cherry Topped Frozen Buco Fruit Salad

How To Make Homemade Chili Sauce A La Sriracha Sauce

Homemade Chili Sauce a la Sriracha Sauce

Sriracha Sauce is a hot chili sauce made from hot chilies or hot peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. It is a sauce I have learned to like when I found it in a grocery shop where I go to and I got addicted to it ever since. This sauce is a bit pricey to my standard so I decided to recreate it. 

The bottled sauce was imported from Thailand and I learned from Wikipedia.org that the sauce was named after a coastal city in Eastern Thailand, Si Racha. 

It is recommended as a dipping sauce for seafoods, burgers, sausages and almost on anything needing a spicy touch. It is now my all- purpose hot sauce which is quite habit forming as a dipping sauce. It tastes hot, tangy with the sweetness of the brown sugar. The fermentation also added some level of appeal to its taste.

 I like it most as topping to steam buns, siomai, fried rice, noodles and soups, always a delicious addition gives more yumminess to foods every time. 

If you are a hot foods lover like me, here I am sharing my easy to make recipe of homemade chili sauce, in the style of Sriracha Sauce. 

Fresh Thai Chilies

Ingredients:

300 grams Thai red chilies, chopped

1 head garlic, peeled and crushed

8 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon sea salt

2 cups Coconut vinegar

2 cups water

Procedure:

Place chopped chilies, sea salt and water in a clean glass container, cover with cloth or paper towel and ferment for three days. 

Place the fermented chilies in a glass jar and puree them using a blender stick or use your desired blender method. I use stick blender in this recipe. Scrape the sides to be sure everything is evenly processed. 

Transfer mixture to a stainless pot, add coconut vinegar, brown sugar and crushed garlic, mix well to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil, cook until the liquid is reduced to half, 12 to14 minutes. 

Strain the cooked chilies in a clean bowl, pushing the pepper bits as much as possible to get the most of the flesh and leave just the seeds and skins on the sieve. 

This is now the end result of my homemade hot chili sauce a la Tung Ot Sriracha from Thailand. 

Transfer to a clean hot sauce bottle, cover and store in the refrigerator if not using. 

Now I have 2 cups of my own style Sriracha Sauce. 

Share and Enjoy!

Always handle fresh chilies with care.

A big batch of homemade Hot Chili Sauce.

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce.

A batch of homemade hot chili sauce.

A bottle of my own style homemade hot chili sauce.

Chili seeds and skins residue.

Tip: For the resulting chili seeds and skins, I do not dispose them because I dry them in my turbo oven until crispy dry and pound them fine in the mortar and pestle just like peppercorns to turn them into chili powder for sprinkling in other savory dishes that need extra hot spice.

How To Cook Laing or Taro Leaves

Laing or Taro Leaves in Coconut Cream

Laing is a spicy dish made from fresh or better yet sun dried taro leaves and stems of the taro plant, cooked with coconut milk and flavored with pork bits, garlic, hot chili peppers and fermented shrimp. The coconuts used in this dish are the mature ones which give the desired creaminess of the milk in the cooked dish. The coconuts are grated in the market and at home I extract the cream manually 3 times to get three extractions. First extraction has no water added, I get the pure coconut cream manually. For the second extraction I add 4 cups water to get coconut milk and for the third extraction I add another 4 cups  water to the grated coconut to get diluted coconut milk. It takes a lot of effort to really cook a mean Laing but all of the hardships of the whole process is all worth it. I think my Laing is the tastiest Laing ever. Try it and you will see.

Here is how I cook Laing. 

Ingredients:

1 kilo taro leaves and stems, sorted and cleaned

4 pieces matured coconuts, grated

300 grams meaty pork belly, sliced thinly and chopped coarsely

1 head garlic, minced

1/2 cup fermented shrimp, remove unwanted bits

12 pieces bird's eye chillies, chopped

1 piece Knorr pork cube, crushed

Sea salt to taste

Procedure:

Tear the taro leaves into shreds, peel the taro stems by stripping the outside covering off the stems and cut into finger sizes. Clean and wash them very well. Drain all traces of water. I do it in the salad spinner.

Dry in the sun or in the oven to wilt. This process gives better texture and flavor.

Extract coconut cream using manually by using a muslin bag and wring out the pure coconut cream. Reserve the first cream extract. Add 4 cups water in the second extraction, wring the muslin bag to get coconut milk. Add 4 cups for the third extraction, wring the muslin bag to get diluted coconut milk. Let the third extraction settle in a few minutes until the thin cream sits on top and skim this cream and discard the thin water below it.  

In a cooking pot big enough, bring to boil the second and third skimmed coconut milk extraction. Add to this the pork, garlic, fermented shrimp and the chopped chillies. 

Being to boil until the liquid is reduced into half. 

Add the taro stems and cook for 10 minutes. 

Add the taro leaves and simmer until almost dry. 

Always check and scrape the bottom part of the pot to prevent the leaves and stems from burning. 

Add the pure coconut cream and the Knorr cube and mix to distribute the cream evenly. 

Simmer on the lowest heat possible and continue cooking until almost dry but not oily and check seasoning. You may add salt if necessary.

Serve with plenty of Rice. 

Share and Enjoy!

Fresh Taro Leaves

Note: In the absence of fresh coconuts you may use 4 tinned pure coconut cream instead. You can also buy dried taro leaves in the supermarkets if available.