Pork Nilaga

This dish is near and dear to me as it was the first I've ever cooked without my mom's guidance or her telling me what to do next. In my sophomore year in college I dared to cook this for my housemates and I'm pretty sure it wasn't as awesome at the time, but since then and several pots later... this is how I cook pork Nilaga for my family now ---

Ingredients:
5 garlic cloves
1 medium onion, cut into quarters
1 pork cube
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp whole pepper corn
1/4 cup patis (fish sauce)
2 tsp sugar
2 yellow potatoes, cut into quarters
1 pack (approx. 2.75 lbs) pork shoulder country style ribs
1 small cabbage head, roughly chopped
10 cups water, for soup

 

Load pork into an 8 Quart pot or any large pot you have, cover in water, set heat on high and bring to a boil.

When it starts to boil, the fat and protein will surface to the top, skim off as much as you can and toss. Adjust heat to low, add in the garlic, onion, whole pepper corn, pork cube and patis. Cover and let this simmer for about 35 minutes or till meat is tender.

Then add the chopped potatoes, bump up the heat to medium-low, add salt and sugar, let boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes slightly covered.

Turn off the heat, add in the cabbage, mix well and set aside from heat.

one of my "go to" comfort meals rain or shine!

Spicy Sesame Broccolini

Here's another quick and simple veggie dish I prepared today for dinner, I'm so glad I actually had the time to film it to show you how this was made step by step. 

Ingredients:
2 packs broccolini or sweet broccoli
2.5-3 tbsp Oyster sauce
1 tsbp Hoisin sauce
3/4 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
toasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp hot water

2 packs broccolini

sauce mix

Watch and learn...

Oven Lechon: Chicken Leg Quarters

Hey everyone! It's been really hot the past week here in the Bay and although salads and light dishes seem more appropriate, I got the sudden urge to brine chicken quarters and roast it in the oven for some homemade lechon. I originally got this brine recipe from my sister but tweaked it a bit for my own personal touch :)

chicken leg quarters

Here's what I used:

1 whole garlic head or 8-10 cloves with the top end(s) slice off

1 large onion chopped in half

1 full carton (2 lbs or 907g) chicken broth

2-3 cups water

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Kosher salt

1/3 sugar

1 tsp whole pepper corn

1 family pack chicken leg quarters 5 pieces (approx. 5 lbs) - Asian grocers sell this chopped and with slits for BBQ marinating but we're using this instead of the whole hen. The slits help make the chicken absorb more flavor faster. 

Combine all ingredients in a pot, on high heat bring this to a boil then turn off and remove from the burner, let cool. Clean the chicken quarters rinsing them a few times and place in big glass mixing bowl. When brine has cooled down and is warm enough to touch, pour this over the chicken pieces covering everything. You may want to flip and dunk the pieces every once in a while. If this is something you are making for dinner, prepare this in the morning for the best flavor. Most of the time I brine chicken overnight but for this portion, it has been soaking for about 6 hours.

chicken brine

When ready line a baking or cookie tray with aluminum foil, spray some Pam and place the chicken quarters. Preheat oven to 370 degrees. Load the tray in and let roast for 45 minutes. Check every 10-15 minutes and baste with it's own juices when you see it accumulate along the sides of the tray. Then lower the heat to 350 degrees and continue for another 10-12 minutes, do not open the oven anymore. When done, turn off heat, remove the chicken from the oven, place on table or counter-top covering with foil allowing to rest for 10 minutes.

Plate, serve and Enjoy!!

F.O.B. Fridays ~ Split Mung Bean Soup

When I was a kid I never did like "munggo" (mung bean soup), I always thought it was yucky, grainy, looked weird and murky. I realized that my first experience eating this dish wasn't pleasant so all my bad thoughts stuck with me till a couple years later. I ate this again (can't remember where) and was surprised that it actually tasted good.... really good! I took a good look at the soup and at the same time each spoonful I put in my mouth I tried to get a sense of the difference. Then it hit me! This was smoother in texture because there was less skins on the beans and floating in the soup.

{note to self}

That gave me the idea to cook this for my family now with the attempt to remove the skins. But one day while I was at an Asian grocery store walking down an aisle, I spotted on the shelf a packet of yellow mung beans. At first I thought it was a different type of mung bean altogether but it was the same bean just skinless and split into halves (happy dance). Since then I've been using this type of packaged mung beans when cooking this soup.

Here are the ingredients:
1.5 cup split Mung beans
1 3/4 lbs. pork belly
1.5 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes,  sliced into wedges (8 per tonato)
1 sweet pepper or banana pepper
1 pack (0.5 lb) frozen pepper leaves, thawed
Kosher salt
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup Patis (fish sauce)

1 tsp sugar

ground black pepper to taste

*optional: malunggay (horseradish) leaves are an alternative leafy greens for this soup dish.

PREP & PRECOOK BEANS:
Soak the mung beans for at least 1 hour. Rinse and boil in 3 cups water in a small pot, simmer on low for 10-12 minutes or until beans are cooked. Water will have reduced to the volume of the beans and will appear almost mushy. Turn off heat and add 1 tsp salt, mix well and set aside. 

PREP AND PRECOOK PORK BELLY:
Cut pork into half inch (or one inch if you prefer) pieces. Saute with 1 tbsp canola oil in a deep sauce pan on med-hi heat, season with 1 tsp salt, stirring occasionally while meat is still pink or pale in color. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Then adjust heat to low and cook till a golden brown color, stirring frequently. Spoon out about half of the rendered fat or oil and proceed to sauté the rest of the ingredients.

BEFORE (stir occasionally)

AFTER

 

Banana Berry Smoothie

Here's another smoothie recipe that'll surely make up forget the J-word ...(Jamba)! j/k

Seriously, it doesn't take much to put this 'berry' yummy drink together, here's all you will need:


2/3 cup organic Almond milk
1/3 Vanilla flavored yogurt
frozen berries (4 large strawberries chopped, 1/2 cup blueberries)
1/2 banana
1/2 tbsp honey


Combine all ingredients together in a blender and set to chop until all frozen berries are macerated, then set to blend till smooth consistency is achieved. Serve in favorite glass, mason jar or mug and enjoy!

Cheers!!!

F.O.B. Fridays ~ Beef Bulalo

I started something new some time ago on my Instagram account, as my schedule permits, Fridays I feature "Fresh Off the Burner" {hence F.O.B. not fresh off the boat okay LOL} dishes I just cook, it is real time food served and photographed as soon as it's cooked! Unfortunately I haven't posted the previous dishes on my blog so this is the first. Hope ya'll LIKE!

Ingredients:

1 pack beef shank (approx. 3 lbs)

half  medium onion

8-10 garlic cloves, slice 5 pieces into halves

1/4 cup fish sauce (patis) I used the Vietnamese brand  Nuoc Mam Nhi Phu Quoc "Flying Lion"

1 tsp pimienta negra entera

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 beef cube
 *optional - veggies of choice. I used baby bok choy and chopped green onions to top.

• in a 5 qt. pot place beef shank in, cover with water and bring to a boil on high heat, then simmer for 30 minutes. This helps eliminate the grayish protein that floats to the top. Skim this. When done, remove & rinse meat and the pot, then redo this process.
• filling the pot again with water covering the meat and bringing to a boil on high heat. Once it starts boiling, lower heat to low or low-med (depending on your stove top), place in the onion, garlic cloves, beef cubes, patis, whole pepper corn and salt. Continue to simmer for 2.5 - 30 hours. You can fish out the garlic cloves if you prefer towards the second hour, otherwise just keep it in the broth. The onion prevents the soup from getting murky after prolong boiling.
• add in your vegetables, garnish, serve and Enjoy! 

Seasoning... forgot to include the Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Simple, Easy and Delicious!

Pan Fried Pork Chops with Sautéed Asparagus

This dish is all about the plating and I got my inspiration from a seafood dish I had at Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco during my husband's company late Christmas party back in January. The dish I had was a piece of salmon steak atop some mashed potatoes and asparagus with some kind of tomato reduction sauce.

Here's what I did to achieve this plate of savory perfection:

Sautéed Asparagus

Here's an easy and simple veggie dish anyone can make. You can dine on this alone or as a side to another entrée like poultry or seafood.

Ingredients:

bundle of asparagus

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp Canola oil

1 cup whole grape tomatoes,  rinse and slice into halves

juice from a lemon

1/2 chicken cube

Salt and pepper to taste

• after you've cleaned and trimmed the ends of the asparagus, in a saucepan filled half way  blanch in boiling water that has been seasoned with salt and half chicken cube for 3 minutes.

• transfer into a bowl filled with ice water to stop the cooking process.

• using the same saucepan, clean and set back on heat to melt the butter then add the canola oil. Sautée garlic till lightly brown, add tomatoes, asparagus and lemon juice. 

• sprinkle with a pinch of salt and stir gently with rubber spatula, cook for a couple minutes but not till tomatoes wilt. 

• plate, season with pepper & parsley, serve and Enjoy!