Spaghetti Bolognese

When I was young, there's this spaghetti that's been served in Mai King in the extinct Greendale supermarket which is now closed for many years and re-opened this year by Save More supermarket. I oftenly say to my father "Spageting pang-gera!"  (War Spaghetti) because of the spiciness of this spaghetti in contrast to children's spaghetti which is somewhat sweet. Although my version of spaghetti bolognese doesnt taste like that once that I have ate when I was young, it is still a bolognese. So here we go!!

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of Pasta
• 2 250g of Del Monte Italian Spaghetti sauce
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 large white onion, chopped finely
• 1 kilo ground beef
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 Cup tomato paste
• 1/2 Cup beef stock
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 3 tsp Fresh oregano
• 1 tbsp Fresh basil, finely shredded
• dashes of salt and pepper to taste
• dashes of chili powder to taste
• 1 tbsp Butter

How to make Spaghetti Bolognese: 

1. First, heat oil in a big saucepan and cook onion until translucent.
2. Then add garlic in it on medium heat til light brown and keep stirring.
3. Next is add beef to the pan, stir continuously on high flame till well browned.
4. Add the tomato sauce.
5. Add tomato paste, stock, sugar and bring it to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat, covered and simmer for about 30 minutes till beef is tender and mixture thickened slightly.
7. Now stir through herbs.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Add chili powder to taste.
10. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a big saucepan of boiling water with 1 tbsp of salt and butter, uncovered, till just tender, drain.
11. Now serve sauce over spaghetti.

Starbuck's Heaven on Earth dessert

Heaven on Earth.. What a catchy name for a flan-like dessert.. I saw this at Starbuck's Gateway when I went there to relax at around 9PM after shopping at SM North and Trinoma. The dessert consists of different layers with series of flavors that compliment each other. The top part has a gelatin-like texture. It's sweetness is just right and I love it. But I observed that you should eat this dessert slowly to prevent getting yourself bored with it or "naumay". I paired it with my usual order in Starbucks.. The Grande size Chocolate Chip Cream frap. I have a sweet tooth so it's ok to have 2 similarly flavored foods.

While eating the dessert, there's this 90s song that starts to play in my head.

"♪♫ Oh, heaven do you know what that's what?

 Oh, heaven is a place on earth

 They say in heaven, love comes first

 You make heaven in a place called earth ♪♫"

Verdic

Presentation: 5 stars

Taste: 3 stars

Value for money: 3 stars

Score: 3 stars!

Well, to sum it up. I would say that it's good to try this once in a while to relax.

Gyudon (Beef Bowl)

First and foremost, Gyu is a japanese word which means beef. Don is.. I don't know.. Anyway, I love Gyudon!! My sister also love it too so I used it as a reward when she did some series of favors for me. I so love Gyudon that I even eat it twice a day and everyday. It was then P65 but now.. it turned P110 with very few beef strips unlike before and even the bed of rice is dry sometimes. So I decided to make my own.

Ingridients:

• 1/2 kilo steamed rice
• 1/2 kilo breakfast steak cut into strips
• 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1 dashi powder mix derived from Bonito fish (I bought one in SM supermarket)
• 5 Tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp mirin
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 pc of calamansi
• 3 dashes of 7 spices (some call it chili powder)

Preparation:

1. Put the water in a pan and let it boil a bit. Then add the dashi powder. (Follow the instruction in the box.)
2. Add soy sauce, calamansi juice, sugar, and mirin and bring to a boil on medium heat.
3. Add onion slices and simmer for a few minutes or until softened. 
4. Add beef in the pan and simmer for a few minutes. 
5. Serve hot steamed rice into individual deep rice bowls. 
6. Put simmered beef on top of the rice. Top with dashes of 7 spices.

My version of Gyudon is a bit sweeter than what they serve at Yoshinoya's.

Ginisang Munggo (Sauté Mung Beans)

Since it's been raining a lot recently, I started to crave for mung beans or just simply "munggo". Some people call it Stew Mung Beans and some Sauté Mung Beans. This dish is so Filipino that everyone in the Philippines probably eat this kind of food. Honestly, I don't like veggies but these mung beans are edible enough even to choosy guys like us who's in love with meat.

 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
3 pieces of fried Gigi (Galunggong), fillet in pinch sizes "hinimay"
1/4 kilo pork cubes, washed with running water (note: wash it separately against the munggo, ok?)
2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
4 cups water (or more)
1 tsp. fish sauce (patis)
2 cups munggo or mung beans, washed with running water and drained

1 bundle of new-sprout ampalaya leaves/bitter gourd (talbos ng ampalaya)
salt to taste

Procedures:

1. Heat large saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Add cooking oil then add pork. 
3. Cook until light brown and crispy (when you got fat and skin on the pork cubes). Set aside pork.
4. Sauté garlic until light brown. Set aside on the saucepan.
5. Add onion and cook until translucent.
6. Add tomatoes and stir often until tomatoes are softened, about 5 minutes.
7. Add pork cubes back into the pan and keep on stirring.
8. Add mung beans "munggo".
9. Add  Gigi "galunggong" fish.
10. Cook everything for around 3 minutes.
11. Pour water. Cover and simmer, stir occasionally, until the beans are quite tender and the stew has thickened, about 30-40 minutes.
12. Add ampalaya leaves.
13. Season with fish sauce and salt to taste.
14. Serve with steamed white rice.

Giniling na Baboy

Giniling na Baboy (Ground Pork) is one of the famous dishes in the Philippines. It is served in almost all street food house aka karinderia or Jolly Jeep. 

It's main ingredient is the ground pork. If you choose the ground pork that has fats in it then you can just cook it by it's own oil or with very little cooking oil else it will turn so oily. (FYI: Lean ground pork is more expensive that just ground pork with fat.) 

Giniling na Baboy is a dish that usually served in Filipino family meals but also in banquets or fiesta.

Ingredients:

1 kilo ground pork
1 cup carrots, minced
1/2 kilo potatoes, minced
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into wedges
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup raisins

2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 cup of water
salt
pepper

Procedures:

1. Add cooking oil and heat the cooking pan until hot. 
2. Sautee garlic until  light brown. 
3. Add onions and cook until translucent. 
4. Add ground pork and sautee until it turn to brown.
5. Add carrots and potatoes. 
6. Add water.
7. Cook for about 5 to 7 minutes until vegetables are tender, and half of the water is absorbed.
8. Add red bell pepper, raisins and tomato sauce.
9. Salt and pepper to taste.
10. Cook for another 3 minutes. 
11. Serve with steaming hot rice.

Variations:
Add 1/2 cup frozen green peas with bell peppers
Add 1/2 cup raisins with bell peppers
Add 1/2 cup hotdogs, sliced
Add cooked quail eggs or hard-boiled eggs before serving

Giniling na Kalderetang Baka

It's a very Filipino beef stew with an embrace of spiciness. This recipe is influenced by Iberian which is somehow evident not only in the name, but also in the ingredients used. Surely, the Spanish/Portuguese culture have influenced us. Haha! Even I have Spanish blood in me together with Chinese and Filipino. Anyway, I love it specially those ones that are served in a street food house "karinderia" or "Jolly jeep".

This dish can also be served on celebrations together with rice. You can also opt to remove the chillies if you don't like spicy food.

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo ground beef
• 1 big can (350g) liver spread or ground liver
• 5 onions, minced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup of potatoes, diced
• 1 cup of green peas
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp of ground pepper
• 3 green peppers, diced
• 3 red peppers, diced
• 4 pieces hot chili peppers, minced
• 3/4 cup grated cheese
•  2 cups beef stock or water
• 1/4 cup cooking or olive oil
• 1 cup of heavy cream

Procedures:

1. In a casserole, sauté garlic and onions in oil. Then add potatoes, red & green pepper and chili peppers.
2. Add in the beef. Cook until the beef starts to get brown.
3. Add in the tomato sauce, liver spread and water or stock.
4. Salt to taste and add the ground pepper then wait until it boils. Once boiled, reduce the flame.
5. Let simmer for at least 1 hour or until the beef is tender (if you use beef cut in cubes).
6. Add cheese, heavy cream, green peas, and olives (optional) and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens.
7. Serve with plain rice and add some hard-boiled eggs.

Note:

• Instead of beef, goat’s meat (kambing) can be used. If goat’s meat is used, marinate the meat in vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper for at least 15 minutes.

Grilled Steak

Everybody loves steak. Steak is the staple of every carnivorous guys out there. They love it and it is best paired with a glass of red wine.. Hmm.. delicious! I love mine with 2 cups of rice!

So how can we cook it?

First, here are the ingredients:

1/2 kilo any steak-sliced beef, I would suggest a tender loin but it is expensive.. so just try other beef part.

1 tbsp ground pepper

1 tbsp salt

1/4 cup banana ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce or until the soy sauce drenched all the meat

5 pcs of calamansi

Procedures:

1. Just combine everything except for the meat into a container. Mix it.Put the meat inside the container and mix it well inside. Be sure that the meat is drenched over our marinade.
2. Marinade the meat and put it in the ref for at least an hour so the flavors will stuck in.
3. Prepare the charcoal and make sure that it is hot already and you can see those smoke coming out and the coals glow. I prefer heating them by a piece of burning paper instead of adding kerosene to prevent your food from smelling like kerosene.
4. Fill in a small cup of the marinade mixture and add 3 tbsp of banana ketchup and mix it again.The mixture should come thick.
5. Put the meat in the grilling iron and brush each side of the meat while still grilling.
6. Turn each side every 5 minutes until the meat is cooked.

Note: If you don't have a brush for grilling, you can improvise by attaching a piece of banana leaf (cut a small portion) and wrapped it up at the end of a piece of barbecue stick.This will act as your brush.

Beef Burger Patty!

Grilling burgers are tough at times. Like you really need to be meticulous enough to choose the right beef for you. Remember that more fat is burned when you grill. Like for example, choosing ground beef from sirloin is pretty lean, so when you grill it, you'll end up having a dry burger. We don't want that of course!

On the other hand, choosing a ground beef that has lots of fat in it will give you a shrink burger and we still don't want that. So choose carefully, I recommend choosing a ground beef that is 85% lean. This will give you a burger that will stay moist but does not shrink too much.

So here's the list for the engridients:

• 1kilo 85% lean ground beef
• 6 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bulb of onion, finely chopped
• 4 dashes of salt
• 5 dashes of pepper
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup of tomato ketchup
• 1/2 cup of beer
• a dash of Ajinomoto seasoning (optional)

Procedure:

1. First, I like to beat the eggs then I add the garlic and onion with it.
2. Then I put them to the ground beef which is inside a mixing container. An empty ice cream plastic container will do ^_^.
3. Then I mix the egg mixture with the ground beef.
4. Next is I add the salt and pepper.
5. Then the tomato ketchup and the beer. If you got some seasonings to add then add it now.
6. Next is I mix it thoroughly with my hands. I ensure that everything is mixed up and I won't see clumps of tomato ketchup in it nor egg yolks.
7. Once done, I now mold it each in my hands then wrapped them individually.

Grilling:

1. Ensure that the grill is already hot before putting the burger patty. Paint some cooking oil on the patty so the meat won't stuck in the grill.
2. Turn the patty 2-3 minutes each side until it is cooked.
3. You'll get a moist burger.

Frying:

1. Ensure that the oil in the cooking pan is hot.
2. Get the patty and dip it in a bowl of beaten egg.
3. Then smothered it with Japanese bread crumbs (those bread crumbs they used for frying tempura).
4. Dip the patty in the cooking pan and turn it over every 3-4 minutes each side until it is cooked.
5. You'll now get a crispy burger.

How to cook Pininyahang manok. (chicken with pineapples)

Chicken cut in bite-size are marinated in pineapple juice then stewed with pineapple chunks. An excellent Filipino dish!

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken, cut into serving pieces

12 ounces pineapple chunks, canned

250g of hotdogs, chopped (children love hotdogs ♥)

1 cup bell pepper, cut into thick strips

1 medium sized carrot, wedged

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 tbsp garlic, minced

1 medium sized onion, sliced

2 tbsp cooking oil

cooking pot / casserole

stove

Cooking procedure:

1. Marinate the chicken in pineapple juice/concentrate (derived from the can of pineapple chunks) for 30 minutes.
2. Pour the cooking oil in a cooking pot. Turn on the stove.
3. Sauté the garlic and onion. Put first the garlic until it gets golden brown then add onion until it started to look transparent.
4. Put in the hotdogs and sauté them until its edges started to curve.
5. Put in the chicken and cook until color of the outer part turns light brown.
6. Add the pineapple juice/concentrate marinade and evaporated milk then bring to a boil.
7. Add the pineapple chunks and simmer until the chicken is tender and half of the liquid evaporates (about 20 to 30 minutes).
8. Put-in the carrots and simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Add the bell pepper and simmer for 3 minutes.
10. Remove from the cooking pot / casserole and transfer to a serving dish.
11. Serve hot with a plate of steamed rice. Share and enjoy your pink chicken pininyahan! 

How to cook Chicken Pork Adobo

Adobo is a very Filipino food. It is very easy to make and can last for days even outside the refrigerator. Yes, it can last without spoiling because of the vinegar that acts as a natural preservative for the food. I think this is the Philippines' National "ulam". Also if you don't know any dish to make for a particular exotic animal/insect, it ends up being an adobo dish.

Here’s what you need.

• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp. crushed garlic
• 1 tsp. peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 lb. pork (cubes of chops or loin)
• 1 lb. chicken (chops)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 4 tbsp. cooking oil
• 1 canned pineapple chunks
• Frying pan
• Deep skillet
• Tongs
• Stove 
• Hard boiled quail eggs (optional)

Here’s how you make it.

1. Marinate pork and chicken in vinegar, 1 tbsp. garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves and soy for 30 minutes at least. (You can leave it in the refrigerator if you want to cook it the next day.)
2. In a frying pan with two tablespoons of cooking oil, fry the pieces of pork and chicken until it is slightly golden brown.
3. Add water to the marinade and place liquid mix together with pork and chicken in a deep skillet or saucepan. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add the canned pineapple chunks together with its juice. This is to make the adobo a little bit sweet. Simmer for another 20 minutes.
5. Add some quail eggs for presentation.
6. Serve with rice and sauce (the original marinade, simmered and warm) on the side.

Variation: You can remove the pork and chicken and fry it again. But this time, serve it separately from the sauce. This is to make your pork and chicken crispy.