Recipe | Bibingkang Malagkit

Are you looking for an extra income this holiday season?  Or maybe impress your family with a dish you made from scratch? Well, you just came to the right place.  Here's a rice cake recipe that is one of my most favorite Filipino delicacies, bibingkang malagkit.  

This recipe will teach you patience and also gives you the chance to do some arm exercise while cooking -- because of its continuous stirring for more than an hour.  But don't worry, the result would be worth it.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil or butter
1 banana leaf

2-3 pandan leaves
4 cups fresh coconut milk
2 cups sticky rice, washed
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
additional 2-4 cups coconut milk or water

Topping:
2 cups fresh coconut milk
125 ml all-purpose cream

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar


Procedure:

1. Heat coconut milk with pandan leaves in a pot over medium-high heat.
2. Wash sticky rice three times. Drain.
3. Add washed sticky rice on simmering coconut milk. Stir. Let it simmer.
4. Heat banana leaf on the stove to excrete its natural oil.
5. Place the banana leaf in a pan and brush top and sides with coconut milk or butter.
6. Keep on stirring the sticky rice mixture.  If it thickens, add coconut milk or water gradually until the rice is soft.
7. Add light brown sugar and salt in between stirring.
8. Continuously stir. It would take you more than an hour on stirring since this is a slow-cooking process.
9. Once rice is cooked, pour it over the pan with banana leaf.
10. Preheat oven to 350F.
11. Heat coconut milk in a pot.  Add dark brown sugar and cream.
12. Keep on stirring until mixture thickens like a caramel sauce.
13. Pour mixture on top of the sticky rice.
14. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top turned darker or slightly burnt.
15. Serve warm or cold.

Recipe | Guisadong Bagoong Alamang (Shrimp Paste)

Here's my Filipino-style version of sauteed shrimp paste or bagoong alamang, MSG-free!

I buy fresh krill at our local wet market and wash it thoroughly at home and draining it after before cooking as they are already mixed with salt.  The bagoong will taste more saltier if you I don't wash it down.

This Filipino side dish goes well with green mango, turnip, and I personally like it on my sliced apples too (yeah, it's weird but it tastes good); also with steamed veggies, fried fish or pork, and even great if mixed in your rice.

This will also last up to 6 months if stored in a sealed jar inside a refrigerator.

You could make a small business out of this too! :)

Ingredients:


3 cups alamang (raw shrimp paste)
3 red onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic (or more), minced
4-6 cups white vinegar
4 tbsps white sugar
2 tsps black pepper
2 chili, chopped
3 tbsps oil
1-2 cups water


Procedure:

• Wash alamang in running water in a strainer and drain.

• Heat oil over medium and sweat onions before adding garlic and chili.

• Add the krill or alamang and stir.

• Let it simmer until it turns slightly brown.

• Pour in vinegar until it covers the entire alamang.  Let it simmer for a couple of minutes without stirring.

• Add black pepper and white sugar.  Slightly stir and let it simmer until it dries up.

• Once dried, pour in oil and sautee.

• Pour in vinegar again, this time half of the volume you used earlier.

• Let it simmer again and stir after a couple of minutes.  Stir occasionally.

• If it's close to drying up, add in water and stir.  Let it simmer until it turns darker in color.

• Give it a taste so you could adjust sweetness, sourness, or saltiness.

• Cool and serve or you could place it in a jar.

Video:

Recipe | Cheesy Chicken Tomato Sandwich

Difficulty Level: EASY

I prefer bread over rice.  And whenever I don't feel like eating rice or when hubby's not home, I either make a homemade tortilla and fill it with whatever I have in my fridge, or just fix myself a good ol' sandwich.

Here's a quick recipe that we, yes, me and my hubby, had for dinner last time along with a bowl of sopas.

Feel free to change the type of meat you'd want for your sandwich ;)

#spreadlovenothate

For Taglish recipe, click here.

Ingredients:

4-6 tbsps Butter

Chicken strips

1 small tomato, sliced

Slices of cheese (I use Eden cheese because I just love it!)

2 slices of bread of your choice

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat pan under medium.  Melt 1 tbsp of butter.
2. Sear chicken strips.  Season with salt and pepper.  Flip it.  Set aside.
3. Melt another tablespoon of butter.  Saute tomato slices.  Season with salt & pepper.  Set aside.
4. Melt butter.  Grill both sides of the bread of your choice.
5. Then place slices of cheese on top of a grilled bread, then add the tomatoes, and the chicken strips.  Cover it with the other piece of bread.
6. You can cover the pan with lid to let it steam.
7. Flip the sandwich to reheat the other side of the sandwich.
8. Slice in half and serve. :)

For video recipe, you can watch it here:

Recipe | Fried Bangus Sinigang

AM wanted fried fish to go along with sinigang, but I wanted the boiled fish instead.  So I might as well combine both, which is similar with the Tagalog's Tochio dish.

Ingredients:

1 bangus (milkfish) fish head

rock salt

4-6 pcs tomatoes, quartered

4-6 pcs red onions, quartered

2-4 bags of small sampalok (tamarind)

1 tali ng kangkong leaves or more if you want

*sitaw (legumes), cut in 2 inches

*1 eggplant, diagonally sliced or whatever slice suits you

*banana blossom or puso ng saging, chopped, salted for five minutes and rinsed

1 medium-sized labanos (radish), diagonally sliced

okra, sliced

green chili

4 cups water

For fried bangus:

Rock salt

Bangus cut crosswise

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Ziploc bag

Oil

Procedure:

1. Rub rock salt onto fish.
2. Heat pan, then pour oil.
3. Mix flour, salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag.
4. Dump in cut bangus except for its head.  Shake.
5. Dust-off excess flour on fish before placing it into warm oil for frying.  Lower the heat to medium.
6. Flip over and set aside once fish are cooked.
7. In a pot, place in tomatoes, onions, fish head, and eyeball a good amount of rock salt.
8. Pour in 4 cups of water.  Then bring it to a boil.
9. Add in sampalok and radish.
10. Set aside fish head.
11. Once sampalok are cooked (when it's popped out and are softer), strain each piece and submerge the strainer into the simmering/boiling soup while extracting its juice using the back of your ladle.
12. Discard sampalok.  And you can place back the fish head into the soup.
13. Add in sitaw, if you have, together with the eggplant, and banana blossom (puso ng saging).
14. Once half-cooked, add in kangkong, green chili and okra.
15. Taste the soup.  Add rock salt if needed.  If it's too sour, you can add more water and adjust its saltiness to your liking.
16. Serve hot with rice.

For video recipe:

Recipe | Chicken Tomato Stew

Here's a quick and easy chicken tomato stew recipe for those who are busy doing other tasks at home but wanted a hearty meal.  This recipe is similar to Filipino's chicken afritada or pochero.

Yield:  Good for 2

Ingredients:

1/2 kg chicken

Rock salt for chicken

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 small red onions, chopped

2 small potatoes, diced (you can also use marble potatoes)

1 cup tomato sauce (homemade or canned)

1 cup water

1 tsp dried thyme (if fresh, add these 2 minutes before serving while simmering)

1 small green bell pepper

1 tie of bok choi / pechay

Salt and pepper to taste

Canola oil for searing (about 1/8 cup or smaller quantity)


Procedure:

1. Rub salt onto chicken.  Rinse off with running water.  Add rock salt again onto chicken.
2. Heat saucepan/saucepot in medium high heat.  Add canola oil.
3. Sear chicken, don't fry.  Flip chicken.
4. Add garlic, onions, potatoes.
5. Pour in tomato sauce and water.
6. Add dried thyme.  If fresh, add it 2 minutes in simmering stew before serving.
7. Simmer in medium low heat until potatoes and chicken are cooked.
8. Add green bell pepper and bok choi (pechay). Stir and simmer until veg are half cooked.
9. Season to taste.
10. Serve with steamed rice.

You can also view my video recipe here:

Recipe | Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelette)

I don't know why I only thought of making recipe videos just now.

Recently, I just had a craving on tortang talong or eggplant omelette.  So, here's my simple recipe.

Yield: Good for 2

Ingredients:

1 large talong / eggplant (if you use smaller ones, no problemo)
1/8 cup ground pork (or beef, or chicken, or mushroom..anything!)
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1 medium-sized red onion, chopped
1/2 of small green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp patis Salinas (fish sauce)
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 to 1/2 cup canola oil

As I always say on my recipes, you have the freedom to add or lessen the amount of ingredients according to your liking.  One of the perks in cooking!


Procedure:

- Poke eggplant with fork.

- Broil / grill eggplant on your burner.  Flip it when necessary.  Use tongs.

- Place broiled eggplant on a deep dish/soup plate and pour water to cool it down.  Set aside.

- Next, heat pan then add oil.  Sweat onions first, then add garlic.  Once you smell the garlic's aroma, add tomatoes.  Let it cook while stirring, then add green bell pepper.

- Then add ground meat of your choice.  For vegetarian option, you can opt for chopped mushrooms instead. ;)

- Once half cooked, add 1 tbsp fish sauce.  If you're using a regular fish sauce that is pale in color, you might want to add another tablespoon.  Then season with pepper.

- Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes under medium low heat.

- Peel skin of the eggplant.  If it's still warm, let it soak in water while peeling.  But if it has cooled down, drain water before peeling.

- Set aside cooked ground meat by leaving the oil in the pan.  We'll be using it on frying the omelette.

- By using a fork, comb the eggplant from to bottom, refraining from pulling too much.  You just want to flatten the eggplant.

- Beat two eggs.

- Reheat used pan with the excess oil.

- Fry flattened eggplant.  Place cooked meat on top of the eggplant.  Lower the heat.  Then pour in egg mixture.

- Flip the eggplant omelette by using a large plate, or if you can toss it yourself, or with two spatulas.

- Serve while hot.  Best eaten with ketchup and rice.

Here's the recipe video: