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 | Creamy Chicken Soup (Sopas)

Since it's rainy these days, I might as well share with you a Filipino comfort food that we usually eat for merienda or snack.  But I eat as a meal for lunch or dinner.

Some would react on my recipe videos/blogs that it's not the way they make it.  No one has to set a standard on how to make things.  Do what makes you happy and comfortable in cooking, or maybe also in baking.  All we care about is the end result.  But don't forget to add the most important ingredient of all, L O V E. :)
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<3 p="">I'm sharing simple recipes in the meantime so as to not overwhelm you readers/viewers who are not confident in the kitchen.  
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<3 p="">If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to comment down below and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. :) <3 br="">


#spreadlovenothate
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<3 p="">For Taglish recipe, click on this link.

Yield: Good for 4

Ingredients:

1/2 kg chicken, tinola cut
***you can use chicken breast, cut into pieces, and add 1/4 kg of chicken soup cuts (neck or bones)

*1/4 kg chicken liver, cut into pieces (optional)

Rock salt (to clean chicken and liver)

2-4 tbsps fish sauce, or salt if you have none

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 large red onion, sliced thinly

1 large carrot, diced

1 medium-sized potato, diced

1 stalk celery, sliced

125g o 1/2 kg macaroni shells

4 cups water

2 tsps ground black pepper

2-3 bay leaves

250ml evaporated milk, I used Alaska

3-6 tbsps canola oil (I eyeballed this one)

1/2 bok choy or 1/4 small cabbage, chopped

2 tbsps butter



Procedure:

1. Rub salt onto chicken and chicken liver.  Rinse.  Add a little amount of rock salt once again.
2. Heat pot and oil.
3. Saute rinsed and salted chicken until brown.  Add chicken liver (optional).
4. Add 2-4 tbsps of fish sauce or 2 tbsps iodized salt.
5. Add sliced onions and sweat until translucent. 
6. Add minced garlic.  Stir until you smell the aroma of cooked garlic.
7. Add chopped celery.
8. Add diced potatoes and carrots.  Stir.
9. Pour evaporated milk.
10. Pour in water.  Stir.  
11. Add in macaroni shells. Stir. You can cook macaroni shells separately or prior to this soup. 
12. Add pepper.  Stir.  Then add bay leaves. 
13. Slightly cover pot and let it simmer under medium heat.
14. Stir, and place a wooden spatula on the top center of the pot to prevent soup from boiling over.
15. Remove wooden spatula and skim impurities or milk skin.
16. Stir.  Place wooden spatula back at the center top of the pot.  Let it simmer until macaroni, potatoes, and carrots are cooked just right.
17. Add more water if needed.  Don't forget to stir.  Let it simmer.
18. Taste soup and test if macaroni is al dente.  Adjust salt if needed.  If too salty, add more milk or water.
19. Add chopped bok choy or cabbage.
20. Add butter and stir until melted.
21. Serve warm. :)

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:

Wan-Soy Chicken

Here’s my Wan-Soy Chicken recipe that I recently had one night in December. I needed a quick fix and had been craving for something salty (adobo is too common), so I thought of coming up with this instead.

Detailed measurements in cooking are not necessary as you can adjust its taste. Experiment! There are no rules when it comes to the flavor you want to produce on your dish. Be bold. Be daring. Don’t forget to smile or play some tunes when cooking as it will add more oomph to your dish. ;)

WAN-SOY CHICKEN

Ingredients:

Chicken thighs

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1-2 tbsps Garlic Granulated

chopped wansoy (coriander)

*chili flakes / cayenne / paprika

1-3 tbsps Oil

1/4 cup water

Procedure:

- Rub coarse salt onto chicken and rinse it with water.

- Place chicken onto a saucepan and pour in 1/2 cup of soy sauce.

- Sprinkle garlic granulated and spice of your choice.

- Add 1/4 cup water.

- Spread chopped coriander.

- Cover
- Simmer (medium heat) for 10 minutes on both sides.

- Preheat toaster/oven under 200 F.

- Brush tray with olive oil (or any type of oil you have in the kitchen).

- Place chicken onto tray, and let it broil in the oven for 20 minutes.

Just so you know, my tray didn't fit into the oven so I placed my chicken pieces on a foil, unwrapped.

- Garnish it with fresh coriander and goes best with steamed brown rice.  :)

Enjoy!

Mac 'n Cheese w/ Sweet Chicken Fillet

Are you sick of packed Mac 'n Cheese that you have on your shelves and wanting to do a homemade version of it but scared to do so?  Don't fret!  Mac 'n Cheese is way easy to cook and I don't get why people are too lazy making their own.  Due to the demands of my friends, I'm sharing you this simple recipe.

Note:  I don't usually measure the amount of ingredients I use.  Just follow your gut.  If you'd like it to be more cheesier, then add more cheese.  If you think it's too thick, add more milk.  Trust your instincts. Measurements below serves as basis on how much ingredients I put in this recipe.

Mac 'n Cheese Ingredients:

1/2 kg macaroni shells
1 L milk
185g grated cheddar (I prefer Eden cheese)
drop of yellow food coloring (if you're using white cheddar)
1 tbsp of butter
**optional: parmesan and other cheeses

Preparation:

1. You can either boil the macaroni shells in salted water or boil it directly with milk.  But with this recipe, I boiled it with milk.
2. When the macaroni is al dente, add grated cheese.  Stir.  Then drop red food coloring if you're using white cheddar.
3. If mac 'n cheese turns out dry, just add milk.  Do the same thing when reheating.
4. Add butter before serving.
5. Serve with seared sweet chicken breast fillet.

turnover chicken fillets if halfway done just like above

Seared Sweet Chicken Fillet Ingredients:

1 kg chicken breast fillet
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp salt
1 tbsp canola oil or olive oil
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Spanish paprika


Preparation:

1. Rub salt on chicken and rinse in cold water.  This method is traditionally practiced at home to get rid of its impurities.
2. Salt chicken again.  Crack peppercorn and dust Spanish paprika onto your fillets.  
3. Heat skillet.  Add small amount of oil.
4. Spread brown sugar on a plate.  Dredge chicken with sugar.
5. Sear dredged fillet.  Adjust heat to medium.  Once meat turns white halfway, that's the time you should turn your chicken fillet.

Sear chicken while you are boiling your macaroni shells.

Homemade Pancakes

Waking up late doesn't stop me from having breakfast at lunch time.  Since I have the ingredients, I thought of making pancakes.  Thanks to my chef instructor back in MIHCA, I got this good ol' pancake recipe.  Promise, it's easy!

Yield:  6 pancakes


Ingredients:


1 cup     pastry flour:
                  1/2 cup cake flour
                  1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsps  white sugar
pinch     salt
1 tbsp   baking powder
1 large  egg
250 ml  milk or add more if you want thinner pancakes
2 tbsp   melted butter

1.  Sift cake flour, all-purpose flour and baking powder in a bowl.
2.  Add sugar and salt.
3.  Make a well, add egg, milk and butter.
4.  Mix batter, but don't over mix.  It's okay to have lumps.
5.  Taste batter and adjust sweetness or saltiness according to your preference.
6.  Heat pan.  Add a half teaspoon of butter and spread it all over the surface.
7.  Pour in pancake batter.  Turn over when it started to create bubbles all around the pancake.
8.  Serve warm with butter on top and syrup or do the classic evaporated milk and sugar.

Enjoy!

-- it's pretty heavy..