Sweet banana with ice and sago

Matamis na saging na saba ( I used the plantain variety instead of the saba which is not available in the US) with ice milk used to be my Mom's favorite. Instead of the "halo-halo" which requires several ingredients, we are happy to enjoy shaved ice with sweetened "saba" bananas and milk to cool ourselves during the hot summer days.

Cold Soup, Anyone?

NAENEGMYUN SOUP - Korean cold noodle soup









My daughter introduced me to this Korean cold noodle soup. Very refreshing during the hot summer days. It's basically cooked noodle (soba noodle or thinner buckwheat noodle is an alternative) and sliced vegetables. Any vegetables that you can eat raw would be appropriate. You can add sliced succhini, carrots, mungo bean sprouts or celery. I added thinly sliced napa cabbage and carrots because that is what I have in the vegetable crisper. I added boiled shrimps to add another level of taste to this simple dish, but a good combination of your favorite veggies is enough to enjoy this noodle soup.

Most important, before I forget, you need to buy the cold soup. One bag of soup (in the first picture) will serve one person. You can purchase this from any Korean grocery.

Congee with Century eggs

Back home, we call this dish "goto" . To differentiate it with lugaw, the meat included consists of pork stomach, while lugaw could have chicken or pork meat, or seafoods, like Manila clams.

To start, you have to buy the pork stomach. I usually buy 2 pieces. Open it up and clean thoroughly with salt to remove the slimy stuff. Cut each piece into two and transfer into a big pot of water and bring it to a boil. I usually thow out the water after the first boil. this way you can avoid the foul smell when it starts cooking. Start with cold water again and boil until soft. Make sure the meat is not too soft maybe around 15 or 20 min. Drain and cool. Cut into bite size pieces.
To cook the lugaw, you need the following:
1 thumb size ginger cut into thin slices.
3-4 big garlic cloves, crushed (see note)
1 big onion, sliced
3-4 cups rice (regular rice we eat), washed
patis, pepper
Century eggs, hard boiled for 15 min. Cut into pieces.

Saute the ginger first in 3 tbsp oil. Then add the garlic, brown and then add the onions. When the onion is transparent, add the rice to the pot. Add patis this time to the rice mixture. Wait for a minute until the rice absorbs the patis. Then add 3 cups of water and 1 pc chicken bullion. Cover and lower temp once it boils. Check after 10 min to see that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pot and add water as needed. Add the cut up pork stomach. You can always add water if it dries up every now and then until you can see the rice consistency looks like lugaw. Make sure your temp is low to medium low. You can add the century egg when it's done. You can also add the "kasugba"( similar to saffron) available atPilipino stores to add color when ready to serve.

Serve with scallion, fried garlic and patis with calamansi. Sarap....

Note:
I would peel the whole garlic head, crush and fry in half cup cooking oil. Fry the garlic until golden brown. Don't burn the garlic otherwise it will be bitter. Drain and set aside the fried garlic to use for topping the lugaw and set aside the rest of the oil for use later. The garlic infused oil is really good when I cook my pasta.

Alternative: If you feel lazy to fry your own garlic, most Oriental or Pilipino stores sell the fried garlic. I cook my own garlic because I like the garlic infused oil for cooking later.

Pancit Malabon

PANCIT Malabon (aka Pancit palabok)

Some people interchangeably call this dish Pancit Malabon or pancit palabok. I call it pancit Malabon because this is how I grew up enjoying this particular noodle dish. For somebody who grew up in Malabon, this dish made us popular throughout the rest of the country, other than Dolor's kakanin, of course (which is another story).

Anyway, here's the recipe:

2-3 lbs of pork (ground)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 big onion, minced
Patis
1 – 2 cups cooking oil
1 atsuete powder
1 packet of Mama Sita palabok mix (mixed in ½ cup water)

2-3 tbsp tinapa flakes, deboned ( in small bags)
½ cup ground chicharon (in small bags)
4 hard boiled eggs
½ lb shrimps, boiled, peeled and deveined
Lemon or lime juice (or better, calamansi juice)
Green onion, sliced thinly for garnish

Rice noodles (use either one made in PI or the Chinese version, or spaghetti/angel hair if that is what you have in your pantry)
Cooking tip: some Chinese rice noodles needs to be soaked for a hour or so before use.


Fry crushed garlic in cooking oil until it browns. Remove the garlic when done, and set aside. Add the onions and cook until transparent. Add the ground pork to the oil and cook for several minutes. Add patis and the atsuete powder. Add the tinapa flakes to the mixture. Make sure the meat is evenly cooked before adding the Mama Sita mix (mixed in cold water). Set aside.

Cook the rice noodles according to instructions, in a big pot of boiling water. Make sure you don’t overcook the noodles.

In a big bowl (preferably a pasta bowl), transfer the drained rice noodles. Add 1/3 of the cooked ground pork mix on top. Add the lemon juice, patis, pepper, chicharon, sliced vegetables (see below) and some of the sliced green onion. Mix well. You can always add more of the ground pork mix and oil if your pancit looks dry. Garnish with quartered boiled eggs, shrimps cut in halves, fried garlic and more green onions.

You can always freeze the unused palabok mix for future use.

Variation:
If you want vegetables, add sliced celery to the hot noodles. You don’t need to cook the veggies. Sliced Chinese cabbage is also good but use the white crunchy parts only. If you slice it thinly, you just need to blanch in noodle water for few seconds.
If you do not have Mama Sita palabok mix, try using, 1 can of Campbells mushroom soup or chicken condensed soup to your pork palabok

Braised pork belly - Japanese Style

BUTA NO KAKUNI

This dish is similar to our paksiw na pata. Some of the ingredients and the method of cooking is so similar using pork meat but from a different cut.

This Japanese dish is so easy to make. I got this recipe through another blog site. It is so easy to prepare and since it calls for very few ingredients, anyone can try cooking this. It is one of those comfort foods that you will think on a cold, rainy day. After all, nobody wants to go out if you have the basic ingredients in your freezer.

Callos

My sister was the expert in cooking this dish. Somehow, I learned to cook this dish through a friend who is a good cook. So my version is not the same as my sister's. I cannot say that my version is better, considering it has been more than ten years since I had experience my sister's cooking. Without a doubt, she would say that her version is the original. Hower, my children (for fear of not being fed a good meal) would swear that my version is the best compared to everyone else's cooking.

My secret is the kielbasa sausage. In addition, I add a good 2 cups of diced plum tomatoes that are at their finest during the summer months. My sister's version make use of the Spanish chorizo de Bilbao, which I have a hard time looking for in my area supermarket. I bet that my mother would say that both are equally good and each has its own merits. After all, my sister and I learned from the "Master" cook herself, my Mom.