Cocido-inspired beef stew
I was reading up on cocido and I found out that the traditional Spanish cocido is what we know in the Philippines as pochero. At least, it is the closest beef stew to the Spanish cocido — garbanzos (chick peas), cabbage wedges, potatoes, carrots and beef slow cooked in chopped onions, tomatoes and garlic. But we serve and eat pochero as a one-dish meal. The Spanish cocido is served both as a soup and an entree. The thick broth in which the meat and vegetables have been cooked is served as a soup while the meat is served on a platter surrounded by the cooked vegetables. That’s too much work for a busy mother like me. Suffice it to say that while this dish was inspired by the Spanish cocido, I will call it simply as cocido-inspired beef stew.
Continue reading 'Cocido-inspired beef stew' »
Lasang Pinoy 14 (A la Espanyola): My father’s sarciado
About my father’s sarciado… of course, I had enjoyed this dish countless of times when I was growing up. But the day my husband ate my father’s sarciado, it became his standard for sarciado. I had just given birth to our firstborn, Sam, and on a visit, my father cooked his sarciado and a clam soup with malunggay. My husband couldn’t stop talking about the sarciado for days.
Continue reading 'Lasang Pinoy 14 (A la Espanyola): My father’s sarciado' »
Tokwa’t baboy as a stew
The taste isn’t much different from the traditional tokwa’t baboy since the ingredients are practically the same. It is the texture that makes this dish unique. The thickened sauce, sticky from the broth in which the pork face was simmered, is just perfect for pouring over hot rice. I made three deviations from my father’s recipe though. 1) I omitted the salted yellow beans which my kids are not so fond of; 2) I browned the pork ears and nguso in the oven after simmering them to make them chewy rather than mushy; and, for that added color and zing, 3) I sprinkled chopped wansuy (cilantro) over the cooked dish just before serving.
Continue reading 'Tokwa’t baboy as a stew' »
Pinakbet without bagoong
The title of the entry sounds sacrilegious, I know. Pinakbet without bagoong. Well, tough. I am allergic to bagoong (shrimp paste) and even its fish version. In fact, there are certains brands of patis (fish sauce) that do not agree with me as well. Ironically, I love the Ilocano classic dish called pinakbet–not for the bagoong-flavored sauce but for the wonderful mixture of vegetables. And I always felt a little deprived when, growing up, everyone in the family could enjoy a hearty meal of pinakbet except me.
Continue reading 'Pinakbet without bagoong' »
Lamb adobo
There was a time when my family went lamb-crazy. We grilled lamb chops almost every two weeks and when we got bored with the chops, I learned to cook a whole leg of lamb and even served it once like ham. There came a point when my husband suddenly couldn’t stand the peculiar odor of lamb. And it happened when I still had a few trays of lamb chops and shanks in the freezer. I figured the best way to remove, or at least hide, the odor would be to cook the lamb as stews. The already strong-smelling adobo (some say pungent though I disagree) would be a good choice. But I still decided to take extra measures to remove as much of the odor of lamb as I could.
Continue reading 'Lamb adobo' »
Ground beef and quail eggs
I got the idea for this dish from a popular ulam (viand) served in Filipino carinderias (roadside eateries). It is basically menudo except that it is made with ground meat. In carinderias, the dish is usually garnished with hard-boiled chicken eggs which serve as an inexpensive extender.
The size of the quail eggs seemed to me to be more appropriate for gound meat…
Continue reading 'Ground beef and quail eggs' »
Frog legs and quail eggs adobo
We haven’t shopped at the Shangri-La Plaza in years and, my, how it has changed. We were there last Sunday and some of the shops and food stalls I frequented were no longer there. The Vietnamese restaurant at the food gallery has been replaced by something else. The Portuguese Egg Tart Factory stall had disappeared too. Anyhow, the trip wasn’t a total waste. We bought lots of books from Powerbooks and I was able to buy half a kilo of frozen frog legs from Rustan’s Supermarket. I’ve always wanted to try them having been told that the meat is very similar to chicken.
Continue reading 'Frog legs and quail eggs adobo' »
Bicol Express
Bicol Express is pork strips and siling haba (finger chilies) cooked in coconut milk. Very rich. Very spicy. Some versions include ginger, some include dilaw (turmeric), some include bagoong or shrimp paste. I am allergic to shrimps, including bagoong, so I omitted it. This is a repost of another old recipe that I did not include in this blog’s reconstruction last December. The reason–the photo was really blurred. Most of the text is from the old entry except for some improvements–I added chopped cilantro and onion leaves to my Bicol Express. I also served it as a rice topping. It was literally exploding with flavor and aroma.
Continue reading 'Bicol Express' »
