Molo soup for a hot summer night
… just as we decided to stick to a fish, chicken and vegetables diet, there was a sale at the fresh meat section of the supermarket two days ago — ground pork mix for making lumpiang shanghai. Buy one kilo, get another kilo for free. I couldn’t resist. So much savings. Besides, it’s not like we’re reverting to the meaty diet we have been used to in the past. And although the package said shanghai mix, I didn’t use the ground pork mix for lumpiang shanghai. On Tuesday, dinner was fried hito (catfish) and molo soup or pancit molo…
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Gindara fillets in coconut cream
I intended to grill the gindara over the weekend. But I got up so late, forgot to thaw anything from the freezer overnight and the kids would be home for lunch. They spent the morning preparing for the school fair and we will all be there later in the afternoon. So, there I was, sipping my first cup of coffee for the day at 11.45 a.m. and the kids were due home in about 30 minutes… (Believe it or not) The kids were home no more than five minutes before lunch was ready.
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Pinatisang bangus (milkfish soup with fish sauce)
My fifteen-minute fish soup made with boneless bangus belly fillets, shallots, tomatoes, garlic and onion leaves. It went into the kids’ school lunch boxes.
There is much confusion about the nature of shallots as the name is often interchanged with scallions. In Southeast Asian cooking, shallots refer to small red onions; scallions are the onion leaves. In Filipino cooking, shallots are sibuyas Tagalog (Allium ascalonicum) which would make them “authentic” shallots as being one of the two species of the Allium plant that are considered true shallots.
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Lasang Pinoy 24: Coconut custard
My most memorable leche flan experience was at a fiesta. The custard was made with duck eggs and coconut milk, according to the father of my husband’s officemate. It was something I always dreamed of doing at home but the few times that we were able to buy fresh duck eggs, my coconut leche flan did not turn out too well. I probably wouldn’t have made the attempt again anytime soon had not Kai e-mailed me about Lasang Pinoy 24: Loco over coco.
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Lumpiang ubod (heart of palm spring rolls)
The last time I made lumpiang ubod, my firstborn (now 15) was still a baby and we were living at my in-laws’. I had too many excuses for not making lumpiang ubod all these years — I had no non-stick pan to make those crepe-like wrappers, it was such a hassle going to the market so early in the morning for the ubod choice cuts, the weather’s too hot…
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Lumpiang labong (bamboo shoots spring rolls)
I would have made lumpiang ubod (heart of palm spring rolls) but that entails going to the market very early in the morning when the ubod is fresh and I can still specify which portion I want. But after cooking the kids’ packed school lunch, by the time they have left for school, all I want is to crawl back into bed…
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How to make crepe-like lumpia (spring roll) wrapper
What distinguishes good lumpiang ubod (heart of palm spring rolls) from great lumpiang ubod? The quality of the ubod, of course, the right balance of saltiness and sweetness of the sauce, the light seasoning of the filling that does not take away from the natural sweetness of the ubod… and there’s the wrapper…
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Adobong hito sa gata
It’s a twice cooked dish. I wish there was some way of ditching the frying part but if you simmer the hito (catfish) directly in the coconut milk, the fish will turn soggy. It’s the mistake I’ve made in the past. The only way to make sure that the fish stays firm is to deep-fry it first so that a crust forms on the surface…
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