Ribs, The Pinoy Way

Hello there my blogging friends, it has been awhile, my apologies for not visiting.  I hope to catch up soon.   Life has been busy after going back to full time employment.  Hats off to my friends who are working full time yet find time to blog constantly and beautifully while i am struggle to find a right rhythm!

Asian Food Fest blogging event moves on to the Philippines this month and I am quite glad that i managed to complete my 'homework' early but yet i am rushing to post this unfortunately  :(

Don't know much about Pinoy cuisine and have not had much opportunity to savour them except those had during a brief trip to the beautiful Cebu island a few years back.

The only Pinoy dish that i can claim i know how to make would be the Adobo which they say is the unofficial national dish.  I learned how to make this a few years back and i make it occasionally ever since.  It's easy to make (no. 1 criteria to make it into my house menu)  and it's delicious, can't be better...

Adobo is a simple stew like meat dish made by braising the meat in essentially soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. One can make it with chicken, pork or even seafood (i read) but i chose pork of course since i wanted to add this into my collection of Asian Pork Ribs dish :)  Apart from the variation in the choice of meat, other extras like potatoes and eggs can be added into the dish too.  I tried with potatoes since they can never go wrong in stews.

The meat is tender with a unique mix of savoury, sweet and tangy flavors.  Flavors are more intense if left to marinade longer (i left it overnight and made it for lunch).  I like mine with a little sweetnes hence the addition of  a little brown sugar.  A comforting dish that goes well with rice.

Recipe
Source: Pansalang Pinoy

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pork belly (850g) 
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced or crushed (4 tbsp)
• 5 pieces dried bay leaves (3 pieces)
• 4 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (1/3 cup)
• 1 tbsp whole pepper corn
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 russet potatoes skinned and cut into quarters
• salt to taste

Method

1. Combine the pork belly, soy sauce, and garlic then marinade for at least 1 hour (I left it the fridge overnight and made it for lunch the next day)
2. Heat a heavy based pot and put-in the marinated pork belly to brown the meat.
3. Add water, whole pepper corn, and dried bay leaves then bring to a boil. 
4. Simmer for 20 minutes.  
5. Add in vinegar and simmer for another 10 minutes or until meat is tender.
6. Add in potatoes and simmer for another 15 minutes or until potatoes is soft.
7. Add sugar and salt to taste.

Notes: My variation in blue

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest – Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (July 2014 Event: Potato) - organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Jasline (Foodie Baker) 

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Super Soup Bowl Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone!  Hope you are having a great time with your loved ones.

I made this dish 2 Sundays ago.  I am at a loss as to what to name this dish.  Listing down all the ingredients will make it long and boring.  Since it's a big bowl of goodness, Super Bowl came to mind :)  Or maybe Super Soup Bowl to be technically correct.  After all that's what it is literally, not American football :)

This dish was inspired by Sonia's claypot luffa gourd, black fungus and fish maw dish that she shared not long ago.  I like this kind of dish with lots of ingredients braised in supreme stock.  Something that one could eat on its own or at the most some rice to go with it for die-hard rice fans (which i have in my house).

Sonia made hers using the traditional Cantonese way of cooking. She used dried sole fish to make the stock which is a widely used seasoning in Cantonese style cooking.  I don't have any of those so i made do with anchovies instead.  To make up for the flavors, i threw in fish, prawns and some meatballs.  I also used a chayote instead of luffa.

It turned out delicious!  Lots of tasty ingredients and soup to go with it too, a typical chinese home style meal that was really comforting.

Recipe

Inspiration: Nasi Lemak Lover

Ingredients

• 1 medium size chayote, peel and cut into wedges
• 40g fish maw, soaked in water for 30mins
• 1 medium size carrot, peel and cut into thick slices
• 10g dried black fungus, soaked in water till soften, tear into small pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 slice white flesh fish
• 1 cup meatballs
• 6 medium size prawns, deveined 
• Salt to taste

Stock ingredients

• 1 cup dried anchovies
• 1000ml water

Method

1. Rinse and wash anchovies in some water.
2. Heat one tablespoon of cooking oil in a stock pot then fry anchovies until fragrant.
3. Add water then allow it to come to a boil and simmer for around 15 minutes until soup becomes whitish.  
4. Strain broth, discard anchovies and set aside.
5. Heat one tablespoon of cooking oil in a claypot, sauté garlic until fragrant. Add in carrot, black fungus and chayote.
6. Add in stock and let it come to a boil.
7. Add in fish maw, continue to cook for 5-10mins till fish maw soften.
8. Add in prawns for 2-3 minutes then add in meatballs followed by fish slices the last.
9. Turn off heat once fish is cooked.
10. Remove from heat, serve hot.

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A Very Berry Good Morning!

I was on a berry buying frenzy the other day.  Isetan Kuala Lumpur was offering every other type of berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cherries and raspberries) at a bargain in conjunction with the Mega Sales event.  Yippee! If you visit me often enough, you must have read about me lamenting how expensive berries are on this part of the world.  So, you can imagine how crazy i went when they were going at a discount.  I bought at least a punnet of every other berries that they had.  Very berry happy i was :)

I couldn't wait to lay my hands on something that has lots of berries in it :))  I ended up making this swirl bread by Joy the Baker.  This recipe is one of the challenges for a Baking Bootcamp in which she is partnering with King Arthur flour.  The many photos of this beautiful bread  of those taking part in the challenge was just captivating. 

The biggest challenge is the braiding and then the transferring to the baking pan.  The dough was really soft, berries falling off here and there when you braid it and added to that some berries started to bleed after the dough is cut.  It's doable but not easy!  The key to this is to do it fast!  I must admit i didn't do too well :(

We had it for breakfast the next day, the bread was still soft without any need to reheat it.  Buttery, moist, cinnamony, bursting with berries and their juices.  Just delicious!  I am thinking a scoop of ice cream will go very well with it too :)

Recipe

Reference: Joy the Baker and Bryony Cooks

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (2 tsp)
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup whole milk, warmed to a warm lukewarm
• 1 large egg yolk (1/2 medium size egg)
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (28g)
• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour (280g)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Olive oil, for greasing the bowl (omitted)

Filling

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (56g)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (45g)
• 3 tsp. ground cinnamon (2 tsp, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
• 2 cups fresh berries (sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries)
• 1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash (1/2 medium size egg)

Method

1. In a medium size bowl, heat milk until warm.  Stir in yeast and sugar. Add in the egg and melted butter. Whisk together until thoroughly combined. Allow mixture to rest until it becomes foamy, around 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour and salt. Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and bring everything together into a rough dough.  Place dough on a lightly floured counter and knead by hand for about 10 minutes more. Dough ball should be soft and smooth after kneading.   Shape dough into a ball.
3. Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly greased with olive oil and cover.   Allow to rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. While the dough rises, whisk together the butter with cinnamon and sugar for the filling. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).  Grease a 10-inch cast iron skillet (I used a 9-inch springform cake pan). Set aside.
6. After the dough has doubled in size, place it on a lightly floured counter and knead twice. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to a rectangle of about 18×12 inches.
7. Spoon the cinnamon filling over the top, spreading evenly, leaving a clean 1-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the fresh berries over cinnamon filling. Start by rolling the longest side of the dough. The roll will be a bit lumpy because of the berries. Using a sharp knife, cut the log in half lengthwise leaving 1-inch of the edge uncut.
8. Start braiding the two pieces by lifting the left strand over the right strand. Repeat this motion until you reach the bottom of the dough. Press together to seal. Join the two ends, creating a circle with the dough and press together.
9. Using two swift hands, transfer the dough ring to the prepared cast iron skillet/pan. Brush the wreath with the beaten egg.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Note: 

1. I followed through Step 1 but i let my breadmaker handle the kneading using the Dough program.  
2. For Step no. 3, i left the dough the dough to rise in the breadmaker.

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