Steamed Spareribs with Black Beans

I already know how to cook the Steamed Spareribs with Black Beans!

I searched online and found an easy recipe. (http://allrecipes.asia/recipe/9814/steamed-spare-ribs-with-preserved-black-beans.aspx)

I did not have the exact same ingredients and just substituted what I had at home.

Steamed Spareribs with Black Beans

500 g. Boneless regular spareribs

1/2 t. Baking soda

2 T. White sugar

1 t. Fine salt

Dash of pepper

1 1/2 t. MSG but the recipe used chicken powder

1 t. Sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 T. Cornstarch

1 T. Fermented blacks beans, rinsed and drained

Red pepper or chili, finely sliced

Soak the meat with the baking soda for 30 minutes then rinse well. Drain.

Rub the meat with sugar, salt, msg or chicken powder, pepper, garlic and sesame oil.

Add the cornstarch, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Transfers into a heat proof dish. Add the black beans and red pepper on top.

Cover with cling wrap and steam for 20-30 minutes over high heat. Make sure the water is boiling before you put the heat proof dish in the steamer.

The meat was so tender! Even people with no dentures can eat it! Hahahahaha!

I dipped it in light soy sauce with Calamansi and chili garlic.

I also ate it with Garlic Kang Kong.

Garlic Kang Kong

2 T. Cooking oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 bunch Kang kong, leaves only

Brown the garlic in oil, set aside.

Saute the Kangkong leaves in the oil until dark green, probably 1 minute over high heat. Push to one side of the pan and add sauce. When it starts to bubble, toss in the leaves briefly. Transfer into a serving dish and top with the toasted garlic.

Sauce

1 t. Pantai oyster sauce

1 t. Lee Kum Kee hoisin sauce

1 t. White sugar

1 t. Thai fish sauce

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl.

I did not eat rice with the spareribs and kangkong!

I can just imagine the spareribs with freshly steamed white rice!!! Ahhhhh..... Delicious!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Food Gifts From Neighbors

I must have done something really good this week to receive food gifts from my neighbors!

Gluten-free Toasties from Anna

And.... Gluten free bread/cake loaf!

Another neighbor, Wina, sent me Chicken Empanada. I feel so bad I forgot to take a picture. I shared it with my family.

FGM Cindy sent me Sweet Italian Sausage!

I cooked it with onions and red pepper.

Sweet Italian Sausage with Onion and Red Pepper

2-4 Sweet Italian Sausage links

2 T. Cooking oil

1 pc. White onion, chopped into chunks

1 pc. Red pepper, cut into squares (same size as the onion)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Pinch of sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, cumin and basil powder.

Use Italian flat leaf parsley or fresh basil if available.

Place sausage links in a pan or pot of boiling water. Make sure the sausages are fully submerged.

Do NOT prick the sausage links.

Cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, brown the sausage links slightly then add the onions. Cook over medium heat.

Then add the garlic followed by the red pepper.

Season with salt, pepper, cumin and basil.

When the vegetables are cooked, transfer onto a serving plate.

The sausages were juicy and it complemented the onion and red pepper!

Even Hermie received a food gift from her neighbor friend. She shared it with me....

Selecta Cheese with Corn ice cream!

I feel so blessed I have neighbors who are very generous and thoughtful!

Thank you, Anna, Wina and FGM Cindy!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Grain Free.... Soon

I will soon embark on a difficult culinary journey. My plan is to follow the grain free lifestyle.... soon.

I am still conditioning my mind to give up rice and corn aside from wheat.

Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly, came up with a new book entitled, Total Health.

He now advocates grain free living.

That is very hard but I intend to give it a try.

I was mostly grain free today except for the few hidden grains in some of the seasonings and dessert.

Tricia shared a link about cooking soft-boiled eggs. I followed one of the recipes...

Soft-boiled eggs with Parmesan cheese and black pepper.

I will eat it with asparagus next time.

I also cooked Arroz ala Cubana today.

Arroz ala Cubana

350 g. Ground beef

2 T. Cooking oil

Garlic, 2 cloves, crushed

Onion, sliced

3 pcs. tomatoes, sliced

1/2 Knorr beef cube

1 C. Water

Red pepper, chopped

1/4 C. Raisins

Pepper

Saute garlic, onions and tomatoes over low heat until tomatoes are soft.

Increase the heat and add the ground beef. When the color is not pink anymore, add the beef cube and water.

Lower the heat and cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Add the red pepper and raisins.

Season with black pepper.

Serve with fried bananas and fried potatoes.

My Merienda was Schublig with fried potatoes.

I followed Shey's instructions on how to cook sausages. She learned the technique from their Danish family friend.

Put the sausage in a pan with boiling water.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Drain, add a little oil and pan fry a bit.

My go-to diet food now is Samgyeopsal.

Healthy and grain-free!

I tried the favorite ice cream of FGM Cindy, Ube-Keso.

I love ice cream. It is not grain free because of the modified starch and emulsifier.

Hard to give up some of the things I love to eat but little by little I have to.

The hardest one of all is soy sauce.

I just always have to remember:

Be grain free and become drug free!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Hermie's Birthday!

My friends and I celebrated Hermie's birthday today!

I cooked Pancit.... For long life.

Sherman and Jing brought pork bbq.

Mona bought ice cream!

And Celina.... Who is in the US now asked us to buy a cake for Hermie!

Her Ate just transferred the cash to my account.

We all love Hermie! My friends have known her even before they got married and had kids!

Hermie is an important part of my life.

I treat her as such and let her know how I feel.

Happy Birthday, Yaya Hermie!

From Wriggly, Lizzy , Sabrina and the rest of the gang (cats) : Gloria, Lorna, Melba, Slut #1, Slut #2 and Slut #3. The ones with generic names are cats who are always pregnant, hence the nickname "slut". We could never catch those cats to have them "fixed".

 

Posted with Blogsy

Potato Salad

Yes!!!! Finally! I know how to make Potato Salad!

This is one of my favorites but I could never do it right. It always came out watery or too salty or just... Bleh!

But this time... It was successful!

I followed the way Tricia folded the Mayonaise into the salad.

I hope to recreate this again! And again and again!

Potato Salad

500 g. Potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 inch cubes

250 g. Carrots, peeled, cut into cubes

1 C. Pineapple chunks or tidbits, drained

1/4 C. Pickle relish, drained

250 g. Chicken breast, boiled and flaked

1 t. Sugar

1-1/2 t. Fine salt

3 sachets of Lady's choice Mayonaise

Boil the potatoes and carrots in salted water for 15 minutes. Drain and let it cool.

In a big mixing bowl, add the potatoes, carrots, pineapple, pickle relish and chicken. Season with sugar and 1/2 t. salt.

Add 1 pack of Mayonaise and slowly fold into the potato/carrot/pineapple/chicken/tidbits/relish.

Then add and fold the next mayo sachet.

Season with remaining salt and sugar according to taste.

Add the last pack of Mayonaise.

Chill overnight.

Best eaten with sausage!!!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Filipino Paella

I know how to cook 2 kinds of Paella, Spanish Paella and Filipino Paella.

I wanted to call it Paella Indio but my friend said people might find it offensive. I was just thinking of the era of Padre Damaso and Jose Rizal. The Spaniards used to call the Filipinos, Indio.

My Filipino Paella has more rice than the Spanish Paella.

Both have almost the same ingredients but different cooking methods.

Filipino Paella

500 g. Laon rice, cooked the day before

1/2 K. Chicken thighs, cut into quarters

1 t. Rock salt

1/2 C. Atsuete cooking oil (In a pan, heat the oil. Add 50 gr. Atsuete seeds and render the color. Drain and set aside.)

Garlic, crushed

1 big white onion, chopped coarsely

3 pcs. Tomatoes, sliced into wedges

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch squares

1 can Purefoods chorizo de Bilbao, sliced diagonally

2 pcs. Knorr chicken cubes

1 t. turmeric powder

1 T. Spanish Paprika (optional because it makes the paella a bit spicy)

1/4 C. Fish sauce

250 g. Del Monte tomato sauce

3 C. Water

2 T. Del Monte Tomato paste

250 gr. shrimps

250 gr. mussels or clams or both

1 C. Green peas

Boiled asparagus or green beans

Hard boiled egg

Lemon wedges

Sprinkle salt on the chicken. Fry in astute oil slightly then set aside.

Sauté garlic, onions and tomatoes in the remaining oil over low heat until the tomatoes are soft.

Add the chorizo and red pepper. Continue sautéing.

Then add the tomato sauce, chicken cubes, patis, turmeric and paprika.

When it starts to boil add the chicken and water. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Increase the heat and add the peas, tomato paste, shrimps and mussels/clams.

When the seafood is cooked, remove all the meat/seafood and set aside.

Slowly add the rice to the sauce. Toss until the paella is dry.

Set aside the shrimps and mussels/clams.

Return the rest of the ingredients to the paella and toss for a bit.

Transfer onto a serving platter.

Top with shrimps, mussels/clams, green beans or asparagus, boiled egg and lemon wedges.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sarah! You're Home!

Welcome home, Sarah! I have not seen her in almost 2 years but she is back for a short holiday.

She invited us to have dinner at Mesa in Rockwell.

Tricia, Sarah, Tin and I were the early birds.

Janette and Mylene followed afterwards.

We ordered

Pork Sinigang in Guava and Pineapple

My favorite, Baby Squid in Olive Oil, Garlic and Laurel Leaves.

Crispy Hito with Green Mango

Sigarilyas with Coconut Milk

Laing Fried Rice.

We had our dessert at Via Mare.

Puto Bumbong

Palitaw

Bibingka

We all had our choice of hot drinks. I chose hot chocolate.

Dra. Tricia treated us for dessert! Thanks!

Thank you Sarah for the dinner!

Hope to see you soon for our jamming session and pica-pica.

Hahahahahaha Don't forget to eat dinner!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Mongolian BBQ Night

Mona celebrated her birthday with the Junkies!

Food theme for the night was Mongolian BBQ!

We set it up as a buffet....

We are all following a healthy lifestyle now.

Hence, vegetables and lean meat but our food still tasted delicious.

We had 2-3 servings of Mongolian BBQ which we cooked ourselves!

After dinner was for ice cream (Thank you, Tricia!)

Chips (Thank you, Lia!)

And drinks! (Thank you, Cat and Shey!)

Mona's birthday gift from Shey!

I love the fact that the Junkies love to cook and eat!!!

We have so many plans lined up but everybody has a busy schedule.

Hopefully... We will get to try out the recipes we have all been saving in our Junkies file.

Mongolian BBQ Sauce

1/2 C. Kikoman soysauce

1/2 C. Brown sugar

2 T. Oyster sauce

2 T. Chili sauce or Sriracha

1 T. Sesame oil

2 T. Finely crushed garlic

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and use as Mongolian BBQ sauce.

 

Posted with Blogsy