Kare Kare - A Filipino Dish

This is a unique Filipino food, and my family loves this dish so much! This is also very easy to prepare, although a little expensive for an ordinary everyday viand.

This is an excellent dish for family gatherings and parties.

I learned to cook this dish from my Dad who is an excellent cook! I have introduced some innovations though, to fit my personal taste, and to please my family. For example, they love the puso ng saging and hate eggplant, so I add more puso and reduce the  eggplant.

This is our Number 2 Favorite!

Ingredients:

1 kilo Ox tail
1 Banana heart (puso ng saging)
1 bunch of String beans
1 bunch Petchay
2 pcs (eggplant) Talong
1 Onion, cut into tiny cubes
5 cloves of Garlic, crushed
Rice  (about 1/2 to 1 cup - roasted until slightly golden brown)
Peanuts (1/2 to 1 cup - roasted, preferably without the skin)
Atsuwete seeds (1 tablespoon, soaked in lukewarm water)
Salt
Pepper
MSG (optional)
Bagoong alamang
¼ kilo Pork, sliced small
4 cloves of Garlic
1 Onion

Procedure:


Step 1: Prepare the Ox tail
• Clean and cut the oxtail into serving pieces/slices
• Place in a kettle
• Put enough water to cover
• Bring to a boil and then simmer.

While waiting for the meat to be tender, do the following:

Step 2: Vegetables

• Prepare all the vegetables (string beans should be cut in half; eggplant into three; for the petchay, just cut the part near the roots; the banana bud into serving slices)
• Blanch the string beans, eggplant, and petchay
• Set aside

Step 3: Rice and Peanut Paste

• Place in a liquefier or blender the roasted peanuts and rice
• Strain the atsuwete seeds and pour the liquid into the liquefier/blender
• Pour additional water to cover the rice and peanuts
• Liquefy into paste
• Set aside

Step 4: Bagoong Alamang

• Sauté garlic, onion, pork, and alamang
• Season to taste
• Set aside
When the Ox tail is ready

Step 5: to continue

• When the meat is already tender (but not very tender), pour into the kettle the rice-peanut-atsuwete paste
• Gently stir to mix the paste with the meat mixture
• Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice and peanut paste from sticking at the bottom of the kettle
• Add the Banana Bud/heart (puso ng saging)
• Season to taste (but be sure its not very salty since we have the ginisang Bagoong Alamang to complement the dish)
• Cover to cook

Step 6: Serving Suggestion

• In a Pyrex dish, arrange the meat
• Top with the blanched vegetables
• Pour the sauce on top
• Serve with cooked/steamed white rice and Bagoong Alamang

My Tip!

I know a lot of people who use peanut butter in this recipe. Maybe because they hate to go through the process of grinding the roasted peanut and the roasted rice? I used to grind these two before myself, using a bottle (in the absence of a rolling pin) and a “nigo”. Salamat sa modern technology, with a blender or a liquefier, turning the roasted peanut and roasted rice into paste is now very easy.

Simply Cooked Shrimps!

If I am to describe my family using the kind of food we love as a reference, I would say we all love seafood best!

And so here's our #3 Favorite food.

It's not something that is difficult to prepare. On the contrary, I think this is one of the easiest, if not the easiest, to prepare.

Come to think of it,  when this kind of food is served, we could sit together for hours and just talk and talk and eat and eat ... until everything is gone!

Here's how to prepare this dish.

Ingredients:

Shrimps (we love the big ones)
plenty of garlic, crushed
onion, cut into cubes
MSG (optional)
cooking oil

Procedure:

- Clean well the shrimps and place in a strainer to drain
- In a pan, saute the garlic and the onion
- Add the shrimps. Cover for a minute.
- Season to taste.  Cover again for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve with rice and sawsawan made of patis and kalamansi with sili.

Enjoy!

Beef in Oyster Sauce ala Romel

Myco loves this quick and delicious dish Daddy loves to cook for us. He does this with so much ease it's amazing!

This is currently our # 4 favorite!

Ingredients:

Beef sirloin, cut into thin strips
1 Onion, cut into cubes
2 Onions, in rings
5 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper (to taste)
soy sauce
oyster sauce
olive oil (or vegetable oil)
MSG (optional)

Procedure:

1. To make the marinade, combine the soy sauce, salt and pepper, and MSG.
2. Mix the beef strips and the marinade in a bowl. Marinate this for an hour.
3. Heat oil in a pan
4. Saute the garlic and the cubed onion
5. Pour the marinated beef. Stir.
6. With the stove temperature on high, continue stirring until the beef turns golden brown.
7. Add the oyster sauce and the onion rings. Stir for another minute.
8. Serve hot with rice.

Tip!

You may add vegetables to this dish. I would recommend the following:

- Carrots
- Brocolli
- Cauliflower
- young corn (whole or cut in half)
- button mushrooms
- yellow, green and red bell peppers

Ampalaya Con Carne Ala Christina

Believe it or not, our family (even the kids) love Ampalaya (Bitter Gourd!

Oh, Romel and I, we LOVE Ampalaya.

The kids on the other hand, except for Sarah who is very much like me, they have this uh uh relationship with the green wrinkly vegetable. They're not really crazy with it, but they appreciate it and eat it  for the right reasons.

Ampalaya Con Carne by MomiTins

So for our # 5 Favorite Food, here's Ampalaya Con Carne.

As always, my appreciation to my ever loving and handsome father named Alex, he who taught me how to cook. I remember fondly when I was still in grade school and then in high school how he would call me and my sisters and make us watch him as he prepared our food. He'd tell us which ingredient goes to the pan first, how to cut the vegetables up to maximize its taste and vitamins, and how to season them properly.

My parents taught us these: to eat all kinds of vegetables, to enjoy eating them, to cook them in different ways possible, and most importantly, to teach the same to our children.

So here goes the ingredients and the procedure on how to cook it!

Ingredients:

• Ampalaya *

• Beef, cut into thin strips

• Black Beans (canned)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Corn starch
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 bulb onion
• vegetable oil/cooking oil

Procedure:

• Wash the Ampalaya and cut into  desired sizes
• Thinly slice the beef and cut further into strips
• Crush the garlic and cut the onion into tiny cubes
• In a pan, saute the garlic and the onion
• Add the beef strips
• Cover and stir occasionally
• When lightly brown, add 1 cup of water and let simmer until the meat is tender
• Add the black beans and season with pepper and MSG (optional) to taste
• Cover and simmer some more.
• When the meat is already tender, add the red and green bell pepper and the ampalaya.  
• Cover for a few minutes, making sure not to overcook it
• Do not stir
• When the Ampalaya is almost done, pour the corn starch and water mixture to thicken the sauce
• Stir and serve immediately
• Best served with rice

My Tips on Ampalaya*!

• To get the most vitamins from the Ampalaya, wash it prior to cutting into pieces. DO NOT WASH WITH SALT NOR SQUEEZE as this will remove the vitamins and defeats the purpose why we eat vegetables

• Avoid stirring the vegetables. Just cover until almost done

• Since not very many want the really bitter kind, when buying, "pilia ang dag-ko og grano (ha ha ha! naglisod ininglis he he he!)" because as per my experience, that is the less bitter variety =)

Chicken Feet in Tausi Sauce

If you live in Cagayan de Oro (or you've been to Davao or live in Davao), you’ve probably heard of Mandarin Oriental Restaurant. 

It’s one of the most sought after restaurant because of their authentic Chinese dishes, especially Tausi Chicken Feet.

However, since eating out is no longer practical considering the current financial dilemma almost everybody is experiencing, we experimented on cooking the recipe ourselves and enjoy the same authentic Chinese delicacy in the comfort of our dining room.

It took a while for us to get the dish perfect, but when we did, the hard work was worth it!

Delicious and distinctively Chinese, this dish is worth a try for those who are willing to try something new... even exotic to some!

But for those who can afford to dine out whenever they want, Mandarin Oriental Restaurant is a great place to dine. 

They have branches in Robinson's and along Velez Street (near VIP Hotel).

Here’s our recipe. Hope you’ll try it!

TAUSI CHICKEN FEEET

Ingredients:

I kilo Chicken feet

Yellow Food color

Cooking oil

6 cloves Garlic, minced

Ginger, cut into thin strips

3 tablespoons Tausi (Black Beans)

2 Tablespoons Soy sauce

Siling labuyo (or siling haba)

2 cups water

1 Tablespoon Sesame oil

1 foil pack Clara Ole Barbecue Marinade

3 tablespoons Oyster Sauce (optional)

Instructions:

• Clean thoroughly the chicken feet. Wash and drip dry.
• Rub the chicken feet with the yellow food coloring. Use only a small amout. We're only after the color. Set aside.
• Heat oil in a wok; deep fry the chicken feet until crispy. Drain.
• Remove excess oil from the wok.
• Sauté the garlic, ginger, tausi, soy sauce, and siling labuyo.
• Add the water and bring to a boil.
• Add the fried chicken feet and the sesame oil. 
• Cover and simmer until the chicken is tender.
• Add the Barbecue and oyster sauce, simmer some more until the sauce has thickened.
• Serve on top of cooked rice.

Tip!

* When deep frying the chicken feet, it'll be like frying daing na bangus and crispy pata ... 

there will be cooking oil splattering all over the place. 

Be extra careful not to burn yourself with the hot cooking oil. 

How we did it? We covered the deep fryer while cooking.

Bon Apetit! 

Food and Poetry

Enchant ...


Stay Beautiful and Graceful!

To Do This

Eat Well.

Bring the Same Consideration to the Preparation of Your Food 

As You Devote to Your Appearance.

Let Your Dinner Be a Poem

Like Your Dress.

~Charles Pierre Monselet, French author (1825-1888)~

Food ...

Food...

Can Look Beautiful

Taste Exquisite

Smell Wonderful

Make People Feel Good

Bring Them Together

Inspire Romantic Feelings....

At It's Most Basic

It Is Fuel for a Hungry Machine...."

~Rosamond Richardson~