How to cook Crispy and Juicy Fried Chicken

#CrispyFriedChicken
#FriedChicken
#TheKitchenJournal

Lehe Flan

Leche Flan is a Filipino version of Creme Caramel or Creme Brule. It has a clear caramel sauce that melts during cooking and pools around the flan when served.

Recipe:

8 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

2 cans condensed milk

3 cans evaporated milk

1 cup sugar for caramel

#LecheFlan
#Flan

IMBUTIDO

Imbutido is a Filipino meatloaf made of minced meats,vegies and spices. It is one of the mostly loved occasional recipes at all times.

Imbutido can be prepared ahead of time that's why I love making them because I can make it in advance. It is a big job of chopping the ingredients finely but with a food processor, it does the job well in no time therefore saving a lot of my energy. I prefer to buy lean meat and grind it with the food processor together with onion and garlic. It makes the meat well flavored before I add in other ingredients. Another advantage is you choose the meat that goes into it, rather than buying minced meat that has plenty of fat in it.

For shaping the imbutido into a log shape, you will need aluminum foil (10" x 12" per log) and sushi mat for easy rolling up.

This mixture yields 12 logs about 2.5 diameter each.

Ingredients:
3 pcs. Onions
1 whole head of garlic
½ kg. minced beef
1 kg minced pork
6 pcs. Chorizo (bilbao)
1 jar (180 g) pickles (baby gerkins)
¼ kg carrots
¼ kg green and red bell pepper
5 pcs eggs
¼ kg flour
100 g. raisins
Salt and pepper

For filling: boiled sausage or hard boiled egg (sliced into quarters)

Procedure:

Finely chop onion, garlic, chorizo, pickles, carrots, red and green peppers. In a large mixing bowl, mix the finely chopped ingredients with the minced beef and pork until well combined. Add eggs and mix well, add flour and mix further until well combined. Season with salt and pepper, add raisins and mix well.

On a flat working surface, place a sushi mat and lay aluminum foil flat on the mat. Place a portion of meat mixture about 3 inches wide leaving at least 2 inches at the end of the length of the foil for sealing the ends. Place the filling either sausage or hot dog at the center of the mixture along with its length. Roll up the sushi mat making the mixture round making sure that the foil is tight as you roll. Start sealing the ends after the first roll and continue rolling up until the end of the foil. Seal the ends by pressing and twisting the ends of the foil taking care not to make it overly tight so that foil will not break up.

Set up the steamer and steam the wrapped imbutido for 45 minutes.


To serve: slice imbutido into rings. Remove the aluminum foil and serve. It can be served warm or chilled in cold cuts.


Storing: Imbutido can be stored in the fridge for 1 week.

BONELESS BANGUS (MILKFISH) COOKED OVER A BED OF SALT

This is one unforgettable dish for me which was taught by my late brother Roy, who passed away last year. He taught me the quickest, easiest, oil free of preparing bangus (milkfish) by cooking it over a bed of salt.

Bangus is the national fish of Philippines, known for its hundreds of tiny bones. I like the fish but I hate the bones but I'm not helpless at that because there is boneless bangus available. It is done by deboning the fish manually, I have seen it being done and it looked easy, but I wouldn't dare to do it myself not unless I want to test my patience.

If I am in Phil, I could easily get deboned milkfish from the super market or in the wet market, would just pay additional P10 for deboning which they do expertly for you. In KL, I saw milkfish in supermarkets but they don't sell deboned or they won't debone it for me either, so I didn't bother to buy until my friend Tess, offered me her boneless bangus. I didn't hesitate to get a couple of packs for the weekend's lunch. The first thing that came to my mind is to prepare it like my brother had taught me. It's healthier and quicker to prepare. Another alternative way of cooking without frying.



Here's how:

Prepare the fish by marinating it with soy sauce, calamansi and crushed garlic.

In a pan over high heat, spread a lot of rock salt enough to cover the base of the pan. The salt adds heat, while preventing the fish from sticking into the pan. The fish is literally cooked by its own steam from its moisture. You can tell when its done when the fish has turned completely pale and the skin is slightly burnt.



Place the fish skin side down over a bed of salt. Cover the pan and cook on high heat for about 10-15 minutes without opening. You will hear some popping sound, but that's the way it should be.

Serve it with rice and soy sauce with calamansi or lime.

The skin should look like slightly burned like the picture below.

Sweet and Sour Fish

This is nice with pineapple chunks, but I don’t have stock in my pantry, hence I just settle with what I had. Pureed carrot is added to thicken the sauce instead of cornstarch. It has that mild sweetness that balances sharpness of the vinegar and tomatoes.

Ingredients:

2 Fish Fillets (cut in cubes) any fish with flesh

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1 large white onion (cut in cubes)

1 Red bell pepper/capsicum (cut in cubes)

1 yellow bell pepper/capsicum (cut in cubes)

2 large tomatoes (cut in cubes)

1 carrot (cut in florals)

1 carrot (pureed)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar

4 tablespoons vinegar

½ cup flour (for coating the fish)

1/

Salt and pepper

Oil for frying and sautéing

Procedure:

1. Slice the vegetables and puree 1 carrot using a blender or food processor.

2. Season the flour with salt and pepper and coat the fish with the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour from fish and shallow-fry them in a moderate fire until golden brown. Drain in kitchen paper towel.

3. Sauté garlic and onion in a sauce pan. Add half of the cubed tomatoes; reserve the half for the last addition so they don’t wilt.

4. When the tomatoes are wilted, add a little bit of water, vinegar, and sugar.

5. Add the bell peppers

6. Add pureed carrots. Stir well occasionally.

7. Add tomato paste and season with salt and pepper

8. Add tomatoes

9. Add the fried fish and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. The consistency must be thick.

Tinolang Manok (Chicken Soup)

Tinolang Manok (Chicken Soup)

We haven’t had soup for quite some time but with our growing kangkong in the terrace is growing so fast and are twining with the other herbs, I finally came to a moment like “you’ve got to cook something with kangkong tonight!” Checked the freezer what to get for dinner and yeah, something came up! Chicken soup (Nilat-ang Manok). What made this special is the lemon grass that I have sautéed with the onion and garlic that gave a magical asian aroma in the whole flat. I have to be honest, I am not used to sautéing with lemon grass because in Philippines, we use only the leafy part of lemon grass and we don’t sauté with it. Usually we tie the leaves into a knot and just include it while the soup is boiling. Little did I know about the white part of the lemon grass, near the roots, can be used. Usually, in the region where I grew up, we just discard them and use the green leaves instead. Here in Malaysia, they sauté it with almost everything with vegetables, rice or meat. The flavor is so mild and the aroma brings magic to anything fleshy.

Picture below is the lemon grass


Another factor that made this soup great is cooking the chicken a long time. Simmer for 2 hours. The flavors will just come out gently and cooking the chicken slowly until very tender.

Ingredients:
4 chicken drumsticks (or any bony part of chicken)
1 Onion (sliced)
1 clove Garlic (crushed)
2 sprigs of lemon grass (white part) (finely sliced)
Kangkong leaves
2 Spring onions (finely sliced)
4 String beans
1 carrot (sliced)
4 Potatoes (sliced in quarts)

Procedure:
Sautee onions, garlic and lemon grass until onion is translucent, add chicken and sauté few minutes more, add potatoes and carrots. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer for 2 hours.

Add the remaining vegetables on the last minute just before serving to avoid over cooking. Add the beans first, then kangkong and lastly the spring onions.

Leche Flan

Leche Flan is one of the famous favorite Filipino desserts. It is made up of caramel and cooked custard. I love leche flan but knowing its cholesterol content, I’ve been avoiding it, that’s why it has been ages, I haven’t made it myself, but sometimes, I do indulge myself with guilty pleasures in some shops if I find it. It’s just so sinful, sometimes I can’t resist.

The lemon zest neutralizes the eggy flavor but can be omitted if not available.

For this recipe, i used 6 inch round pan.


5 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs
¾ cup condensed milk
1 ½ cup evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. Sugar – for caramel
zest of 1 lemon

Procedure:

Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of sugar in the pan and cook over low heat on the stove until sugar dissolves and turn brown. Let it cool down and set. It makes a cracking sound as it cools.

In a bowl, Mix egg yolks, evaporated milk and condensed milk. Add lemon zest and mix further.Pour over the cooled pan with the hardened caramel at the bottom. Cover the pan with foil to avoid the steam to get into the pan. Cook in a steamer for about 30-40 minutes or until the custard had set.

Allow to cool before serving. Trace the sides of the pan with a spatula so that the sides wont stick to the pan. Flip over to a serving plate so that the bottom side will be the top with the caramel. Best served when chilled.

Inon - Onan

Inon-unang Isda

Ingredients:

6 pcs. Fish (any kind of fish will do, less bony the better)

½ Cup oil

¼ Cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Oyster sauce

2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

bay leaves
salt to taste

How to:

Clean fishes, free of gills and intestines, season with salt, set aside. In a sauce pan, arrange bay leaves at the bottom, add onion and garlic. Add fish by arranging them on top of the spices, add oil, lemon juice and white wine vinegar. Bring to boil and continue cooking with low-medium fire for 20 minutes, add oyster sauce and continue cooking for 5 minutes more. Serve with garlic rice or plain rice. Tip : Avoid using water to keep the flesh of the fish firm and full of flavor. You may be tempted to add water if you wish but do it after the fish is done.

This kind of inon-onan smells less fishy than the traditional inon-onan cooked with vinegar & spices. I lessened the amount of vinegar and used a lot more of lemon juice, so to improve the aroma. The sauce is thicker than usual and its one of my favorite fish preparations.

Stir-fried Pancit with pork ribs

pancit with pork ribs

To prepare pork ribs:
Boil the ribs with water for 30 minutes or until well done. Marinate with soy sauce for another 30 minutes. Brown the meat in a very hot pan with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and straight to a very hot oven for 20 minutes.

To prepare stir-fried pancit (egg noodles)

1 onion

1 garlic

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

250 g egg noodles

salt and pepper to taste

Cook egg noodles by boiling 1 liter of water for 1 minute until done. On another pan, saute garlic and onion, add the peppers and add the noodles. Toss well until well mixed and season with salt and pepper.

Serve pork ribs with stir-fried pancit.

Bam-i

Bam-i

In Visayas region of Phil, we call this dish Bam-i, but for Northern part of Philippines, they call it pansit. Whatever we call it, it doesn’t matter the fact is this is a very common dish in my country. Be it an ordinary dinner, indoor or outdoor party or picnic, Bam-i is almost present among the dishes.

Bam-i is made of 2 kinds of noodles, egg noodles and vermicelli noodles or sotanghon stir fried with meat and vegetables. Vegetables may vary depending on what we have at hand. Now, I’m not in Phil., but I’m missing this dish and I have to settle what I have in my kitchen.

One thing very essential in preparing this dish is timing. The noodles and vegetables should cook together. The noodles get easily overcooked they tend to stick to the pan. To avoid this, I came up with another way of doing it by blanching the noodles in a boiling stock to get rid of extra starch. This will prevent the noodles from sticking together.

Ingredients:
2 large onions (finely sliced)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
2 Tablespoons oil
2 chicken breasts (sliced in strips)
1 red bell pepper (sliced in long strips)
1 green bell pepper (sliced in long strips)
2 cups shredded cabbage
6 Tablespoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 liter stock or water
2 Tablespoons freshly ground pepper
1 pack egg noodles
½ pack vermicelli noodles or sotanghon

Procedure:

1. Prepare a wok or pan and casserole.
2. In the pan, sauté garlic and onions in 2 Tablespoons oil until translucent.
3. Add chicken breasts and cook until done; add peppers, oyster sauce, light and dark soy sauce.
4. Meanwhile, at the same time, in another casserole, bring to boil 1 liter of stock or water. Blanch shredded cabbage for 1 minute and add to the other pan.

5. Add vermicelli noodles to the boiling stock and cook until just done. Using a slotted spoon, drain the noodles leaving excess starch and water, add noodles directly to the sautéed garlic, onion and chicken stirring occasionally.

6.Add the egg noodles to the boiling stock in the casserole and cook for 2 minutes until just done. Drain egg noodles and add to the pan with vermicelli noodles. Mix vigorously cooking in a moderate fire. Add a ladle of stock to the pan and toss everything to combine all the flavors. Add freshly ground black pepper.

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroons

Quick and easy dessert to make. Mix dessicated coconut, condensed milk and flour. Some don’t add flour but I find it too sweet. To make it light, I added flour this time.

Ingredients:

2 cups dessicated coconut
1 cup condensed milk
½ cup flour
raisins

Mix the ingredients thoroughly and spoon into small paper molds. Add raisins on top of each and bake for 10 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Lumpia shanghai

Lumpia Shanghai (spring rolls)

A Filipino dish influenced by Chinese. Lumpia is a very common finger food dish for parties as it can be easily prepared ahead of time.

Ingredients:

1 pack spring roll pastry (lumpia wrapper)
½ kilo Minced chicken
1 cup Cabbage (finely shredded)
2 onions (finely chopped)
2 carrots (grated)
1 large bell pepper (finely chopped)
1 eggwhite
½ cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients vigorously in a large mixing bowl. Separate individually the wrappers and cover with clean kitchen towel (They easily get dry and hard making it quite difficult to seal). Keep the wrappers covered with clean cloth when not used yet. Place 1 teaspoon of the mixture in 1 wrapper and roll up until the meat is covered, fold the sides in making it tight and roll up again. Wet the edges with water to seal.

Sinigang sa Miso

Sinigang sa miso
(Fish Soup with Tamarind and Miso)

Sinigang sa miso is not very popular in visayas region in Philippines , however we have somehow similar dish we call “tinola” but we don’t put tamarind in it. I think it originated from Luzon, I’m not sure which region though. Philippines with 7,107 islands, you can imagine how many dishes each island has, assuming each island has 1 special dish, then Philippines itself has 7,107 dishes! Quite a lot huh! Somehow, I’m a stranger to my own country’s dishes. The figure explains it!

I really appreciate the effort of some Philippine companies who come up with easy to use sachets, combination of exotic flavors which all u need to do is pour over your soup. I brought some packs from Phil. Called “Sinigang sa miso” combination of tamarind and miso soup mix. I followed suggested preparation but added some twist.

It’s my first time doing it at home, and I love love love it! Even hubby said I should make it more often. I am so fascinated with this soup, its mild sourness, sweetness and hotness.

Ingredients:

½ kilo fish (I had red snappers)
1 clove garlic (diced)
2 white onions ( sliced in cubes)
4 large tomatoes (quartered)
4 cups water
1 chili
A handful of chili leaves
A handful of green beans
2 Tablespoons oil
1 pack sinigang sa miso soup mix

Procedure:
Sauté garlic, onions and tomatoes until onions are transparent and tomatoes are wilted. Add water and bring to boil. Add fish and bring to the boil again. Add green beans and simmer covered for 1 minute. Add chili and chili leaves and simmer for another minute. Serve hot.