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.

xmas desserts

Christmas cake

I am using the same cake stand I’ve made last year, but it looks very different from that of last Christmas. Last year’s Christmas cake is here.



This time, I put candies all over the round stem of the stand. They are very cheap candies that are nicely wrapped strawberry prints and with green stem. So, I took advantage of sticking them using a scotch tape to accent Christmas colors. Kids had fun taking them out during the party, which its made for the purpose. At the base side, I made some macaroons that anyone can pick and have a taste of this coconut dessert.





Berries with whipped cream

Got a handful of berries of each kind and played with its presentation. This time I got strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. I think they look gorgeous sitting in a base. How to make the base? Good you asked. It is just as simple as learning your ABC. It is made of pound biscuits mixed with softened butter and molded into a desired shape. If you like to add a kick to it, just add a splash of whiskey.





And look.. they look stunning in layers too!

I'm just having fun with berries :-)

Weekend Dog Blogging

It seems like human chair is too small for my dog! :-)

Participating the "Weekend Dog Blogging" hosted by Sweetnicks. This weekend's photo must include food! Which is why I treated my dog with vanilla ice cream. He loves icecream too! It's a nice treat for him, well he always have some bits, anyway.

Vanilla Ice Cream with chocolate syrup

Vanilla icecream with chocolate syrup

Another icecream recipe? yes, I know I have posted different flavors of icecream but this is my first time, but what I love with this is the "real vanilla pods". it's my first time to use real vanilla pods and they are really really great! I think its a lot more better than comercial ice cream!

Basic Ice cream recipe

2 eggs
250 ml full cream milk
100 g sugar
450 g whipping cream
Flavoring at your own choice (i used vanilla pods)

Procedure :

Make the custard:
Warm milk in a small pan whilst whisking the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Pour this all back into the pan and heat the mixture. stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken slightly but do not let it boil. Add vanilla and set aside for a few minutes. Pass through a sift and discard the vanilla pods. Allow it to cool down to room temperature and chill for 30 minutes.

Beat the whipping cream until soft peak. Fold-in the custard mixture.

Pour the mixture into an icecream maker. Alternatively, if you dont have an icecream maker, freeze the mixture and stir occationally like every 30 minutes just before it would turn into solid to avoid crystalized icecream.

Smoked Salmon Battleships

Smoked Salmon battleship

When I made this, I didn’t know what I put myself into. I intend to follow the recipe of Susie Donald’s “Quick & Easy sushi and Sashimi” mini cookbook. The recipe says preparation time is 20 minutes and assembling time is 15 minutes. However, for me it took me 2 hours to do this. At first I was enjoying having the things in my working place. I find it very hard to shape the sushi rice into small oval shape. Anyways, while I was doing it I thought of setting up the table in Japanese style with chopsticks. Well it wasn’t realized at all because we ended up eating at the working table coz it took me too long to make these battleships and I was quite exhausted. So forget about the set up! It is far difficult than I thought. Roll up sushi is a lot easier than these battleships. Anyhow, blame it on my taste buds! They love to wander around the world by having a taste of every corner! Okay! Confession: I love Japanese foods and this is just one of my attempts trying Japanese cuisine at home.

I served it with pickled ginger which is optional.

Ingredients:

6 strips smoked salmon
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
¼ teaspoon wasabi paste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cooked Sushi rice
4 sheets nori, toasted and cut into 1 inch strips
1 cucumber

Procedure:

Dice smoked salmon into small pieces. Mix mayonnaise with wasabi paste, add the diced smoke salmon and add freshly ground black pepper; set aside. Slice cucumber thinly and place it on kitchen paper then pat dry to remove excess moisture.

To prepare sushi rice, see my old post of crab sushi here.

Take 1 tablespoon of sushi rice and form into an oval shape. Place the rice oval on a flat surface and wrap a strip of the nori around its sides, leaving the top and bottom uncovered. The nori should be about 1 cm ( ½ inch) taller than the rice. Spoon the prepared salmon filling on top of the rice and assemble cucumber on top of the salmon like battle ships.



I also made chicken battleships at the same time. Grilled chicken breasts. I just added wasabi paste and mayonnaise on top of the sushi rice and arranged the chicken breasts on top like battleships.

Everything was great except that I spent long time preparing small stuffs! In short, good foods can not be rushed!

Sausage cocktail

sausage and cheese

I have a couple of friends coming unexpectedly in about 20 minutes. The kitchen is cold and haven’t prepared anything to serve. Here’s a quick rescue for finger foods to accompany some drinks. Flamengo cheese and sausage.

You Are What You Eat Food Meme: My 10 Favorite Foods

Tagged with top 10 favorite foods!

Aha… is this the newest meme around the food blogging world? Oh yes I am tagged with the latest meme by Paz of The cooking adventure of chef Paz


Okay okay… I have to admit I am having a hard time thinking what’s gonna be my top 10 favorite foods because I have loads of favorite foods and they change as my tastes buds are becoming more and more adventurous. I may have some favorites before which may not be my favorite now, or I may have some foods that I’m craving today that may not be my favorite next month coz I found another. My passion in food keeps on growing and this is the reason why I have this food blog.

Well, to make things easy, I take the freedom to choose from my all time favorites and seasonal favorites. Foods that are close to my heart. It may be old and new favorites. I am not putting them in order so to make things sound easier.

Seafoods – Fish, Lobster, shrimps, Squid, mussels and crabs are my all time favorite. I love them grilled, stir-fried, braised and steamed. Luckily I got no allergy like many others.

Rice – I am a rice eater. I love to infuse different flavors in rice. Got collection of rice recipes HERE .

Humba – My all time favorite, but it has to be cooked by my brother Chee Dee. He got the recipe that is handed down from the family. For now, he is the only one who knows how to make the best humba in the family. For this reason I feel that I need to rescue this recipe and method of cooking. For me, it’s the best pork recipe in the world! If I will succeed to make it once, I will post it, promise. So far, I never succeeded it yet. It is my mission when I’ll go home on January to get it perfectly done his way. Tell you what, you’ll love it until the last bit!

Couscous – I love couscous because its very quick and easy to prepare. Like rice, couscous is very versatile. I am playing with flavors to incorporate with couscous. It absorb flavors easily. Couscous, according to my research, is a popular dish in Morocco and North Africa made from semolina (coarsely ground wheat) Hubby, French national, introduced it to me when we were not married yet. Now, it is becoming a regular alternate of pasta and rice.

Philippine Mango – I have to specify because I have tasted several mangoes from different countries like mangoes from UK, India, Pakistan, and Angola they are not as tasty as Philippine mangoes. Unless if I can taste mangoes that are more tastier than Philippine mango then I might change my mind. I love them green and ripe.

Cheese balls - my new favorite. I made it once and I hardly can stop munching more. So, I am making them more often. The recipe is HERE

Chicken – I like them grilled or fried like KFC’s. Reminds me of one restaurant in my place called citiburger. They serve a great roasted chicken thighs. Chicken recipes HERE.

Vegetables – Hmmm… load of vegetables. Do I need to mention them all? I think its gonna be long. Generally, I love all kinds of vegetables. See? I’m not that very hard to please. I eat almost everything. Vegetable recipes HERE .

Desserts - what is my favorite dessert? Ohhh dear, I can’t count. I love to have a dessert after a meal especially if I’m having seafoods. There is this urge to cleanse the palate or at least get rid of the flavors from the sea after eating. This is the reason why I got a collection of desserts HERE.

Dark chocolate and coffee - If I am to make a choice what I’m going to have every time I wake up in the morning, it would be a hot mug of coffee and cold dark chocolate cake. Hand me the remote please, CNN! Then, I’m in heaven. It’s something to die for! Coffee addict. I might be very choosy with the chocolate cake. It must be dark and moist chocolate with the taste of bitterness of real cocoa.

That’s it? Only 10? How about Pringles?? My favorite chips! Once you pop, you can’t stop! This is exactly my reaction the moment I knew I had written ten favorite foods already.

Okay! It's my turn to tag the following foodie blogs!

Manilamayhem

Pinoy Cook

Stefoodie

Bucaio

Wanderlust Sha

Crispy Calamari (Squid Rings)

Calamari (Squid rings)

Crispy calamari is one of my favorite side dish or finger food. This is so crunchy!

Ingredients:

3 squid
batter
Oil for frying
Corn starch
Bread crumbs

For batter:
½ cup flour
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup water
Salt and pepper

Procedure:
Clean the squid inside and out leaving the squid white in flesh. Cut into rings and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, add water, flour, corn starch, salt and pepper. Beat vigorously with a wire whisk until smooth and runny. Add the sliced squid into the mixture and mix.

In a plate, place cornstarch and bread crumbs in equal proportion and mix.

Take calamari one by one from the flour mixture and coat with bread crumb mixture. Deep fry until golden brown.

Fish Fillet

Fish Fillet

Inspired by Ainsley Harriot, I came up with this way to prepare fish. He made it in his food show “meals in minutes”. I usually fry fish with just plain flour, after seeing the show, Ainsley gave a good idea. A different twist on the conventional way of frying fish. He served it with chips, therefore he called it fish and chips. But I had mine with plain rice.

So what’s the twist? I really enjoyed doing this as I watched the chemical reaction of baking soda and lemon!

I am not quite sure of his proportion coz I’m not taking down notes, so I made a wild guess and it worked.

Here’s how:

2 fish fillet
Batter
Oil for frying

Batter:
½ cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup lemon juice
1/3 cup water
Salt and pepper

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl, place flour and baking soda; add water and mix vigorously with a wire whisk. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper. Dip fish fillet into the batter to coat and fry until golden brown.

Chicken Fingers

Chicken fingers

Does chicken have fingers? Glad you asked! Well, not really.. but I'm just imitating its look for a change!

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Vegetable oil for frying

Procedure:

Place the chicken in a mixing bowl; add light and dark soy sauce, corn starch and sesame oil. Mix the ingredients with bare hands to ensure the chicken is well coated flavors. Marinate for at least 1 hour in the fridge. Slice the each chicken breast into 3 leaving about 1 inch at the top unsliced to hold them together. Fry for about 3 minutes each side until golden. Serve with potato chips.

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.

Chicken Siomai

Chicken Siomai (Steamed Dumplings)

Ingredients:
½ kilo ground chicken breasts
½ kilo prawns
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
Siomai wrapper
4 tablespoons bread crumbs
Salt & pepper

Sauce:
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil



Procedure:

Chop finely half of the prawns and set aside the other half. In a mixing bowl, mix ground chicken and finely chopped prawns, add light and dark soy sauce, bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Separate siomai wrappers individually. Place ½ teaspoon in the center of each wrapper; pat the area surrounding the meat with water; bring the sides of the wrapper up over the meat mixture and press the sides together leaving using your fingertips leaving the meat exposed. Flatten the bottom part by tapping slowly on a plate for the siomai to stand on its own. Repeat the wrapping procedure until done and ready to cook.

Line a bamboo steamer with strips of banana leaves and grease with very minimal oil. Arrange the siomai into the steamer. Boil 2 cups of water in a pan with a rim that perfectly fits into the steamer. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve siomai immediately with soy sauce.