Arroz Branco

Arroz Branco

A good alternative to the conventional plain boiled rice..Different aroma, different texture, and slightly different taste. jst give it a bit of twist than usual! Smells great!

Ingredients:
2 Cups Rice
2 Cups Water
1 Pc. white onion (finely chopped)
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 bay leaves
Salt

Procedure :
With a medium fire, heat olive oil in a deep pan, add onion until soft but not brown, add bayleaves, stir-fry for a minute. Add rice and stir vigorously until the flavours are blended well with the rice. Add water and season with salt. Simmer for 15 minutes stirring occationally until the rice is done. Serve with favorite side dish... This gives a different smell and texture of the usual boiled rice.

Fried Potatoe cubes

Fried Potato cubes

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. oil
4 large potatoes
2 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
a dash of cinnamon powder
2 tsp. cornstarch

How to:

Slice potatoes into small cubes set aside. Heat oil in a pan, add potatoes and fry until done. When the sides begin to turn slightly brown, add ginger powder, garlic powder, cinnamon powder, salt and pepper. Toss all together and sprinkle cornstarch. Continue cooking 1 minute more until golden brown. Serve while still hot.

Mash potatoes or grilled potatoes could be boring if used as side dish frequently. I tried other ways of cooking potatoes.

Crispy Pork coated with couscous

Crispy Pork

4 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 thin slices of lean pork

½ Cup Couscous

Ground black & white pepper

Salt

How to :

Season pork with ground pepper (rubbing each side to distribute the flavor) add salt and set aside. Coat the pork with couscous and deep fry.

Fish Cake

Fish Cake

Cooking oil for frying
2 Fish Fillets (medium size)
4 potatoes (medium size)
2 Cups water
½ Cup flour
½ Cup Milk
1 egg (slightly beaten)
salt & pepper

How to:

Peel potatoes and bring to boil with water until tender. While the cooking the potatoes, in another saucepan put the fish and milk, bring to boil with low fire, season with salt to taste, continue cooking until fish is well done. When the potatoes are done, drain them and mash with potato masher or fork while still hot. Drain fish and mash in with potatoes until fish is flaky but not so fine. Season with salt and pepper, (more peppers tastes good and smells good as well). Shape this mixture into round or squares using the hands and set aside. In separate plates, place slightly beaten egg and in another plate place flour for coating (as shown in the photo)

Heat oil in a shallow pan. Dip each shaped potato mixture into each plate with egg first, then flour and fry until golden brown. Remember that the mixture is already cooked, no need to fry too long. Serve immediately.

This recipe is quite messy but its worth it! To enhance your coating with whatever you fry with coating, add breadcrumbs, salt & pepper to the flour. It adds flavor and smells great too. With this recipe, you can use leftover of fish instead of fresh fillet and use the same procedure. Could be a good treat too! And for those who doesn’t like fish very much, this is a good alternative way of cooking… It doesn’t tastes so fishy as it is well blended with the potato. I saw the method of cooking on a TV show but the cook used green peas and potato and mint jelly, which I honestly haven’t encountered yet. It was a bit complicated but it looks nice because the color inside is green and yellow on the outside. But I can’t get fresh green peas here, so I made something similar with different ingredients, but less complicated. Here it is!!!!

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.

Mortadella Pizza

Mortadella Pizza

Ingredients:
Pizza crust
Toppings
Tomato sauce

Toppings:
Mortadella (sliced in small and thin triangles)
Black seedless olives (sliced)
Button Mushrooms (sliced thinly)
1 white onion (sliced into cubes)
1 red bell pepper (sliced in small and thin triangles)
1 cup Mozzarella or flamingo cheese (grated)

Tomato sauce:
1 white onion (finely chopped)
4 Fresh tomatoes (diced)
Herbs (thyme and basil)
6 T. tomato sauce
1 T. tomato paste
½ cup water
3 T. olive oil

To prepare sauce:

In a hot pan, add oil and soften onion. Add herbs, stirring occasionally, add fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Add water and simmer for about 5 minutes or until water has evaporated and sauce becomes thick.

Pizza crust:

1 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. of sugar

2/3 cup warm water

250 g. plain flour

1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tablespoons olive oil

To prepare crust

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F or gas mark 5).

2. In a small bowl, place yeast, sugar and water and mix to dissolve. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until mixture is foamy.

3. Place flour and salt in mixing bowl and combine. Slowly pour in yeast mixture and oil and process to make a rough dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until soft and shiny. Add more flour if necessary. Flatten the dough using a rolling pin and form a flat circle and place on a greased baking tray. For thin crust, divide the dough into two and make to crusts. Let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes

4. Bake for 5 – 10 minutes until crust becomes light brown.To prepare pizza:Spread half of the grated cheese over the crust, then spread the tomato sauce over the cheese, add the rest of the toppings spreading the remaining cheese lastly. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until crust becomes golden brown and cheese is melted.

Seafood Pizza

Seafood pizza

Parsley Rice

Simply add finely chopped parsley to newly cooked rice. Add parsley while still hot.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:
2 cups c ooked rice
8 pcs. Green beans
1 Yellow
1 Red Bell Pepper
EggplantOnion
Garlic
Tomatoes
¼ cup water
1 cube chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Procedure:

Slice vegetables and set aside. Sauté onion and garlic until translucent but not burned, add sliced vegetables, except tomatoes, stirring occasionally. Add the vegetables until all the liquid has evaporated, add water and stock, and continue cooking until vegetables are nearly done. Add rice and season with salt and pepper.

Green Peas Rizotto with Beef

Green Peas Rizotto with beef

I love risotto once in awhile to break monotonous boiled rice. To incorporate some veggie, I added green peas for the sake of taking some fibers! Could be served with risotto alone, but here I added slices of grilled beef.

2 cups Arborio rice
3 cups chicken stock
1 glass white wine
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup green peas
2 Tablespoons butter
Freshly ground pepper

Boil stock in a pan. Meantime, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil until completely wilted and translucent. Add rice and mix thoroughly until rice is slightly fried. Add ½ cup white wine while stirring constantly until almost all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Add the remaining wine and continue stirring. When all the liquid has been absorbed, add 1 cup of boiling stock while stirring constantly. Continue adding water 1 cup at a time until almost all the liquid has been absorbed or until rice is done. Add green peas during the last addition of stock; whilst stirring constantly. Stir in cheese and butter lastly. Season with freshly ground pepper.

Pan-fried Chicken breast with rice noodles

Pan-fried Chicken Breast with Vermicelli (Rice Noodle)

Remove the skin of the chicken. Slice diagonally on opposit directions forming crisscross cuts and rub with salt. Pan fry for about 2 minutes on each side to seal the meat until chicken turns golden brown. Continue cooking in the oven for 10 minutes at 250 degrees C.

While the chicken is in the oven, prepare the vermicelli noodles. Bring to boil 1 liter of water , add salt and add the vermicelli noodles. Cook until al dente (Like cooking spaghetti). Do not over cook otherwise it will be very soggy. Rince the noodles with tap water and set aside. Stirfry onions, garlic and peppers (capsicums) and toss the noodles and continue stirfrying. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Serve with the chicken.

Chicken Sandwich with eggplant dip

Chicken Sandwich with eggplant dip

Flat bread

Eggplant dip

Grilled chicken breast (thinly sliced)

White onion (thinly sliced)

Red bell pepper (cubed)

Tomatoes (thinly sliced)

To make flat bread:

1 cup flour (sifted)

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup water

Mix salt and flour in a mixing bowl. Add 1 Tablespoon water at a time while mixing until it forms rough dough. Add water if its too dry, this depends of the strength of the flour you are using. Knead the dough in a floured flat surface for about 3 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Form dough into sausage shape and cut 1 inch thick. Form each into a small ball and flatten with a rolling pin.

To make eggplant dip:

1 large eggplant

1 cube chicken stock

1 cup water

Red pepper (diced)

Tomatoes (diced)

Onion (diced)

Garlic (finely chopped)

juice of ½ lemon

chili powder

pepper

Determine a base for the eggplant and slice the skin off thinly; so that the eggplant will lay flat. Slice the skin off of the opposite side and carefully take the meat of the eggplant using a spoon. Dice the meat into cubes. Rub the exposed eggplant meat with lemon juice, wrap with plastic and refrigerate while making the dip. Sauté garlic and onion until translucent add eggplant meat, add red pepper, water and stock. Bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Season with pepper and chili powder. Place the cooked mixture into the prepared eggplant case. In a hot pan, add onion and red pepper; cook until caramelized.Assemble sandwich. Arrange in each flat bread with chicken onion, pepper as desired. Serve with the dip.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Pepper Marmalade

Grilled chicken breast with pepper marmalade

Quite lazy for lunch and didn’t know what to do. Switched the TV channel to BBC Food and caught Sophie Grigson doing pepper marmalade for her dish with Trout fish, my tastebuds wondered if the marmalade would go with chicken, since I always have chicken breast in the fridge. Hmmm… yes the flavors are blending indeed! I’m quite lucky, I have all the ingredients which Sophie used except for red wine vinegar, which I don’t have, and I added yellow pepper to add color. I’m quite trained to settle with what I have huh, I used balsamic vinegar instead. I think everyone knows how to grill chicken, so I am just going to jot down for the marmalade, for the sake of the record. Well, thanks to Sophie Grigson!

Ingredients:

1 Red bell pepper (sliced in thin strips)

1 Yellow bell pepper (sliced in thin strips)

2 white onions (sliced thinly)

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 Teaspoons sugar

4 Tablespoons water

2 Pieces Star Anis

Preparation:

Cook onion with olive oil, in medium fire, until transparent. Add the peppers and star anis. Continue cooking until peppers are wilted stirring occasionally, add balsamic vinegar, sugar and water, simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.Grill chicken and serve with the marmalade. This time, I served the dish with bread.