RECIPE 4: Ginataang Isda ala Vivianna de Hada

Our recipe today is by Miss Vivienne. Ate Viv as we fondly call her in our neighborhood shares my passion for culinary experiments so we go along very well when it comes to food. She is also known as the resident drama queen in our apartment owing to her constant aches and pains brought about by LOVE. In her recipe, ate Viv will channel the drama into her cooking to come up with a truly delectable dish aptly called Ginataang Isda ala De hada (smoked mackerel fish in coconut milk)!

Ate Viv has been serving this dish to us especially during birthdays and special occasions. It’s a dish worthy to be posted because it’s healthy and tasty. Added to that, it’s easy to prepare. Without much sing and dance, I am glad to present to you our recipe for today.

Ingredients

1 kilo smoked Mackerel fish

Coconut milk

Vegetables (okra, eggplant)

Long green pepper

Ginger

Garlic

Onion

Oil

Procedure

1. Strip fish of its flesh. Remove bones. Set the deboned fish aside. Rinse vegetables and slice as appropriate. Chop pepper, onions and ginger.

2. Pour three table spoons of oil into the wok. Put garlic, pepper, ginger and onion. Put the fish flesh afterwards. Don’t stir the fish while being sautéed as it turn into smithereens easily. Leave the fish sautéed for 5-7 mins.

3. Pour coconut milk into the half-cooked fish. Add salt, ginger and sliced pepper. Leave it to cook for 15-20 mins.

4. Finally, add vegetables. Wait for 2-3 minutes to cook the veggies. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Serve hot.

There you have it, Ginataang Isda ala de Hada! Enjoy the recipe and happy cooking.

Special thanks to ate Viv for sharing this recipe!

RECIPE 3: ISDANG PAKSIW

Isda is fish in Tagalog. Paksiw, on the other hand, is a popular Filipino recipe which involves the use of vinegar, onion, oil, ginger and salt to create the sauce base of the dish. Apart from fish, lechon or roasted meat can also be turned into Paksiw eventually creating another dish called lechong Paksiw. The good thing about Paksiw is that it doesn't easily spoil owing to the added vinegar, a potent preservative. In fact the older this dish, the better it tastes. The same case holds true with the vinegar-flavored Adobo.

As a kid, Paksiw was introduced to me as a tongue twister rather than as a dish although I used to eat one especially Tilapiang (Nile fish) Paksiw. The word Paksiw when uttered alternately with the word Pasko (Christmas) in a fast phase proves to be a challenging and entertaining task for the tongue. Go figure :) Anyway, we seldom had the most common fishes for Paksiw like the small mackerel aka Galunggong and Milk Fish aka Bangus as we lived far from the sea. Tilapia and other fresh water fishes are mostly our fish ingredients for this dish. Paksiw can be spruce up with some vegetables such as eggplant, okra and green long pepper. My recipe in particular is more of a vegetable paksiw as the fish needs to be searched from the heaps of veggies.

Ingredients

fish (I had a red snapper for this recipe)

4 table spoons of vinegar

2 table spoons of oil

salt

onion

2 table spoons of sugar

half cup of water

pepper

ginger

vegetables (okra, eggplant, long green pepper)

Procedure

1. Clean the fish and cut into slices. Set aside. Chop onions and ginger. Rinse vegetables and slice as appropriate.

2. Pour half cup of water into the pot along with the vinegar, onion, oil, sugar and salt then mix. Put the slices of fish and leave it to cook for 15 mins.

3. When the fish is cooked, put vegetables on top. Cover the pot and leave the veggies to be cooked for 5 minutes to 7 mins.

4. Serve while it's hot. Add more salt to taste if necessary.

There you have it folks. Your easy to prepare dish. Enjoy cooking your own Paksiw!

RECIPE 2: ADOBO ala MOI

Hailed as the country's national dish, the all-time favorite Adobo can easily earn a spot as among the indispensable dishes in a Filipino home's dining table particulary during occasions like birthday, family dinner, Christmas and other holidays. Owing to its popularity, Adobo is easily equated as the immediate definition of Filipino cusine which of course is not totally the case.

The preparation of Adobo is as varied as the thousands of islands comprising the Philippine archipelago. Every Filipino in every region in the Philippines has their own way of preparing the dish. More often than not, the preparation somehow mirrors the social and economic status of the region or the person cooking it. The bottom line is that the dish however it's prepared should reflect basic ingredients to arrive at a taste which defines Adobo.

My Adobo recipe is a result of various influences. Say, the frying of potato before adding it to the dish instead of just putting it directly to be cooked along with the meat. I learned that from an uncle whose Adobo is so famous in our village. The adding of brown sugar is something I got from an acquaintance. The choice of condiments is a result of my innumerable attempts to cook the dish. Without further ado, here is a recipe of Adobo that you may want to try.

Ingredients

1 kilo of chicken (you can mix chicken and pork if you wish)

1/2 kilo of potato

brown sugar (if not available white sugar will do)

soy sauce (it's best to use Filipino soy sauce i.e. Datu Puti or Silver Swan)

vinegar

onion

garlic (the more the better)

pepper

bay leaves

salt

oil

Procedure

1. Cut the meat into 'reasonable' sizes if you bought a whole chicken or a big chunk of pork. Sprinkle salt to the meat then set it aside. Slice the onion and crush the cloves of garlic. Peel the potatoes and slice into cubes.

2. Pour some oil into the wok or the pan and let it heat up. Add the onions then the chicken/pork when the aroma of fried onion starts to come out. Add 3 table spoon of sugar then mix. Cover the wok and leave it for 8-10 minutes allowing the meat to be fried with the onion.

3. If you have other stove, you can already start frying the potato. Make sure to sprinkle salt in it first before deep frying.

4. When the meat looks juicy and partially cooked, add soysauce (half cup), vinegar (3 table spoon), garlic, pepper and bayleaves. Mix and cover the wok then leave it for 10 mins for the meat to get cooked and absorb the taste of the mixed sauces.

4. Put the fried potatoes into the cooked adobo and mix it. Allow two minutes for the potatoes to absorb the sauces. Serve dish while it's hot.

The bottomline in preparing a yummy Adobo is having the right ingredients especially the condiments which would make up the sauce and the taste of the dish. The meat should also be fresh and most importantly you should be in your most loving self while cooking the dish as this (in a freakin weird way) adds up to the taste and palatability of your dish output. You cook with your heart so they say. Enjoy the recipe and happy Adobo cooking!

RECIPE 1: FRIED FISH STEAMED IN VEGETABLES

This recipe is inspired by my mother who is fond of mixing fried meat or fried fish with whatever vegetables available. I obviously inherited her penchant for this mix-and-match, spontaneous style of cooking as I do cook this way quite often.

Our first recipe is all about enhancement. But, before your mind brings you to the world of enhancements you are so familiar with, let's get directly to the point of our recipe -it's all about nutrition enhancement. In our digital world, nutrition can easily become a boring topic. After all most of us survive these days with a bottle of Coca Cola and instant noodles. With this kind lifestyle, ironically, we wish to live long and look good at the same time.

New year is about rethinking and correcting bad habits. Eating habits are among those that we should particularly examine so that we would be able to stay healthy and live long. Without much ado, our recipe today answers the question How can you make a simple fried fish healthy? This recipe will give you the answer.

Ingredients

Fish (whatever edible fish should do)
Vegetables (string beans, okra, eggplant, petchay and other vegetables which appeal to you)
garlic (3 cloves)
tomato
spring onion
Salt
Stock (if none use knorr chicken or pork cube)



Procedure



1. Clean the fish by removing the unnecessary parts i.e. gills, guts, fins and tails. Cut the fish into slices if it's big and rub salt. If you are buying a fish from the store have the staff clean it and cut it for you to spare you the hassle.




2. Heat the pan. Pour in generous amount of oil. Generous enough to drown the slices of fish. Let the oil heat up for a few minutes before putting the fish. This is a basic frying tip to avoid the fish from sticking into the pan.


3. While the fish is being fried, rinse the vegetables and slice them if necessary. Not everyone likes to eat vegetable so capitalize in the presentation and platability to convince your diner or yourself that vegetable is food. The texture and size of the vegetables certainly matter.




4. Once the fish is fried, set it aside. Put a half cup of stock in an empty pan. Throw (sounds like pro) tomato, chopped garlic and onions in there. Put hard-to-cook vegetables first i.e. string beans, egg plant, okra and then the fried fish on top of it. After 3 mins, check if the vegetables are at least half-cooked. Switched off the stove and put the leafy vegetables i.e. petchay. Cover the pan for a minute to steam the leafy vegetables added. Serve the dish while it's hot.


Here is the obvious answer to the question above. Just simply add vegetables in your fried fish to enhance not only the taste but the nutrients as well. Now you can enjoy your fried fish steamed in vegetables.

What is a Pinoy food?

To begin with, Pinoy is a colloquial term for the inhabitants of the 7,ooo + islands of the Philippines- the Filipinos (as they are formally called). Pinoy cooking, therefore, pertains to the preparation of Filipino dishes. In this particular blog, Pinoy cooking is an attempt to prepare known Filipino dishes on a weekly basis. Mainly at weekends when I am free from work. I say attempt because the only qualification I have to do this fun is my being a full-bloodied Filipino. Well, of course, I also have the penchant for throwing anything edible in the pot and turn it into a dish. Filipino cooking is not totally instinctive so I gonna rely on my informal training in the preparation of the dishes.

I would say that I have been cooking since I was 7 years old. Rice being the first food I learned to cook and my parents being my first teachers. Fast forward to highschool and college, I was lucky to have lived with people who were into cooking. They taught me basic culinary skills and consequently entrusted their kitchens to my care. I would prepare their breakfast, lunch and dinner. While it took me time to satisfy their fastidious kitchen standards, I was given enough training to be able to confidently prepare a dish. After college, instant food dominated my gastronomic indulgement as work impeded me from splurging on home cooking. Thanks to the occasional celebrations as they provided opportunities to cook for family and friends.

Then a chance to work abroad presented itself. In Thailand, the abundance of home cooked dishes overwhelms me. It is simply amazing to be able to get healthy, delicious Thai food practically in every soi of Bangkok. The food is tasty and cheap. That said Thai cuisine is definitely inspirational to food lovers and aspiring cook like myself. Having stayed here for three years, there has been the intermittent longing for Filipino dishes. I bet all pinoys abroad feel the same. I started cooking Filipino dish when I got tired of Thai dishes. I was craving for a victual variety although a friend would bring me out for dinner at least once a week. Cutting meat, chopping onions and crushing cloves of garlic in my own proved to be therapeutic. It's relaxing. Some of my Pinoy friends celebrated their birthdays and I volunteered to cook their all-time favorite pinoy dishes such as Adobo. The famous adobo eventually invaded not only our apartment where my friends' bdays usually take place but our office as well. Foreign friends who wondered what a Filipino food tastes like got the answer to their questions as I tried cooking for them, too. Interestingly, the feedbacks have been positive. However, there remains the question which I myself doesn't know how to answer. What is Filipino food?

Back in 2005, I went with a friend to Pattaya for swimming. On our way, he said that we would eat in a Filipino restaurant for lunch when we got there. Delighted that Filipino food has a place in Thailand, I asked him the Filipino dishes he has so far tried. He laughed at my question for two reasons: firstly, he has never tasted a Filipino dish before and secondly, the Filipino resto he's referring to is MC donald. This reality stunned me. Why is Filipino cuisine isn't as recognized as other cuisines? What is a Filipino cuisine in the first place?

Taking the national dish Adobo as an example, some Filipino food (as much as the Filipino culture and psyche) reflect and even echo the gastronomic influences of the countries which the Philippines has had historical relationship with such as Spain, China, America and even India. To say that Filipino food is an amalgamation of these influences is somewhat true. What may give the unique identity or character of the Filipino dish is the preparation that goes with it. As one writer put it "The essence of Filipino food is best appreciated in the context of the Filipino home". I very much agree with the writer's point.

In this blog, I try to present to you some of the famous Filipino dishes I myself love. Hopefully, those who love to cook Filipino foods will learn something new and to those asking what is Filipino food will perhaps have their questions answered.

Get ready because it's time to cook Pinoy food and it's Kainan na (time to eat)!