Bottle gourd stir fry

Filipino cuisine is making waves around the globe which makes me proud.  Just recently, I wrote a post about a pop-up afternoon stand up event in Sydney delighted the palates of the locals with the introduction of classic savoury and sweet Filipino dishes. There's quite a few of these Filipino restaurants now in Sydney and it's getting a good following from locals, not just fellow Filos or Pinoys as we usually called ourselves. 

The well known amongst the community is La Mesa along Goulbourn Street, Haymarket.  It has been around since 2002 and previously located in Dee Why.  In 2012 they moved to Haymarket and have since created a good following of locals and tourists.  The decor is reminiscent of an old fashioned Filipino home - a mix of contemporary and classic Filipiniana decor.  The serving platters are all home-grown Filipino vessels flown from the Philippines. Sizzling Fillo in Lidcombe boasts of authentic Filipino dishes served in big portions enough to share amongst 3-4 people. The place invites locals and those who will travel a few kilometres to partake of the generous servings and Saturday night karaoke.  Eating and singing - two of Filipinos favourite things to do.  Sizzling Fillo also boasts of a regular "boodle feast"- a buffet of selected classics served on "your" table on a bed of banana leaves.



My favourite is Cafe Manila in Kirribilli - a small cozy cafe serving traditional Filipino dishes suited to the western palate - leaning away from traditional starchy dishes and the portions are just right. The interior is very minimalist and the tables are quite small creating an intimate experience for the diners. Chef Ricky Ocampo is always in the house serving up dishes with a smile as if you are a guest at his home. The menu is lean and the food is well presented on the plate.  Chef Ricky is one of local Filipino featured in the SBS Food Safari Filpino Food.


Another one in north shore is Pamana Cafe and Filipino Restaurant in Chatswood.  The place is cafe style with tables for two, up to ten.  The menu is more extensive with a range dishes from breakfast to dinner, entree to desserts -  a variety of traditional Filipino dishes both savoury and sweet.  They also offer "boodle feast" on select days. Although the location is quite away from pedestrian traffic, it has since opening in 2013 gathered a local following.


Now this dish is not something you'd see in any of the menus from these restaurants.  This is a super simple dish that's not worthy of a restaurant feature but definitely worth the 30 minutes that you spend to cook it. The thing with Filipino dishes is, if its easy enough to cook at home, you won't find it at restaurants.  We (Filipinos) when at these restaurants, usually order dishes we seldom cook at home, or not at all.


Bottle gourd is an indigenous vegetable in the East Asian region.  It is commonly called "upo" in the Philippines or calabash in some western countries.  The bottle gourd has a lot of health benefits and in some countries, they juice is used to encourage weight loss.


I love the simplicity of this dish.  Almost pedestrian.  You only need 5 basic ingredients.  And can even make it vegetarian by omitting the pork.


Here goes.

Ingredients

250-300 grams pork, cut into cubes

1 piece bottle gourd, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, sliced

2 tomatoes, sliced

1 cup water

1 tablespoon cooking oil

salt and pepper to taste

fish sauce (optional)

Method

In a medium sized skillet, heat the oil and cook the pork pieces until crispy.  Set aside.

In the same pan, saute the onions and garlic and cook until fragrant, not burned.

Add the tomatoes and stir until soft.

Add the bottle gourd slices and water and bring to boil.

Season with salt and pepper, or fish sauce is using. Season to your taste.

Turn down heat and simmer until the goured is soft and cooked.

Add the crispy pork slices on top.

Disclaimer: The feature on the mentioned restaurants is a simple feedback from the writer's experience dining at these establishments.  Dining at the restaurants were to the writer's own expense.  This is not a paid feature.  The feature is written to assist locals and tourists who may be looking for Filipino restaurants within Sydney metropolitan. 

Pork and beans

Growing up a few decades ago compared to today, there were so few choices when it came to food.  The cereal variety was maybe about less than ten.  There were no gluten free pasta or bread, no dairy free butter, no sugar free muffins.   Coffee was coffee, no soy, light, chai, etc.  A steak was usually T-bone, no varieties such as Wagyu, Angus, or labels such as corn fed, grass fed, aged, dry aged, etc.  Food was food.  There were no unnecessary labels.  Whether it was fresh - from the ground, from a tree/plant or packed - cans, boxes, plastic packaging.   Today, it's an entirely different story.  Whatever happened to simple food?  

In his 2009 book Food Matters, Mark Bittman mentioned modern agriculture, global warming, sustainability and the change towards conscious eating. These days, we don't look at calories anymore. Consumers are conscious about where their food comes from, the carbon footprint, whether its organic, grown locally or imported from half way around the globe.  This kind of mentality creates a good set of consumers. Smart consumers.  But then we also create a lot of waste.  In Australia alone, consumers waste an estimate of 4 million tons of food each year!  Because what happens is we tend to shop more than what we can actually consume.  (How not to waste food shall be for another post!)

I'm not a fan of food fads but I do believe in simple good food. Seasonal cooking is always how we plan our menu at home.   Simple food prepared at home. With love.  For family and friends.

Now growing up, we were fed with lots of food I wouldn't normally buy these days. Our parents back then fed us with what they knew best.   Powdered orange juice (Tang), canned vienna sausages... including a favorite breakfast fare a million years ago.  Canned pork and beans.  A mixture of beans covered with sweet tomato sauce and about 1 to 2 pieces of pork.  We used to eat it on toasted white bread and loved it for breakfast and even after school snack. And sometimes ate it with rice too.  It's a Filipino thing (rice with everything).

Now this is my take on the canned pork and beans I grew up eating.   A simple dish made of 2 basic ingredients:  pork and beans! 

Ingredients

200 grams pork belly, cubed

300 grams French beans, cut into 2 inch pieces

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

vegetable oil 

chilli flakes (optional)

Method

Heat a shallow pan and add cooking oil.

Fry the pork pieces until crispy.  Set aside.

Using the same pan, add the garlic and cook until soft and fragrant. Do not overcook or burn.

Add the beans, and stir to cook the beans until bright green, about 2 minutes.

Add the cooked pork and stir to mix through.

Add the chilli flakes (if using) and stir.  Turn off heat.

Serve with steamed rice.

Salmon rissoles

As Lent is upon us, we like to eat more fish or seafood dishes this season.   As a Filipino parent, we try to instill in our kids traditions that we grew up with.  And as born Filipino Catholics, there's a lot of these traditions that come during Lent - from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday to witness washing of the feet, to Good Friday to do the Stations of the Cross to Easter Sunday.   While we can't always do all these traditions because of timing and schedule, we do keep to our lenten sacrifice.

From Ash Wednesday, it's customary that we avoid eating meats on Fridays for the whole season of Lent.  In the past years, I have personally sacrificed eating meat for 40 days and it was a welcome change.   

Every year, each of the girls have their own fave food or habit which they sacrifice for the whole Lenten period.  Usually they give up chips, lollies, chocolates, soda, etc.  It's a good exercise of discipline as sometimes I forget and pack some in their lunch box, and then I get told off.  "Please don't add chips in my lunch box as I'm sacrificing that for lent, mum."  It's good for discipline and for the health too!

Now this is a fantastic option to our weekday or weekend menu.  Salmon rissoles.  They're easy and so inexpensive to make.  The recipe is adapted from Coles recipes.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized potatoes
 

30g unsalted butter

395g tin red salmon, drained and flaked

3-4 spring onions, chopped

1 cup breadcrumbs

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 egg

1 cup corn flour


vegetable oil or light olive oil for frying



Method

Boil the potatoes until tender, 20-25 minutes.

Drain.  In a large bowl, mash the potatoes with 30g unsalted butter.

Add the flaked tinned salmon, bread crumbs, spring onions, egg, zest and juice of the lemon.

Mix and shape into patties.

Roll in corn flour and shake off excess.

Continue wth the rest of the patties.

Heat a pan on medium heat with enough oil for frying.

Pan fry the rissoles in batches, for 5-6 minutes or until golden.

Drain on paper towels.

Serve with garlic aoili (simply add crushed garlic into a cup of store bought mayonnaise) and a lemon wedge.

Tips and tricks:

*Variations on this rissoles, would be using tinned tuna or flaked smoked salmon;

* When shaping the patties/rissoles, make sure they are uniform in size to make cooking easy

* You can add other greens into the rissoles.  Chopped basil or chives will work great too.

Barbecued pork belly cooked in capsicum paste

 

I love a good make ahead recipe.  Especially when it's something that can be used for grilled dishes (like my version of chermoula chicken)  and when it takes me outside of my (Filipino) comfort zone - where the usual marinades consists of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic.  This one caught my eye from the get-go - the small photo in the October 2013 issue of The Sydney Magazine of Mark Jensen's barbecued pork spare ribs was enough to leave me drooling and craving for this dish!  And when that happens, off to kitchen I go.

Red capsicums are a plenty at my local green grocer and they're cheap as! Although they came in different sizes.  But size and shape does not matter that this was on our table for a weenight dinner. It helps that I only work 3 days a week and Mondays and Tuesdays are quiet days to ponder and domesticate myself while the kids are at school and hubby at work. So I prepared the paste a day ahead.

Vibrant red!  They're so pretty!

Oh. The. Smell!  It was divine!!

Now the hero of this dish is the capsicum paste.   You make it a day ahead and it keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (according to the recipe). 

Ingredients:

125g of red capsicum, washed

2 heads garlic

2-3 pieces red chillis

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

 Preheat oven to 220*C.  

Place capsicums and garlic on a baking tray and roast for 20-30 minutes or until the capsicum skins have blackened.  

Place a rack and leave to cool.

Peel the garlic skins off and place the flesh in the food processor.

Peel and seed the capsicums and add to the food processor with the chillies, salt and pepper.

Process to a smooth paste.

Spoon into sterilised jars and top with olive oil.

Keep in the fridge until ready to use. 

Poured into a sterilised jar and topped with olive oil!

On the ready - to brush onto the pork pieces!

To make the barbecued pork ribs or belly:

1.5 kg of pork belly, sliced 1/2 inch thick strips

Generously rub on pork pieces and leave to marinade in a glass bowl, covered with cling wrap in the fridge - minimum 1 hour (or up to 4 hours)

Heat the BBQ grill or pan-grill and cook away.

Chop into small bite size pieces.

Enjoy with some coriander for garnish.  Serve with a slice of lemon or lime.  Best eaten with lots of rice.

Tips:

* In the recipe, Mark suggested to place the roasted capsicums in a plastic bag for 15-20 minutes.  I guess this makes the skins peel off easily.

* The recipe called for julienned ginger and chilli slices for garnish.

Chicken rollatini with ricotta and spinach

It's 65 days more till Christmas!  A little bit more than two months to the silly season!  Shopping malls are already filled with trimmings and marketing ploy to make us stay at the malls longer and shop till we drop. 

Well that ain't working with me.  You see, I hate shopping.  I hate shopping malls. I hate shopping malls during the Christmas rush especially. 

Usually, if there's really a need to go in there, I'd dash in and out in less than hour.  

Not that I don't shop for clothes and shoes.  I do.  It's just that when I'm out shopping, I pretty much know what I want and get it.  Straight up.  

But with food.  Food shopping?  I'm more patient and take time.  Savouring the smells of seasonal fruits and fresh veggies, browsing at the seafood on offer and cuts of meat for the day.  I usually shop at the markets and my favourite Asian butcher and fish monger locally.  And that's my happy place.   

So usually Christmas gifts to family and friends are always food related - cookbooks, kitchen and dining gadgets and home made goods.  

Now talking about Christmas always brings me dinner table thoughts.  You know, menu for the Christmas eve dinner, Christmas breakfast, Christmas lunch, Christmas dinner and every single meal all the way to New Year's day.  It's always exciting to try new dishes in preparation for that special day.  Often times, anticipating the traditional dish becomes the highlight of the meal.

Now this chicken dish can be made any day of the week, a weekend lunch or dinner or try it this holiday season.  The colours do match the holidays too.  This recipe is adapted from  Skinny Taste with the ingredients slightly changed.

Chicken rollatini coated in bread crumbs

Baking in the oven for 25 minutes

Ingredients

500g chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced

125g ricotta cheese

250g baby spinach, washed and roughly chopped


2 cups breadcrumbs

2-3 whole eggs, slightly beaten

125g cream cheese, sliced thinly

125 grated Tasty cheese

700g jar of passata sauce

salt and pepper to taste



Method

Preheat over to 180*C.

Prepare an oven proof rectangular dish.  Spray with canola oil and set aside.

Prepare 3 separate bowl, one with breadcrumbs and one with the beaten eggs.

In a medium sized bowl, combine ricotta cheese and spinach and mix with a fork.

Set aside.

On a large chopping board, work the chicken pieces one by one.  Spread the chicken fillet flat, spread some ricotta-spinach mixture and loosely roll with the seam side down.  Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.

Coat the chicken rollatini in the beaten egg, then roll into the bread crumbs.  Place in the prepared baking dish.  Repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces.

Lightly spray with olive or canola oil.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven then pour the passata sauce over the chicken pieces.

Place cream cheese slices on top of the chicken, then the grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Serve in individual portions with some salad or roasted vegetables.

After 25 minutes....

Topped with cream cheese and grated Tasty cheese....

Cheese has melted.... seasoned with some more ground pepper

 

And served with some extra explosives on the side! Ha!

Now this has delicious written all over it.  We've made this many times using bocconcini as topping and some mozarella.

Don't you think it looks like Christmas?

Now... time to get some list going.   Thank goodness for online shopping!  Hahaha!

Coq au Verdelho (chicken with mushrooms in white wine sauce)

There will be a trend here for the next couple of weeks.  As I have 2 other chicken dishes to post including this one so it shall be declared that chicken shall be the theme!  

Chicken is the easiest poultry and game meat to cook and prepare.  When we were doing the the Poultry and Game module at TAFE,  working with chicken was my least favourite.  Because no matter how many times we have prepped a whole chicken in class, I still can't get my chicken portoins right when at home.  When in class, I amaze myself.  When at home, it seems like a struggle.  I guess the pressure that there is a chef/teacher breathin down my neck helps in the process of making it right the first time. While at home, who cares how the portions look?!  Hahaha!

Ah memories of Kitchen 10, 8 and Kitchen 1.  And since that's all history now, time to move and get planning.     I've learned so much all those times in the TAFE kitchen but somehow in the process, lost my creativity.  When prior to cooking school I would experiment in the kitchen, during the course I was inclined to be more technical.  You know, following recipes to the very detail and focused more on the technical processes and result rather than having a fun time and just letting ingredients flow.  Thankfully, I've regained it all back - being creative in the kitchen when cooking and baking afterall, is the fun part of it all. 

So what to do after a 2.5 years in a culinary school?  Initially, the goal was just to supplement my knowledge of food and cooking at home, and in blogging.  But then, it has pointed me to a different path and so hopefully a food-related business to materialise soon.

In the meantime and in order to get the ball rolling, I have started lunch box delivery to co-workers and hubby's office.  Not a regular market, but a few tubs of lunch a week gets me busy researching and experimenting on what's best to serve my clientele.  I'm focusing more on Asian cuisine, but once in while serve them familiar dishes and classic favourites.  And this one was raved about most. Served with slices of sour dough bread, it was such a hit they have been asking for the recipe.     

And what luck that I found this on Pinterest!  A Nigel Slater recipe posted on Alida Ryder's blog which will make your family and friends happy to lick their plates clean.  Seriously.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely diced

4-5 pieces rasher bacon, diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped finely

8-9 pieces chicken thighs, on the bone

250 grams button mushrooms, sliced

300 ml Verdelho (or any white wine)

300 ml thickened cream

salt and pepper, to taste

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, coursely chopped

 Method

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and set aside.

Using a large skillet or pan (I used a 30cm large cast iron pan with handles), heat the olive oil.

When oil is hot, brown the chicken pieces in batches.  This will create some caramelisation in the pan.

Once all chicken pieces are browned, set aside on a plate.

Add the onions and bacon to the pan and cook to render fat from the bacon and until the onions are soft.  

Add the garlic and cook for about a minute or until the garlic is fragrant.  Remove the onion-garlic-bacon mixture from the pan and set aside.

 Pour the wine and using a wooden spoon, release some of the caramelisation on the pan.  Let this come to a boil.

Add the chicken pieces into the pan making sure they are spaced out evenly.

Add the onion-garlic-bacon mixture and the mushrooms.

Let this come to a boil, then turn down heat, cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, add the cream and mix it around the pan using your wooden spoon to evenly distribute the cream into the sauce.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and reduced a little.

Add a handful of chopped parsley and stir to combine the greens into the sauce.

Serve portions topped with more chopped parsley, with rice or slices of sour dough bread.

Tips and tricks:

* I omitted the butter from the original recipe as a personal choice.  Also because I was going to keep the tubs in the fridge for the next day's lunch box, I wanted to avoid the buttery residue on the plastic tubs while the dish is cold.

* I used Lucy's Run Verdelho from my sister's trip to the Hunter Valley a week before and was the white wine I had at home at the time.  Nigel recommends any kind of dry white wine.

* You can use any kind of mushroom.  I actually added more as we love mushrooms at home.

 

Now when I said people will lick their plates clean with this one, I'm not kidding.  So if you make this, make sure you have enough sour dough bread or rice (or even mash) to help them clean their plates.   It's really that good!

Chicken roulade with pistachio butter filling and capsicum rice pilaf

Who doesn't love the internet?!  And social media at that!  Generally, being online and on social media is just about as normal as eating these days.  While not all people have access, a lot of us do, and it quite frankly changing has changed the way we interact and live.  Sans online bullying and inappropriate content, there's a lot of good things to be had with the internet and social media.

Learning has never been so convenient, and information so close, inspiration is there if you start looking and reaching out globally has never been so easy.  And there's another plus.  It's the use of the internet and social media to remind us that yes, despite the negativity happening around us,  there's a lot of reasons to spread good cheer and celebrate humanity, wisdom and kindness.  

I chanced upon this website Wake Up Project through my Facebook page timeline.  A foodie blogger I follow kickstarted her #wakeupproject kindness experiment by paying for an extra burger at lunch and people paid it forward a few seconds after she did.  Amazing!  And so I got on the Kindness Revolution, signed up and received my kindness cards from the post yesterday.  The idea is to think of a kind act, anonymously do your kind act and leave the card.  The card left will tell the recipient of your act and asks them to repeat (or pay it forward) to someone else.  Imagine the ripple effect of something this small.  

As quoted in the Wake Up Project website, "One kind person, multiplied by a 1000s creates a kindness revolution."

While there are lot of people already doing this, volunteers and workers who take time to support a cause, a random act of kindness can create an amazing effect on a person. 

Check out this video from Life Vest Inside titled Kindness Boomerang

                   

Now to food and what's new in ADU.

Well, I've done it!  I have finished my commercial cookery course at TAFE (technically I still need to submit some logbook requirements though, but all good!).  It's such a cliche but time did fly.  And it was a lot of fun!  

And to cap the 2.5 years was of course, a practical test in the kitchen, ala not-so-mystery-box challenge.  Ingredients were given a week before and we were to prepare a 3 course meal.  I'm sharing this simple dish I prepared for my mains.  It's simple because all I really wanted to do on the last day was.... get it all over with! Ha ha!

This recipe is something I just made up but inspired from a Masterchef Au episode. There are 3 main elements in the dish.  The chicken roulade, the rice pilaf and the mushroom sauce.  As I learned in the kitchen, when you're making a dish with several elements, the first thing you do is the sauce.  So here goes.....

To make the mushroom sauce

1 cup button mushrooms, finely chopped

1 onion, finely diced

1/2 cup thicken cream

1 teaspoon of Kikkoman soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Method

In a pan, heat some olive oil then cook the onions until soft. 

Add the mushrooms and stir to mix for a few seconds.

Add the cream and the soy sauce, and season with salt and pepper.

Let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened.  

Set aside.  You can warm this up again when ready to serve.

To make the chicken roulade

Ingredients

2 pieces chicken breast fillet, about 180-200g each

1/2 cup roasted pistachios, coursely chopped

60g  (1/4 cup)  salted butter, softened

1/4 cup sultanas

Method

Slice the chicken length wise so that you have a thin slice of fillet which you can roll.  You can also use a wooden or metal meat tenderiser.  Spread the chicken on top of some cling wrap and cover again with another portion of cling wrap, then pound until you get the desired thickness - about 2-3 cm

In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, sultanas and pistachios and mix together with a wooden spoon until incorporated.

Prepare the one chicken portion onto some fresh cling/plastic wrap.

Spread the pistachio butter filling then roll the chicken gently while tucking in the cling wrap.  You should have a wrapped chicken with filling.

Repeat with the other chicken portion.

In a shallow pan, boil about 1-2 cups chicken stock.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.

Place the wrapped chicken portions in the simmering stock and shallow poach until cooked, about 15-20 minutes.

Let the chicken cool slightly before slicing diagonally and serve on a plate.

Pour the mushroom sauce onto the chicken when serving.

To make the capsicum rice pilaf

Ingredients

1/2 red capsicum, finely diced

1/2 onion, finely diced

375 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) long grain  or basmati rice

1-2 cups chicken stock

olive oil

Method

In a medium sized pot, heat some olive oil then cook the onions until soft.

Add the rice and stir to coat.

Add the capsicum and stir to mix together.

Add the 1 cup chicken stock and reduce heat to medium, cover with a cartouche* and let the rice cook.

Check every once in awhile if the liquid is drying up.  Add the other cup of chicken stock, reduce to simmer and let the rice cook.  

Fluff the rice with a fork and make sure its not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Serve onto a plate with the chicken roulade.

* Here's a handy tip on how to make a cartouche when cooking.  It's basically a piece of baking paper folded and shaped into a round to cover what you're cooking to avoid forming skin.  I usually use it when poaching fruits and cooking rice stove top.  It's also handy to cut a little piece off the point in the middle so you have a hole for the steam to pass through when poaching or cooking.

So did you check out that Wake Up Project and Life Vest Inside website yet?  I tell you its amazing.  It's inspiring.  And it touches hearts.  I hope to spread some good cheer my way with my kindness cards soon.  But we don't really need a card to do a good deed do we?  Let's spread some kindness around, shall we?

Pork and chorizo sliders with jalapeno mayo

"Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure - do it well, enjoy it and then, not now, think about what comes next." - Condoleezza Rice

Do you believe in fate?  Serendipity?  I do in most instances.  I mean there are small miracles that happen every day, I believe that.  I've experienced that. But serendipity are those little sometimes big, pleasant surprises that just happen.  Because of fate?  Maybe.  Luck?  Who knows.  But I do believe this.  That if you think something or visualise something so bad and pray for it, the forces of the universe will make it happen.  

Now maybe I'm a little naive about these things and believe too much in this crap, but truly I am amazed at how things turned out for someone I've connected with in IG.  We don't know each other personally, but she's contacted me a few weeks ago.  We had two things in common.  We're both Filipinos and into Instagram.  That's about it.  In the course of our email exchange, she mentions about looking for a job which I thought maybe, somehow I could help however way I can.  Working a few days at at government office and with limited connections myself I casually forwarded a job posting email which circulates around the office when positions fall vacant.  And from there,  a few weeks after that email exchange, it all turned quite magical.  Serendipty. A happy pleasant surprise!  She got the job which involves a project working closely with our branch!  I am amazed at how this all turned out.  Social networking does work!  And soon, I will get to meet her!

Not to mention through social networking, my eating and cooking adventures (and my family included) have evolved.    

Just looking at my Instagram feed, Pinterest, FB and reading other food bloggers' posts is always inspiring.  Recently though, I had some nostalgic kick craving and remembering a particular burger we loved to eat while hubby and me were still dating.  This was served at a small kiosk at the Greenbelt Plaza just outside the cinema.  This was during the early 90s but they disappeared later on during that decade. From what I've learned, they are now back with the same famous recipe for choriburger but with an entirely new look and logo.  

So here's a recipe inspired by an old favourite from back in Manila (Burger on the Run's Choriburger).  I was looking for Bun on the Run online and found a Pork and Chorizo burger by Emeril Lagasse's from the Food Network's Backyard Eats - which I found too complicated with so many spices so I made my own version.  We served this "for adults only" at that weekend birthday party.   The smell of the patties while cooking was so inviting, some of the kids kept coming into the kitchen and asking what's cooking.  "Sorry kids, this is for adults only."

Ingredients:

500g pork mince

3 fresh chorizo sausages, removed from casings

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cajun pepper/seasoning

1 tablespoon corn flour (for binding)

salt and pepper for seasoning

 

Mix all the above ingredients by hand in a large bowl.  Shape into patties.  Set aside.

Using a pan griddle, or a simple pan, fry the patties in a little oil and cook until done.

To serve: thinly spread some jalapeno mayonnaise* on the rolls/buns, top with a pork-chorizo burger, some lettuce (add tomato slices and cucumbers if you prefer), and top with a good dollop of the jalapeno mayo*.  

*I wanted to make Emeril's green chilli mayonnaise but can't get poblano peppers at the time, so I made a simple Jalapeno mayonnaise.  Which was a mixture of 2 jalapeno peppers finely diced, mixed with a cup of mayonnaise. 

Tips:

•  Buy your chorizo fresh from the butcher or deli.  The supermarket variety will work but will not be the same because they are slightly cooked.  You will need to remove the chorizo from the casings which will be difficult to do with the commercial variety;

• You can make this as big as burgers or small as in for sliders (like this version);

 

Sometimes I think the fear of being vulnerable and taking a risk stops us from connecting with people.  Opening doors, in more ways than none, actually helps.  We create friendships and build little communities!   I love how blogging and social networks has helped me do this.  And taken my thirst for cooking and eating into new heights.

Shakshouka

I have a confession to make.  I am a noob at other culture's cuisines.  Sans the traditional Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Malaysian and Greek dishes, when it comes to other cuisines, I am as clueless as a child.  You know the one who refuses to eat her vegetables and only eats naked pasta when allowed.  Growing up with a limited repertoire of available cuisines, it was either Filipino traditional dishes, American (steak and mash or hamburgers is the usual) or some pasta dish and the occasional tacos.  Eating out almost always took the Chinese or Japanese route or a fave pizza parlour complete with folk singers with guitar singing Puff the Magic Dragon and Horse With No Name.  

Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai only came in early adulthood when restaurants started opening in Manila and showcasing neighbouring Asian cuisines.  So that was about a decade or so ago.  A far cry from the state of the restaurant industry in the Philippines these days.  Fusion of Mexican-Japanese  now exist, traditional Sri Lankan and a host of other gourmet fusions. There are cakes,  patisseries and chocolate shops that are at par with overseas counterparts. Filipino restaurateurs back home are showcasing Filipino food in a way that Heston  Blumenthal would plate a salmon dish at the Fat Duck.   Why there's even a franchise of Masterchef on local  Philippine television, and a live MC competition going on as I write this post.

Now being a noob in this day and age of technology is not acceptable.  Cooking shows attract a good following and reality cooking shows become the new Big Brother. Food documentaries, magazines, events, blogs!  Food has become as exciting as when TV broadcast its very first show.  Now back to me as the noob in this instance and learning how to cook (other dishes besides and a few other Filipino dishes).  This was a dish that I first saw from a TV show - yeah I know pathetic right.  And from there on, made it, made it, made it.  Hubby loves this.  I love it.  (The kids are not fans yet).  We make a cheats version with chorizo and tinned baked beans.  I love how versatile this can be and how its such an easy casual dish that can be served any time of the day.  

  

Just a week ago, I saw a good number of this dish in my IG feed and so a timely revisit to Shakshouka.   And so here is a recipe inspired by that TV show and a fave weekday meal at home.

 

To make this Shakshouka dish:
Print the recipe here

1 onion, sliced

1 red capsicum, chopped

1 green capsicum, chopped

4 Roma tomatoes, quartered

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika (I used a Spanish brand)

2 eggs

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Using a cast iron pan (or any 20 cm pan), heat about a tablespoon of olive oil.

Add the onions and capsicum to the pan and cook till soft.

Add the tomatoes, stir and cook for two minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and half of the paprika and stir to coat the vegetables with the seasoning.

Turn the heat to low/simmer.

Using a wooden spoon, push aside some of the vegetables to make space for th eggs.

 

Crack the eggs into this space and let it poach until the whites are cooked through but the yolks are still runny.

Remove from heat and serve on the pan, with some toasted flat bread or any bread of choice.

Filipino-style spaghetti

Most Filipino dishes are generally a bold mix (or pair) of any two of these: sweet, salty, spicy, sour.   The combination of flavours in a dish extract these basic tastes from the food and then onto your taste buds, and the fusion becomes the standard.  The way it should taste.  Take for example, the sweet rice cupcakes or puto.  They are topped with cheese or salted egg and then served with pork dinuguan (pork black pudding). Pork adobo also becomes an example as the braised pork becomes sweeter as the pork is caramelised with the addition of sugar.  The sweet champorado (chocolate rice pudding) is paired with the salty dried herring There are heaps of dishes that are contrasting in flavour and yet complements each other as a whole. 


Filipino cuisine is unique.  Although the influence on food comes from the different countries who came to occupy the Philippines before  and after the country's independence in 1898.  From Spanish to American dishes, influences from neighbouring Asian countries - Chinese, Thai, Malay, Indian and Japanese.  And the result, is a culinary fusion that sets it apart from any other.  Filipino dishes while sometimes can taste similar to several cuisines, there's always that one ingredient that will make it stand out from the rest. 

Now this spaghetti is unique too.  It has catsup!  And not just ordinary catsup.  It's banana catsup.  It's as Filipino as it can get.  Prepared with pork or beef mince, plus slices of hotdogs, banana ketsup/catsup and some sugar.  It is sweet kind of spaghetti with the  sauce thinned out with some water and further sweetened with the addition of sugar. 

We don't usually prepare this at home, as I find making the classic meat based ragu or bolognese easier and more convenient with common ingredients, i.e. don't have to take a trip to the Filipino shop to get some banana ketsup/catsup.  But this is something common back home.  Why it's even served at the local fastfood chain Jollibee.  And even McDonald's in the Philippines has this kind of spaghetti.    

To make this Filipino style spaghetti: 

(Print the recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 medium sized onion, finely diced

500g beef mince (or pork mince)

4-5 pieces cocktail hotdogs, sliced

140g tomato paste

560g bottle of Jufran or UFC banana catsup

700g bottle of passata (tomato sauce)

4-5 tablespoons of raw sugar

1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

vegetable oil

Using a large saucepan on medium heat, add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil and then cook the onions and garlic until soft.  

Add the minced meat and cook until brown.  

Add the tomato paste and stir to coat the meat.  

Add the banana catsup, passata (tomato sauce) and the hotdogs and stir. Bring to a boil.

Add the sugar and water and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with spaghetti noodles and top with grated cheese.

I've made this specially for this month's theme at the Kulinarya Cooking Club.  Its not our usual spaghetti dish, but its familiar.  And it strikes close to home.