Red Dragon : Hot and Spicy Buffalo Wings

There may be several versions as to how this dish came about, but one thing's for sure: it was named after it's place of origin, Buffalo, New York.

As a teenager, there was a year in my life when I couldn't eat chicken wings. Blame it on my doctor telling me to avoid chicken, and when I can't, stick to the white meat so as not to aggravate my asthma or all those rumours that growth hormones are injected in the wing to bulk the chicken up, which may be carcinogenic. Thankfully those days are over. Fried, wings are so flavorful and can reach that "crunchy" cooking time quicker than the other parts.

The blend of garlic, cayenne pepper, butter and honey in the sauce with every bite of that crunchy, tasty coating on the chicken just spells comfort food in my book. Here's my take on this recipe:

tried other brands, but this on
is the best!

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken wings, washed and dried with a paper towel (you may also use drumsticks, but they don't get as crunchy as the wing parts). You may cut the wing into two parts, the flat and the drum, separating it at the joint)
• 1 c cornstarch (or flour)
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp celery powder
• vegetable for deep frying
• 1/2 c butter
• 6 tbsp Frank's Original Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce (the one used in Buffalo)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp honey (or 2 tbsp brown sugar)
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (increase if you want your sauce to be hotter)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• celery sticks and ranch or blue cheese dressing

Preparation:

1. combine flour, garlic powder, black pepper, salt and celery powder
2. put wings in the bag, seal and shake
3. deep fry in heated oil or put on a non stick baking pan, greasing the surface and baking the wings til it turns golden brown (20 minutes on 350*F). In frying, you'll know when the chicken's done by sticking  a fork into the meat. If the juices run clear, you're good to go. 
4. While the chicken's being cooked, melt the butter in a sauce pan and combine it with the pepper sauce, pepper, salt, honey or sugar, cayenne pepper, garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Stir til it simmers.
5. When your chicken's done, coat it in the sauce.
6. Plate and serve with celery sticks and ranch or blue cheese dressing on the side. No one in the house likes celery (the veggie) but the flavor's pretty good in small amounts, so I try to incorporate the flavor via celery powder in the chicken and oftentimes, I throw in a tsp in the sauce. 

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

Chinaman's Culinary Chance: Stir Fried Butter Garlic Chili Shrimps

Several kinds of hot  and not so hot chilies may be found in the shelves of our kitchen. We heart spice so much that even the younger ones have been seen eating kimchi, wasabi peas and adding Tabasco, XXX hot BBQ sauce and Lee Kum Kee chiu chow oil on everything.

This recipe is my take on "Sichuan Shrimp meets Gambas al  Ajillo".

Ingredients:

• 12 pcs large white shrimps, peeled, deveined and butterflied but with the heads still intact
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp garlic, crushed and minced
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow (chili oil)
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp chopped parsley

Procedure:

1. Heat up a wok. You'll know when to put the butter and olive oil when you see steam/smoke rise up from the empty wok. Turn down the heat to medium and put the butter and olive oil (to prevent the butter from burning fast).
2. Put onions, then garlic and give it a stir.
3. Throw in the shrimps, stirring it a little to incorporate the onion and garlic flavor.
4. Season with a pinch of salt, stir once then add the crushed red pepper,  1 tbsp parsley and chili oil
5. The shrimps are done when you see them turn orange-ish. Don' overcook em. The whole process takes about 5 minutes. Right before plating, sprinkle the remaining chopped parsley.
6. Serve. Goes well with steamed rice, toasted french bread or any pasta of your choice. Just toss em in!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor! 

The Hunt For Red Meat: A Veggie Chicken Casserole Recipe

Broccoli is a vegetable I can never seem to cook in the house, at least not without much protest. Oh sure, I sometimes ground it up and mix it in with some minced meat, making it into pork rolls or meat balls, but serving it as it is in all it's green glory just won't take.

I read countless times that putting some cheese on it does make it more palatable. This veggie, that's high in Vitamin C and dietary fiber. It also has anti carcinogenic properties, and many other nutrients that are so good for the body.

Here's a recipe that I managed to put together that also adds protein and calcium to the mix:

Ingredients:

• 300 grams of broccoli, washed and cut into bite sized pieces. Peel and slice the stalks (if any)
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 200 grams sliced mushrooms
• 1 Hungarian sausage, sliced
• 1 Chorizo de Bilbao, sliced
• 100 grams chicken breast, cubed
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp garlic, macerated and chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 c water (or less)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, sliced

Preparation:

1. İn a wok or pan, heat up the olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic.
2. Add the chicken and stır fry til half cooked
3. Add the chorizo de bilbao followed by the Hungarian sausage.
4. Toss in the carrots. Stıir.
5. Add the broccoli and mushrooms. Stir
6. Add water and contınue cooking til veggies are done.
7. Put veggies in an oven safe dish. 
8. Top with cheese slices  and bake under 350 degrees Fahrenheit til cheese melts.

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Day of the Steamed Fish

Here's a dish I put together under 30 minutes. It's flavorful, tasty, moist and quite filling not to mention nutritious! Great way to add fish into your diet and the kids love it too!

Ingredients:

• 1 kg white fish fillets, cut into serving sizes
• aluminum foil, cut into a size big enough to cover your individual fish slices into tidy packages
• 6 plump juicy tomatoes, washed, seeded and cut into cubes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bundle, scallions, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp MSG (optional)
• 1 tsp ginger powder (or about a tbsp of the sliced one), I use powder simply because the folks in our house hate getting a bite of it Ü
• 1/4 c sesame oil

Preparatıon:

1. Brush a little sesame oil on the surface of the foil before putting the fish slice on it.
2. In a bowl, put together all the other ingredients and mix well.
3. Scoop one or two spoons of the mixture on top of the fish, making sure you get a little of all the ingredients are on the fish.
4. Wrap fish in the the foil making that the sesame oil or juices of the fish as it is cooked won't escape.
5. Broıil, bake or steam for about 20 - 30 minutes. 
6. Serve individually so that each and everyone gets a good amount of the sauce a packet is opened. Goes well with steamed rice.

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Silence of the Mock Lengua

Aside from our obvious over of sea food, a dish, (even after finding out what it was) that I can't seem to get enough of is lengua estofada. A dish of Spanish origin, the braised beef tongue is one of the most succulent, rich and flavorful dish that can be the highlight of a meal when done properly. This recipe tastes like the real deal.

However, having this can be difficult for two main reasons: 1) someone at the dining table can't for the life of them, swallow tongue (pardon the pun). Then there's 2) when you buy the main ingredient to this dish, you have to buy the tongue whole, which often is way to much tongue if there's only a few of you to savor the dish.

My solution? Mock Lengua:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg beef kenchi/foreshank
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 2 beef cubes
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 red wine, ıf ıt's not good enough to drink, ıt's not good enough to cook with
• water to cover your meat in the pot
• 1/2 c butter
• 3 bay leaves
• 5 peppercorns
• 200 grams button mushrooms, fresh or canned
• 4 tbsp cornstarch, diluted in 1/4 c water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 mediım sized tomato, seeded and chopped

Preparation:

1. Put meat into a pressure cooker, with enough water to barely cover the meat. Add the next 7 ingredients after the beef and cook for about an hour after you hear the pressure cooker start to make that steam induced rocking sound.
2. When done, set meat aside and about 3 cups of the broth.
3. In a saucepan, saute onions and tomatoes in a little oil til onions caramelize. Add button mushrooms and stir.
4. Add the broth. When it starts to simmer, add the diluted cornstarch. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook til it thickens.
5. Slice your beef into 1/8 to 1/4 inch and arrange on a platter. Pour a little of the sauce to slightly cover the meat and keep the rest on the side. Goes really well with mashed potatoes!

**you can make gravy instead of the sauce by skipping the sauteing part. Instead, boil the broth and add the diluted cornstarch and mushrooms. Cook til it thickens ans season to taste.

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to life full of flavor!

The Talented Mr. Bacon

Bacon is probably the only food in the planet that I could combine with my kids' hatest dish and have them declare that it was good eatin'. This cured pork, though unhealthy, makes a lot of dishes tasty, flavorful and downright delish!

Here's one of the many bacon wrapped dishes that you could easily make at home, the BACON ENOKI SCALLOP!

Ingredients:

• 250 grams maple bacon, sliced in the middle, vertically
• 200 grams scallops, shucked and washed. We get ours from the supermarket, ready to cook.
• 1 bundle or 1 small can enoki mushrooms
• a pinch of garlic salt

Preparation:

1. Take a bacon strip and arrange a scallop and some enoki mushrooms on one side. 
2. From that side slowly roll the bacon strip, making sure the scallops are wrapped. The enoki may stick out.
3. Put the roll on a non stick pan. 
4. When all the rolling has been done, and the bacon rolls have been placed on the baking pan, sprinkle a pinch of garlic salt over them.
5. I used the grill function of our over to cook this. You may use a broiler or grill these but you'll have to secure 'em with a toothpick.
6. Cook till the bacon is done (see pic above)

For a cocktail party, you may make a variety of these and serve as appetizers:

• wrap deveined and butterflied prawns along with some asparagus spears, preferably the fresh ones. Brush a little teriyaki sauce before grilling.
• wrap some chicken liver. Secure with a toothpick. Beat an egg and dip the liver/bacon in that. Coat with flour. Deep fry.
• wrap some chicken strips and bell pepper slices. Bake, broil or steam
• The possibilities are endless!!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Name of the Sin is Adobong Pusit

Adobo is a Filipino dish of any meat or veggie that's been cooked with vinegar. The dish I'm about to present is a dish served to us in my cousin's home, one that she shares with her mom in law Mrs. Recto (the very same mom of her senator bro-in law). who hails from a Spanish mestiza ancestry.

Prepared by their cook, the dish had that nutty goodness of olive oil, the spice of peppercorns, the clean taste of the sea from the fresh squid and that slight sour flavour of vinegar. I was in squid adobo heaven. Taking what we had that day, I kinda modified the dish into what we normally prepare now at home. Here is our modified Adobong Pusit ala Recto:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg fresh medium sized squid, washed well in and out and drained
• 1/4 c native vinegar (white vinegar is also fine)
• 2 tbsp macerated garlic (x2, one for boiling, the rest for sauteing)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 c water
• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and sliced
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 1/2 c olive oil, extra virgin (reduce if you want)
• 1 tbsp coarsely grounded pepper (I usually put twice the amount)
• 1 bay leaf

Procedure:

1. Boil squid in water, vinegar, salt and pepper til squid is tender. Set aside squid and 1/4 c of broth. You can take out the eyes and the membrane, which I don't do.
2. Heat half of the olive oil and saute onions, followed by garlic. When onion has caramelized and garlic turns into a lighter shade of brown, add the tomatoes, till the juices come out, then add the squid. 
3. Stir to incorporate the flavors. At this point, the squid may start to come out. Add the bay leaf and the pepper. A tsp of MSG may be add as an optional ingredient. Stir
4. Add the rest of the olive oil and stir til everything is well incorporated. Cook til it simmers. Turn off heat when olive oil and squid ink has blended and thickened.
5. Plate, serve and enjoy! Goes well with hot steamed rice.

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Case of the Vanishing Crab Pasta

Pardon me for all those folks who are trying to keep things Kosher, but once again, I am featuring a dish that is well loved and savoured in our home: the crab pasta.

The combination of the sweet-salty crab meat blended in with the rich, fatty goodness of crab fat, the sweet-tart flavors of sun ripened tomatoes, the heat of crushed red pepper, the complexity of the herbs and spices and the saltiness of the parmesan cheese makes this dish truly flavorful and in all honesty, quite easy to make. It's so good,

found this new product in the supermarket. Great idea for folks who want to
 incorporate more veggies in their diet

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of flaked crab meat, (supermarket bought) you could opt to buy fresh crabs and flake it yourself by boiling it in a pinch of salt. This ıs definitely NOT the easy way. Canned crab may be used, but it will definitely taste a bit tinny.
• 1 bottle of taba ng talangka (tiny crab fat) 240 grams - Navarro's is highly recommended and adequately prized, but not easy to find in our city, so I use Marisco's ınstead, which also quite good. The rest of the stuff out there often has cornstarch in it which makes it such a no-no as you lose a bit of the crab fat's flavor.
• 500 gram pasta pack of your choice, cooked according to package instructions
• 1/2 c of olive oil, extra virgin - of course!
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 head of garlic, macerated and chopped
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and sliced
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped

pasta cooked al dente, must be thrown in the sauce right after it's been cooked and drained

Preparation:

1. Heat 2 tbsps of olive oil. Saute onions, followed by the garlic in it. Add crab meat, salt and pepper. Stir.
2. Add red wine and lemon juice. Stir and cooked uncovered untıl liquid has evaporated.
3. Add tomatoes, parsley and thyme. Cook until tomato slices are cooked (they look stewed and have shrunk).
4. Add the rest of the olive oil. Incorporate mixture well. Then  add the crab fat. Stir well til the sauce starts simmering.
5. Toss in freshly cooked pasta.
6. Plate. Top with chopped parley, crushed red pepper and parmesan. Enjoy!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Pochero Purveyor

Pochero is another dish best prepared when there are a lot of people to share it with. Doing all the prep work may seem a bit daunting, so I'll be sharing with you some tips and tricks of my own.

By the way, for those who don't know what puchero/pochero is, it's a casserole dish of Spanish influence, that consists of boiled chicken, beef, sausages and veggies. For a family of 6, (of which 5 are male), I make a medium sized pot and rarely have leftovers Ü From start to finish, this would take about an hour and a half to make, but it's all worth it Ü 

Some purists might disagree, but I've got to feed several hungry mouths pronto, that's why the whole "slow cooking of the meats" wasn't used in this recipe.

beef kenchi cubes, assorted sausages,
chicken slices and Spanish paprika

soffritto ingredients: chopped onions, garlic,
peppercorns, bay leaf and tomatoes

plantains (saging na saba), carrots and
potatoes

leafy veggies are good for you Ü

Ingredients:

• 500 grams beef kenchie (foreshank)
• 200 grams chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 pieces chorizo de bilbao,  cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 pieces of any sausage/s of your choice, (I used Hungarian and some Ground Pepperoni) ,  cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 5 big, plump, juicy tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic, macerated and minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 peppercorns
• 2 tbsp Spanish Paprika
• 200 grams potatoes, cubed
• 2 pieces medium sized carrots, cubed
• 1 bundle, pechay tagalog, washed and separated
• 1 small cabbage, halved
• 5 pieces saba (plantains), skin removed, and cut in half
• 10 pieces green beans, cleaned 
• 2 c broth
• really goodfish sauce (patis)  to taste **our family's big on endorsing authentic special patis Malabon. The balance of sweet and salty and that wonderful aroma is so good that me and the kids would put a little in our rice, sans any viand and just enjoy the fish sauce.

parboil

good fish sauce is the secret to good pochero

Preparation:

1. Put your beef (whole) into the pressure cooker. Pressure cooking starts when you hear you cooker make that steam induced rocking sound. Do this for about an hour. You can cut it into cubes after it's been tenderized. While that's goıng on,
2. Parboil your potatoes, carrots and plantains in the same pot
3. Parboil your pechay, cabbage and green beans altogether
4. In a separate saucepan, (after the meat has softened), make a soffritto. Do this by heating up the olive oil and sauteing the onions, garlic, tomatoes, bay leaf and peppercorns. As the tomatoes soften, add the paprika and stir it in to prevent burning.
5. Throw in the chicken in the soffritto, followed by the sausages, stirring til the chicken is cooked. I personally prefer the breast due to its quick cooking time. When that's done, throw in the beef, making sure that all the meats get a good coating of the soffritto.
6. Pour in the broth til it boils. Season with salt and pepper, then put in the potatoes, carrots and plantains (I separate these coz the kids want to make sure if they're getting a potato or a plantain :P). Wait for it to boil again and don't freak out if you have this reddish oily thing on top of the broth. That's what you get when your paprika' s good and it blendsin well with the olive oil in the soffritto.
7. Season with good fish sauce (patis).Personally special patis Malabon rocks our world. If we can't get the real thing, Thai or Vietnamese patis works too.
8. Arrange the other veggies in a platter before ladling the the broth and its meaty goods in a bowl.  
9. Serve hot and enjoy!

that oily red stuff is basically your own homemade paprika oil

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

Pastel, Por Favor!

Chicken Pastel is a Filipino version of the humble chicken pot pie. As recipes vary , a common denominator of the Filipino variety is the inclusion of chorizo de bilbao in the mix as well as the use of chicken red meat. I prefer to blend both varieties.

Ingredients:

for the PASTEL:

• 500 grams chicken breasts fillets,cut into cubes 
• 2 pcs chorizo de bilbao ( perhaps the best brand to buy is El Rey. If you can't find any or don't want to commit to a big can, a regular sized can of Purefoods chorizo works just as well)
• 1 c vienna sausage (the light blue Libby's vienna sausage has the right texture and flavor)
• 1 pc carrot, cut into cubes
• 1 pc potato , cut into cubes
• 1 c button mushrooms
• 1/2 c black pitted olives, sliced
• 2 tbsp soy
• 3 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper 
• 1/4 c butter
• 1 c broth
• 2 tbsp flour for thickening
• 2 hard cooked eggs, sliced

for the PASTRY CRUST:

• 2 c all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 c butter
• 1/3 c cooking oil 
• 3 tbsp water
• non stick cooking paper

Procedure:

Chicken Pastel:

marinated chicken breast cubes

1. marinate chicken in soy and lemon juice for about 20 minutes
2. saute chicken cubes in butter, while seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper
3. add chorizo and Vienna sausage slices followed by the carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and olives
4. stir everything up to incorporate the butter, the pour broth
5. cook til potatoes and carrots are done
6. thicken with flour dissolved in a little water
7. transfer to an oven proof dish and top with the egg slices

I cut the carrots smaller just so kids
get to eat more of it Ü

saute everything in butter, add a little olive oil
to prevent the butter from burning

arrange everything in an ovenproof dish

Crust:

sift the dry ingredients

1. sift flour and salt
2. combine butter and oil
3. cut in with a pastry blender, sprinkling water as you form dough into a ball
4. put between two sheets of non stick cooking paper and roll to a 1/4 inch thickness or sightly thinner
5. take out dough from paper and arrange on top of dish according to how you want it
6. baked chicken pastel at 400 F for about 40 minutes or until your crust is golden brown

it's a bit tricky :p

prick in some whole with a fork to release
some steam

one side was left neat and the other wasn't
so we could have more of the crust to eat Ü

There really is nothing wrong with taking out the carrots or potatoes or substituting or adding other sausages in the mix. You can even do away with the crust, and the filling will stıll be wonderful!! Whatever makes you happy :)

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

Pat-A-Cake, Pat-A-Curry-Fishcake

Mother was quite into food experimentation back in the day. A dish that she picked up from a friend was curried potato cakes. Spicy, savory fried cakes that were great as snacks or as a side dish.

Remembering flavors from that point in time here' s a seafood variation of that vegetarian dish.

Ingredients: (good for 6 healthy eaters)

• 500 grams fish fillet (skinless)
• 1 cube S&B Golden Curry (#5 heat)
• 1 egg
• 1 medium white onion
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• cornstarch for dusting
• oil for frying

Procedure:

1. Put the first 5 ingredients in a food processor and pulse it til everything is well blended. Don't puree.
2. Transfer to a bowl and season to taste.
3. Dust your hands with a little cornstarch, while you heat oil in a frying pan.
4. Form a patty from 2 tbsp of the mix and transfer palm to palm to form a patty.
5. Fry over medium fire til golden brown.

This goes well with Sriracha Sauce or some guacamole and salsa (see recipe here) on the side.

**Guacamole Recipe:

1. Half, core and remove skin of one ripe avocado.
2. Mash with a fork and spoon in about 3 tbsp of our homemade salsa.
3. Season with salt to taste and enjoy!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The PAELLAphile

Nothing more speaks to me of a family meal than the sea food paella. This traditional Spanish cuisine of rice, saffron, seafood and chicken has been officially classified as good eats in our home.

This is a recipe I got from my father (who makes the best sea food paella ever, as opposed to my mother, who makes the best arroz valenciana, a chicken paella of sorts). Hope you enjoy it as much as we do:

Ingredients:
This recipe can feed around 8-10 people, so just tweak it to suit your numbers Ü

• 1 kg mussels, sauteed in a tsp of garlic and onions slices, then boiled. Set aside 1 cup of broth. I prefer to keep some in a shell for presentation purposes, but I do take out most of the mussels from it's shell after cooking. You could also substitute these with clams. 
• 1/2 kg crabs, boil whole with next ingredient
• 1/2 kg prawns (shrimps medium-to large are fine too)
• 1/c squid rings (boiled til tender)
• 400 grams chicken, breasts (set aside raw) and soup parts (boil and set aside 2 cups broth)
• 2 pcs chorizo de bilbao, sliced
• 200 gms bacon or ham, sliced into bite sized pieces
• 3 tbsp olive oil, preferably extra virgin
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 c tomato sauce
• 2 c rice, washed 
• 3 c broth (from the ones saved above)
• 2 pcs bell pepper, one red, one green, cut into strips
• 1 egg, hard boiled for garnish
• lemon or lime slices
• salt
• 2 tsp saffron (this tends to be optional for us as the sea food's flavors are often more than enough)
• 1/2 c peas (which I don't put as no one really likes these except for me)

Procedure:

Before anything else, make sure you have a heavy pan to cook this with. If you don't have a heavy cast iron pan (or a paellarahan), the next best thing is trying to cook this in a pressure cooker's bottom half or something equally thick.

Most of the prep work has been indicated above. That' basically most of the work for this dish. Putting it all together doesn't take that much time.

• Start off by frying the chicken breasts, chorizo and bacon or ham (or both!) in the olive oil. 
• Push to one side and saute the garlic and onions together with the tomato sauce.
• Add broth and rice and mix everything else in the pan together
• Season with salt and cover to cook rice. **note: not all rice is created equal. some may require more water or less water. I'd put 2 1/2 c broth first, then add as I cook the rice to make sure the texture isn't too hard or too mushy. Cook til all the broth is absorbed.
• During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the mussels and squid. Then top it with the crab and shrimps. I would cut up some of the crab in half and some of the shrimp to mix in with the rice and leave some for garnish.
• Stir in the saffron, if any, at this point as well as the bell peppers. Save some bell  pepper for garnish too.
• When all done, garnish with egg and lemon slices as well (see pic above).
• The main thing you have to watch for in paella making is ensuring that none of the seafood is overcooked and that the rice is cooked to the right consistency.

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

Show Me The Salsa!!!

great ketchup substitute!

Easy to make, goes well with almost anything, healthy and fat-free are some of the many attributes of salsa. I usually keep a jar of our homemade salsa on hand as it also keeps well in the fridge and actually improves over time. Of course, we consume about a jar a month, so I haven't really tested if it can keep beyond that.

As there are MANY variations of one of the word's favorite condiment (next to ketchup) I'd like to share with you our quick and easy version.

the recipe below is for about 800 grams of salsa
(about 28 ounces)

For this salsa, you will need (if you have a food processor, or a chopper, chop everything up together after the prep work):

Ingredients:

• 2 c tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 c white onions, chopped
• 1c pickled jalapenos, cored, seeded and chopped
• 3 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 c tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp hot sauce (adjust heat to your own liking)
• salt to taste

**optional: 2 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro. I love this but Phil isn't a fan Ü

prep work before I chop em all up

we're partial to jalapenos but you can add almost any kind of
 pepper (capsicum) for heat. I also add some of the jalapeno's
 pickling solution  (about 2 tbsp) to preserve the salsa

After chopping everything up, put everything in a bowl, mix in the tomato sauce and hot sauce and season with salt. Give it all a stir and ole! We have salsa Ü

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Cunning Crabcake

I have always been in love and ironically allergic to this flavorful crustacean. This is probably the reason why I savor crab dishes on those rare occasions that we have it at home.

For this week's post, I've decided to feature the easy to make, no fuss to eat; crab cake.

Ingredients:
200 grams peeled shrimps (or a cup of deboned, skinless chicken breast)
250 grams crab meat, flaked ( I prefer the ones found in the frozen section as the canned ones tend to be a tad salty)
1/4 c carrots, finely chopped
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic, macerated and finely minced
1 tbsp celery powder (or fresh)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
1 c Japanese breadcrumbs
cooking oil

Procedure:

1. Throw the first ten ingredients in a food processor until well blended but NOT pureed as the hard ingredients have been pre-chopped already.
2. Take mixture out of food processor and heat up your oil (preferably not deep fry levels, like enough to cook an egg).
3. Form mixture into patties by getting 2 tbsp of the mix, form into balls and transfer between hands til it resembles a patty. 
4. It will be sticky so the transfer from palm to palm works the mix, allowing it to form better. When you get the desired form, dredge in bread crumbs.
5. Fry til golden brown, flipping to ensure both sides are cooked evenly.

Works great with salsa or a little Japanese mayo!! (salsa recipe here)

Quick, flavorful and somewhat light despite the breading and the oil. I loooove this dish!

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Case Of The Cannelloni

Pasta has always been comfort food in our house, especially spaghetti. As much as my boys love plates of this, it can get a bit tiring. That's when finding something familiar yet quite different comes in...Cannelloni

Cannelloni are tube like pasta that are often stuffed with meat, veggies, cheese and whatever it is you would like to fill it with. This time around, I filled ours with chicken, ham and chicken liver.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Cannelloni (if you prefer to make your own, I'll include the recipe for fresh pasta below.

PASTA Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 All purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp salt

WHITE SAUCE Ingredients:

• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c flour
• 2 c evaporated milk
• 2 c water
• salt and pepper to taste

TOMATO SAUCE Ingredients:

• 2 c tomato sauce
• 1 tsp garlic, chopped
• 1 c broth
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 c butter or margarine

FILLING Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter or margarine  and 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 250 grams chicken liver
• 1 1/2 c cooked chicken, ground
• 1/2 c cooked ham, ground
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 eggs

TOPPING:

• 100 grams Mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

1. Cook pasta (if making fresh). If using the dry cannelloni, you can stuff it directly without having to pre cook it.
2. To make fresh pasta: combine flour and salt. Add eggs then knead into a smooth dough.
3. Roll out dough thinly. Cut into 4x4 squares after.
4. Drop squares one at a time into salted boiling water and cook for about a minute.
5. Immerse into ice cold water soon after and dry with a towel or cheesecloth. Set aside.
6. To make tomato sauce: melt butter or margarine in saucepan. Stir in tomato sauce, garlic and broth. Season.
7. Cook till it simmers. Set aside to cool.
8. Prepare filling by sauteing the garlic, onions and liver in butter and olive oil. Season.
9. When done, puree the livers in a food processor to make a smooth liver paste. Mix in the chicken and ham, followed by the eggs.
10. Fill the dried cannelloni with the mixture, and arrange filled pasta in an oven proof dish.
11. For the fresh pasta, put a tbsp of mixture on each square and roll to form a cannelloni, arranging it side by side in a shallow oven proof dish.
12. To make the white sauce: melt butter over low fire. Blend in flour (a wire whisk would be handy).
13. Pour in milk and water, stirring to ensure no lumps are left. Season and cook till bubbly. Set aside to cool.
14. To assemble: pour tomato and white sauce over filled pasta alternately. You could also layer the You could opt to make only one kind of sauce, but both is much more delicious.
15. Sprinkle with grated cheese or arrange mozzarella slices on top.
16. Broil til cheese melts and/or browns to your liking Ü

**Quick tip: grating/chopping any form of vegetable (as long as it's about 1/4 c total) and added to the filling is a great way to "hide" veggies from those who aren't fans. I chop a little spinach and finely ground carrots for an extra dose of iron and vitamin a, without affecting the taste

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Chicken Tim Conspiracy

In a culture as rich as ours in the Philippines, the term fusion pertaining to food is synonymous with our local fare. Chinese, Malay and Mediterranean influences constitute most of what we dub as our "Filipino cuisine". 

One such cuisine is the dish Pata Tim. 

Pata tim is a Chinese influenced dish of braised pork leg and sometimes, pork hocks. Its so commonly found around the country that we have embraced and tweaked it to suit our Filipino palates.

With the growing need to reduce all that is unhealthy, I share with you the version that I've just started using at home, our Chicken Tim.

Getting Started:

Marinate chicken overnight ( the marinade below is for about a kilo worth of chicken, preferably the entire leg).

Chicken Marinade:

• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 1 tbsp ginger powder, 
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, 
• 1/4  dark soy sauce and 
• 1/8 cup Chinese rice wine. 

Brown in oil (not deep fried), making sure that skin is a bit crisp, even if the insides are not thoroughly cooked. Set aside.

Chicken Tim Sauce:

In a saucepan, bring to boil :

• 2 cups water, 
• 1/8 cup dark soy sauce , 
• 1/4 c brown sugar (you can decrease amount and add sugar gradually til you get the sweetness level you like), 
• 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce, 
• 4 pcs star anise, 
• 2 bay leaves. 

Simmer til you get almost half the volume of liquid. Dissolve 2 tbsp cornstarch in about 1/4 cup of water. Pour onto the sauce, stirring gently. This is to thicken the sauce. Once sauce thickens,remove from fire.

Add pechay and shitake mushrooms to your
heart's content

Preparation:

Ingredients:

• Pechay (1-2 bundles)
• Dried shitake mushrooms (whole or slices), presoaked
• Sesame Oil

In a heatproof casserole dish, arrange raw pechay at the bottom together with presoak shitake mushrooms. Put chicken on top. Pour sauce and steam for about 30 minutes. Do check if chicken is done (no blood inside). When done, drizzle sesame oil and serve.

IF you don't have a steamer: 

boil fried chicken in sauce BEFORE you thicken it with cornstarch. Before thickening the sauce, take out the chicken first. You can parboil the pechay and shitake mushrooms ( I buy slices but whole would look prettier), and arrange as written above. Even the kids loved it :)

 From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

The Tuna Turncoat

Kicking off my latest blog, is a fish I absolutely love to prepare and eat, raw or cooked - the versatile Yellow Fin Tuna (a type of Ahi Tuna).

An apt star to a food related blog is an appetizer made with this as it's main ingredient. Without further ado, here's our Tuna done 3 ways:

You'll Need:

• 300 gms Tuna Sashimi (split into 3 equal portions or according to which one of the 3 ways do you want to eat more of)

POKE ingredients:

• 100 gms tuna, cut into bite sized cubes
• 2 tbsp spring onions/shallots diced
• 2 tbsp small onion, julienne
• 1/2 tsp finely minced garlic
• 1/2 freshly grated ginger (or about the same amount of powdered ginger)
• 30 ml Sesame Oil
• 1 tbsp of Chili Oil (Chiu Chow) and/or
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 tbsp dark Chinese soy sauce
• salt (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (black gives it that extra nutty flavor, but the white one's fine too) - optional  for garnish

SPICY TUNA ingredients:

• 100 gms tuna, cut into bite sized cubes
• 2 tbsp Japanese mayo
• 1 tbsp Sriracha Sauce
• 1 tsp Chili Oil (Chiu Chow)
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

GOOD OL MAGURO SASHIMI:

• the remaining tuna, cut into thin, two inch long slices
• calamansi, lemon or lime
• soy and wasabi

What To Do:

NOTE: especially for the Spicy Tuna, make everything as close to serving time as possible. If made ahead of time, put in the fridge to prevent health concerns. 

POKE

• POKE (pronounced as POH-kay, is a Hawaiian ceviche, or kinilaw in Pinoy speak): mix em all up, except the toasted sesame. Put salt AFTER tasting the seasoned tuna, and always a dash at a time. Chances are, you might not even need the salt at all. Sprinkle sesame seeds after plating.

SPICY TUNA

• SPICY TUNA: mix. Add more Japanese mayo if you want your tuna to be covered more thoroughly. There is no heat limit. Add as much of all the spicy ingredients!

SASHIMI

• SASHIMI: we normally squeeze the citrus on the fish slices prior to consuming it, that way it won't cook in the acidity of the citrus. Use the soy and wasabi as a dipping sauce.

Yellow Fin Tuna Nutrition Facts

This makes a perfect appetizer for parties, cocktails, dinners with guests or for your family's enjoyment. Great source of protein and Omega 3.

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!

Memoirs of a Kitchen Wanderer

My earliest recollections of my childhood always centered on food. It's preparation, going to the market with my father or to the grocery with mom. Not to mention the various dishes served at meal time, on a sick day or what my mom packed in my lunch box.

Perhaps it was my parents, who indulged me on tales of my youth, or the various photos they've taken of me, but from what I remember, food was clearly not just a basic need in our family. It was a passion.

I remember being left alone with a tin of Sky Flakes soda crackers while sitting on a straw mat while my mom owned and operated two canteens/cafeterias (one at GSIS and the other at DBP Baguio) back in the early 80's. I think I was 2 or 3. Mom and her helpers would stay up late and wake up early, making warm, fluffy asado siopao, different snacks, noodles, soups and doing the prep work for other various dishes on next day's menu. Mom was the Queen of Mise en place.

Then there was that time my 19 year old nanny poured a big pot of warm dinuguan (pork and pig offal cooked in pig's blood and vinegar) at some customer who got too "touchy" for his own good. That was literally a "food for thought" for that guy! :P

I remember the sights, the smells and the taste of food in the market after a 5 am jog around the old neighborhood in Malabon, where I spent most of my summers as a child. My father and I would visit the market, looking for great finds...shrimps so fresh, they're somewhat leaping. Smoked milkfish (tinapang bangus), just out of the smokehouse, still warm and cooked with high standards, that you can eat it straight up, without having to fry it. Then there's that heavenly smell of special patis (fish sauce) Malabon that was as good as any viand for me. Fresh seafood, authentic Malabon cuisine, no scrimping and laboriously prepared dishes make recalling those innocent times with ease.

Papa and I 1985

Perhaps it was Papa who truly got me hooked on cooking. Instead of pondering what to cook for me during those summer weekends, he would bring out his cookbooks ( The ones with pictures were the best!), making me choose what our next meal was. We'd buy the ingredients together, and then he'll let me help him cook. ( I still employ the same method in asking the folks here at home what they'd want to eat: a dish from a cookbook, market the next day and cooked that same night).

with mom (papa took the pic) off to go fishing in Navotas 1984

Mom also had her own set of books as well, not to mention bringing me to her cooking class with famed chef Sylvia Reynoso-Gala in the latter's home at Forbes Park. The baking class was my favorite! Til this day, the taste of meringue transports me to that kitchen and I can describe what it looked like then without difficulty. 

Though Baguio was our home base, the first few years of my childhood were spent in various cities and provinces, travelling with my father, who was an architect for the Development Bank of the Philippines,  assigned to areas where the bank planned to expand.

MIHCA 2011

This meant eating huge steamed crabs in a restaurant on stilts over the waters in Bohol, having ice candy (frosty) as a treat for taking a nap in the middle of the day in Calapan, Mindoro, or eating tapang usa from Dipolog and catching a big lapu lapu for lunch in a fish pond in Cagayan de Oro. Who could forget the torones de mani of Cebu, the sweet shrimps of Roxas, Capiz, eating dog meat in Cabanatuan and many other places? My dad was the original Mediocre/Kitchen Wanderer :P

Warm thoughts and fuzzy feelings are what I associate with food. Hopefully, this blog of mine could help you recreate that food-induced happy thought.

my first live cooking demo at SM Baguio 2011
(still looking for the Kraft sponsored cooking segment
I did for an  ABS CBN Baguio show)

From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!