Foot and Fire

Wondering how to turn tofu into sisig? Here is my secret-no-more recipe. Tofu is a favorite in the house when it's made into sisig. This one has the kick of the chili as I bought some from a backyard owner and got some white onions from the market so I generously used it. If you have no calamansi  use acv or apple cider vinegar. Got olive oil, but you may use other kinds of oil.  750g Tofu, chopped Olive oil for frying  Olive oil for sauteeing 3 cloves Garlic, minced 3 medium white Onions, chopped 10 seeded chili, chopped  4 chili, chopped Sauce (see mixture below) Salt and pepper 2 eggs Mayonnaise Sauce 4T soy sauce 4T premium soy sauce 4T worcestershire sauce 4T fish sauce 2T hoisin sauce 2T calamansi juice 1. Line the airfryer basket with banana leaves and spread the tofu thinly and airfry for 10min for 190c. Reapeat till done. 2. In a deep fryer, add oil and deep fry the tofu for 3minutes depending on desired doneness. Add more time for cr...

    Aside from the S inamakan , what else can we make out of our chili? It was my simple dream then to have a calamansi and chili by my garden so that i will just pick them when I need them. well, I got way more than I asked for because I luckily grew a lot of chili plants. Well, I tried making Chili Garlic in oil and use them in my recipe whenever it calls for some spice.   Chili Garlic, chopped canola oil   Harvest the chili, remove leaves and stems and let dry under the sun. Air fry the chili and garlic for 4 hours under the lowest temperature.  Put air-fried chili and garlic inside a clean glass jar. Add oil, enough to cover it.  Store in an area with room temperature and away from the direct sunlight.    

      I mentioned in my past blog that I wanted to cook Tinola for the Jose Rizal tribute but cooked binakol instead.Much to my dismay, I learned that I have no entry on tinola nga manok in my blog when I searched for it. The irony is that my family loves tinola and it's a staple to our survival and happiness and it's an anomaly why I got no blog post about it. So, it's about time to post one. We love native chicken as it is tasty compared to 45 days chicken. I also do not saute as I avoid oils being subjected to heat but put the garlic and onions directly to the soup. You may saute if you like. Here's how we do it:   Ingredients ; 1 whole native chicken (or free range chicken), cut to serving sizes water garlic onions ginger, thumsized bellpepper green papaya lemongrass, knotted salt and pepper chili leaves  Boil the chicken in a deep casserole until tender. Once the meat is tender, add the garlic, onions, ginger, abd bellpepper. Add more water if neces...

#Sinamak is now resting in my #sinamakan. Bottle on the Left is my mother sinamakan while the three are the new sinamakan. I put vinegar in the mother sinamakan, shook it and transferred the same in the new bottles. Mouthwatering, and electricity runs through the inside of my jaw as I make this post. This spicy concoction is a #pinoy thing. Ingredients are:  #Chilis #Langkawas  #Turmeric  #Ginger  #coconutvinegar Put chilis in a glass bottle, chop the langkawas, turmeric and ginger in sizes that can go through the mouth of the bottle. Add coconut vinegar and let it ferment.  Serve as sauce for dried fish, or blanched vegetables like okra, eggplant or kamote tops. Add in soups too.  Postscript Sinamak = A Hiligaynon term for this spicy concoction. For Ilokanos, it is called pinakurat Sinamakan = the bottle where the spicy concoction is placed to ferment

One of my instant fancy food fare is chili con carne next to sushi, of course. I said so because if we want something different from rice + viand combination which we have for the whole week, I cook something special and almost staple to our table. This time  I departed a bit and added vegemeat flakes, a dried vegetable protein. Vegemeat flakes is like ground beef in size and cheaper than the Vegemeat cutlets or the chunks in size. NEW TIPS: When sauteing, I now do not wait for the oil to get hot. I might not use oil in sauteeing in the future but use water only. We are in a month now in not using oil in frying after using an airfryer. Heated oil is not healthy, so I minimize using the same now. SPICE TIPS: Stacking up Spices is a good idea but only stack a few portions at a time. My paprika and taco seasoning are almost depleted. I use it to spice up our potato fries or fried rice. And of course, the comforting Chili con carne and its derivative. 1 C vegeme...

I saw Chef's Table featuring Chef Gaggan Anand who had a successful Indian menu tasting restaurant in Thailand. From that feature, I learned that "curry" is not Indian. Further reading led me to understand that the term curry is of British origin as it was coined to refer to Indian spices, and the term must come from the Tamil word, "kari" which means sauce. I cooked my fish last weekend using turmeric powder and fresh ginger and dashes of paprika. My mother asked me what's the difference between curry and turmeric. Thanks to my earlier education on this that I was able to explain that CURRY refers to a blend of spices, usually turmeric, coriander, chili, ginger, and black pepper while TURMERIC refers to a single spice. I also learned that "masala" is the correct Indian term for the "mixed spices." Actually, what I love about my curried fish is the coconut milk. I feel rich in savoring goodness in life through coconut milk. Pr...

My friends and I decided to cook every sunday of August and FOR OUR NATIONAL HEROES DAY COOK-OFF today, I CHOSE KINILAW. I would like to think that our prehistoric cooking includes the KINILAW because we already have vinegar (we have coconut wine, remember?) and we are surely rich with fish (we are an archipelago, right?). I want to imagine that Lapu-Lapu and everyone before him liked to eat kinilaw. I tried researching and to my dismay, the Visayan entry in the Boxer Codex says that there is nothing interesting in cooking because the meals we had then is composed of boiled rice and dried fish. I'm not sure which Visayan area they landed but I wished they stayed on more to see variety in our prehistoric dishes and record them. If dried fish existed then, I'm sure the fresh fish is abundantly cooked and eaten too. I also chose this dish because my father always prepares this when he was still around but he uses small fishes and debones them one by one.  Since I only ...

As I mentioned earlier, I intend to keep my blog as my recipe treasure chest too. So I am posting the spice that spiced my Moroccan-spiced lamb chunks (pun is enjoyed by me!) I used the Harissa paste to my Morrocan-spiced Lamb Chucks Stew . I made adjustments on the recipe I found because of the chilis that are available in my country, Philippines. So here is my take on this exotic sounding Moroccan mix of spices. 6 Fresh long Chiles locally called Taud-ilahas 6 fresh bell peppers 2 Tbsp cumin powder 2 Tbsp Coriander seeds, ground 1 head garlic, chopped 2 Tbsp Paprika 2 Tbsp Himalayan salt 4 Tbsp lemon juice 2 TBsp Apple cider vinegar 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste 1/4 cup olive oil (or water may be used)  In a blender, place all ingredients and blend until the mixture turns into paste. Note: if using dried chilis, hydrate first before using.

Small Fishes Apple cider Vinegar Ginger, chopped finely White Onion, chopped Chile, sliced or chopped Salt and pepper Soak small fishes in vinegar and debone. Discard remaining vinegar. In a glass bowl, place the deboned fishes, ginger, white onions and chile. Add vinegar up to half part of the mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chilled. Optional Coconut milk, ground peanuts and tomatoes may be added. Use cubed slices of bigger fishes like salmon or tangigue

Scaling your kisses By Gerlie M. Uy My Chile, I was all right with almost anything but when I tasted my first kiss of you, you set the record straight: I kept on remembering you afterwards. Every time I tasted any kiss without your heat, I am initially all right, and then remembers that I miss you a lot. I have to have you beside me, with your halved naked body soaked in sweet sour liquid. The intensity of your kisses varies while I can only choose to kiss you back within my lame limits. You come to me usually in shorts and sometimes dressed long, in interesting shades of bright colors and sometimes just plain green, in usual subtle fragrance and sometimes just none. You have lived a thousand lives in the fields of the Aztecs and now in almost all tropical regions, but still, even after one kiss after another quick one from you, as well as many more that followed thereafter, I wonder why I still can...

200 pcs Deseeded Whole Chilis Carrots, cut into strips 1.5 liters vinegar (coconut) 500ml pineapple juice salt and cracked peppercorns garlic, chopped onion, chopped ginger, chopped 500 gms sugar Turmeric powder (optional) *** Arrange chilis and carrots in sterilized jars. In a wok, put vinegar, pineapple juice, sugar and the spices. Bring to boil for about 15-20 minutes. Pour boiling vinegar in each jar. Seal. Refrigerate when cooled down. Serve as appetizer. (If you have no jar, put all chilis and carrots in the vinegar and cover with lid. Let cool and transfer to plastic container. Refrigerate to prolong shelf life) ***

50 pcs. chili peppers 50 pcs. lumpia wrappers 1 canned tuna (in oil, flakes or chunks) 200g bread crumbs 230g grated cheese salt and pepper (optional) oil for frying *** STEP 1; Deseed the chili peppers one by one. Don't forget to wear gloves... *** STEP TWO: Mix the tuna, bread crumbs and cheese  and season with salt and pepper and set aside in a bowl. *** STEP THREE: Stuff each chili pepper with the mixture. *** STEP FOUR: Wrap with the twig out or remove the twig for presentation  or remove the twig and wrap the whole pepper. *** STEP FIVE: Deep fry in canola oil. Serve hot and crispy! 

From Left to right: A salty gravy which must be made of fish; roasted beans; fried garlic slices, small dried shrimps, and a dish like laing (made of gabi tubers with salty fish) or this must be the pickled tea leaves, I am not sure. These are complimentary to the orders of Rice and fish/meat, and served as dips for raw and steamed vegetables. ***  The yellowing leaves are tough but they were served steamed, must be tree leaves; the miniature eggplants which were steamed, raw carrots, raw calamansi leaves, and another steamed green leaves, must be the tops of squash or sayote. These are dipped in the condiments and serve as side dish for the main dish of rice and fish/meat. I tried tearing up the calamnsi leaves and mix with my rice, they make my rice fragrant and savory, just like our pandan leaves. Another idea in serving rice! ***  A soup made of potato, sweet potato or squash.  Very thin one so that I cannot really identify. *** Two more saucers of red, which is mild ...

This is the five-color vegetables we ordered. We got a beautiful line up of stir-fried sweet peas, napa cabbage, young corn, cauliflower and carrots. We had this in Mandalay, but as in anywhere in Myanmar, vegetables are a side dish or a complimentary dish aside from the soup and mango chutney and fermented fish/prawns. *** This is one tasty fish which is first wrapped with chopped leaves which preserved the fish fat (see bottom layer) and spices before the banana leaves. This must be steamed and the fish meat (see the second layer) is very tasty while the skin is delicately smooth. I want to replicate this cooking. We had this in a Shan Restaurant in Mandalay near our hotel. *** Fish hot clay pot. Chunks of fried fish with vegetables and spices and visibly garnished with onion rings and pineapple slices. This is one nice rice partner. It is served in a small wok with a burner underneath. We had this in Bagan. *** Speaking of snacks, I like this deep-fried potato chips at 500 to 1000 k...

ULTIMATE MYANMARESE STREET FOOD: Pig mask and other internal organs in sticks. One has to cook it by dipping it in a boiling liquid in the center. The containers on the side are the condiments and the red ones must be chili... *** Watermelon for 900 kyatts. *** The whitish green watermelon. *** Sayote or squash leaves. *** Melon. *** I'm holding a honeydew. *** Golden-orange Papaya. *** Some deep-fried stuff: crabs, shrimps and some floured food. *** Just like the Thai papaya pickle. The woman is using the mortar and pestle to mash the spices and then she adds this to the raw green papaya. *** Must be jelly sweets. *** Cold desserts to quench the sun-dried palates. *** Ice cream from Nylon Ice cream parlor.  Quite a following among the locals for this dirty a.k.a. home-made ice cream. *** Rainbow ice cream. Choices vary from tropical fruit like Durian to the classic ones  like chocolate and vanilla.  ***