Foot and Fire

After I tasted this in Myanmar years ago, I couldn't forget how the Burmese incorporated cashew nuts in their dishes like stirfried vegetables and noodles just as much I couldn't forget how the Chinese in Beijing/Tianjin added boiled peanuts as side dish and deftly used chopsticks to pick the nuts one by one. There is surely a connectedness in the evocation of places we visited and the evolution of our palates. Today, got a chance to replicate the cashew addition to dishes. 2 bunch Bokchoy 2 bunches Pechay 2 mefium Carrots A handful of French beans Clean vegetables. Slice into serving sizes. Bring water to boil. Set the steaming pan and steam per vegetables for 4 minutes for uniform cooking. Set aside. Stirfried sauce 2T vegetarian stirfy sauce or Hoisin sauce 1T Soy sauce 1T sesame oil 1T mirin 1T rice wine 1T toasted garlic Dash of himalayan salt Mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Heat pan and add the mixture then bring into a simmer. Add vegetables and stir for...

Brought home cheeses from my revent vacation as they really tempted me to do cheese pasta. I got the parmigiano reggiano, gouda, catamount hills cheese and I combine them with my pantry standby parmesan). Here, you can easily make yours. Slice all solid cheeses into bits Garlic Celery Olive oil Fresh milk Pasta water Salt and pepper 1. Cook pasta according to package direction. Reserve water before draining. 2. Saute garlic in olive oil until golden brown. Add cheeses and milk. Stir to melt the cheese and Adjust fire to low.  3. Add chopped celery and the pasta water. Add the cooked pasta. Stir.  4. Add dashes of salt and pepper. Remove from fire and serve hot while the cheese is still melty. 

    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 missed the Angel Hair Pasta. I missed the Spanish Sardines. I want more of the aromatic Bokchoi.... so I quickly concocted these three ingredients when they came in my pantry, not together at once but finally together.  Garlic  minced Onions, sliced Olive oil Bokchoi, chopped Reserved water from boiled pasta Spanish sardines, mashed (reserve whole fishes) Salt and pepper to taste Lime Parmesan cheese Heat oil quickly, add garlic and onions and bokchoi. Add 2 tablespoons of reserved water. Let cook till tender.  Add more water to desired consistency but not soupy, and the mashed sardines. Stirfry gently and add salt and pepper to taste.  Squeeze half of a lime and Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving. Enjoy!!!!!

Bokchoy from my garden is a long-time dream that is coming true during this pandemic where we all have time to literally tend our gardens. Check my greenhouse greens here.  I wanted to roast my bokchoy but I made a soup for everyone. However, I spared some stalks to make an appetizer.  Recipe: 3 cloves garlic, chopped Bunch of bokchoy Pinch of salt and pepper In a pan, arrange the bokchoy and mix the garlic and salt and pepper. Oven-roast at 190F for 10 minutes of just wilted. Serve as is or with sauce.  Sauce: Soy sauce Vinegar Honey Sesame oil Add all ingredients in a bottle and shake. Drizzle over roasted bokchoy

500g ground beef 6 pcs carrots, chopped 1 sayote, chopped 2 big potatoed, chopped Celery, chopped 6 cloves garlic, chopped 2 onions, chopped Salt, pepper, and soy sauce Oatmeal 2 big Cabbage heads Toothpick Dip: Soy sauce Calamansi Mix all chopped vegetables. Add salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste. Add oatmeal in small amount at a time, just enough to bind the mixture. Scoop the mixture and place in the cabbage leaf, fold and secure with toothpick. Repeat last procedure until the mixture is used up. Ready the steamer with boiling water. Place the cabbage parcel and steam for 2p minutes. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.

Meatballs: Ground beef Garlic Salt and pepper Soysauce Oatmeal Combine in a bowl. Mix and form into balls. Deepfry, drain oil and set aside. Sauce: Olive oil Minced garlic Chopped onions Cubed tomatoes Cubed bellpeppers Ground beef Tomato sauce Cheese Water Saute first 5 ingredients in a wok. Form a ring and put the ground beef in the center and cover to cook. Add tomato sauce, cheese and water. Simmer. Add salt and pepper and dry herbs. Serve on top of spagghetti... Posted via Blogaway

Please find the recipe on my other blog. Promise, this will be the first and last blunder. :) Enjoy.... http://footandfire.blogspot.com/2016/09/squash-ukoy-with-tostitos-spinach-dip.html

Squash, grated (Use steel cheese grater) 2 heads Onion, chopped 6 cloves garlic, chopped Toasted garlic (optional) Salt and pepper Dried Italian herbs and/or turmeric Oatmeal Flour Canola oil for frying In a deep bowl, put first six ingredients. Add oatmeal until manageable to form into patties. Just add flour a little at a time to adjust. Fry each patty and drain excess oil in a paper towel. Serve with tomato ketchup or Tostitos Spinach dip. Posted via Blogaway

Kangkong Tops Black bean and garlic sauce Toasted garlic (optional) Blanch kangkong tops and drain. In a small bowl, mix a spoon or two of garlic and black beans sauce, add warm water. In a serving dish, arrange the tops and pour the sauce. Sprinkle with toasted garlic and serve. Posted via Blogaway

There are many ways to enjoy your prepared pesto. One can put it in a cooked pasta together with cheese or Alfredo cream and spread it on a soda crackers. I topped a tablespoon of pesto on my scrambled eggs. I also put a tablespoon of it in my noodle soup. Please check my No-Frill Pesto in a previous post. Tell me more, how I can enjoy a pesto!!! Just drop a note in the comment box. ***

100g basil  1/2cup almonds  3 cloves garlic  1/2 cup olive oil  salt and pepper...  Put all ingredients a small portion at a time in a blender. And blend. *** *** Don't forget to patronize Fresh Start Organic Culinary Herbs... *** *** ***

*** 200g Elbow Macaroni, boiled olive oil garlic, minced onions, chopped 50g Beef, ground 50g Chicken, cubed  2 pcs. Carrots, chopped 1 bunch of broccoli, chopped 25g Baguio beans, chopped Fish sauce, Worcestershire Sauce and Soy sauce Beef or chicken cube or powder  salt and pepper 1/2 head of Cabbage, chopped Do not drain the Macaroni in the pot.  In a pan, saute garlic and onions in olive oil. Add the beef and chicken pieces. Let cook. Add the macaroni with the water. Transfer in the pot and let boil. Add the vegetables except cabbage. Add flavorings as per personal taste: I added Fish sauce,  Worcestershire Sauce and Soy sauce and chicken powder.  Add salt, as needed and lots of ground pepper. Let boil. Add the cabbage and cover with lid.  Remove from fire and Serve Hot.

Laphet thoke is another symbolic dish of Burma, albeit a snack. It consists of pickled tea leaves soaked in oil eaten with an assortment of fritters including roasted groundnuts, deep fried garlic, sun dried prawns, toasted sesame and deepfried crispy beans. Laphet is served in a traditional 'oat' - a lacquer container with individual compartments for each ingredients. Lahpet was an ancient symbolic peace offering between warring kingdoms in the history of Myanmar, and is exchanged and consumed after settling a dispute.

Canned tuna (include water) minced garlic minced onion salt and pepper flour baking powder egg Italian seasoning (dry herbs) Canola oil for deep frying. How to: Put canned tuna in a bowl. Add garlic, onion and salt and pepper. Add flour enough to form balls, baking powder and scrambled egg Add Italian seasoning. Form the mixture into small balls. Deep fry in canola oil. Serve skewered with sweet and sour ketchup on the side.

Canola oil crushed and minced garlic minced onions 200 grams ground beef salt and pepper  Worcestershire sauce soy sauce 500 grams big bellpeppers (about 125gms each piece) sliced lengthwise little water chopped celery or onion leaves  Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add beef and simmer for at least three minutes. Add salt, pepper Worcestershire sauce and sauce according to taste. Place the bellpeppers and little water if needed. Let cook a bit. Top with celery before removing from fire.

Two kilos beef, sliced as in tapa 2 pouches of Clara Ole's honey-mustard olive oil Garlic onion for saute onion for garnish Marinate the beef in the prepared honey-mustard marinade. Refrigerate overnight. Saute garlic and chopped onion in olive oil.  Quick-fry each piece of beef by batch and let the beef rest on the side of the pan while frying the next batch. Repeat until all beef slices are fried. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes.  Turn each piece of the beef and let cook covered for 15 minutes. Add the rest of the marinade and let cook for another 20 to 30 minutes. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with onions. *** Stirfry cubed singkamas, potatoes, sayote and carrots.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with dry italian herbs. ***

 For this one, i used the store-bought spaghetti fortified with malunggay a.k.a moringa and carrots and made partly with durum semolina flour (El Real). I always use the other brand (ideal) which is made with durum wheat alone. I must say that the former has silky texture while the latter is al dente and rotund. I can choose both because they are not merely made with wheat flour, the ordinary flour used for our common white bread. This means, we can access now more nutritious and fiber rich pastas... i believe, this attempt from El Real is a success. I will patronize it from now on. This is what a grocery girl can do, compare products and eliminate the more evil in the basket. The chiliness of this pasta wards off the chilliness of the windy weekend. Here's how to: 500gms spaghetti pasta  Olive oil Garlic, minced Onion, chopped 4 pcs long chile, seeded and halved 500gms italian style tomato sauce  1 can meat and mushroom or 200gm ground beef Half cup evap milk Cheddar Che...

A thoughtful friend brought us a Snakefruit during her trip to Bali, Indonesia... I lavished and slowly chewed on the fruit after peeling off its snake-like peeling... I loved the taste. It has the nice sweet sour taste of a pineapple and the crunch of apple as texture and it looks like a giant clove of garlic when peeled and dissected. Is it a fruit or nut? When i had the chance, i googled and found out that it is from a palm tree like fig and dates... It is a popular and common fruit all over Indonesia and it can be made into wine... I think I will have more of this when I get to visit Bali too. *photos used above came from my google search...

By GERLIE M. UY 2 T olive oil 12 garlic cloves, chopped 1 big onion, chopped 1 thumb (or more) ginger, chopped 1/2 kilo chicken, cubed 1/2 kilo malagkit rice water 2 chicken cube soy sauce turmeric powder (kalawag) salt and pepper Toasted garlic for garnish. In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil. Add ginger. Add chicken cube and stir fry for a while and add the washed malagkit rice. Stir again for about 3 minutes. Add water. Let boil until rice pops open. Add chicken cubes, soy sauce, turmeric powder, salt and pepper. Let the flavor sink in and the soup is ready to be served hot. Garnish with toasted garlic.