Foot and Fire

LASWA, an Ilongo vegetable soup that is worth featuring for the nth time in this blog.  One secret to a good laswa is to use odd number of vegetables so it can have a perfect result. So in this one, I used squash, malungay or moringa, saluyot or locally called tugabang, balagay or winged beans and okra.  My nephew asked me what are the other names of okra as.my readers might not understand it. I said, it is mostly known as okra but Wiki suggested "English-speaking countries as  ladies' fingers  or  ochro." So be it, but lady's finger here in the Philippines refers to a small fragrant and tasty banana that looks like its name, a lady's finger. So back to laswa, I have 5 ingredients and they all went well together.  I used miso paste as my seasoning and it went well with the fish sauce. That is a must try inlieu of the usual dried anchovies or shrimps. 2 tomatoes 1 onion Saluyot, 1/3 chopped and reserve the rest Winged beans Squash Okr...

Kimbap (also Gimbap) which the Little Man declared as his own! He gulped it all the way... *** The sizzling plate of beef (Bulgogi), tofu, and veges.  *** Spicy hot noodles (Ramyeon) and some jelly-like sticky slices with egg. Tita Ann love it! *** The noodles may be searing red but actually it  has a tempered spicy taste. Guksu jeongol (Noodle Casserole) *** Trying out my chopsticks after the Little Man exclaimed  while deshelving his hair, "Ha? Chopsticks?" *** The appetizer was a hit. The Little Man grabbed the Okra. *** The jelly-like not-so-sticky stuff... actually likeable. Must be Dotorimuk (Acorn jelly) *** Egg roll. It is admirable layers of eggs wrapping some veges inside. *** The Red Tea. We loved it. *** Owning a plate of Kimbap!  Sneaky Little Guy. ***

My two favorite fried vegetable... Dip the Okra tempura and Camote fries in a plain tomato ketchup or mix ketchup with mayonnaise... Wonderful take on a Japanese cooking!

For lunch today, we had laswa. We mixed all solid vegetables available: papaya called kapayas here, squash or kalabasa, okra, takway (gabi roots) and saykwa or patola and the green leaves at hand: malunggay called balunggay here and saluyot called tugabang. The secret addition is the lemon grass known as tanglad here and some dried fish. .N.B. the ingredients are actually flexible; compare this laswa with my previous post.... Match this vegetable soup with fried fish and rice... Perfect!

By GERLIE M. UY I had this entree for lunch today. So filling, especially with my Java rice with toasted garlic on top. Fried Bangus 6 pcs small Bangus 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup vinegar cloves of garlic, crushed 3 T fish sauce Canola oil for frying Clean Bangus but leave it unscaled and slice it with butterfly cut. Marinade fishes with the next four ingredients, adding a little amount of oil. Let stay for at least 30 minutes before frying. Fry in a a hot oil. Mango Okra Salsa 2 Semi-ripe mangoes, seeded and cubed 8 pcs Okra, boiled and cubed 1 medium white onion 3 tomatoes, seeded and cubed salt and pepper Mix all ingredients and chill before serving.

By GERLIE M. UY FOR LUNCH. Pito ka klase sang panakot para sa laswa. The tradition among "experts" in laswa is that one has to have an odd number of ingredients in order for the laswa to taste good. We describe the mixture "sampat" here in Negros Occ. 1 L to 1 1/2 L water 2 medium ripe tomatoes onions dried fish or dilis (Balingon) (may use dried shrimp, if desired) about 100 g squash (kalabasa), cubed about 100 g Papaya or Kapayas, sliced about 100 g string beans (snake beans), sitaw or balatong, cut into an inch long about 100 g okra three handful Malunggay, Moringa or Balungay leaves three handful Saluyot or Tugabang leaves, slice a handful of Ampalaya or Amargoso leaves salt or fish sauce In a casserole, bring to boil the water with ripe tomatoes, onions and dried fish. Add the next four solid ingredients. To get the desired slimy soup, add this early a portion of the Saluyot (Tugabang). Let cook. Adjust flavor with salt or fish sauce (patis). Add the rest of t...

By GERLIE M. UY Okra Tempura is ready to serve with your fave sweet-chili ketchup! More of the okra tempura... young okra sliced in half!!! 2 cups flour with turmeric powder and ground pepper my fave duo... beaten eggs  the batter the batter with the bread crumbs the batter and the okra... not-so-deep fry... my idea of deep-fry up close and personal with the batter mixture About 20 pieces young okra, sliced in to vertically into two 2 cups flour 1 T turmeric powder A dash of ground pepper A dash of fine iodized salt 1 cup bread crumbs 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 to 1 cup water 1 cup canola oil Sweet Chili ketchup, Plain ketchup or homemade thousand islands dressing In a bowl, add flour, turmeric powder, pepper and salt.  Add bread crumbs and eggs. Add water and mix thoroughly.  Add okra slices. In a small sauce pot, add the oil. When hot, add pieces of okra, one at a time.  Cook for a minute on one side and another minute for the other side.  Remove with slotted spoon a...