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...

For this beef soup, use beef with bones which carry the marrow. This is a no-sweat beef soup. The trick is to quickly boil the beef and remove the froths and sediments forming above the water. Put more water and bring to boil until the meat is tender (This is the waiting part especially if there is no pressure cooker in the house). While boiling, put the Chinese Five Spice (Please see earlier post ). I have Cinnamon sticks and star anise in the house, so aside from the powder, I put some of it as I love the woody and earthy aroma of these two spices.  If the meat is tender, adjust taste with pepper and salt. When done with the taste, put the trimmed native pechay  and let vegetable cook covered for one to two minutes . Serve piping hot.   

        Pechay, the native kind. Other green can be used. There is nothing like hot pot. First, because it's always a one-pot for us where we put all ingredients all at once and sip the soup. Second, we love the soup from slow cook like those in the bulalo and batchoy. Third, we have no patience for one at a time food trip. LOL Well, it is nice to try it once in a while, at home. Shabu shabu at home... Vermicelli or glass noodle is a better choice among noodles in the grocery.                          Fresh chicken eggs. Frozen items from the grocery: Tufo seafood and Fishcake.                          Kimchi on the side... The chili for the soup from China. I used the Vietnamese soup base bouillon for the non-chili soup. I do not like the peanut-vinegar accompaniment. (Even those prepared in the Beijing Shabu-shabu).       ...

8 heads of Chinese cabbage, halved and washed rock salt brown sugar chili powder or whatever preserved chili available ginger, chopped garlic, chopped bottled vinegared onion (optional) bottled vinegared cucumber (optional) Dry the washed halved cabbage head.  Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl starting from chili powder. Rub layer after layers of leaves with salt and brown sugar and then mixture until done. Arrange in a plastic container and let stand for 24 hours in a dry cool place. The next day, transfer in glass container and discard remaining water. Let stand again for another day or two.  The Kimchi is done when the cabbage and the spices are already fermented. Refrigerate to lengthen shelf life. Enjoy as appetizer. (When I made my first kimchi out of native pechay, I first rubbed the salt and let the pechay spurt its water within  24 hours before adding spices. I suggest same thing with this kind too but at any rate, this shortcut method is a success. Dont ...

Pochero de Cebu is another cooking rendition of the favorite Bulalo which features a soup made from boiled large bones of cow with marrows inside. As I can recall pochero here in Western Visayas is a thick soup with some meat cooked with white beans, bananas and camote or potatoes and cabbage. But this Pochero de Cebu is actually a bulalo with sweet corn and some green vegetables such as string beans and pechay. I am not sure whether the name really represents its origin but perhaps it really came from Cebu as Cebuanos serve milled corn in lieu of rice. Here is the steamy hot bowl of Pochero de Cebu....

By GERLIE M. UY Here are the Top Ten posts in my two year stint as food and home-cook recipe blogger from 2010 to 2012. Two surprising high hits for viewers are my entries on Fish Soup with Kulitis which earns 80 viewers which I find amazing as "kulitis" is not a popular green leafy vegetable and Fish Soup with Kamote Tops which earned 93 hits. But both did not make it to the top ten though. Here are the top ten recipe with links that are always called for by the viewers (but I'm not sure if they're called to be cooked), and the number one which has 2273 viewers is unexpected as it has beaten my sushi, summer roll and pad thai. Read on! TEN classic buko salad 92 viewers posted last 12/11/11 NINE chicken ala king spaghetti 113 viewers posted on 1/14/10 EIGHT Buko Lychee Jelly Dessert 130 viewers posted last 1/15/10 SEVEN Pechay kimchi 203 viewers posted on 5/15/11 SIX vietnamese summer roll  137 viewers posted on 12/6/10 FIVE Food treats from Ilocos 141 viewers posted...

By GERLIE M. UY Actually, I was so hesitant to post this "kimchi attempt." Searching in the net on how to make kimchi is a big task. First, I have to find one which is not too chili-ful, not too complicated, and most of all easy-to-find-ingredients so I can make a version which is familiar-yet-not to Filipino palate. I made this a month ago and it's a surprise that the longer the fermentation, the better taste it gets.  What i love about using this native pechay is the crunchiness of the stalk and there is no after-taste or after-smell in its green leaves. This is indeed an accidental kitchen creation when I was confronted with many native pechay. Here's my kimchi attempt: Ing: 1/2 kilo native pechay 1/2 cup rock salt 4 liters water 2 tablespoon Cayenne pepper 6 chopped onions 2 chopped garlic 1/8 cup grated ginger 5 tablespoon brown sugar 1/4 cup fish sauce    Cut the end of the bunch of pechay and separate each stalk with leaves.    In a large container, diss...

By GERLIE M. UY 1-2 Tbsp sesame oil 2 cloves minced garlic  1 medium white onion, chopped 1/2 cup chopped stalk (white part) of the native pechay   2 Tbsp sesame seeds 300g boiled rice 1 Tbsp butter (optional) seasalt and pepper to taste 2 fried scrambled eggs, chopped. 1 cup chopped leaves of native pechay Saute garli and onion in sesame oil. Add the chopped stalks and stirfry until tender. Add sesame seeds and stirfry until fragrant or brownish in color. add the boiled rice, stir. Add the butter and the chopped eggs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let cook and mix well then add the leaves. Let cook until wilted. Ready to serve.

By GERLIE M. UY Pechay Wraps can also be called Bok Choy Wrap! Here's the link on our favorite green leafy vegetable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cabbage I mainly love Pechay when cooked with ground beef clear soup. I will share the recipe with you later as I did not take pictures of such a favorite home dish, as ordinary as it may be for us but I promise, it will enamor you too. Speaking of ordinariness, I decided to put a twist on the usual soup but best buddy: beef and  pechay. Here it comes!  The sumptuous Pechay a.k.a. Bok Choy Wraps after being steamed for 20 minutes. Best served with soy sauce or fish sauce (patis) with calamansi. Since I have no carrots, I used the squash and sayote.  Chop a cup and a half (1 1/2 cup) of each.  Then chop some onions and garlic in desired amount (the more the better. ).  Mix the chopped squash and sayote with 200g ground beef.  Put salt and pepper then soy sauce. Add egg if you desire. Mix well.  He...