Foot and Fire

My one-month old banana vinegar is now sour to my liking.  Just a month ago, we have overripe bananas with black peels already. I reminded my mom not to throw it away as I saw online that I can turn it into vinegar just by feeding the bacteria sugar and this bacteria will turn the mixture sour. Today, I strained the pulp and had a 750ml banana vinegar.  While straining the liquid to separate from the pulps, I observed a whitish jelly-like subsyance. This must be the "mother" as we ofter see in the label of apple cider vinegars. I returned the mother with the pulp so that the bacteria shall continue breaking down more pulps.  INGREDIENTS Banana pulps 1 cup distilled or spring water for every cup of pulp 1 tbsp brown sugar for every 2 cups of pulp Glass jar Cloth or unused facemask to cover jar mouth HOW TO Mash the banana pulp. Add water and brown sugar. Mix well and cover lid with facemask. Every day, stir the mixture using wooden spoon to avoid mo...

#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

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 ...

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

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) ***

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 ...

Blanch kamote tops and drain well. Add sliced tomatoes, onions and grated green mangoes. Toss in apple cider vinegar, a dash of salt and black pepper. Chill and serve as appetizer.

Cucumber, carrots, iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese... Topped with italian herbs.. With apple cider vinegar, olive oil and pickle relish as dressing ****

Camote tops Onions Tomatoes Vinegar (apple cider or red wine vinegar) Salt and pepper Blanch camote tops, drain and set aside. Add the rest of the ingredients and serve chilled.

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.

The triple combo of avocado, cucumber and corn with strawberry dressing! Cubed cucumber! Cubed avocado and the sweet corn kernel! Triple Treat Salad The Strawberry dressing... My store-bought dressing...a Gourmet Dressing by Quan, a local bakeshop and restaurant. Manufactured by Pueblo Bakeshop, La Salle Avenue, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. 034-434-1733 Fax 034-434-6481 The ingredient says it's made of vinegar, strawberries, corn oil, sugar and spices. avocado a.k.a alligator pear. It was green when not yet ripe and the peelings turned purple when they ripened. Choose a ripe avocado with firm flesh for this recipe. 3 medium-sized avocado, seed removed and cubed (flesh should be firm but ripe) 3 medium-sized cucumber, seeded and cubed  1 can corn kernel, drained strawberry dressing In a bowl, put the first three ingredients. Drizzle with half-cup strawberry dressing. The strawberry dressing I used is store-bought but a home version can be made from strawberry jam, vinegar, corn ...

This is one of the dishes we cooked up at the Saigon Culinary Art Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Lotus stem is tasteless, aroma-less but super crunchy; perfect for salad. Since this recipe called for pork and shrimps, I omitted these two. In the following recipe, I shall include pork and shrimp for your perusal. Marinade 1 T lemon juice 2 T sugar 2 T white vinegar 2 T fish sauce (patis or nuoc mam cham) A pinch of salt and pepper 180g Lotus stem (cucumber, carrots, green papaya, cabbage or turnip may be used)  100 g pork tenderloin 100 g shrimp 10g celery 20 g carrots Garnishing 1 big chili 1 chili flower 5g knot weed (may use sweet basil) 5-7 g mint leaves 1/2 T fried peanuts 1/2 T fried shallots (may use onions) Preparation MARINADE: Mix all marinade ingredients except fish sauce, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve completely. VEGETABLES: Cut in julienne the lotus stem, carrot and big chili. Cut celery in 1-2 cm length. PORK: Prepare pork by boiling it over medium h...

By GERLIE M. UY 1 kl beef, sliced tapa-style Marinade 1 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup honey 1 tsp ground pepper 1 tsp rock salt 1 thumb-size ginger, sliced thinly 1 tsp ground ginger (optional) 2 T apple cider vinegar 1 T canola or sesame oil 1/2 cup canola oil (for frying and cooking) onion rings 1 T sesame seeds Garnishing 1 T toasted sesame seeds In a container with seal, put the tapa-cut beef and pour in the marinade and mix well using hands. Let stand for two hours or overnight. Heat wok-style frying pan, put the 1/2 cup of canola oil. After oil is heated, add the beef arranging each on the pan then cover the pan. Let cook for 10 minutes and add the rest of the marinade. Cover and let cook until beef is tender and the marinade is reduced to a half. Add 1 T of sesame seeds and onion rings. let cook until marinade is reduced to a third. Then remove from fire and arrange in a platter. Garnish with toasted sesame on top.  Related post: Chicken wings teriyaki