Champorado Todo-todo!

Champorado is my younger sister’s comfort food.  She has the same reverence to this dish as I to my chicken sopas.  Here’s my mother’s Champorado recipe.

Ingredients:

1/8 kilo of Malagkit (Glutinous Rice)

¼ cup of washed sugar

4 tablespoons of Hershey’s cocoa mix

1 can Evaporated Milk

Preparation:

·        Dissolve the Hershey’s cocoa mix in 1 part water. Set aside.

Directions:

·        Place the malagkit (glutinous rice) in 1 Litre boiling water. Simmer until the malagkit becomes almost tender;

·        Add the Hershey’s cocoa mix.  Cover and simmer until the malagkit is cooked;

·        Add the sugar then bring to a boil;

·        Turn off heat;

·        Serve with swirls of evaporated milk on top

My sister likes her champorado best when it’s chilled.

Chicken Sopas

This series will not be complete without my all-time-favourite dish—chicken sopas!  I have tried a few other recipes but they all failed in comparison to my mother’s.  I guess the secret lies in the way she prepares and the ingredients she uses. 

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove

1 medium size onion

½ kilo elbow macaroni noodles

½ kilo chicken breast

1 celery stick

1 small carrot

3 small cans of Libby’s Vienna sausage cut in diagonical bits

1 tetra pack of Nestle All-purpose cream

olive oil

patis (fish sauce)

salt and ground white pepper

Preparations:

·        Boil the chicken breast to tenderize. Add a pinch of salt into the stock then cover;

·        Remove the chicken breast and set aside to cool;

·        Shred the chicken breast into fine strips;

·        Cut the celery and carrot into small bits

Directions:

·        Sautee the minced garlic and onion in olive oil;

·        Add the shredded chicken breast then continue sautéing;

·        Add the elbow macaroni noodles and add patis sparingly then stir;

·        Add celery then the chicken stock. Cover to simmer;

·        Add the cut carrot and Vienna sausage before the noodles become al dente;

·        Add the All-purpose cream.  Stir before adding a pinch of salt and ground pepper to taste. Cover to simmer;

·        Optional:  Add a few more drops of fish sauce to enhance taste.

Serve while hot!

Samalamig! Samalamig kayo dyan!

Another well-loved blend in our household is my mother’s Sago at Gulaman. This refreshing drink is a staple during the summer season, along with a variety of fruits in season.  Most of the handful of times my family went on a beach outing, my mother’s sago at gulaman was always a big hit!  The colourful variety sold in the streets pale in comparison to my mother’s version!

Here’s how my mother prepares her Sago’t Gulaman blend:

3 cups of tapioca pearl (bigger variety)

4 pieces of gulaman (jelly) in different colors

1 cup of washed sugar

½ tsp of vanilla extract

·        Place the sugar on low heat to slowly caramelize.  Once the consistency thickens, add the tapioca pearls.  Simmer until the pearls turns silvery in colour.  Set aside to cool.

·        Cut the gulaman bars in slivers or in cubes.

·        In a punch bowl, place the tapioca pearls, gulaman slivers, vanilla extract, and water.  Stir and add sugar according to desired sweetness.

·        Serve chilled

Behind the Scenes…

Our home has been filled with hearty laughter from me, my mother, and my sister, ever since I started writing about my mother’s recipes.  I didn’t know that it will be this fun considering that she was a bit hesitant to have her recipes “documented” and shared over the internet.

My mother starts dictating her recipes in Tagalog but ends up doing it in English when I explained that my blogs might be read by foreigners who are interested in Filipino dishes!  Of course, there are a lot of cooking techniques she has mentioned that have no direct translations in English and that she has insisted on being included.  Knowing my mother, had she been handy with a computer, she would have grabbed mine in an instant to do the writing herself!  Fortunately there’s my younger sister who provided translation in the most flavourful and tasteful way.

My mother is in a kind-of-roll now and wants to share more of her kept recipes.  I hope my writing renders justice to the passion my mother has for each of her dishes. 

PS. My mother will be most happy to hear your comments and questions.

Beef Mechado

Ingredients:

1 kl beef sirloin cut into cubes

1 cup tomato sauce

3 bay leaves

1 celery stick cut into bits

2 medium size potatoes cut into four pieces

1 large size carrot cut into four pieces

1 small size red bell pepper cut in diagonal strips

1 small size green bell pepper cut in diagonal strips

3-4 calamansi

1 tsp white wine (cooking variety)

3 tbsps soy sauce

olive oil

Preparations:

·        Marinade beef in soy sauce, calamansi, white wine, and bay leaves overnight;

·        Fry the cut potatoes and carrots until tender. Set aside.

Directions:

·        Sautee the garlic and onion in the oil used for frying the potatoes and carrots;

·        Add the marinated beef, tomato sauce, and celery.  Cover and let it simmer in low heat;

·        Check if the beef is tender;

·        Add the red and green bell peppers, potatoes, and carrots.  Stir and cover to simmer;

·        Turn off the heat once the sauce has thickend.

I am not a fan of tomato-based dishes but I must say that my mother’s mechado recipe makes me thinks otherwise.

Nilasing na Hipon sa Gata

Ingredients:

1 tub of small shrimp (“Granadang” hipon in vernacular)

1 cup virgin coconut milk (kakang-gata)

1 small amplaya (bitter gourd) cut diagonally

salt and pepper

Directions:

·        In low heat, simmer the tub of shrimp in small amount of water until pinkish in color;

·        Add the virgin coconut milk;

·        Cover and let it simmer;

·        Add the amplaya and salt and pepper to taste;

·        Simmer until the coconut milk’s consistency thickens then turn off heat.

This dish is may also be served as an appetizer.

Sinigang na Bangus sa Miso

Ingredients:

1 medium size Dagupan bangus (milkfish) cut into 4 parts

1 garlic clove

1 small onion

5 small tomatoes

2-3 (whole) pieces of unripened tamarind

½ cup miso

1 whole radish (cut diagonally)

1-2 bundles mustard leaves

1-3 pieces of finger chillies

1 cup water

olive oil

salt

Preparations:

Tamarind puree

·        Boil the tamarind in 1 cup water until it softens and pops. Set aside to cool;

·        Mash the boiled tamarind to extract the juice (puree). Set aside for later use.

Directions:

·        Sautee garlic, onion, and tomatoes then add miso.  Continue sautéing;

·        Add the radish , the Dagupan bangus, and the tamarind puree. Cover and let it simmer;

·        Add salt to taste;

·        Add the mustard leaves and finger chillies;

·        Simmer for a while then turn off heat.

This is best served with steaming hot rice and patis as condiment.

Yummy Pa-cham!

It’s only my Kuya who imbibed my mother’s cooking skills.  He’s really interested in cooking or baking ever since we were young.  I can fondly recall the numerous mishaps we’ve had in the kitchen, trying out different recipes we’ve cut out from newspapers or we’ve got from the labels of Del Monte cans.  Thus, it’s no longer surprising to know, years after, that he mans his own kitchen and comes up with tasty original recipes.

Below is his Pa-cham recipe, named after my niece, his one-and-only daughter.

Pa-cham

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove

1 medium size onion

1 ripe tomato

soy sauce

oyster sauce

seafood (choices: shrimp, squid, mussel)

malunggay leaves

1-2 bundles of pechay tagalog

3-4 cubes of tofu

salt and patis to taste

olive oil

Preparations:

·        Mince the garlic, onion, and tomato;

·        Prepare your seafood of choice by taking of the shell or the innards for the squid.  Cut into bite-size pieces, if desired. We’ll use shrimp for this recipe;

·        Fill a bowl to the brim with water, enough to soak the malunggay leaves.  Set aside;

·        Cut the pechay tagalog leaves about an inch in long. Set aside.

Cooking Directions:

·        In medium heat, fry the tofu until golden brown.  Drain excess oil from the fried tofu on table napkins. Set aside;

·        Sautee the garlic, onion, and tomato;

·        Add the shrimp to the sauteed garlic, onion, and tomato.  Sautee until shrimp turns slightly reddish or becomes tender;

·        Add the patis, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and salt to taste;

·        Simmer for a while then add the malunggay and pechay tagalog leaves;

·        Stir a few times for the flavours to blend with the shrimp and malunggay and pechay tagalog leaves;

·        Turn off heat before adding the fried tofu.

Best served with steaming white rice.

Adobong matanda

There could be a thousand and one ways of cooking adobo but for us, it has always been adobong matanda.

Ingredients (good for 4-6 servings):

1kl choice cut

1 garlic clove

1 whole onion

1 pc bay leaf

whole pepper

soy sauce

vinegar

Directions:

·        Sautee onion and garlic until golden brown, then add the chicken choice cuts; 

·        Add soy sauce, whole black pepper, and bay leaf;

·        Simmer until the chicken becomes tender, then add about 2 tablespoons of vinegar;

·        Turn off the heat when juices from the meat comes out.

Serve with steaming white rice.

Back to square one…

Lots of ideas are popping out of my head!  Aside from my Mother’s recipes, I will also share her best-kept secrets in preparing dishes and trivia from marketing to dining.

#1.  What makes a sinigang, “the sinigang?”

Tamang panuka!  Whether it be tamarind, guava, mango, or kamias-based, the best sinigang uses natural panuka and nothing else.  My favourite is tamarind-based sinigang!

#2.  How do you prepare the tamarind-panuka?

Wash the unripe tamarinds together with the ripe tomatoes, place in a pot with a cup or two of water, boil until the juices from the tamarinds and tomatoes are out, mash those using a strainer, and drain the extract for cooking.

This may seem a lot of work, but believe me, it’s all worth it!

#3.  The basics of sautéing.

Staple to most Filipino dishes are sautéed onions, tomatoes, and garlic.  My Mama usually uses a bulb or two of garlic and onion, and about 2 pieces of good-sized tomatoes for a standard dish good for 5 servings.

Peel the garlic and onion skins.  Mince the onions finely while grind the garlic using mortar and pestle, then set aside.  Take off the seeds from the tomatoes before mincing finely.  Contrary to what others do, my mother puts in the garlic first before the onions.  Be careful though, not to burn the garlic as this will render the dish a bitter after taste. Before the garlic turns brown, place the onions to caramelize and put in the tomatoes last. 

The secret to sautéing, she says, is to “crunch” (ligis, in Tagalog) those with the base of the ladle for the juice to come out. 

I will share more of my Mother’s cooking tips in my next entries.

Filipino dishes

This will be a series of entries about my favourite Filipino dishes and all-time best recipes kept by my Mama.  I take pride in my Mama’s cooking (as any child will do) because she has mustered the art for our discerning taste buds.

For starters, my family’s not much into dining out so I’m definitely no foodie.  But I can very well tell if a dish is worth raving about or otherwise.

I live on my mother’s cooking and will forever do so until I learn how to work my around the kitchen.  I cannot describe how stressful it is for me to decide what to have for lunch during those rare days that I do not have my lunch baon with me.

My mother’s cooking is not that different from yours, I think, which is why I hope that you’ll be able to appreciate her kitchen secrets.  And perhaps, you’ll be tempted to give those a spin.