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.