Ukoy / Okoy

We always have vegetable lumpia (vegetable spring rolls) during Good friday.

Since it's a no-meat day, tokwa (tofo or soy bean cake) is used. Lunch would

be Lumpiang Hubad (Naked Spring Rolls, a spring roll minus the spring roll 

wrapper hence the name) with sweetened garlic sauce. Leftover veggies would

then be wrapped in spring roll wrapper and fried for supper.

For a change, I tried making Ukoy / Okoy. It's like fried lumpia without 

sauteing the veggies before wrapping in spring roll wrapper. The basic ingredients 

are shrimps, tofu and bean sprout.  I added some carrots, squash (from my uncle's 

farm) and sayote / chayote (Sechium edule)  which we have in our garden.

batter:

       1 cup flour

       1/2 cup cornstarch

       1/2 cup water

       salt and pepper

      

filling:

        1 cup  julienned sayote

        1 cup julienned squash

        1 cup julienned carrots

        1 cup bean sprouts

        1 cup sliced tofu

        1 cup shrimps

oil for frying

      

Make the batter and set aside.  Mixed the vegetables except the tofu.

In a ladle, place the mixed vegetables. Sprinkle the tofu and shrimps

on top. Pour batter just enough to coat. 

Slowly dip in hot oil. Remove ladle and fry until golden brown.

Serve with vinegar and crushed garlic.

Pork BBQ

I was supposed to cook Menudo but was too lazy to do peeling
and chopping so I decided for barbecue instead.

I marinated the pork slices in garlic, dayap juice, salt and pepper
for about an hour. Placed them in bamboo skewers and grilled them.
I also used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue Sauce as baste.

WHB# 320 Nilagang Saging (Boiled Banana)

Come harvest time for bananas, we would have plenty of
unripe bananas at home. Dad would choose the large ones
to sell and the smaller ones are left for our consumption.

This is another way of boiling banana that I learned here in Pila.

Instead of boiling ripe bananas, unripe banana is used. Washed
it thoroughly, and with you palm, press each banana to crack it.
Place in a large pot with water and add salt. Boil bananas until
cooked. The sap of the fruit will mix with the water adding flavor

and will turn the fruit brownish. Served with grated coconut and 

sprinkle sugar.

Sharing this snack to all
Weekend Herb Blogging lovers.
This week's roundup #320
is hosted by Astrid of
Paulchens Foodblog?!

Roasted Chicken with Tarragon

Mom's request for her birthday menu was roasted chicken.
Instead of our usual Chicken w/ Lemongrass, we use
tarragon that has been growing nicely in our garden.


Rub chicken with salt and pepper. Stuffed fresh tarragon inside
the cavity. We used about 10-15 stems. But you can stuff as
many as you like. Mix 2-3 tablespoon soy sauce and 2 tablespoons
of kalamansi juice and rub on chicken skin. Cook in turbo broiler
for about 45 minutes at 375F until chicken is done. Let rest for
10 minutes before serving. Happy Birthday, Ma!


Love chicken? Try these recipes:






Chicken Adobo sa Gata












Chicken Krapao

Sinigang sa Bayabas

Today, cooking sinigang is very easy. Souring ingredients are
already available in powdered form (Mama Sita's, Knorr
Sinigang Mix, etc) Still nothing beats preparing your souring
ingredients from scratch. Boiling and mashing the tamarind
or Kalamyas or in this case guava fruit adds to the excitement
of cooking sinigang.


We get to cook Sinigang sa Bayabas when Typhoon Santi
(Internation name: Mirinae) hit our place last Oct 31.
One of our guava tree was partially uprooted and we were
forced to harvest the fruits.

Sinigang Sa Bayabas

You will need:

1 medium size fish sliced (Bangus or Tilapia)
4-5 pcs ripe guava (quartered)
1 medium tomato (quartered)
1 medium onion (quartered)
sili leaves or camote tops
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
3-4 cups water
salt

In a pot, boil tomato, onion and guava in water. Simmer
until guava is softened. Take out the guava (leave some
if you like to eat them) and place in a bowl. Mashed and
set aside. Add fish into the pot and simmer until fish is
tender. Strain juice from mashed guava into the pot.
Seasoned with fish sauce. Add the leaves, sprinkle
salt on top and simmer for a few more minutes. Serve hot.

Gulo Gulo and Maruya

Gulo gulo in Filipino means messy. It is also the favorite snack my
Lola Angge used to cook for dad and his siblings. The same way to
cook Maruya but using unripe banana instead.

In cooking Maruya, the ripe banana slices are arranged like a fan
or formed in a square, coated with a batter of flour and water then
fried. Dipped in sugar before serving.

Gulo gulo as the name implies is cooked randomly. Thin slices
of unripe banana (preferably saba) is coated with batter then fried
without arranging.

Gulo gulo

Congratulations GROW YOUR OWN on
its 2nd anniversay!

Thanks to Praveen of Masala Heaven
who is hosting GYO #35 roundup.

Check out other banana recipes:






Ginanggang or Grilled Banana

Laksa , cooking with banana heart / bud

Kaswela, sauteed sinigang?

Kamias Tree

It was only when we transferred residence here in Pila, Laguna that I
have tasted Kaswela. Back in Iligan City, we also have Kamias or Iba
(Averrhoa bilimbi) tree but we didn't get to cooking Kaswela.

We usually use Kamias for our Sinigang, Ginataang Hipon or Sinaing
na Tulingan. During summer, when fruits are in season, my sister Gay
and I would eat raw Kamias dipped in rock salt. Kamias are also dried
and made into candies.

Because of its high acid content, Kamias fruits are also used to
remove stains from skin, clothing and rust from metal blades.

Kaswela, I think is just sauteed Sinigang. You boil with sinigang while
you saute with kaswela.

Kaswela

1/2 kilo fish, sliced
4-5 pcs. Kamyas, sliced
1 medium tomato
1 medium onion
1 - 1 1/2 cup water
2-3 Tbsp patis (fish sauce)
2 TBsp cooking oil

Sautee onions and tomatoes until limp. Add sliced Kamias and stir fry
until kamias changes color. Add fish and patis and cover for 1 minute.
Add water and simmer until fish is cook. Served hot with rice.


Grow Your Own #33 roundup is hosted by
MomGateway.

For more GYO recipes, check out my entries:
Everything's Herbed Grow Your Own.

Chicken Krapao

It's been a while since I last ate in my favorite Thai restaurant,
Ning's Thai in Los Baños,Laguna. The owner, Tita Cora gave me
some krapao seeds to plant at home. Krapao is Thai Basil.

This recipe is an attempt to try one of her best sellers,
Chicken Krapao.

Krapao plant


Chicken Krapao

1 chicken breast
crushed garlic
1 tsp sugar
chili powder
4 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 Baguio Beans, sliced
bunch of krapao
1 Tbsp oil

Saute garlic in oil. Stir in chicken, chili powder, sugar and fish sauce.
When chicken changes color,add Baguio beans and oyster sauce.
Stir fry until chicken and beans are cooked. Turn off heat and add
krapao. When krapao leaves are limp, transfer to a plate and serve.

GYO- Burong Mangga

A week before the mangoes were due for harvest, a branch broke off

from the main trunk.

My uncle says it was because of the weight of the fruits.

So here we are with so many green mangoes.


A recipe that calls for green mangoes is Burong Mangga (Pickled Mangoes).

The usual way to do it is to cut the green mangoes into 1 centimeter
thick strips. Discard seeds. Place mangoes in small clean glass jars.
Add about 1 tsp salt and water barely to cover well the mangoes.
This will be ready to serve in 3-4 days.


Here is another recipe shared by chef Jackie Ang Po from Yummy
magazine (April 2009), perfect timing with our green mangoes!

you will need:
3 pieces green mangoes
4 cups water

for the syrup:
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tsp salt

Peel and cut green mangoes into strips. Discard seeds. Boil 4 cups
water and let cool completely. Soak sliced mangoes in the cooled
water overnight.

To make the syrup: Fill pan with water. Add in sugar and salt.
Boil and let cool completely.

Drain soaked mango strips. Place in airtight container. Pour syrup
over the mangoes and cover. Refrigerate 2-3 days.

This is usually served as a side dish. Enjoy!



This month's roundup of Grow Your Own
is hosted by the Daily Tiffin.

Tinolang Pata

It had been raining lately and we were craving for some Tinola Soup
at home. Tinola is usually cooked with chicken, green papaya
and sili leaves. We didn't have chicken that time so Dad used
pork Pata (Hock). He also used Malunggay leaves (it was waving
outside the kitchen window, waiting to be picked) and sayote which
he picked that morning (see January Harvest).


Tinolang Pata

3/4 kilo pork pata (pork hock)
1 thumb-sized pc of ginger
1 onion, sliced
3 medium sized sayote (chayote)
1/2 cup Malunggay leaves
1 Tbsp patis (fish sauce)
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp cooking oil
about 5 cups water

Saw cut pork pata crosswise at 1 1/2" thick slices. Peel ginger
and sliced thinly. In a large casserole, saute ginger until fragrant.
Add onion slices and cooked until limp. Add patis and pork pata.
Stir until meat is no longer pink on all sides. Season with pepper.
Pour water and bring to a boil. Simmer until meat is tender,
about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel sayote and cut half lengthwise. Remove the white
core and cut into wedges. When meat is tender, add sayote.
Adjust seasoning. Bring to a boil and simmer until sayote is cooked.
Place Malunggay leaves on top but do not cover. Cook for 5 more
minutes. Serve hot.



I am submitting this to Andrea who is
hosting Grow Your Own Roundup #25.