Crispy Kangkong

Kangkong is abundant in our place. I was complaining to Dad
about the kangkong growing in our backyard. It has taken a lot
of space and needed to be trimmed.  Dad says he’d  make some
pickled kangkong  with the trimmings. And I made crispy kangkong
with the leaves.

kangkong is rich in iron and fiber

crispy kangkong

kangkong leaves
cooking oil for frying

batter:  2 Tbsp cornstarch
            1 Tbsp water
            1/2 teaspoon salt
            2 egg whites

dip:      1 cup yogurt
            1 tsp crushed garlic
             paprika
             curry powder

clean the kangkong and remove the stalks (you can reserve
this to make adobong kangkong). pat dry the leaves using a
napkin. set aside.

mix well the ingredients for the dip.refrigerate.

in a bowl, mix the batter ingredients. heat the oil
until very hot. Dip each kangkong leaves in the batter
and deep fry until the leaves turns dark green. drain
in paper towel.

Serve with yogurt dip.

Sharing this crunchy appetizer
to all Weekend Herb Blogging
enthusiasts hosted by Graziana
of  Erbe in Cucina.

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?!

Powdered Ube

I always associate Christmas with Haleyang Ube
[ha-leh-yang ooh-beh], a sweetened dessert of purple yam
(Dioscorea alata). We always make it from scratch.
Mashing the boiled ube, adding milk and sugar and stirring,
stirring, stirring over low heat. This could take an hour
so be sure to have a partner in stirring.

Ube is used in most Filipino desserts. Halo halo,
ube ice cream, ube silvanas, hopiang ube and ube cake.

In a recent trip to Bohol with friends, our host family
served us a delicious ube cake. I was not able to get
the cake recipe but I was able to watch the process
of making powdered ube which they supply in stores
around Tagbiliran City.

Ube is steamed, grinded and dried

Ube Cake

Easy Shrimp Tom Yum

My sister bought some packets of Tom Yum paste from her trip
to Thailand.Since I was feeling adventurous, I decided to try it.

I bought some mushrooms (Volvariella volvacea)to go with it.
These mushrooms are dear to me. I took a Mushroom culture
class in UPLB. My family used to cultivate them using banana
leaves.

Everyday we would wake up around 3:00am to harvest the
mushrooms and by 5:00am I would be on a bus going to
Quezon City to deliver it to Crossings market in Cubao.
Traffic was not a problem then. The trip would only take me
an hour. By 8:00am I would be in UPLB for my first class.

Tom yum paste, checked. Mushrooms, checked. Shrimps
(I brought with me from my GenSan trip), checked.
From our garden I got kaffir leaves, lemon grass and dayap
(local lemon). Now I'm ready for my first Tom Yum.


1 packet Tom Yum paste
200g deveined shrimps
200g mushrooms
1-2 kaffir leaves
1 stalk of lemon grass
fish sauce
dayap juice to taste
3 cups water

Submerge the packet in hot water for a minute. Cut open,
the paste will come out easily.

Boil lemon grass and kaffir leaves in 3 cups water.
Add the paste and bring to a boil. Add the shrimps and
mushrooms. When cooked, add fish sauce and dayap
juice to taste. It's that easy!

Minatamis na Langka (sweetened jackfruit)

Jackfruit (langka) season is here again. We got 1 tree that supplies us plenty.

Often Dad would divide the fruits and distribute to our relatives.

I love the smell of jack fruit. The fruit is sweet and crunchy.

My favorite is to freeze the fruits before eating to make it more crispy.
The seeds can be boiled which makes a good snack.
Dip it in sugar to make it more appetizing.

With jackfruit, I always think of turon and halo-halo. Often we would make

minatamis na langka (sweetened jackfruit) to preserve it.

minatamis na langka

To make sweetened jackfruit, remove the seeds from the fruits.
Cut the fruit into strips. I also cut it in half so it won't get stuck in
my throat( it tends to be slippery when cooked). Boil 1 cup of sugar
and 1 cup of water. When the sugar is dissolve add jackfruit strips
about 2-3 cups. Cook until no liquid is left.

For a crispier sweetened jackfruit, no need to add water. Cook
the jackfruit with sugar until the sugar is dissolve.


Sharing this to all Weekend Herb Blogging lovers.
WHB#275 roundup is hosted by Chris of Melle Cotte,
the little blog that feeds a huge appetite for cooking.

Plant Basil, Harvest Pesto!

I got basil seedlings from my Tia Aring last month and now I am
harvesting them! Good thing my sister was here last weekend
to show me how to make pesto. She even brought her portable
food processor for our use (all the way from General Santos City).

Eager to test her new camera, Olympus SP-800ux (it has 30x
optical speed!), she was shooting early Sunday morning outside
the house. I went along, even if i just woke up, because I was
also eager to show off my basil plants.


She didn't use exact measurements for the pesto. Just trusted her
her taste and feeling. In a food processor, basil was mixed with
olive oil, garlic, pepper, anchovies and nuts. I also got some pine
nuts from Tia Aring which we used but run out of them so we
used some Chedeng's roasted peanuts (a favorite pasalubong
from Iligan City).

My sister is right. Plant basil, harvest pesto!



You might also like:

My General Santos City Adventures : GenSan Market and GenSan Eats




October 2008 harvest








October 2009 harvest





I am linking this to Foodie Friday:

October Harvest

Typhoon Santi (international name: Mirinae) made landfall early
saturday morning Oct 31. Laguna was in storm signal no. 3.
Most of our fruit trees at home were down after the typhoon.

Papayas are not yet fully riped

Banana trees suffered the most

Balimbing / Star fruit got a beating from the typhoon

September Harvest

Balimbing / Star Fruit

Papaya

Bayabas / Guava

August Harvest

Rambutan

Rambutan

Banana (Saba/Plantain)

Gabi/Taro

July Harvest

Puso ng Saging (Banana Heart Bud)

Pomelo

Kalamansi and Siling Haba

Banana

June Harvest

makopa (Malay Rose Apple Tree)

siling haba (finger chilllies)

papaya and banana

Banana - saba

May Harvest

Puso ng Saging (Banana Heart/Bud)

Saging (Banana)

Papaya

Rice

April Harvest

Papaya and Mangoes

more Mangoes

Siling Haba / Finger Chilis

Kalabasa / Squash