Friday, July 23, 2010

Sinigang Baboy

In Tagalog, you say baboy (bah-boy) for pig or pork and in Kapampangan, you say babi (bah-bee). I've made this before with shrimp, but I think pork is my favorite! There may be a bit of a variation in how I made it last time, but I think it's just based on preference and what you choose to put inside. Either method works well as long as the yield is a delicious soury sinigang sabaw (soup).
Don't forget your sour mix.
Veggies in the mixity mix.
I think the only newcomer is the long white root plant that my mama calls labanos. I believe this root plant is related to the radish family. Pretty good in the soup.
Look at these pretty medallion pieces I cut up of the labanos. I only used half of it cuz it was pretty larger and in charger.

Place pork in a large pot and fill with water. Add the sour mix with pepper, onion and tomato and boil until pork becomes tender.
I've resorted to seasoning/salting with patis or fish sauce. Don't be afraid of it. It can be a bit stinky, but it just gives off a different saltiness flavor as compared to using table salt.
Then when pork is tender and desired flavor is attained, add your veggies and serve hot with steamed white rice. Deeelicious!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Khao Kluk Kapi

When my cousin suggested we create this Thai dish for dinner, I shared that I had never heard of it and needed visuals. Kuya then sent me a link to a beautifully plated dish and I was game. I googled what this dish consisted of and basically it means, fried rice with shrimp paste. This made me kinda excited cuz I kinda love shrimp paste, well bagoong, and any chance to consume that salty flavor, I'm all about.

Ingredients:

  • shrimp paste (main start)
  • coconut milk
  • green papaya
  • red onion
  • red bell pepper
  • lime and kalamansi
  • greens from the bok choy family
  • long beans (not photographed)
  • green onions (not photographed
  • steamed white rice (not photographed)
  • marinated pork (thanks to Kuya - he used Kikkoman mirin with some marmalade for sweetness)
To make Khao Kluk Kapi, Kuya said as long as we have the shrimp paste with rice and coconut milk mixture, we could add any and every color ingredient we wanted.

First,
Use the shrimp paste and coconut milk to flavor and add color to the steamed white rice.

Add a bit of olive oil to your non-stick pan, then add a tsp or two of the shrimp paste. Then add the rice and mix well. Really get that pink shrimp color all the way through. Taste to see if it's the saltiness you desire, then add a bit of the coconut milk, but only a few tablespoons at a time. The coconut milk helps to reduce the saltiness if your rice is too salty.

Kuya chopped all the veggies:
Everything was chopped into small pieces for easy plating and eating.

The bok choy were the only cooked veggies via blanching and everything else is fresh, fresh, fresh!

Pan seared the pork and then used oyster sauce as sort of glaze to brown it a little.

Then, the best part came. Kuya performed magic with the scrambled eggs. He used a ratio of 1 part eggs and 1 part milk. Then, check this out:


Wait for those bubbles to formulate. You want it to be super thin, almost crepe-like.
Roll, roll, roll.

Then carefully place on chopping board and slice up ribbons of scrambled eggs.
Finally, time to plate with all the different colors!
DEEELICIOUS!

Then for dessert, Kuya Ethan brought these from WF. Thank goodness I had lactase pills on hand.
Thank you Kuya and Kuya Ethan for such a wonderful cooking and dining experience sans looky-loos! It was such an enjoyable experience! I hope you will have me again for other tasty and very colorful meals. Amazing!