Hearty Smoked Fish chowder

Nothing beats fresh vegetables when it comes to good cooking. However, chopped, frozen veggies are sometimes practical, especially if you're pressed for time and you just can't be bothered preparing the ingredients--chopping, dicing, slicing, etc.--which is very time-consuming.

This smoked fish chowder was one of those recipes I saw on "Food in a Minute" (a one minute advertorial program to fill gaps between programming), which got me interested. However the recipe required for a packet of ready to cook frozen potatoes, capsicum and onions. Stingy me, would rather use fresh veggies (some of which may come from our garden), rather than buy the more convenient packets of frozen goodies. So I peeled, diced and sliced equal amounts of potatoes, capsicums and onions. Plus, I altered the quantity in the ingredients as the original recipe was meant for 4 - 6 people. I do not like using butter so much, so again, I used substitution--olive oil instead of butter. I'm sorry, I could not tell the difference in taste had I used butter, but there probably isn't much difference.

The picture may not have done justice to the taste of the dish because I took the photo in a rush before dinner, but David and I find it really nice. He asked me to do it again soon.

Hearty Smoked Fish Chowder

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
1 leek, trimmed, rinsed and cut into 1 cm slices
1-2 stalks celery cut into 1 cm slices
1 tbsp flour
1 cup vegetable stock or water
3-4 pieces medium size potatoes
1 piece onion
1/2 cubed red and green capsicum
1 cup frozen sweet corn
250 g smoked fish fillet, skinned and flaked
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped celery leaves
1 cup of milk
1 tsp (optional) grated lemon rind

Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the leek and celery until tender, but not brown. Stir in the flour and cook over a low heat for 1 minute or until frothy.

Gradually stir in the vegetable stock and milk, stirring continuously as the sauce thickens.

Add the cubed potatoes, green and red capsicum and onions. Add sweet corn. Simmer gently stirring regularly until the vegetables are hot and tender

Stir in smoked fish, herbs and lemon rind if using. Season as wished.

This can be divided into four servings for small appetites.

Crispy Vegetable Rolls

After three days my mung bean sprouts were ready for the harvest and for the wok. I don't know why but even after years of making this lumpiang prito, there would always be excitement and a feeling of satisfaction as I look at the pile of just-rolled lumpia on my kitchen table ready for frying and freezing. Moreso, if they were rolled properly and they are in uniform sizes.


Here's how I did them:

Lumpiang Prito
(Vegetable Spring Rolls)

250 gms ground pork
500 gms mung beans sprouts
1 medium size carrot (grated)
1 good size sweet potato (grated)
1/2 small cabbage (shredded)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon cornstarch (for sealing)
soy sauce to taste
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons sesame oil
Vegetable oil for frying

Heat oil in a big enough wok, saute garlic and onion till fragrant. Add ground pork and cook until pork loses its raw color. Add the chicken stock and boil for five minutes. Add the grated sweet potato, carrot and shredded cabbage, Cook till veggies wilt then add the mungbean sprouts. Cook for five minutes more, turning the veggies to make sure they don't go soggy.
Remove from heat when veggies are cooked. Transfer into a colander to cool and drain.

Dissolve cornstarch with a little water, bring to the stovetop and heat, stirring until it thickens. This can be used instead of a beaten egg to seal the spring rolls.

Separate the spring rolls skin and cover with a damp cloth to prevent from drying. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the skin about two inches from the bottom corner, then fold it over the filling and roll upwards encasing the filling. Fold in the corners and press down firmly to seal, creating an envelope. Moisten the left and right corners of the skin with the cooked cornstarch and seal. Repeat with the remaining filling and skins.

Using a deep fryer or a deep work, heat the oil until almost smoking and begin frying your lumpiang prito until they turn golden brown.

Drain with paper towel.

Vinegar Dip:

In a small bowl, combine half a cup white vinegar, 4 cloves or more garlic (crushed), half a teaspon ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Mung Beans Sprout

David loves crispy vegetable spring rolls (lumpiang prito) dipped in ketchup. Sometimes, he prefers Mang Tomas Sarsa ng Litson, while I am a vinegar dip (made with white vinegar, lots of crushed garlic, a little salt and black pepper) fanatic. I make lots of these and freeze them in packets of 10 pieces, ready for when he wants something crispy for lunch.

I am quite choosy with the mung bean sprouts I put into my vegetable spring rolls, though. I prefer them when they are just two or three days old--when the beans are still in their 'button' stage and the 'tail' is just about a centimeter long. At this stage, the sprouts have a nutty texture and are more preferable than the fibrous texture of long "tailed' sprouts. So I grow my own to make sure they are in the right stage of growth when I need them.

Mung beans are definitely one of our comfort foods when we long for the warmth of home. Unfortunately, they are high in uric acid and at a certain stage in our lives, we just have to accept that we could no longer indulge in 'ginisang munggo' every Friday. Not to worry though, we can still have 'lumpiang prito' since there other ingredients to it other than mung beans sprouts. With all that uric acid talk, mung beans are still a good source of Vitamins A, B, C and E, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium and Amino Acids.

If you want to start sprouting your own, here is how to do it:

First you have to have a bean sprouter. Mine is made of plastic--round, three layered. The first and second layers are transparent and there are small openings on the side where water drains so the beans are not swimming in water. The third layer catches the water that drips from the first two layers.

If you are like me who prefer more beans than roots: Rinse the beans and drain them every 8 to 12 hours for two to three days.

For long roots: rinsing and draining should be done in 4 to 5 days.

Apulung minuto king Arayat National Park

"Pagnasan kung tuki ka

Batyawan te itang bunduk ning Alaya

Kareta ding batu manukluwanan kata..."

                                     - Indung Balayan (Arti Santa Rita, Kapampangan Ku CD)

  

Nung mipasyal kayu Mt Arayat National Park kening milabasan a pilan bulan, siguru apansinan yu ing makadismaya nang hitsura ngening kasalukuyan. Ing buri ku sanang ikutang, ninu na ing mamalakad king Mt. Arayat National Park?
Apat a beses neng tinuki keng pamanuli ku Pampanga i David. Pero e ke pa aturung magsalitang Tagalog o kaya Kapampangan mu man anya Inglis mu ing balu 
nang sabyan. At e ne pa ikit ing kabilugan na ning balen kung tibuan. Anya ing tauli ming pamanuli binalak ku talagang maglambat kami Santa Rita, ban kanita apasyal ke kareng lugar a pagmulalan keti Pampanga.

Ing mumuna nang diling buring akit, alang aliwa nune ing bunduk Arayat. Prumeru ya pamung minuli Pilipinas, apansinan na neng David ing bunduk Arayat a mayayakit ketang tiknangan nang matas a hotel king Cubao, Quezon City. Anya ginagad yang sinaling mapa ning Pampanga king National Book Store, Cubao. Karin, ikit na nung makananung miras king San Juan Baño, ing baryong sasakop keng entrance paukyat king Mt Arayat National Park

December 30, 2008, alas kuwatro na ning gatpanapun inyang miras kami San Juan Baño. Menibat ke Santa Rita, dinalan ya ing sasaken ming karag-karag a jeep king Mexico kaibat Santa Ana bayu miya ikit itang arkong ating makasulat - "Arayat Malaus Ta Pu". Adwa keng pulu katao ketang kilub ning jeep--labing apat a anak a mangalati, edad apat anggang labing apat at anam a makatuwa.
Palub king parke adwa lang arko nung nukarin makasulat ing lagyu "Mt Arayat National Park" deng abungaran mi. Muna kung apansinan ing mangabakbak a pintura karetang adwang arko. Tahimik, at alang tao ketang gate a makabuklat. Mapali, malisangan at maalikabok. Misumangid ating adwang tanaman a mengalagas na bulung pauli ning malanging gabun at angin.

Kalagpas ning jeep karetang adwang arko linto la ring apat a kelalakian at metung a babae. E ku ikit nung nukarin la menibat. E la karagulan a katawan detang lalaki. E la mikakandayu edad  s--iguro atilu keng 30 anyos o mahigit. E marayu keng limang talampakan at limang pulgada ing katas da. Paka-salol lang putut at sinelas a goma. Itang kabud babae, bilugan ya at makuyad ya buwak. Kulang lang metung deng ipan na keng lalam at makasulud yang malutung kamiseta, kule asul a korto maki bulsa king arap at gulut at lawe ku, maskup ya ing salol na. Ating makakuwintas a ID kaya pero balamu e ne buring ipakit malapitan.

Tinakiki la keng jeep ming sasaken. Mipakirut ku pa inyang bigla na la mung sinalambo keng jeep a sasaken mi ding atlung lalaki. Sinabit la king estribo, itang metung pa keta naman gilid na ning driver at itang kabud babae, sinabit neman ketang passenger side nung nukarin makalukluk ya i David.
"Tsa-beinte pesus balang metung a katao," nganang sinabi ning babae.
"Ali, treinta pesus balang metung!" masiyas nang salabat nitang metung karetang lalaking makasabit king estribo anyang apagmasdan ne i David. Inisip ku iya ing tatalakad lider na ning grupu da.
"Aba, ninung tutu kekayu?" ngakung mengutang, medyo mesora ku king kagarapalan dang asal at pamagsalita. Mataram ya paglalawe itang lalaking balamu lider, anya medyo mipakamakama ku. "Basta, treinta balang metung," masiyas nang sinabi.
Kaibat nang memilang kareng pakalukluk keng jeep, sinabi nang 480 pesus ing bayaran mi. Mayap namu e ya masyadung biyasa keng kuwentahan. Binye ke ing metung a Ninoy at sinabi kung karela ne ing sukling beinte pesus. Pero matsura naku aiisip tungkul karening lalaki.

Menguldas kami ngan kaparada na ning jeep ketang masalilung a gilid na ning parke. Bandang kailli nung nukarin migparada ya ing jeep, ikit ko retang mengalumang kubu-kubuan a ilib. Siguru, manayun la reta anyang bayu lang gawa at marakal a mag-piknik. Ngeni, lupa nong mengapaburen at e na malyaring gamitan. Keng arapan mi, ating metung a swimming pool nung nukarin atin limang anak a mangalati magtampiso keng danum.
Manibat king kagulutan mi, atin pang adwang lalaking dinatang. Maibug kung mapuput anyang pelibutnan da kaming miyasawa. Pamilitan da keng mukyat karetang eran a matas. "Karin akit yu ing malagung view na ning bunduk. Ala kong akit keni lalam," nganang sinabi nitang lalaking lider da kabang makalawe la mu reng aliwa. Malangi ing tonu nang magsalita. Balamu utusan na kami pang tuki keng buri nang malyari. "Tara na! Dakal ko pa akwang letratu karin," ngana pa nitang metong anyang apansinan ne ing kamerang dadala ng David.
Miglalawe ku ketang direksiyon a tuturu da. Mangalabung la at mangatas ding tanaman dutung a ikit ku keng misusumangid na nitang eran. Masukal at madalumdum. Menalakad ku buwak kayagnan na ning aisip kung matsurang eksena. Aganaka ku pa ing ababasa ku keng diyaryo keng internet, deng miyaliwang tau pangidnapan da at patubus maragul a pera. Makananu nung mabisa ke ping manik? Makananu nung marok la palang tau rening kasabi mi? Makananu nung atyu na kami ketang babo, kaibat bigla rang sinabing "E kayu malyaring magbaba anggang e kayu mamiye maragul a pera!" Mengilabut ku. Telanan keng masalese i David, pota bigla reng abitan. Pero lalu kung mengilabot anyang aisip ko reng anak kayabe mi. Agyaman dakal kami karela, puro no man anak a mangalati reng abe mi, makananu nung panasakitan da la deng pangunakan ku nung ala kung aibie pera? Ay rugo.
Kakabug naku salu, pero e ku bisang payalata lalu na kang David. Pepaliwanag ku kaya ing buri dang malyari detang lalaki, pero siyempre, eku sinabi ing kutub ku uling makarine kaya nung matsura ing maging karanasan mi keng kanakung balen.

"Pilan mong minutu bayu tamu miras ketang babo?" ngakung mengutang, agyaman e ku interesado.

"Saguli mu."

"Makananu kasaguli?"

"Siguro, metung oras ati ta na ketang babo."

"Ay, rugo…ali na. Maina no reng tud ming miyasawa, e mi na agyu ing matarik a ukyatan. Saka e ku bisang mabengi. Siguru muli na kami mu. E bala nung mesayang ya man ing kekaming biaje papunta keni."

Kasabi kung muli na kami mu, pengulait ko reng anak at pepasaken kung pasibayu king jeep. Tinerku la at migtaka. Ala la pa kanung ikit keng pasyalan a ita. Bakit kanu kasaguli ming mumuli. Tunggal-tunggal, ginulut la retang lalaki at e ku no ikit nung nukarin la migbanda. Melakwan ya itang babai makalawe kekami kabang kukusad ya ing jeep paluwal king parke.

Malaut na ing pilai na ning jeep, makanyan man eku pa mu rin mikuldas a salu. Malyap la pa mu ring maglalawe reng kanakung mata. Makananu nung ati lu mu pala keng gilid-gilid detang lalaki, kalupa nandin at bigla na lamung sulput manabat pala keng pagluwal mi? Nung malyari ya mung sulapo ing jeep, siguro, sinabi ku na keng driver mi ing pasulagpon ne ing sasaken mi ba keng agad milako karin. Inyang abatyawan miya ing boundary ning Sta Ana, karin ku pa mu mipangisnawang saldak. Pepasalamat keng Diyos at alang nanu na mang matsurang milyari kekami.

Pero siyempre, mekaramdam ku naman lungkut. Agya mung keng isip ku, menyawad kung tawad king Apung Guinu keng pamanisip kung marok tungkul karetang kabalen ku. Pero nung ikayu ing atiyu keng kabilyan mi at makanyan ing milyari, nanu kayu isipan?

Buri ku sanang sabiyan, nung ibilang deng metung kareng pasyalan Pampanga ing Mt Arayat National Park, sana naman ayusan de at linisan mu man bang kanita maglupa ne mang tune pasyalan. Metung pa, sana deng mamalalay kareng turista, biyasa lang makipagsalitang maayus at medyo malume kareng mamasyal. Matsura ing meging karanasan mi ketang lugar a ita at e na ku siguro magbanda pa karin. Lalung e ke irekomenda kareng kanakung kaluguran.

Makanyan man ing milyari, mayap a aldo pu kekayu ngan, Kabalen kung Kapampangan. 

                                                                      

Ampalaya

For the past weeks my body was signaling that I had been indulging in too rich food. The sign? I was craving for bitter melons. I don't know why, but after having rich and greasy food day after day after day, I would always want to eat bitter melons. This stemmed from our belief that eating something bitter will help purge the system of any impurities. Problem was, bitter melons are not common in the area where we live. So it's been weeks since I started craving for this bitter veggie. Last week I was so desperate that I asked David if we could check that Asian food supermarket in Petone, some thirty minutes drive from our place to see if they had any. The store did carry it, albeit frozen and the label was marked, 'product of Vietnam". Oh well, ampalaya from anywhere else in the world will be just as bitter and good. I was happy to bring home a packet of three pieces, cleaned and pitted.

I decided I would do 'relyenong ampalaya' since it's been ages since I last had this dish. So I stuffed two of them with cooked minced meat, rolled them in batter then shallow fried them. With ketchup and steaming white rice with, I had a feast! David did not like bitter melons so I had them all for myself.

Here's how to do relyenong ampalaya if you are interested:

Ingredients:

2 -3 pieces ampalaya cut in half or quarter (depending on the length of your ampalaya)
batter (1 egg, 1 cup of flour, water)
Oil for frying
Ketchup

Filling:
1 tbsp cooking oil
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/4 kg minced pork
1/4 kg (or less) shrimps, shelled, chopped (optional)
2 tbsp raisins
salt and pepper to taste
1 small carrot shredded (optional)
2 tbsp of chives chopped


Boil the ampalaya pieces until half-cooked. Do not overboil as this will make them soggy.

Meanwhile, heat oil in wok and sautee garlic and onion. Add the minced pork. Add shrimps. Stir and make sure pork is no longer pink. Add carrots and raisins. Add chives just before removing from heat.

Dry the ampalaya and stuff them with the cooked filling. Coat them with batter then shallow fry them. Just before serving, cut each piece into 1 inch slices then serve with ketchup.

Just remember when seasoning whatever you're cooking, go by your taste. Adjust any ingredient or alter if you must to suit your taste.

Quest for Bittermelons

Market by the river


When I feel like I am consuming too much of too rich foods, my body would crave for ampalaya (bittermelon), thinking this bitter veggie is some kind of a detoxifying agent that would rid the system of stored grease. I love this bitter veggie thinly sliced then sauteed in lots of tomatoes with cubed pork and shrimps, which we call "lagat apalya" in Pampango. A simpler version of this, "guisang apalya", is sauteed in tomatoes and then lightly beaten eggs are added to it. On special occasions, we would prepare "relyenong apalya", which is blanched whole bittermelons, seeds removed and then stuffed with cooked pork mince, coated in light batter then shallow fried. Served sliced with tomato ketchup and steaming white rice.

Too bad, the bittermelons I planted last summer did not do well, struggling to even sustain their leaves. Needless to say, not a single fruit was produced this year. Now, I am hoping against hope that they would survive the cold this winter in the hothouse so I've been trying to keep them alive by keeping them watered and protected as best as I could from the cold.

Bitter melons can be bought thinly sliced, vacuum packed and frozen in an Asian store in Petone (a 35-minute drive from our place). But no thanks, because frozen veggies turn very soggy when cooked, not to mention watery, and therefore, have lost most of their nutrients and taste.

So when a friend mentioned that ampalaya are on sale at a flea market in Lower Hutt every Saturday, I eagerly looked forward to visiting that place. The Riverside Market in Lower Hutt is quite far from where we live, so we have to have another purpose for going to that place. We had the opportunity last Saturday, when another friend from Porirua, invited us over for her housewarming party.

It was the first time I had been to the Riverside Market in Lower Hutt where all sorts of freshly-harvested fruits and veggies were on sale. Veggies were in green and yellow plastic crates loaded from big trucks. Vendors were mostly Chinese market gardeners, selling their produce. Noticeably, a lot of buyers were Asians, some were Maoris, a few Pakehas and the rest were Pacific Islanders.

Looking around, I was amazed at the sizes and shapes of fresh greens on sale--familiar veggies and ones that I only know by name through books and magazine. I have never seen white radishes so biggg, each one weighed at least two to two and a half kilos! Or potatoes as big as an infants head! There were the more common veggies like cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, squash in different varieties, watercress, spinach, carrots, big pechays they call "pak choys" here, chinese cabbages (ones we call pechay Baguio back home), and just any other leafy greens you may want to find.

BUT not a single bittermelon in sight!

Wandering around a bit disappointed for not finding bittermelons, my face lightened up seeing freshly-cut lemon grass being sold by a Chinese gardener! Just recently, I bought a jar of lemon grass in a jar but was not so pleased with the preserved herb. I have actually given up hope of finding fresh lemon grass here, and now! I did not have second thoughts about buying a bunch--five roots with a few leaves in them--for two dollars!

Last summer we harvested sweet corn from our garden, and since then have been thinking of "Guisang Sale Manok", a chicken soup my mother would always cook when there were freshly-harvested corn. But then I was not confident about using the lemon grass in a jar, so I did not bother. Then too, I found sayote, which they call chocos here. Most of the days now are wet and cold, so what could be more comforting than steaming chicken tinola?

I took advantage of that trip to go and visit a new store that sells Asian foodstuff. I felt a bit sad to find a bag of rice labeled "Thai Jasmine Rice" and below it in open and close parenthesis, Milagrosa, mabango, clearly, a Philippine rice variety, that is now being exported by Thailand to other countries. Back then, our neighboring ASEAN countries learned how to properly cultivate and propagate rice from us through oour Rice Research Institute. Now they have become self-sufficient and are even producing export quality rice while we are now importing low-quality rice from them.

Lasang Pinoy 17: Salted Eggs

This topic about eggs really got me egg-cited. Eggs, are no doubt a perfect food. An essential ingredient in every kitchen, they are inexpensive, available at any time of year, nutritious, easy to prepare, and can be added to just about anything you're cooking.

Growing up in a farm, my siblings and I have lots of fond memories about eggs. The most vivid and probably exciting was that of "stealing" them from the nest (made from old baskets we call kaing, in Pampango), while the hen was still incubating them. Another one was discovering ducks' eggs under the haystack, or in a dark corner of the barn concealed under rubbish, or under piles of used bamboo poles where predators, meaning, dogs and children, wouldn't notice. Likewise, finding tiny quail eggs in equally small nests nestled in between rice stalks in the middle of a rice paddy, really thrilled us. But what was amazing for us as children then was my father showing us how to cook eggs in a different way--wrapping them in clay and throwing them in a bonfire. After a few minutes, when the clay had dried and had visible cracks, the egg inside was ready.

And of course pleasant memories about how eggs are used in Filipino foods also abound, like the sinful leche flan during town fiesta or Christmas season, the soft and still warm bibingka topped with salted eggs and grated coconut meat during the misa de gallo, spanish omelette in the morning and of course, balut, penoy, red, salted eggs, etc. etc.

Indeed, there are endless ways we could prepare eggs, but for this Lasang Pinoy 17, I would choose salted eggs.

Food we grew up with would always have a special place in our tummy, you know, so even the nicest and yummiest pasta dish would not beat the satisfaction you get from eating salted eggs, ripe fresh tomato, slices of green mango and steamed rice wrapped in fragrant banana leaves.

I remember, the last days of classes during my primary school years were always fun. Our teacher/adviser would tell us to bring our lunch to school so we could all have lunch together inside the classroom. I normally would have lunch at home on ordinary days because school was just a few minutes walk from home. Aside from that, I felt miserable eating a cold meal during lunch time. For that "special" last day of classes, I would bring my lunch to school, which would often be steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves and at the center of it was a shelled salted egg and a very ripe, fresh tomato. If I was lucky and pico mangoes were on sale, I would buy one from the public market on my way to school.

As a teen-ager, the salted egg also figured in our picnics with friends, especially if the invitation was sent on a short notice. Salted eggs were always available, they do not spoil easily, were easy to prepare and very cheap compared to meat, so they would almost always be included in our picnic baskets.

Some two months ago I chanced upon huge geese salted eggs at a farmers' market here and didn't think twice about buying two because for several days prior to that I had been craving for salty eggs with ripe tomatoes. The eggs were huge, probably twice the size of a medium-sized hen's egg. Not satiated with just two, I decided I would try doing them myself so I asked from among my friends for a recipe for salted eggs. I got one and this was what I used for my salted eggs using chicken eggs.

Salted Eggs

1 1/2 c Rock salt
4 c Fresh water
12 Fresh eggs, preferably duck eggs


Bring water and rock salt to a boil. Let cool. Place eggs in a crock or glass jar. Cover the eggs with the salt-water mixture. Let stand in a cool place for 21 days. Remove eggs from salt bath and store them in the refrigerator if not ready to use immediately. Yolks should be a bright yellow-orange color and quite firm. The white should be slightly cloudy and still runny. Eggs without a firm yolk should be discarded. To hard cook, cover with fresh cold water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Maybe I was too excited or too anxious that the recipe would not turn out right, or the eggs would become overly salty, so I tried one after 15 days. The egg yolk was allright, it had a nice color to it, the white was not too bad either, but it was not as salty as the ones commercially sold. So I waited six more days and the result was satisfying. Needless to say, I had a feast!

New Zealand grown ampalaya

I finally had bittermelon fruits from the vine I planted October last year. Actually, this was the last one. I picked three others some weeks ago and was quite pleased, but not too happy about them as they are so tiny compared to the bittermelon we grew in Pampanga. But since it's autum and the temperature has gone really low these days, I worry that the frost would beat me to my bittermelon so i also picked some of the leaves. These will be nice in sauted mung beans soup later this week. Well, semblance of food from home.

Pancit Bihon with Bittermelon and sardines

I chanced upon some ampalaya (bitter melons) in one of the Chinese stalls at the Riverside Farmers' Market last Saturday and decided to buy a piece which cost me three dollars. I had given up hope of producing my own ampalaya this year because to this day, the bitter melon vine I planted last October (which I kept well-watered and well-fed under the hothouse), hasn't produced any single fruit. It was a well-looked after plant, maybe even "spoiling" it with organic fertilizer once a week and making sure it is protected from any predator insects. In return, it grew lush, healthy leaves and the vine has almost filled the length of the hothouse. I was excited seeing its first bud burst in January, although it was quite late considering that it's been four months since I planted it. I anticipated to pick the first bitter melon fruit in February, but to my dismay, the first bud which was just about an inch long, turned yellow just as February was about to start. There were lots of buds that sprouted since then, but the same thing happened - they wilted just as soon as their flowers dried. Not a single fruit survived. And autum has set in, meaning colder temperature which the ampalaya wouldn't like. So last week, I picked all the young leaves and cooked them into a bitter soup with lots of tomatoes in it.

Anyway, I decided to use the bitter melon I bought in a recipe called, "Pancit Bihon with Bittermelon and sardines" or "Pancit Bihon Maki Apalya at Sardinas" in Pampango. You probably have not heard of this dish, but this is one pancit recipe from our barrio whose main produce back then was bitter melon. It's a farmer's recipe. It's something my mother would prepare as soon as the first few fruits of our bitter melon plants are ready for picking. These first few fruits, which develop near the base of the vine are called "bungang pun" in Pampango or first fruits. These are plump and short and are not too bitter. For farmers back then, the sardines is the most readily available ingredient, especially if you live far from the market place. Toiling in the farm from sunrise to sundown gave little time for us then to do our shopping (which would have to be in the next town) as vegetables are a very demanding crops. Sardines and bihon can be bought from the neighborhood sari-sari store at a very cheap price, whereas, if you wanted shrimps and pork to go with your bittermelon, you have to go to the next town's producer's market.

To cook this dish you will need:

1/4 kg bihon
1/2 kg ampalaya sliced thinly
1 tin of sardines
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup chopped tomatoes (optional)
1 medium sized onion thinly sliced
2 tbsp cooking oil
salt to taste
1 cup water

Soak bihon in tap water until soft. Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic, onion and tomatoes. Pour the sardines then add water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the bitter melon. Boil until bitter melon has turned a nice green color. Remove from the pan. Add more water if needed, then add the bihon. Cover the pot until bihon is cooked. Return the sardines and tomato mixute into the pan and mix well. Serve warm.

Salted eggs

I found these huge, salted geese eggs at a farmers' market in Lower Hutt last Saturday. I was so pleased because for days, I've been craving for salted eggs.

Nostalgia. The last days of classes during my primary school years were always fun. Our teacher/adviser would tell us to bring our lunch to school so we could all have lunch together inside our classroom. We normally had lunch at home on school days because school is just a few minutes walk from home. Aside from that, I feel miserable eating a cold meal at lunch time. And because there were no jollibees yet during those days, students' lunches would almost always be steamed rice with deep fried bangus belly with ripe, fresh tomatoes, or fried chicken/pork chop, adobo chicken/pork, etc. It was proper food, you know. Nothing from fast foods. Some years, I would have steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves and at the center of it was a shelled salted egg and a very ripe, fresh tomato. If I was lucky and pico mangoes were on sale, I would buy one from the public market on my way to school, or else, I made do with the indian mango.

The salted egg also figured in our picnics with friends, especially if the picnic was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Salted eggs were always handy - they do not spoil easily, are easy to prepare and very cheap compared to meat.

Food we grew up with would always have a special place in our tummy, you know, so even the nicest and yummiest pasta dish would not beat the satisfaction you get from eating salted eggs, ripe fresh tomato, slices of green mango and steamed rice wrapped in fragrant banana leaves.

Stuffed Marrow

Zucchini and marrow

Last year, we had a bumper crop of golden zucchini and we tried several recipes using this. We made zucchini pickles, zucchini fritters, zucchini and mint soup, zucchini this and zucchini that. This year, we decided that we want the green one. Zucchinis are fantastic to have in the garden - they are easy to grow and need little attention. But not when they have begun fruiting because the zucchinis seem to grow vigorously and could become marrows overnight.
Two weeks ago, we noticed an overgrown zucchini and so allowed it some more days of sunshine before we decided to pick it. David suggested that we stuff the marrow and bake it like we did with the yellow marrow last year. The recipe is called Stuffed Marrow which was from the book "The Cooks' Garden" by Mary Brown, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne.
For this recipe, you will need a large vegetable marrow (1.5 kg). Cut it evenly in half and use a spoon to remove the seeds and the soft pulp inside.

For the stuffing:

1 small onion chopped
2 tbs butter
250 g mince
60 g fresh mushrooms chopped
1 tb chopped parsley
1/2 tsp chopped thyme
50 g soft breadcrumbs
freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 small egg
2 tbs butter, melted

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and saute for a few minutes. Add the mince and mushrooms and continue to cook until browned. Remove from the head. Add the remaining ingredients except for the melted butter. Mix thoroughtly with a fork.


Pack the stuffing carefully into the marrow. Place in a large roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Cover with a piece of foil. Bake at 190 degrees. A large marrow will need 1 1/2 hours and a small one will need 45 minutes in the oven,
Serve with Neapolitan sauce.




Neapolitan sauce
250 g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
1 tb cooking oil
1 tsp chopped basil or parsley

Saute the tomatoes, garlic and seasoning in oil for a few minutes. Do not allow the tomatoes to become pulpy as the fresh taste will be lost. Add basil or parsley and serve with the stuffed marrow.

This sauce also goes well with spaghetti and topped with grated cheese.

Suman

Suman is another native delicacy that we associate with the festive Christmas season. Or at least in the farming village where I grew up. Rice being abundant in our place, different delicacies with rice as the main ingredient were almost always present on our noche buena feasts--kalame ube, kalame nasi, tibok-tibok, tamales, puto, suman, kutsinta, etc.
This suman I am telling you about is what we call suman tili in Pampango and is made of glutinous rice half-cooked in coconut milk and sugar then rolled in banana leaves. The resulting cylindrical suman - sometimes the size of cigars - are then boiled for hours to complete the cooking process.

Frozen banana leaves 

Last November, I was just too happy to find the newly-opened Filipino Mart in Lower Hutt selling banana leaves among other Filipino food items. The banana leaves were frozen and cost quite a lot if you're thinking in terms of its abundance where it came from. Yes, banana leaves are readily available back home that we almost always take it for granted. It is only when we want to use it but could not find it anywhere else that we realize how precious this thing is.

Fresh coconuts, are available here in bigger supermarkets, thanks to Samoa and Fiji islands who export the coconut in different forms - fresh, dried, dessicated or in tins. And glutinous rice sold here comes from Thailand.
The ingredients for this suman:

2 cups glutinous rice
1 cup sugar
4 cups coconut milk
pinch of salt (optional)
banana leaves

Preparing this suman is quite fiddly and tedious. First step is cutting and trimming the banana leaves in uniform size before wilting the pieces in fire (or boil them) for a wee while so they do not break when you roll the rice and do the folding. Next, the glutinous rice is washed and cooked with coconut milk in slow fire, careful not to burn the bottom of the pan as this will impart a burnt taste to your suman. Halfway through cooking, add the sugar. This is so because if sugar is added beforehand, the rice will never break and won't get cooked no matter how long you boil your suman. When cooler, a tablespoon or two (depending on the size of your banana leaves), is rolled onto the leaves. This too, needs skill because your suman may get flattened instead of having a nice cylindrical shape when rolling is not done properly. Pile the suman in a large wok or deep pot, add enough water and steam the suman for 30-45 minutes or until cooked according to your desired doneness.

This suman goes well with sabaw ng nilaga or tea during cold and balmy mornings.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Lasang Pinoy 16: Holiday Food Gifts (Tamales)

Several of my attempts at joining Lasang Pinoy's Food blogging event in the past failed, but this time, I am determined to finish this entry because I am raring to tell you all about our family's favorite Christmas food gift--the tamales. But first let me give you a brief introduction of this Pampango delicacy and its importance to our family.

The tamales is a native rice cake that is popular in Pampanga, especially in Bacolor where, the best tamales, they say, come from. It's an offshoot of the Mexican tamal (tamales is the plural form), which are packets of corn dough with a savory or sweet filling and typically wrapped in corn husk. I surmise that substitution of ingredients through the years, resulted in this Filipino version of the tamales.

Anyway, the tamales is cooked by mixing ground rice and coconut milk and thinned with water, then seasoned with powdered black pepper, anato seed water (for coloring) and salt. The mixture is cooked in slow fire until a certain consistency is reached, then when cooled is wrapped in squared banana leaves, topped with slivers of chicken meat cooked asado style, slices of boiled eggs and ground peanuts. The final product is then steamed for an hour or until it has settled and the tamales has taken shape. A melt-in-the-mouth tamales has a jelly like consistency after steaming, with a hint of green from the banana wrapping.

The tamales has become my mother's 'signature dish' and our Christmas wouldn't be complete without it on our noche buena table. Placed side by side with ham, queso de bola, roasted turkey or chicken on your dining table, the tamales would look very 'out of place', but to us, it is the 'star' of our noche buena feast, something we would always look forward to having during this festive occasion. Let me tell you why.

Father’s roots were from Bacolor, hence his fondness for tamales. When he and mother got married, they settled in nearby town, Sta. Rita. Mother knew how much Father missed the tamales. For love of him, Mother, who was the youngest among 12 siblings and who knew nothing about cooking, decided to learn how to make the tamales. But since it's such a tedious and fiddly job, she would only make them on special occasions like Christmas and included them on our Noche Buena feast.

However, the first Christmas she tried to make tamales was a disaster. Since she relied only on calculation for the ingredients, the resulting tamales were soggy and salty. Out of politeness, father ate the tamales and appreciated her efforts and good intention.

The following Christmas after that first attempt, she was armed with the measurements courtesy of her eldest sister. This time, there was an improvement. The tamales had the right taste, but were too firm, looking more like kalamay-wrapped-in-banana leaves instead of tamales. That was because she used newly-harvested rice. That was another lesson learned.

Since she would make a lot of tamales every time (five gantas of rice would yield 80-100 pieces of medium sized individually wrapped tamales), she would offer them to our relatives who would come visiting on Christmas day, and sometimes would send some more to those who did not come.

Determined to make the perfect tamales, mother would make her attempts Christmas after Christmas, and each year, registering an improvement. Until finally, she was able to come up with neither salty nor soggy, but melt-in-the-mouth and really delicious tamales. By this time we have become accustomed to having tamales on our noche buena feast, not to mention we have acquired the taste for this native kakanin. Even our relatives who come visiting would also ask her for more tamales. Every year thereafter, she would make lots of them a day before Christmas, anticipating more of our kins and later, some of our neighbors clamoring for her tamales. And thus, started a tradition of giving tamales as a Chirstmas food gift.

Five years ago, mother left us to be with our father who went ahead seven months earlier.

The very first Christmas as orphans was the saddest Christmas for all ten of us, their children. Needless to say, the first Christmas in years that the tamales was not on our dining table, and no tamales to offer to visiting relatives and friends.

Two years ago, our eldest sister, decided that we have to bring back the tamales tradition in remembrance of our mother. So, all of us women siblings set to work for that one goal--tamales on our Noche Buena feast. We were confident that years of observing mother cook tamales has taught us how to do it ourselves.

Unfortunately, our first tamales two Christmases ago, were soggy and salty.

Last year, our tamales were soggy but no longer salty. This Christmas, as I celebrated Christmas away from home, I tried to make some, but these too were not perfect.

Next Christmas, I will be home in Pampanga, and we are determined to make the perfect tamales for us and for our visiting relatives, the way Mother did them, with so much love and patience.

Lasang Pinoy 16

Lasang Pinoy, which could mean ‘tastes of something Filipino’ or short for ‘the Filipino taste’ is a monthly food blogging event to promote Filipino food. It is a product of e-mail brainstorming sessions of several Filipino food bloggers who thought it was time for a Filipino event in the tradition of Is My Blog Burning. The blogger organisers of Lasang Pinoy and participants strive to make the events reflective of Filipino culture.