All posts filed under: Recipe

Baked Lechon

When C got his job offer to Qatar one of the question was is pork sold there? Nope it’s not. And when we all move to Dubai that question pop up once again. Yes it is available in selected stores here.  I think one food/dish that’s included on the list of things we miss back home is Lechon (Suckling Pig). Did you know that the Philippines is #1 on Anthony Bourdain’s Hierarchy of Pork List? Imagine our hunger after watching the shows feature of our home country at 11pm. That led me to prepare our very own version of lechon away from home. Pork belly is boiled with different spices and then baked for 3 hours to achieve that crunch that sends us back home. Little V easily proclaims this crunchy as his favorite! I can put him on the table with a cup of steamed rice, Mang Tomas Lechon sauce and the crunchy pork skin happily praising me “this is yummy mommy. V’s favorite.” To prepare bake lechon: boil pork belly with 2 laurel …

Empty Ref led to Pinakbet

An empty refrigerator always make me smile. why? It means I have not wasted what we bought and I have actually managed to cook for three. Cooking for us three has always been a struggle, I always somehow have a whole lot of leftover which tends to be forgotten and disposed at the end of the week. Also for last week we do grocery shopping every two days cause I need the space for my cakes.Before C left for his basketball game I told him to buy takeOut for lunch, by 11am he still no call so I decided to make use of what’s available and darn yesterday’s dough is in the freezer bread was out of the menu. The only available ingredients: Tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, ampalaya (bitter melon), talong (eggplant), kalabasa (squash), okra and crispy chicken skin (chicharon). V asks what are you cooking mama? I want soup miso weed.    As a kid I hated eating vegetables I remember being bullied by my cousins. They would put a whole chunk of veggies …

Kutsinta

Kutsinta is one famous kakanin (local dessert) in the Philippines. My Mama would always bring home different kinds of kakanin for us after visiting the palengke (fish market) every Sunday. The result of my first kutsinta was not perfect, it tastes good but it was a bit hard. Texture should be soft and firm. Friends who got to taste my first batch suggested to cook it at a lesser time (first batch was steamed for almost an hour). My mom’s bestfriend uses the plastic mold in making Kutsinta but Mama refused to let me use those and instead sent me muffin like tin cans similar to what she was using. Btw, see that stain on the second photo of my steamer made me sad because I just spent 1 hour scrubbing the whole oven. Above photo is my attempt to be creative. I even used C’s D80 to learn basic photography for an upcoming class. I spent more than hour editing photos in picnik a much more simply program compared to photoshop. Finished cooking the whole batch  for 1 hour …

Lemon Bars (circle for us)

“I want some pie” … it has been weeks and I just ignored V’s request. Tonight I was craving for something with lemon. Lemon Squares! This squares were my favorite when I was still pregnant with V. Ohh and you may have notice from the photos that what we did was more of a pie since we use a round pan (my square pan had rust in them that’s why). Back home in the Philippines I didn’t use lemon to make this tarty treat instead I used calamansi which produce almost similar taste to lemon. I got this recipe from JoyOfBaking but I added a little bit more sugar to the filling. Lemon Squares source: JoyOfBaking Crust: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar 1 cup all purpose flour 1/8 teaspoon saltLemon Filling:1 cup granulated white sugar 2 large eggs 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoons grated lemon zest2 tablespoons all purpose flour Garnish:Confectioner’s sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray …