Fish Steak Galore

Ive been browsing the Food Magazines stacked inside the toilet whenever the call of nature arrives and the inviting succulent fish steak on the cover made me dream of concocting a delicious fish steak that the family would love. Thelma once bought slices of tuna for a song (because its price normally does not fit in with our household budget) and marinated it with Maggi seasoning and calamansi. We read that seafood should only be marinated for 30 minutes before cooking to maintain its freshness and taste.

So after 30 minutes of marinating, we heated the pan and put in margarine then the fish. Then we sprinkled salt and pepper and cooked both sides at 3 minutes each. It was panalo and so we tried blue marlin and believe me, it was juicy and very restaurant-elegant in terms of taste. It must be the kind of fish that defines it. I tried Dory today but it did not have that same refreshing taste while retaining that "lasang gilik" tang in the palate. But hunger is the best viand so we enjoyed it just the same.

Eid L’ Fitr and some Moron eating Roti

A day before the Ramadan ended, I found myself roaming the streets of Quiapo trying to check out the scene and what food find I might discover. It was interesting to mingle with Muslim brothers and sisters and chat with them how they feel fasting from dawn till sunset and as always, continued to learn a lot about their faith and culture. I arrived around 4:00 pm and people were preparing for their evening meal after fasting from 4:00 am in the morning up to 6:00 pm in the evening. Fruit salads ruled the stalls delicately prepared and wrapped in plastic waiting for the faithful to share and partake. I tried APANG, a round-shaped Muslim delicacy that has a very subtle taste made of rice. I was so shy to try it in front of my Muslim acquaintance while they wait for the fasting time to end but my curiosity got the better off me and ate it altogether with the refreshing fruit salad.

From what I’ve observed, most food sold in the Halal restaurants around the Quiapo Mosque have that curry-like texture and yellowish color due to the spices enjoyed by our Muslim brethrens. They have the ARUAN, a fish that looked so delicious with the fish roe and its meaty flesh swimming in a bowl of curry drenched soup. The aroma of grilled fish and roast chicken floated in the Globo de Oro and Elizondo streets teasing the Muslim faithful with its scrumptious promise to break the fast. I followed the smell and ended at the Maud Roast House and mingled with the people trying to buy out all the roast chicken the joint can offer. I was lucky to get a ¼ thigh part and literally enjoyed it with the special hot sauce that I have to go back again sometime and have another go. Then rushing at a special Roti store, I found a laid back seller telling me to come back some other day for they’ve sold out their stock. Man it was a downer not getting that Roti treat.

I went back on the day of Eid ‘L Fitr but most of the stores were closed due to the celebration. I just have to come back some other day.

My two day Quiapo experience all the more exposed the lowdown crassness and stupid ignorance of some moron I met two weeks ago while eating at some bourgeois-assimilated Roti store in Tomas Morato bragging his experience with his Muslim classmate. He just kept rattling and rattling of an experience way back in college when he allegedly manhandled a Muslim and that they are not courageous nor brave and that one just has to show his toughness and other stupid stereotyping and kabobohan that made me leave the premises and light up three sticks of cigarettes just to let go off that steam due to narrow-mindedness and stupidity of individuals.

So much for stupid neanderthals, Eid Mubarak! Allah is Great!

Kulawo

I've tried the Kulawo at Ugo Bigyan Pottery in Tiaong, Quezon and it is just awesome. Thanks to Anton Diaz of www.OurAwesomePlanet.com who went out of his way to email me the recipe of this masterpiece.

Awesome Red Tinola

San Rafael, Bulacan for me equals authentic provincial cooking. Arriving at Tiyong Amante and Tiyang Ine's house, I went straight to the kitchen to check out what they are preparing and sorted out the sauce bottles and spices. Most of the ingredients came from other Bulacan towns that all the more excited my waiting palate and appetite. I saw an Ate Conching brand Sukang Paombong and cooking oil on the table with fresh produce picked straight from their garden. For breakfast, it’s the overflowing carabao’s milk partnered with salt and rice that brought the house down but it’s the Tinola preparation for lunch that really fascinated me.

The Tinola was prepared meticulously with the chicken rubbed with rock salt before diving into the big metal wok with ginger, onion, and garlic already sizzling and flavoring the provincial fresh air. After the chicken dive, they put in atsuete, a red food coloring used for, well, food, I guess. Then it was not sautéed but “isinangkutsa”, a term that still haunts me in my dreams. I think it is when one put everything in the wok all at the same time to mix all the possible flavors. Then a calculated amount of water, an almost ripe papaya, some dahon ng sili, and chili pepper were added and slowly simmered until reaching that Red Tinola peak worthy of an encore.

Filipino Dining Tutorial by Mikey Bustos

Pochero. Comfort Food

picture taken from

http://365stories.pinoybizonline.com/2010/03/03/moms-pochero-my-style/

Pochero. Comfort Food.
Comfort food is Pochero.

Was the name Pochero derived from a Spanish word? Does it sound like Cocido? I just do not know how to pronounce Cocido, but Pochero? Pochero by any other name, or pronounciation, taste just the same. Grand.

Pochero is very versatile with the possible different combination and ingredients one can think of and can still be called Pochero. It somehow remind me of Irish stew with or without tomato sauce. Its all in the boiling, so they say. The longer it boils, the more tasty and whole it becomes. I've tried cooking it a couple of times before arriving at perfection. Perfection, yes. Ive achieved perfection in cooking Pochero. Not like a perfection of reaching buddhahood but more of a satori experience perfection. A short glimpse of enlightenment whenever people say that the Pochero do taste good. it is so simple to prepare and meat can be pork or beef. What matters is the boiling time and the meticulous mixture of liquid and seasoning to arrive at what I call Pochero perfection. It is slow food cooking.

Some do and some dont saute. I do. I put a perfectly measured cooking oil then start with the onions, then garlic, Bananas, and tomatoes. I put some magic powder (ala Wok with Yan) then the meat. Then when I feel that it is enough (yes, to feel what one is cooking is important. It is called oneness), I put in water then boil it until the meat softens up with the potatoes and carrots. After that delicate process, I enter the most important part of balancing the taste. I add some fish sauce, more magic powder (if and when required), sugar, and tomato sauce. It is a balancing act as I mix the sweet and salty in portions to reach what philosophers call deliciousness. Then I put in the green leafy chinese cabbage. Then it is done. Pochero perfection.

Pochero Perfection

Ingredients

1 kilo Beef or Pork
2 heads Onion
1 whole Garlic
2 Tomatoes
2 plantaine Bananas (Saging na Saba)
5 cups water
Potatoes (Kahit gaano kadami)
2 medium Carrots
2 ropes Chinese Cabbage (2 Tali ng Pechay)
Fish sauce
Sugar
Magic Powder
Tomato Sauce


Corn Cob (optional)
Garbanzos (optional)
string beans (optional)

and the list of optional ingredients can go on and on and on and on......

Korean Flow

We stayed at A.Venue Residences along Makati Avenue last weekend and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere it offered our weary petty bourgeois souls. The children enjoyed the 24 hour airconditioned room and swam in the cold infinity pool overlooking the Makati skyline. I enjoyed everything Korean that I ate on that 24 hour vacation cycle.

For our afternoon snack we went to a Korean Mart located in the former Makati Mart in front of the former International School in Kalayaan Avenue. We checked out the grocery alleys full of korean goodies and we opted for a homemade kimchi, instant Korean noodles, and those green chili peppers that are not so spicy and can be eaten raw. The Kimchi is just so good to the palate and mixed well with the Korean instant noodles and green chili peppers.

For dinner, we walked along Makati Avenue and enjoyed the night breeze in a surprisingly not so traffic snarled saturday night. We found a couple of Korean restaurants and settled in a Korean hotel and restaurant joint called Ingwasan. The restaurant looks seedy and dated with menu in Korean characters plastered on the walls. It felt like working class Korea and that gave the place that needed flavor. We ordered bbq pork and beef stew and believe me, it was the most simple preparation I've seen in the history of my Korean food escapade but it actually made my palate quiver. The pork bbq cut in bacon like strips was served in a sizzling plate with sesame seed oil mixed with salt and pepper on the side as dip. The usual Korean side dishes are arranged in a row while the piping hot beef stew filled with beef strips and glass noodles played its role as soul food provider. Satisfied with that night's food adventure, we walked happily to our hotel.

Lunch the following day brought us to Korean Village in Nakpil St., Malate,Manila. This place is the basis of all our Korean food experience, the gauge if the other Korean restaurants do offer good food. It used to be near the Remedios Circle but its transfer never altered the recipes, the taste, the food, and the people. We've been going to this restaurant for almost 15 freaking years and it never changed. The assorted bbq is still Korean heaven. The beef stew is to die for, and everything else still just falls into its proper place in that Korean Village Restaurant we so dearly love.

Before going home, we bought some pork sliced thinly and some korean sauce for marinate. Its going to be another Korean dinner tonight.

Porstik for a bad day

My hangover from last Friday's killer spree spilling over to Tuesday, was it David Pewter singing "Bad Day" running in my head?



Waking up drowsily at 4:30 a.m with no recipe in mind, I thought of an easy preparation that will entice Andres to wake up and savor his breakfast. What could be easier than a Pork Steak Tagalog or Visaya or whatever regional bias one has, swimming in soy sauce and packed with onions. Its a less expensive version of Bistek (beefsteak) and can be prepared in a snap. There are however certain mixes needed to reach the desired taste. One should balance the chi between the soy sauce and calamansi to get that perfect pork steak sauce. Good thing we live near the market, so we rushed to get lean good fresh pork while preparing the ingredients. Cutting up the garlic, onions, and calamansi at 5:00 in the morning somehow uplifted my sagging spirit knowing that there is a delicious pork steak with steaming hot rice waiting at the end of the crying game. Just put everything in the pot, let it simmer, and everything will fall into place. Tenderizing the pork is fast and that pinch of sugar, some milk, and tons of onion will assure you that complete pork steak goodness.

A good pork steak Tagalog on a bad day is not bad.

U-belt Food Trek

Yesterday I walked my way to the University Belt area thinking of food and cuisines and what life really has to offer me. My food walk started in the morning after Andres requested Fried Chicken for breakfast so I prepared a simple mix of fish sauce, soy sauce, a pinch of salt, and calamansi for marinade. Then I dipped the chicken parts in egg and seasoned flour for that crunchy southern style fried chicken. Andres enjoyed it and I enjoyed it too.

Then in the office, I ate early lunch in preparation for my planned long walk to everywhere. I ordered Menudo and lechon kawali with rice combo and the taste was very homely. It was quite expensive however for seventy pesos. But in a bourgeois school setting, the price is peanuts.

Then I rode the LRT from Katipunan and upon existing the train, entered a new world. I walked inside a mall full of clearance sale and checked out the second hand bookstores along the streets while people watching, thinking what goes on in their minds as they walk. Then I got hungry again and ate at Mang Inasal Recto branch digging their 49 pesos one piece chicken inasal and rice. It was meditative eating of sort as I enjoyed thinking of life giving me the chance to experience most of what it can offer a person. From the fume ravaged Recto kiosks to the Bourgeois Hotel restaurants, I can walk and eat and breathe in these places. There must really be luck.

Then I walked and again rummaged through the books for sale and arrived in Sampaloc area and saw a school with a big wanted poster of people they find as trouble makers and they actually look like former stockholders of the school. Then I checked another school and was impressed with the marked improvement and upgrading of facilities. Feeling hungry again, I chanced upon a Kambingan store but goat meat was expensive so I settled for a Pork ribs adobo for 35 pesos. It was succulently soft to the palate in an adobo sort of way. Then I walked again towards Dapitan area and picked up Thelma in her work. Feeling tired and sapped with energy, she suggested that we go to Banawe and eat comfort food. I happily agreed and went to Mandarin Sky for a sumptuous serving of Shabu-shabu.

It was a whole day of feasting for the mind, body, and soul.

Globe Lumpia House

Globe Lumpia House brags the fact that they have no other branch in the whole world except the one in Raon (less known as Gonzalo Puyat St.). Alongside the electronic gadgets and fullblasting videoke machines for sale is a small eatery that only sell three items: Fresh Lumpia, Empanada, and softdrinks. No more, no less.

People flock the place (it is near the corner of Raon and Quezon Blvd.) like Quiapo devotees praying for a miracle only that they receive their miracles immediately once they take a bite on the precious, heavenly lumpia. Its like purgatory inside the sauna-like store as you patiently wait for your turn to be served but everything turns out heavenly once you greedily bite your lumpia oozing with peanut sauce or hide it inside your bag to take home. I saw how the Lumpia master prepare his opus and I timed it at 1 seconds. It has been this way since 1952.

Globe Lumpia preparation

ilocano cuisine at the back of UST

At the back of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas sits a pure unadulterated Ilocano restaurant that serves slam bang ilocano food that is right to the taste and pocket. M & M's Eatery is Ilocano through and through (I guess M & M's stands for Manong & Manang's).

I personally love their grilled pork mixed with spices that bring out the grilled porkiness of pork. Served with rice and their side soup, it is Ilocos sur and Norte combined in good old Dapitan Street. It is a pure ilocano delight because the staff speaks ilocano and the store is fronting the Maria De Leon Bus Transit that services the guess what, the fucking Ilocos route. How Ilocano can you get with that proximities to the Ilocos culture? They also cook the killer Papaitan with the soup thickened by pork entrails. M & M's Eatery is an unassuming restaurant that can give the big ones a run for their money.

Lost at the Eton Centris Sunday Market

Paco lost at the Eton Centris Sunday Market.

Malunggay Chicken Balls

Thelma and Andres, representing III Variara (Andres' section), won the Don Bosco Grade School Healthy Food challenge last year with their healthy Malunggay Rice and chicken Balls in Carrot sauce and Buttered Vegetables.

MALUNGGAY CHICKEN BALLS

Ingredients

Ground Chicken
Malunggay Leaves
Carrots
Bellpepper
Potatoes
Onion
Garlic
Egg
Salt
Pepper
Flour

Procedure:

1. Mince the vegetables
2. Combine all ingredients. Add Salt & pepper
3. Form small balls
4. Heat oil & fry
5. Once cooked, put in a plate with paper tissue to absorb excess oil
6. Serve with carrot sauce

CARROT SAUCE

Ingredients

Carrots, Bellpepper, Chili, Vinegar, Sugar, Flour, Salt, Water

Procedure:

1. Combine all ingredients except flour
2. Dilute flour in water then combine with mixed ingredients

MALUNGGAY RICE

1. Pakuluan lang ang malunggay leaves at gamitin ang pinagpakuluang tubig sa pagluto sa kanin.

BUTTERED VEGETABLES

Just get vegetables and put butter. Thats it.

Mandarin Sky

Mandarin Sky is one restaurant that we so fondly visit for its sumptuous Shabu-shabu meal that borders on becoming an all-time favorite with the satay soup taking centerstage in the whole mix-match of watercress, thin slices of beef and pork, and other stuff that I forget when I start sipping and eating the magic soup. One can choose from the thousands of ingredients offered to perk up the already magical satay soup.

Their house fried chicken is just great with the crisp skin that melts in your mouth. The Oyster in XO sauce is to die for. But it is the Shabu-shabu that matters most in the Mandarin Sky scheme of things.

Mandarin Sky

Banawe St., Quezon City

(in front of St. Theresa's College)