Palitaw

Chinese New Year is around the corner so all sticky things comes with it.  Apart from having to celebrate CNY and thinking of sticky things, I remembered our younger years when we used to have palitaw (sticky rice),  pilipit  (fried twisted sticky rice), ginataan ( a mixture of sweet potato, corn, jackfuit and tapioca cooked in sweet coconut cream), saging ( banana cooked in many ways) and all other sticky native snacks and desserts which were, by the way, lost its popularity during teen-age days ( days when teen agers love to eat hamburger and spaghetti --- the IN thing!??, instead).  

Well, it took some form of geographical relocation when people missingly realized that "what used to be" are actually delish.  And so we crave for these natives uprooted from our own cultural ethnicity, and one of these is Palitaw-- a sticky rice cooked in a boiling water, rolled on grated coconut and topped with sesame sugar. Simple pleasures...

Kuchinta

I have been hesitant to make kuchinta because of the lye water which i kept seeing in the ingredients. I never did bother to check what is the essence of such in the product until I found out that it makes the kuchinta chewy.  But looking at this lye water, I see clear hydrogen peroxide instead  with the perception in mind I never did attempt to use it not even on kuchinta, though I purchase this item thrice in a row.  Now I realized those using lye water as ingredients just have plain flour with it. Those without, uses cassava starch, so I thought cassava is much healthier and definitely safe to use than lye. The textures of the ones using lye versus of that using cassava is  unnoticeable. So I highly recommend this recipe instead. 

Chicken Sausage Roll

       My daughter paige used to be a picky eater and feeding her was a challenge. Thanks to the food tricks, I hid ingredients from her especially vegetables, pretended food as something else =) and innovated presentations appealling  and pleasing to her sight. Not to mention her passion for travel indeed helped me convinced her to explore variety of food for survival.  It did work anyhow. =D

       Now,  picky--ness is gone but food exposition become our mantra. Before I can finish chopping the onions and garlic, we have cultural origins,  ingredients' botany and food science. Even gastronomy  is a must. Whew! This is even more challenging than I thought!

Cookies N' Cream Chocolate Chip Cookie

Vacation is out! School is in -- and this means our kitchen will be smoking hot again. This is only the second week but paige requests for baking goodies are never-ending. A constant reminder of 26 cookies is unstoppable which I soon realized that 26 is their class size. Oh my Oh my-- does this mean 26 is constant? Well, as long as its feasible I cannot complain.

Egg Surprise

Have you ever thought of easter?  Please nooooh! Let's  celebrate occasions according to our calendar. So instead of solely thinking about colorful eggs and hunting them, here is something new that will surprise your kiddos either on special occasions or one of those lazy afternoons -- A plate full of egg surprises...

Black Pepper Spaghetti

Pasta is one of the traditions in many gatherings and spaghetti is not an exception, usually served on a hot red meat sauce. Today, getting tired of eating red spaghetti, in fact just the thought of it spoils my appetite, I thought of sparing myself from this convention and come up with something new on our table --black and peppery.

BLACK PEPPER BEEF SPAGHETTI

125 g cooked Spaghetti
1/4 g beef sirloin, thinly sliced
2 cups of sliced broccoli
2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp finely ground Black pepper
1 tbsp superior light sauce (Lee Kum Kee) or any light sauce you have =) or more as to your preference
3 tbsp oyster sauce or more as to your preference
3 tbsp or more water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or any olive oil or just the regular oil you have =)
4 big cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 big onion bulb

Note: You may add more or less of the sauces and add salt if you like. Otherwise the above mentioned ingredients are just enough.

In case you have not cook the spaghetti yet here it is:

Cook spaghetti in hot water with salt.
Let it boil for 8 minutes or until al dente.
Drain and drizzle with olive oil. This will prevent the pasta from sticking together and it will hold its shiny al dente texture.


Black pepper sauce:

Place pan over a medium heat.
When ready, pour EVOO.
Saute garlic and onions, add beef, finely and coarsely ground black pepper and stir.
Add light sauce, oyster sauce and water. Let it stand for a minute or so.
Add brocolli then the pasta.
Mix until all the pasta is covered with sauce.
Serve hot.

Other variety:  Add 2 tsp roasted sesame seeds for garnishing and 3 tsp sesame oil to go with the sauce.

Bon Appetit! =)

Buko Pandan

It's nice having sweets that come in a handy so I thought of making something meaty and creamy today. Buko (young coconut meat) and Pandan Gelatin. In this mixture you can use the ready available ingredients, add those creams and mix. But if you really like to taste  it better, why not extend a little time and give extra effort for delicious sake.  So here it goes:

Spiced Vinegar

I love pinakurat and spiced vinegar but the thought of buying it purposely from pinoy store is inconvenient for me, worst it undermines my cravings for vinegar dependent dishes. So to resolve this craving-ness i have decided to make my home made spiced vinegar!