Kimchi

     Try saying "Kimchi" when getting your pictures taken rather than "cheese". I think the smile will be more natural. Speaking of natural, kimchi is also a natural way of preventing obesity with its high-fiber low fat content. In Korea, Kimchi also is used in everything from soups to pancakes, and as a topping on pizza and burgers. Kimchi is loaded with vitamins A, B, and C, but its biggest benefit may be in its “healthy bacteria” called lactobacilli, found in fermented foods like kimchi and yogurt. This good bacteria helps with digestion, plus it seems to help stop and even prevent yeast infections, according to a recent study. And more good news: Some studies show fermented cabbage has compounds that may prevent the growth of cancer.

I may be a Filipino but i like Kimchi and it is one of the foods i keep in my fridge all year round. That is why today I will share to you my Kimchi experience.

First I prepared the ingredients.

5 heads napa cabbage or pechay baguio as we call it in the Philippines.

2 medium sized radish and 2 carrots cut into small strips.

1 large ginger peeled and cut in small pieces

4 onions cut into half

1 clove garlic peeled

1 large Fuji apple peeled and cut into cubes

1cup ground chili (available in Korean stores)

2 stalks of shallot

Procedure:

Wash the cabbage thoroughly in water.  

Divide the cabbage into four parts.

Cut it an inch size.

Soak in water with 1 cup of salt and let it stay for 1 hour.

Put the apple, ginger, onions, and garlic in the blender. Add half a cup of fish sauce and 2 tablespoons of sugar. 

Add 1 cup of water and blend.

Pour the mixture in a big container and add the chili powder.

Add the radish and carrots.

Then the shallots.

Mix well.

After an hour wash the cabbage 2 times in clean water and drain. Then put it in the mixture. Mix well.

Then put the Kimchi in jars. Do not refrigerate for one day. After a day keep it inside the refrigerator but wait at least 3 days before eating it. 

Kimchi tastes better as the days go by. Enjoy!

 

Chicken Curry

I cook chicken curry very seldom or only on special occasions not like chicken adobo or tinola.  Although curry dishes are truly delicious but i could only take too much of it. I easily get tired of the taste. But if I eat curry once in a blue moon it tastes really really good. But there are some Asian countries that eat curry food almost everyday like in Thailand, India, Malaysia and others. The last time i ate curry was maybe a year ago so I decided to give it a try again this time. Curry is not my favorite but I like it. 


The ingredients are:
1/2 kg chicken breasts
2 tbsp curry powder
1 cup fresh coconut milk
2 potatoes cubed
1 carrot cubed
1 green bell pepper cut into squares
medium sized onion sliced
crushed garlic
1 small part of ginger peeled and sliced
4 dried laurel leaves
black pepper
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
oil


Procedure:
1.  Heat oil in a pan and saute ginger, garlic, and onion
2.  Add the chicken breasts cut into serving sizes
3.  Add salt according to your taste. Let the chicken cook for about 3 minutes.
4.  Add the potatoes and carrots and add 1 cup of water. Cover and let it cook for 7 minutes.
5.  Then add the curry powder and the coconut milk. Add a little sugar a black pepper. 
6.  Boil for 2 minutes. Add seasoning if you like or you may also add sweet basil for some sweet aroma.


There you go, your delicious Chicken Curry ready to eat with rice of course. Enjoy! <3

Fruits and Greens Salad

Are you on a diet? Conscious about your weight? Tired of eating meat? 


Have you ever experienced coming home from a party or fiesta with lots of meat dishes? In the Philippines, it is usually a practice that guests bring home some leftover dishes that the host prepared as a sign of gratitude for attending and gracing the party. Isn't it interesting? Imagine eating lots of meat while on the party and when you get home, you still have some of those meat to eat the next day.


This good and healthy recipe that i prepared for today is a good break away from meat dishes bursting from your refrigerator. It is called Fruits and Greens Salad. The ingredients you need are:


oak leaf lettuce
ripe mango
black olives 
cucumber


Soak the oak leaf lettuce in vegetable wash for five minutes and rinse well. It makes the leaf crunchy and more green. There are organic vegetable wash available in the groceries. Then cut the leaves an inch wide. Peel the ripe mangoes and cut on both sides to remove the seed, then slice in small pieces. Slice the black olives. Do not peel the cucumber because much of its nutrients is in the skin. Cut into half lengthwise then slice. Toss all the ingredients together. Eat with the dressing of your choice.  

Tofu with Shitake Mushroom

Another delicious vegetarian recipe for today, Tofu with Shitake Mushroom. I love this recipe because it has this sweet and sour taste with the aromatic zest of cilantro (wansoy). If you are a vegetarian and is already sick and tired of always preparing tofu adobo, then this recipe will give you a different tofu dish that you will surely favor. This is also very easy to prepare amidst your busy schedule. 


Ingredients:
250 gm sliced tofu
minced garlic
sliced onion
ginger strips
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tomato cut in cubes
sliced shitake mushrooms
1 green bell pepper cut into cubes
a pinch of sugar
cilantro cut into small pieces


Fry tofu in oil for a minute or two. Then saute in garlic, onion, and ginger strips. Put the cubed tomatoes then add soy sauce. Stir until the tofu sips in the soy sauce and the juice of the tomato. Then put the shitake mushroom, green bell pepper and the rest of the ingredients. Then serve with rice will still hot. Yummy!

Dulong Patty

Some nutrition experts say that eating fish helps prevent goiter, or the enlargement of the thyroid gland. Iodine found in fish forms part of the hormone, thyroxine, which regulates some body processes. Iodine deficiency results to simple goiter which affects physical and mental health, the nerves, rate of heart beat and appetite. They even say that  protein from fish is of better quality than plant sources like beans because it contains more of the essential amino acids needed to build and repair cells for the body. And because of this i decided to share to you my very simple fish recipe that is the Dulong Patty. This recipe is easy to do and very cheap also. I spent just 50 pesos all in all in this recipe that 5 people enjoyed.

thanks to Marketman for this photo

The engridients are the following:

250 gm dulong

1 egg

2 tbsp flour

garlic

onion

1 ripe tomato

black pepper

salt to taste      

Mix all the ingredients together, the dulong, egg, flour, minced garlic, chopped onion and tomato, black pepper, and salt to taste. If you like you can add a little pinch of sugar to have a little sweet taste and squeeze one calamansi to add a zesty flavor. Then heat oil in a pan and fry the mixture until brown and crispy. Makes 10 small patties.

                                                                                                          

Tofu with Baby Potato in Soy Sauce

Tofu or locally known in the Philippines as “Tokwa” is a soybean curd rich in protein and calcium. A tofu doesn’t stay fresh for a long time so be sure to keep it in a refrigerator with fresh water. A fresh tofu is white in color and smells good. When buying a tofu in the supermarket or in a wet market, see to it that it doesn’t smell awful and the texture is not slimy and yellowish. Be sure to consume your tofu for not more than 3 days and always replace the water every time. Tofu is popular in Asian cuisines and is now becoming a favorite also of vegetarians in Western countries. Tofu can be cooked in many different ways. Today I will tell you about my own recipe called Tofu with Baby Potato in Soy Sauce. This recipe is dedicated to my friend Mau Coo.

The ingredients are:

250 gm tofu cut into cubes

10 pcs baby potatoes cut into halves

garlic, chopped

onion, sliced

cayenne pepper, sliced diagonally

parsely, chopped

1 tbsp soysauce

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cooking oil

pinch of black pepper

Procedure:

Boil the baby potatoes in a pan until nearly done. Drain water and set aside.

In a separate frying pan, heat the cooking oil and put the cooked baby potatoes. Add the garlic and onion when the baby potatoes are already brown. Then put the tofu and let it fry for a minute. Then add the soy sauce and sugar and stir. Add the sliced cayenne pepper and chopped parsely and cook for another minute and sprinkle a pinch of pepper before turning the heat off. Serve with rice. This recipe is good for vegetarians.

Chicken Fried Rice

Do you have left over chicken dish from a party last night and is still good? Well if you already lost your appetite with these leftovers and at the same time hesitant to throw them out, why not try cooking them again and turn them into a delicious all-in-one fried rice for your breakfast like in the picture below.

Here's how you do this. Scoop two cups of left over rice and slightly mash them to loosen the bits. Then get your left over chicken dish from the refrigerator, perhaps an adobo or kaldereta or afritada. Separate the meat from the bones, throw the bones away because we will need just the meat. Then slice the meat into small pieces. Then prepare garlic, onion, egg, onion spring, and cucumber. In a pan, heat a little oil then put on the egg stirring it until done. Cut the egg into small pieces using your spatula then just put it on the side of your pan to have a space for the garlic and onion to cook. When the garlic is already brown and crisp and the onion is slightly done, add the chicken and let it fry for a minute before putting the rice.  After you add the rice, stir all the ingredients together continuously to evenly cook the fried rice and avoid burning the bottom. After 3 minutes turn off the flame then mix the cucumber and the sliced black olives to garnish. Voila! You are now ready to enjoy your unique fried rice. Best with coffee or hot chocolate or a fruit juice of your choice.