Adobong Sitaw and Kangkong (Green Bean and Water Spinach)

When you think adobo, you probably envision chicken or pork. But here's the thing - you can adobo much more than that. The key ingredient to make something adobo is vinegar. Pick a meat or vegetable and braise in vinegar - adobo!

If you're looking for water spinach at the Asian market, look for hollow stems, the leaves are long, narrow and pointed at the end. I bought this at the 99 Ranch in Hackensack, but I'm sure they sell it at the markets here. 

Adobong Kangkong (Braised Water Spinach in Vinegar)

adapted from Kulinarya: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine 

2 pounds water spinach 

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp coarse black pepper

1/4 cup white vinegar

splash soy sauce

1. Blanch water spinach for 20 seconds. Place in ice bath to stop cooking

2. Saute onion and garlic on medium heat until soft

3. Add spinach, vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper

4. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated

5. Serve immediately

Repeat with green beans/yard long.

Goes great with grilled meats.

Day 18: National Gourmet Coffee Day

A family member recently visited the Philippines, and all I got was coffee. Not that I mind.

Day 16: International Hot & Spicy Food Day

In honor of this international food holiday, I decided to make a popular spicy Filipino dish, Bicol Express.

Bicol express is a stew made with pork, sauteed shrimp paste, coconut milk, the usual aromatics (garlic and ginger) and chilies. Normally pork belly is used, but I picked up one of those stir fry packs that had pork strips. Paid a little bit more, but all I had to do was chop up the onion and pepper strips into small dice. I only used jalapenos for my heat, but I don't want to kill my stomach. Keep it on the light side.

I roughly followed the bicol express recipe from Yasmin Newman's 7000 Islands: A Food Portrait of the Philippines. When I say roughly, I mean I glanced at the page to make sure I got the right ingredient in at the right time. Measurements I didn't really follow.

I'm a little worried about tomorrow's food holiday - hot buttered rum. What is that?

Day 11: National Milk Day

I write this after I've used up the last of the half & half in the house. I suppose I could break into these in a pinch, but no. I have these cans set aside for a future batch of leche flan. Perhaps sous vide.

Short Cut Sinigang

Sure, I could make this from scratch. But this makes it so much easier.

And make sure you have plenty of rice.

Filipino Food Has Arrived in the Capital Region

Forgive the bad picture, but I just had to get this out:

We have Filipino food.

In Troy.

It's about freaking time.

It's probably been about a year since I wrote about the lack of it here in the Capital Region, despite the  sizeable Filipino population this area has. And since then I've been tinkering with the idea of doing something about that, but a busy schedule and absolutely horrible luck with real estate has put that on hold.

But I can rest easy now, as someone has stepped up and is attempting to fill the void. Collar City Cafe in Troy is now serving Filipino food. I only knew the place as a sndwich shop, but I knew the owner was Filipino and wondered if he would consider it.

Their set up is the same as any lunchonette/chiboogan/Filipino take out place. A variety of prepared dishes you can order individually or as part of a combo. This combo, which they are selling for $12.99 gets you two entrees, rice, and a soda or water. They give out samples if you need help deciding. I picked kare kare and papaitan.

Just some quick thoughts as I am eating this and writing. For starters, I appreciate the generous serving of rice. Most places only give you a cup of rice, which we all know is NEVER enough. You have to have that extra rice to sop up the sauce. 

Kare Kare is meat and vegetable stew in a peanut based sauce. Traditionally it is made with oxtail. I forgot to ask if that's what they used, and my container only had bones, no meat. I take that back... just found the smallest bit of meat in there. Still can't tell you if it's oxtail. I'm pretty sure I saw eggplant and green beans in the tray, but I just got baby bok choy which thankfully was still crisp and not mushy. They may have forgotten to also include a small container of bagoong to go with it, as is customary. 

Papaitan. I have my Dad to thank for loving this dish as much as I do, and order it every chance I get. People cringe when I explain it's an organ meat dish with a broth made with bile. It is bitter, and spicy, and rich. Do not pass up on trying this. Unless you have gout... then yes, avoid eating this. Most likely you'll see this in its beef version, but it can also be made with goat. The Collar City Cafe version has plenty of tripe, heart, and liver. Long hot peppers are used in the dish whole, and asked they put some in my container. Not bitter at all. Or perhaps slightly bitter? Either way, it is a level I don't think will offend.

There was a sign for sisig, and FYI it's made with pork belly. $12.99. And speaking of prices, it's more than I'm used to. Like twice. Just saying.

If you plan on going there, it's not hard to find. If you know where Bella Nappoli is in Troy, it's right across the street. Not much room to eat there, so those of you who object to carry out just need to suck it up. If you get the Kare Kare, ask for bagoong. Try the samples. Have an open mind. Be happy you've got something else to try.

Hello 2016!

Most people celebrated the new year last night. My family celebrated this afternoon. Just family. I think the reason we pushed it back was because my grandma just got back from the Philippines and wanted to give her time to recover. She's okay, but my uncle that accompanied her came home pretty sick. But we celebrated anyways.

I wanted to make at least one Filipino dish. I ended up making bopis, which apparently is also called igado. Pork heart cooked until tender and then chopped fine and simmered in a vinegar/annatto sauce with chopped chili peppers. Lots of oohs and ahhs, and all that remains is just a little for my sister when she gets back from work.

I decided to break tradition and made a non-pancit dish - jap chae. The sweet potato noodles made for a nice change from the usual rice noodles we eat. Several people asked for the recipe, but it can easily be made without one. Cook the noodles according to the package. Drain, rinse, set aside. Wilt a dark green vegetable (I used kale) and chop to bite size pieces. Sauté vegetables in a little oil and sauce made of soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, chopped garlic, and white pepper. Sauté the kale in the same way and with the sauce. Add everything to the noodles and mix to combine. Top with scallions and sesame seeds. This disappeared quickly and I was asked to make this again for the next gathering.

My mom asked me to bake a cake for an aunt to celebrate her birthday. She ended up not making the party, but my cousin brought a slice home so she can enjoy. Nothing fancy, plain yellow cake. Made a stabilized whipped cream frosting, mixing in some cherry preserves for the middle layer. Never heard of a stabilized whipped cream? It's just whipped cream with gelatin added. Another request to make this for the next gathering.

Another Filipino dish, fruit salad, that my dad used to make for parties. Cream base is made up of cream cheese, condensed milk, and whipped topping. Fruit cocktail, tropical fruit blend, and maraschino cherries comprise the fruits. I should make this into an ice cream.

There's some karaoke action going on now... time to hide.

Happy New Year!

Ube Buttermilk Donuts

I recently went to a birthday party for a friend and brought donuts with me. I've really been on a donut kick. For this batch, I wanted to make them extra special - just that added touch of Filipino awesomeness. And believe me... they were awesome.

If you want to make these, take a buttermilk baked donut recipe (now don't think I'm holding out on my recipe... I just don't remember which one I used) and add to it ube halaya. It's the stuff in the jar. This ube has sugar already added to it, so you can scale back on the sugar in the recipe. Or not. Your call. I may have used a little over 1/4 cup. Maybe more. I wasn't really measuring. Bake as you would any baked donut. Toss in sugar. Practice self restraint and share these delicious purple treats. You can up the purple hue with some food color, but it's not necessary.

I got to the party with donut container in hand and I swear donut radar kicked in. I think they were hidden at one point, but everyone had a chance to try them, including the birthday boy. I'm not sure if there were any left when I headed home, but I sort of recall someone asking for the recipe. 

If I were you I'd stick to the larger donut pans. Those minis can be tricky. Plus if you overfill them they look like mini bundt cakes.

I Should be Proud, But I’m Not

And a happy early Wednesday to you. It’s one of those rare times I’m up this early and I don’t feel exhausted. But I have to get moving, so I’ll keep this brief.

First off, my stint as a juror is over… without me having to ever step in court. Guess the caseload is light this week. So I don’t have to worry about it for another six years.

Second, what caused the title of this post was an article I saw on Twitter. I don’t have the link on hand, but it’s on the Washington Post website. Another piece about how Filipino food has finally arrived; noted some Filipino restaurants and those that are starting to cook Filipino food in the DC/Northern Virginia/maybe Maryland region; and snippets from Nicole Ponseca, the poster child/darling of the Filipino food movement.

I should be all rah rah about this and be happy. I am to a certain extent… but come on. Filipino cuisine hasn’t finally arrived. It’s been here. For a LONG time. If you live anywhere with a Filipno polulation you've most likely come across our stuff. But it takes some Fear Factor and Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern before people start to get curious… outside of areas that have large Filipino populations (aka the coasts and major US cities. Anywhere there's a hospital... but that's stereotyping, even if it is true). We’ve been spouting how great our food is for years.

Hiya… shame. Could you call my negativity that? Perhaps. I think many of the older generation have it, but it was ingrained in them to be that way. To be modest. To not boast. Bait... good. The younger generations are not like that. If you have to call it anything, they are “OA” – overacting. But I guess you have to be so absurdly OA for people to take notice. Balut eating contests? Pass. But it does get people wondering what’s going on.

And why does Filipino food have to be fancy? Something that was mentioned in the article. Fine dining or something. Why does it need to dressed up to be accepted? If you wanted to do that to say, “yeah, we can be fancy too!” Go ahead, do it. Do you. But I will be happy going to my mom & pop to get my Filipino food fix. Or just go home and eat. Probably better that way, those mom & pops have varied quality.

Blah. Proud and negative. Embarassed, but always with good intentions. Whatever. It’s early, I’m out of time. There still is no Filipino restaurant in the Capital Region. There is Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese. No Filipino. There are people who “cater” in the area. I don’t know who they are, but they do it. But no actual brick and mortar place. I think it would be kind of cool to open one up. Or do a pop-up. Food truck. Something. I’ve been taking these cooking classes for a reason… maybe for that.

But you need money for that. And time. And a whole lot of confidence. I lack just about all of that. So for now I guess I’ll just cook it and give it away to friends and co-workers. Because I can’t eat it all.

Happy Easter!

I'm downstate once again. But thought I would drop a line and hope you are all doing well and enjoying the day. It's a bit overcast here, but temperature wise it's been decent. Not that I've really enjoyed it - I've been catching up on my television watching. 

The Easter ham is done and ready for carving... once people show up.

I think they're running on Filipino time.

And... here they are.

False alarm. Just my sister.

Damn Filipino time.

Birthday Lunch @ Bistro Filipino (Blauvelt,NY)

Guess who turned eighty-one today? This pretty lady did! Now we normally just celebrate at home, but my uncle decided that we’d leave the cooking to someone else. He decided on Bistro Filipino, one of two Filipino restaurants left in Rockland County (as far as I know, anyways). I’ve never been there before, but I have heard good things about the place.

Surprisingly my parents and I were the first ones there. Oh, that Filipino time! Being early has its benefits, like picking your seat. Bistro Filipino is pretty small – our party took up half the dining area, and even that was pretty tight.

The menu was already planned out before we got there, but it was your typical fare. Lots of grilled meats, grilled seafood, chicharon, pancit, sinigang, and lots of rice. There were some other dishes, but I don’t remember because they had meat in them and I’m still meatless. The bangus above I ate almost all of, and had a good serving of pinakbet. There was probably pork in that, but what I don’t see…. yeah.

A glimpse of the other half of the table. As usual, all the kids sat on one end… the adults on the other. Only now the kids are older and had their girlfriends/boyfriends in tow. And if they’re new to the world of family parties, they go through the process of awkward small talk, followed by playful teasing, and lots of “you should try this!” 

As if we didn’t order enough food, a few of us got dessert. Both my sister and I got halo-halo, a shaved ice dish drenched in sweetened milk and topped with flan, ube, and ube ice cream. Underneath that layer of ice was a mixture of sweetened beans, tapioca balls, and I’m pretty sure crispy rice. I don’t know why I ordered this, because I actually don’t like halo-halo. At least when shaved ice is used. Now if it was ice cream, it would be a different story.

The birthday cake came from Red Ribbon, a Filipino bakery in Jersey City. It was okay, but after the halo-halo I wasn’t in a cake mood.

I’ll have to go back there after Easter and see how it is. I already have crispy pata on the list. Mmmm… fried pork.

This Meatless Lent: Misua

The Lenten season is up and running, and I am doing my best to keep with it. Mind you, I’m really not a practicing Catholic anymore, but I do follow certain practices. Such as giving up something for the forty days (although technically it’s forty-six) leading up to Easter. Looking back, I have been in the habit of choosing to give up things that are food related – I gave up eating out last year… which did not end well.

This year, I’m giving up meat.

Yeah.

No beef, no chicken, no pork. No goat, no ducks… basically anything that walks or flies. And what does that leave?

Seafood. The aquatics. I figured I’d give myself some leeway, and anyways when I tell people about M being vegetarian, the first question they usually ask is, “so, does he eat fish?” It's a meat... it isn't a meat. That discussion could go on and on. Whatevs. The leeway is there, and other than some dried shrimp, I’ve been living the veggie life. On Ash Wednesday, I made myself some misua and started the countdown to meaty delights.

Misua is a type of Chinese noodle that is found in a lot of Asian cooking. In the Philippines, it’s often used in soups. Growing up, my parents would cook up a big pot of misua with shrimp and a green vegetable that they called patola. I didn’t know what that was, but it looked like a cucumber. I wasn’t a fan of the stuff when I was younger, but I sure do like it now.

Patola also goes by the name luffa, Chinese okra, or silk gourd. I don’t know how it looks like okra, but let’s just go with it, shall we? You can buy it at the Asian market, just look for the really long green vegetable, slightly shriveled with prominent spines. If you go to the market on Colvin Avenue, it’s on the far end of the produce… middle shelf.

Misua with Shrimp and Patola

1 medium onion, small dice
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup dried shrimp (fresh can also be used, how much is up to you)
1/2 package misua
Patola, peeled and cut into half pieces, ~2 cups
~6 cups vegetable broth
fried garlic
fish sauce
salt, pepper

Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add the shrimp and cook a few minutes more. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and turn heat down to simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the sliced patola and cook for another five minutes. Season with salt or fish sauce and black pepper. Serve with plenty of fried garlic and fish sauce.

Pure Filipino

When visiting a Filipino household, you will be offered food and drink. Repeatedly. And even when you refuse... you get it anyways. On a recent visit home, I headed over to New Jersey and visited with family. My grandparents can always be counted on for doling out the goods, especially the ones from the Philippines. My sister made herself a cup of instant coffee, and immediately my grandma pushed the crackers. I think they were those Club crackers, but that isn't important.

At first she refused, but sure enough, she took one and instinctively dipped it into her coffee.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Being Filipino." 

Empanaditas

Two of my co-workers resigned recently, and we decided to throw them a going away luncheon. I was asked to make lumpia, but decided against that, since they would be cold and oil heavy by the time the party started. So I made empanadas. They're easier, and can be eaten both hot and cold (although it is better warm).

The recipe is simple, and if I had the actual recipe in front of me, you would have it to read and make for yourself. But it's somewhere in one of books on the shelf. And that's all the way downstairs. Too. Much. Work. This is what I can remember off the top of my head. Measure it out as you choose.

Meatloaf mix

Onions, small dice

Garlic, minced

Carrots, small dice

Raisins

Soy sauce

Sugar

Salt & Pepper

Pre-made pie crust, or any flaky dough of your choosing

In a pot cook onions, garlic, and carrots until soft. Add meat and cook, breaking up large pieces. When cooked through, add raisins, salt and pepper. Cover, cook for a few minutes. Add soy sauce and pinch of sugar. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Drain well.

Unroll pie dough and cut out circles - larger ones means more filling but fewer empanadas, smaller is less filling but more empanadas. Add meat, fold dough in half. You can fancy crimp or use a fork. Brush the tops with an egg wash and bake 350 degrees until golden brown.

Spread the Word, My Dears

Saturday, June 16th - (Semi)National Lumpia Day
"Semi" meaning, of course, this little corner lot of ours.

Tell your friends, tell your family.. Tell R. We'll provide the wraps, deep fryer, and intimate backdrop.  All you need to bring are your pretty little faces, beer, any complementing sides you'd like, and whatever it is you want to stuff into a crispy fried roll. We will also have a professional asian on staff to help assist in your lumpia endeavors.

Celebrate Octogenarity.

So the cupcake tasting came and went, and I was not a part of it.

But I had a good reason.

My grandmother turned eighty. Which trumps cupcakes any day. We tried to convince her that she shouldn’t cook, that it was okay to cater the party. But she wanted to cook, it’s her thing. It wouldn’t be a party without her cooking.

Some snapshots of the day.

Magnolia Orange Mango Fruit Drink

Saw this at the Asian Food Market and had to buy it. It’s like Filipino Tang! Smells and tastes like dried mangoes.

Shortcut Wonton Soup

With all the food we had last night, I'm surprised I wanted to consume more, let alone think about cooking.

Kilawing Kambing

We may not have had turkey, but goat was the key player of the night's dishes - caldareta (meat stew), papaitan (offal and bile soup), and kilawin (ceviche style meat and offal).

The goat kilawin caused a bit of a debate, since kilawin is traditionally made with seafood. Can you actually call it kilawin if it's made with meat? I said yes, because kilawin is cooking raw meat with vinegar. I suppose technically it isn't since the goat skin and meat were cooked... but that's just splitting hairs, isn't it?

This stuff was fantastic. Slightly smoky taste from the butcher taking a torch to the skin to remove the hair. Spicy from the thinly sliced jalepenos, and slightly sour from the vinegar. If I threw this on a hot plate it would be sisig. Perfect with beer and rice (I'm Asian... I had to.)

Fight Night Eats

Selection is limited, but there aren't as many people here tonight.

Pancit, chicken wings, veggies, and arroz caldo.

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