Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Crepe Maker, also good for Lumpia Wrapper

I have long wanted to find a kitchen gadget to make lumpia wrappers (mainly) and crepe with, and have tried using nonstick pans/griddle with no luck.

But I think I have found the right tool. This is the VillaWare 7-inch diam crepe maker. You dip the hot surface into the pan of batter and let a thin film cling; lift it up and let the batter cook awhile, then slowly peel off.
7-inch diam crepe maker

I have not tried making lumpia wrapper with this, but I am posting it now because it is on sale (regular price of $39.99 down to $19.99). So instead of waiting for it to come to try it, I am already sharing this sale deal with you now for those who will be interested. I am not sure until when they will run the promo. (The larger one, 10-inch diam, is not on sale and is around $44). I have just made the online purchase recently (two nights ago).

You can get it from the following link. You can even browse their closeout sale

Disney Toaster 468x60banner

Once I have it with me, I will try it to make lumpia wrappers (I hate the ones being sold frozen. Nothing beats the freshly made wrapper.)

For the recipe, I am planning to try this one:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 egg

Mix all ingredients until very smooth.
Lightly grease a nonstick pan and heat. Brush mixture onto pan. When dough starts to come away from the pan, lift wrapper out carefully. It will not lift out if mixture is not done.

I will let you know how it will turn out once I made it.

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Monday, May 29, 2006

Kare-kare

There must be tons of recipes out there for this dish, but I will still post it here, as usual, for my children's sake (looking far into the future).

One of our favorite Filipino dishes is this uniquely Filipino (?) beef stewed in peanut butter sauce.

Salamat ke Mama Sita, it is very easy to cook this dish! Just get some packets from your nearest Filipino store (mine happened to be one hour away from my house).

Boil the beef prior to when you want to prepare the kare-kare, preferably using a slow cooker, so that you can let the fat cool down and solidify, which makes it easy to remove, and therefore, making your kare-kare less laden with calories.

Ingredients
:
Mama Sita's Kare-kare mix 1 packet
3-4 pounds of beef (pre-slowcooked in 8 hours with water to cover, plus 2 bay leaves, 10 peppercorns, and 3 garlic cloves)
1 cup (or more, depending on desired consistency) beef broth (from above)
3/4 cup peanut butter
veggies

sauteed shrimp paste (to be served with the kare-kare) -- This is optional. Salt may be substituted.

Suggested veggies:
Banana blossom (cut into chunks) - This may be hard to find. Can anyone recommend a good substitute? This is "Puso ng saging" in Tagalog.
sitaw (the really long string beans), cut into 3-inch pieces
eggplant, cut into wedges
pechay, aka bokchoy, or Swiss chard (I prefer Swiss chard now).

Since it is hard to find banana blossoms here (once I did, but it was awful-looking), I just content myself withat least eggplant and pechay (or bokchoy, although during our get-together, we could not find bokchoy, and I considered using Swiss chard due to strikingly similar appearance and smell. I was not disappointed. On the contrary, I liked it so well that I no longer buy bokchoy for pechay dishes). Sitaw is hard to come by here.

After the initial slowcooking, everything is very simple. Just remove the solidified fat, boil 1 cup of broth, add the meat and cook the veggies minus the pechay. Meanwhile, combine the peanut butter and the mix with 1 cup of broth, then add to the simmering mixture, slowly stirring. Add more broth if you need to thin out the soup more. Do not add salt. During the last two minutes of cooking the harder veggies, add the pechay and bring back to boiling, then immediately turn off the heat. Serve with plain rice and shrimp paste.

(Note: I have been trying to post this and other recipes using Qumana blog editor tool, which lets bloggers advertise and earn through that, but it always hangs, that I end up having wasted my time because once it hangs, I cannot recover whatever I have typed. I do not recommend it. I am switching over to another advertising scheme, apart from Google's Adsense. Maybe that will be more effective. Will let you know as soon as my blog is approved.)

Friday, May 19, 2006

A Survey on Favorite Filipino dishes

To the Filipinas all over the world:

I would like to make a survey of your most favorite Filipino recipes that you have tried or cooked using your own recipe or from another foodblog or even from my own foodblog (if any).

If you have a favorite PINOY recipe to share (revised to adapt to your present location, if you are an expat), please share by posting here the ingredients and instructions, your location, including where you got the ingredients (Hannaford, Filipino store, spice stores, etc.).

Or if you do have a blog, please provide the link to the posts of your favorite recipe/s, along with your location (this is so we have an idea if we have the ingredients where we are), and also where you got your ingredients.

I would have wanted to make this survey through the "Philippines according to blogs" but it is gone (nahuli ako sa balita!).

With your permission, I would just like to compile them all then print (COLORED) for easy reference. (Pagmamayabang ko rin dito sa area ko, so people will see how artistic we are in cooking.)

Thank you for your contribution.

Manang

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Shrimps with Ketchup Sauce


This is one shrimp recipe that I learned to make from my mother, and which my sons love to the max. It is so easy to make, and ingredients are easy to find.

The grocery store here (Hannaford) carries their brand of shrimps packed according to whether they are cooked or not, and according to size. I usually like to get the one labeled "Jumbo E-Z Peel." These shrmps are already deveined. I do not like the cooked ones, or the ones without shell, because for me, the uncooked ones have more flavor. I like those with shell for purposes of flavoring the broth or sauce, although I usually remove the shell before cooking the shrimp, then I just put in a small strainer the shells so I can dip them in the boiling broth (if applicable to the dish I am cooking).

Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small can of sliced button mushrooms, drained (optional)
1 pack (1 lb) shrimps

For the sauce, mix well:
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup tomato ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)

Instructions:

Melt the butter in medium heat, then saute the garlic, followed by the mushrooms if using, then the shrimps.

As soon as the shrimps start turning pink, add the sauce mix and cook further until sauce thickens or the shrimps are completely cooked, stirring frequently. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper as needed. If it turns out too dry too fast, add small increments of water (by tablespoons).

Spoon onto a dish and serve with hot plain rice.
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