Chopsuey

"

I am supposed to make seafood Chopsuey for dinner the other night but I don’t have all the necessary ingredients. I was too lazy to drive down to the store so I decided to use what I have available in the fridge and this is what I came up with. It’s not what I want it to be but it was delicious.

I didn’t do anything special for this recipe. I just sauté all the vegetable until tender , added the cooked shrimps and add some salt and pepper to taste.Bwallaa...instant dinner!

General Tso's Chicken

I made this recipe not long time ago I am still in the process of perfecting this Chinese goodies. It was good but not very good like I want it to taste. I will post the recipe as soon I get it right.

Yello Rice

If you like your rice yellow then this is for you. This recipe is very easy that you can even close your eyes while making it. It’s another way to make use of your left-over rice. I am not going to make this entry any longer so here is the recipe.

Yellow Rice

Ingredients

1 clove chopped garlic
1 small chopped onion
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups rice
½ tsp. turmeric powder (you can add more if you like)
Pepper and salt to taste
Rosemary, carrot bits and soy sauce for garnish


Preparation

1. In a medium pan with olive oil, Sautee garlic until slightly brown.

2. Add chopped onion and sauté until tender.
3. Add rice, stir until combined. If it’s too dry, you can add a little water or some broth.
4. Add turmeric. Stir
5. Add pepper and salt to taste. Enjoy!

Sesame Chicken

Sesame chicken is always been my one Chinese food favorites. I felt a little bit disappointed though because I cannot find a sesame chicken as good as in the Chinese restaurants in the Philippines. We went to a Chinese restaurant in the city for Mother’s Day celebration because I was craving for some but to my dismayed the sesame chicken I ordered tasted like sweet and sour chicken. It was lacking of something, it was gooey (too much cornstarch “I guess”), no sesame taste at all. Oh well, I wish we can find a decent Chinese place in this area who cook authentic Chinese food.

Anyway, I just need to learn how to make it so I can enjoy this delicacy with pleasure. I have been surfing online for the recipe and even tried couple of them. But this recipe (captbunzo -opensourcefood.com) is so far one of the best out there. I made some changes of course to cater my taste bud. I hope you will try this sometimes. It’s a very tricky recipe, so be cautious when adding vinegar and sugar. You can add them slowly until you achieve the desire taste.


Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:

3- 4 boneless chicken breasts cut into serving size.

Marinade

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 drops sesame oil
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda


Sauce

1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 rice wine vinegar (you can add more or less, it should not be too sour)
1 cup sugar (you can add more or less, balance the taste. It should not be too sweet)
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
4 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili paste (or more)
1 garlic clove (minced)


Cooking Oil for deep frying
2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp. cooking oil
1 stalk green scallion, chopped


Preparation:


1. Wash, pat dry and cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients.
3. Marinate the chicken for 20-39 minutes.

4. While the chicken is marinating, prepare the sauce

- In a medium bowl. Mix together all of the sauce ingredients “EXCEPT THE VINEGAR AND SUGAR).
- “This is the tricky part”. Using a spoon, slowly adding the vinegar and sugar mix until you achieve the desire taste. Remember! You can always add or cut down.
- Set aside when you achieved the taste.


5. Deep fry the marinated chicken cubes a few at a time until golden brown.
6. Drain on paper towels. You can cover the fried chicken with aluminum foil or place it on the warm oven while continue frying.

7. Last, get a wok (if you have any) or deep frying pan.
8. Heat 1 tbsp. cooking oil
9. Sautee garlic until golden brown.
10. Add the sauce, cook, until slightly thicken. If you think your sauce is too runny then you can always add more cornstarch by diluting it first with water.
11. Add the fried chicken. Stir.
12. Add toasted sesame.
13. Sprinkle the green scallion.

Enjoy it with steamed or fried rice !

Kielbasa Sausage Fried Rice

I love kielbasa sausage and I used them very often in my cooking. The grocery down the street had a huge sale of it the other day and I bought a bunch to be frozen. I wish I have all the seafood for a ‘low country boil’ for dinner tonight. Anyway, I made this fried rice three days ago and it was different and delicious. It’s a very simple and easy recipe; you can even close your eyes while cooking this one. Enjoy!

Kielbasa Sausage Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 medium bowl of cooked rice
1 tsp. garlic, chopped
2 tsp. onion, chopped
1 small tomato, diced
1 small carrot, diced
3 small mushrooms, diced
½ cup green peas
1 cup kielbasa sausage, diced (you can put more or less, depends with your taste)
1 stalk green scallion, chopped
1 tbsp. cooking oil
Pepper and salt to taste



Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan/wok or whatever you have available.
2. Sautee’ garlic until golden brown.
3. Add onion, tomato, carrot, mushroom and cook until tender.
4. Add kielbasa sausage then rice. Stir to combine (about 2 minutes).
5 Add green peas. Cook for another minutes.
6. Add green scallion and sprinkle pepper and salt to taste.

Optional: Sweet basil or any other herbs for garnish .You can add soy sauce if you like. I sometimes add sesame oil too.

Have Fun cooking

(click to enlarge)

Palitaw

Palitaw is supposed to be flat but I made mind round. I don’t know how to call this one, I guess still palitaw because I used the same ingredients and prepared it in the same way. This Filipino snack is one of my favorites,it reminds me of my childhood. Hubby and my eldest son are not too crazy about this snack for some reasons. I’m glad my youngest son found it interesting and yummy.

Palitaw

Ingredients:

1 cup sweet rice flour (I preferred Mochiko)
½ cup or less water
½ coconut flakes
½ cup white sugar
1/8 cup sesame seeds


Preparation

1. Boil water in a medium pot.
2. Make dough by mixing flour and water (spoon water slowly- it the easiest way to create a smooth dough. Try not to make a mushy, sticky or too dry dough).
3. Make the balls (1 inch in diameter).
4. Drop balls one by one into the boiling water (try to leave enough space for each ball so it don’t stick together).
5. The Palitaw is cook once they come up or float to the surface.
6. Scoop them out.
7. Roll each ball into the coconut flakes.
8. Skew them if you wish (like mine).
8. Sprinkle with sugar and sesame seeds before eating.

Enjoy!

Lumpia Shanghai

Lumpia Shanghai is one of my favorite finger goodies. I like to make the shanghai type all because it’s very easy to prepare. You will probably find all kind of recipes online but I have my own recipe, the one that is not too complicated to understand. A recipe that I grew up with…easy and simply yummy with plain soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce.

Lumpia Shanghai

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef (lean meat the better)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg beaten
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground pepper
1 package Spring roll wrappers (25 pcs.)
Oil for frying


Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, egg, soy sauce, salt, and pepper thoroughly.
2. Lay out a lumpia wrapper one at a time in a flat surface, and place a tablespoon of the filling in a line down of the wrapper.
3. Take the bottom and top edges of the wrapper and fold then towards the center.
4. Take the left and right sides, and fold them towards the center.
5. Moisten the last edges of the wrapper with water to seal.
6. Repeat procedure using the rest of the wrappers.
7. In a deep pan or fryer, heat oil to 375 degrees F.
8. Fry lumpia’s (5 to 6 pieces at a time).
9. Fry until golden brown (3-4 minutes), turning once.
10. Drain and Enjoy with your favorite sauce.

Sweet and Sour Pork

We had a blast during Father’s Day. The kid’s prepared something cute for their daddy. I was not really in the mood of cooking but I can’t resist on making something nice for him. We all likes Chinese food so I decided to make sweet and sour pork with Japanese fried rice and chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting.

I found this sweet and sour pork recipe online long time ago. I can’t even remember where I got it. I like it better compare to other recipes all because it’s not thick and gluey. I tweaked the ingredients a bit to suit my taste. I like it when the sweetness and sourness is balance. I guess that the secret of this recipe.

Sweet and Sour Pork

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless pork loin cut in 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp. Flour
1 tsp. garlic, mince
4 scallions, thinly sliced (diagonally)
½ cup red bell pepper, cut into ¾ inch-cubes
½ cup green bell pepper, cut into ¾ inch-cubes
1 large sweet onion, cubes
½ cup pineapple, chunks
Oil for frying

For Batter:

½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch
1 Tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup cold water
1 tsp. cooking oil

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whish in cold water until combine. Add the oil and stir until smooth. Set aside.

For Sauce:

½ cup white vinegar
¾ cup white sugar
½ tsp, salt
6 Tbsp. tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. TASTE TEST to suit your taste. You can always add more sugar if it’s too sour and add more vinegar if it’s too sweet. Try to balance the sourness and sweetness to get that “bang”. Set aside.


1. Heat oil in a pan or fryer to about 350 degrees F.
2. While your oil is heating. Dust pork loin cubes with the all purpose flour.
3. Dip the floured coated pork pieces into the batter and fry in the hot oil for about 8 minutes or until golden on brown both sides. (TRY to fry in small batches - do not over crowd the fryer)
4. Remove pork pieces and transfer to a plate with paper towels.
5. Cover it with aluminum foil and place it in the oven to keep it warm. Repeat until everything has been fried.
6. In a wok (if you have any), heat a tablespoon oil, add minced garlic and scallion.
7. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds.
8. Add onions, red and green bell pepper. Stir-fry for another minute.
9. Add the sauce and bring to boil. Stir until thickened.
10. Remove from heat.
11. Transfer pork to serving platter and pour the sauce over the pork.
12. Add pineapple chunks on top. Serve hot with rice.

Enjoy!