For Palate's Sake!

Blue Crabs in Coconut Milk (Ginataang Alimasag)

2012-07-15T14:35:00.001-07:00

Welcome back! It's been over a year ago since my last post. I have gotten so busy with work and with my new baby who is now 17-month old. I noticed the date on my last blog -- t'was the night before I gave birth to my second child. That explained it!

We went to the Asian Supermarket and saw these live blue crabs climbing up and pinching each other with their claws. Since we live far away from the city where we rarely find fresh, live crabs, I instantly grab them (of course not with my bare hands!). My daughter was like "mom, you can't catch them, they will pinch you!" He.he.

Moving on... seafood is something we all love to feast on. I've made this recipe on a few occasions back home in the Philippines because they were expensive. The most common way to cook blue crabs is by simply steaming them until they turn bright red but here is how I made them..

You will need:

10 large Blue Crabs – rinsed

3 tbs vegetable or canola oil

1 tbs finely-minced garlic

1 medium onion, diced

1 tbs shrimp paste

2 Serrano Peppers

2 bunch medium-sized Pechay or Bok Choy

salt / fish sauce and ground pepper to taste

In a casserole, fill in water over high heat.
Simmer crabs until bright red. Then, set aside.
In a large wok or pan, heat vegetable oil.

Sautee garlic, onions and shrimp paste over medium heat.
Add in coconut milk. Cover and simmer for 5 mins.
Pour in the crabs and mix.

Cover and let it boil for 20 minutes.
Mix and turn crabs every 5 minutes.
Add salt or fish sauce and pepper to taste
Turn heat to low.
Add Bok Choy and serrano pepper.

Simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve with steamed rice!

Banana Walnut Bread w/ Chocolate Chips

2011-01-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

This is actually Starbucks original recipe for their Banana Walnut Bread. I just changed the recipe up a bit by adding on chocolate chips. I am a fan of banana bread and this recipe is definitely worth making when you have a few ripe bananas on hand that you want to get rid of! It's perfect and moist with some crunch from the nuts. So love this recipe!

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 1/8 c granulated sugar

1/2 c vegetable oil

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 ripe medium-large bananas, mashed

1 c walnuts, chopped

1/2 c semi-sweetened chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 325 deg. Grease loaf pan and dust with flour. Blend together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Mix together the egg, sugar and vegetable oil until combined. Add the flour mixture and when blended, add the buttermilk, vanilla and mashed bananas and mix until combined. Mixed in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Pour batter into the loaf pan.

Top batter with remaining 1/2 c chopped walnuts and 1/4 c chocolate chips. Bake for 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Stir-fry Beef Brocolli with Asparagus

2011-01-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

This Asian-inspired beef recipe is so flavorful and so fast to prepare, with all the original flavors without the hassle of difficult preparation. You can create it at home instead of ordering take out. It was originally just beef and brocolli but this time, I tried adding on asparagus to make it more nutritious. :)

1 lb thin-sliced beef fillet

1 medium head brocolli, cut into small florets

8 asparagus spears, cut into 2-inches pieces

4 tbs soy sauce

3 tbs oyster sauce

1 tbs tomato ketchup

1 tbs rice vinegar

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs cooking oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 strings green onion, cut into tiny rings

Ground pepper to taste

Combine the beef, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, rice vinegar, and ground pepper in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Cook brocolli and asparagus until they are bright green and crisp-tender. Do not overcook. Remove to a bowl. Set aside.

In the same pan, heat cooking oil, saute onion and stir in the marinated beef. Cook for 5 minutes or until the beef becomes tender and no longer pink.

Add the cooked brocolli and asparagus, stir to combine. Let cook for 2 minutes. Add the string onions before serving.

Serve with rice.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

2011-01-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

These beautiful cookies are known as Chocolate Crinkles... a deliciously soft, fudge-like chocolate cookie that is encased in a coating of confectioners sugar. One of our favorite holiday cookies!

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
4 semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 large eggs
1 tbs pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

In a large bowl, mix butter and granulated, then add in melted chocolate and unsweetened coca, mix for 1 minute. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Then add in vanilla extract. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat and shape into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched lightly in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Yang Chow Fried Rice

2011-01-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

No meal in our everyday life that we have no rice on our tables. Meal won't be complete without it! Yang chow fried rice is my favorite rice recipes, as it includes many kinds of bits and pieces of food. Easy way to perk it up is to add some bits of whatever food you want, from shrimp, roast pork, ham or chorizo and it becomes a meal in itself!

5 tbs cooking oil

5 cups cooked rice

4 large eggs, beaten

4 ounces frozen peeled shrimp
6 ounces roast pork or ham
1 medium onion, diced

1 small carrot, cut into pieces

2 sticks spring onion, sliced into thin coin
1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen
Salt and ground pepper, to taste

Marinate shrimps in salt and pepper for few minutes and stir fry until they turn pink. Push the shrimp up to the side and stir fry ham briefly. Mix them and remove both from the pan. Set Aside. Clean out the pan.

It's time for the veggies. Stir fry diced onion, then add the peas (thawed) until it soften, then add in the carrots and spring onion. Continue frying until the peas turn bright green and remove from the pan.

Heat the pan again, add the cooked rice, stirring to separate the individual grains. Add the beaten egg, until all rice are covered with egg.

Add the cooked shrimp and ham, then vegetable mix (onion, peas, carrots) into the pan. Mix everything together. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Serve hot. Partner with your favorite "ulam"

Creamy Macaroni Soup

2011-01-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Winterstorm today!

I was thinking of something to cook for dinner that could warm our stomachs in this icy cold day. And here it is ... Sopas to the rescue! our all-time favorite Pinoy Home Soup paired with Puto (rice cake) on the side. You might not find it in a fancy restaurant but sure it is a family favorite. I am thrilled to be sharing my original Sopas recipe with you which has been one of my family's favorites! Feel free to modify.

3 tbs cooking oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
1/2 lb ground pork
1 pork broth cube
2 cups elbow macaroni
1/4 cup celery stalk, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, diced
3 pcs sausage / hotdog, chopped
3/4 cup cabbage; shredded
1 cup evaporated milk
5 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute garlic and onion in cooking oil over medium heat.

Add ground pork and cook for 3 minutes. Add in shredded carrots, sausage and celery stalk. Keep stirring and add seasonings. Pour in water, add in the elbow macaroni and pork broth cube. Let it boil. Add in cabbage. Pour in the milk, and keep on stirring until the mixture boils again. Adjust seasonings as desired.

Serve hot!

Baked Mussels in Dynamite Sauce

2011-01-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

2 dozen frozen mussels on the half shell, thawed
1 cup mayonnaise
1 -1 1/2 tsp sriracha sauce
1 1/2 tbs snelt roe (fish egg)
1 tsp Kikoman Soysauce
1/2 fresh lemon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Detach mussels from the shell and thoroughly clean both mussels and shells.

Mix the mussels in a bowl with mayonnaise, sriracha, soy sauce, lemon juice and snelt roe. Spoon the mixture into the shells and arrange it in a baking pan the way you want it to be arranged. Garnish each mussel with a snelt roe. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Welcome to my blog!

2011-01-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

Cooking has become of my favorite hobbies. I am a working 'pregnant' mom at this time and just happen to have this what you call passion for cooking and craving for our native Filipino dishes. I got this passion from my mother who has been my inspiration. I didn't know a thing about cooking until my mother died and I was obliged to be the head of the household including cooking but started to love it since then. I remember just watching her in our kitchen when I was a little kid, where she wouldn't want me to do anything but to watch her. I got to witness her style of cooking as well as her secrets and adapted it from then on.

I thought blogging would be a perfect way to organize my favorite recipes and at the same time share them to everybody. Big thanks also to my wonderful husband who has been my 'official photographer'.

Again, welcome to my food blog!

Irene Nuqui

Camaron Rebosado

Chicken Curry

Crispy Spinach

Spring Chicken w/ Yellow Rice

Laing (Taro Leaves w/ Coconut Milk)

Pork Binagoongan (Pork in Shrimp Paste)

Maja Blanca

Pinakbet