A Desperation for Lechon Paksiw

Are you craving for lechon paksiw but you don't have any left over lechon?  Hmmm!  Why not make your own lechon and make it a lechon paksiw.

This what happened to me this afternoon.  We don't have any dinner for tonight and my mom told me we had pork in the fridge.  My initial dish in mind was lechon kawali but i think I want something new for dinner.  What dish is similar to lechon kawali, well I think its lechon paksiw.

Mixture A:

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 laurel leaf
• 1/2 kg pork, (I used liempo)

Mixture B:

• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp black pepper (I used semi-crushed black pepper)
• 3/4c lechon sauce (Mang Tomas)
• 1/4c white vinegar
• 1/4c pork broth
• 1/2c water

Procedure:

1. Boil together Mixture A for 30 minutes.  Save 1/4 of the broth.
2. Cool the boiled pork for at least 10 minutes and rub it with oil.  Rub pork fats with rock salt.
3. Grill inside the oven until the fat is crisp. (My initial plan is o deep fry it but I find using too much oil quite expensive.)

 Oops!  I think I over grilled it.  Hehe!

     4.   Chopped the grilled meat into desired size.
     5.   Combine the grilled meat with mixture B and simmer until the pork is tender, about 30-40minutes.

Enjoy!

Chewy Cocoa Brownies

I doing nothing today so better get my hands dirty, off to the kitchen.  I'm looking for a chewy brownie recipe and came across this recipe.  I tried it and result if decent enough.

Oh! I also did some tweaking and instead of using the usual cups measurement I convert it into weight basis.  Anyway you can check out the link above for the original recipe.  The original recipe calls for 9" x 13" baking pan but I find it too thin when I made it the first time so I used 10" square pan.

Ingredients:

230g   White Sugar (about 1/2c plus 2/3c, do the math)
100g    Brown Sugar (the original recipe uses 1 2/3c or 330g white sugar)
3/4c     Butter (1 1/2 stick), melted
2Tbsp  Water
2pcs     Eggs
2tsp      Vanilla
175g     All purpose flour (1 1/3c)
75g       Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (3/4c)
1/2tsp    Baking Powder
1/4tsp    Salt
100g      Cashew (you may also use chocolate chips, nuts, etc.)

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
2. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder.
3. Beat together sugar, water and melted butter.
4. Add egg one at a time and mix until egg is well incorporated.
5. Add the vanila.
6. Add the flour mixture and mix using the spatula.  Mix in the nuts.  Do not over mix the mixture.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes (25 minutes works for me).
8. Take out from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan.  Remove form the pan and cool completely.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Coated Macaroons

Its valentines (Yeah! Single Awareness Day, that is for me.) and I decided to make a sweet treat for us.  I decided to make a chocolate coated macaroons.

Ingredients:

• 200g dessicated coconut (I used Ideal brand, see picture below)
• 1 (14oz) can condense milk (Alaska)
• 3 pieces eggs
• 50g cake flour (approximately 1/4 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla (I used almond extract)

Procedure:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
2. Beat eggs, vanilla and condense milk until well incorporated.
3. Sift cake flour and add to the milk-butter mixture.
4. Add the dessicated coconut and mix well.
5. Optional: Chill the mixture up to 2 hours.
6. Scoop 1 tablespoon or use mini ice cream scooper and place into the baking pan lined with baking paper.  (OR use mini muffin pan lined with paper cups - 1oz. up to 3/4 full)
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown (20 minutes works for me).
8. Dip into melted chocolate of your choice and chill.

Notes:

1. Makes 4 dozens.
2. I actually used 100g of chocolate per dozen of macaroons.
3. Tips: you may add nuts into the batter or put it as toppings to the chocolate coating.
4. Also, you may try using the freshly grated coconut, i think it'll be chewier.

Enjoy!

Mile Hi - Eastwood

Ok! Sorry for the crappy pictures I posted here.  I forgot to bring my camera so I just used my camera phone instead.

My friend Sherry and I went yesterday night to Eastwood to grab some coffee (around 10pm).  The place was full of crowd that night and decided to take a walk to see if there's a new restaurant there.  While walking I suddenly crave for crispy chicken wings and she was craving for buffalo wings (Hahaha!  We're like pregnant that night).

So now, our prior agenda before having coffee is to satisfy our cravings.  We went to different restaurants to look for Buffalo Wings like Jack's Loft, Stakers (we even asked the waiter if they have BW) and Yellow Cab to no avail.  We're loosing our hope that we'll satisfy our cravings that morning (it's around 12:30 am).

We take another walk, this time, around The Sizzlin' Pepper Steak.  We Mile Hi with their menu outside the restaurant and decided to have a look.  Yesss!  They have Buffalo Wings!  We took our seats and scan their menu.  We ordered Chicken Buffalo Wings for Php265.00 and Philly Cheese Steak for Php295.00 (I can't remember which price is which).

Our orders came and it's time to pass judgement them (Hehe!).


The Buffalo Wings are glazed with dark coating (soy sauce, maybe) with 7 or 8 pieces wings.  The meat is flavorful and very juicy.  The spiciness is just right and the kids might also eat this.  In terms of the taste and flavor, there's no "Mmmm! Factor", actually I'm looking for that feeling (Hehehe!).  Now down to my very last wing, while devouring it, (OOPS!), I saw blood in it (AW!).  The other parts were properly cooked but this one is not.  Anyway, we didn't bother to ask the waiter since we actually didn't enjoy it.

Their Philly Cheese Steak is made with french bread (I think), green bell pepper, white onions, beef, some brown sauce and melted cheese and comes with fresh potato fries with mayonnaise dipping.  Actually, I hardly noticed the cheese (Its Philly CHEESE Steak, so where's the CHEESE?!).  What I don't like to their version of Philly Cheese Steak is the hint of sour taste, Sherry also notice that sour taste (we just don't know what's that or where it's coming from).  The fries taste like a homemade fries (which I like) but I wish its crispier.

All in all it cost us Php600.00 for our orders, with service charge included.  What I like about them is their staffs.  They are very accommodating and polite.   But to be honest, we don't enjoy our food and I won't go back their again.

Mile Hi Diner

Citywalk 2, Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City

Located at a three (3) storey bldg.

Oven Roast Pork

I want some ROAST PORK!!!!

Hahaha!

We have some pork in the fridge and my mom ask me to cook sinigang.  Well, I want to try other pork dish other than sinigang.  I thought of roast pork.

I don't know why but all of a sudden I crave for this yummy dish.  Kitchen, here I come!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 kg pork (I used Liempo)
Salt
Black Pepper
Dried Rosemary

Brine Solution:
2 Tbsp of salt
2 Tbsp of Sugar
1 Tbsp of semi-ground black pepper (you may also use ground black pepper if you want)
8 cups of water
2 pcs bay leaf

I used my own salt to water ratio for my brine solution (just my instinct).  Though the recommended is 2 Tbsp salt to 1 gallon water.

Mix all the ingredients for the brine solution and be sure to dissolve all the salt and sugar.  Add the pork and soak for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Pat dry the meat after soaking in the brine solution.


Rub the pork with salt, black pepper and rosemary.  Rub the skin of the pork with more salt (this is the secret for that crackling skin, but don't overdo it).


Pace inside the oven preheated at 190 deg. C (375 deg F).  Then shift it to grilling mode to make the skin crispy (my oven has this grilling mode where the flame comes from the ceiling of my oven, see picture).

Grill it for 10 to 15 minutes or until the skin starts to blister.  Then wrap it in foil (put some holes at the bottom of the foil so the fats will drip from it) and bake at 190 deg C  for 30 minutes (cooking time will depend on the size of the meat, but conie of homecookingrock.com recommends 45minutes for every pound of meat).  After 30 minutes, unwrap the meat and cook for another 15 minutes or until the surface of the meat turns golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Fresh from the oven!

Nom!Nom!Nom!

For the dipping, I just mixed some vinegar, salt, red pepper, teaspoon of calamansi juice, chopped onion and  cucumber.  If you don't like vinegar, you can serve it with liver sauce (Mang Tomas will do).

Enjoy!!!

A Cross Breed of Palitaw and Buchi

Last Friday night, while surfing the net, I came across one of my favorite dessert, Buchi.  I missed this dessert and decided to make my own batch of buchi.

The recipe that I saw requires sweet rice flour, sugar, sweet mung bean paste.  First, sugar, water and rice flour are mixed to create a dough.  The dough is divided to several pieces (probably a tablespoon).  Then, the small dough will be flatten and will be filled with the sweet mung bean paste.  It will be sealed and shaped like a ball and rolled onto the sesame seeds.  It will be deep fried until the sesame seeds turns golden brown.

I really want to make this dessert but I don't have all the ingredients in my pantry.  Hmmmm...

My mom just bought a kilo of sticky rice (malagkit) and "AHA!".  I soaked 2 cups of sticky rice (malagkit) overnight.  The following day, I leaved the soaked rice in a strainer for an hour or two to totally drain the excess water. I used this blender attachment (picture below) to grind the soaked rice.

The ground rice seems dry so I added a little water to make it workable.

Oops!  I think a added too much water there.  I dusted my plate with cornstarch and used 1 oz ice cream scooper to equally divide the dough.  I also dusted my hand with cornstarch since my dough is too sticky.  I flatten the dough a fill it with ample amount of dulce de leche that I made a month ago.  I sealed it and shape it into a ball.

(Hehehe!  My dulce de leche looks so dark.  Its actually over cooked. Hahaha!  Still taste good though.)

After all the dough are filled and shaped, I boiled 4 cups of water and added 2 tablespoon of sugar into it (though I hardly taste the effect on my buchi).  Ow, I forgot, I opted from deep frying the balls for healthy effect (kuno).  Add the balls into the pot of boiling water.  When the balls float it mean its cooked.  Remove the ball and rolled it into the coconut-sugar mixture (I used 6 tablespoon of dessicated coconut and 4 tablespoon of sugar).

It looks like palitaw balls with filling inside though.  Hahaha!

Recommendations:

-Avoid over doing your dough, it might get tough
-You can also buy the ready made sticky rice dough (galapong) in the market (recommended)
-Try other fillings (custard, mung beans or create your own)
-Instead of using the dessicated coconut, you may use the freshly grated coconut meat or use toasted sesame seed instead of the coconut-sugar mixture
-When using the toasted sesame seed, maybe you roll first the balls into the sesame seed before boiling it
-You can also deep fry it if you want the traditional cooking of buchi

Enjoy!