Sinigang

     Best soup for cold season you say? Want to taste the best one? Then, have taste Filipinos all-time favorite Sinigang.

Cravining for soup?

Tumblr: My food

     Sinigang is a pinoy version of sour soup and is perfect for cold season. Mostly associated with tamarind as a souring agent and enhanced with green finger pepper, gabi (taro), labanos (raddish), kangkong (water spinach), kamatis (tomato), paminta (pepper) and usually cooked with meat or fish. Here are some of the variation of sinigang:

• Sinigang sa Sampalok - Tamarind traditionally the souring agent used for sinigang. It is added at the beginning of the cooking procedure to bring out the soury taste of the tamarind. 

Ygoy: Tamarind as medicine

•  Sinigang sa Miso - Miso and seafood always blends together. Miso usually cooked with bangus (milk fish) or salmon.

My 3rd & 7th sense: Salmon belly sinigan sa miso

•  Sinigang sa Libas - Libas is a leaf that is mostly used as souring agent in the southern part of the Philippines or Visayans. It is incorporated in the dish right before it is served.

Manila old timer: Libas leaf

•  Sinigang sa Batuan - Jammed (I mean, not to the point that you have to crush the fruit.),  and cut into halves, this sour fruit will surely a counterpart of the tamarind soup.

Marketmanila: Batuan

 Sinigang sa Bayabas - Bayabas or Guava will put another check to our list. Aside from its sourly flavor, it gives a little sweet to the dish which also enhances the flavor.

Bayabas/guava

A life worth living: Things people should do to make life worth living

   
    We don't have an eternal life, but we do have a life to live, reasons to continue living and enjoy the happiness that life could bring.

    I know it is a kind of crazy (and I mean, for some, it will be really insane to say) that I have fascination for death and afterlife and... More things about death. Lately I have been roving around the web searching for things like "Things to do before you die" or "How to kill yourself" Too much insanity for an introduction, right? That's when I realize "Why not make a list of things to make life worth living?"

    People live every day in a time where the clock is hurrying to tick. Everyone is rushing to do things as a part of their every day living, we forgot to notice the simple, yet important things around us. We miss the moments that can make us more human and when the moment we start to look for a place for ourselves, we realized everything is too late for us. Simple, yet important, what are those? Missing a big sale on the mall? Saying no to a slice of double cheese pizza because you're on a diet? Shopping with your mom or small talk while fixing tires with your dad? Yeah, right! Simple and small moments, these are things that can make us complete, but we always missed on our lives because we always set them aside.

Source: Happy moments

   I'm not planning to do the killing or dying thing--I'll be busy on listing simple things instead. Simple things we always missed or we always planned to do, but we don't know how to. A list that is more than being list (Huh?). It's like writing a bucket list and bringing it into life.

Pork and Potato Adobo

     Every place, region, and town here in the Philippines has their own variations of Adobo, ingredients and preparations differs depends on what is present in their yard or market.
 
     This variation of Adobo has improved by adding potato and can be served even without rice.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 kilo lean pork
• ½ kilo of potato, cut into cubes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¾ cup soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 500 ml water
• Oil for sautéing
• Pepper 

Procedure:

1. Heat pan and add oil.
2. Sauté garlic until brown. 
3. Add sugar, stir until caramelized. 
4. Add the meat, pepper and. 
5. Sauté until the meat partially turned brown.
6. Add soy sauce and stir.
7. Then, add water and bay leaf.
8. Add potato when it starts to boil.
9.  Cover and simmer until the meat tenders.

Adobo

 

    Every place, region, and town here in the Philippines has their own variations of Adobo, ingredients and preparations differs depends on what is present in their yard or market.

    This is my very own variation of cooking Adobo.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 kilo lean pork
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¾ cup soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 500 ml water
• Oil for sautéing
• Pepper

 Procedure:

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

1. Heat pan and add oil.
2. Sauté garlic until brown.
3. Add sugar, stir until caramelized.
4. Add the meat, pepper and salt. Sauté until the meat partially turned brown.
5. Add soy sauce and stir. Then, add water and bay leaf.
6. Cover and simmer until the meat tenders.

Knife

source

• Knives are the most important item in your tool kit.
• The chef's knife or French knife is the chef's most important and versatile cutting tool.
• With a sharp knife, the skilled chef can accomplish a number of tasks more quickly and efficiently than any machine.

photo source: Cooking Light

Use knife safely:

1.  Use the correct knife for the task at hand.
2. Always cut away from yourself.
3. Always cut on a cutting board. Do not cut on the glass, marble or metal.
4. Keep knives sharp; a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one.
5. When carrying a knife, hold it point down, parallel and close to your leg as you walk.
6. Do not attempt to catch a falling knife; step back and allow it to fall.
7. Never leave a knife in a sink of water; anyone reaching into the sink could be injured, or pots or other utensils could dent the knife.

Handling the knife

1. A proper grip gives you maximum control over the knife.
2. proper grip increases your cutting accuracy and speed, it prevents slipping, and it lessens the chance of an accident.
3. Many chefs feel that actually grasping the blade with the thumb and forefinger in this manner gives them greatest control.
4. While one hand controls the knife, the other hand controls the product being cut. Proper positioning of the hand will do three things:

• Hold the item being cut. 
• Guide the knife.
• protects the hand from cuts.

Mise en place

    To be successful in the food service industry, cooks need more than the ability to prepare delicious, attractive and nutritious foods. They must have the talent for organization and efficiency. Good chefs take pride in the thoroughness and equality of their preparation, or mise en place (pronounced meez-on-plah ss)

MISE EN PLACE - French term meaning "everything in place"

    Even on the simplest level, pre-preparation is necessary. If you prepare only a short recipe, you must first:

1. Assemble your tools (knife, cutter, grater etc,.)
2. Assemble your ingredients.
3. Wash, trim, cut, prepare, and measure your raw materials.
4. Prepare your equipments. Pre-heat the oven, line baking sheets, etc.

Shortcut for freezing a homemade ice cream

Put the ice cream in a clean plastic bag or container.

In a zip lock container, put a semi-crushed ice or cubed ice and a spoon full of salt and the ice cream mixture.

Shake it for 10 to 15 minutes.

Home Made Mango Ice Cream

  Ingredients:

• 2 cups ripe mango, puree
• 1 cup diced mango (optional)
• 250 ml or one pack Nestle all-purpose cream
• 3 tablespoon fine sugar

 Procedure: 

1. Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, then mix. 
2. After mixing, pour the mixture into a container.
3. Freeze for 5 hours.

Shortcut for freezing a home made ice cream