Overseas Pinoy Cooking 2010 Year End Round Up

Vigan Cathedral and Bell Tower

Another fruitful year for Overseas Pinoy Cooking has passed, the site is now three years and six months.

During this time of the year it has been the tradition to make the Year End Round Up.

Last year was a good year for Overseas Pinoy Cooking, several Milestone have been achieved.

The site has broken the 1 Million Visitors threshold last 25 August, 2010. As of this writting the total visitors has reached 1,292,829 hits and steadily growing at a rate more than my expectations. The average daily visitors have now reached 2,500 hits per day and has gone as high as 5,000 plus hits per day a couple of days before Christmas and New Year.

The 4 Million Page Views threshold was achieved the succeeding month (September, 2010) and to this date is now few thousand short to cross the 5 Million Page Views mark, 4,988,165 page views as of this writting. The 10,000 daily page views to date which have reached as high as 18,000 plus page views per day a couple of days before Christmas and New Year is good enough to generate some decent revenue to keep the site going, thank you.

To date there are now about 530 recipe posts. Almost all Pinoy food has been featured, including significant number of original recipes and alternate versions of some of the more popular dishes.

You might have noticed that Overseas Pinoy Cooking now has its own domain name, the site has transformed from,

http://overseaspinoycooking.blogspot.com

to

http://www.overseaspinoycooking.net/

This transition will hopefully improve the site’s page ranking not only to Google and Yahoo but to other providers out there and serve you better.

I ask now my Food Blogger Friends who have not updated OPC’s link on your blog or site to please update now, to help me rebuild my lost links.

On the other hand the site's format has been kept at it is, there will be no major facelift in terms of site design. This is to build and further strengthens Overseas Pinoy Cooking Brand.

This year Overseas Pinoy Cooking has joined the Facebook bandwagon it seems late as others have already acquired significant numbers of followers, while Overseas Pinoy Cooking is still starting to build followers. If you have not yet visited or joined Overseas Pinoy Cooking on Facebook please do so now and do not forget to click the Like Button to become a member and receive automatic updates of new recipes via Facebook. And to those who have already joined please ask your Facebook friends to visit Overseas Pinoy Cooking on Facebook.

For the year ahead I am hopeful that Overseas Pinoy Cooking will now start to grow exponentially, this was already evident on the site’s growth during the last quarter of 2010. All the essential parameters are already in placed and all that is needed is your continued support.

For the coming year I will try to post more innovative dishes and of course try to post as much as possible dishes from the readers request. More than ever expect the same if not better quality of post for the year ahead.

Now it’s time to thank once again all my regular readers, my fellow foodie friends, to all visitors who happened to stumble upon this blog and to all OPC’s followers on Facebook, but most especialy to those who have left their reactions and comments.



Happy New Year to all!



.

Pinoy Roast Pork, Tocino Style

Pinoy Roast Pork, Tocino Style is my New Year special, it is another innovative dish that is uniquely Pinoy. Roast Pork is commonly serve in special occasions including the Christmas Season in the West and other parts of the World. Today I want to share to you a Pinoy version of a roast pork, that will surely get your attention. As I said this is another one of my innovative dish and it’s my first try of the recipe. As expected it did turn out great and I would strongly recommend to all and give it a try.



For the pork roast ingredient I started with the smallest pork roast I could find. In fact I wanted a rind less pork roast but I could not find one. The 4 ribs pork loin roast was just perfect except of course it was with the rind on so I have to take the skin out, I wanted to leave some fat on but I was not able to skinned it uniformly as you can see on the photo.



To prepare the skinned pork roast, slit cut the fats in diagonal patterns about half an inch diamonds. Then rub with a mixture of salt, sugar, garlic powder and paprika powder and let marinate for at least a day or longer the better.



Baking it the usual temperature and timing, except that the pork roast has to be placed in the baking dish upside down and including the marinade during the first half of roasting. It is then flip over and continue to roast with occasional basting using the drips from the roasting pork. During the final stage of roasting the dripping is collected then thickened by boiling out the excess liquid. The reduced sauce is then use as glazing for the roast and used as sauce for the final product. Do not worry about internal temperature, we Pinoys want our meat properly cooked so stick to the roasting times. The roast pork has to be set aside covered with aluminium foil to rest, this is to ensure that the roast pork is well cooked inside out.



To serve I added more Pinoy twist, what would be the best accompaniment for tocino, sinangag (garlic fried rice) and sunny side up fried egg.

To conclude the slits on the fat outer covering was essential for the marinade to penetrate the meat. It would have been better if the pork was left to marinate for a couple of days to reach to the center, but the reserve sauce dip will compensate it. Alternately during the last roasting stage the pork roast is sliced then individually applied with the glaze and continue to roast till done.



Here is the recipe of my Pinoy Roast Pork, Tocino Style.

Ingredients:

1 kilo Pork Loin Roast, about 4 ribs rack
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. garlic powder
1-2 tbsp. paprika powder



To serve:

garlic fried rice
sunny side up fried eggs

Cooking procedure:

Remove the skin of the pork roast leaving most of the fat. Make diagonal crisscross slit cuts on the outer fat covering the size of 1/2 inch diamonds and deep enough to penetrate the meat and keep aside. In bowl mix the salt, sugar, garlic powder and paprika powder. Rub and coat the pork roast with the sugar mixture. Place the coated pork roast in a thermo glass loaf baking dish including the remaining sugar mixture, cover and place in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least 1day, occasionally turning over the pork roast for even marination.



Pre-heat oven to 300ᵒF to 325ᵒF, take the pork roast out in the refrigerator and let stand outside till the temperature has increased to outside temperature. Ensure that the pork roast in the baking dish is positioned upside down and the fat and meat are facing the bottom of the baking dish, submerged with the marinade. Cover and seal the baking dish with aluminium foil and place in the rack at the middle of the oven and let bake for about 1 hour at 300ᵒF to 325ᵒF. Now remove the roasting pork from the oven and transfer in a larger baking dish, reserve the drippings, this time place the pork roast with the fats and meats facing up and the ribs facing the bottom of the baking dish. Return to the oven and roast for about 20 to 30 minutes at 350ᵒF to 375ᵒF monitoring the temperature, decrease the temperature as necessary. In the meantime using a small saucepan reduce the reserved drippings to a syrupy consistency. Using the syrup baste the roasting pork about halfway then again on the last 2 to 3 minutes of roasting increasing the temperature to about 400ᵒF, this will result a glazed and seared effect on the fats. When done remove from the oven and cover with aluminium foil and let stand for about 10 minutes to rest. To serve slice individual ribs, arrange in a platter with garlic fried rice and fried egg. And pour over a couple of tablespoon of the syrup.

See other related recipe:
Lechon sa Oven
Lechon Macau
Lechon Manok
Max's Style Fried Chicken
Savory Chicken, Roast Chicken
Chicken Relleno
Crispy Pata
Lechon Manok, Turbo Broiled Chicken


See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Quick Stirfried Bihon

Quick Stirfried Bihon. Pansit is one of Pinoy’s favorite food during special occasions including the Christmas and New Year celebrations. There will always be some kind of noodle dish in most household during the Yuletide Season. There are several pansit recipes on the archive which I lost count already should you are looking for a particular type of pansit that you would like to cook this coming New Year Celebrations (Click here to check all pansit resipes on the archives). Today I would like to share a quick and easy stirfried bihon. It is quick in the sense the chicken ingredients was from roast chicken leftover and the vegetables are from a stirfry vegetable pack I bought from the supermarket. I have also some leftover Chinese Sausage and some prawns to complete the ingredients. Here is the recipe of my Quick Stirfried Bihon.

Ingredients:

200 gram rice vermicelli, soaked in water and drained
1/2 roast chicken breast, shredded
2 Chinese sausage, sliced diagonally
6 to 8 pieces shelled cooked prawns, sliced in half
2 cups mixed vegetables stirfry
1 small size onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. light soya sauce
1 tsp. hoisin sauce
2 red/green chili, sliced
2-3 stalk spring onion
salt and pepper
cooking oil
lemon



Cooking procedure:

Heat a large wok until it start to smoke, add generous amount of oil and quickly stir cook garlic. Add in the Chinese sausage and stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the onion and stir cook for a minute. Now add in the chicken, soy sauce and oyster sauce, stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth or water, bring to a boil and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the vegetables, chili and prawns, stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the rice vermicelli and continue to stir cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add in the spring onion and stir cook for another minute. Serve with lemon.


See other related stirfry noodles recipe:
Crab with Sotanghon in Black Bean Sauce
Pancit Bato, Pansit Bicol
Pancit Canton and Bihon with Beef and Broccoli
Pansit Guisado (Bihon, Canton and Mixed)
Pansit Bihon Seafood
Pinoy Style Char Kuey Teow
Seafood Hokien Noodles Stirfry
Egg Noodles with Mushroom
Pinoy Style Pad Thai
Pansit Miki Guisado
Pancit Lucban, Pansit Hab-hab
Bam-e, Pansit Bisaya
La Paz Batchoy, Pansit Batchoy Mami
Vigan Miki


See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Lechon Arroz Paella Valenciana

It has been the tradition of Overseas Pinoy Cooking to post the paella dish which is traditionally served at our Noche Buena every year whether it is arroz valenciana or bringhe. This is now the fourth year of the Christmas paella post which started in 2007’s Pinoy Seafood Rice Cooker Paella Valencianna, then on 2008’s Seafood Pinoy Arroz Paella and last year’s Seafood Bringhe Valenciana. For this year’s Noche Buena it is Lechon Arroz Paella Valenciana, it’s an all meat version topped with home baked lechon.



The dish is similar to the basic recipe of bringhe, to make the dish I used one part glutinous rice and one part regular rice sautéed in garlic, onion, pork, chicken and Spanish chorizo slices using the oil used in stir frying some diced bacon which I added on the last part of cooking the rice. Broth from pre-boiling the pork rind and thick canned coconut cream is added to the rice and simmered until the rice started to absorb the broth and coconut milk.



The rice is then transferred to a baking dish (I used thermo glass baking dish, I wish I had some banana leaves to line the baking dish). The baking dish is then covered with aluminium foil in such that the juice from the pork rind placed over the foil will drip on to the rice. It is then baked at 300ᵒF to 325ᵒF for about 1 1/2 hours, basting the pork rind with some butter in between. During the last 10 minutes the oven temperature is then increased to roast crisp the pork skin. It is then served topped with the chopped oven baked lechon.



Now we have arrive to the part where I take the opportunity to greet everyone specially to my regular readers who keep coming back all these years to check for new recipes, to the avid friends and followers of OPC’s Facebook Page and to those who have stumble to this site looking for a dish to cook for this year’s Christmas and New Year Celebrations.

I WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Here’s how I made my Lechon Arroz Paella Valenciana.

Ingredients:



1 1/2 cups malagkit, glutinous rice
1 1/2 cups jasmine or regular rice
1/4 kilo chicken, cut into cubes
1/4 kilo pork, cut into cubes
1/2 kilo pork rind, cut into large squares
1 piece Spanish chorizo, sliced
1 cup bacon, cut into small squares
1/2 cup green peas
1 medium size red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium size green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 400ml canned coconut cream
1/2 head garlic, chopped
1/2 head garlic, crushed
1 medium size onion, chopped
2 to 3 pieces bay leaf
1 tsp. peppercorns
1 tbsp. turmeric powder
1 tbsp. paprika powder
1/2 cup fish sauce
soy sauce
salt
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a pan pour 4 cups of water, put in the pork rind, crushed garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves and about 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until pork are tender. Remove pork from pan and drain dry, reserve the broth.



Wash glutinous and regular rice, soak for at least an hour, and keep aside. In a big wok heat oil and stir cook bacon until crisp, remove from wok and keep aside. Using the same oil stir cook chorizo, add in garlic and onion, sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.



Add in pork and chicken and continue to sauté for 3 to 5 minutes. Add in fish sauce, turmeric powder and paprika powder, stir cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the drained glutinous and regular rice, stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the oil is infused to the rice. Add in 2 to 3 cups of broth from boiling the pork rind and the coconut cream continue to stir cook 2 to 3 minutes, add more water if required. Add in the bacon, bell pepper and green peas cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Correct saltines if required.



Now transfer the half-cocked rice in a baking dish. Lightly press to compact and flatten the rice cover the rice with aluminium foil making sure that the juice from the roasting pork skin will drip to the rice. Now place the pork rind pierced with bamboo skewer to act as backbone to keep the pork rind flat during roasting. Brush pork skin with soy sauce. Now place in the middle of the oven preheated to 325ᵒF to 350ᵒF and bake for about 1 1/2 hours, occasionally checking the cooking rice and adjust temperature as required. Baste the pork rind with some butter in between. During the last 10 minutes increased the oven temperature to roast crisp the pork skin. When done remove from oven and let rest for about 10 minutes. In the meantime chopped roasted pork rind. Serve topped with the chopped lechon.

See other related paella recipe:
Seafood Bringhe Valenciana
Bringhe
Arroz Negra, Black Paella
Pinoy Arroz Paella
Seafood Rice Cooker Paella Valencianna


See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Pinoy Puchero, Pochero with Eggplant Sauce

Pinoy Puchero, Pochero with Eggplant Sauce. I have tried to cook this pochero dish as close as possible to the version of Nora Daza from her cook book titled Let’s Cook with Nora Daza. Incidentally this is my first cook book which help me honed my cooking knowledge. I find the recipe’s cooking method laborious with all the individual boiling of the meat and vegetable ingredients. I have to revised it to an easier to follow cooking method including the eggplant sauce where raw garlic is mixed to the broiled eggplant.



On my version I boiled all the meats (chicken, pork and beef) together in a big sauce pan, this way I can scoop out all those scum that normally rises when boiling meats in one step. The meats do not become tender at the same time either therefore once the chicken gets tender it was to be removed from the pan then the next meat either the pork or the beef it defends which one get tender last. I did not also boil the bananas, potatoes and the vegetables individually, I just added them in stages of cooking. If you like to serve the ingredients and the broth in separate platers and bowls, you can always individually pick the ingredients off from the pan. For the eggplant sauce I find the garlic a bit strong without cooking, so I had to stir fry it with the mashed broiled eggplant.



There are other versions of pochero out there some uses tomato sauce, there is also a version where pork and beans are added to the sauce. (See my Pork Pochero with Pork and Beans post). The Cebu style pochero uses pork shank or beef shanks with corn in cob (See my Cebu Pochero post). I guess the pochero has evolved to different versions base on localities.Here is the recipe of my version of Pinoy Puchero, Pochero with Eggplant Sauce.

Ingredients:



1/4 kilo beef, cut into large serving pieces
1/4 kilo pork, cut into large serving pieces
1/4 kilo chicken, cut into large serving pieces
1/2 small size cabbage, cut in to large wedges
2 stalks Chinese bok choy, trimmed
1 small bunch green beans, trimmed
3 pieces boiled saba, plantain banana, sliced diagonally
1/2 cup canned chick peas
2 pieces potato, quartered
1 pieces Spanish chorizo, sliced diagonally
1 small bundle leeks or spring onions, cut into 2” length
1 tsp. peppercorn
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small size onion, chopped
salt
cooking oil

For the Eggplant Sauce:

4 small size eggplant, broiled, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp. white vinegar
salt and pepper
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



In a large sauce pan put in all the meats and about 2 liters of water, bring to a boil and simmer until scum start to appear. Scoop out all scum that rises. Now add in the leeks or spring onions, peppercorns and salt to taste, continue to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the chickens are tender at moderate heat. Remove the chickens from the pan and keep aside. Continue to simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the pork or beef are tender. Remove either one which becomes tender and keep aside. Continue to simmer until the remaining meat becomes tender, remove from pan and keep aside. Transfer the broth in a big bowl using a sieve to filter out the residue and keep aside. Using the same sauce pan heat some oil and sauté garlic and onion until fragrant, add in the chorizo and stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Now pour about 1 1/2 liters of the reserved broth, use water if not enough. Add in the potato, bring to a boil and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the boiled meats and banana and continue to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Correct saltines if required. Add in the vegetables and chick peas, simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the vegetables are just cook. Remove from heat when done.



To make the eggplant sauce, using a small frying pan heat some oil and stir cook the garlic until fragrant. Stir in the chopped broiled eggplant and continue to stir cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the stove, now add in the vinegar and stir/mix thoroughly . Season with salt and pepper to taste. When done transfer in a small sauce plate and serve with the pochero.


See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Crispy Sisig

Crispy Sisig. Today I want to share a fried version of the sisig. The ingredients are deep fried instead of the usual grilling. The basic ingredient and cooking method are similar to my previous sisig recipe (click here to see the previous sisig post) except of course the pork and liver ingredients are deep fried instead of grilling. The frying method may not mean a lot in terms of ease of cooking compared to grilling because of the added danger of hot oil splashing during frying. It is however more convenient if you live in an apartment or a condominium where there is no place for outdoor barbecue. And hate the smoke that seems to clink to the walls forever. Not unless of course if you have an oven but that will require another separate sisig post in the future. Here is the recipe of my version of Crispy Sisig.



Ingredients:

1 pig head, cut into four parts
1/2 kilo chicken liver
6-8 large size onion, chopped
6-8 pieces green chili, chopped
2-3 pieces birds eye chili, chopped
2 pcs. pork bouillon cube
2 cups vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. liquid seasoning
1 tbsp. peppercorn
1/2 head garlic, crushed
3 pcs. bay leaf
kalamansi
salt and pepper

Cooking procedure:



In a big pan boil the pig head, peppercorn, bay leaf, crushed garlic and about 1 tsp. of salt for 30 to 45 minutes or until tender and skin can be separated from the skull. On the last 5 to 10 minutes of boiling add in the chicken liver. Remove from the pan and drained in a colander until dry or wipe with paper towels. Separate the meat from the bone and cut head parts into frying size, discard the bones. Chill the pork head parts and the chicken liver in the refrigerator for at least a couple. Deep fry the pork head parts and chicken liver at high heat until the skin are crisp and color has change to golden brown. Let cool down and dice into small cubes. In a big wok stir fry diced face part and liver without oil for 10 to 15 minutes at high heat. Add in 3 to 4 cups of water, bouillon cube, vinegar, soy sauce, liquid seasoning and salt/pepper to taste. Stir cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Add in onions and chili, stir cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with kalamansi or serve on a sizzling plate with kalamansi and top with egg.


See other sisig recipe:
Fish Sisig
Chicken Sisig
Pork Sisig

See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Baked Leche Flan

Baked Leche Flan, I was reading a lot of baking technique for making a leche flan which is normally cooked by steaming. Most involved complicated use of double baking pan with water barrier between the mould or llaneras. Today I tried to make it easier by simply baking the leche flan straight from the mould. I just baked the leche plan custard in a small cake pan at 300ᵒF to 325ᵒF for about 1 hour and the result was good it is comparable if not better with steam cooked leche flan. I could not compare the result with leche flan baked on a baking pan with water bath heat buffer for the reason that I have not tried such technique.



The recipe of leche plan(See my previous Leche Flan recipe)is standard the only deviation you could do is adjust the sweetness buy adding more milk or using more eggs. Some recipes call for using whole eggs. Flavouring defends on your own selection you can always use flavour essence or just the rind of some citrus fruit. For presentations I topped the leche flan with some strawberries, cherries and grapes. Here is the recipe of my baked version of Leche Flan.



Ingredients:

For the custard:
8 egg yolks
1 350ml can condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh milk
1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon rind



For the caramel:
3/4 cups white sugar

For fruit toppings:
strawberries
cherries
red and green grapes

Cooking procedure:



In a small pan heat the sugar at low heat until it start to melt. Now continuously stir the melted sugar until it caramelised, when the color start to change to golden brown remove from heat and pour on to the mould tilting the mould to uniformly cover the bottom. Keep aside to let the caramel solidify. In a big mixing bowl mix and blend all the ingredients, whisk slowly to avoid air bubbles. Pour the leche flan custard into the mould and tightly cover with aluminium foil. Place in an oven pre-heated at 300ᵒF to 325ᵒF. Bake with the same temperature for 45 to 60 minutes. Or when the fork is inserted at the center and comes out clean. When done remove from the oven keep aside to cool down to room temperature. Place in refrigerator to chill before serving. To serve, run the handle of a spoon or fork around the mould sides then unmold by inverting onto a serving platter. Top with the fruit toppings.



See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Pinoy Ham and Cheese Bread Roll

Pinoy Ham and Cheese Bread Roll. This Pinoy version of bread roll is not new. I have had this on several times served as meryenda by friends. It is one of Pinoy’s kitchen ingenuity, where slices of loaf bread are turned into bread rolls with ham and cheese stuffing. The cooking method is simple all the ingredients are common in most Pinoy kitchen. But on my version I made some twist, I spread some honey on the bread. If you do not have honey, jams may do or just sprinkle some sugar instead. You may omit it all together if you are not into sweets. I also cut off the outer skin of the bread for cleaner rolls but again you may leave them as it is if you do not want to waste anything. As I said cooking is fairly easy. It is a lot more easier compared to my other roll recipes below.

Chili Cheese and Ham Stick
Cheese Sticks
Chicken Cordon Bleu Rolls
Lumpiang Isda, Lumpiang Galungong
Ngohiong, Ngo Yong, Cebu’s Fried Lumpiang Ubod
Lumpiang Gulay, Lumpiang Togue
Lumpiang Shanghai
Turon Fried Banana Roll

Some tips to remember, fry at moderate heat use a big frying pan with generous amount of oil. If it’s possible fry the bread roll altogether in one batch. You do not want all those burnt bread crumbs sticking on the succeeding batches. Here is the recipe of my version of Pinoy Ham and Cheese Bread Roll.



Ingredients:

6 slices, white loaf bread, outed cut off
12 strips of cooked ham
12 strips cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten
2 cup bread crumbs
honey
cooking oil



Cooking procedure:

Flatten each using slice of bread using the palm of your hand. In a big platter lay a flattened bread. Spread some honey, arrange 2 strips of ham and 2 strips of cheese at one side and roll. Apply some pressure for a few seconds to hold and maintain the roll in shape. Deep the roll in the beaten egg then in the bread crumbs, ensure that the bread is uniformly coated with egg and bread crumbs. Repeat process on the remaining slices of bread, keep aside. Heat generous amount of oil in a big frying pan until it start to smoke, set the stove to moderate to low heat. Carefully place each roll with the seam at the bottom in the frying pan, fry for 1 to 1/2 minutes or until just browned and constantly flipping to maintain uniform cooking. When done remove from pan and drain oil in kitchen paper towels. To serve cut the roll in half crosswise and arrange in a platter.

See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Fiesta Fresh Fruit Salad

Fiesta Fresh Fruit Salad. One salad that is always in our must Christmas food is fruit salad. It doesn’t matter if it’s canned fruits or fresh fruits. In our household I usually make the fruit salad out of fresh fruits that are available at the time of making.



Some fruits tend to become bitter or sour in time that’s why if you are planning to make some fruit salad this coming holidays just prepare enough quantity that can be consumed on that day. You can always make another one on the next or succeeding days. You can also rectify shortcomings or adjust the ingredients the next time you make the fruit salad. There are no exact quantities and combination of fruits to be used, you can even use leftover fruits or fresh fruit cocktails where variety of different chunks of are already included. You can have them mixed with sweet creams, canned milks, and other similar ingredients as you please. For this Fiesta Fresh Fruit Salad recipe I just mentioned the general ingredient, you can tweak the recipe of whatever that is available.



Ingredients:

bowl of assorted cut fresh fruits
all-purpose cream
canned condensed milk



Method:

Combine and mix thoroughly all the ingredients in a big bowl. Chill in a refrigerator until ready to serve.





See similar post on fruit salad.
Fresh Fruit Salad
Buko Salad
Buko Fruit Salad
Buko Pandan Salad

See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Pork Loin Pina Hamonado

Pork Loin Pina Hamonado. Pork hamonado with pineapple is another popular Christmas dish that I want to share. My pork hamonado version is easy to prepare there is no rolling, tying or even wrapping. The pork that I used for the recipe is the loin part (lumo). To prepare you will need a whole pork loin, any other whole pork cut may also be used. Trim the ends of the pork loin to make it square as I call it, this is to facilitate easier insertion of stuffing. Using a thin knife make several stab cuts at the pork loin ends where you could insert the carrots, sweet pickles and pineapple stuffing. The depth of the stab corresponds to the strips of carrots and sweet pickles. Do these at both ends of the pork loin for easier insertion. The only hard part is inserting the pineapple stuffing, just force them with your finger will do the job. Here is my version of Pork Loin Pina Hamonado.



Ingredients,

1 large size pork loin, ends trimmed
4 slices of canned pineapple, 2 slices cut into chunks, reserve the remaining slices, reserve syrup
4 whole sweet pickles, cut into 4 strips each
1 large size carrot, cut crosswise in half, then cut into 4 strips each half
4 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt to taste



Cooking procedure:

Using a thin knife make several stub cuts at both ends of the pork loin, the stub cuts should correspond to the length of the carrots and sweet pickles strip stuffing. Insert the stuffing on each stub cut, use your finger to insert the pineapple chunks stuffing. Marinate the prepared pork loin with the mixture of reserved pineapple syrup, honey and garlic powder. Season with salt to taste. Let marinate for at least overnight. In a sauce pan place the marinated pork loin including the marinade. Bring to a boil and simmer at low to moderate heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until most of the marinade syrup has evaporated, constantly turning the pork loin every now and then. Continue to cook at low heat until the syrup start to thicken and caramelize, at this time add the reserved pineapple slices to shear at both sides. When done transfer into a serving platter, arrange pineapple slices and pour over the syrup. Serve in slices.


See other related pork recipes:
Braised Pork Belly, Pork Rasher
Braised Pork Leg with Hoisin Sauce
Paksiw na Pata ng Baboy
Paksiw na Tokwa at Baboy
Pork Estofado
Pork Spareribs With Tausi
Spicy Tausi Pork Spareribs

See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Chicken Embutido

Chicken Embutido is an alternative to the more popular pork embutido that is usually served on special occasions including the Cristmas Noche Buena or New Year’s Media Noche Celebrations. There is nothing special cooking method with this chicken version of embutido. I have baked the embutido rolls for the reason that I wanted to check the suitability of baking embutido instead of steaming. As expected the result was positive, and in fact I could tell that embutido rolls wrapped with aluminium foil is more convenient cooking method than steaming.



When the embutido is wrapped with aluminium foil the mixture is totally sealed thereby only the heat from the hot steam is used to cook the embutido, and I could safely say that any aromatics in the steaming water has no effect. Of course if sinsal is used as a wrapping then it should be cooked with steam with all the additional aromatic ingredients added to the steaming water. See my Special Embutido recipe with sinsal wrapping. Searing the embutido before serving will caramelize the outside of the embutido roll which somehow enhance the flavour. Here is the simple recipe of my chicken version of embutido.

Ingredients:



1/2 kilo ground chicken
1 cup ham cut into strips
2 cans Vienna sausage, chopped
1 piece Spanish chorizo, chopped
1 small size carrot, chopped
1 medium size onion, chopped
1/2 cup raisins, sultana and apricot
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tbsp. pickled relish
2-3cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper to taste
8 pcs. hard boil quail eggs
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a big bowl combine all the ingredients (except the quail eggs and cooking oil) and mix until well blended season, with salt and pepper to taste. Divide into two portions and set aside and place each portion in a square aluminium foil. Platen each chicken mixture and arrange 4 eggs at the center of each mixture and hand roll until the mixture covers the eggs. Now roll the roll the aluminium foil into a tightly packed log about 2 1/2” in diameter, seal both ends. Arrange the embutido side by side in a baking tray and bake for 30 to 45 minutes at 325ᵒF to 350ᵒF. Alternately steam for 45 minutes to 1 hour. When done let it cool and remove the aluminium wrapping. Before serving heat generous amount of oil in a frying pan and sear the embutido on all side. Slice into rings and serve with banana ketchup.

See other related recipe:
Christmas Hardinera
Chicken Meatloaf, Chicken Relleno Style
Meatloaf, Christmas Meatloaf
Rellenong Manok, Chicken Relleno
Special Embutido
Embutido


See other Celebration's Recipe:
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes

Pineapple Fried Rice

Pineapple Fried Rice is a popular stir fried rice that uses pineapple as the main topping, usually fresh chunks of pineapple is used. However canned pineapples are preferred for the reasons that fresh pineapple are most of the times excessively sour. Pineapple fried rice is one of Asian’s favorite meal in one dish that usually offered in Chinese and Thai restaurants. I have included this fried rice dish on this year’s Celebration’s Recipe for variety if you want to try it on your coming Noche Buena and Buena Noche Celebrations. The dish is very appealing as it uses a lot of colourful ingredients adding to the dish Fiesta presentation. Again if you find that the fresh pineapple you have purchase is overly sourly don’t use it, used canned pineapple instead. Here is the recipe of my version of Pineapple Fried Rice.



Ingredients:

3 to 4 cups cooked rice
1 cup pineapple chunks, fresh or canned
1 cup diced chicken
1/2 cup diced ham
1/2 Chinese sausage, chopped
1/2 cup shelled small shrimps
1/2 cup mixed vegetables
1/2 small size red bell pepper, diced
1/2 small size green bell pepper, diced
1 small stalk celery, diced
1/2 medium size onion, chopped
2-4 clove garlic, chopped
1/2-3/4 tsp. turmeric powder
2 scrambled eggs
3-4 stalks spring onion, chopped
salt to taste
cooking oil

Cooking ingredients:



In a large wok saute garlic and onion, add in the Chinese sausage and stir cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the chicken and stir cook for 5 to 8 minutes. Add in the ham, mixed vegetables and pineapple, stir cook for 3 to 5 minutes add in the. Now add in the rice and turmeric powder, continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the bell pepper and celery and stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, season with salt to taste. When done garnish with scrambled eggs and spring onions before serving.

See other fried rice recipe:
Yellow Fried Rice
Yang Chow Fried Rice
Seafood Fried Rice
Hotdog Egg and Fried Rice
Tinapa Tuna Fried Rice

See other related paella recipe:
Bringhe
Arroz Negra, Black Paella
Pinoy Arroz Paella
Seafood Rice Cooker Paella Valencianna

See other Celebration's Recipe
2008 Celebration's Recipes
2009 Celebration's Recipes
2010 Celebration's Recipes