Dinengdeng with Beef Soured with Tamarind

Dinengdeng with Beef Soured with Tamarind. This is one of the Ilocano dish that I grew up with. The combination of string beans, bamboo shoots, some saluyot (jute), beef and lightly soured with tamarind or just tomatoes is just great I have a similar dish in the archive called String Beans with Beef but this time I have put in all the mentioned usual ingredients for this beef version of dinengdeng. The bamboo shoots I used is pre-shredded and parboiled that should be available in the vegetable section of most Metro Manila supermarkets and of course from wet markets. Remember these are already parboiled but to be really sure that it is properly cooked I boiled it again for about 3 to 5 minutes then discard the initial water. Then add fresh water this time I boiled it again for about 20 to 30 minutes more. Okey I am going already into details this should be written on the recipe, here it is the recipe of my Dinengdeng with Beef Soured with Tamarind.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo shredded and parboiled bamboo shoots
1 bundle string beans, trimmed, cut into 2” lengths
1 bundle saluyot, trimmed, coarsely chopped
1/4 kilo beef strips
3-4 clove garlic, chopped
1 medium size onion, chopped
2 medium size tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 to 2 tbsp. tamarind sinigang mix
salt
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

Place the bamboo shoots a big sauce pan, add enough water to same level with the bamboo shoot bring to a boil and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes, discard first boiled water. Now add in about the same quantity of water and bring to a boil, simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and separate the bamboo shoot from the liquid, keep aside. In a separate sauce pan sauté the beef with garlic, onion and tomato for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the fish sauce and continue to stir cook for about 1 minute. Add in the liquid from boiling the bamboo shoots, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the beef are tender. Correct saltiness if required. Add in the string beans and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes now add in the jute and continue to simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes or until the vegetables are just cooked. Served hot with a lot of rice.

See other similar recipe:

String Beans with Beef
Ginisang Sitaw
Ginisang Sitaw at Sigarillas
Dinengdeng, Labong, Saluyot at Sigarillas

Pinoy Fish Curry with Kalabasa

Pinoy Fish Curry with Kalabasa. I have always wanted to try to cook a version of fish curry that could be acceptable to Pinoy similar to the Pinoy chicken curry. Today I tried to cook one with squash and some string beans. This is the first time I cooked this and I think it still need some improvement, never the less the outcome was good. What I did was I sautéed the fish first to remove some of the fishiness (next time I would fry it also) then keep aside to be added later. Then I cooked the vegetables in coconut milk. Added some curry powder before returning the fish. Okey here is the recipe of my Pinoy Fish Curry with Kalabasa.

Ingredients:

2 pieces red snapper fillet or any similar white fish, cut into squares
2 cups cubed squash,
1 small bundle string beans, cut into 2” length
1/2 head garlic chopped
2 thumb size ginger, cut into thin strips
2 small size onion, chopped,
2 pieces red/green chili, sliced
1-1 1/2 cup pure coconut milk
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1-2 tbsp. curry powder
salt and pepper
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a sauce pan using half quantity of garlic, ginger and onion sauté the fish for about 1 to 2 minutes, remove from pan keep aside. Using the same pan add more oil and stir cook the remaining ginger, garlic and onion until fragrant. Add in half quantity of the coconut milk, 2 to 2 1/2 cups of water, fish sauce and curry powder bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes stirring most of the time. Now add in the squash and continue to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the remaining coconut milk, string beans and chili, continue to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes or until the squash starts to disintegrate. Add in the fish, season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another minute. Serve with a lot of rice.

Pinoy Fish Curry with Kalabasa - Cooking Procedure

See other curry recipes;

Pinoy Chicken Curry
Pork and Chicken Curry
Chicken Curry with Bamboo Shoots
Thai Green Chicken Curry Pinoy Style
Seafood and Vegetable Green Curry

Tokwa’t Manok, Chicken and Tofu

Tokwa’t Manok, Chicken and Tofu. Here is the chicken alternative of the popular pulutan tokwa’t baboy, intead of using pork I used chicken breast fillet which is healthier. This is not the first time that I substituted the pork on tokwa’t baboy, in the archive I also have a version using fish, Tokwa’t Isda and using beef Tokwa’t Baka. To make the dish I first marinated the chicken fillet with soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic before frying. Here is the recipe on how I made my Tokwa’t Manok, enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, cut into fillet
1 big block firm tofu, tokwa, cut into rectangular blocks
1 small size onion, coarsely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 red and green chili, sliced crosswise
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
cooking oil

Marinade
1/2 cup soy sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
juice from 1/2 lemon

Cooking procedure:

Place the chicken fillet in a bowl, add in the marinating ingredients and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes to marinate. In a separate bowl pour vinegar and soy sauce, mix in the onion, garlic, sugar and chili, set aside until ready to serve. In a deep frying pan fry tofu in batches for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until crisp, drain excess oil, keep aside until ready to serve. In same frying pan, add more cooking as necessary, fry chicken in batches for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until crisp, drain excess oil, keep aside until ready to serve. To serve chop the fried chiken and tofu into cubes, place in a serving bowl and pour over the vinegar soy sauce with the onion and garlic mixture, toss to mix.

See other tokwa recipe:

Tokwa't Baka
Tokwa't Isda
Tokwa't Baboy

Sweet and Sour Meatballs, The Clark and Zoobic Adventure

Sweet and Sour Meatballs, The Clark and Zoobic Adventure. This is a late post, in fact I almost forgotten about it. Oh well its better late than the readers would never see. It is only a couple of months back, that was during my Manila vacation leave. Together with my family we headed up North to Clark to see the annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and on the itinerary visit the Zoobic Zoo in Subic. What is the connection now with my dish of Sweet and Sour Meatballs you may ask? The truth is I need to connect it to the dish so that I could share to you our Clark and Zoobic Adventure, make sense huh? Whenever we go on this kind of family bonding trips I always make it a point to bring our food, not only that it is cheaper, we have also something to eat inside the car while traveling. And mind you it’s not just pack in a bag. The food and drink are packed in thermo containers and Igloo. Plates, cutlery, picnic table and chairs all stashed at the back of the car. Now here is the connection of this Sweet and Sour Meatballs, it is one of the food that were prepared the night before, we started early so that we could be at Clark by 7AM, Manila to Clark is about 2&1/2 to 3 hours travel. For the trip we brought ham, hotdog to make sandwich, prepared sweet and sour meatballs, igado a family favorite, lechon manok and seafood pansit canton and some potato chips and drinks. We almost missed the Hot balloons take off this was due to the heavy traffic at Clark. Here are some of the photos.

Clark Hot Air Ballon Fiesta

First Stop Shell NLEX

Hot Air Ballon Ready to Take Off

Hot Air Ballon

Vintage Aircraft Show?

After we finished our lunch we headed to Subic for that Zoobic Adventure. By 2PM we are at Zoobic. The Zoo trip was not what I expected it was way out of the Zoo Parks that I have visited on other places. The Zoo does not have enough animals to offer. The only thing that pleased us was the tour guide which I though did pretty good and the close encounter with the tigers, Tiger Zafari. Here are the photos.

Zoobic sa Subic

Bird Trill

Bear Cat

Pigs Everywhere

Croco Loco

Tiger Safari

Long Road Home

I hope that get you entertained now here is the recipe of my Sweet and Sour Meatballs.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:
1/2 kilo pork, coarsely chopped or coarsely ground
1 small singkamas, finely diced
1 small size carrot, finely diced
1 bundle kinchay, finely chopped
2 medium size onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup cornstarch
salt and pepper
cooking oil

For the sauce
6 slices canned pineapple, cut to pieces, reserve syrup
1 medium size red bell pepper, cut into squares
1 large size onion, cut into squares
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 tbsp. plum sauce
1 tbsp. Worchester sauce
2 tbsp. white vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
salt and pepper
cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

To make the meatballs, in big bowl mix first eight meatballs ingredients, mix and blend well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Scoop out the size of a golf ball and roll using the palm to form into balls, arrange in a platter and keep aside. In a wok heat oil and stir-fry in batches the meatballs for 2 to 3 minutes or until the outer skin turn to golden brown, keep aside.

Heat the wok until it start to smoke add in generous amount of cooking oil. Stir cook the onion for a minute, remove from wok and keep aside. Using the same wok stir fry garlic until fragrant add in the fried meatballs and stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in Worchester sauce and tomato sauce stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the reserve pineapple syrup, 1 cup of water, plum sauce vinegar and sugar, let boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the pineapple and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the bell pepper, onion and season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for a minute. Thicken sauce with cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup of water cook for another minute. Serve with rice.

Overseas Pinoy Cooking Now on YouTube!

Overseas Pinoy Cooking Now on YouTube! For quite some time now I have been pondering this idea of making videos out of my cooking. The only problem is I do not have the time to actually make instructional videos because of the nature of my work. And of course besides time I still do not have the skills and the right equipment. This weekend while cleaning and sorting my file and my food photographs, I do have thousands of food pictures that have accumulated during my almost 4 years of food blogging. I ask myself why not make a PowerPoint Presentation from the unpublished photographs and convert it into an instructional video that can be publish on YouTube. Because of the long Holiday I kept my self busy by making one and actually have managed to upload it to YouTube. Frankly I am not sure if the idea will work, I guess I just have to ask for the readers feedback.

Puto Pao

Lucban Hardinera

Simple Fish and Vegatable Dish for Holy Friday

Most Pinoy abstain from eating meat during Lent, particularly on Holy Friday. Some go on fasting but most will be having a simple fish and vegetable dish. I have dig out the archive for the simplest fish and vegetable dish that may help decide what to have this Holy Friday.