Hey!

Been some time since I posted anything here. Time for a little filler -- makes me feel somewhat useful and productive. :-)

It's not that I haven't been experimenting on the stove. I have. I'm just not very happy with the shots I took. It's always been night time that I decide on a whim to cook something, so the photos are too dark, and look uninspired. And some of the food look like shit, literally. Time for a little Photoshop, hehe.

Soon, I'll be needing some new food shots. I should start experimenting more.

But hey, the food wasn't bad. Still tasted good to me. I'm thinking of names like: Sathan's Baked BBQ Ribs, Lumpiang Shanghai Hubad, and Korean Not-Beef BBQ. :-)

Molo Soup with Camote Leaves

Guess where the unused leaves from the tilapia went?

This is the third dish I prepared. Oh, that was October 11. Haven't been really cooking that much lately. Slight touch of lazy. Right now, I'm baking some pork ribs. I'll see how that'll turn out. It's a BBQ, but I'm mixing hoisin sauce and white wine vinegar, along with other sauces from the ref. :-) I'll post it when I get to take a nice photo.

Back to the molo soup.

I got a traditional recipe, and since I had some unused camote leaves, I thought I might as well try putting them in the soup. Didn't ruin it. :-) Again, I forgot to take a photo. Oh well.

Mix together some chopped spring onions, ground pork, a few chopped shrimps, plus a few drops of premium soy sauce and sesame oil. Hey, it's not bad to have the cheap brown salty soy sauce around, but from time to time, use the good kind ok? Wrap in wonton wrappers to make about 15 or more, depending on how much soup you want to make.Boil a piece of chicken breast and shred. Save the broth, you have to have at least a liter.

Saute chopped onions and garlic. Add the shredded chicken and stir for a few seconds. Pour in the broth and let it boil. Throw in the dumplings and boil for a few minutes. Add a few whole, peeled shrimps, cook for a few minutes more and turn off the flame. Add the camote leaves and if you have some more chopped spring onions and leeks left over from the fish, throw those in as well.
That's it!

GreenFire Caldereta

Hehe, it's the traditional Caldereta recipe, I just added more than a few green chilis.

Cube a kilo of tomatoes and boil (don't add water) for around 30 minutes in low flame. This'll be the tomato sauce.

While the tomatoes are stewing, brown about a kilo of beef cubes in olive oil and set aside. brown a small slab of pork liver, chop and set aside. Brown some sliced chorizos, and set aside.
In the same oil (or add a few more drops), sauté chopped onions and crushed garlic. Add the beef and the liver, and stir for a bit. Pour in the tomato sauce, and about half a cup of white wine vinegar (this tastes better, trust me). Stew for a bit. I prefer to just partially cover the pot so the vinegar's strong taste evaporates and leaves a sweetish flavor. I don't know if that's true, but it works for me. If the sauce is too thick, just add some water.

When the meat is halfway tender, mix in some cubed carrots and potatoes and sliced bell peppers. Add salt and whole black pepper a some laurel (or bay?) leaves. Add some whole pitted olives too.Stew some more until the meat is tender and that's it! Put out the flame and throw in a handful of green chilis.I took a picture before adding the green chilis. Then completely forgot. Oops.

BakedBroiled Garlic Tilapia with Camote stalks

I bake this fish close to burning. Just to have a different flavor.Get 2 big tilapias, set them on a baking tray, just small or big enough to fit the fish snugly. Pour a little soy sauce, just to flavor the fish. Crush a whole head of garlic and throw that into the fish. Add some chopped onions and thinly sliced leeks. Make sure to put some under the fish too. Get a bunch of camote tops and remove the leaves, then cut up the stalks into small pieces. Spinkle these onto the fish, almost completely covering them. Last, add a little celery salt and a few drops of sesame oil.Bake at 220˚C, until everything turns almost brown (about 30 minutes).

You'll notice that the fish won't have that bad fishy taste when you try this. I think it's the combination of garlic and camote stalks that eliminates that. Plus the near burning! Hey, you can always choose not to broil it, it'll still taste good. :-)