Kulinarya Cooking Club March 2011 : Pinakbet

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine.  Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month's theme is Vegetables.

Filipinos are known for their fatty and fried foods.  But there's more to Filipino cuisine to just lechon and chicharon.  We love to eat vegetables. We also love seafood since the Philippines is made up of more than seven thousand islands, we are surrounded by ocean.

I chose to make Pinakbet.  This dish is a popular vegetable dish and is usually made up of bitter melon, okra, eggplant and fermented fish sauce.  I rarely have this but when I do, I love all the different vegetables that go in this dish. The bitter melon and okra (lady fingers) are vegetables I rarely eat unless it's in this dish.  This is my mum's recipe and she makes it all the time.  Needless to say, whenever I crave this, I just go over to her place to enjoy.

1/4 pumpkin (500g) cubed

1 bunch snake beans cut into 5cm batons

5 lady fingers, topped and tailed

1 bitter melon, halved then sliced into 3-4cm thickness.  Soak in salted water for 10-15mins

1 onion, chopped

4-5 small eggplants, cut into quarter's lengthwise

1 tomato, large dice

1 knob of ginger, julienned

1/4 cup anchovy sauce (bagoong balayan)

100g pork, diced (optional)

100g raw prawns (optional)

1.  In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and ginger until transparent.  

2.  Add the tomato and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

3.  If adding pork, add and simmer until cooked a little

4.  Add the snake beans.  Stir.

5.  Add the anchovy sauce that has been mixed with 1/4 cup of water

6.  Add the rest of the vegetables

7.  Add enough water just to cover (about 1 cup)

8.  Add the prawns

9.  Simmer until vegetables are cooked through.

10.  Serve with steamed rice and a piece of fried fish.

You can check out what the other members of the Kulinarya Cooking Club cooked up for this month's theme here 

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Zucchini and Walnut Loaf

I love this!  I've never had a vegetable in a cake/loaf before.  I wanted to try this because my brother @MrEdwardPuzon was abundant with zucchinis.  It's a little dense because it's a loaf.  And because it's dense, it's best served smothered with butter and jam.

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 finely grated zucchini

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted

1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

extra chopped walnuts

1.  Preaheat oven to 180degC.  Grease 15cm X 25cm loaf pan and line the base and long side with baking paper with 2cm overhanging the sides

2.  Beat the eggs,m sugar and oil in a bowl with electric mixer until combines.  Add the zucchini, nuts and sifted flours in 2 batches.  Mix to just combined.  Pour into the pan.  Sprinkle the extra chopped walnuts.

3.  Bake the load for about 1 1/4 hours or until cooked through.  Let stand in the tin for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack and let cool.

note: when you grate the zucchini, squeeze a little to get rid of some of the liquid. 

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Kulinarya Cooking Club July 2010 : Ginataang Kalabasa (Pumpkin in Coconut Milk)

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with our family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month's theme is Ginataan.

Ginataan is a word that means food that is cooked in "gata".  Gata is the Filippino word for coconut milk.  There are many varying dishes of this type and it  can be sweet or savoury dish.  

I decided to to make a pumpkin dish for one reason. This is, in fact my most favourite dish in the world!  I love this dish.  My mum makes it all the time and I eat and eat till I can eat no more.

The pumpkin came from my parent's garden.  They are green thumbs.  It's just so unfortunate that I didn't get any of they gardening genes.

The recipe is quite easy however, no matter how many times I cook this, I can never get it to taste the same as my mum.  She goes by taste and feel rather than measurements, which makes it all the more harder for me to replicate.  I did, however, take notes when she made this one so I can include a recipe on this post.

Ingredients

---

• 500g pumpkin
• 300g green beans, topped and tailed
• 250g raw prawns, peeled
• 10 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion
• 270ml can coconut milk
• 2 tbl bagoong (sautéed shrimp paste)
• splash patis (fish sauce)
• oil
• 
  

How to make it

---

• In a pan, heat oil then sauté the garlic and onion till lightly browned
• add the green beans and cook for 2-3 mins
• add the pumpkin, coconut milk and 1/2 a can of water
• season with the fish sauce and shrimp paste
• add the raw prawns
• simmer for 10-15 minutes
• Serve with steamed rice

Ginataang Kalabasa @ Group Recipes

Other members of the Kulinarya Cooking Club:

Kath - http://www.acupcakeortwo.com
Trisha - http://sugarlace.com/

Trissa - http://trissalicious.com/

Olive - http://www.latestrecipes.net/

Caroline - http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/

Ninette - http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/

Peach- http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/

Althea- http://www.busogsarap.com/

Asha - http://forkspoonnknife.blogspot.com/

Malou - http://www.impromptudiva.com/

Cherrie - http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/

Acdee - http://acdee.blogspot.com/

Sheryl - http://crispywaffle.com/

Anna - http://www.anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/

Dahlia - http://www.energychef.blogspot.com/

Joy - http://joyjoycreativeoutlet.blogspot.com/

Maribel - http://www.foodgeek.webs.com/

Tressa

Jen - http://www.jen-at-work.blogspot.com/

Pia - http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com/

Malaka - http://thegrandinternational.com

Mimi - http://lapinchecocinera.blogspot.com

Erika - http://ivoryhut.com

Kat - http://twitter.com/alanokat

Meatless Day Challenge - Spiced Pumpkin Soup

I am so lucky to have parents and a brother that have shiny green thumbs. I get to have fresh produce and even better, for free.  You can see my post on what I did with @MrEd2U's eggplants here. My mum has a huge pumpkin patch in her back yard.  I only asked for an eighth of a pumpkin because they are HUGE.  I forgot to take a pic of the whole pumpkin so I can show you.  I only managed to only use half of that anyway.  I peeled and cut the rest and froze for another time.

I decided to make pumpkin soup for Hubby.  The problem is, my Hubby, doesn't like pumpkins.  In fact he doesn't like any orange vegetable!  Crazy, I know.  I wanted him to appreciate the sweetness of fresh pumpkin and I thought the best way was to make pumpkin soup.  To entice him a little I added a few spices as he loves them.  I went simple with the spices but any can be used.

• olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 onion cut into large slices
• 1 large potato
• 500g pumpkin cut into chunks
• chicken stock
• salt and pepper
• cream

1. Pour olive oil in large pot
2. Add the spices and gently cook till the aroma comes out
3. Add the onion, potato and pumpkin
4. Give it a stir
5. Add enough stock just to cover the vegetables
6. Season with salt and pepper. Be careful with the salt as the stock may already be salty
7. Simmer till the vegetables are cooked through
8. Blend in a food processor or blender till smooth
9. Replace back into the pot and gently heat through
10. Add a dollop of cream
11. Serve with nice crusty bread.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup @ Group Recipes

I am happy to say that Hubby loved it.  I will definitely make him more with the batch of frozen pumpkins.

Other members of the Meatless Day Challenge :

Penny : Jeroxie - Addictive & Consuming

Divina : Sense and Serendipity

Meatless Day Challenge - Pasta in a grilled tomato sauce

This week's meatless day challenge was inspired by a dish by Nigel Slater.  Using fresh tomatoes and grilling it and doing very little to it brings out the natural flavour of the sweet tangy tomatoes.

I love the idea of having pasta in a light and flavourful sauce.  The best part of this dish is that it's not only very tasty but it's quick, so it's perfect for a midweek meal.

There really isn't a recipe set in stone for this.  It really is free form and you can add any herbs you like.

Half tomatoes and place on an oven tray.  I used 6 tomatoes for 2 people but this was plenty.  Drizzle really good quality olive oil over them and season with salt and pepper.  I then added minced garlic and fresh thyme from my herb garden.  

Place under a hot grill and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.  Place them in the bowl including all the juices that collected in the tray.  Pour a splash of red wine vinegar.  Roughly crush with a fork leaving some large pieces of tomatoes.  Mix in some fresh basil.  

To serve, combine with cooked spaghetti pasta and enjoy.

Other members of the Meatless Day Challenge :

Penny : Jeroxie - Addictive & Consuming

Divina : Sense and Serendipity

Meatless Day Challenge - Filipino Eggplant Omelete

Thanks to Penny from Jeroxie, Addictive & Consuming blog, I have been very committed to this challenge.   Please check out her blog and you'll see what I mean.  Her Meatless Day Challenge posts are always inspiring.

For this week, I chose a Filipino dish.  It's so tasty and the best thing about it is that it only has 2 main ingredients.

My brother @MrEd2U is a great gardener and grows tons and tons of vegetables in his backyard.  So much so, that he has to give away vegetables nearly everyday because his family simply cannot eat it all.  I guess I'm the lucky one.

The other week, he gave me some of his eggplants.  I love eggplants.  I decided to make a quick and easy lunch for myself and my 3 year old.  I'm actually quite surprised that she likes this dish as it's more of a "grown up" one, I think.  I'm not sure if  many other 3 year olds like eggplant?

Fresh from my brother's garden.

First place eggplant on open fire to burn the skin

Once the skin is black and blistered, remove from fire and place in a bowl covered for a few minutes to let it steam.

Once cooled, remove the skin.  It comes off easily.

With a fork, flatten out the flesh and dip into a beaten egg that

has been seasoned with salt and pepper.

Fry both sides in a pan until golden brown.

Serve with steamed rice and conidments.  I have mine with

sauteed shrimp paste or fish sauce.  You can try tomato sauce

or just have it on it's own.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Three days of non stop eating - Christmas 2009

Another Christmas has come and gone.  This year was exactly the same as the previous years.  I ate and ate and ate.

It started on Christmas Eve.  We had Noche Buena, where the family gathers to celebrate Christmas Eve. It was held at my parents house this year. And as usual my mum cooked up a feast.

Ube Halaya and Suman (Purple yam and sticky rice steamed in banana leaves)

Strawberry ice cream made by sis in law

Mocha roll made by mum

Buche de Noel made by me.

On Christmas day, I cooked up a feast for Hubby and children (though my 4month old doesn't eat solids yet).  This week I was super organised and made a country pate from Gary Rhodes book.  I usually make this for Christmas however the past couple of years time got the better of me and I didn't end up making it.  I also baked the Christmas cake back in early November to allow the cake to infuse the flavours and I fed it alcohol every week.  Traditionally Rum or Brandy is used but I gave mine a little twist and used Drambuie to give it a little orangey kick.

The day started with a small breakfast after the children opening up their Christmas stocking presents. We had Eggs Benedict.  We usually have bacon on this but we went all out and had smoked salmon.

While I was cooking lunch, Hubby had my country pate

Christmas Lunch started off with Roast Duck.  I rubbed the skin with 5 spice powder and inserted an orange inside.

Roasted potatoes cooked in duck fat with rosemary and garlic

Brussel sprouts steamed and then sauteed in butter and garlic.  Mashed suede and carrot.

Stuffing (not really stuffing.  I roasted separately) and pigs in a blanket

For dessert we had a Classic Christmas Cake

On boxing day, it has started to become tradition that we have lunch at my mum in laws.  Since we don't get to spend Christmas day with her, we all get together the day after to celebrate and exchange gifts.  This year, I must have been so hungry that I forgot to take photos.  Mum in law's feast included roast pork and roast chicken with sides of smashed potatoes, steamed greens and a vegetable tart with feta.  It was definitely delish.  Dessert came and it was chocolate ice cream with raspberries topped with vanilla ice cream mixed with crushed up mint slices.  YUM.

Since I don't have food photos, thought I'd include a photo of mum in law with my two children and my niece.

Yes, Thomas is dressed as superman (complete with cape).  Present from Uncle Roy and Auntie Wendy.

Cookbooks I received as presents.  Gee my family knows me VERY well.

       

My parents bought me this.  Oh, how I love them!

 

                

As you can see I had three days of fantastic food and great family.  I hope everyone had a great one too.

Merry Christmas

Cherrie