Oven Baked Zucchini Fries

We stopped eating French Fries when news came out that they are full of transfat. Actually, we generally avoid anything deep-fried nowadays. Ok, ok, perhaps once in a while, but I promise, only very rarely. What to do when you crave for fries? Instead of giving in immediately, look for substitutions.

I have heard of Zucchini Fries. Zucchini is a vegetable (though technically, it is a fruit, according to Wiki). So, Zucchini must be good. It is low in calories, contains some folate, potassium and Vitamin A.

I googled for the recipe, but most have a tempura-like batter. And deep fried. I got some ideas here and there, and here is what I came out with:


1 medium-sized zucchini, julienned
salt, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper (optional)

1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C cornmeal

olive oil for spraying


1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a cookie sheet or large baking pan with olive oil.

2. Season the julienned zucchinis with salt, and peppers. Let rest for 15 minutes.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and cornmeal. Add in the marinated zucchinis, coating all pieces. Lay each piece of coated zucchini on the tray. Do not overlap. Bake for 20 mintes or until golden brown.


The result? Delicious fries! Crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside. Just serve it while it is fresh from the oven. When cooled, the crunchy crust becomes soft as well...




Sharing these delicious, healthy crunchies with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, headed by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This week's host is Rachel of The Crispy Cook. To see last week's delectable dishes, please check out the round-up done by Pam of the Backyard Pizzeria.

Taiwanese (Japanese?) Style Cold Tofu with Century Egg

Pardon me for the title. I was not sure of the nationality of this dish. Here in Manila, this is known as the Taiwanese style cold tofu. Actually, this dish is only available in Taiwanese-style restaurants. So we have always called this Taiwanese tofu.

Then a Japanese chilled Tofu dish called Hiyayakko came out in the Round-up of Regional Recipes #2 featuring dishes from Japan. It makes sense actually, for this dish to be Japanese. It is very simple and elegant, very easy to prepare, all distinct qualities of a Japanese dish. The ingredients used - the tofu and bonito flakes are also Japanese.

So maybe we should call this Asian Cold Tofu instead. :)

Or perhaps, what made this dish different from the Japanese tofu is the addition of century eggs. True enough, when I googgled for century eggs, Wiki explained that this version of chilled tofu with century eggs is the Taiwanese version of the Japanese one.

Get it? Without the century eggs, the nationality is Japanese. With the century eggs, the nationality is Taiwanese. :)

What a big difference the simple addition of century eggs can make.

Century eggs are preserved eggs, made by wrapping duck or chicken eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw straw for several weeks to several months. At least that is what they do traditionally. Nowadays, the traditional method is still being used, but modern production have discovered certain curing methods can be used to imitate the chemical process used to produce century eggs. This can speed up production to as fast as ten days. That's a great improvement - from a hundred years to ten days! Seriously, it does not take a hundred years to produce century eggs, not even when made traditionally. :)

To think that when I was young, I refuse to eat century eggs. There was this persistent rumor that century eggs were made by soaking the eggs in animal dung. And it is easy to believe this rumor, century eggs have a strong odor when opened... not exactly a bad one.

Century eggs are almost always served as appetizer. Even if their color is not exactly appetizing. It can actually be eaten as is, straight from the shell. Well, wash the egg for a while to remove the odor. Or maybe it is just me :) It can also be added to Chinese barbecue dish like barbecue pork and slivers of jellyfish. Yes, the Chinese eat jellyfish. It is quite yummy, too. But that will be for another post. Century eggs is usually added to tofu as in this dish.

This a a very easy to prepare, no-cook, healthy and fuss-free dish. Very nutritious and delicious.


1 block Japanese silk tofu
1 (or 2) century eggs, shelled, sliced
sprinkling of bonito flakes
soy sauce ( I used the thick Kekap manis, but any good quality soy sauce will do)
dash of sesame oil
green onions, chopped


Just arrange all the ingredients on top of the tofu. Serve.


Tofu or Beancurd is touted as the protein of the future. It is definitely Chinese in origin, though Japan, Korea and other countries also produce their own tofu. Here in the Philippines, there are generally 3 kinds of tofu. There is the Japanese soft and silken tofu. There is the Chinese or Asian tofu which is a bit firm. The third is the dried tofu, which is more firm and is often used for frying.

Beancurd is made by coagulating soy bean milk and pressing the curds into blocks. Sometimes, pre-made soy milk can be bought and made into tofu, but more often than not, most tofu producers begin by making their own soy milk, which is produced by soaking, grinding, boiling and straining soybeans. Of course modern processes can speed up the process. Machines are available for making soy bean milk and tofu.

Tofu is low in calories, contains fat and no cholesterol. It is full of good protein making it an ideal food. It has a high amount of Vitamin B and Calcium. It is soft, and easy to digest, making it a good food for kids and elderly. Though, some people are known to be allergic to its components.



Sharing this tofu dish with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, now headed by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This week's host is Chriesi of Almond Corner. To see last week's delicious dishes, please click on the wonderful round-up done by my friend, World Food Day event and BloggerAid chief Ivy of Kopiaste.

Seafood Canapes : A Blogosphere Party!

I'm late! I'm late! I'm almost, almost late - to one of the exciting blogosphere party yet! It is Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy's Blogiversary Bash! I started to read Sticky and Gooey Chef's blog just a few weeks ago, and I was hooked! Her stories are so personal and fascinating. Her pictures are so yummy and beautiful! Her recipes are easy to follow! If you drop by her site, you will see she gets lots of favorable comments from her many friends in the blogosphere. So, I am sure, she, as a person and friend, is as sticky, as gooey, as sweet as her food!

For her party, I am sharing this easy to prepare, almost-no-cook canapes. A Canape, according to Mr Wiki, is is a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. Because they are often served during cocktail hours, it is often desired that a canapé be either salty or spicy, in order to encourage guests to drink more. Traditionally, a canape consists of a base (usually bread or crackers), a spread (usually cream cheese or butter, or any kind of pate); and the garnish. The garnish can be any kind of chopped vegetable, herbs, or if you prefer the high-end caviar or truffle oil.

Since I cannot afford caviar yet, can anchovies do? :)

I used slices of whole wheat bread. Each slice is cut diagonally in half to make a triangle, then cut each triangle in half again to make smaller triangles. So a slice of bread yields 4 triangles.

5 slices whole wheat bread
olive oil for brushing bread
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
green onions, chopped
1 T anchovies, mashed
1 T olive oil
20 pcs small shrimps, shelled, boiled
sprinkling of ground pepper


1. Spread some olive oil on the sliced whole wheat bread. Cook in the oven toaster until desired doneness.

2. In a bowl, mix together anchovies, olive oil, tomatoes and green onions. Sprinkle some ground pepper.

3. Arrange the toasted bread on the serving platter. Top with the anchovies/tomatoes mixture. Arrange 1 cooked shrimp on top for garnish.


You can sprinkle some more salt if you prefer. The kind of anchovies I have are already salty so I did not add salt anymore. Ideally, the bread should be toasted until golden brown. But my kids does not like "hard" bread. So, I just heated them up only a bit. :)


This freshly made canape is joining the fun, fellowship and food over at Susan's Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy's Blogiversary virtual cocktail party. Happy anniversary SGCC!!! Food at the party will be served on Sept 17, so be sure to drop by her site!

Honey Mustard Glazed Tofu

Here is another easy to prepare, easy to cook dish. Best of all, it is made from the very popular and healthy tofu!

Tofu, Doufu (Chinese Pinyin spelling) or Beancurd (English), is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the resulting curds into blocks. It is a very good source of protein, low in calories, no saturated fat and no cholesterol. It also contains iron and a very significant amount of calcium. Not only does the soybean itself contain calcium, but the process of coagulation needs additional calcium sulfite. This addition of the calcium sulfite is the most widely used so that tofu manufacturers can market their products as a good source of calcium. But this is actually the traditional way of making Chinese tofu. How do I know this? Because when Hubby and I were newly married, we lived with my in-laws for a while. They have a very good neighbor and friend who manufactures tofu from his backyard!

There are three kind of tofu: the soft silken tofu, usually used in soups are appetizers, which most people call Japanese tofu. There's the medium firm tofu, which most people call Chinese firm tofu. And the firm tofu (tokwa) or the dried tofu. In our family, we prefer the soft silken tofu and the Chinese tofu. We only use the dried tofu for frying, which we do not cook a lot.

It has been a while since I have cooked tofu again (since we have moved to a house on our own, that is.) But when I saw Maggie of Dog Hill Kitchen's recipe, Honey Mustard Glazed Tofu, I knew I must rekindle my tofu love affair. The recipe sounds delicious. What can go wrong with honey and mustard? And it looks so easy to prepare, easy to cook. So, I tried it.

And the result? Truly delicious! Hubby said it is the best tofu he has ever tasted. Tofu in itself is bland and flavorless. But with the addition of honey and mustard, the kids want to eat more and more. Since it is made from healthy tofu, I knew I am one happy mom. Thanks Maggie for the wonderful treat! This recipe is a keeper. :)


Some tweaks:

I do not have mustard powder, so I used the "liquid" Dijon mustard. It still tasted good. Maggie mentioned that it might be vinegary, which is okay with us. We like spicy things.

As usual, I was too lazy to fire up the oven, so I pan fried the tofu instead. I used non-stick skillet, and I only used a little canola oil. So, this dish is still considered healthy, right? :)

Since I am pan frying the tofu, I added a sprinkling of flour to the tofu. This gave the cooked tofu a nice crunchy texture on the outside. (Soft in the inside. Need I say more?)


1 block Chinese medium firm tofu
3 T Dijon Mustard
3 T honey
salt and pepper to taste
flour
dried parsley, optional

1. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes. Pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. Combine honey and mustard in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, put in some flour.

3. Dip the tofu pieces in the honey mustard. Make sure all surfaces are covered. Then dip both sides in the flour. Fry in a hot skillet with a little canola oil. Turn over once one side is cooked and golden. Dish up once both sides are cooked. This takes only a little time (a minute or two) so you have to watch over the tofu carefully.

4. Dish up and sprinkle with some dried parsley leaves (optional).




Sharing this delicious and healthy dish to Bookmarked Recipes, a foodie event launched and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen's Experiments. This week's guest host is the lovely Indian blogger Deeba of Passionate About Baking. To see last week's delicious round-up of tried and tested recipes, please click here.


Guess what? I will be guest hosting the next edition of Bookmarked Recipes! I feel honored that Ruth would invite me to host. I am so excited as this will be my first time to host any foodie event. Bookmarked Recipe is a world-wide foodie event....where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup. It is so easy to play! If you have any recipes you got from another source, you cooked it, and want to share your cooking experiences with it, please blog about it and post it anytime between Sept 15 to 21. Email me or at bookmarkedrecipes@gmail.com and I will do the round-up on Monday, Sept 22. Will be waiting for your entries! :)

Fried Shrimp Patties (Ukoy)

Since we started with fried crablets yesterday, let me continue with more "guilty" food. (Drumroll please!!!) Presenting the Deep Fried Shrimp Patties! This is also one of the popular Filipino appetizers.

Actually, from the same trip to the market, I saw these super fresh tiny shrimps. And I could not resist! Besides, I figured I am going to fry them in the same oil anyway. So, might as well go ahead with these "sinful" delights. :)

The crablets are easy to do. But I wanted the shrimps to be super crispy too. So I searched my old trusty cookbooks and found one recipe from "The Filipino Cookbook" of the Maya Kitchen. I think I have this book ever since I was single. Every page is now yellow and many with stains. I must not have "consulted" this book for a long time as I have already forgotten its poor conditions. :(

In today's edition of Bookmarked Recipes, I think I should give you the original version's list of ingredients first, as I have made a lot of tweaks. You might want to cook using the original version:

1 C all purpose flour
1 C cornstarch
1 and 1/2 t baking powder
1 and 1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 C atsuete water (or red food coloring)
1 1/2 C Shrimp juice
1 egg, well beaten

2 C mongo sprouts
1 C chopped spring onions
2 pcs firm tofu, cut into strips
1/4 K small shrimps, cleaned



Some tweaks:

I did not add any vegetable, as I have more than enough shrimps already. If I had added vegetables, I would have more pieces than we can consume. So my shrimp patties were purely made from shrimps.

Since it was already full of shrimps, I omitted the food coloring, I know my patties would turn out the pretty orange-pink color of cooked shrimps. I also omitted the shrimp juice (additional flavoring).

Other than that, I basically followed the instructions given.

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and pepper. Add in the beaten egg and beat until smooth. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil for deep frying.

3. In a small saucer or plate, arrange a bed of shrimps, then spoon in some batter (around 3 spoonsfuls). If you are including the veggies, arrange the veggies with the shrimps as well before adding the batter.

4. Slide the mixture carefully into the hot oil. Fry until crisp and brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil. Do the same with the rest of the shrimp and batter.

5. Serve with organic coconut vinegar with chilli and garlic dip.




I think the use of saucer to make the shrimp batter is a good way to keep the patties into more or less equal manageable sizes. And they also come out flat, and therefore crispy.

Aside from the veggies mentioned above, I have seen some shrimp patties (ukoy) made with strips of squash, or sweet potatoes, or even raw papaya.


Sharing this dish with the Bookmarked Recipes, a food event where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup.
Originated and hosted by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments, last week's collection of tried and tested recipes can be found on her site.

Fried Crablets

I know, I know, I have always been a proponent of healthy food. Our family food motto actually is "Life is too short to eat bad food." And guiltily, what I am showing you today something that is not actually healthy!!! Full of cholesterol! Arrrgh! Please stop my conscience from throwing darts at me!!!

How can I resist these cute crablets? I purposefully added my chubby finger in the picture so you will have an idea on how small these baby crabs are. Around 1 inch body width, plus a little more for the legs. Actually, they were cute little lumps when they were not yet cooked, but not photogenic, so I omitted the picture :).

These crablets are usually offered in restaurants around Manila, but I never found them in the markets. So, I have never cooked them myself. Imagine my surprise when I found them in the Suki Market in Quezon City. A friend referred me to this market when I was lamenting the lack of native chickens, Chinese vegetables and live seafood in our area. (These are easily available in downtown Manila's Chinatown where the traffic congestion is pretty famous.) Maybe this market can be a subject for Gay's To Market to Market event. But that is another story... :)

So, I brought them home and cooked them just the way the restaurants cook them - fried, as appetizers, dipped in our favorite organic coconut vinegar with chilli (siling labuyo/chilli padi). I console myself with the thought that I am using organic vinegar anyway. So, this dish is partly healthy, right? Crispy, salty, flavored with spicy and sourish vinegar - YUM!


1/2 Kilo crablets
garlic salt and freshly ground pepper
sprinkling of flour
cooking oil


1. Wash the crablets well. I removed the outer shell, as they will be tough to chew, and remove the inedible organs. Drip thorougly in a colander and later dry with kitchen towels.

2. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Sprinkle with a little flour.

3. In a pan, heat up the oil. When hot, fry up the crablets, one batch at a time. It cooks very fast, it will not take long. Immediately dish up and drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.

4. Serve with vinegar/chilli dip on the side.

Tomato and Cheese Bake

It's the month of Tomatoes! Well, at least for Weekend Wokking. :) Here in this tropical country, tomatoes of all sizes are available year round. It's a good thing for us too because we love tomatoes! We love everything about tomatoes - the way it looks, so round and plump and so tantalizing red... the way it feels, soft, yielding, yet firm to the touch... and the way it tastes, sweet, crunchy yet juicy. Best of all, it is very nutritious, packed with Vitamin C and the all-important Lycopene needed to boost our body's immunity.

I didn't have to tear my hair out like TS and JS of Eating Club Vancouver :) but I think I did add some wrinkles to my forehead because I thought long and hard on what dish to prepare for the featured ingredient this month :) Again, like the previous Wokking event, I want to present the chosen ingredient - the tomato as the main feature - the star of the show, so to speak. Of course the tomato is so very versatile you can add it to every dish you cook (which I often do.) But I want the tomato to stand out. I do not want the tomato featured as a sauce (like in a pasta dish), or as a flavoring or extender. And so, I came up with this... I apologize this dish does not look impressive. I am just a trying hard, amateur home-cook, who cannot quite copy the works of professional chefs and good looking blogs out there...

Anyway, here's my Tomato Cheese Bake. It is so easy to do, easy to cook. I think it is perfect as an appetizer or as an accompaniment to cocktails.



1. Cut up some tomatoes in half. Remove the seeds.

2. Drizzle some drops of olive oil inside the tomatoes.


3. Tear up or shred some fresh basil leaves (dried leaves will also do.) Put some inside the hollowed portions of the tomatoes.

4. Shred or grate some cheese and fill up the tomatoes. I tried 3 kinds of cheeses, from the left to right, mozarella, fresh parmesan, and quick-melt cheddar cheese.

5. Bake in the oven at around 200C for 5 to 10 minutes until cheeses melt.



This is how the tomatoes looked after I got them out of the oven. I think the mozarella cheese melted perfectly. The parmesan cheese looks ... so not there. So, I didn't include them in the garnishing...

6. You can serve as is. Or for a cocktail party, cut up some cucumber, and put one baked tomato on top of a slice. Decorate with fresh basil leaves.


Tomato and cheese tastes so wonderful together! You can also experiment with other kinds of cheeses. It just so happens that I have these three kinds on hand.

Daughter said they look like teacups! I just have to figure out how to put in the handle :)






This is my entry to the WeekEnd Wokking event, hosted this time by Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok! This event was launched by Wandering Chopsticks, to celebrate many ways we can cook one ingredient. The featured ingredient this month is ... the Tomato! Please check out Darlene's round-up by August 6 to see different ways we can cook the tomato and to see next month's featured ingredient!