Fresh Clam Soup with Tofu and Mustard Greens

This is a popular clear soup in Chinese restaurants and "paluto" restaurants here in Manila. It is not surprising, really, since this a flavorful, yet refreshing hot soup. It cleanses the palette in between eating dishes and viands of different flavors. It is healthy and nutritious and virtually non-fat.

This is definitely Hubby's favorite. The secret is getting fresh, live and clean clams. I try to prepare this every chance I get fresh clams from the market. I was just wondering myself why I have not blogged about this before :)

In this nutritious soup, the clams provide the flavor, the tofu provides the protein and I think the ingredient that makes this soup stand out in flavor is the mustard greens. Contrary to what you might suspect, these greens will not make the soup bitter. The leaves made the soup lighter and more refreshing.


1 Kilo fresh clams, clean very well
1 block soft tofu, sliced
100 gms mustard greens, cleaned, chopped
5 slices fresh ginger
1 onion, chopped
3 T canola oil
5 T minced garlic ( we prefer garlicky flavor, lessen if you prefer)
4 T Chinese cooking wine
5 C water
salt and pepper to taste


1. In a cooking pan or wok, saute ginger slices in oil until fragrant. Add in the onions and garlic. Saute until fragrant but not burnt.

2. Add in the clams. Cover for a minute. Then add in the Chinese cooking wine. Cover for another minute.

3. Add in the water. Cover and let boil.

4. When the shells of the clams are fully opened, then the soup is ready. Drop in the soft tofu and mustard greens. Let boil, and cook for a while, add salt and pepper according to taste. Ladle up and serve as soon as possible. The clam meat will shrink if cooked for a long time. Discard shells that did not open.



If you are cooking soup with strong flavor like clams, or beef, consider adding a few mustard greens. Mustard greens not only adds to the clear taste, but gives a lot of nutrition as well. This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Iron and Magnesium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. (source: NutritionData.com) I am surprised to learn that this is one of the few greens that contain protein because it is rich in amino acids. This means this is an ideal food for vegetarians.


Sharing this healthy and nutritious soup with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, headed by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This edition is hosted by Astrid at Paulchen's Foodblog.

Pan-Seared Fish with Capers and Lemon Cream Sauce

This is one of those dishes that sound sophisticated but is actually very easy to prepare. And I promise it tastes great, too! The recipe is also quite versatile as you can use any kind of white fish,whether filleted or not : halibut, dory, tilapia, snapper etc. And you can even substitute filleted chicken breasts or chicken tenders. This is so delicious with rice, and you can even serve this with pasta. A recipe so versatile and delicious such as this is definitely a keeper.


600 gms fish fillets, both sides sprinkled with
salt, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
flour, enough to slightly cover both sides of fillets

juice from 1 lemon (save a slice or two for garnish)
1/2 C dry white wine
1/4 C heavy cream (or sour cream or plain yogurt, whatever you have on hand)
3 T capers (drained)
3 T olive oil
3 T butter
4 T minced garlic
1/2 onion, minced


1. In a wok or skillet, heat up the olive oil and butter until butter melts. Turn up the heat and brown or sear the fish fillet on one side. Turn the fish over to sear the other side.

2. Add in the garlic and onions. The pour in the white wine and the juice of one lemon. (You can add 1/4 C water if you prefer more sauce). When the sauce boils, let simmer in low fire for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add in the capers and cream. Mix the sauce well. Let boil, lower heat until fish is cooked (This will take only a minute or two.) Serve immediately.


All these effort took less than 30 minutes of preparation and cooking. The result? A very tasty and flavorful dish we ate with fragrant jasmine rice. This is so delicious the kids had second helping of rice. :) Daughter said she thought the fish was baked because of the melt-in-the mouth texture.



Sharing this dish with the Weekend Wokking community, headed and hosted this month by Wandering Chopsticks. The featured ingredient for the month is Lemon! Check out her blog first week of June for the round-up of delicious sweet and savory lemon dishes. To see the previous round-ups of different ways to cook an ingredient, please click here.

Thai Tom Yum (Prawn) Soup

I think this is the more authentic Tom Yum Soup I have ever made. And this soup is really, really, as in, REALLY spicy! I used the Tom Yum paste that I bought in Thailand the last time we went there. (You can read about our Thailand foodie adventure here.) And I confess my little family cannot take the intensity of the heat. But then, we are not Thais of course. We prefer the local Pinoy version of the Tom Yum I made here. :) But for those who can take the heat, the real Tom Yum paste would satisfy your tongue. :)


400 gms prawns, cleaned
1 pack (single serving size) Tom Yum paste
5 slices fresh ginger
5 T minced garlic
2 stalks of lemongrass (the white part only), cut into 2", pounded with back of the cleaver
8 C water
1/2 C straw mushrooms, sliced (can substitute with button mushrooms)
1 bunch coriander leaves (wansuy), cleaned very well
fish sauce and/or salt to taste


1. In a wok or a deep pan, saute the ginger slices in a little oil until slightly brown. Saute the garlic until fragrant but not burnt.

2. Add in the prawns and stir fry for a minute or two. Add in the tom yum paste, button mushrooms and lemon grass. Add in the water for soup. (Actually, the instructions on the tom yum package says to add only 4 C of water. But after cooking, we found it too spicy for our taste, so we kept on adding more water and more fish sauce... yes, double the amount of water needed!)

3. Let boil and simmer until the prawns are pink and cooked. Do not overcook the prawns. Add the coriander leaves before serving.


This is actually a very easy dish to prepare. You will feel like a you're in a science laboratory simply adding this and that ingredient to the pot and waiting for the concoction to boil :) Next time, I will only use half a pack to lessen the heat. :)


The lemongrass are harvested from the pots of my balcony garden. I should have coriander as well, but my coriander plant recently dried up because of the intense summer heat!!! So I have to purchase coriander leaves... something I have not done in a long, long time.


Sharing this hot soup with the Grow Your Own community, headed by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes. This month's edition is hosted by Nate and Annie over at the House of Annie. Check out the round-up at the end of the month.

Shrimp Veracruzana

I have this recipe in my old recipe notebooks (pre-blogging days) but I have not tried it yet until now. I am truly sorry that I do not remember where the recipe came from. Before food blogging, I never bothered to write down the sources of my recipes, because I thought it was only for my personal use. Nowadays, I truly take care to note down the recipe source. Because I know, if I am sharing the recipe with the world, I have to acknowledge the source. And now, I am sharing a recipe with you, which is not mine and I do not know where I got it. :(

But I do know that the recipe originated from Veracruz, Mexico. Because that is the name of the dish! :D

I know we associate chillies and beans and tacos with Mexican food. So, this recipe (with a little amount of jalapeno peppers) is a delightful find. Since Veracruz is a large port city, they have lots of ocean-fresh seafood. Seafood with jalapeno is one of this region's trademark dishes.


2 T olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 onion, cut into eights
2 jalapeno peppers, sliced (more or less, depending on taste)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 kilo shrimps, peeled, tails intact
2 medium tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper, to taste


1. Heat oil in a non-stick wok or skillet. Add onion, and cooked until softened. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the bay leaf, tomatoes, jalapenos and cook for about 3 minutes until tomatoes are softenend.

2. Stir in the shrimps. Cover and cook until pink. Stir for a while, season to taste. Remove from fire, remove bay leaf and serve while warm.



Sharing this dish with the Regional Recipes community, launched by Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok. This month's recipes features Mexican dishes. Host of the month is Wandering Chopsticks. Please check out her site after the 15th for the round-up of delicious Mexican dishes.

Curried Mussels

Finally! I was able to buy some fresh, nicely sized mussels! I was looking for fresh mussels last week when I wanted to try out an interesting French recipe. Since I was not able to find some mussels last week, I substituted with Pacific clams and the dish turned out very good! You may want to try the recipe here. It is truly highly recommended. :)

Of course my first impulse is to cook these mussels the way I cooked the Pacific clams. It was delicious! But that was just last week. I would not want to immediately repeat the same recipe on my dinner table and on this blog. :) So, I tried to make this curried mussels dish that I was able to taste (and hopefully recreate) from a restaurant.

Mussels are known to be "poor man's oysters." I am not surprised because mussels are indeed a lot, lot cheaper than oysters, and even cheaper than clams. But their meat is very tasty. I am not sure if I am simply biased, but I prefer the ones with the orange meat rather than the cream meat. Maybe I am simply attracted by the bright orange hue, that is why I "think" they are more delicious than the cream-colored meat. Later on, I learned that the orange meat are females and the cream colored ones are males. So, maybe the orange meat are indeed more tasty. Is it not that the female crabs are tastier than the male crabs as well?


1 kilo live mussels, shells brushed
5 slices fresh ginger
5 T minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
100 gms lean ground pork
3 -4 pcs jalapeno peppers or green peppers (siling haba)
1/2 C coconut milk
3 T curry powder
1 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste


1. Heat up some oil in a wok or cooking pan. Add in the ginger and saute until fragrant. Add in the onions and garlic. Saute until fragrant but not burnt. Add in the tomatoes. Let simmer for a while until softened.

2. Add in the ground pork. Let cook until meat changes color and is done, stirring once in a while.

3. Add in the mussels, coconut milk, curry powder, jalapeno peppers, and curry powder. Let boil and cook until mussels open. Stirring once in a while. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Discard mussels that did not open.


Even if mussels are not expensive, they are good food. They are quite tasty and delicious and they are full of good nutrition. They are low in fat and high in protein. They are also rich in omega 3 fatty acids. It is rich in iron, manganese, phosphorous, selenium, zinc and vitamins C and B12.



Sharing this curried mussels dish with Kitchen of Love Food event hosted by Chris of Mele Cotte. This event is featuring aphrodisiacs food and dishes as a way of celebrating this most romantic time of the year. Mussels, which are high in minerals such as zinc, and phosphorus are considered aprohodisiac food. Check out her blog in a few days to see the round-up of dishes we will serve our special someone on valentine's day.

Seafood Winter Melon Chinese Soup

This soup is often considered a superior soup in Chinese restaurants. It has the natural goodness of winter melon or white gourd (Dong Gua) and the natural sweet flavor of seafood. Yum! In restaurants, it is often served like this: in carved winter melon bowls.

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Even if I did not carve my own winter melon bowl. I assure you, this soup tastes like the soup served in restaurants and maybe even better. I have more seafood than "fillers" that's why!

In restaurants, they also claim that they serve double boiled soup. That is, after cooking the soup, they ladle the soup into the winter melon bowls and then steam the whole bowl (with soup and all) for several hours. If they really do this, then it is the authentic Cantonese soup cooking. However, sometimes, I wonder if they really do that, because if they really steam the whole winter melon and the soup, how come the ingredients are not tender as expected, and the soup is not as flavorful as expected?

Anyway, what I did is not the double-boiled technique. But it tastes just as good. If you want the double-boiled technique, just ladle the soup into the winter melon bowl, or another bowl if you do not have the winter melon bowl. And then, steam the whole bowl (with the soup) again. But then, this is a busy mother's kitchen, so simmering the soup once is enough for now. :)


250 gms, shrimps, shelled, deveined, chopped
5 T dried scallops, soaked in hot water for an hour
200 gms fish fillet, chopped

3 slices of ginger, shredded
4 T minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
salt and pepper
2 T Chinese cooking wine
250 gms winter melon, skin removed, pitted, chopped into small cubes
6 C chicken or pork broth

5 T cornstarch dissolved in 5 T water
2 eggs, well-beaten
drops of sesame oil
green onions, chopped, for garnish


1. In a hot wok or cooking pan, saute the ginger until fragrant. Saute the onion and garlic until fragrant.

2. Add in the fish fillet, dried scallop and shrimps. Saute until they change color. Add in the winter melon pieces. Add in the Chinese cooking wine. Wait until the sauce boils and some alcohol evaporates. Add in the broth.

3. Let boil and simmer for 30 minutes or more.

4. When ready to serve, bring the soup to boil. Add the cornstarch solution while stirring continuously. Let boil and let the soup thicken. Add in the beaten eggs while stirring continuously to get the "dispersed flower" egg effect.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat. Add in drops of sesame oil and garnish with chopped green onions before serving. Serve hot.


Winter melon is actually a big melon, usually more than a foot long. A small family cannot finish one entire melon, so I do not usually buy this fruit. (yes, ma'am, it is a fruit even if it is cooked as a veggie.) It is just fortunate that I was able to spy a grocer who was selling cut-up winter melon slices. Winter melon is favored by my grandma, because, according to traditional Chinese medicine, it can help alleviate mild urinary tract problems. According to Wiki, it is high in Vitamin B and dietary fiber.

Maybe, if I have more time, I will cook this the traditional double-boiled method in that winter melon bowl. I'm sure it is going to be a wonderful experience.

Sharing this delicious, hot and flavorful soup with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, now headed by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This week's hosts are Dee and her crew at the Daily Tiffin. To see last week's delicious round-ups, please check out Marija of Palachinka.

Pacific Clams in Wine Sauce (Palourdes Marinieres)

This dish has been waiting in queue for a long time. Simply because I could not find nice and fresh, large mussels! The recipe I have is actually for mussels (moules). But I so want to make this French dish, so I settled for clams instead. I wonder if they have this dish in France so I googled, and yes! They do have this dish. This is an authentic French recipe! Even if I made the substitution first before doing the research. :)

When I first attempted to try French recipes for the Regional Recipes event, I wanted to make this easy to prepare dish ever since I found the recipe. It sounds so delicious! It has to be, clams are flavorful enough, and then you add a cup of wine!

From my corner of the world, French dishes are always associated with intricate preparations or hard to find ingredients like foie gras, or escargot. But happily, as I try to explore the world of French cooking, I am able to find several recipes which I think are full of flavor and yet easy to prepare. This dish is one of them.


1 kilo fresh Pacific clams
1 C dry white wine
3 T butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 t dried thyme
1/2 bay leaf
dash of ground black pepper
2 stalks green onion, chopped to 2 inches lenght


1. Clean the clams very well by brushing them under running water.

2. Heat up the cooking pan, and melt the butter. Add in the onions and cook until caramelized, around 3 - 5 minutes. Add in the wine and thyme and bay leaf. Let boil for around 3 minutes.

3. Add in the clams and boil over high heat until shells open. Add in the chopped green onions. Stir once or twice to move the clams from top to bottom.

4. When the shells open, stop the fire. Add in a dash of ground pepper. Discard any clams that have not opened.



I have some prawns on hand, so I added the prawns together with the clams. And everything tastes so good!!! So, the title of this dish should be Seafood in Wine Sauce. I just wanted to show you that it is okay to do substitution with other kinds of seafood and this dish will still taste great!





This dish is super flavorful! You can serve this with bread, or rice just like we did. But you know what? I think this (specially the flavorful sauce) is perfect with pasta. The next time I am cooking this, I will top this on pasta.




I am sharing this dish on our foodie virtual tour with Joan of Foodalogue. We're going to meet in France today. Oh dear, I hope I am not too late. I have not been to France but hoping that this dish will give me a taste of France. The Culinary Tour Around the World is an event that aims to raise awareness about world food hunger, and what you can do about it. Please visit BloggerAid for more details.



Also sharing this dish with the Bookmarked Recipes community. I got the recipe and modified it from Cuisine-France.com. Bookmarked Recipes is a weekly event launched by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Braised Fish Fillet in Chilli-Black Bean Sauce (Tausi)

I prepared this fish fillet, took a photo of it and presented it to Hubby. He declared it the best braised fish I ever made! So, I started writing about this dish today. Only to discover that I have a previous post on braising fish in black beans. I used another kind of fish then, of course, and the I am adding more ingredients this time like the green chilli pepper (siling haba), a little chili powder and cilantro. But the main flavoring ingredients - the salty black beans and the tomatoes are basically the same.

The braising of fish in black beans and tomatoes is a comfort food for this family. This dish is very healthy. Anything made with tomatoes is healthy, right? Less oil is used. It is also very versatile. You can pair it with rice, with congee or with bread.

When braising with a whole fish like the seabass I used previously, it is not necessary to pre-cook the fish. You simply cook the fish with the sauce. But this time, I used fish fillet, so I had to brown the fish in a little oil (in a non-stick pan) so that the meat will hold together in braising.





When we talk about black beans in Asia, this refers to the fermented or salted black beans. We are not referring to the fresh or dried black beans that you add into soups, chilies and burritoes. The black beans we are talking about here are small, black soybeans that have been preserved in salt. Also known as Chinese black beans or salty or salted black beans, they have a very strong, salty flavor.

Many people say that the black beans have to be soaked for a half hour or so in fresh water before being added to a dish. But I never did this when I cook any dish using the fermented black beans. I usually add it straight from the bottle, and sometimes, during cooking, I even mash some beans to release more flavor.


2 pcs large fish fillets (I used Red Snapper - Maya Maya)

4 T cooking oil
5 slices ginger
5 T garlic, minced
1 onion, quartered
5 large tomatoes, chopped
2 T black beans
2 T soy sauce, optional
3 pcs green chillies (siling haba)
a bunch of cilantro, wshed, chopped
dash of red chilli powder
sesame oil
salt and pepper


1. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides of the fish fillets. Add some flour to cover both sides as well. Heat a little oil in a non-stick skillet or wok. Pan-fry the fish fillet until just browned. So, the fillets are still half-cooked. Set aside.

2. In the same skillet or wok, in the same oil, add in and cook the ginger slices until fragrant. Add in the onion, and stir fry until softened, about 2 -3 minutes. add in the garlic. When fragrant, add in the tomatoes and black beans. Add in the green chillis. Let this mixture simmer for a while, around 3 minutes to let the flavors come out.

3. Add in the fish fillets. Cover for a few minutes. Turn the fish to the other side. Add some water if needed, or if you want more sauce. Cook the fish covered until cooked. Around 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Add in the chilli powder, as much as you prefer. Add in soy sauce if you prefer more salty.

5. Drizzle with sesame oil just before serving. Serve hot.





Sharing this healthy dish with Heart of the Matter food event, this month focusing on slimming recipes. Fish is a slimming food. It has less fat and more nutritious than red meat. This month's host is Ilva of Lucillian Dleights. For more healthy treats and heart-healthy recipes and more information about eating healthy, please check out the Heart of the Matter blog.

Abalone Steak

Today is the first day of the year of the ox! Happy Chinese New Year! To begin this year, I want to share with you this luxurious delicacy - the abalone!

Abalones are medium to large edible sea snails, according to Wiki. Actually, I thought they were giant sea-shells like clams or oysters. But apparently, I was wrong. :)

Abalones are known as Bao Yu in Chinese. This seafood delicacy is quite rare and expensive; it is usually made into a dish that is a common part of the Chinese banquet. Like the shark's fin soup and the bird's nest soup, it is considered a symbol of wealth and prestige. Therefore, it is always reserved for special occassions like weddings, new year and other celebrations.

However, the availability of commercially farmed abalone has allowed more common consumption of this once rare delicacy. Here in the Philippines, with our more than seven thousand islands, abalone farming is thriving. I am fortunate to have a friend who is into this business, so we can access cheaper (though not that cheap) supply of abalones. He makes canned abalones for export. So I get my abalones in cans.

For our new year's eve dinner, we had abalone steaks. Recipe is once again courtesy of brother-in-law (Ah-pe). He recreated the recipe based on the abalone dish served at the famous sharks fin restaurant here in Manila.


1 can abalone (contains 3 pieces)
1 head of brocolli, cut, washed,

1 C chicken stock
1 T Chinese cooking wine
2 T dark soy sauce
1 T oyster sauce
a dash of ground black pepper

4 T cornstarch, dissolved in 5 T water


1. Pour the contents of the entire can, abalone meat and broth into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute, until meat is warm.

2. Blanch the cut brocolli florets in boiling water for 1 minute, drain.

3. Boil all the ingredients for the sauce. When boiling, add the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce.

4. Arrange one abalone meat on a serving plate, add some brocolli florets. Pour some sauce on top. Serve immediately.

Dou Miao (Snow Pea Sprouts) Stir Fry with Fish Fillet

It is the time of the year again, when we would have our taste of Dou Miao (snow pea sprouts/shoots). These Dou Miao that I am referring to are not the regular ones that look similar to mung bean sprouts, which are full of stem, crunchy but hard to chew. I am talking about this type of Dou Miao that has more leaves and known for its delicate taste. They look like this:

photo courtesy of evergreenseeds.com

This kind of Dou Miao is only available during winter. Because of its unavailability, it is considered a delicacy here in Asia. Last year, I made a stir fry dish with dried scallops. Recipe here.

Dou Miao with Dried Scallops Stir Fry

This year, brother-in-law (Ah-pe) came over our house and cooked a special dish for us: Hong Kong style Stir fry Dou Miao with Fish Fillets. Here's his recipe.

1 pack (around 250 gms) Dou Miao, washed
2 T cooking oil
5 T minced garlic
1 stalk leeks, chopped
3 slices of ginger
1 c chicken broth

2 pcs fish fillet, sliced thinly
salt and pepper, to taste
some cornstarch
1/2 C cooking oil


1. Heat up cooking oil in a wok or a cooking pan. Saute ginger until fragrant. Add in the garlic and chopped leeks. Stir fry for a while until fragrant, around 2 minutes.

2. Add in the Dou Miao. Stir fry until partially wilted. Add in the chicken broth. Cover and let boil. Stir frequently so that the vegetables may absorb the flavor of the broth.

3. When cooked, scoop up the vegetables onto a serving platter. Discard the broth.

4. Prepare the fish fillets by sprinkling salt and pepper (amount according to taste) on all sides. Then, sprinkle some cornstarch onto all the fish pieces as well.

5. Add oil to a hot wok or non-stick cooking pan. When heated, quickly stir fry the fish fillets. When done, ladle on top of the cooked Dou miao. Serve hot with jasmine rice.






Healthy and delicious!


Sharing this nutritious dish with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, headed and supervised by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This week, the event is hosted by Chris of Mele Cotte. To see last week's delicious dishes, please see the lovely round-up done by Cook the Books chief Rachel at the Crispy Cook.

Paksiw Bangus - Milkfish Stewed in Vinegar

This is a very simple Filipino dish. One major ingredient (the fish) and only 5 everyday spices, making 6 ingredients in all. Almost everybody can cook this with their eyes closed (or half-closed :) Yes, it is that easy, even kids can cook this. Cooking time is 5 minutes tops. Yet, this is one the most flavorful Filipino dishes ever. When Daughter was 2 (the terrible toddler years), she would request to eat this everyday!!!

This is also the ultimate comfort food for most of us. Spicy, hot, sourish, tasty fish. Perfect to go with a warm bowl or plate of Jasmine rice!


1/2 K deboned milkfish belly
1/2 C good quality rice vinegar
5 slices fresh ginger
1 T salt
5 pcs long green chilies (siling haba)
1 t crushed black peppercorns

Just put everything in a cooking pan. Bring to a boil. Simmer for around 5 minutes or until the milkfish has changed color and is cooked. Add a little water if it gets dry. Do not overcook the milkfish or it will turn tough. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve immediately with rice.

Yup, it is that simple.

Just like our other national dish -- the Adobo, the Paksiw also has several variations. You can of course, change the type of fish. Or even change it to Lechon (Roasted Pork) . You can even use other souring ingredients. Though, most often used is of course - the vinegar. Several months back, I have several friends arguing over the spices used in a true vinegared paksiw. One said only ginger is used. The other said you can add garlic and onions. Yet another one said you can only add onions... :)

Whatever spices used, the long green pepper is a mainstay in this dish. You can add much as you want (or less if you prefer less spice), and slice the peppers for more spicy kick. Peppers, like all gifts of nature, are healthy. They are full of vitamin C and B.

I would serve this dish to a hungry stranger who would come visiting at my door. Why? This is delicious, healthy, easy to prepare in the shortest possible time. (How can a hungry person wait so long?) Fish is easy to digest, and healthy. Because it is flavorful, the hungry person can eat lots of rice with it. :)



So, I am sharing this easy to prepare dish with BloggerAid -- Because WE CAN HELP! World Food Day event, headed by Ivy of Kopiaste, Val of More Than Burnt Toast and Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen. This month's event is hosted at Equal Opportunity Kitchen, where bloggers can share dishes they would cook for a visiting hungry person.


BloggerAid is a social network of bloggers, who are working together to bring awareness about world hunger and also raise funds for the World Food programme, which is the United Nation's frontline agency to fight against global hunger. We, as food bloggers have more than enough food on the table. But there are others who don't. So, maybe it is time for us to share our bounty with others. Join BloggerAid and learn how you can help. Maybe individually, our contribution may be small, but together, we can make a difference.

Giz and Psychgrad at Equal Opportunity Kitchen are selling handmade food charms made by Giz herself! The income would be contributed to the World Food Programme. Please contact them if you are interested.

Clams in Noodle Soup

Clams are one of the more affordable live seafood available in this tropical country. At fifty to eighty pesos a kilo (roughly US $1 to $ 1.50) , its tasty and flavorful meat can feed 5 to 6 people or when we add extenders, maybe even more.

I know many people do not like to eat clams because clams are known as the scavengers of the sea. With many bio-toxins polluting our seas, many people believe that the clams are full of bio-toxins as well. That is why it pays to know where your clams are sourced.

We do not often eat clams. But sometimes we do get a craving for its tasty and flavorful meat. And when we do, we prefer the Palawan clams (a local variety of shell) because we believe that these are cultured, and hopefully, "cleaner" than those harvested from the seas.

My grandmother, and my mother believe that clams should be cooked fresh and while they are still alive. That means - no to frozen or canned. But I think if the clams are fresh frozen (without shells) and cooked properly from its frozen state, the clams are still edible and may even be as delicious as the fresh ones.

Clams are delicious and nutritious. As with the other seafood, it is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals like iodine and zinc.

But the problem with fresh clams is the cleaning!!!

Since clams bury themselves in sand or underwater soil, they are full of grits. These grits, you have to brush off from each and every one of the shells -- this job really takes a lot of patience. Then, after cleaning the outer shell, the vendors would recommend to soak the shells in tap water for several hours so that the clams would spit out the sands and grits they have in their inside digestive system. For the Palawan clams that I buy, my (suki) vendor would always tell me that she had already soaked them and that they are ready for cooking.

For this batch of clams, Hubby wanted me to cook the clams in soup, with tofu and mustard greens. Yummy! Perfect for the rainy evenings we are having nowadays. Then, I mentioned that I needed a pasta dish for my weekly Presto Pasta Nights events, and it is nearly the Friday deadline... so we agreed to add noodles to our soup. Hubby loves noodles, he does not refuse any dish with noodles. With the addition of noodles, this clam soup became a filling one dish evening meal for all of us!

It was then that I realized that Wow! That is how much I love blogging and blogging events! It is starting to influence what dishes we are having on the table!!! Is this good or bad??? :)





1 kilo fresh clams, cleaned
5 slices of fresh ginger
5 T minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 C water
4 pcs crabsticks, sliced
3 packs of instant Japanese ramen noodles
salt and pepper to taste
sesame oil, optional


1. Saute the ginger in a little oil until fragrant. Add onions and garlic and saute until fragrant but not burnt. Increase the temperature of the cooking, add in the clams and stir fry immediately.

2. Add in the water, cover and cook in high heat. When the water boils and all the clams are opened, remove all the clams to a plate or bowl with a slotted spoon. Set aside.

3. Boil the clam soup again, add in the ramen noodles (we were able to buy ramen noodles made in Korea. Hubby loves the texture of these noodles.) Cook until the specified time (ours was 3 minutes.) Add in the crabsticks. Add back the clams. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve immediately and add some drops of sesame oil, if preferred.


Fresh clams are already super flavorful and tasty, you do not need any broth or extra flavoring. Just salt and pepper is enough. Clams are also perfect as soup base for any noodles, again because of its superb flavor. I know a friend who uses clam broth as their broth for soups instead of pork or chicken bones. Actually it makes sense because clams are easy to cook (saves on gas with less cooking time) and it is indeed flavorful enough to stand alone as a soup base. Plus, it has no fat, less calories than chicken and pork. Hmmm... I might be a convert, too!


Sharing this tasty dish with the Presto Pasta Nights community, headed by Rith of Once Upon A Feast. This week, the host is Daphne of More Than Words. To see last week's delicious pasta dishes, please check out the round-up done by Nilmandra of Soy and Pepper.

Steamed Milkfish En (Faux) Papillote

I just love the phrase "en papillote." Sounds more sophisticated than "wrapped in parchment paper." Don't you think so? :) Since this fish is wrapped in foil, I had to put the word "faux" because I did not use parchment paper and I do not know the French term for foil. :)

Cooking "en papillote" is a method in which you seal the food in a pouch and bake (or grill, or steam, as what I did.) The food essentially steams and cooks in its own juices. Making the dish naturally tasty. Fish, having delicate meat, is perfectly suited to this technique. The method is also incredibly easy and has the added benefits of being a low fat method of cooking and easy to clean up. Healthy and easy are synonymous with this kitchen.

En Papillote usually uses parchment paper. But in my grandmother's kitchen, we have always used foil, which is convenient, spill-proof, and leak proof.

Some secrets to a succesful en papillote cooking are:

1) Always use fresh ingredients. The fish or meat will be cooked in its own juice, so if it is fresh, the dish will taste fresh. If the fish is not so fresh, the dish might turn out to be "fishy."

2) Use various fresh herbs and condiments that will naturally compliment the fish. This will bring out the natural taste of the fish and enhance instead of overpower the taste.

3) Adding white wine and olive oil would add a different dimension to your fish, though these are optional.




Here is what I did:

1) Cut a foil big enough to wrap and cover the whole fish.

2) Begin by laying out the deboned milkfish (you can use any kind of white fish fillet, or whole deboned fish) on the pre-cut foil.

3) Please refer to the topmost picture, sprinkle sea salt and red chilli peppers on the fish. Spread some chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic. I also added freshly cut dill from my balcony garden. Splash with 2 tablespoons of semi-dry white wine.

4) Close the fish, with all the herbs inside. See the second picture above. Fold the foil and close the edges together.

5) Steam in medium heat for around 15 minutes (depending on the size and thickness of your fish).

6) Serve immediately.




Result? Very, very tasty, naturally flavored, soft and flaky fish. Hubby declared it the best milkfish dish he had ever tasted.


Sharing this tasty and healthy dish with the Grow Your Own community. Grow Your Own is a twice a month food event headed by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes, to celebrate the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. This edition's host is Rachel of The Crispy Cook. To see last week's delicious round-ups, please check out the round-up done by yours truly!

Oyster and Spinach Stir-Fry

Do you want to look young and feel young? Do you want to feel more beautiful and alluring? Do you want to have softer, smoother skin?

No, this is not an ad for lotions or potions. :)

According to one of the health newsletter that I subscribe to, the food we eat affects the condition of our skin. I believe so, because food naturally contains vitamins and minerals that will keep our body healthy. The newsletter recommended several food that keeps our skin healthier and younger looking.

One of the good skin food is oysters. Oysters are low in fat, and calories and yet they contain high amounts of essential minerals. I do not know why oysters (and shrimps) have the reputation of having high cholesterol content. I thought most seafood are healthy! When I googled, I found out that oysters contain the same amount of cholesterol as any white-fleshed fish, and less cholesterol than poultry. Oysters are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1 (thiamin) B2(riboflavin), B3 (niacin), C (ascorbic acid), and D (calciferol). As a skin food, oysters contain a lot of zinc, which aids in skin cell renewal. It also keeps our nails, hair and eyes healthy. If our skin, hair and eyes look healthy, we look younger.

Spinach, considered one of the superfoods is also a good skin food. It is rich in nutrients and is a rich source of anti-oxidants (that fights the causes of aging). It contains high amount of Vitamin B, C, E, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium and omega 3 fatty acids. It also contains lutein, which keeps our eyes healthy and sparkling. However spinach has to be cooked only for a short time, or it will lose most of its nutritional value. That makes stir-frying one of the best method to cook this super veggie.


200 gms fresh shucked oysters, cleaned
300 gms fresh spinach, washed
5 slices fresh ginger
1 onion, chopped
5 T garlic, minced
2 T Chinese cooking wine
2 T soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
sesame oil, optional


1. In a wok or cooking pan, saute the ginger in some oil until fragrant. Add the onions and garlic and saute untl fragrant, but not burnt.

2. Make sure the wok or cooking pan is very hot. Add in the oysters, cooking wine and soy sauce. Cook the oysters until desired doneness. We cook our oysters just until they change color.

3. Add the spinach. Quickly stir fry and mix everything up so that the spinach leaves are evenly covered with the oysters and the sauces. Turn heat off when the leaves start to wilt. Continue to stir until everything is thoroughly mixed. The remaining heat will continue to cook the spinach. Adjust taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle with sesame oil (optional) before serving.



This is a delicious and tasty way to be beautiful. :)


Sharing this stir-fry dish with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, headed by new chief Haalo of Cook Almost Anything At Least Once. WHB is a weekly food event that features herbs and unique plant ingredients and the dishes we cook with these ingredients. This week's host is Siri of Siri's Corner. To see last week's delicious round-up, please check out Heather of Diary of a Fanatic Foodie.

Fish Tofu Soup

Here is a no-frills, warm bowl of nutritious, clear soup. It is very easy to prepare. It is very filling. Perfect for those chilly nights when we crave for something simple and something comforting.


5 C chicken broth
1 block soft tofu, cubed
350 gms fish fillet
100 gms mustard leaves
2 T Chinese cooking wine
salt and pepper to taste
sesame oil, optional


1. Marinate the fish fillet in some salt and pepper and dust with cornstarch.

2. Bring the broth to a boil. Add the Chinese cooking wine. When it boils again, add the fish fillet pieces. Let the meat boil for a while until just cooked. Add the tofu. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with sesame oil just before serving.


See? Simple to prepare, yet the hot soup tastes clear and refreshing.


Can you tell I'm feeling melancholic today? I promised myself that I am not going to rant and complain in this food blog, so I am restraining myself. Why?

Because I always believe that food we serve our family and friends should always be cooked with love. Therefore food blogs should "feel good" as well. There is a saying here that dishes turn out delicious if the cook is happy. And it turns not-so-good if the mood of the cook is sour. Do you believe that?

Besides, happiness is a choice. I choose to be happy because there are a lot of reasons to be happy about. :)

Prawn Pot Pie

Probably making pot pies is no big deal for other kitchens. But for this Asian kitchen, whose specialties are stir-fries and soups and stews, pot pies are a whole new world of cuisine to be conquered.

I got this recipe from the Periplus Mini-Cookbook I mentioned before. But then, again, I made a lot of tweaks. This is what I did:


1/2 K medium-sized prawns, shelled
2 T butter
1 leek, white part only, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium carrot, cubed
7 pcs button mushrooms, sliced
1 T all-purpose flour
1/2 C chicken stock
1/2 C dry white wine
1 C all-purpose cream
1 T dijon mustard
1 stalk dill (from my balcony garden), chopped

1/2 portion pate brisee, basic crust recipe here
egg wash (egg whites, beaten)


1. Prepare the dough for the crust and refrigerate for at least one hour.

2. Preheat oven to 400 F.

4. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Cook the garlic and the leek until fragrant but not burnt, around 2 minutes. Add the prawns and cook until prawns turn pink. Remove the prawns and reserve.

5. In the same pan, stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and wine. Bring to a boil and add the potatoes, mushrooms and carrots. Simmer for 10 minutes or until most liquid has halved. Stir in the cream (The book says to let the cream cook, but I do not like the cream to curdle so I did not) and add back the prawns, mustard, dill, salt and pepper to taste.

6. Arrange all these mixture in a round baking dish. Ideally, use 4 pieces single-serve souffle dishes. But this is the first time I am making a pie, so I figured, I should make one bigger one (only one pan to cover with crust, get it?)





7. Remove the pie dough from the refrigerator. Prepare the table by dusting it with flour. Use the rolling pin to flatten the dough into 1/8 inch thick round crust. Pick the flattened dough up with the rolling pin and gingerly cover the top of your baking dish. Trim off the excess.

Daughter said I look like Snow White (remember the cartoon classic?) making pie

8. Prick the top surface with fork. (Am so amateurish, I just made all the holes in a line and did not make any designs...) Brush top of crust with egg wash.

9. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is golden and crisp.





Believe me, the crust is so crispy and crunchy. The contents are so hot, creamy, and delicious! The pictures do not give the dish justice at all!





Sharing this dish with my new home-grown baby - dill, with the Grow Your Own community. This is a twice a month food event that features food we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our home grown products. The host for this edition is ME! If you would like to participate, please send me an email with a link to your entry. I'll be waiting until Nov 15 for all your delicious entries!

Seaweed Paste

Look what I found at the Taiwan Food and Trade Fair? It is seaweed paste! Being a big fan of seaweed, I cannot resist this bottle of condiment. :)

Why do we love seaweed? We believe it is one of nature's best foods. No cholesterol, no fats, it is a vegetable, and it is definitely organic! It is a detoxifier and a healing agent. Chinese medicine believes it boosts the immune system and decreases blood sugar levels (good as anti-diabetes).

Because it is from the sea, it is a very good source of iodine (for goiter prevention). Studies have found that it has curative properties against tuberculosis, arthritis, colds and influenza.


My problem?

This is the first time I have seen this seaweed paste. I am not sure how to use this yet! Do you have any suggestions? I would welcome all your experiences and suggestions regarding this condiment so that I can have some information before I start to experiment.

My other seaweed recipes:

Seaweed and Watercress Soup
Stir Fried Seaweed (Hai Cai)

Unagi and Udon Noodles in Miso Soup

Hubby was impressed with the simplicity of the miso soup we cooked here. It was clear, fresh yet tasty and full of flavor. He bought several packs of fresh udon and wanted me to use the same soup base we cooked before. Easy peasy.

This dish is very simple to prepare. It is more like combining the different ingredients more than the cooking itself. First you prepare the miso soup stock. Then you cook the udon noodles (according to package directions) then add the topping. In this case, it is the grilled Unagi.

Unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eels. I was able to buy pre-cooked grilled unagi, which I used as topping. You can also use various seafoods like I used before. You can also use meat like chicken or pork. See? This dish is so super versatile!

There are several popular kinds of Japanese noodles. First is the Ramen, the instant version is the most popular here in the Philippines. These are thin wheat-based noodles. Second is the Soba noodles made from buckwheat flour. I have cooked soba noodles before. Recipes and pictures here. Then we have the Somen. I have not tried cooking Somen yet. It is very thin wheat-based noodles. I believe this is similar to angel hair. Finally, we have the Udon noodles, the thickest noodles of them all, which is also wheat based. This is the noodle that we used for this dish.


Sharing this Japanese noodles dish with the Regional Recipes food event, launched by Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok. It is a blogging event that celebrates food from all over the world! Each month a region will be selected - this month being Japan. Food bloggers are invited to prepare and post a recipe originating from that area. Then, we can learn different Japanese dishes by the round-up time! This month's host is Wandering Chopsticks. To see last month's delicious dishes from Greece, please click here.



400 gms fresh udon noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 pc pre-cooked grilled unagi, sliced
1 pc soft tofu, cubed
nori sheets, cut
1 stalk green onion, chopped

for the soup base:
4 T garlic (optional)
5 C water
2 T mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)
1 T miso paste
2 T dashi granules (Japanese broth concentrate, available in Japanese or Asian stores)
salt and pepper to taste


1. Boil the water in a pot. When it boils, add the garlic, mirin, and the dashi granules.

2. When the dashi granules are dispersed, turn off heat and add the miso paste. (The healthy benefits of the fermented miso will be rendered useless when coooked.) Mix thoroughly until miso is dispersed. Add salt and pepper to taste. I did not add salt anymore because miso is already salty.

3. In individual serving bowls, arrange the udon noodles. Pour in the soup stock. Top with the grilled unagi, nori sheets, tofu. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve immediately.


Delicious and tasty one-dish meal anybody can prepare in a hurry. :)


Sharing this noodles dish with the Presto Pasta Nights community, headed by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. This week's host is Chef Melissa, the Cooking Diva. To see last week's array of delicious pasta dishes, please click here.






Here are my other Japanese recipes:

Sukiyaki Inspired Beef Udon Soup

Seafood and Noodles in Miso Soup

Soba Noodles with Unagi

Grilled Fish with Miso Glaze

Fresh Clam Soup

We had another cooking session with my Tuesday group at my kitchen last week. It is quite fun to mix cooking, eating, chatting, bonding, with Bible study. Of course we try to start early. Since it is a Tuesday, each one of us came from work. Cooking and eating together is a fun way to relax and unwind from the work day's stress. By the time for Bible study, we are already open, relaxed, and ready to do some serious work. :)

The menu for that night was Fish with Miso Glaze, store-bought grilled chicken (courtesy of V), Pandan-flavored rice, Sweet Corn Muffins and this yummy, flavorful soup.

Remember the statement "Too many cooks spoil the broth?" Well, the opposite is true in this soup dish! This soup is the testament and proof that when a dish is cooked together in good camaraderie and friendship, the resulting dish will also be wonderfully, truly exceptionally good!!!


2 kilos live clams, cleaned
1 large knob fresh ginger, sliced
5 T minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 T canola oil
1 small napa cabbage (Chinese pechay), cut
4 T Chinese cooking wine
3 pcs jalapeno peppers or finger chillies (Siling haba), or long green peppers, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
5 C water


1. In a cooking pan or wok, saute ginger slices in oil until fragrant. Add in the onions and garlic. Saute until fragrant but not burnt.

2. Add in the clams. Cover for a minute. Then add in the Chinese cooking wine. Cover for another minute.

3. Add in the jalapeno peppers and stir for a while. Add in the water. Cover and let boil.

4. When the shells of the clams are fully opened, then the soup is ready. Drop in the napa cabbages. Let cook for a while, add salt and pepper according to taste. Ladle up and serve as soon as possible. The clam meat will shrink if cooked for a long time. Discard shells that did not open.






These are the long green peppers that I used for this soup. I would usually call these jalapeno peppers before because this is what I use when I would make jalapeno poppers. But I think it is another variety of hot peppers. This pepper is mildly hot. But it is an excellent source of calcium, iron and phosphorus.

This is also the pepper widely used in Philippine cooking. All our gata (coconut milk) dishes has this. There is even a dish called Bicol Express that uses long chillies as it's main ingredient! We also often add this pepper to our seafood dishes as we believe it can remove most of the "fishy" taste.



Sharing this hot pepper spiced flavorful and fresh clam soup with the Weekend Herb Blogging community created and hosted this week by the original WHB chief herself Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. I chose this dish to celebrate with the WHB community because it contains three long peppers to celebrate three years of hot, spiced (popular) blogging. And this dish is cooked together by good friends, which symbolizes what the WHB community is like: fun, food and learning interesting herbs and dishes and cooking styles from each other. Please check out Kalyn's blog for three give-aways celebrating three years of successful blogging event.