Easy Beer Bread

I found this intriguing bread recipe from Maggie's Doghill Kitchen. She in turn got it from the Zesty Cook. Maggie gave good reviews to this bread, so I knew I just have to try this. And guess what? When I was viewing YouTube, looking for videos on the proper techniques on how to knead bread, I found this video that shows us how to make Beer Bread!

This bread is really super easy to do. No yeast needed. That means no more waiting for the dough to rise. The beer gave the bread its distinctive aroma. And the melted butter poured on top before baking gave the bread a nice crunchy texture. This bread is so delicious, I already made this several times. Once, I served this with soup. Another time, I simply slathered on some cream cheese and it made a tasty snack.

mixed dough placed in the loaf pan

1 and 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 C whole wheat flour
4 and 1/2 t baking powder
1/3 C brown sugar (I used muscovado sugar)
1/2 C butter, melted
1 can (12 oz) beer


1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add beer until dough is thoroughly mixed.

3. Place dough in a lightly greased loaf pan. Drizzle melted butter on top.

this may look so sinful and artery clogging
but when baked, it dries up into the crust
that gave the bread its crunchy texture

4. Bake until golden brown (approximately 50 to 60 minutes) Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely. Resist from temptation to taste :)



The first time I made this bread, I used dark ale. I thought I wanted the taste and flavor of strong beer. I found that though it was yummy, there was a slight bitter aftertaste. So, the next time I experimented and used light beer. The flavor of beer is less and there was still that ever-so-slight bitter aftertaste. I wonder why. However, inspite of that aftertaste, this bread really tastes good and the recipe is definitely a keeper.

Sharing this bread with the Bookmarked Recipes community, created by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Also sharing this bread with the BYOB Bake Your Own Bread community, headed by Sandy of the Baker's Bench.

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.

Kokoras Krassatos Me Chilopetes - Greek Style Coq Au Vin - Chicken Stew in Red Wine With Pasta

You do know Ivy of Kopiaste... To Greek Hospitality?

She is one untiring lady, taking time to visit all our food blogs, befriending us, organizing and hosting lots of foodie events. Of course I already knew of Kopiaste, and would visit (lurk?) her site from time to time. I would also participate in her food events. But I got to really know her when I joined the World Food Event, where she is one of the brains and organizers, along with Val of More Than Burnt Toast and Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen. This is one of the food blogging world's more worthier events as it aims to bring awareness to our readers about the problem of hunger in the world. Now, this monthly food event has now expanded into Bloggeraid -- Because We Can Help. This is a social network of bloggers uniting to aid in the allevation of hunger. We're not just going to talk about hunger but actually do something about it!!!

Because World Food Programme of the United Nations and BloggerAid and what we can do to help is a worthy topic to discuss, I will write a separate post about it. :)


When I hosted the Grow Your Own food event featuring dishes with ingredients we have grown or raised ourselves, Ivy even in the middle of her vacation, sent over this delicious looking home-raised chicken dish with ingredients that sounds flavorful. Isn't that soooo very nice of her? What was exciting was that I had all the ingredients immediately on hand! (Well, except the cherry brandy, which Ivy says is optional) I was on my way to making my first Greek dish!

I basically stuck to her original recipe except that my dish does not have cherry brandy. I used white chicken instead of organically-raised chicken making the cooking time is shorter. I used home-made whole wheat pasta instead of the chilopetes pasta. (Please see my post on how to make home made pasta to learn more.) And before adding in the onions for sauteing, I added some slices of fresh ginger. I suppose that is just the Chinese thing to do. We always saute our chicken (and seafood) dishes with ginger. :)


1 Kilo chicken legs and thigh, washed, chopped to serving sizes
4 T olive oil
4 slices fresh ginger
1 onion, chopped
5 T minced garlic
1 C dry red wine
2 C water
1 bay leaf
1 pc cinnamon bark
5 pcs large tomatoes, chopped
1 T tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste


1. Boil the homemade pasta in water for around 2 minutes or until al-dente. Drain and set aside.

2. Saute the ginger in the olive oil until fragrant. Add in the garlic and onions, and saute until fragrant but not burnt.

3. Add in the chicken pieces. Stir fry for a while until meat changes color. Add in the wine. Let boil. Wait for a while until the alcohol evaporates. Add in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, bay leaf and cinnamon bark.

4. Let boil and simmer for around 15 to 20 minutes until meat is soft and sauce has thickened. Adjust seasoning to taste.

5. Remove the chicken meat with a slotted spoon reserving the sauce in the pan. Toss in the pasta to coat the noodles with the sauce.

6. Arrange pasta in individual serving plates. Top with chicken pieces. Top with grated parmesan cheese (as I do nor have the Greek myzithra cheese :)


The chicken may not look pretty (I remove the chicken skin for health reasons), but I promise, this is one of the more flavorful chicken dish we have tasted. Actually, this dish tasted so similar to our very own chicken adobo (where we use rice vinegar instead of wine in stewing). It is salty, sweet, fragrant, flavorful at the same time. It is also amazing to discover that we have similar tasting dishes even if we are halfway across the globe!


Sharing this Greek-inspired dish with the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. This is a weekly 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. To see last week's delicious dishes, please click here.

Moist Pumpkin Quick Bread

One thing I have benefited from doing food blogging is to try to go out of my comfort zone... albiet slowly. I try to cook, prepare, or bake dishes that I have never tried before, and probably would not dream of creating if I do not have this food blog. Need I say Hubby is very happy with the variety of dishes I prepare? :)

Things I have challenged myself to do (but not yet tried):

1. Bake a cake from scratch, complete with icings
2. Bake a yeast bread
3. Try and taste the different fruits and veggies that is not readily available here in this tropical country; and prepare dishes using these "rare" ingredients
4. Prepare those sweet and savory pies I keep seeing around the blogging world
5. Make and prepare and cook dishes I have never tried before, starting with Greek and French dishes :)


Things I have done so far:

... well, you can check out the blog for the complete list :)


This quick bread is an example of something I would not have done if I am not in the food blogging world. For one, pumpkin is not a usual ingredient in this tropical country. We have squashes, but no pumpkin ! (Though they belong to the same family.) I started exploring the world of pumpkin when I hosted Wandering Chopstick's Weekend Wokking featuring pumpkins, last month.

And now, Val of More Than Burnt Toast, who spearheaded the World Food Day event with Ivy of Kopiaste, tagged me to participate in another very worthwhile event Breadline Africa.

With our support, Breadline Africa can convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution to the poor people in South Africa. These sustainable community kitchens will not only provide foods such as bread and soup to those in need, but also opportunities for skills development within these poor communities. So, they are not only aiming to give them bread, but also to teach them skills so that they will be able to earn their own bread as well.


Breadline Africa launched the Worldwide Blogger Baker Bake-Off Challenge aiming at raising $ 1 M in funds. This bake-off gives us baking bloggers the power to make a difference in this world. What do we do? Bake bread. Give Dough. Feed Africa. Vals says, "You can sign up for the campaign, make a donation, upload your bread recipes and document your culinary adventures in the media center to spread the word. You don't have to donate money but simply just mention the campaign and create awareness."




The following is quoted from the Breadline Africa Bake-Off site:

On 15 October, we launched The Breadline Africa Worldwide Blogger Bake Off.

The Blogger Bake Off is an online campaign that challenges bloggers to get involved by baking bread, and then acting by donating to end poverty. And then, challenge their readers and five other bloggers to do the same.

With the money raised, we will be supporting grass roots community projects aimed at ending poverty and hunger in Africa. We’ll be placing container kitchens, vegetable gardens and more in poor communities, sending emergency food relief where needed and helping these poor communities to help themselves.

The rules for bloggers are outlined below:

1. If you are tagged, copy and paste the rules into your post.
2. Bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe.
   
3. Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.
   
4. Tag five bloggers, and ping us so we know you’ve done so.
   

The person who raises the most funds will get to name a Breadline Africa community kitchen and win $500 Amazon Vouchers. There are also three minor prizes of $250 Amazon vouchers for people who receive the most votes in the following categories: Most Unusual Recipe; Most Nutritious Recipe and Most Traditional Recipe.

For this worthwhile event, I decided to bake a quick-bread. My apologies to the other participants. I am not really an experienced baker. You can call me a scaredy-cat baker. I am always fearful of the unexpected in unknown territories :) So, I think this bread qualifies as something I do not normally do (see No 2 rule). I decided to make this pumkin bread - an ingredient I have used only once. And also because, well, I have leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge that I better put to use before it starts to grow molds. :)


Recipe taken from Recipezaar.com

1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C Vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1/3 C water
2 C pumpkin puree
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 and 3/4 C plain flour ( I used 1 C whole wheat flour and 3/4 C plain flour)
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t pumpkin spice

topping:
1 T butter
1/4 C brown sugar
3 T milk
1/4 C pecans (I substituted walnuts)


1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a medium size bowl, beat eggs and mix with sugar, oil, water and pumpkin.

3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients only until just blended. Do not overmix.

4. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 min. Check with a toothpick or cake tester for doneness.

5. For the topping: melt butter in a small saucepan. Add in sugar and milk and mix well. Boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly until sugar melts. Immediately drizzle on the baked loaf. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and press the nuts lightly on top.

6. Wrap and store until the next day for serving. This will keep moisture inside.


Readers of Recipezaar gave this recipe a 5-star rating. I do, too! It is a fool-proof recipe, even novice bakers like me can prepare. It is easy to do and the result? Truly moist flavorful bread made healthy with the addition of pumpkin, walnuts, and whole wheat.


I am tagging the following bloggers:

Deborah of Taste and Tell
Jin Hooi of Smell and Taste are My Memory
Lesley of Beachlover's Kitchen
Usha of Veg Inspirations
Yasmeen of Health Nut
Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments
Sangeeth of The Art of Cooking Indian Food
Lubna of Kitchen Flavours

With the holidays approaching you may not have time to bake your own bread but a mention of this worthy cause on your blog would spread the word..... and even if you haven't been tagged feel free to join!!!



Sharing this bread and the invitation to this food event to the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Please feel free to join in!!! Bookmarked Recipes is 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. To see last week's delicous round-up, please click here.

Basil (Rice) Risotto-Stuffed Tomatoes

When I saw this dish in the Yummy Magazine, June 2008 edition, I knew I really have to make this! It has all the ingredients that we love! The tomatoes, basil, olive oil and rice!!!

But before I share the recipe, I'd like to mention that I am sharing these tomatoes stuffed with rice to the World Food Day - Time to be Thankful event, hosted this time by Ivy of Kopiaste. World Food Day is a monthly food event launched by Ivy of Kopiaste, and Val of More Than Burnt Toast. They are joined by Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen with the aim to bring awareness to our readers about the hunger problems that exist around the world and which seem to be getting worse day after day, after this huge worldwide economic crisis. The theme for this month is Being Thankful.

I already have a previous entry, but I'd like to share this rice dish as well. You see, rice is a staple food of all Filipinos (and of most Asian people as well.) Maybe it is hard for a foreigner to imagine, but we eat rice three times a day, and a meal is not complete without rice. Most often, the rice we eat at a regular meal is simply plain white rice. It is only on special occasions when we cook special rice dish such as paella, bringhe, yang chow fried rice or risotto.

That is why when there was a worldwide rice shortage early this year, the price of rice actually doubled!!! (There was a greater demand than supply.) The government had no choice but to provide rice at subsidized prices. But just this past week, when I visited the market, I found out that the prices of rice has lowered a bit. Still higher than the prices last year, but significantly lower than the price in May. I think this is because it is harvest season and there are many new rice available. This is good news, a welcome news, in fact, as there will be lots of festivities in the coming holiday season.

For all these years, my family always have rice on the table. For that alone, I am thankful. My grandmother would always tell stories of her life during war (World War II) , when they cannot find any food, any rice to eat. Even when she had money, there would be no rice to buy. And if she does not have money, well... that's another story. So, as children, we would always be required to finish off each grain of rice on our plate. For my grandmother's lesson, I am thankful. I am instilling this same discipline to my kids as well. My mother-in-law would also share that she would extend the rice supply she has by cooking porridge (gruel) all the time. She says they have hot, filling food. That was enough. Even my young son said that he is happy and thankful that he is born now, in this time, instead of during the war, or when our immigrant ancestors were living a poor and hard life.

I am thankful, grateful, in fact, to our brave, hardworking immigrant ancestors who came to this land to start, to rebuild their (and consequently, our) lives. I remember their stories. I am grateful for the values and character they instill in us. I hope the stories will continue on as I retell them to my children, and hopefully to my children's children. May we who are living in the time of plenty never forget the lessons and history of our people.





3 large tomatoes
1/4 C finely packed basil leaves, washed, chopped finely
1/4 C olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 C Japanese rice
3 T tomato paste
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 T pine nuts
3 C water or chicken stock
parmesan cheese, grated, for topping
salt and pepper to taste


1. Core the large tomatoes and scoop out the seeds and inner flesh. Discard the seeds and chop the inner flesh and the tomato meat from the top. Set tomatoes aside.

2. Add some of the olive oil to the chopped basil leaves.

3. Saute onions in the remaining olive oil. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until wilted. Add the rice and saute in the oil. Add the tomato paste, bell pepper and pine nuts.

4. Pour in the chicken stock. Let rice cook, covered, until mixture is almost dry, thick and creamy. Add the basil mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool.

5. Arrange the hollow large tomatoes on a greased baking sheet. Brush the sides of the tomatoes with olive oil. Stuff each tomato with the rice mixture. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove tray from oven. Top each tomato with parmesan cheese. Bake for 5 minutes more. (Guess what? I was too lazy to fire up the oven again. I used the oven toaster and it worked just as well.)



Result? Flavorful, creamy, yummy rice that is sure to impress your family and guests. Hubby said if only for this dish, he is willing to buy fresh, large tomatoes every week for me to cook!



Also sharing this dish with the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Bookmarked Recipes is a weekly food event that features the dishes we made from a blog, a cookbook, or a magazine or a cooking TV show. To see last week's delicious round-up please click here.

Chicken (Tinola) in Watermelon Soup

"What's that? Blood?" That was my kids' reaction when I first laid this soup on the dining table. :) "Tomato Soup?" asked Hubby. Nope. It's watermelon soup.

Has anyone heard of watermelon soup? I have made one before with pork. It was refreshingly clean, and sweet and flavorful. It was very, very nice. Exceptional soup, actually. So, when I saw this Chicken Tinola in Watermelon soup in the Yummy Magazine (June 2008 issue), I knew, this is going to taste wonderful as well.

I am not sure if I followed the exact ingredients given in the recipe. I just remember that the magazine recommended processing the watermelon in the blender first. Being the lazy girl that I am, I did not do that. I knew the watermelon is already soft and can easily be mashed anyway.

The following is my version:

1 Kilo chicken pieces (I remove the skin, for healthy reason)
2 Kilos watermelon , seedless variety
3 T canola oil
3 slices fresh ginger
5 T minced garlic
2 T fish sauce (patis)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice the watermelon into manageable wedges. Set aside.

2. Heat up the oil in a wok or a heavy soup pan. Add in the ginger and saute until fragrant. Add in the garlic and saute until fragrant but not burnt.

3. Add in the chicken meat. Saute until the meat changes color.

4. Scrape all the watermelon meat (include the juices) into the pan with chicken. Discard the skin.

5. Mash the watermelon in the pan a bit. Let the whole soup boil. Cook for 15 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Do not overcook the chicken or the meat is going to be tough.

6. Add in the fish sauce and slt and pepper to taste.

7. Serve hot with rice or a crusty bread.



Hubby declared this is the best, rich, hearty, flavorful soup he has ever tasted. You really have to try this soup! It is different, and you will not regret it!




Sharing this deliciously warm soup with the Bookmarked Recipes, hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. To see last week's round-up of deliciously Bookmarked Recipes, please click here.

Cream Cheese Spiral Biscuits

I am not a daring baker. In fact, I am less than an amateur baker :) Sometimes, I get by with using pre-mixes. Though I rarely bake, this does not mean that I am shelving my dream of baking something edible... soon. I drool at the wonderful baked creations of the baking bloggers. I often wish I can bake as good as they can.

So, I figured, I have got to start somewhere. This somewhere has to be something easy, you know, the usual requirements: less ingredients, less effort, less baking time, but something my family would eat! Does this sound too good to be true?

Well, I found one here, in this book:




According to the 500 Fabulous Cakes and Bakes, these biscuits look so impressive and melt in the mouth, yet they are surprisingly easy to make.

I read and reread the ingredients and instructions. It does sound like it is easy to make. Cream cheese is something my kids love. Plus, I have all the ingredients on hand!

1 C butter, at room temperature
1 C cream cheese, at room temperature
2 T caster sugar
2 C plain flour
1 egg white beaten with 1 T water for glazing
caster sugar for sprinkling

for the filling:
1 C finely chopped walnuts (I substituted with cashew nuts)
1/2 C light brown sugar
1 t ground cinnamon


1. Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until soft. Sift over the flour and mix until combined. Gather into a ball and divide in half. Flatten each half, wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mix all the filling ingredients together and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease 2 baking sheets. Working with one half of the dough at a time, roll out thinly into a 28cm or 11 inch circle. Using a dinner plate as a guide, trim the edges with a knife.

3. Brush the surface with egg wash. Then sprinkle evenly with half the filling.

4. Cut the circle into 16 segments, starting from the base of the triangles, roll up to form spirals.

5. Place on baking sheets and brush with the remaining glaze. Sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.


Perhaps it is the quality of the butter I used, or perhaps it is the heat in this tropical country, the dough just would not combine together! Immediately after chilling, they would hold enough for rolling out, but I have not yet finished rolling when they would crumble apart. So, I have to chill the dough again. The third time, I did this, I flattened out the dough before chilling, so that, after chilling, I would just have enough time for cutting the dough into triangles and roll them into spirals.

Result? Not as pretty as the picture in the book. But I promise, the taste is just yummy! Melt in the mouth, buttery, creamy, cheesy biscuits. Not too sweet, just the way we like it. The kids finished them soon after.


Sharing these biscuits with the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. I apologize that this is a bit just near the cut-off time. I already have the recipe, but had been sick the previous days so I was not able to get up to post this earlier. Anyway, to see last week's delicious recipes, please click here.

Stir Fried Fresh Lotus Root

I had talked about fresh lotus root in a previous post. Please refer to the post to see what it looks like, to learn more about the lotus root, its health benefits, and for cleaning and preparation methods.

To tell the truth, all I know about cooking lotus roots is to add it to soups. That is the way my grandmother always cooks it. Soups with lotus roots are refreshing, tasty and sweet. Lotus root is a "cooling" vegetable. So it is an ideal food at any time. I had a gigantic lotus root. The half of which, I made into a tasty soup. But I want to learn more ways to cook this crunchy, tasty root. Guess what is the first thing I did? Google, of course! :)

I found a recipe for raw, fresh lotus root salad. I wanted to do this very much, as this recipe sounded tasty; but I am not sure if the gigantic lotus root I got was still young (and tender). It is starting to turn a bit brownish, so I know, it is maturing already. I have to find a recipe where I have to cook the root. I found this interesting vegetarian, stir fry recipe from RecipeLand.com It sounds easy to do, and with the simple stir-fry, I had hoped it will bring out the true flavors of the veggies included in the dish.




1/2 lotus root, washed, prepared and sliced
1 carrot, peeled, julliened
200 gms snow peas, trimmed, washed
4 pcs dried shiitake mushrooms, softened, drained
1 red bell pepper, seeded, julliened
4 T cooking oil, preferably peanut oil
4 T minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 slices of ginger
2 T soy sauce
1/4 C Chicken broth
1 t sugar
1 T sesame oil

1. Heat up the oil in a wok or a skillet. Add in the ginger and stir fry until fragrant. Add in the onions. Stir fry until softened. Add in the garlic and stir fry until fragrant (but not burnt.)

2. Add in the carrots and the drained shiitake mushrooms. Cook for about a minute or two.

3. Add in the red bell pepper, snow peas and sliced lotus roots. Stir fry for a short while, only.

4. Add in the chicken broth, soy sauce and sugar. Mix everything up. Turn off heat. Adjust seasonings to taste.

5. Sprinkle some sesame oil before serving.


If you will notice, I prefer to semi-cook, semi-stri fry my vegetables so that they will retain their "crunch" which my family prefers. This will also ensure that the nutrients - the vitamins and minerals will not be lost during cooking.

The result? A tasty, cruchy treat, even kids will enjoy!







This stir fried dish is shared with the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed and hosted this week by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen's Experiments. Bookmarked Recipes is a 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. To see last week's wonderful round-up, please check out Pam's Sidewalk Shoes.

Vietnamese Pork Chops

My kids does not really like pork chops. That's probably because my regular way of cooking them - grilled, or broiled, does not really produce super tender meat. They are juicy, flavorful, alright, but... just not super-tender enough for the kids. I mention the adjective "super-tender" because that is how my children prefer their meats - soft, falling off the bones, almost melt-in-the-mouth kind. You can tell I do not cook pork chops often.

When I read about Wandering Chopstick's Braised Pork Chops with various herbs, I knew I just have to try it. She promised these pork chops are "incredibly tender." She braised the pork chops until they become tender. Which makes sense! Why have not tried this before???

4 pcs pork chops

2 stalks lemongrass, finely minced
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1-inch knob ginger, finely minced
1 chili pepper, finely minced
2 T honey
2 T Vietnamese Fish Sauce (I used Filipino Fish Sauce)
1 T rice wine vinegar
1/2 t ground black pepper

1. Chop the lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and chili pepper, as finely as you can. Mince everything in a food processor until everything is a fine paste. (As you can see from the picture, I simply chopped everything and did not use the food processor to make a paste.)

2. Add honey, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, and ground black pepper. Then slather the marinade all over the pork chops.

3. In a large sauce pan on high heat, drizzle a bit of oil and quickly sear the pork chops. Add 1 cup of water, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for at least 1 hour. ( I think I added 30 minutes more of braising to make the chops super tender.)



Other than not making the herbs into paste, I followed all her instructions. The result is truly a soft, melt-in-the mouth, falling off the bones pork chops. I think the taste is also the same, except that the texture of the sauce is more rough. Next time, I will make sure the herbs are minced to have a finer, and smoother sauce.



This dish goes to the Bookmarked Recipes community. Bookmarked Recipes 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 created and regularly hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. But since Ruth is on vacation, this week's edition will be hosted by Pam of Sidewalk Shoes. I personally made last week's round-up. You may want to check it out here. :)

Bookmarked Recipes 23 : My First Guest Hosting!

This is another blogging milestone - my first guest hosting! I am very honored when Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments requested me to guest-host for her baby - the Bookmarked Recipes. It is a 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.

Thank you Ruth, for this opportunity to host, to learn how to host, thank you for your trust. :)

Thank you to the everyone who participated! You are wonderful and so generous in sharing your delicious "finds" and "discovered" recipes.

I enjoy taking part in this event and I enjoy reading all the entries. Because these are the recipes carefully picked and chosen by wonderful food bloggers around the world. The recipes have been tried and tested in real kitchens, commented and improved. In other words, these are the weekly compilation of the best recipes in the blogosphere!

I hope you enjoy the dishes as much as I enjoyed doing the round-up and bookmarking everyone's dishes! Let's take a dip and swim around the world (12 dishes from 7 countries) to see what bloggers have been cooking in their kitchens ! (presented in the order they were received.)



Maggie (Michigan, U.S.A.) of the warm and comfy Dog Hill Kitchen sends us her version of Cookie Wrapped Figs from Clumbsy Cookies' Fig Week Celebration. It sounds so simple to make and yet you end up with awesome looking and (I'm sure) wonderful-tasting surprise inside a Chinese-spiced cookie! The wonderful thing is, I think we can change the fruit inside and adapt this recipe to whatever produce we have available.



Lovely Deeba (Gurgaon, India) of Passionate About Baking prepared this delicious and fragrant Mixed Herb Pasta taken from the Bon Appetit's recipe she found on Epicurious. She was finally able to make this long-bookmarked dish when a blogger/friend gave her a parcel of fresh herbs! Pasta lovers will surely drool over the fresh ingredients used in this dish!


TS and JS, (Vancouver, Canada) the creative sisters behind Eating Club Vancouver shares with us this mouthwatering Fried Green Tomatoes they made following a food video by Chef John of Food Wishes Video Recipes. They said that the flavors of the green tomatoes were truly fantastic and they insist that we try it!!! (With three exclamation marks!!!)



Jeanne (London, UK) of Cooksister, sends us these pretty Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Twirls, she made from a recipe by Thyme for Cooking, the blog. And what gorgeous twirls they are indeed! They look sophisticated for a party and yet so simple to prepare! I do not think they will last long in this household :)



Giz (Ontario, Canada), the mother half of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, baked these fabulous Peach Melba Dessert Muffins. (Shhh... there's a surprise sweet inside each of those muffins!) The recipe was taken from the book "The 250 Best Muffins Recipe" by Esther Brody, a book Giz bought on sale! Its a good thing she did not pass up the cookbook, and I definitely will not pass up those mufffins!



Pam (TN, U.S.A.) of Sidewalk Shoes prepared this colorful, and scrumptuous Tomato Salad with Feta, Olives, and Mint from The Best of Fine Cooking Fresh Fall Issue 2008. With tomatoes, feta, olives, mint, need I say more? Yummy!




Arika (Biloxi, USA) of My Yummy Life (and with lots of yummy food,) prepared this vegetarian Palak Paneer, an Indian spinach curry with homemade cheese cubes. She got the recipe from cusinecuisine.com, an informative site full of Indian dishes. What a delicious way, not to mention, healthy way to get us started on Indian food!




Jin Hooi (Melbourne, Australia) of Smell and Taste Are My Memory bakes these lovely and tasty Green Tea Madeleines from a recipe she got from Chubby Hubby. Jin Hooi says these madeleines tastes great! Crispy at the edge and soft in the middle. Wow! I can taste them already!



Jen (Boston, USA) of Beantown Baker joins us again with her melt-in-the-mouth Lime Meltaways. She got the recipe from How to Eat a Cupcake, who in turn got the recipe from Martha Stewart. Wouldn't these citrusy cookies be a refreshing change from your regular chocolate cookies?




Gloria (Santiago, Chile) of Canela Kitchen's Recipes made these savory Grits, Cheese and Onion Souffles from a recipe she found on the Bon Appetit Magazine, June 2008. These versatile souffles can be served for breakfast, lunch, or as a dinner side-dish! I just love the combination of cheese and onions and eggs! Don't you?




Divya (I prefer Anudivya, it sounds sweeter :) of the healthy and nutritious site And a Little Bit More shares with us these savory Carrot and Coriander Muffins from a recipe she got from The Yum Blog. With the healthy benefits of carrots and the fragrance of coriander leaves (cilantro), these muffins are sure to win any pallete!




Here's my own (Manila, Philippines) entry - Orange Crumb Cake with Cinnamon Crumb Topping, taken from About Southern Food.com. Despite its long title, this quick dessert snack is so easy to prepare, you do not even need a mixer. It tastes lovely too! Moist and crumbly. Light and fruity.





There you have it - the Bookmarked Recipes this week! I am already bookmarking each of them myself! 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 join us in Bookmarked Recipes! This week, Pam from Sidewalk Shoes will be filling in for Ruth. Of course, this is an ongoing weekly event, so in case, you were not able to participate this week, come join us the following week or the next, or the next... :)


To take part here's what you do.......
1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)
2. Blog about it
- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)
- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post
- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post
- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post
3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:
- Your name and where you're from
- The name of your blog
- The permalink for your entry
- A photo of your entry
- A note of where you got your recipe from

Orange Crumb Cake with Cinammon Crumb Topping

I did not take the photo above, I mean, I was the one who baked the goodies, but I was not the one who took the shot of that picture. It was my pre-teen daughter! If it was me, the picture would look like this:



I have a thing or two to learn from my daughter as well!!! :)

I had some extra ripe oranges in my refrigerator, and I was wondering what dessert can I make out of these sweet oranges. Before internet days, I would peruse my cookbooks. Nowadays, I would just google... :)

I found this very interesting recipe from About.com (Southern Food). Why is it interesting? Because it is a cake, but you do not need a lot of ingredients - just the basic and common ingredients in our pantry. You do not need a mixer. You just need 2 bowls. And you know what that means? Less utensils to wash! The instructions does not seem complicated. Isn't this ideal !?! Ideal for novice and lazy bakers like me who still craves for a dessert or two. :)

1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
4 T butter, room temperature
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking powder
dash of salt
1 egg
1/2 C orange juice
1 t finely grated orange zest

1. Combine flour, sugar, and butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles meal.

2. Measure half cup of the crumb mixture and move to a separate cup or bowl. Blend in the cinnamon and set aside.

3. To the main crumb mixture, add baking powder and salt; blend well.

4. Beat orange juice with egg until well blended; stir with orange zest into the crumb mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into a greased and floured 8 inch square baking pan.

5. Sprinkle reserved cinnamon-crumb mixture over the batter.

6. Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.


Some tweaks: Have you noticed that whenever we cook or bake something from somewhere, we always have to make some little tweaks ? I do not think we deliberately change something, just to make the recipe more "ours." I think it is more to do with what ingredients we have on hand, or what tastes our families prefer.

1. I used freshly squeezed orange juice, as that is what I have on hand. I used 1 orange for the recipe. To make half-cup of juice, I added only a few tablespoons of water. This is why my cake is not too sweet. If this was made from ready-made orange juice, I think this cake would have been sweeter.

2. I did not use the zest. I have this thing (suspicion) about the skins of fruits being laden with pesticides, and other synthetic chemicals. Sorry, I am obsessive-compulsive in this area. So, what I did was, I added the pulp bits of the squeezed juice. I think the cake still turned out fragrantly orange-y.

3. I added probably 1/4 C topping mixture to the cake because when I added the juice/egg mixture, it turned too watery. Only 1/4 C of crumb topping mixture was left for the toppings.





The verdict? You would love this if you love the fragrant orange with a whiff of cinnamon! For me, this is an ideal snack/dessert. Easy to prepare, no fuss and no mess. Delicious paired with a cup of tea or coffee. It is not too sweet, just the way we like it!



This cake goes to the Bookmarked Recipes community. Bookmarked Recipes 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 created and regularly hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. For last week's edition, Deeba of Passionate about Baking did a wonderful and beautiful round-up. This week, I will be guest hosting as well. This is my first time to host a food event, I am so excited about it. I hope you can join and play!

Personally, I enjoy taking part in this event and I enjoy reading all the entries. Because these are the recipes carefully picked and chosen by wonderful food bloggers around the world. The recipes have been tried and tested in real kitchens, commented and improved. In other words, these are the weekly compilation of one of the best recipes in the blogosphere!

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 between now to Sunday, Sept 21. I will do the round-up on Monday, Sept.22. Of course, this is an ongoing weekly event, so in case, you were not able to participate this week, come join us the following week or the next, or the next... :)


To take part here's what you do.......
1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)
2. Blog about it
- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)
- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post
- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post
- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post
3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:
- Your name and where you're from
- The name of your blog
- The permalink for your entry
- A photo of your entry
- A note of where you got your recipe from


I'll be looking forward to the dishes you're all cooking!!!

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.