Recipe: Menudo

Someone handed me a bag of raisins and that gave me the idea of making Menudo. Menudo is a staple in almost every Philippine gatherings and almost a comfort food. Everyone has different interpretation when it comes to this dish. I used Chicken and Pork with this recipe as well as Cayenne Powder instead of Paprika to give it a kick. Also, since I cannot find pork liver, I used chicken liver instead.

Ingredients:
2 lbs pork, cubed
1/2 lb chicken liver
1 chicken leg quarter, cubed
4 hotdogs, sliced
4 small potatoes, cubed
4 medium carrots, cubed
4 large plum tomatoes, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
3 tbsp garlic powder
3 tbsp cayenne powder
1 can (10 oz) chicken stock
1 cup raisins
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
3 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp fish sauce (patis)

Cooking Procedure:

1. Combine soy sauce and fish sauce in a boil. Add in pork and chicken and marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Heat cooking oil in a pot. Add in onion and garlic powder, saute for a minute.
3. Add in pork and chicken and cook until brown. About 5 to 7 minutes
4. Pour in chicken stock. Add in cayenne powder, hotdogs and chicken liver. 
5. Stir in tomato paste. Add in raisins, potatoes, carrots and yellow pepper.
6. Once its boiling. Lower heat to simmer. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. 
7. Serve with rice. 

Enjoy!

Variation:

• You can cut down on the cayenne powder if you don't want it to have too much of a kick. Or use paprika instead.  
• Use tomato sauce instead of tomato paste. 
• Pork liver instead of chicken liver. If you are using pork liver, make sure you saute it first in garlic to remove the gamey smell. 
• Instead of fish sauce, use calamansi or lemon.

Recipe: Italian Vegetable Soup

A really great friend of mine shared this Italian Vegetable Soup recipe to me the other night and I made it this afternoon with some tweaks. The pepper adds a kick to this delicious recipe. It is really easy to make, good for those cold nights and its quite healthy.

Ingredients:
2 Poblano Peppers, chopped
2 Serano Peppers, chopped
2 Cherry Peppers, chopped
32 oz Vegetable Broth
1 can White Cannellini Beans, drained
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 medium zucchini, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
a band of green onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 garlic bulb, peeled
2 tbsp. fresh marjoram, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
2 tbsp, fresh basil, chopped
3 Tbsp EVOO or Canola Oil
Juice of a small lemon
Salt and Pepper

Place peppers, green onions, and oil in a food processor, minced. Add marjoram, parsley, rosemary, lemon juice, basil and garlic. Continue mince cycle.
Heat a soup pot, keep the heat on medium or low. Add the mixture to the pan and let it sweat.
Add in tomatoes, zucchini, celery, carrots. Stir to mix the vegetables.
Pour vegetable broth into the pot. Add in the cannellini beans. Increase the heat.
Cover and let it boil. Then decrease heat to simmer. Season with Salt and Pepper.

Enjoy!

Optional: Use some Romano Cheese if you want to add taste and texture.