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: Chicken Rice Curry

Curry is a blend of spices used mostly in Indian cuisine. Curry has a lot of benefits like lowering your blood sugar, cholesterol and preventing the C word. This recipe is easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 chicken leg quarters, chopped to smaller portions
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 cup chicken stock
1 large onion, diced
1 cup green peas
4 potatoes, cubed
2 tablespoon minced garlic
4 tablespoon curry powder
3 tablespoon oil

Cooking Instruction:

1. Heat oil in a cooking pot. Add garlic and onions. Saute for five minutes or until the onion is translucent
2. Add in the chicken and cook until the chicken changes color. 
3. Add potatoes. Pour in the chicken stock. 
4. Add in curry powder and stir until blended. 
5. Add the uncooked rice and green peas. 
6. Cover and cooked for 25 minutes until rice is cooked