Recipe: Corn Soufflé

The last time I had corn soufflé was almost two years ago. Then during the Christmas season, a co-worker was talking about how they made the soufflé for their Christmas dinner. So it was time for me to make some to quench the craving. This is really easy to make and you can easily get the ingredients in the grocery store.

Ingredients:
1 bag (10.8 oz) sweet corn
1 can (14 3/4 oz.) sweet corn cream style
1 stick butter
1 Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 8oz. sour cream

Preparation
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients together. Pour the mixture into a greased dish. Bake for 1 hour.

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

Recipe: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Thanksgiving is here once again and it means Thanksgiving dinners. Tons of food - turkey, stuffing, sides and of course desserts. And if you need to bring a dessert, why not try to make one instead of buying store brand. Here is my recipe from Pumpkin Cheesecake and one thing for certain - there is no baking. Yup.. NO BAKING!! And you can make this Thanksgiving day but I would prefer to make it the night before.

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 pkg (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened (Store brand will suffice)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (I love Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tub Whipped Topping, thawed or Whipped Cream
1 Graham Pie Crust (6 oz)

Preparation:
Beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and cinnamon with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
Stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping or whipped cream.
Spoon the mixture into crust
Refrigerate for three hours or overnight.  Serve topped with the remaining whipped topping or cream.

Tips:
Make sure the cream cheese is softened or else you will have a hard time mixing even with an electric mixer.
Don't like to use Cream Cheese? not to worry, you can use Neufchatel Cheese - 1/3 less fat than a regular Cream Cheese.
Want more of the Pumpkin taste? Replace cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice.
You can also add 1/4 tsp of nutmeg and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract for added taste.

Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Recipe: Miso-Glazed Stuffed London Broil

I visited Mitsuwa the other day and came home with a couple of Japanese ingredients including Enoki Mushrooms, Rice Vinegar, Nira and Miso Paste. I decided to incorporate this with the dish I wanted to make tonight. You can stuffed the meat the night before which I did with this recipe. Or you can make this 2 hours ahead of your cooking time.

Miso-Glazed Stuffed London Broil

1/2 cup garlic, minced
1/2 cup Nira
1/2 cup parsley
2 tbsp paprika powder
1 tbsp lemon pepper powder
1 tbsp Japanese rice vinger
10 bell mushrooms, quartered
1 pkg Enoki mushrooms, cleaned.
3 tbsp miso paste
1 1/2 lb London Broil


Mix the first three ingredients.
Cut a pocket into the London broil and sprinkle paprika and lemon pepper. Stuff with the mixed herbs and close with toothpicks. Rub the outside of the London broil with pepper. Refrigerate overnight.
Place the London broil on a broiler pan or aluminum pan. Broil each side of your steak for 10-12 minutes for well-done. 7 - 10 for medium.
While the steak is broiling, add mushrooms, rice vinegar and miso paste into a heated pan. Covered for five minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and miso paste has melted. Turn to low heat until you the steak is ready.
Place steak on a plate - whole or sliced, glazed the top with the miso sauce top with the mushrooms.

Served on top of arugula salad. Or you can sliced it up

Recipe: Spinach Beef Rolls

This is easy to make and could be an appetizer or main dish.  This can serve 2-3 people.

Ingredients:
10 pieces flank steak, trimmed
1/2 lb spinach, loosely cut
bunch of parsley, loosely cut
2 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoon pepper
Oil for cooking
Toothpicks

Preparation:
1. Place steak on a cutting board or work surface, pound until they are 1/2 inch thin.
2. Sprinkle paprika and pepper, arrange a bunch of spinach and parsley on the end of the steak slice.
3. Roll up the steak tightly. Use toothpick to hold the roll.  Repeat the process.
4. Heat oil in pan. Add the beef rolls and cook for 3 minutes or until the steak is cooked. Make sure to roll the steak so that you can cook all the sides.

You can serve it with some couscous or just by itself with some steak sauce.

Recipe: Steamed Mussels

This is really easy to make.

Ingredients:
Juice of 1 lime
2 cooked corns, half
bunch of parsley, loosely chopped
2 lbs wild mussels
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon butter
pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup olives
1 cup Red Wine Vinegar

Rinse the mussels under cold running water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush. Discard any with broken shells.
Heat oil in a stockpot. Saute garlic. Add the mussels and give them a good toss.
Add red wine vinegar, lime juice and pepper flakes. Cover the pot and steam over medium-high 5 minutes until the mussels open.
Toss in parsley, corn and butter and steam for another minute.

Remember, the juice is good for dipping hot garlic bread.

Serves 2

Recipe: Vegetable Pancakes

I was going to make some spinach cakes but instead decided for some vegetable pancakes. Healthy and delicious - this pancakes can be serve as an appetizer or main dish. The pancake batter can be prepared the day before and is better served warm.

For this recipe, I added some long hot pepper for just a little kick that you won't even notice. Tamari soy sauce is more thicker, darker and richer than the usual soy sauce.

For the sauce
3 tablespoon Tamari Soy Sauce
3 tablespoon Teriyaki Sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced hot pepper

For the pancakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1 garlic bulb, minced
2 hot peppers, minced
4 indian egg plants, cut into fine julienne
8 oz white mushrooms, cut into fine juliene
1 bunch green asparagus, thinly sliced
3 tablespoon crushed basil
salt and pepper

Preparation:
Make the sauce by combining soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, minced garlic and hot pepper in a small bowl. Set aside while you make the pancakes.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, water and eggs. Mix gently until just combined. Add in the remaining ingredients and fold together.

Heat the griddle to 250 degrees F. Using a small soup ladle. Add the pancake batter into the griddle. Cook each pancake for about 4 minutes. Flip the pancake to the other side once the pancake as settled. Press with a spatula to compress ingredients. Cook for another two minutes.

Serve while hot.

Options: If you do have have a griddle, you can use a nonstick skillet. Heat it over medium-high and coat with oil.

Recipe: Chicken and Pork Adobo in Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is use in many tropical cuisines -Cambodian, Filipino, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai - to name a few. It's hard to find fresh coconut milk here so I resorted into using canned milk. For this recipe, I added some serano peppers to add some kick to it.

Ingredients:
1 lb Chicken thighs
1 lb Pork chunks
1 serano pepper, sliced
Juice of 2 medium sized lime
4 stalks celery, chopped
small bunch of parsley, chopped
1 garlic bulb, crushed
2 cans (13 oz each) Coconut Milk (I used Thai Kitchen)
Salt and Pepper
Oil

Preparation:
Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven, add garlic and serano peppers. Saute for five minutes.
Add in pork chunks and chicken thighs, pour in lime juice, stir until chicken and pork are covered with lime juice.
Pour in coconut milk. Bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour.
Add in the parsley and celery. Simmer for another hour or until pork is tender and chicken is cooked
Serve over jasmine rice.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes.

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. 

Recipe: Stuffed Mushroom

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and most of us will end up with leftovers. The ingredients for this recipe are mostly coming from leftovers. What you will just need are portobello mushrooms, pick ones that are more bowl-like.

Stuffed Mushroom

Ingredients

Portobello Mushrooms
Leftover Mashed Potato, Stuffings and Gravy
2+1 tbsp  minced Chives

Preparation
Clean the portobello mushrooms. Carefully break off stems. Finely chopped the steams. Make sure to discard the tough end of stems.
Heat up oil in skillet, place mushrooms caps hollow side down and let it saute for 5 minutes. Remove mushrooms and set aside
Heat up oil, saute mushroom stems and 2 tbsp chives. Mixed in mashed potato and stuffing and a little bit of gravy. Do not add too much or else it will become soupy. Saute for 5 minutes.
Arrange the mushrooms in a plate with hollow side up. Generously fill the mushroom caps with the mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the chives.
Served with the rest of the gravy on the side.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Vegetable in Plum Sauce

This recipe is for veggie lovers out there. I use four different vegetables in the mix and its easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 Plum tomatoes, diced
Bunch of Kale Greens, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
2 Red Peppers, sliced with seeds remove
6 oz assorted mushrooms
1/2 in of ginger, sliced
Pepper
Canola Oil
4 tbsp Chinese Style 5Spice Plum Sauce

Preparation:
- Heat oil in a wok or a deep saute pan. Add in ginger and saute for one minute.
- Add in tomatoes and peppers, saute for three minutes
- Add in Kale and mushrooms, toss and combine. Cover and cook for five minutes
- Add in plum sauce and pepper, toss for two minutes or until sauce is well distributed
- Serve as is.

You can also serve this with either rice or noodles. Or as a side dish to a poultry dish.

Recipe: Crab Omelet Sandwich

I love to make breakfast especially during the weekends when I don't have to wake up early for work. This morning, I made me a Crab Omelet Sandwich. Sounds fancy huh? Nah, it is really easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/2 cup Monterrey cheese
3 parsley stems
2 Trans-Ocean Crab Classic, Leg Style
1 tsp salt
2 whole wheat bread slices

Preparation:
Heat oil in a skillet.
Add eggs in a bowl. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes. Add in Monterrey Cheese. salt and a leaves of one parsley stem.
Add mixture into the skillet. Let it sit for until the first hint of setting begins. With a wooden spoon, start to scrape the eggs from the edge of the pan to the center, forming large soft curds. Continue scraping your spoon along the bottom of the pan to redistribute the eggs as they cook.
When the eggs look wet but are no longer liquid, gently mound the eggs into the center of the pan. Let is sit for 20 seconds before transferring it to a bowl.

To prepare the sandwich:
Place the slice bread on a plate. Top the bottom slice with some parsley leaves, then add scrambled eggs, top with the two crab legs, before topping it with some more scrambled eggs and the bread slice.

Enjoy

Crab Omelet Sandwich

Okra and Tofu Stew

Okra and Tofu Stew

This is simple to make and its vegetarian.  Okra is a good source of iron and calcium and contains Vitamin A and C. It has a lot of benefits. The Okra fiber is excellent for feeding probiotics which contributes to the health of intestinal tract. It's good for constipation, stabilizing blood sugar and cholesterol level and known to treat lung inflammation, sore throat and irritable bowl syndrome.

Ingredients:
1 cup cut okra
1 cup snap sugar peas
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup cubed tofu
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 cup chopped onion
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 in ginger, chopped
Oil

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a wok, add in the onion, ginger and garlic. Saute till the onion browned.
2. Add in the mushrooms and okra, saute for three minutes. Add in the tofu, and snap peas.
3. Stir in soy sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice. Mix the ingredients.
4. Lower the heat, let it simmer for 5 minutes or until snap peas are cooked and still crunchy.
5. Serve on top of rice.

Enjoy

Tofu Dengaku

Tofu Dengaku is a traditional Japanese tofu dish which is grilled and topped with sweet miso sauce. It is easy to make and ideal if you are vegetarian. This dish needs sake but you can do away with it. Tofu Dengaku makes for a hearty lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:
1 block firmed tofu cut into 1/2 inch rectangles
3 Tbsp miso paste
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp mirin or rice vinegar
2 Tbsp dashi soup stock or water
1 Tbsp sake

Preparation
Mix miso paste, sugar, mirin/rice vinegar, dashi/water and sake in a sauce pan. Simmer it on low heat, stirring constantly until thicken. Set aside.
Heat up a griddle to 200 F degrees. Place the tofu on the griddle and cook for about 8 minutes each side.
Spread miso sauce on each tofu pieces and grill until sauce is warm.

Enjoy!

Tofu Dengaku

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

As most of you know, spicy wings have been a staple for Superbowl Sunday. But what if you are tired of eating wings all the time? So I decided to make my own Spicy Chicken Legs. More meat to the bone..

Ingredients:
10 chicken drumsticks
1 Lemon, sliced in half
3 small boiler onions, minced
2 tbsp Paprika powder
1 tbsp Garlic powder
2 tbsp pepper
2 tsp cooking oil
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 tbsp Siracha hot sauce
1 cup water
1 tbsp flour

Preparation:
1. Place the drumsticks into a pot, pour water until the drumsticks are covered.
2. Add in oil, garlic powder, 1 tbsp of pepper, and juice of half a slice of lemon. Cover and boil till the chicken is cooked.
3. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, add in juice of the other half of lemon, paprika powder, minced boiler onions, jalapeno pepper, water, siracha hot sauce and flour. Mix well and set aside.
4. Heat up oven to 350F.
5. Once the chicken is done. Place the drumsticks in a foil pan. Pour in the mix sauce and baked for 30 - 40 minutes.
6. Serve while its hot.. and I mean HOT!!!

Enjoy

Recipe of the Day: Pancit Bihon

My first recipe post of the year. Its one of the best dish in Asia and its called 'Pancit Bihon.' Its usually make during special occasions. Chinese people make this when someone is celebrating their birthdays while Filipinos serve it during fiestas. I made the recipe as light as possible and here it is.
Preparation time is about an hour.

Pancit Bihon

Ingredients:
5 bundles of vermicilli noodles (1 package has 8 bundles)
half of savory cabbage, shredded
4 medium sized carrots, shredded
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, shred into small pieces.
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 cup light chicken broth

Preparation:
1. Soak vermicilli (rice) noodles in cold water for 7-8 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a large wok.
3. Saute garlic and onion for 3 minutes.
4. Add shredded chicken and soy sauce and stir fry for 5 minutes.
5. Add cabbage, carrot and 1 cup of chicken broth.
6. Stir fry for additional 2 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to low and add rice noodles, bundle after bundle, tossing gently until cooked through and well blended.
8. Serve while warm.

If the mixture is too dry, add some more broth. Serve with soy sauce or lime juice

Hope you can try this recipe eventhough it takes time to prepare everything. Of course, love to hear if you try the recipe.