Chicken and Tofu in Char Shiu Sauce

A quick cooking and tasty recipe that you can do with your chicken and tofu. Goes well with plain steamed rice or buns.

Ingredients:

½ kg Chicken breast fillets, cut in strips

½ kg Tofu, cut into large rectangular prisms

¼ cup Leeks, minced

5 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium, thinly sliced

1 tbsp. Char Shiu sauce

1 tbsp. Cornstarch, for batter

1 tsp. Cornstarch

¼ cup Water (for suspending cornstarch)

1 cup Water

¼ tsp. Black pepper, fresh from pepper mill, ground

1 tbsp. Mirin wine

1/8 tsp. Ginger powder

2 tbsp. Safflower oil

1 pc. Egg, beaten

½ tsp. Iodized salt

Cooking Instruction:

In a bowl, place chicken, egg, black pepper, salt, and 1 tbsp. cornstarch. Mix and fry on hot Teflon coated frying pan with as little oil as possible. Set aside.

In the frying pan used for the chicken, fry the tofu to brown both sides using as little oil as possible. Set aside.

Again on the same frying pan, heat the remaining oil and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic is golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Add the chicken, mirin wine, and water. Heat to start boiling. Lower heat to maintain a gentle boil. Cover and cook for about five minutes.

In a bowl, suspend the cornstarch in water and add char shiu sauce. Mix well and add to the cooking mixture. Add also the leeks and adjust salt to taste. Add freshly ground black pepper as desired and serve with plain steamed rice or buns with your favourite tea.

Tokwa’t Baboy (Pork with Tofu)

The food in the Philippines is found in such wide variety due to the fact that it has come in contact with several contrasting cultures. Chinese, Spanish, Malaysian, Indonesian, American, and Spanish to name a few. That is why some recipes in the Philippines when you look at them seem to include ingredients that are not common in one type of cuisine. As with other countries that had long contacts with other nations, their cuisine has imbibed some of the characteristics of those countries. Take for example this recipe that I now share, tomato from Spain, tofu from Japanese, fermented black bean and cornstarch from Chinese, etc. Combine them all into his recipe and you will not find a similar recipe in either one of the countries of which their respective cuisine is known to include each of the items. Truly the mix has become one of the identities of Philippine cuisine. As time goes by and more association with other countries are established and new technology or modern amenities make the world smaller due to ease of communication and learning, evolution and adaptation of other ingredients unique to some other culture will be adapted to create a uniquely Filipino taste. Like what is being experienced in other countries.

Ingredients

¾ kg Pork, cut into large strips

½ kg Tofu, cut into large strips

½ cup Tomatoes, quartered

7 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium, thinly sliced

4 tbsp. Premium dark soy sauce

1 tbsp. Fermented black beans

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

¾ cup Water

1 tbsp. Safflower oil for sautéing

½ cup Safflower oil for frying the tofu

1 tsp. Sugar

¼ cup Celery, chopped

Cooking Instruction:

Heat ½ cup of oil in a frying pan and brown all sides of the tofu. Set aside tofu atop paper towels to remove excess oil.

In a pressure cooker, heat 1 tbsp. safflower oil and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic turns golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Add the pork and stir. Cook for about two minutes and then add the black pepper, soy sauce, water, sugar, black beans, and the pork. Cover and pressure cook for about 15-20 minutes. After the said time has elapsed, turn off heat and allow cooling normally. Do not vent steam to accelerate cooling as the additional time which will take about 10-15 minutes will be used as additional cooking time to further tenderize the meat. After sufficiently cooled, open the cooker and skim off oil to lower fat content of the dish. Add the celery and stir. In a small bowl, suspend the cornstarch in ¼ cup of water and add to the mixture. Turn on heat and boil. When the starch is cooked, serve with plain steamed buns or with rice.

Ampalaya con Carne (Bitter Gourd with Fermented Black Beans and Pork)

Bitter gourd or ‘ampalaya’ in the Philippines is the source of a substance that is known to lower the glucose levels in blood. Therefore, they think that consumption of this fruit might be helpful in controlling hyperglycaemia, helpful for controlling diabetes. Depending on a variety of cultivars and specie, the bitter taste may also vary. However, I have noted that you can easily remove most if not all the bitterness by allowing the sliced fruit to be in contact with rock salt. The rock salt might increase the rate by which water may diffuse through the cells bringing with it the bitter compounds that may easily be rinsed. The remainder of water and salt that may have diffused into the tissues of the sliced fruit may be removed by gentle wringing out either on itself with bare hands or with the use of a cloth.

Ingredients:

1 pc. Ampalaya (large, seeded and cut into serving slices)

½ kg. Pork (ground)

1 tbsp. Fermented black beans

4 cloves Garlic (minced)

1 pc. Onion (medium, thinly sliced)

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

1 tbsp. Iodized salt

1 cup Tofu (cut into small cubes)

3 tbsp. Premium dark soy sauce

1 tsp. Sugar

1 tsp. Cornstarch

1/2 tsp. Sesame oil

½ cup Water for suspending cornstarch

1 cup Water

Cooking Instruction:

Heat the oil in a wok and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic is golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Toss in the ground pork and stir. Cook for two minutes and add the the tofu soy sauce, sugar, black pepper, black beans, and water. Boil continue to cook at high heat for about 10 minutes. Add the ampalaya slices and lower heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes more and again increase the heat. In a small bowl, place the cornstarch and add water, mix to suspend evenly the cornstarch (take care that no lumps of cornstarch remains). Add the sesame oil and mix well. Add this suspension into the cooking mixture and mix well. Continue stirring until the cornstarch is cooked. Enjoy with plain steamed rice...

Fish Heads with Tofu and Salted Black Beans

Fish heads especially of the sea bass are nice. They have that nice gelatinous texture esteemed by some Chinese gourmets. Also, this particular fish part normally goes to waste. But I figure maybe I can make some interesting recipe out of them. So here goes...

Ingredients:

500 g Grouper fish heads (about 2 pieces)

250 g Tofu (cut into rectangular blocks)

1 tbsp. Black Beans

1 tbsp. Oyster sauce

¼ tsp. Black pepper (ground)

2 pcs. Ginger (fresh thinly sliced)

4 pcs. Garlic (minced)

1 pc. Onion (small, cut into thin slices)

1 tbsp. Mirin

½ tsp. Chiu Chow chilli oil

3 tbsp. Premium dark soy sauce

½ cup Water

1 tsp. Cornstarch (heaping)

3 tbsp. Water (for suspending cornstarch)

1 tsp. Sesame oil

4 tbsp. Safflower oil (for frying tofu and fish)

1 tbsp. Safflower oil (for sautéing)

Cooking Procedure:

Heat oil in suitable Teflon coated frying pan. Fry tofu until all sides are golden brown. Set aside. Fry the fish head in the hot oil until browned and set aside too. In another sauce pan, heat oil and sauté the garlic and onion until garlic are golden brown and onion starts to caramelize. Add the ginger, fried tofu, and the fish. Add the water, soy sauce, black beans, Mirin and chilli oil. Simmer for approximately 15 min under low heat (Until the eyes of the fish pops out which means that it is already done just right). At this point if more saltiness is desired, salt can be added. Otherwise the natural salt from the soy and other ingredients will be just enough.

In a suitable bowl, place the cornstarch and water. Stir to ensure that cornstarch is well dispersed. Add the oyster sauce and sesame oil and mix well. Add to the fish and stir by gently swirling the contents of the pan. Cook until the starch is cooked and sauce has nice consistency. It is important not to overcook when sesame oil is already added less the flavour deteriorates. Serve with rice...