Twigs

Everything has beauty in them.  You just have to learn how to look...

Pancit Canton

Pancit Canton is an entirely filipino dish.  Although the name of the dish might give an impression that it is from Canton in China, it is not.  It was invented somewhere in Manila.  By a couple.  The husband is from China while the wife is a Filipina if I recall it right.  Anyway, they loved cooking so they were able to concoct the recipe.  So, you will not find Pancit Canton elsewhere in China, only here in the Philippines.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup     Chinese sausage (cut thinly)

1 cup        Carrots (julienned)

1/2 cup     Onion (cut into thin strips)

1 T            Garlic (minced)

1 t             Freshly cracked black peppers

1/3 cup     Soy sauce

1/4 cup     Chicken liver (cut into small cubes)

1/4 kg       Chicken breast

1/4 kg       Pork (cut into small strips)

3 slices      Ginger (about 1 t)

3 T            Cooking oil

1 T            Sesame oil

1/4 cup      Chinese cooking wine

24 pcs        Quail eggs (hard boiled, peeled)

1 T             Oyster sauce

500 g         Pancit canton

1 cup          Dog ear mushrooms (chopped)

3 pieces      Shiitake mushroom (cut into strips)

1/2 cup       Squid balls (cut thinly)

How to cook:

Tenderize the meat:

1.  Tenderize the meat in about 1 1/2 cup of water to which the ginger mentioned in the ingredients list and 1 piece of sliced onion, a dash of salt and pepper has been added.

2.  Chop the pork to desired size and shred the chicken and set aside for use later.  Save also the broth as it will be used in later cooking.

Pancit Canton:

1.  In a big skillet or wok, heat oil until nearly smoking.

2.  Saute garlic and onion until fragrant.

3.  Add the Chinese sausage and continue cooking until some fat from the sausage has rendered.

4.  Add the squid balls and continue cooking.

5.  Add the pork and chicken and continue to stir fry.

6.  Add the Chinese cooking wine and flambe.

7.  Once the flames extinguish add the soy sauce and the oyster sauce and stir well.

8.  Add the broth from which the chicken and pork was tenderized.

9.  Add 2 more cups of water and bring to boil.

10.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.

11.  Add the carrots and spring onions and mix well.

12.  Add the noodles and mix well until cooked.

13.  Add the boiled quail eggs and mix well.

14.  Turn off flame and add the sesame oil and mix well.

15.  Serve and enjoy.

Crab Foo Yong

Today is Father's Day!  I made Crab Foo Yong for breakfast.  There are many variations of this recipe. Also the presentation.  But this one I made is quick and easy.  Try it!

INGREDIENTS:

For the sauce:

1 t             Oyster sauce

2 t             Soy sauce

1 t             Sesame oil

1 t             Cornstarch

1/2 cup     Water

1/2 t          Sugar

For the Foo Yong

1/2 cup     Crab meat (you may also use canned crab meat, just strain

                 and save the water for use in sauce)

4 large      Eggs, beaten

1/4 cup     Green bell peppers, (cut into strips)

1/2 cup     Bean sprouts (optional)

1/4 cup     Onions (cut into strips)

1/4 cup     Spring onions (chopped finely)

1 t             Flour

1 t             Rock salt

1/2 t          Freshly cracked black peppers

1 t             Garlic (minced)

1/2 t          Sesame oil

1 T           Cooking oil (for sauteing)

2 T           Cooking oil (for frying the foo yong)

How to Cook:

Sauce:

1.  In a small bowl, combine the oyster sauce, sesame oil, sugar, cornstarch, and soy sauce.  Mix well and set aside. 

2.  In a small sauce pan, boil the water.

3.  Pour the combined mixture in number 1 to the boiling water and mix continuously with the aid of a spatula.

4.  Heat until the sauce thickens to consistency. Set aside.

Omelette:

First cook the filling:

1.  Heat 1 T of cooking oil in a skillet and saute the onion and garlic until fragrant.

2.  Add the bell peppers and continue to saute until fragrant.

3.  Add in the bean sprouts and continue cooking for a few seconds.

4.  Add the crab meat and mix well.

5.  Set aside for mixing into the scrambled eggs.

Scrambled eggs:

1.  Into the bowl with scrambled eggs, add in the black pepper, salt, flour, spring onions and sesame oil.

2.  Add the cooked filling mixture.

3.  Mix well.

4.  Heat 2 T of cooking oil in a non stick pan just near smoke point.

5.  Fry the omelette mixture until well done.

6.  Flip to cook the other side.

7.  Transfer to serving plant.

8.  Pour the sauce over the foo yong.

9.  Serve and enjoy.

ART IN NATURE

Nature has inspired many artists...  In addition to inspiration, we also find peace and joy whenever we are close to nature.  It might be because everything depends on nature.  Sure, modern living has offered some conveniences but at what cost?  Many inventions of the so called modern living which were hailed to be great advances and aid to make lives more comfortable are only now beginning to be understood as having detrimental effects on our environment.  We must take care of nature so that it will in return will also take care of us.  Turn your back from being concerned with environment, for nature will surely bring unwanted repercussion.

While visiting the hometown of my wife, I was able to take many interesting photographs of things around the house.  A plant has caught my interest, they call it 'Dapo' locally.  I tried to search the net and found that it is called the 'Bird's Nest Fern'.  It is quite a big plant.  The one I was able to photograph I estimate should have a diameter of around 1.5 meters.  Here's what it looked like.

So, it looks like a big green plant.  Oh, for the botanists, it says the scientific name is Asplenium nidus.  For many, the plant is not much interesting.  Big, green...  But wait till you examine the details of the plant more closely like:

See!  The center of the plant shows interesting young leaves just starting to unfurl.  A closeup picture of the plant sure makes it look somewhat like a artwork that you can just print one big picture and hang it on a wall.  So, how about looking more closely at the mature leaves?

When you change perspective you begin to experience difference in the way you perceive the ordinary object.  How does the leaf closeup look like?  I think it can either be a sort of an abstract or a nice drawing/painting?

But, how about if we look at those young little leaves that are just beginning to unfurl?

Superb!  Very interesting indeed.  Nature is really a good artist!  Or model? So, everything has beauty, we just have to learn how to perceive things in positive ways.

I'M BACK! :)

December 14, 2008, the last entry I made on this blog before this one.  It has been a long time indeed since I even visited.  Imagine the author himself of a blog only coming back after 11 long years.  I almost even forgot this blog...  11 years is such a long time,  Many things has happened and some are even surprising.  I was not able to visit and make much entries previously maybe because of so much activities and things that need attending to.  But I realized we should not be so preoccupied with the so called necessities of life If we would like to be happy, we should by all means find time to engage in our interest.  For me, one of it would be photography.  So, last three weeks suddenly it came to me that I should find time doing it.  Sure I have been doing digital photography for some time but I would like to be in touch with the excitement of taking a picture and be surprised at the result.  So, how to do it?  I decided to once again revive my film photography.  I will once again take pictures using film.  Mainly the 35 mm format using my trusty film camera.  And, since it is difficult to have films processed by commercial photographic shops nowadays, I will do the processing myself.  I am just completing my supplies and once ready I shall again do this exciting activity.  I hope others will realize also the beauty that can be derived from film.  I wish others take up also the classical photography using film so that not only we preserve this art but also to be able to enjoy the unique images that can be created with this medium.

Paksiw na Pata (Pork Leg with Banana Flowers)

Paksiw na pata is a unique recipe found in the Philippines with banana flowers.

Ingredients:

1 kg Pork leg, cut into serving sizes

1 cup Banana flowers (soaked in tap water, discard the water which might taste acrid)

1 tbsp. Sugar

4 tbsp. Premium dark soy sauce

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

¼ tsp. Iodized salt

1 cup Water

5 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, large, quartered

5 pcs. Bay leaves, dried

Cooking Instruction:

In a pressure cooker, place the banana flower and the other ingredients. Add the bay leaves on top of these banana flowers and on top of it the meat. Add the water and pressure cook for about twenty minutes. After the cooking time, remove from the flame and allow normal cooling. Do not vent the steam to hasten cooling as the additional cooking time is used to tenderize the meat further. After cooling, open and skim off any excess oil to lessen the fat content of the dish. Serve immediately hot with plain steamed rice or bread.

Tortang Corned Beef (Corned Beef Frittata)

Corned beef, an ordinary canned product you can find in almost any store. What can we do to make it interesting? Well I thought maybe ‘Tortang Corned Beef’ or Corned Beef Frittata. Torta are local terms for dishes that are versions of the Italian frittata.

Ingredients:

5 pcs. Eggs, beaten

1 cup Corned beef

1 ½ cup Potato, cut into thinly into strips.

1 cup Cooking oil for frying the potato shoestrings

¼ cup Grated cheddar cheese

½ tsp. Black pepper powder

5 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium thinly sliced

1 tbsp. Cornstarch

1 ½ tbsp. Cooking oil (for cooking the frittata)

1 tsp. Cooking oil (for cooking the corned beef)

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Cooking Instruction:

Heat the 1 cup of cooking oil in a Teflon pan and fry the shoestring potato until it starts to become golden brown. Fish out the cooked potatoes and set aside on top of paper towels to remove excess oil.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and into it, add the black pepper powder and cornstarch. In a saucepan, heat about a teaspoon of oil and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic is golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Add the corned beef and mix well. Add Worcestershire sauce and cook until the liquid is evaporated to dryness. Toss in this cooked mixture into the beaten eggs and toss in the cooked potatoes too.

Heat 1 ½ tbsp. of the oil in a Teflon frying pan and cook the torta under low flame until the bottom is sufficiently set and the top is not so runny. Flip over the torta or if you are not skilled in flipping frittata, you may get a large sauce and flip on the saucer the torta and slide it back into the hot frying pan to cook the other side. Serve immediately and enjoy with bread. Goes well with your favorite beer or white wine.