Oh My Ginataang Gulay

This is probably one of my favorite dishes from home.  One of my father's relatives, Uncle Remy, lives with us and cooks our meals.  He makes this dish beautifully and I had this twice already since I moved back to Davao 11 days ago.  I'm here temporarily while I wait for the decision on my resident visa application in one of the coldest countries in the world.  The decision should be positive but I just don't want to talk about it until I have the permit in my hands.

Farewell lunches and dinners had been made but I'm still here so I'll talk about it when it's time to board the plane.

Sunday with an Old Friend

 

A beautiful Sunday...

The yogi cooked again...

Jackfruit curry by Tesa and eggplant subji by me.

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Eggplant Subji Recipe

Ingredients:

About 5 cups cubed eggplant

1 tomato chopped

1 onion diced

a thumb of ginger, minced

5 cloves garlic, minced

3-5 tsp garam masala

a pinch of turmeric

mustard seeds

oil

Instructions:

Fry the mustard seeds in 1-2 tbsp oil and wait until it begins to pop.  Add garlic, onion, ginger, tomato and cook until fragrant and the tomato begins to disintegrate.  Add garam masala and turmeric.  Mix well.  Add the eggplant.  Mix well.  Some water and cover until cooked.  Stir occasionally.  Season with salt.  Adjust taste by adding more garam masala.  (I can still smell it in my fingers... yum yum).

***

Japanese sesame salad dressing is my new favorite.  Thanks again, my friend.

***

 

It was an afternoon dedicated to friends we met in India two years ago.

I'll cook for you again someday.

OM

Spaghetti with Roasted/Grilled Vegetables (Photo)

Forgot to the cashew in the previous post.  Uncle B used roasted pine nuts when he made this for dinner in Marbel last week.  I couldn't find pine nuts in SM Davao's supermarket so I had to improvise and used dry roasted cashew nuts instead.

I'm at the Davao International Airport at the moment waiting to board my flight to Manila.  All of the flights have been delayed since 10am this morning apparently due to an airforce plane which got stuck on the runway.  Silkair's flight from Singapore is delayed as well due to some technical problems in Sg.  At least that's what they announced.

And to my Irish friends out there...

'When Irish eyes are smiling,

Sure 'tis like a morn in spring,

With the lilt of Irish laughter

You can hear the angels sing...

When Irish eyes are happy

All the world seems bright and gay,

But when Irish eyes are smiling,

Sure they'll steal your heart away.'

It's from the book that I'm reading now.  Swimming Upstream by Anthony Fingleton.  It's an inspirational memoir of a boy who found the determination to succeed.

Tofu & Black Bean Tacos

Photo and recipe from wholefoodsmarket.com. Thanks for the link, M.

Physical activity for the day:
Total walking steps - 12572
Total aerobic steps - 3609
Total min in aerobic steps - 34 min
Energy expended walking - 337 kcal
Fat lost - 19.2g

Pranayama for 30 min then taught a Mysore-class for 2 hours. 2 hr 30 min of activity not included in that total steps. The rest of the day, I was using the pedometer.

Tofu & Stif Fried Veggies with Fresh Ginger

This is how the previous dish would look like if I didn't mix it with rice and noodles. The tofu is supposed to be adobo but I just marinated it the night before so the flavor hasn't sipped into the bean curd yet. This was lunch last Tuesday.

And what should I make this rainy Thursday? Maybe a simple oatmeal soup will do.

Garlic Tofu Rice Toppings

Introducing Cafe Mitahara's new dish...

Garlic Tofu Rice Topping...

Buttery and garlicky...

Healthy... nutritious... and best of all... it's vegetarian... (For those who prefer sattvic dishes, we recommend Tofu Rice Topping).

Fits anyone's budget...

For only 75 pesos per serving.

Who said it's expensive to be a vegetarian?

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Now for the real story.

Made garlic rice with my 1-day old steamed organic red rice. Just fried minced garlic, about 1 tbsp, in 1 tbsp soybean oil. When the garlic had browned, I added about 2 cups of the day-old steamed red rice. Seasoned it with light soy sauce and set it aside.

For the topping.

Sauteed 1 tbsp minced garlic, then added the leftover tofu salpicao (Yes, it's been lying in the fridge for 2 straight days... dead prana-wise but then the next ingredient will add some life into it so don't worry :-p)... stir fry for a minute or two... then add about 2 cups of shredded cabbage. I used both green and red cabbage to make the dish more colorful. Stir fried for another minute or two over high heat. Turned off the heat. Tasted it... needed more flavor so I added a tbsp of vegetarian oyster sauce and another tbsp of light soy sauce. Sprinkled chopped fresh cilantro and mixed it in.

The amount was good for 2 servings but mitahara wasn't practiced tonight. I ate it all. :-p First serving as is, second with chili sauce. Bondat!

Tofu Salpicao

Ingredients

• 1 lb cut into 1/2 inch chunks (or other tender cut)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced (more if you like)
• salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 3 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
  
• /4 cup liquid seasoning
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions

1. Combine oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika in a bowl.
2. Marinate tofu chunks in garlic-oil mixture for a couple of hours or more in the fridge.
3. Saute marinated tofu (including marinade) in VERY hot oil.
4. Keep stirring until tofu chunks are browned evenly.
5. DO NOT lower heat.
6. Add vegetarian oyster sauce and liquid seasoning.
7. Cook a few seconds more; add butter last.
8. Remove from heat and serve immediately over hot steamed rice.
9. *Note:Cooking time should be about 10 minutes.

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Flagged this from recipezaar.com and modified some of the ingredients. I still have to try this this weekend though.

The Smoke food place in D'Mall, Boracay, served tofu salpicao, tofu steak, and tofu teriyaki. I only got to try the salpicao and it was awesome.

Butter, I believe, is the key ingredient in making salpicao.

The one from Smoke had sliced button mushrooms in it so feel free to add it if you're going to follow this recipe.

Cheers.

Ang Pancit... Bow.

INGREDIENTS
Fresh noodles, 500g
A handful of chopped cabbage
1 small carrots, julienned (yes, that's the more appropriate term for "cut into long thin strips")
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small white onion, chopped finely
About 1/2 cup each of chopped oyster mushroom, sliced shitake mushroom, and button mushroom.
1 cup of bean sprouts
2 tbsp of vegetarian oyster mushroom sauce, add more if you like.
2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2-1 tsp chili garlic oil
dash of sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Stir fry everything except the noodles. In the last 1-2 minutes of cooking, add the noodles and mix well. Serve with a slice of lemon (mahal/expensive!!!) or calamansi on the side.

***

Attended a dance movement therapy conference last weekend. Interesting stuff.

Tofu with 3 Mushroom Sauce

Tada!!! Dinner this evening. Perfect.

1 cup sliced fresh shitake mushrooms (1 pack from SM was 65php. It had 7 pieces and I only used 3)
1 cup sliced fresh oyster mushrooms (1 pack was 30php and I used half of it)
1 small can of button mushrooms (Less than 30php. I wanted to use fresh white mushrooms but it was expensive. There was portabello also but it was 200++ per pack. Maybe next time when I'm rich and famous)
3 cloves garlic, sliced into thin strips
1 small white onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced into thin strips (about the same amount as the onion/garlic)
1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper
Dash of dried chili flakes
1/2 tsp chili in oil
A handful of chopped fresh cilantro/coriander
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp water
4 small squares of hard tofu (tokwa here in the Philippines), sliced into strips, fried until golden brown and set aside.

Saute garlic, onion and ginger in some oil over high heat. Add the 3 mushrooms. Saute until they "sweat"... add the water and turn off the heat. Add the rest of the ingredients except the tofu. I didn't really just dump everything in... I added it one at a time and tasting to know what's missing.

So the actual method was, I added the vegetarian oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and sweet soy sauce. Tasted it. Still missing something.

Added salt and pepper. Still missing something.

Added the chili flakes. Still missing something.

Added sugar. Almost but not quite right.

Added chopped cilantro... almost... but still needs more... so I added more.

Thought it needed a little bit more chili so I added the chili in oil.

Now it's perfect.

In a plate, make a bed of steamed bokchoy then add the fried tofu strips on top and pour over the mushroom sauce. Serve with steamed red rice and enjoy with a glass of your favorite drink.

Cheers.

Pancit Habhab

This famous street food from Lucban, Quezon, is not really vegetarian friendly. Like most dishes here in the Philippines, it is mixed with pork and shrimp bits and the noodles is cooked in pork broth. A hair-raising experience for vegetarians really.

With a little imagination and the help of Knorr mushroom stock cube from Thailand, I was able to make a vegetarian version of pancit habhab.

I can't exactly remember the quantity of the ingredients that I used so here's a rough list of what you'll need.

Carrots, sliced thinly
bean sprouts
cabbage, chopped
garlic
onion
salt and pepper to taste
some fried tofu
mushroom stock cube (just use any vegetable stock cube that you can find -- eerrr that's good luck to us who are in the Philippines, although Knorr ginisa mix is now meat-free. I checked the label. It has MSG though. I'd say make your own stock but we live in the Big City so why bother? We'll all die anyway - ok it's the full moon.)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
Calamansi to taste

450g pancit habhab cooked in 4 cups of water with 1 mushroom stock cube. Drained.

Stir fry the vegetables, add another stock cube, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Either serve over the noodles or mix it together. Serve with calamansi and extra soy sauce on the side. For a true habhab experience, drizzle it with spiced vinegar.

Enjoy.

*** For a meaty experience, add slices of shitake mushroom and if you buy the dried ones, the water where you soak the dried mushroom can be used as your stock.

Ok I'm out of here. Still have a dentist appoinment at 2pm. Ciao.

French Toast & Earth Hour

INGREDIENTS
4 slices of whole wheat multi-grain bread
2 eggs
1 cup non-fat milk
1/2 tsp salt (or less)
butter or oil

Mix eggs, milk and salt. Dip both sides of bread, one piece at a time. Cook each side for 40-60 seconds over low heat. No need to use butter or oil if using a non-stick pan, although you would want butter on your french toast, who doesn't?

Toppings: banana, toffee butter pecan, cinnamon, brown sugar/caramel syrup.

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EARTH HOUR 2009

Carrot, Apple and Ginger Soup with Cheese Crisp

Shared by M. Click here for the recipe. Looks really delicious.

I just learned that I shouldn't be adding photos actually which are posted by other people. Read here for details. I'll change it with my own photo soon. Hope the owner doesn't mind. It's a personal blog anyway and I've properly documented the site where it came from, including the recipe.

Om shanti, shanti, shanti.

Spaghetti Pomodoro

INGREDIENTS
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 big white onion, chopped
6-8 pieces ripe tomatoes (I used the native Philippine tomatoes. If you're using Western tomatoes, maybe 3-4 pieces will do.)
1 small pack of tomato paste
2 cups water
salt and pepper
dash of chili powder
1 tsp sugar
dried basil leaves
olive oil

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring heat to a minimum. Add water and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the tomatoes are really soft and started to disintegrate. Add the tomato paste, salt, black pepper, chili powder, basil leaves and sugar. Adjust taste accordingly. Remove from heat. Serve over spaghetti and top with grated parmesan cheese.

No photo of this one as I was too hungry to get my camera upstairs.

I was also wondering what's the difference between pomodoro sauce from ragu. Based on my quick online research, I believe the only difference is that ragu has bell pepper and it's pureed.

Ciao.

Tinolang Tofu

Private client canceled the session this morning so I slept in. When I woke up, I wanted to practice but then felt too lazy so I came online to check my messages. After my previous post, I guess the "Cook" in me simply didn't want to be "stilled" thus craving to prepare something for lunch. Or maybe I was just craving for Sinigang (hot and sour tamarind soup)

I went to Trinoma to buy ingredients for Sinigang but changed my mind and bought stuffs for Tinola instead. I thought if I buy ingredients for Sinigang, I will need to store more vegetables in the fridge as I only need a few. There were 4 pieces of eggplant, a bunch of string beans, tomatoes, etc, in my shopping basket, and thought I'd only need a few from those. That's the disadvantage of shopping in the supermarket, you can't buy "tingi" (like a piece or two only).

So, I removed everything and started picking ingredients for the Tinola. Tofu 4 small blocks, dahon ng sili (Philippine chili leaves), small green papaya, ginger, onion, spring onion. I have 2 pieces of fake tuna slices left in the fridge (I get it from Likha Diwa, a healthy vegetarian friendly cafe in Krus na Ligas, UP Diliman), so I thought that would make the Tinola a little bit more interesting. Oh, and organic red rice (I'm Pinoy so I have to eat something with rice just like my Thai and Saudi brothers and sisters ;-) ).

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, chopped.
a handful or less of red onion, chopped
same amount of ginger or more, chopped
green papaya, sliced, about 3 cups
2 smal squares of hard tofu, sliced (plus the 2 pieces of fake tuna steak - it's wrapped in nori so I suppose you can add nori or wrap the tofu in nori then fry it before adding it to the soup)
a handful or more of dahon ng sili
spring onions, chopped
dash of red chili powder (you can use fresh green chili if you prefer. Didn't bother buying because I'd only need one and I need to buy the whole pack)
a teaspoon of brown sugar
salt to taste
water
oil for sauteeing

Saute garlic, onion and ginger in the oil until fragrant. Add the papaya and stir well. Add water, about 4-5 cups and bring to boil. When the papaya is soft, add the tofu and fake tuna. Season with the spring onion, red chili powder, brown sugar, salt. I had to add a little bit more ginger. Bring to boil then remove heat. Add the chili leaves, cover for a minute to allow the heat to wilt it. Serve with steamed red rice and soy sauce with calamansi for dipping.

Enjoy.

Thai!!!

Pinoy Sticky Rice and Mango (Suman at Mangga in Filipino)
We didn't cook the suman, it was bought in the nearby supermarket.
The mango was sweet and simply the best! Thanks to Ernest.

Tom Yum Phak

Stir fried veggies with tofu and cashew nuts in vegetarian oyster sauce

Fresh Spring Roll with Thai Peanut Sauce

Green Papaya Salad

Mixed veggies with Thai Peanut Sauce
(We ran out of spring roll wrapper thus this.)

Pumpkin Hummus

Cooked at Trin's place last Sunday. It was a wonderful afternoon with yogi friends. Check Chona's site for more photos.

Soupy Dhal

Fry 1 tsp black mustard seeds and 1 tsp cumin seeds in 1-2 tbsp olive oil over really low heat until the seed begins to pop. Add 1 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, and mix well.

Be careful not to burn the spices.

Add 1 cup moong dhal, chopped potatoes and carrots (about 1 cup each), 4-6 cups water depending on your desired consistency, 1 chopped tomato, 1 veg stock cube.

Increase the heat and bring to boil. When boiling, decrease heat and simmer until everything is cooked.

Add salt and pepper to taste, a dash of chilli powder. Add a handful of chopped coriander and stir well before serving.

Eat with steamed brown rice.

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"Activity of mind is brought about by vasana (motivation directed towards satisfying a physiological or psychological need) and samirana (respiration). If one of them ceases to act then both cease to function." - Hathapradipika IV:22

Banana and Chocolate Bread

Thanks M. :-)

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i made this at home over x-mas, and everybody loved it . I replaced the chocolate chips with chopped pecans though forless sweetness and more texture... mmmmm

Enjoy!! with a nice coffee or hot chocolate....

Serves 10-12

Ingredients
250g (9oz) self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
150g (5oz) caster sugar
100g (3 ½ oz) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
475g (17oz) whole bananas (about 4 small ones), peeled
75g (3oz) dark chocolate chips

13 x 23cm (5x9in) loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 170oC (325oF), Gas mark 3. Lightly butter and line the loaf tin with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar and butter and, using your fingertips, rub it in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and orange zest in another bowl. Add the bananas and mash very well with a potato masher. Add the chocolate chips.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the banana mixture. Gently but thoroughly bring all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, then pour into the prepared loaf tin. Smooth the top and bake in the oven for 1-1 ¼ hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cake from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Veg Macaroni Soup

Dinner last night. The green curry stayed in the fridge and will be my housemate's lunch or dinner today.

Saute 2 cloves garlic, minced, sliced onions, in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add chopped potatoes, carrots, peas, about 1 cup each. Add 6 cups water, 1.5 cups elbow macaroni, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drop one mushroom stock cube, season with salt and pepper, and dried rosemary.

When the pasta and vegetables are cooked, slowly pour in about 1 cup milk (I used evaporated milk), and stir well. Allow to simmer for another minute and stir in a handful of finely chopped fresh basil leaves.

Went to the Assad Indian mini-mart in Marikina this morning after my class in Makati. It was an adventure figuring out where to go. Glad to have been able to buy all the spices and dhals that I need to make authentic Indian dishes.

It's hello kitcherie again in the next few days. Oh, and rice milk... yummy!

Still got one class later. Not really mine now but started the program 4-5 years ago and left it with Joji when I moved to Saudi. It would be good to see the group again.

Thai Green Curry

This was lunch today... and probably dinner as well.

Fry 1 tbsp of thai green curry paste on 1 tbsp olive oil (any vegetable cooking oil will do actually) until fragrant (should be over really low heat as the paste tends to burn easily).

Add 1/2 tsp minced galangal, 1/2 tsp minced lemon grass, 2 kaffir lime leaf, 1 tbsp coconut milk. Mix well.

Add 3 cups of squash/pumpkin cut into small cubes (I added carrots here as I still had some in the fridge. Thought the combination isn't that great though but was still good.)

Add 1/2 cup coconut milk and mix everything together. Allow to simmer then add 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar (I used an Indonesian sweet soy sauce so it made the sauce look a little bit dark. It actually looked like Brown curry, hehehe).

Thin the sauce with some water. Cover and allow the vegetables to cook and soften.

Add a tbsp of coconut milk to garnish and some basil leaves.

Pour over steamed rice and enjoy.

I used the organic brown rice that I received from Mam Ces last xmas. I added too much water so it was too soft. When I was in Saudi, most of the rice needed twice as much water compared to the ones we have here in the Philippines. At least I know now that it requires less water.

Got to take a nap now and prepare for this afternoon's class.

Namaste.

Pumpkin Hummus and Peanut Sauce

Ground equal parts of cashews and roasted sesame seeds. Add 1-2 tablespoon/s soy sauce, 1 tbsp calamansi juice (or lemon), some cooked pumpkin, chopped coriander, dash of sesame oil. Mix and mash... spread on toast or pita bread and yummy!!! My non-veg friends loved it!

For the peanut sauce, saute one chopped tomato in 1 tbsp oil until it begins to disintegrate. Add 1 tbsp green curry paste and fry until fragrant for 30 seconds. Make sure you keep the heat really low. Add 4-6 tbsp coconut milk, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 cup ground roasted peanuts. Mix well and set aside. It can be used as a dip or sauce for pad thai.

For a really quick and easy dish, use it for fresh spring roll. Arrange 1 large basil leaf, some carrots and singkamas (turnips) cut into thin strips, on to a fresh spring roll wrapper, spread about 1 tsp of the peanut sauce, wrap, roll and enjoy. This was also a hit except that they found it too spicy.

The pumpkin hummus can also be used as a sauce for the spring roll for variation.

Learned these recipes in Bangkok last November and only got to try it again this evening.

Cheers.