Karin Bit & Bites

Mashed Potatoes are great side dish and are very cheap and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 lbs (680 g) potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise into quarters

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp heavy cream

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp milk

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1.  Peel the potatoes and cut lengthwise into quarters.

2. Place the peeled and cut potatoes into a saucepan. Add cold water to the pan until the potatoes are covered by at least an inch.

3.  Add  half teaspoon of salt to the water. Turn the heat on to high, and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low to maintain a simmer, and cover. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until you can easily poke through them with a fork.

4. While the potatoes are cooking, melt the butter and warm the cream. You can heat them together in a pan on the stove or in the microwave.

5.  When the potatoes are done, drain the water and place the steaming hot potatoes into a large bowl.

6.  Pour the heated cream and melted butter over the potatoes. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher and use a strong wooden spoon to beat further.

7.  Add milk and beat until the mashed potatoes are smooth. Don’t over-beat the potatoes or it will end up gluey.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

 Ready to serve. ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS

250g garoupa fish fillet, cut into slices
1 cup oil for deep frying
8 slices ginger
2 pips garlic, minced
1 sprig spring onion (cut into 6cm sections)

MARINATE:

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp cornstarch

SEASONING:

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp HP sauce
1 tsp light soya sauce
100ml water
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together.

DIRECTIONS

1.  Marinate fish slices with marinade ingredients for 30 minutes.

2.  Heat oil and deep fry fish slices for 1 minute. Dish up, drain and set aside.
3.  Heat up 1 tbsp oil. Saute minced garlic, ginger and spring onion until aromatic.
4.  Add seasoning ingredients and deep-fried fish slices.
5.  Stir-fry to mix well.
6.  Dish up.

ENJOY!

Source: Choo Doris

I would like to share my husband’s all time favorite salad. This is his everyday afternoon snack at work. This is a very easy dish to prepare, everything is raw, so healthy and very delicious.

So here’s how to prepare for it.

INGREDIENTS

Iceberg lettuce/Romaine

Apple in cubes

Carrots in cubes

Grapes

Raisins

Walnuts

Dried Cranberries

Grated cheese

Sunflower seeds

Cucumber

DIRECTIONS

1.) Prepare all the ingredients and wash as needed.

2.) Walnuts can be eaten raw  but you can toast it if you want.

3.) Just simply mix all the ingredients and refrigerate.

READY TO SERVE. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

Ground pork

Egg

Fine chopped ginger

Fine chopped garlic

Fine chopped carrots

Fine chopped green onion

Fine chopped water chestnut(optional)

Peas(optional)

DIRECTIONS

1.) Add ground black pepper, oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, Chinese wine,

2.) Mix together

3.) Add 2 Tbsps of cornstarch, then mix together.

4.) Form 1 inch each meatball, then steam for 15 minutes or until cooked.

READY TO SERVE. Enjoy!

Sharing here some tips for cooking fish. I, myself practice these all the time.

What are the tips for steaming fish?

When steaming food, always wait for the water in the steamer to come to a boil first before putting in the food to cook. Steaming over high heat allows the steam to quickly coagulate the surface of the fish to lock in the moisture, this helps preserve freshness and flavor.

Spring onion can remove the fishy stench and enhance the aroma of the dish. Place some sectioned spring onion under the fish in the steaming plate to allow hot steam to cook both sides of the fish evenly. This will shorten the cooking time and meanwhile prevent the fish skin from sticking to the steaming plate.

What are the tips for stir-frying fish slices?

When cutting fish for a stir-frying dish, slice fish along the grain so that it doesn’t break apart easily during cooking. Do not slice too thinly.

Fish slices disintegrate easily during stir-frying, thus they are usually coated with a batter such as potato starch and egg white. This gives the fish slices a protective coating so that it doesn’t lose moisture. Scald in hot oil or water to firm up the fish. Scalding in water uses oil and is a healthier way of preparing the fish. When coating with a batter or scalding in oil or water, handle the fish gently to avoid breaking it up.

What is the ideal oil temperature for deep-frying fish?

Slices or pieces of fish are usually battered before deep-frying. Heat oil to 160 degrees C, fry fish over low heat until they float to the surface, then turn up the heat and fry for another 15-20 seconds. To deep-fry a whole fish, heat oil to 160-180 degrees C, fry over medium high heat until the fish floats to the surface, then turn off the heat, wait for a while before continuing to fry over low heat to help prevent the fish from burning, lastly turn up the heat to finish cooking, this helps draw out excess oil in the fish.

This Palitaw recipe is so easy to make and could be done in minutes.

Sticky rice with shredded coconut, sugar and sesame seeds is a sweet desert made from glutinous rice dough.  The dough is portioned, flattened and shaped like oval/semi circle or whatever shape you like, then cooked by dropping in boiling water.

INGREDIENTS 

glutinous rice flour

shredded coconut

sesame seeds

water

sugar

DIRECTIONS

1.) Toast the sesame seeds. Ground or pound as finely as possible. Cool and mix with the sugar. Set aside.

2.) Make a glutinous rice dough by mixing the flour and water.

3.) Using an ice cream scooper, portion the dough into small balls.

4.) Boil a pot of water. Shape each ball into 2 inch cylinder, then flatten to make like an oval shaped disc.

5.) Shape each ball into 2 inch cylinder, then flatten to make like an oval shaped disc and drop one by one on the boiling water. Once they float to the surface, scoop them out and dredge on shredded coconut.

6.) Serve with the sugar-sesame seeds mixture on a separate plate.

Enjoy!

Kare-Kare is a traditional Filipino stew with thick peanut sauce. Meats used for this dish are usually oxtail, tripe, and pork leg.

Since there is no available oxtail, tripe and pork leg in our place, I used pork slices for this dish.

INGREDIENTS

pork slices (cut in 2 inch slices)

banana flower bud (sliced)

pechay or bok choy

string beans (cut into 2 inch slices)

eggplants (sliced)

ground peanuts

peanut butter

shrimp paste

water

annatto seeds (soaked in a cup of water)

toasted ground rice

garlic, minced

onion, chopped

salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

1.  In a large pot, bring the water to a boil.

2. Put in the pork slices followed by the onions and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hrs or until tender (35 minutes if using a pressure cooker).

3.  Once the meat is tender, add the ground peanuts, peanut butter, and coloring (water from the annatto seed mixture) and         simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.

4.  Add the toasted ground rice and simmer for 5 minutes.

5.  On a separate pan, saute the garlic then add the banana flower, eggplant, and string beans and cook for 5 minutes.

6.  Transfer the cooked vegetables to the large pot (where the rest of the ingredients are).

7.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

8.  Serve hot with shrimp paste.

     ENJOY!

Source: Panlasang Pinoy

Maja Blanca is a popular Filipino delicacy. It is also known as Maja Mais.  It is a creamy corn cake cooked on the stove top.

INGREDIENTS

2-3 cups coconut milk

1 can coconut cream

1 can corn kernel

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup sugar

Toasted shredded coconut  Topping (Optional)

Toasted ground peanuts Topping (Optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Dissolve cornstarch on coconut milk, then sift.

2. Mix all ingredients together, except the topping and cook over low heat.

3. Stir continuously until thick or about 30 minutes.

4. Transfer to a greased container and even out the top surface.

5. Cool for 30 minutes before spreading the toppings on top.

6. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

also known as creme caramel and caramel custard is a dessert made up of eggs and milk with a soft caramel on top.

INGREDIENTS

10 pcs raw eggs

1 can condensed milk

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Using an egg separator, separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Only egg yolks will be used. Separating yolk and while can also be done manually (you just need to be patient).

2. Place the egg yolks in a big bowl then beat them using a fork or an egg beater.

3. Add the condensed milk and mix thoroughly.

4. Pour-in the evaporated milk and mix well.

By the way,  you can add 2 Tbps of refined sugar if you want a sweeter creme caramel.

5. Put the mold on top of the stove and heat using low fire. Put in the granulated sugar and mix thoroughly until the solid sugar turns into liquid (caramel) having a light brown color

6. Spread the caramel (liquid sugar) evenly on the flat side of the mold.

7. Wait for 5 minutes then pour the egg yolk and milk mixture on the mold.

8. Cover the top of the mold using aluminum foil.

9. Steam the mold with egg and milk mixture for 30 to 35 minutes.

10. After steaming, let the temperature cool down then refrigerate.

Ready to serve. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs. ground pork

onion

1/2 cup green onions

carrots

2 eggs

salt

garlic powder

ground black pepper

cooking oil

Lumpia wrapper (Spring roll skin)

DIRECTIONS

1.  In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients; onion, carrots, green onions, salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and 1 piece raw egg with the ground pork. Mix well.

2.  Wrap about 1 to 1  1/2 tablespoons of the mixture in a lumpia wrapper or spring roll skin.

3.   Heat the cooking oil in a deep fryer (350F). Deep fry the lumpia for 5-8 minutes or until cooked.

4.   Remove from the deep fryer and let the excess oil drip.

5.  Transfer to a serving plate. Serve with ketchup or sweet and sour sauce.

ENJOY!