By the way, new Nihongo word for you: "Tonkotsu." Pork bone broth. Yummy.
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
20 May 2012
How to Cook Ramen
By the way, new Nihongo word for you: "Tonkotsu." Pork bone broth. Yummy.
13 June 2010
Adobo
On the topic of
cooking,
pinoy food
Today was a gloomy, overcast-all-day day. No rain until around 10pm though. High was 27 degrees. The high for the past two days was 29 degrees. Today felt like Tagaytay, whereas a month or two ago it felt like Baguio. I was just in a shirt (and undershirt) the whole day, even outdoors, and even during the evening.
Lunch today was the Hainanese chicken I prepared yesterday. So it's not great. But it's not bad. Ate it with oyster sauce and ginger, romaine lettuce and tomatoes with Italian dressing and bacon-flavored bits, and chicken soup - the one I cooked the chicken in. The soup tastes really good. With some other vegetable in lieu of young papaya, I could've had Tinolang Manok instead!
Anyways, one of the things I did today was... cook! Again!
I was prepared to cook Pork Adobo, having bought all necessary ingredients already. The only problem was I haven't ever cooked Adobo before, and I didn't have any idea how to cook it. I searched the internet and here were my candidate recipes:
http://www.recipehints.com/recipe/448.html
http://www.myfilipinorecipes.com/meat/
http://www.grouprecipes.com/5406/pork-adobo.html
I have to mention I like what the first link above says: "There are as many adobo recipes as there are Filipinos. Maybe more. I certainly have more than one." That is so true. I know at least of these varieties:
Regular Pork Adobo - dark and salty
Regular Chicken & Pork Adobo
Light (Chicken &) Pork Adobo - not so salty
Pork Adobo Flakes
Adobo with Gata - a little spicy, with coconut milk
Pampanga-style Adobo - uses tomatoes
Mindanao-style Adobo (i.e. with ginger)
"Italian" Adobo - actually this is my mom's recipe; it has a special secret ingredient that I won't share just yet right now :-D
Basically I like my mom's Adobo recipe the most. So I thought instead of having to decide from among those thousands of Adobo recipes available out there on the internet which to use, I decided to ask my mom for her recipe. And I was surprised it was much simpler to do than all those other recipes I found. The finished product: looks like the real thing. Almost. My mom usually uses the liempo (belly?) part and in relatively small portions. The pork I bought are sized for stew or Nilaga. And, well actually my mom's recipe all says that almost every ingredient is proportioned "to taste." I think I put too much vinegar. We'll see tomorrow. Many have said that Adobo tastes better the day after (i.e. let it sit overnight first) anyway. And well, this is a world record - it's my very first Adobo attempt! :-D
Anyways, I also cooked Sinigang na Baboy. That's the 2nd time now since coming here, the 3rd time here in Japan (the 1st time being back in 2005), and the 3rd time all time (as in I haven't ever cooked Sinigang while in the Philippines). This time around I cooked 1 kg of pork. And guess what. My pot was too small. So before putting the remaining veggies (kang kong) in I transfered everything to my wok pan first.
Yup, kang kong. Or water spinach. Or swamp cabbage. I bought them yesterday, and I wasn't sure if it was kang kong that I bought! I've never ever seen uncooked kang kong (or I've seen them but never really noticed/memorized how they look like). But when the cooking process was over, my Sinigang looks exactly like my mother's. And the vegetable that I wasn't sure if it was kang kong or not, looked like cooked kang kong inside the Sinigang. Amen! I'm excited to taste this batch of Sinigang.
So I have Postek good for two meals. Hainanese chicken, good for one more meal. Sinigang, good for maybe three meals. And Adobo, maybe good for just one meal. So overall, if I eat Filipino food for lunch and dinner, I'm covered until Thursday lunch! :-)
Lunch today was the Hainanese chicken I prepared yesterday. So it's not great. But it's not bad. Ate it with oyster sauce and ginger, romaine lettuce and tomatoes with Italian dressing and bacon-flavored bits, and chicken soup - the one I cooked the chicken in. The soup tastes really good. With some other vegetable in lieu of young papaya, I could've had Tinolang Manok instead!
Anyways, one of the things I did today was... cook! Again!
I was prepared to cook Pork Adobo, having bought all necessary ingredients already. The only problem was I haven't ever cooked Adobo before, and I didn't have any idea how to cook it. I searched the internet and here were my candidate recipes:
http://www.recipehints.com/recipe/448.html
http://www.myfilipinorecipes.com/meat/
http://www.grouprecipes.com/5406/pork-adobo.html
I have to mention I like what the first link above says: "There are as many adobo recipes as there are Filipinos. Maybe more. I certainly have more than one." That is so true. I know at least of these varieties:
Regular Pork Adobo - dark and salty
Regular Chicken & Pork Adobo
Light (Chicken &) Pork Adobo - not so salty
Pork Adobo Flakes
Adobo with Gata - a little spicy, with coconut milk
Pampanga-style Adobo - uses tomatoes
Mindanao-style Adobo (i.e. with ginger)
"Italian" Adobo - actually this is my mom's recipe; it has a special secret ingredient that I won't share just yet right now :-D
Basically I like my mom's Adobo recipe the most. So I thought instead of having to decide from among those thousands of Adobo recipes available out there on the internet which to use, I decided to ask my mom for her recipe. And I was surprised it was much simpler to do than all those other recipes I found. The finished product: looks like the real thing. Almost. My mom usually uses the liempo (belly?) part and in relatively small portions. The pork I bought are sized for stew or Nilaga. And, well actually my mom's recipe all says that almost every ingredient is proportioned "to taste." I think I put too much vinegar. We'll see tomorrow. Many have said that Adobo tastes better the day after (i.e. let it sit overnight first) anyway. And well, this is a world record - it's my very first Adobo attempt! :-D
Anyways, I also cooked Sinigang na Baboy. That's the 2nd time now since coming here, the 3rd time here in Japan (the 1st time being back in 2005), and the 3rd time all time (as in I haven't ever cooked Sinigang while in the Philippines). This time around I cooked 1 kg of pork. And guess what. My pot was too small. So before putting the remaining veggies (kang kong) in I transfered everything to my wok pan first.
Yup, kang kong. Or water spinach. Or swamp cabbage. I bought them yesterday, and I wasn't sure if it was kang kong that I bought! I've never ever seen uncooked kang kong (or I've seen them but never really noticed/memorized how they look like). But when the cooking process was over, my Sinigang looks exactly like my mother's. And the vegetable that I wasn't sure if it was kang kong or not, looked like cooked kang kong inside the Sinigang. Amen! I'm excited to taste this batch of Sinigang.
So I have Postek good for two meals. Hainanese chicken, good for one more meal. Sinigang, good for maybe three meals. And Adobo, maybe good for just one meal. So overall, if I eat Filipino food for lunch and dinner, I'm covered until Thursday lunch! :-)
05 May 2010
Replay
Nope, I'm not talking about the denim brand.
Instead, these are the things of today that are very similar from yesterday.
1. It's a holiday.
2. Woke up a little late. (Though not as late as yesterday.)
3. Had late breakfast. (Bread and cheese instead of oatmeal.)
4. Had late lunch. (Today I had really late lunch; I didn't have an appetite early enough.)
5. Did some school work: reading, literature searching, and organizing files.
6. Went by bus to Atsugi Trellis to buy food at the grocery store. (I forgot to buy bananas and cheese yesterday! Oh and I didn't buy sushi today.)
7. Got home past 8pm already. (Though today I walked from AT; it was a 20 minute walk. I saved 170 yen, and even beat the bus, which comes at 30 minute intervals on Sundays and public holidays.
8. Steam-cooked salmon, pechay (bok choi? pek chai?), and carrots, and heated my pre-cooked rice, and ate all of that.
Yikes, the days when short blog posts (with subject: "Busy day," and body: "I was so busy today I couldn't write anything new on my blog.") are near! Yikes!
P.S. Today I noticed that there's a perforation on the label of the apple-juice-in-a-plastic-bottle I was drinking. So I checked my guide on how to dispose of garbage, and apparently I should separate the label, and the cap from the bottle. Labels and caps go into the recyclable plastics group, and plastic (PET only) bottles go into their own group. Bottles should be at least rinsed. I don't like having to organize my trash this much! Oh well. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I wonder if they are so strict.
Instead, these are the things of today that are very similar from yesterday.
1. It's a holiday.
2. Woke up a little late. (Though not as late as yesterday.)
3. Had late breakfast. (Bread and cheese instead of oatmeal.)
4. Had late lunch. (Today I had really late lunch; I didn't have an appetite early enough.)
5. Did some school work: reading, literature searching, and organizing files.
6. Went by bus to Atsugi Trellis to buy food at the grocery store. (I forgot to buy bananas and cheese yesterday! Oh and I didn't buy sushi today.)
7. Got home past 8pm already. (Though today I walked from AT; it was a 20 minute walk. I saved 170 yen, and even beat the bus, which comes at 30 minute intervals on Sundays and public holidays.
8. Steam-cooked salmon, pechay (bok choi? pek chai?), and carrots, and heated my pre-cooked rice, and ate all of that.
Yikes, the days when short blog posts (with subject: "Busy day," and body: "I was so busy today I couldn't write anything new on my blog.") are near! Yikes!
P.S. Today I noticed that there's a perforation on the label of the apple-juice-in-a-plastic-bottle I was drinking. So I checked my guide on how to dispose of garbage, and apparently I should separate the label, and the cap from the bottle. Labels and caps go into the recyclable plastics group, and plastic (PET only) bottles go into their own group. Bottles should be at least rinsed. I don't like having to organize my trash this much! Oh well. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I wonder if they are so strict.
04 May 2010
Cook
I woke up rather late. Had rather late breakfast. Rather late lunch - Konbiini (convenience store) lunch. Salad and chicken nuggets! And I ate the rice I cooked yesterday. And then rather late dinner.
I left TPU to catch the 6:50pm bus, and got down at AT (Atsugi Trellis, pronounced by the Japanese as Atsugi Turelisu, and where the 100-yen/Daiso store is, and where the grocery store is), and bought... salmon, pechay, and carrots, and a few other grocery items. I bought some sushi! :-D
I also bought 2kg rice grains and bread (for breakfast)... and two 1.5L bottles of juice, one orange and the other - I wasn't sure yet if it was watermelon or apple juice, and I was hoping it was apple juice because if it was watermelon juice, I could've just had water and sugar... Well not really... Anyways, good thing it was apple juice! Cost of each bottle is approximately $1.37. Not bad. The cost of a 500mL Coke bottle from the convenience stores or vendos is $1.50, approximately! I didn't buy milk anymore, because I think it is the reason for... Let's just call it "liquefaction" in the morning. :-D
So I got home a little past 8pm. And... I had steamed salmon, pechay, and carrots for late dinner! :-D I still ate the rice I cooked yesterday. The leftover rice is still good for two more meals. I learned from Coy, my friend who I met up with last Sunday in Tokyo, that it is more cost-effective to cook, if you can cook one whole week's worth in one sitting, and then you just heat, heat, and heat. That's what I did with my rice. The steamed stuff - I don't think I can cook them now, and then just heat them later, it just won't be the same.
Anyhow, the salmon I bought - I don't know if it was edible by itself - like in sushi - I tried to chew it but, I don't know, maybe it's not cut as thin as it should be for sushi so I wasn't really able to gulp one chunk down, and so that's why I went on with steaming it.
Ah, maybe it's now my specialty: steaming. Haha. I like to steam fish and veggies, not only because it's easy enough to do, but also I think it's healthier than frying and tastier than boiling and so possibly overcooking the veggies. When I had a one month stint in Singapore, I did a lot of steaming. Of course, steaming then and now is just a consequence of not having a stove.
Soon I want to cook Sinigang, my favorite Filipino dish. And "Pork Steak," Filipino style. (It's like the Filipino-style "Beef Steak" or "Bistek," except you use pork and lots of onions, caramelized in soy sauce and tropical lemon or kalamansi).
By the way, I ate the steamed fish and veggies with Kikkoman all-purpose soy sauce. I like that Kikkoman is not so salty (though I'm sure it still has a lot of sodium), so it went well with the steamed fish and veggies. I forgot to put some salt on the fish before steaming! But, I think it turned out well even without the salt.
And that's my day. The rest of the day I was in front of my computer, doing work ("researching" stuff), reading a book (studying), and organizing my personal electronic files (pictures, documents, etc).
My first time to "cook" is the only new highlight of my day here in Atsugi. It is a holiday, still. Tomorrow is still a holiday as well. And so anyways, I received a reward for cooking. Upon getting back to the school, there was Mara online! Yahoo! I'm chatting with her right now.
Until the next blog post, then! :-D
I left TPU to catch the 6:50pm bus, and got down at AT (Atsugi Trellis, pronounced by the Japanese as Atsugi Turelisu, and where the 100-yen/Daiso store is, and where the grocery store is), and bought... salmon, pechay, and carrots, and a few other grocery items. I bought some sushi! :-D
I also bought 2kg rice grains and bread (for breakfast)... and two 1.5L bottles of juice, one orange and the other - I wasn't sure yet if it was watermelon or apple juice, and I was hoping it was apple juice because if it was watermelon juice, I could've just had water and sugar... Well not really... Anyways, good thing it was apple juice! Cost of each bottle is approximately $1.37. Not bad. The cost of a 500mL Coke bottle from the convenience stores or vendos is $1.50, approximately! I didn't buy milk anymore, because I think it is the reason for... Let's just call it "liquefaction" in the morning. :-D
So I got home a little past 8pm. And... I had steamed salmon, pechay, and carrots for late dinner! :-D I still ate the rice I cooked yesterday. The leftover rice is still good for two more meals. I learned from Coy, my friend who I met up with last Sunday in Tokyo, that it is more cost-effective to cook, if you can cook one whole week's worth in one sitting, and then you just heat, heat, and heat. That's what I did with my rice. The steamed stuff - I don't think I can cook them now, and then just heat them later, it just won't be the same.
Anyhow, the salmon I bought - I don't know if it was edible by itself - like in sushi - I tried to chew it but, I don't know, maybe it's not cut as thin as it should be for sushi so I wasn't really able to gulp one chunk down, and so that's why I went on with steaming it.
Ah, maybe it's now my specialty: steaming. Haha. I like to steam fish and veggies, not only because it's easy enough to do, but also I think it's healthier than frying and tastier than boiling and so possibly overcooking the veggies. When I had a one month stint in Singapore, I did a lot of steaming. Of course, steaming then and now is just a consequence of not having a stove.
Soon I want to cook Sinigang, my favorite Filipino dish. And "Pork Steak," Filipino style. (It's like the Filipino-style "Beef Steak" or "Bistek," except you use pork and lots of onions, caramelized in soy sauce and tropical lemon or kalamansi).
By the way, I ate the steamed fish and veggies with Kikkoman all-purpose soy sauce. I like that Kikkoman is not so salty (though I'm sure it still has a lot of sodium), so it went well with the steamed fish and veggies. I forgot to put some salt on the fish before steaming! But, I think it turned out well even without the salt.
And that's my day. The rest of the day I was in front of my computer, doing work ("researching" stuff), reading a book (studying), and organizing my personal electronic files (pictures, documents, etc).
My first time to "cook" is the only new highlight of my day here in Atsugi. It is a holiday, still. Tomorrow is still a holiday as well. And so anyways, I received a reward for cooking. Upon getting back to the school, there was Mara online! Yahoo! I'm chatting with her right now.
Until the next blog post, then! :-D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)