How to cook Kare-Kare

The Secret of a Lazy Cook
Kare-Kare is one of the most famous Filipino traditional dish that I always have loved since childhood. Though I remember this dish as something special. "Special", meaning we have it on the table during fiestas, Christmas, New Year, birthdays, baptisms, house blessings, and so on. As I grew up, I realized why it is not an ordinary every day typical home dish. The pig's leg or pata as they call it wasn't that easy to soften to become chewable. The ultimate Pressure Cooker comes to the rescue to shorten the boiling time though the sad part is I don't have this here in Sg. 

But moving abroad makes me a bit frustrated it is just so hard to cook this dish for the very reason that I don't have the luxury of time to cook this. But will it deprived me from wanting to impress my husband that I can cook this fiesta dish in a snap? No right? And so let me share with you how I solved this dilemma.  Cooking Kare-Kare the easiest and the fastest possible. 

Cooking time: 1 hour 
Here are the ingredients:

Half kilo of pork belly cut into cubes (better than how I sliced the meat here). 

8 cups of water

2 tsp of minced garlic

1 pc of sliced onion

7 pcs of pechay (bok choy leaves or can also use sio pek chye)

6 pcs sitaw (long green beans) - cut into atleast 2" in lengths

1 pc eggplant sliced into 1/2" lengths, ( if you have enough time you may also fry the sliced 
eggplant in a separate skillet to bring out the sweetness)

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 pouch of Mama Sita's Peanut sauce  (Kare-Kare mix) OR you may also use 1 pouch Del Monte Quick N Easy Kare-Kare Mix (these 2 mixes taste really good) dissolved in 1 cup broth.

2 tbsp Skippy peanut butter

bagoong on the side

Directions:

1. Boil the pork belly in water for 30 minutes lower the heat and wait until the meat is tender. Cut in cubes.

2. Set aside the broth.

3. In a heavy saucepan, pour the oil, saute the garlic and the onion.  

Add in the pork belly and stir fry.

Then add the broth. Let it simmer. Then add the dissolved Kare-Kare mix. 

4. Wait until the sauce thickens add in the eggplant and long green beans and then wait for 3 minutes to simmer.  But if you already fry the eggplant, just put first the long green beans then after 3 minutes you may add the eggplant to avoid overcooking it. Stir occasionally. Add the 2 tbsp of Skippy. 

5. Turn off the heat then on top placed the pechay (bok choy leaves) let the heat cook it, this way you can preserve its freshness and crunchiness. Wait for 3 to 5 more minutes. Serve hot with bagoong and rice.

Tip: Don't cover the pan let it stay uncovered until it gets cold in this way your Kare Kare will have a longer storage time. I have proven this my Kare Kare has a 5 day fridge life, no bubbles  (an indicator of spoiled sauce) when being reheated. 


Enjoy eating! By the way, my husband was impressed with my cooking hahaha! 

Love at First Bite: Twelve Cupcakes

Founded by Singapore celebrity couple Daniel Ong and Jamie Teo, the flavours she liked to bake and he liked to eat. Twelve cupcakes are freshly baked everyday which actually you can taste its freshness. 

This morning before my husband headed to work he brought me to one of Twelve Cupcakes stores. Well just by looking at the different flavours I was like a little child having second thoughts of what to pick. I was so intrigued by the best seller which is of course the Red Velvet with Vanilla Cream Cheese topping, next since I love coffee I chose the Mocha with Chocolate Cream Cheese topping, and the last one which I had a difficult time deciding to fill in the last empty spot in the trio box, I picked Cookies N' Cream chocolate cupcake with Oreo crumbles infused buttercream. 

I held it tightly on my palm as if I was holding a Louis Vuitton purse. I gave my husband the sweetest smile and said, "Sweetheart, I'll wait for you to come home from work let's eat the cupcakes together". As I arrived home, I opened my precious box and smelled the 3 gorgeous cupcakes. There was this unexplainable aroma that told me to taste it. Well, fine 1 small bite wouldn't hurt right, I can still fulfill my sweet promise to my husband that I'll wait for him. 

And then 1 bite, taste extremely delicious, I was like Snow White biting that poisonous apple but this time the Red Velvet cupcake was so addicting. I love the moist cake, the taste was the best I have ever tasted, and the cream cheese topping was perfect! One more bite, and then one more bite, and its gone... Well, to ease the guilt feeling I said to myself, "I can buy 1 Red Velvet tomorrow for my husband!" 

For more information about Twelve Cupcakes visit their site that you may see the mouthwatering gallery and check out their branches all over Singapore. 

http://www.twelvecupcakes.com

Finally now I can say, "I can Cook!"

I don't know how to cook! 

I grew up in a family of great cooks who read recipe books as if it was an encyclopedia and who watched a cooking show as if it was a Pacquiao-Marquez fight! Cooking different dishes and baking seemed so easy. But instead of having great interest to be one of them I grew up just watching them and waiting for the food to be served. 

Well, I thought things will stay the same but in a blink of an eye my glorious role as the food taster ended and I am now the cook. Yes and no other choice. But because I want to impress my husband Juriz who has a taste for good food I wandered through the net for recipes, called up my Lola Ely in California just to ask if I can use the green lime instead of the lemon that she always use for "Bistek", or even sent message to Tatay Iyo in Manila asking for his Binagoongan recipe. Lucky me I have life lines! 

Having confidence in cooking takes awhile but I guess I got it from my Tatay Jessie and my husband who always say, "Hmmm, ang sarap!" after their first taste. I have no idea if they really mean it, I hope they do! hahaha! But for beginners like me it helps a lot! Appreciation from the husband is always a big token of happiness for the wife and I'm glad my husband remembers that all the time. 

Learning how to cook might be a challenge but practice makes it close to perfection. And wives remember, husbands stay happy when they are not hungry! hahaha! 

Here are some of the dishes that made me say, I can cook!

Baked Tahong

Banana Fritters

Chicken Salad Cups

Lumpiang Gulay

Lasagna

Ginisang Kalabasa sa Miki

Mexican Rice

Mushroom Turnover

Adobo with Red rice

Tuna ala Pobre

Pork in Black Bean Sauce

Sinigang na Ulo ng Salmon

Sinigang is my husband's favorite dish I love to see his face while sipping this hot and sour soup so even if I'm not one of the best cook this recipe gives me a relief for being one of the easiest dish to make. You will just need 30-minutes, magic!

Fillet the Salmon head

You will need tomato, onion, spinach, leeks, radish, and pepper and the Sampaloc mix

Directions

Waiting for the water to boil add in the tomato. Let it simmer for 3 minutes then add in the onion. Add the raddish wait until cooked then add in the salmon head fillet. Add in the Sinigang sa Sampaloc mix then let it simmer for another 5 minutes then add in the pepper, leeks, and spinach. Turn off the heat cover the pan for 7 minutes then serve. 

Spooky Cupcakes for Halloween

My easy to make Spooky Cupcakes

We had a simple Halloween Party for Mig, the only kid in the house who just wanted to experience the fun. Years ago, when I was still a staff writer of Sense & Style I remembered our shoot for Halloween treats at Maya Kitchen in Makati. I saw how the chef transformed an ordinary chocolate cupcake into something creepy putting some gummy worms and powdered Oreo cookies that can look like soil. So here I am trying to be a copycat and make my own version of a spooky cupcake.

For the Chocolate cupcake I bought a box of Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate cake mix. Just mix the powder with water, oil, and eggs using a beater for 3 minutes until the mixture becomes smooth. No worries the complete instructions are at the back of the box follow it and the cake will be perfectly fine. No experience necessary. :) 

Then put the mixture in cupcake wrappers in a cupcake pan.

Baking time depends on the pan that you are going to use. In a small oven like mine that can only hold 1 pan with 6 cups, it took me 20 minutes at 200C per batch to bake. Set aside and let it cool.

While waiting for the cupcake to cool down make some icing. Here is an easy Coffee icing recipe that I got from the net. 

Ingredients:

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 tablespoons strong brewed coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat together confectioner's sugar, butter or margarine, coffee, and vanilla until smooth. Add more liquid or confectioner's sugar as needed.

And let the FUN part begins...where imagination and creativity meets. 

I sprinkled grounded Oreo cookies to look like soil

Add gummy worms on top

Easy to make cupcakes that can make the kids asking for more. To be honest while doing this DIY project I discovered the little kid that still inside me. 

Why I miss the Philippines

Bakit hindi? Just look at the pictures and I'm sure maglalaway kayo!

Ang manggang hilaw sa UP Diliman coop.

Manggang hilaw na may bagoong binudburan ng asin

Sorbetes, may keso, ube, chocolate flavor... Sarap!

Kwek-kwek na isasawsaw mo pa sa maasim na suka

Puto Bumbong di pwedeng mawala sa panahon ng Pasko

Pancit Malabon, ang bida sa reunion, Christmas Party, birthday ng may edad hehehe!

Cebu Lechon sa The Fort

asan ang lechon? naubos na bago maalalang kailangan picturan

Pritong bangus na binudburan ng sang katerbang bawang

Baliwag lechon manok at liempo

Sinigang, inihaw na liempo, manggang hilaw, paksiw na lechon

This is the reason why I always gain weight after every visit in the Philippines. Great food that I will always miss! I'll be home soon!