Stewed Mung Beans with Coconut Milk [Ginataang Monggo]

this recipe is a long overdue request of my friend Joey.  i hope he enjoys cooking it and enjoys eating it more. =D

Ingredients:

1-2 Tbsp. cooking oil

4-5 cloves [or more] garlic, minced

1 medium [or large] onion, roughly sliced

2-3 [or more] ripe tomatoes, seeded and quartered [optional]

1/4 kilo [or more] pork belly or pork ribs, cut in bite-sized pieces, rubbed with salt and pepper at least 30 minutes before cooking time

1/4 kilo raw mung beans, precooked [how to at the below]

coconut milk squeezed from 2 coconuts or 1 pack/can of coconut milk

chili leaves [as much as you want]

squash [as much as you want] cut in bite-sized pieces [optional]

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Heat cooking oil in pot or saute pan.  saute garlic, onion, and tomatoes, when wilted, stir in pork belly. When pork is cooked, stir in precooked mung beans, upon simmering put in squash cubes.  when squash is almost cooked, pour in coconut milk, add salt and pepper to taste, simmer for 5 minutes.  switch off fire and drop in chili leaves. cover for 5 minutes and your dish is ready to serve.

How to precook mung beans:

wash mung beans, soak in water and remove any floating dirt or beans.  top up mung beans with tap water.  bring to a boil.  mung beans are cooked when the beans have split or are soft to the bite.

short cut version:

cook pork belly/ribs with mung beans in water.  drop in garlic, onions, and tomatoes, upon simmering drop in squash, when squash is almost cooked, pour in coconut milk, add salt and pepper to taste, simmer for 5 minutes.  switch off fire and drop in chili leaves. cover for 5 minutes and your dish is ready to serve.

my take:

i love eating this dish steaming hot with left-over rice and with vinegar as a "side sauce".  try it.  maybe you will like it.

adobo de campesino from Yummy magazine september 2010 issue

 

this dish was a revelation.  but not in a way i expected.  i realized that i was already cooking this dish for the longest time and only now did i find out that it had a special name.

my mom used to stir-fry sitaw for us.  with or with-out meat we loved it because it had all the rich flavors of the spices it was cooked with.  actually the taste of soy sauce blending with the spice-infused-oil, was already ulam to us kids.  dribble a bit of this 'liquid gold' on steamy, hot rice and we were sure to ask for seconds and even third helpings.

to make my version more substantial i added big pieces of meat which were marinated adobo-style.  and voila, i unwittingly cooked adobo de campesino.

According to Yummy Magazine: 

Ingredients:

• 8 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons annatto oil
• 700 grams pork belly (liempo) or leg (pigue), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (patis)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup yard-long beans (sitaw), sliced into 1-inch lengths

How to Cook:

• Saute garlic in annatto oil. Add pork and stir-fry until brown.
• Add vinegar and simmer; don't stir until vinegar boils and releases its acidic odor. Add pepper, fish sauce, and salt and continue simmering over low heat until pork is tender.
• Before serving, ladle out the pork into a serving dish. Toss beans in the pan and cook until tender. Add beans to the pork and serve together on a platter.

My version:

Ingredients:

• garlic, chopped
• shallots, sliced
• tomatoes, seeded and quartered
• canola oil
• pork belly (liempo) cut into 1/2-inch cubes [rubbed down with smashed garlic, salt, pepper, spanish paprika, soy-sauce, and vinegar the night before]
• soy sauce
• sitaw, cut into 1-inch lengths

How to Cook:

• Saute garlic and onion in oil. Add pork and stir-fry until brown. add tomatoes
• Add soy-sauce and simmer;add sitaw and cook until tender.
• serve with steaming-hot rice.

i know, my ingredients are somewhat different but i swear, they taste the same.  i know, because i tried the yummy magazine version, the one you see in the picture.

i prefer my version though because i love onions and tomatoes.

Laing by a Bicolana in Amersfoort

This is Laing.  and it suddenly just got achievable to me.

These are what it is made of:

This is the main ingredient, which gives it it's distinct, unique flavor...

Dried Gabi Leaves which are not that easy to come by

... when combined with these.

\

Coconut Milk, Coconut Cream, and Salted Shrimps

This is what makes it sinful.

Pork slices with just the right amount of fat. =P

This is what makes it hot, and i mean REALLY HOT!

Chilies, with all the seeds in them!*pursing my imagination induced inflamed lips*

Read the full story/recipe [a.k.a. labor of love] here.  keep a hanky in your hand, to wipe your chin, because i guarantee you will drool.  The author/cook is an online buddy who i'm still trying to convince to start a food/recipe blog.

Laing By Malou Prestado

and you can thank me... right about now. =D  You are all WELCOME!

nam thit heo

i first tasted this much loved noodle dish in Jekoy's, a vietnamese restaurant that used to be situated on top of a hill here in davao. they later transferred to the middle of the city, changed the name of the resto to Nah Trang, but sadly they did not last long. probably due to neglect, i dunno, the place seemed rundown and the food deteriorated.

they called the dish 'nam thit heo' but i can't find anything similar to it in the internet. the most similar one is 'pho ap chao' which one blogger said is any stir fried noodle dish with meat and veggies. in taste it does not stray far from the malaysian 'char kway teow' or the thai 'pad thai'.

but since i tasted it in jekoys and they called it nam thit heo, i'm sticking to the name.

anyways, i got hold of a pack of flat rice noodles in a culinary fair i visited and decided to try my hand at replicating it. this is my second attempt and i am happy to say that this time it tasted the same and my version even looked a lot better.

ingredients:
1 pack flat rice noodles [ho fan]
straw mushrooms [i skipped this cause i couldn't find fresh ones]
thinly sliced lean pork strips
scallions [ i didn't have this too]
bean sprouts
peanuts

those are the main ingredients of the vietnamese restaurant version, the ones i recognized at least.

i added the following in the hopes that i would get the right flavor, which by the way, i did. =D

ordinary cooking oil, about 1 tablespoon
minced garlic cloves, i used 4
minced red onion, 1 small bulb
2 eggs, beaten
carrots, small, cut into small strips
green beans, 4 pcs., sliced diagonally and thinly
bokchoy, separate the stem from the leaves
soy sauce, about 2 tablespoons
hoisin sauce, 1 tablespoon
oyster sauce, about 2 tablespoons
kecap manis [ indonesian seasoning- thick, sweet soy sauce], about 1 tablespoon
sesame oil, about 1 tablespoon
salt and pepper to taste

i also added diced mandarin sausages and quartered squid balls as i had them on hand [skip this if you want to stay true to viet-style cooking]

steps:
1. prep the noodles according to package directions, this is vital to the outcome of your dish
2.saute the following in the cooking oil: minced garlic, minced onion, squid balls, mandarin sausages, pork strips.
3. when cooked, add the carrots, bokchoy stems and the green beans. then add the bean sprouts.
4. let them all dance in the pan a little, not too long and add your sauces, one after the other.
5. when the veggies start oozing their water, add the flat rice noodles and then the bokchoy leaves.
6. mix gently just to incorporate ingredients and evenly distribute the flavorings. 7. add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle in the sesame oil and the peanuts.
8. pour in beaten egg, mix for the last time, cover the pan and switch off flame.

tips:
- cooking time is quite quick as we do not want to overcook the veggies especially the bean sprouts as they will get soggy if you do.
-check the taste of the cooked sauce before adding the noodles, it should taste a little too strong as the noodles will later absorb all of it
- don't over mix so the noodles wont get mushy or pasty
- add the bokchoy leaves last as the residual heat is enough to cook it and so the leaves remain bright green. the eggs will also cook in the remaining heat.
-do not add water
-sprinkle more peanuts on top to garnish and serve hot

Almondigas Wannabe

i used to order this all the time at pancake house. the strange name was what enticed me to try it. i thought that the meatballs might have almonds in it, he he. Until now i have no idea what almondigas means except that it is a Spanish word [anyone care to enlighten me?] but i have come to love this light but hearty and very comforting soup.
i decided to try my hand in recreating this soup from memory and of course with some revisions due to pantry constraints. it turned out not quite like the one pancake house serves but not bad either.

Ingredients:

ground meat
1 egg
soy sauce or salt
patis (fish sauce)
freshly ground pepper
flour
oil
4 cloves garlic - minced
2 small onions - 1 finely chopped, 1 sliced thinly
1 carrot - chopped [optional]
soup stock [I used shrimp stock]
2 bunches of vermicelli noodles [you're supposed to use misua]
scallions – chopped [I didn’t have any]

1. Mix ground meat [ i used pork], egg, half of the minced garlic, chopped onion, most of the chopped carrots in a bowl. season with soy sauce, salt, and pepper, to bind add some flour. form into meat balls make them dance a little on a hot frying pan with a little oil just enough to get that golden brown color, set aside. [note: in the original recipe, you don't fry the meat balls but drop them into the boiling soup, they come out pale]

2. In a pot heat oil and saute remaining garlic and sliced onion. Cook until onion is translucent. Add the remaining chopped carrots and pour in shrimp stock and bring to boil.

3. Add meatballs to the soup to fully cook them and season with fish sauce, bring to a boil again, lower heat and simmer until meatballs are cooked, add vermicelli and cook for about 2 minutes.

4. Serve hot with lemon and soy sauce or patis (fish sauce).