Search for Beef Tapa Recipe

I am still in search of the tapa recipe that I like. I remember asking my sister for a tapa recipe and her response was: 1. Go to supermarket; 2. Go to chiller section; 3. Purchase beef tapa; 4. Go home; 5. Cook. ha-ha

Well eventually she did send me one recipe from FOOD magazine, but it was still not the taste I was looking for. I purchased those marinated tapa in the supermarket but I was more disappointed. I tried one from one of the forum I joined where you boil the beef in sprite or 7-up with lots of garlic then fry but it was too sweet for us.

In the end, I went back to the supermarket but this time I bought McCormick Beef Tapa mix, Sweet and Spicy. Its pretty good and till I can find the tapa recipe that satisfies my taste buds' preferrences, I will stick to this. One problem that I have with McCormick the Sweet and Spicy and the Spicy kinds, it always makes me cough and everyone who's in the kitchen when I open the packet and pour it in water to dissolve. The chili and the pepper really goes in your nostrils and stings and irritates it. I think I have to get those masks on first before opening a packet he-he.

Simpleng Pagkain

I grew up with simple food on the table. Our menu for the week is prepared by our grandmother, the usual fried chicken, fried fish, hamburger, tinola, nilagang baka, pork chop, meatballs in miswa soup (my brother's favorite), longganisa, tocino, tapa, etc. All those were rotated such as her Sunday lunch menu whenever we have our small get together on my mother side of the family. How I miss her kare-kare, callos, paella, turbo chicken, embotido (available only on Christmas) and morcon. She has delicious cookies too; one is a family secret recipe so I can't share it here.

Since I am used to simple food, whenever I search for new recipe's it would always depend on two things before I try it out in the kitchen. One is, if I can understand the procedure and the other is if the ingredients are available and easy to acquire. If one of those conditions isn’t met, you can be sure I would shelve it and look for another. I guess I am also scared at trying those "gourmet" dishes. I want to sharpen my skill at cooking first before I try those recipes.

Cheese and Tomato Sandwhich

As you may have realized I am such a fan of Sassy’s food blog and I always try out her recipes. One of them is her cheese and tomato sandwhich recipe. My sister already prepares this similar recipe but she doesn’t cook the bread like French toast. Just plain toast. And its her daughter’s favorite sandwhich! They even sold it to her friends in school.

I tried this recipe when my niece was visiting. Since our basil plant haven’t grown enough leaves to make enough sandwhiches for 5 people (my sister, my niece, my mom, my husband and myself) I bought a pesto sauce from a very good german bakery in the neighborhood. It was just delicious! My husband who is not really that fond of those kind of sandwhiches loved it and had the same thing the next day.

Another Sassy Recipe

In one of Sassy’s recipe’s is a fried rice with garlic, onion leaves and basil. As soon as I got a basil plant, I gave this recipe a try. At first I limited my ingredients according to the recipe but I wasn’t satisfied. So next try, I added more chopped basil and onion leaves. It turned out pretty good and very aromatic too! This is one of my husband’s favorites as well.

Here is the oringinal recipe from Sassy's food blog

Ingredients :
6 c. of cold cooked rice
8-10 tbsps. of used cooking oil (cooking oil that had been used for frying meat is best)
1 whole garlic, crushed, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp. of finely chopped basil
1 tbsp. of finely chopped sibuyas na mura (onion leaves)
salt

Cooking procedure :

Mash the rice to separate the grains.

Heat the cooking oil in a skillet or wok over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook gently until fragrant and the garlic bits just start to brown. Add the basil and sibuyas na mura. Turn up the heat and cook, stirring, for a few seconds. Add the rice. Sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring, until the rice is thoroughly heated through.

CAMIAS

We have this big camias tree at the back of our house. Its been bearing fruits for years and years now and we haven’t really made use of. I tried making camias shake but we weren’t really crazy about it. My mom wanted me to make candies out of it, but I haven’t explored that recipe.

One recipe though that I found interesting was from one food blog too. She mentioned that when she was feeling lazy she just chop some camias and sauté them with garlic and onion, and viola a pretty good side dish for fried or grilled fish. I tried it and my sister loved it, so did my dad and mother-in-law.

My mom mentioned one day that her friend brought up that she likes cooking camias sauté with tomatoes. So what I did was sauté them with lots of garlic, onion and tomatoes. It was delicious! The tomato was able to neutralize the tartness of the camias fruit. Do try it!

Chicken 1-2-3 by Sassy Lawyer

A friend shared a food blog in the net by Sassy Lawyer and I got a lot of recipes from her. But not so long ago, her site crashed and most of her recipe’s are gone. One of them is my husband’s favorite Chicken 1-2-3. It’s a good thing I was able to copy it.

Here it is below:

Chicken 1-2-3

ING.
1 whole chicken chopped in 16 pcs.
1 c. of finely chopped ginger
2 Tbsp. of sugar
4 Tbsp. of vinegar
6 Tbsp. of dark soy sauce
2 c. cooking oil

PROCEDURES:
Heat the cooking oil in a large wok or skillet until smoking. Fry the chicken pcs. in batches, uncovered until golden and the skin, crisp. Drain in paper towels.

Pour off the cooking oil. Stir together the ginger, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce in the wok or skillet until the sugar is completely dissolved. Bring to simmer, return the fried chicken pcs. from the wok or skillet. Toss to coat the chicken pcs. with the sauce. Cover and simmer for 10-15 mins. stirring occasionally. Add a little water about ¼ c. at a time till chicken is tender. Using tongs, lift the chicken pcs. one by one, shaking off any bits of ginger that sticks to the surface. Arrange in a serving platter. Strain sauce using a fine mesh. Strainer and pour over the chicken pcs. Serve.

You know I like to economize, and I always try to find means of doing so. It was because of my cost-consciousness that I was able to come up with my fried rice. From the remaining sauce of the Chicken 1-2-3 and the ginger bits, I sauté lots of garlic and fried the rice making sure that the rice is well coated with the caramelized sauce from the chicken. The result, a pretty good fried rice w/ ginger if I may say so myself. My husband just loves it!

The Beginning

I decided to start a food blog of my own, not because I’m a good cook – in fact I am just starting. I just wanted to document my growth as a cook, so that maybe after a few years I can look back and see how much I’ve achieved and accomplished. If by chance anyone finds this blog site and you have other recipe’s to share, feel free to put a comment or a link to your own recipe/blog site.

I started cooking when I was very young, when suddenly we are without a maid. We were old enough to fend for ourselves, said our mom. So my sister and I took turns cooking and doing other chores. I never had the passion to cook. I just prepared simple meals, nothing to be really proud of. Eventually my sister and my dad took over and I stopped learning.

My sister is the best cook in the family. Her simple Chicken Tinola was delicious. She started to grow as a good cook when she became a mom. I guess that’s how it goes with some people. You learn to cook and be good at it too once you have a family. Of course some do have that special talent since birth!

My hubby’s mother, my mother-in-law is a good cook. I love her beef caldereta, adobong pusit with gata and ginataang sigarillas! Because of her I know I have to learn to cook, because my husband is used to good food. Like they say “the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” or hot steamy sex ha-ha. I’d rather give him more of the previous than the latter.

And so my journey towards being a good cook began.