Chicken, Garlic And Tomato Roasts

The wet market I recently swung by down east had me shamelessly hoarding a coupla kilos of some red, juicy and plump tomatoes. Why, they sold for a measly P20 per kilo! Especially now that the Yrastorza household is slowly taking the ‘healthy-food-only’  route, I thought these tomatoes would be excellent for oven baking, stewing and the like.

Over at my kitchen, I slid my baking casserole onto the counter to toss over the tomatoes for some oven-dried tomatoes for bottling. Lately, I’ve developed a penchant for any food/ingredient that is  homemade, organic and artificial processing- free. And yeah, nothing beats having your homemade tomato sauce which you can conveniently pull out from your ref when your recipe calls for it.

But the oven was too big for the few pieces of tomatoes I was to bake. So in the pan, I threw in 2 whole heads of garlic for roasting (top slightly chopped off, leaving the flesh exposed!). What do you do with it? I spread it on toasts, I put in on my mashed potatoes or I just make it as siding for a fave dish like a pasta fare or sweet and spicy tapa! Okay, there goes my 2nd dish.

3rd dish was the two chicken quarters that I turned into baked chicken in sinigang rub. All three dishes had some about two rounds of drizzles of olive oil. Time, energy and space saving for my oven, I was totally starving right after everything got cooked.

Okay, kumbaga sa bus, naunang bumaba ang mga bawang, tapos ang mga kamatis at sumunod ang mga manok galing sa oven. (Please see links for exact directions for recipes of each of the fares).

Oh, btw, the chicken was the perfect topping for the Japchae I made the day before. Can I just say, the noodles got yummier as the sauce completely got absorbed by the noodles. Yum!

Minced Pork In Lettuce Wrap

My good friend and neighbor, Myze, invited my family for dinner last Chinese New Year at Spring Deer restaurant in Quezon City. It was to be their celebration for their New Year. Myze, a full-blooded Chinese, talked her way to educating me about Filipino Chinese food vs the “canteen” Chinese food she grew up embracing.

I have featured a coupla posts in this blog about her Chinese “canteen” food and how enthralled I get trying it out. The Makut Theng she once sent me while I was nursing a cold was unforgettable. Likewise, the Chinese style steamed fish dish she taught me was momentous.

One of the viands served that evening was the minced pork in lettuce wrap. I thought it looked pretty and tasted great. They served the meat mixture side by side with the plate of crunchy lettuce greens and hoisin sauce. So, the style was to get a lettuce wrapper, scoop a  tbsp of meat mixture and smother with hoisin sauce on top.

Today, I did just that. However, I decided to incorporate the hoisin sauce already in the meat mixture. Twas quite easy to make. Thanks for great neighbors, thanks, Myze!

Minced  Pork In lettuce Leaves

1/2 kilo ground pork

1 large carrot, cut in small cubes

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

2 tbsps ginger, chopped

3 tbsps cilantro, chopped

2 tbsps hoisin sauce

2 tbsps oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

oil

Lettuce leaves

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Season pork with salt and pepper.

Saute pork in ginger, onion and garlic. Add carrots. Continue stir frying until meat is cooked.

Add cilantro, hoisin, oyster and soy sauces. Continue cooking for about five minutes.

Scoop a tsp of the mixture in lettuce leaves and wrap closing on all sides. Serve immediately.

Oriental Chicken With Sliced Eggplants

I almost ended up eating at Little Asia yesterday except that the majority of my friends opted to train our sights on this tea place called Bubble Tea. And since my palate still was looking for the kung pao chicken this morning, I decided to cook the next best thing, oriental chicken with sliced eggplants.

It was to be my hubby, Jake’s, baon and breakfast for me. Okay, how did I do it?

I made 5 strips of chicken crispers , cut it 1 inch long and set it aside. Sliced native eggplants the size of the chicken crispers, too.

In a skillet, I poured 1/4 cup of canola oil and 2 tbsps sesame oil (optional). Sauted 4 round slices of ginger and mixed in 1/4 cup of hoisin sauce. With the sauce heated up and ready, I just tossed in the chicken crispers and eggplants into the skillet  until they were well coated and eggplants half cooked and tender.

Chicken Adobo Flakes (Ilonggo Version)

My favorite version of chicken adobo, I stack up on this when I do it in big batches. I use it making a crusty pannini, fried rice, canape topping or simply to papak like chippy! Lol. The crunch, savory appeal of this adobo just breaks my diet(?) everytime.

One of the many heirloom recipes from my Ilongga grandmother who had the most intense affair with the pots and pans, this Ilonggo adobo version uses ONLY vinegar as the the prime acid minus the soy sauce. Of course, slathered with LOTS of garlic and LOTS of LOVE! Lol.

Chicken adobo

1 and 1/2 kilo chicken breasts

3/4 cup cane vinegar

2 heads of garlic, minced

2 laurel leaves

1 tsp pamintang buo

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup canola oil

water

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Season chicken with salt and pepper.

In a frying pan, combine chicken, garlic, pamintang buo, laurel leaves, vinegar and cover with water.

Cook until chicken is cooked, crumbled and flaked. Once totally flaked, add about 3/4 to a cup of oil and fry some more until chicken becomes golden brown and crunchy.

Chicken Relleno

You don’t wanna cram for your potluck contribution come this holiday season. NOW is the best time to ready your recipe for your Christmas parties at home, too. Thought I’d share with you my favorite chicken  relleno recipe.

It’s pretty easy to make contrary to the perception that one has to slave herself in the kitchen to be able to do this–NOT!

Well, Merry Christmas!

1 whole chicken, about 1.5 kilos, deboned

1/2  kilo ground pork

1 pack sweet ham, finely diced

3/4 cup pickle relish

1 small can crushed pineapple, drained

1 box cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 cup  cream of mushroom soup (powdered)

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 large onion, roughly minced

1 large red bell pepper, minced

2 sliced white bread (tasty), cut into small pcs

1/2 cup raisins, chopped

1/2 cup chopped flat parsley for garnish

salt and pepper to taste

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Debone chicken or ask your  butcher to do it for you. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

For the filling:

Mix all the remaining ingredients.

Stuff the chicken with the mixed ingredients.

Preheat oven at 350C. Bake for an hour or until chicken is cooked.

Let stand for twenty minutes. Sprinkle with parsley for garnishing.

Serve with the chicken dripping on the side.

Asian Chicken with Shiitake and Green Beans

One of the most popular species in the mushroom family, the shiitake mushroom has remained to be a favorite ingredient in a lot of Asian cookery. Its wonderful texture, excellent flavor and health benefits are just but few reasons why it is a preferred choice by foodies all over the world.

Originating from the Japanese word shii mushroom which describes the Japanese tree Castanopsis cuspidata that gives the dead logs on which shiitake mushrooms come from, these dark-colored mushrooms have been proven to contain medicinal properties. Studies show that steady use of these mushrooms may reduce the risk of cardiac disorders, certain types of cancer, allergies and promotes good blood circulation.

Given these nutritional facts about shiitake mushroom, it has become a favorite ingredient in a lot of food stores that advocate health and wellness. It’s even become a substitute for meat! Why, the taste of shiitake is said to be four to ten times more flavorful than the other type of mushrooms like button, Portobello or pearl mushrooms.

The flexible characteristic of the shiitake transcends from being just a second-fiddle ingredient to being the main ingredient in certain dishes. There was even a restaurant that once served adobo made out of shiitake mushrooms!  No wonder, it’s been around for centuries now.

2 whole breast fillets, skinned and sliced into bite-size pieces

5 pcs shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 whole head of garlic, minced

1 medium onion, minced

2 pcs thumb-sized ginger, sliced

4 pcs green beans, cut 1 inch-long

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

3 tbsps sesame oil

1/2 cup canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp chili sauce (optional)

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Season Chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute ginger, garlic and onion. Add chicken and stir-fry until chicken is cooked (about 5 minutes).

Add hoisin and chili sauce. Stir until chicken pieces are well coated with hoisin sauce. Toss in mushrooms and green beans. Cook until green beans are medium-well in doneness. Serve hot.

Chicken Liver Adobo

Copy and paste the picture of chicken liver adobo I did last week to this blog—CHECK. Holding back this writer’s saliva as this picture appears before her while doing this post’s draft– XXXXXXXX!!!!!!!! Arg, I am so tempted to delete this photo on my screen! It’s 9:32 pm and I got no  plans to defrost a pack of chicken livers to silence my nagging craving at this hour.

It is, hands down, one of my fave comfort dishes. I am totally ignited like wildfire when a plate of this adobo is served before me as in LAMON! The slightly sour-garlicky-malinamnam components do make for a perfect triumvirate. Of course, this dish is best partnered with sinangag (garlic fried rice).

High in cholesterol but low in fat and a perfect source of protein, my desire to eat it just looks away from the downside. My bad– Oh well, sarap eh!

Chicken Liver Adobo

1/2 kilo chicken liver (hearts removed)

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 whole head of garlic, minced

3 tbsps spring onion, finely chopped

3 tbsps soy sauce

2 cups of water

2 laurel leaves salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup canola oil

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In a bowl, season liver with salt and pepper. Combine with garlic, vinegar, soy sauce and water.

Bring to a simmer until liquid is reduced to half. Add oil and continue to simmer until ninety percent of the marinade has evapotated and the oil slightly beginning to fry the liver.

At this point, you want the oil to dominate the sauce while retaining some liquid from the marinade. Add laurel leaves and cook for 3 minutes more.

Top with spring onions and serve hot with rice.

Molo Soup

Hot, hot, hot!

Literally and figuratively, molo soup is HOT!

The warm, comforting and soothing effect of this soup are enough reasons to make this a staple in your kitchen menu. The solid combination of chicken, pork dumplings and the garlicky flavor of the broth just make a perfect soup.

Especially lately that it has been raining, molo soup should be the excellent comfort food with a wet weather at the backdrop.

Molo soup

For the pork dumpling:

1/2 kilo ground pork

1 onion, minced

1 egg

4 tbsps flour

salt and pepper to taste

molo wrappers

For the chicken broth:

1 pc chicken thigh/legs

salt and pepper to taste

1 onion, quartered

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1/4 cup deveined shrimps, chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

1 head of garlic, minced

2 tbsps patis (fish sauce)

1/2 cup dahon ng sibuyas (green spring onions)

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To make the broth, season chicken with salt and pepper. In a pot, cover with water and add onion. Cook until chicken is tender and cooked. Shred chicken and set aside. Meantime, keep stock for later use.

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The pork dumplings are made by seasoning the ground pork with salt and pepper and adding onion, egg and flour. Mix well and wrap in molo wrappers. Set aside.

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In another pot, saute onion, garlic, chicken and shrimps. Season with patis. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, drop dumplings and cook for ten to fifteen minutes. Top with dahon ng sibuyas (green spring onions). Serve hot.

Chicken Arrozcaldo

 

I’ve been told many times over that chicken arrozcaldo isn’t as popular in a lot of provinces as it is in Manila. Outside the metro, it is usually served when somebody is sick or not feeling well. It’s not something you may order outside their homes. Quite the opposite here in Manila where you find it from the posh five-star hotels down to the most modest eatery at any given place. Chicken arrozcaldo is a favorite– anywhere, anytime.

The classic way of preparing chicken arrozcaldo would be using chicken choice cuts, bone-in and all. In my version, I already pre-boil and shred chicken that would be mixed in with the rice. I guess am too lazy to trim off meat from the bones while it’s immersed in the arrozcaldo–too messy.

Over at the Yrastorza household, chicken arrozcaldo is quite a staple viand on the dining table– sick or not, we all eat this like crazy. One of the many heirloom recipes from Mom, we never eat this without the ‘budbod’ of dahon ng sibuyas and roasted garlic. Eating this without the two would be like having your kare-kare without the bagoong or something like that. The concept of having condiments to go with it is enough excitement for me. Super love!

Chicken Arrozcaldo

1 whole breast of chicken, seasoned with salt and pepper, boiled and shredded

2 cups uncooked malagkit rice

two thumb-sized ginger, sliced

1/2 cup dahon ng sibuyas, chopped

2 heads of garlic, finely minced

2 tbsps fish sauce (patis)

1/4 tsp kasubha

6 pcs calamansi, halved

salt and pepper to taste

oil

1 liter chicken stock (from the boiled chicken)

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Saute garlic in oil until golden brown. Drain excess oil. Set aside in a small container.

Meantime, in a casserole, saute ginger and onion. Add chicken and malagkit rice. Stir for about a minute until rice grains are well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock.

Cook until rice is tender. Make sure you constantly stir the arrozcaldo while it cooks. You may add chicken stock or water to adjust consistency.

Finally, add kasubha. Continue stirring for the next 3 minutes.

Serve hot with the condiments (dahon ng sibuyas, roasted garlic, calamansi and pamintang durog) on the side.

Bam-i

I once made my bully love me after I fed her with my Mom’s bam-i. Almost abruptly, she started being nice to me after her first plate of my bam-i. This dish is so good, I eat it like there’s no tomorrow.

One of mom’s many signature dishes, I love this one for many reasons. For one it is a symphony of flavors that get me going for seconds ALWAYS when it is served. The linamnam factor of the canton and sotanghon combined, the juicy chicken that dictates the general taste of the pansit, the asim (sour component) of the calamansi that goes well in contrast with the garlicky taste and aroma the garlic gives  just blows me away. Ahh, give me that plate of bam-i now!

BAM-I

500  grams canton

300 grams sotanghon

2 whole chicken breasts, boiled and shredded

2 medium-sized carrots, cut into strips

1/2 cup dahon ng sibuyas, chopped

3/4 cups celery, chopped

5 pcs calamansi, halved

1 onion, sliced

2 heads of garlic, minced

1 liter chicken stock

3 tbsps fish sauce (patis)

oil

salt and pepper to taste

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In a casserole, saute garlic until golden brown. Drain excess oil. Set aside.

In the same pan, saute onion until translucent in color. Add chicken and celery. Season with salt and pepper and fish sauce. Throw in carrots and stir for about two minutes.

Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Mix in pancit canton and sotanghon.

Cook until liquid is gone and pancit tender and moist.

Prepare roasted garlic, calamansi and chopped dahon ng sibuyas in mini containers and use as ‘budbod’ once pancit has been served.

Serve with your favorite toast.

Cream Of Chicken Soup

Nothing beats sipping a warm bowl of soup that was made from the heart. No offense meant to canned soup lovers, but soups made from scraps and scratch are the ones that genuinely rock. Why,  the homemade soup’s edge lies in the fact that it’s healthier, none of the ‘can’ taste and you know a hundred percent what went with the soup when it was cooked.

Okay, this soup (again) was a proud product of a makeover from a leftover (nice rhyme!). The previous evening saw me baking some lemon pepper chicken and had some leftover. Not that it wasn’t good enough to be devoured in one sitting (Ha, defensive me!) but that, Jake and I had quite a big bingeing spree shortly before dinner that left us full til the next day!

Anyway, frankly, I don’t like the idea of reheating  leftover baked chicken for my meals. The overnight period usually leaves the skin stiff, rubbery, greasy and all. The flesh too firm and totally juiceless. But the good news is– I love doing a makeover of baked chicken. First step is to chunk the meat and sometimes the skin, then stir-fry coating  it with a favorite sauce– either bbq or charsiu sauce. Either way would land in between two slices of bread! Sarap!

Today was different, my leftover surprise was made up of these chicken chunks, celery stalks and cream. Cream of chicken soup— now, are you hungry?

Cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup left over chicken (baked, boiled or even fried!), cubed

1 box all purpose cream

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1 medium-sized onion, finely minced

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup quickmelting cheese (optional)

4 cups of water or whole milk

1 chicken cube

2 tbsps flour diluted in 1/2 cup water

Saute chicken, onion and celery in butter.

Add cream and cheese. Bring to mild simmer until mixture becomes thick. Add water or milk .  Add flour mixture. Let it simmer and continue stirring until desired consistency is achieved. You may actually adjust consistency (to thin the soup) by adding whole milk or water until you reach your desired consistency. Serve hot.

Chicken And Peas

I’m tempted to call this dish picadillo but it didn’t use beef, it had raisins in it and I just wanted to highlight the ground chicken as the main ingredient.

Truth to tell, this dish can pass up for an arroz ala cubana meat ensemble, only saucier and uses ground chicken. I usually cook this up on days when I have to squeeze in cooking in between errands and other pressing chores. Why, it takes little time and preparation to do it.

Simple, yum-loaded and quick to make, I give this dish two thumbs-up!

Chicken with peas

1/2 kilo ground chicken

1 onion, sliced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tomato, diced

1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

1/2 cup raisins

3 cups tomato sauce

salt and pepper to taste

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In a skillet, saute onion, garlic and tomato. Add ground chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until meat is tender.

Add raisins and green peas. Continue simmering until peas are cooked. Pour tomato sauce. You may add water to thin the sauce if you wish. Let it simmer and continue stirring for five more minutes. Serve hot.

Hearty Chicken Sopas

Marty, my 3-year old uber cute nephew, spent the day at home playing with my Sam. Our place was literally fully charged, alive and brightened up by this little boy’s presence that Sam almost never let him go.

As if possesed by the same positive energy, I suddenly found myself cooking away in the kitchen  with chicken sopas in the lead role for today’s menu. This dish had the perfect triumvirate of what kids usually look for in their choice of  food– chicken, pasta and soup! Okay, the cream or milk is the welcome bonus.

I just love sipping this soup whether on a rainy or in hot, humid weather. The yumminess is simply timeless, universal and makes you go for seconds.

1/2 kilo thigh fillet

3 pcs small-sized chicken soup pack

1/2 kilo macaroni shells (elbow or salad)

2 large onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 carrot, cut into strips

3 tbsps patis (fish sauce)

1 box all purpose cream

3 pcs celery sticks, chopped

1 small head of cabbage, choped (optional)

oil

salt and pepper to taste

Season chicken parts with salt and pepper. In a cooking pot, boil chicken along with 1 quartered onion. Bring to a boil until chicken becomes tender. Once cooked, drain and shred the chicken thighs . Meantime, remove and shred chicken meat from the soup pack pieces. Save the stock.

Meantime, in a separate cooking pot, saute garlic and onion. Add celery, carrots and shredded chicken (do not include the bones this time). Season with patis. Add chicken stock. Pour macaroni shells. You may add about 1/2 liter (or more) of water if stock is not enough to cover the mixture. Cook until macaroni becomes al dente  in texture. NEVER overcook the macaroni shells. Add all purpose cream and cabbage. Adjust taste by seasoning with salt and pepper or dropping a piece of chicken cube. Serve hot.

Buttered Chicken Stew With Sitcharo

A pack of fresh sitcharo (snowpeas) peeped hello from a stack of veggies in the ref recently. Ahh, I knew it was time for some reunion with one of my most favorite ingredients. I usually use this for my stir-fried sirloin tips. There’s something about sitcharo that perks up the main meat.

And, to couple it with the powerhouse triumvirate  of chicken, tomatoes and butter, come on! As Julia Child once said, “You can’t have enough of the butter!”.

Okay to do this, you will need:

2 whole breast halves with wings

2 cups sitcharo, cleaned and trimmed

1/4 cup butter

6 medium-sized tomatoes, diced

1 medium-sized onion

4 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

oil

1 tsp dried basil for garnishing

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In a skillet, saute onion, garlic and tomatoes. Add seasoned chicken. Simmer on slow-medium heat until chicken is tender and tomatoes almost liquid in consistency.

It may be necessary to add water when necessary until chicken is tender enough.

Once chicken is cooked and sauce is reduced to half, add butter and sitcharo. Simmer some more for another three minutes or until sitcharo is half-cooked.

Sprinkle with dried basil. Serve warm.

Baked Chicken In Sinigang Rub

A friend and blog reader, Sandy Celi, gave me some of her organic chicken for sampling. I automatically scanned my mental files for a favorite recipe and thought of whipping up my favorite baked chicken in sinigang rub. I thought it was to be our local version of the lemon and pepper rub. Yes, only better.

I grabbed some sachet of my organic sampaloc sinigang mix from Herb’s Best (owned by my cousin-in-law, Fannie Guanzon) and I was set to fire away.

In a snap, I suddenly found myself strutting my stuff in the kitchen gearing up to make some baked chicken in sinigang sampaloc rub. It was to be a dream combo in an untypical sinigang dish. Two chemical and preservative-free major ingredients in one dish name– clap, clap!

When you check Sandy’s blog site  you will read that this chicken comes from a breed of “Grass Fed, Free Range, Naturally Grown, Pastured Colored Chickens: Raised with a lot of sunshine, fresh air, supplemented with probiotics and unmedicated feeds”.

No wonder it did not have the innate lansa or slimmyness chickens usually have. Oh and by the way, did I say that it  was distinctly tastier than the regular commercial chicken? Ahhh, sarap Lord! 

Now,  how cool was that?

Okay to do this you will need:

1 big chicken

1 small sachet sampaloc mix

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch tanglad

1 cup fresh parsley

oil

Preheat oven to 300 deg c.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Meantime in a small mixing bowl, mix 2 tbsps oil and 1 small sachet of sampaloc sinigang mix.

Rub onto the chicken.

Insert lemongrass and parsley (with bottom part of the stalks pounded to release flavor) into the cavity.

Bake  for 2-3 hours or until chicken is done. Serve with gravy sauce (recipe below).

Gravy sauce:

Scrape the pan where you baked the chicken by adding 1 cup of boiling chicken stock. Drain to smoothen the mixture.  Transfer mixture in a sauce pan. Simmer on low heat. Add 3 tbsps butter and 2 tbsps flour. Stir until sauce is free of lumps.