Peanut pasta

There are things you want to do that you constantl put off. You buy ingredients and then let it sit in the ref until you can't use them anymore. Here goes nothing . . No Here comes something. Its a simple noodle in peanut sauce.If you prep the ingredients beforehand, this can come together in 10 minutes. We'll do just the basic and you can add the condiments particualrly the proteins if you want to. 1 small stalk onion leeks sliced (not too fine) 1 clove garlic (crushed . . totally crushed) 1 tsp peanut butter 1 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp palm sugar or white sugar 1/2 tsp garlic chilis sauce - any kind. dig deep into the bottle so you get the garlic and chili 1/2 cup chicken broth 1/2 cup salted peanuts ground with a mortar and pestle (or food processor) 1 small bunch noodles - about a cup - rice noodles, egg noodles, vermicelli, spaghetti - any noodle will do. Just 1 cup uncooked then cook it, wash it and cool it These are the optionals: 4 stalks asparagus (bent and snapped in the middle then cut into 1 inch lengths) 1 fairly large shiitake mushroom cut in half the sliced into 1 inch lengths Lets begin Timer starts now 1. set your pan to the flame 2. 2 tbsp of oil (high smoke point like palm or peanut) 3. Add garlic mushroom and leeks and stir fry about 1 minute 2.5 add proteins and other optional condiments and stir fry 1 minute 4. add soy sauce and stir fry 30 seconds 5. add half the broth and stir 30 seconds or until simmering 6. add the peanut butter and stir until incorporated 30 seconds 7. add the sugar and stir until incorporated 30 seconds 8. add noodles and garlic chili sauce and toss into the sauce 9. add another dash of soy 10. transfer to a serving plate Srinkle generously with your crushed peanuts That's it Sorry no photos - i ate it before I could take it Try a cold beer

Cooking rice

We've had our share of exploratory adventures where we rough it up and cook with a wood fire and camped out in a tent. One of our more memorable ones was an Easter weekend in Munting Buhangin long before it became just another over built and over populated resort along Nasugbu beach. Time was there were only tents available and building a bonfire was still a herculean effort of gathering wood among the environs.

On this trip, one of our companions, a lovely, petite girl had offered to be on rice cooking duty. In as much as not all of us were at the time, aware of what and how this is done without a rice cooker we relented. Over the next few days, we had to rummage through burnt kernels and uncooked rice for all our meals. Turns out - this lady had dutifully followed someone's instruction to allow the water in the rice to get up to the first digit of the index finger. Being a petite girl, of course her hands were much much smaller than most, resulting in each rice cooking exercise lacking the requisite quantity of water to cook through.

Now we know better.

Rice is an interesting staple, as unlike wheat that needs to be milled in order to make any kind of reasonable libation, you simply separate the individual kernels from the chaff in the course of threshing and you have a simple white (or brown depending on the type of rice) ready for cooking.

There are different types of rice and generally long grain is favored for its ability to retain the starches within and prevent sticking resulting in a fluffly cooked rice with the individual grains clearly delineated. California, Basmati and most premium rice are this type. Another is the small grain rice such as Milagrosa, the Japanese Honishiki variety Konishiki and Musenmai (washed) which release much more starch during cooking and require quite a bit of soaking in water prior to cooking. Finally ,the medium grain variety, such as the Japonica and most other lower priced rice varieties. Is there any one single standard way to cook rice? I ask my students how they do it and it comes out consistently 1. Measure out the rice 2. Wash - rinse - drain - repeat until the wash water is barely clear enough - still milky but almost clear 3. Add water and this is where it gets touchy - 1.5 times the amount of water as rice OR stick your index finger until barely touching the top of the rice and add water until it reaches the first digit 4. Return to the rice cooker OR set to boil uncovered 5. ONce boiling wet flame to the lowest possible and cover the pot 6. wait at least 8 minutes and resist the urge to look 7. when time is up, check the rice - there should be no bubbles or residual water and there should be dimples and dots on the top 8. it may need another minute or two to get there and only then turn off the fire 9. DO NOT SERVE YET! wait 5 minutes with the flame off. This will give the starches released into the pot to retreat back into the rice grains 10. Now you can eat, fluff it if you want, scoop it into a bowl, or whichever way you like thats simple

A Very Orange broth

Someone asked me about Sotanghon. My brothers and friends used to call it Sotengwan hahaha. The secret to any soup is the stock and I get mine each time I buy a whole chicken Take away the backs and ass and What do you do with the chicken backs and ass? These parts yield very little meat and a lot more fat and skin resides in these parts. You'd be lucky if you get it down to 50 / 50, meat and fat (including skin). But a frugal cook makes use of everything. I even use the trimmings from the chicken breast because you just can take all that meat out. ONce its cooked and you're happy with the flavor just take the chicken out, let it cool, and pick the meat from your bones i small onion half a small carrot and a stalk of celery in a stock pot where all the chicken parts are and top up with water about two inches from the top of the pot under a low flame (this keeps the stock clear) and afte 1 couple of hours you can salt and pepper to taste. Sotanghon is a mung bean based noodle that is translucent and holds up very well despite intense cooking It manages to keep a texture with some amount of bite not to mention the ability to retain heat. You dont need a lot and for 4 just a fist size quantity will go a long way 6 cups of stock The trimmed chicken meat from the stock 100 gms dry vermicelli (sotanghon) 1 tbsp onion leeks chopped fine 1 tbsp minced garlic chips 1 med onion 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp annato seeds (atsuete) 1/4 cup oil A medium soup pot This blog title tells it all. Take your pot and set over a medium flame. Drop the annato seeds in and allow to simmer in the oil until it releases color to almost a bright deep red then fish out the seeds. Sautee onions and garlic in the same oil until fragrant and translucent. Follow that wit the shredded chicken meat until heated through. As the sizzle becomes consistent pour 3/4 of the stock in and allow to boil then turn the flame down. You can drop the vermicelli in and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes Test it if you like the texture, it's ready to serve.

In a small bowl garnish with chopped sprint onion and garlic chips. It couldn't be easier. As it cools the noodles will absorb some liquid so just add on broth as you like.