Sweet and Sour secret

Another saturday night and a chance to go crazy in the kitchen, It took me less than an hour to get this ready and it wasnt so bad.

My brother taught me this secret sweet and sour sauce which, according to him, was passed on to him by a cook at the old kowloon house in makati, right beside the Sulo Restaurant in quad at what is now a Rapide auto shop.

By 2 pm i had taken out and thawed a tilapia fillet cut into 1 inch wide strips and 6 shrimp (about 100 grams worth peeled and deveined with tails on)

First season your seafood with salt and pepper and let sit for 10-15 mins

While waiting slice a small golf ball sized red onion into 6 wedges, about 12 1 inch squares of a bell pepper, thinly slice half a thumb size of ginger and a small tomato

Dust your seafood with corn starch and drizzle with a wet handful of water just to moisten the mix. coat evenly and deep fry all the seafood, dropping them into hot oil one at a time and nudging them in the pan to prevent sticking.

Remove them when lightly browned and drain on paper towels.

Now you can do the sauce. Saute in a little oil all your vegetables, just put them all at once in the pan and saute and turn heat on to high. As it starts to sizzle put your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in this order:

a tablespoon of catsup (i used one jollibee sachet) - stir
a tablespoon of soy - stir
a tablespoon of cane vinegar - stir
a tablespoon of sugar - stir
it should be sizzling now
now pour 4 oz or a half a small glass of orange juice (instant is fine)
now wait for it to simmer then turn the heat down to low.

The secret is in smelling the aroma wafting into the kitchen at this point. if it smells like vinegar, its not ready.

when the vinegar smell is gone, just combine the drained seafod into the mix and toss turn onto a plate and time to eat with white rice.

The chilled Gray Goose on ice helped push this dish along.

Seafood A1 (ewan)

Maybe I've been working too hard that I dont have time to put one more recipe on this spot. Everyday I prep something - old or new - for sure that recipe is not here.

My kids visited their grandmother today. Each visit is a cooking adventured filled with a lot of memories (and I can rack up a few after 50 years) from the old house in Pasay to the big house in BF so when my son and daughter told me they were having crabs today at Lola's, i could almost taste it...

We are surrounded by so much coastline that it would be criminal not to know how to prep at least one decent seafood dish. In and of itself, anything swimming in the water has to be delicate and will not take well to extreme flavor. I promised myself I would have to avoid broth cubes, too much salt, too much pepper which is so different from how I cook really . . .

This one is anchored on a basic bechamel flavored with onions, carrots and bell pepper - kinda like a mirepoix without the celery.

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
scant teaspoon of olive oil
1 glass of milk
1 tsp green tops of onion leek sliced fine
1 tsp basil cut chiffonade (rolled and sliced into strips) cut only before adding into the dish

1 small onion chopped fine
1 small carrot diced
1/2 a large green bell pepper diced

fillet of white fish (grouper, snapper, dory or tilapia) about as big as your palm sliced to approximate the size of the shrimp.
4 medium shrimp peeled and split lengthwise in two

salt and pepper to taste

You want to have a nice creamy white sauce so you will be working with a small to medium flame throughout.

Start with a medium size pan, drizzle the olive oil and butter and as the butter melts, add in your onions bell pepper and carrots.

As the onions wilt and get translucent sprinkle the flour and make sure its combined well into the cooking vegetables. Keep it moving so it will not burn. Now you can add your milk, slowly but completely stirring while pouring.

The mixture will start simmering along the sides. As bubbles start to form along the sides, turn your flame down to low

Now add the fish fillet and shrimp a little at a time and allow them to be submerged in the roux.

Cover and simmer for five minutes or until the seafood is poached until cooked. Salt and pepper to taste. To this sprinkle your chiffonade of basil and simmer for 2 mins more and you're ready.

Serve over hot rice, hot pasta or toasted crusty bread. I think if I added some cubed potatoes and chopped clams, it could be a good seafood chowder. Definitely chardonnay.

Gong Xi Fa Tsai - Steamed Cream Dory Fillet

What better way to herald the Year of the Ox than by serving up some Chinese Food!! This simple steamed recipe was inspired by a tv show i saw once about New YOrk's master Chefs. From a restaurant called Auntie Yuan, the twist really is the use of bell peppers, unlike typical steamed fish which is just leeks and ginger.

2 pcs Cream Dory fillets
1 medium bell pepper sliced lengthwise
2 stalks Onion Leeks cut into 3-4 inch stalks
1/2 cup ginger finely sliced slivers
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp fine chopped garlic
Sesame Oil to flavor

Fry garlic in a small amount of oil. Hot oil cold garlic then turn the flame down to low. As the garlic slowly turns a deeper color, remove from the pan and transfer to a ceramic dish. The garlic will continue cooking and become a nice crisp light brown emulsion without the bitter garlic taste

Put water to boil for the steamer. I have a round steamer, not the commercial kind so prep the fish to fit in a plate. In my case, split it in half.

Let the fish lay flat on the plate and layer the vegetables.

First the peppers, then the ginger, then the leeks.

Drizzle with soy sauce then place into the steamer.

Turn up the heat in the steamer and let it cook for 12 mins. Try not to look at it, whenenever you open the steamer, it immediately brings the temperature down too low.

Check for done-ness, a butter knife should go right through the fish without resistance. Drizzle with a few drops of sesame oil and a scant tsp of your crispy garlic to give it an aroma and serve at once.

We had a nice and lively white from portugal with this one.

You Should Open a Restaurant

How many times have you heard this?

You probably even actually entertained the thought of having one of your own, your dream restaurant serving only grilled food that you are just sooo good at; or maybe that chinese noodle house just like North Park only done the way you like it; perhaps even one with all the tasty goodies you grew up with - that special adobo, or that fantastic callos, or maybe even just the way you make scrambled eggs.

But let's face it. That is NOT going to happen.

You are destined to forever share that recipe with just your closest friends when you get together for a drink, or with family at your next reunion. It will forever be lost in the mists of the memories of some family recipe cookbook you always wanted to keep, and who knows, that could be the last time anyone would ever taste it again.

I created this so you can share what you cook at home that is truly truly something to share. Something as simple as the seasoning for the tapa that yaya made, or the barbecue you had. Share technique, stories, recipes, flavors, places, just one condition - make it food. . . good food.