PORK BULGOGI

Bulgogi has been listed as the 23rd among World's 50 most delicious foods readers poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011. It is usually made with beef but pork or chicken is equally good made with the same recipe.

MEDITERRANEAN STYLE LAMB BURGERS

Lamb, although already full of flavours, can withstand the addition of seasonings without losing its own taste. Lamb goes so well with a lot of herbs and is so delicious when made into Mediterranean burgers. Just add fire and it turns into a perfect meal.

FILIPINO BARBECUE CHICKEN

Filipinos love barbecue and are lucky enough that the weather allows them to barbecue all year round. The two most popular have very generic names: barbecue chicken and barbecue pork. Everywhere, they are seasoned similarly unless otherwise stated.

INIHAW NA BANGUS (GRILLED MILKFISH)

Filipinos are nationalistic people; we have a "national" everything. Bangus or milk fish is our national fish. Although it is full of fine bones and is fiddly to eat, we just love it.

It is the height of summer in the Philippines around this time of the year. Although it is terribly hot, it is also incredibly fun. It is the time for fiestas and picnics. 

Going on a picnic is a whole day outing, usually with family or friends. The more rustic the setting, the better. The highlight is always the sumptous lunch. Everyone brings out their food and lines them up on banana leaves lining the table. Rice is always the main feature of a Filipino picnic. Everything else revolves around it. 

There would almost always be charcoal grilling involved. Pork, chicken and fish are usually on the menu. If bangus is grilled, it is always stuffed with onions and tomatoes. Bangus has a fatty belly but the flesh is very lean. Stuffing it gives it moisture and of course, more flavour. In a more local setting, It is usually wrapped in just banana leaves and grilled until the leaves char and fall off.

I like my bangus done just right, moist and with a good amount of filling. It isn't easy to do all these at the same time. Sometimes the fish is overcooked and dry by the time the stuffing is cooked. My solution to that is to pre-cook the stuffing before using. That also jumpstarts the cooking process as the filling is already hot.

Food like this are major rice magnets; they are so appetizing and so good with rice that you tend to eat a lot of it. It would have been a lot nicer to eat this if there were bamboo trees swaying and warm breezes blowing, and if it's not too much to ask, a gurgling brook. 

Ingredients:

1 bangus (this can be substituted with sea bass)
juice of 1/2 lime or 2 calamansi
2 tsps. light soy sauce
4 tsps. olive oil
ground black pepper
1/2 c. chopped tomatoes
1/3 c. chopped red onions
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. fish sauce

Instructions:


Season the bangus with the lime or calamansi, light soy sauce, 2 tsps. of olive oil and a pinch of black pepper.

Mix the tomatoes, onions, garlic, sugar, a pinch of black pepper, 2 tsps. live oil and the fish sauce. Microwave on full power for 1 1/2 minutes.

Drain the excess liquid then use to fill the bangus.






Wrap in a piece of banana leaf, then in foil. Grill for 10 minutes on each side. Remove the foil, leaving the banana leaf on, and grill for 5 more minutes on each side.

For the dipping sauce:

1/4 c. vinegar
1/2 red onion
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
chilli


Mix all of the ingredients together and serve as a dipping sauce for the bangus.

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TURKEY KOFTA KEBABS WITH MINTED YOGHURT

Aren't spinning doner kebabs, shawarma, gyros just hypnotic. I can't stop but stare at them through the restaurant windows. The glistening, charred crust with juices dripping between the layers are just too much of a temptation.

They are not exactly healthy choices because they contain a fair amount of fat. Unfortunately, making them at home is not exactly doable because that upright, spinning rotisserie is not something most people own.

GRILLED PORK BELLY RASHERS (INIHAW NA LIEMPO)

Filipinos share the love for the pig belly with the Americans. If the Americans love bacon to the max, Filipinos love belly pork in all forms. Yes, we are liempo-maniacs. Liempo is the Tagalog word for pork belly, the most used part of the pig in the Philippines. Be it a soup, stew, roast or even vegetable dish, the ingredient is always liempo. Such is the affliction of liempo-ma: death by pork rather than by chocolate. Pork is so delicious, fatty, addicting and bad for you that it's almost obscene to eat...and there lies its charms.

LIME AND MANGO CHICKEN

Umami is yummy. Simply defined as a meaty savoury taste but it actually comes from glutamate, one of the building blocks of proteins, not necessarily from meat. I know that that still doesn't explain much. But just think of it as extra yumminess. 

ASIAN BARBECUE BEEF BRISKET

Some people plan their meals before heading to the shops. I, on the other hand, belong to the other group of "some people" who usually plan my meals according to what I have. My freezer is usually full of an assortment of meat cuts and joints among other things. Faced with a beef brisket joint, there are a lot of ideas that come to mind. Being of Asian origin, my inclinations tend to veer towards that direction. 

CHICKEN INASAL

Chicken inasal is an indigenous barbecue chicken recipe that comes from Bacolod, the sugar capital of the Philippines. It is very simple in itself yet highly aromatic. Though it comes from  the sugarland, it is not sweet like your usual barbecue. 

MARMALADE GLAZED BABY BACK RIBS

Being Filipino, my love for pork is eternal. When it comes to the choice of meat, pork rules the roost, so to speak. Filipino parties are rarely un-porcine events. I think you get my point.

We have been warned about saturated animal fat, so we really should appreciate the meat rather than the fat. Although it is true that fat equals taste and that it makes meat tender and juicy, I still opt for leaner cuts. I trim the excess fats and skim off fats in the cooked product. We can still enjoy our food if we are more aware of what it contains.

GRILLED LEMON AND THYME CHOPS

It is good to connect. My father was one to nurture old connections, as in he was still in touch with his high school friends from 63 years back up to the last of his days.

CHARGRILLED PORK ON RICE NOODLE SOUP

It has been unseasonably warm and sunny the past few days. Thank God for that. Of course, when the weather is like this, the first thing that comes to mind is firing up the barbie. Before you say not again, may I say that this is actually a comforting bowl of hot noodle soup. This is my take on the much loved Vietnamese noodle soup with flat rice noodles and aromatic chargrilled pork. 

ASIAN BARBECUE CHICKEN WINGS

How much barbecued food do we get through in a barbecue season? No one knows for sure. Even here in sun deprived London, we still do it no matter what. Sometimes though, things get out of hand. 

BARBECUE PORK SKEWERS

The ultimate favourite barbecue item in the Philippines is barbecue pork skewers. It is sold in most roadside grills where people queue up at the best stall in town. A shake of spicy vinegar with garlic heightens the chargrilled porky goodness. It is also a favourite at parties, celebrations and picnics. My pity goes to the appointed griller who swelters in the heat and chokes on the smoke while everyone polishes the barbecue (as we simply call it) faster than he can cook it.

It usually is made with the pork butt and always has a cube of fat at the end of the stick.  I used pork shoulder and trimmed off the fat because I do not like eating fat. To compensate for that, I added peanut butter to the marinade to add extra richness.I sliced the meat thinly so it absorbs more of the flavour and cooks in less time. A ketchup and honey glaze at the end of the grilling time gives it a sweet finish.

This is tastes good on its own but I usually serve it with paprika rice and a side salad as a meal.

Ingredients for the marinade:


1 kg. pork shoulder or butt, sliced thinly
2 tbsps. peanut butter
1 c. cola
3 tbsps. light soy sauce
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
2 tbsps. lemon juice


Instructions:

I prefer to thinly slice the pork rather than cut it into chunks because the marinade penetrates better and the meat cooks faster. 

Cream the peanut butter  while slowly adding the liquid ingredients of the marinade. Marinate the pork for a few hours or overnight in the fridge. 

Thread the pork slices in skewers. If using bamboo skewers, soak them first in water so they don't burn in the grill. Chargrill for 5 minutes on each side. 

Brush with a mixture of the glaze ingredients and grill for 2 minutes on each side to set the glaze. 

Ingredients for the glaze:


1/4 c. catsup
3 tbsps. honey
1 tbsps. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. cooking oil

All rights reserved ©Adora's Box Copyright 2011. 

Please support Adora's Box by making your Amazon.com and mymemories.com (use the code STMMMS55174) purchases from this site. Click on their respective banners to proceed to their websites. It will not cost you a single cent more but will help sustain this blog. Thank you.

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Satay Chicken

Grilled Pork Belly Rashers

   (Inihaw na Liempo)

                                   
                                                       

Thanks for dropping by. It would be nice if we could meet up on FACEBOOK or TWITTER. 

TANDOORI STYLE CHICKEN

Indian take-aways are as popular as Chinese takeaways here in the UK. My favourite item on the menu is the tandoori chicken. 

I am always amazed at how Indian style barbecues are grilled in the tandoor (bell shaped clay oven). The intense heat part chars and part cooks the red stained meat and the resulting taste is just incredible. Not a lot of people would have a tandoori oven in their homes but a similarly spiced chicken can be cooked in the barbecue, in the oven or grill. The result, though not the same, is also quite delicious. Now that the barbecue season is on, it certainly is a good flavour to try on you next grilling session.

BARBECUE LEG OF LAMB WITH ROSEMARY AND GARLIC

Leg of lamb is a family favourite. We have it twice a year: for my daughter's birthday and for Easter Sunday. It can be rather pricey so it isn't something we eat all the time. When I found that leg of lamb was on offer at the supermarket, I decided to take advantage of it and have an extra this year. 

GRILLED MARINATED SQUID

I have never ventured to cook big squids, although we eat the small ones quite often. I always worry about them being tough. 

The fishmonger always announces his specials at first instance and today it was squids. I took one look and shook my head. They were a foot long! He was very convincing and assured me that it didn't take long to cook and wasn't tough at all. It is overcooking that actually makes it tough. Persuaded, I chose two small ones (about 8" long). 

SATAY CHICKEN

Satays are delicious morsels of well seasoned meats threaded on bamboo skewers and grilled over hot coals. It is one of Malaysia's ubiquitous street foods.  Eating satay for supper is one of the things I enjoy doing most when I'm there. It is not only the food itself but the whole experience of outdoor dining in the full Malaysian sense that excites me. The warm air, the cooking smells and the jovial mood all combine to make an atmosphere that cannot be recreated elsewhere.

BUN CHA: VIETNAMESE GRILLED PORK PATTIES AND NOODLE SALAD

It was scorching hot the past few days and we were taking advantage of being able to cook on the barbecue. It can, however, be too hot to eat hot food. Here's a compromise: aromatic, zesty, spiced grilled pork patties on cold rice noodle salad. 

This is my take on the Vietnamese bun cha, the next most popular dish in Hanoi after pho. I used lean minced pork for the patties but added peanut butter to the mixture to give it an added richness and nutty taste. The seasonings include brown sugar which makes the patties develop a caramelized glaze when grilled.

MEDITERRANEAN STYLE BARBECUE CHICKEN

The days, thankfully, are once again sunny. It's time to dust the trusty barbecue and wake it from its hibernation. It's been dormant for long enough. 

My husband and I just love cooking in the barbie and miss it so much in the winter months. Our barbecue is strategically located next to our kitchen. I mean, really next to our kitchen. It is a gas fired barbie with lava rocks. It lights up instantly and heats up in a few minutes. The lava rocks give the food cooked on it a delicious chargrilled flavour. Even if still a bit cold, we can fire it up, put something on it, then seek refuge in the kitchen and watch through the window. We are such barbie fanatics.