KIKIAM (FIVE SPICE PORK ROLLS)

Five spice powder is a mixture of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and fennel seeds. The aroma and flavour is quite heady and can taste medicinal if too much is used. In tempered amounts, though, it gives an interesting exotic edge to any dish that it is added to.

CHINESE PORK JERKY (BAKWA)

I have a distinct memory of bakwa from too many years ago. As I crossed a busy road in Singapore, I eyed a bakwa peddler squatting on the city pavement. In front of him was a makeshift charcoal grill made out of a biscuit tin topped with chicken wire to warm his bakwa on. I couldn't resist having a slice. As he waved at the embers with a woven palm leaf fan and deftly turned the pork slice, it turned a glossy beetroot red as it warmed up. I didn't mind the waft of hot air that made the already blistering heat worse. As long as I had my pork treat, I was happy. 

SWEET POTATO DOUGHNUT STICKS (SWEET POTATO BICHO BICHO)

"Bicho bicho! Bicho bicho!". Hollers like this make children (and some grown ups, too) scamper out to the streets. It is the equivalent of the ice cream van's melodies to our Filipino ears.

FISH SAUCE CHICKEN WINGS

Fish sauce is an ingredient that people either love or hate. The smell is a bit overpowering but the flavour, in tempered amounts, might just be the very thing that would wake up the flavour of any savoury dish. If you have yet to be converted, do read on.

The ubiquitous fish sauce is the tasty agent that sets these wings apart. Recipes that greatly vary from each other are popping up in a lot of food sites and I was just intrigued. After reading the recipe for Ike's Vietnamese fish sauce chicken wings (popularized by the Pok Pok Restaurant in Portland, Oregon), I just had to make it.

SINGAPORE STYLE CHILLI CRABS

I was in Singapore recently, very, very briefly_ as in on a stopover en route to Manila. Having five hours to spare, I was hoping that my daughter and I could join the free two hour city tour. Unfortunately, we landed there in the early hours and the first available tour started at 9 a.m. and would finish 10 minutes before we were due to board our connecting flight. So that was that, it was just the airport we got to see.

PORK AND CHORIZO EMPANADA

I am so sorry for not having posted in a while. I have been in the Philippines for the past month to visit my ailing father who passed away peacefully on May 12. Despite my love and loyalty to my blog, I had to deal with this event without any distraction from anything else. I thank the Lord for giving me, my siblings ( three of us had to fly from different parts of the globe), my daughter and my niece a few but immensely happy days bonding for the last time with Tatay (father). A lot of friends and family members were with us throughout it all, and we are all extremely thankful. 

SISIG POCKETS

Filipino food is one of the lesser known cuisines from the Far East. It is not that it doesn't cater to popular tastes. It actually does. So people ask why, if Filipino food was actually good, are there not a lot of Filipino restaurants around? I can only surmise that it is because Filipino food takes time to cook. It is not as quick and easy to prepare as other Asian food. 

PHO BO

To us Asians, there is no greater comfort food than a steaming bowl of noodle soup. Noodle shops abound providing instant satisfaction to those craving their regular fix. It is habit forming, which is good because, not only is it delicious, it is very nutritious, too.  

LECHON MANOK (FILIPINO ROAST CHICKEN)

It is once again time to cook with my Filipino fellow foodies at the Kulinarya Cooking Club. Our hosts for this month, Abigail of My Nappy Tales and Marni of Kensington Kitchen chose a lovely theme for the month of February. The task is to cook a dish that reminds one of one's first love.

I seem to be too old to remember the first real love. So I just had to think long and hard but can only think of one, just the one. It just has to be my husband. I'm not saying this because he reads the blog but because it is the feeling that I remember well. 

My husband is not a Filipino but a pure Chinese from Malaysia. When he first visited the Philippines, he immediately fell in love with the cuisine. Among his favourites were crispy pata (crisp fried pork shank), bulalo (bone marrow soup), kari-kari (a stew with peanut gravy), grilled pork, clam soup, everything with ube (purple yam), mangoes, the list goes on and on. One dish, though, stands out. It is lechon manok. This is the poultry counterpart of roast pig. Lechon manok is Filipino rotisserie chicken cooked in an outdoor pit. As with all of our food, it is well seasoned and very tasty. Every time we visit home, there is a lechon manok on the dining table to welcome him.

Although cooked on a spit, lechon manok is so unlike rotisserie chicken. It has an aroma and taste that it quintessentially Filipino. I haven't yet come across a recipe that gives out the secret of the famous Andok's (a famous chain) lechon manok but this is my way of cooking it. What I'm going for is a very fragrant and extremely tasty chicken that is evocative of warm climes and rural settings. 


My method of cooking lechon manok is nothing like the usual way it is cooked. After seasoning the chicken, I wrap it in banana leaves and kitchen foil before roasting. The cavity is also stuffed with garlic, ginger and pandan leaves. This results to a highly scented, flavourful and succulent chicken. Instead of the usual liver sauce that it is usually served with I opted for a fresher, zestier sauce using his favourite fruit: mango. I hope people get to like this recipe because my husband wishes to open up a lechon manok chain in the future.

Ingredients for the roast chicken:


1 whole chicken
2 tbsps. light soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. cooking oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
a few slices of ginger
3 pandan leaves, knotted
banana leaves
aluminum foil

Mix the soy sauce, salt, garlic powder, turmeric and lime juice. Rub the mixture all over the chicken, including the cavity. Stuff the cavity with the garlic, ginger slices and pandan leaves. Leave to marinade for 30 minutes. 


Preheat the oven to 400° F / 200° C. 

Lay the banana leaves on top of a big sheet of aluminum foil. Lay the chicken on top of the banana leaves, rub with the 1 tbsp. of oil and wrap with the leaves then wrap tightly with the sheet of aluminum foil. 

Lay the wrapped chicken on a baking rack in a roasting tin. Add water to the tin so that the drippings don't burn.

Bake for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350° F/ 180° C. 

Open the chicken parcel. Cook for a further 50-60 minutes, turning at half time to brown the other side of the chicken. Brush with the drippings occasionally.

The chicken can also be cooked in a lidded barbecue instead of the oven for the last hour. Use a grilling tray so the chicken doesn't stick to the grilles.


Let rest before chopping into serving pieces.

Ingredients for the mango-lime chilli sauce:


1 1/4 c. pure mango juice
juice and grated rind of 1 lime
5 tsps. white sugar

2 tsps. corn flour

1 tbsp. water
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 red fingr chilli, chopped
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
4 tsps. fish sauce


Put the mango and lime juice and the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar melts. Disperse the corn flour in the water and add to the mixture in the saucepan to thicken. Leave to simmer for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir and bring back to a boil. Take off the heat and transfer to a jug or gravy boat to stop it cooking further. Serve with the chicken.

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Chicken Inasal

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

THAI STYLE MUSSEL PANCAKE

Not the usual pancake from IHOP. This is a savoury and exciting pancake with mussels. This pancake has all the exciting flavours of the Orient. The best feature is a whole egg in the middle. Eggs feature a lot in Oriental cuisines, often in fried form. Everything seems nicer when served with eggs. Fried eggs are so seductive when the liquid yolks ooze out, don't you think so? If in doubt, just add fried eggs. That seems to be the running culinary motto.

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. 

VIETNAMESE FRIED SPRING ROLLS

It is quite ironic that I never got to know the cuisines of the other Southeast Asian countries until I moved away from the Philippnes and came to London. Being a melting pot of different cultures, the food here is so varied and interesting. 

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. 

CHEESE ICE CREAM

"Sorbetes! Sorbetes!" The ice cream man heralds his arrival with a shout and the ringing of a hand bell. Sorbetes is the Tagalog word for ice cream. Children playing in the streets, all hot and bothered, would run and swarm around him upon hearing this magic word. Such is a daily afternoon scene in every street in the Philippines. 

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

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   (Inihaw na Liempo)

                                   
                                                       

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

FRESH RICE PAPER SPRING ROLLS

The British summer is so short. It is always gone before you even know that it's there. When the sun shines everyone scampers out of their houses and goes outdoors. 

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.

TAHO (SOY MILK JUNKET)

Every day, people wait for the distinctive holler of the vendor: "Taho! taho!". This signals for them to come out of their houses for their daily dose of their beloved comfort food. Both children and adults get excited to get their fix.