Unfortunately, veal was not available at the commissary this week so I had to subsitute my wiener schnitzel with breaded pork chops.  But red cabbages are always available in any supermarket and that was enough to build on the German-style dinner I had in mind. There was a sale on Andre Spumante and Champagne that day we were at the base exchange so I grabbed a bottle of Spumante for $3.45 especially for this meal.

Pickled Red Cabbage:

1 head red cabbage, julienned

1/4 c. butter

6 tbsps. sugar

2/3 c. sherry or balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large stock pot.  Add cabbage and cook until it’s wilted about 6 minutes, adding dashes of salt while cooking.  Add the sugar and vinegar to the cabbage and stir carefully.  Cover the pot and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every now and then so the cabbage is well coated with what will be your sauce.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper according to taste.

Breaded Pork Chops

1.2 lbs. thick pork loin chops

1 beaten egg

2 c. Italian-style breadcrumbs

vegetable oil

salt and pepper to taste

Dry chops with a paper towel.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dip chops into bread crumbs, then into beaten eggs, and back to the bread crumbs.  I like to use wax paper for my breadcrumbs rather than a plate.  You can shift the crumbs and the chops as you go and there’s one less plate for the dishwasher.

Heat a heavy skillet and add enough oil to go halfway up your chops.  When the surface of the oil starts to ripple, carefully put in the chops one at a time.  Cook over medium heat about 4 minutes per side or until lightly browned.  Transfer to a rack and put in a hot (300F) oven for about 10 minutes to cook through and let the oil drain.

Potato Salad

4 small pieces red potatos, boiled

1/3 c. mayonnaise

1-2 tbsp. brown mustard

1-2 tbsp. chopped dill pickle

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and quarter potatoes and mix with other ingredients in a small bowl.? Serve warm.

I used my 12-inch cast iron skillet for the chops.  It’s the best investment I ever made in the kitchen.  No matter what gadget, small appliance or fancy device or expensive cookware I compare it to – this stands out and is the one thing I bought for the kitchen I will always treasure.  It does require some care but not much if you think of all the years of reliable and versatile cooking you can get out of it.

Now there’s an idea for a future post!

Another entry for Lasang Pinoy’s 20th Edition titled “Binalot – All Wrapped Up!”. This dish is simply called “Binalot” by Bicolanos. It’s shrimp and coconut meat wrapped in gabi leaves then stewed and braised in coconut cream and herbs and spices.

This is one dish I’d never seen or tasted before but it intrigued me no end when Youngest Sister first told me about it. I asked two native Bicolanas I know about it. One was our laundrywoman who also plants and sells vegetables for a sideline. She also brought me the fresh taro leaves and herbs I needed. Actually, she brought me a whole lot of leaves yesterday…but more on that in the next post.

Apparently, I made one big mistake according to Youngest Sister. The wrap should have less stuffing and more of the leaves. I only used one large taro leaf per pouch. It would have been more interesting with more layers of leaves soaking up the coconut cream. She said I also should have let it dry further, till only the coconut oils are left in the pan. My big worry during cooking was drying it up too much that the pouches were going to burn! It turned out alright. My sister said it was delicious, and suprisingly, my husband loved it.

I had a little problem sourcing the coconut meat for the stuffing. You need to use the “bucayo-stage” coconut meat. There are several stages to a coconut: mala-uhog (literally, snot-like), mala-kanin (rice-like, for salads), bucayo (thick meat but not mature enough to yield coconut milk), niyog (mature, for milk extraction mainly). I asked our buko-man who peddles fresh young coconuts in our neighborhood to find me some and deliver it the next day. He didn’t show, so I assumed he didn’t find any. I went to the small market a few blocks away from our place and found the mature coconuts but not the bucayo ones. I saw a buko cart sitting nearby, but the buko-man was nowhere to be found. We waited, and waited…people stopped to buy his buko and kind-hearted strangers started selling them buko juice and leaving the money in a jar which the buko-man also left!

Finally he shows up and explains he went for his mid-morning snack. He picks me a green coconut with flecks of brown on it, but it isn’t bucayo…more like mala-kanin. But what do I know, so I take it. I spy another coconut in the corner of his cart. It had more flecks of brown on the surface so I asked him to try that one. Voila! It was perfect!

Lemongrass and herba buena is also used to flavor this dish. Herba buena is something my laundrywoman says is different from the local oregano, but she brought me fresh oregano anyway. The heart-shaped taro leaf is what I used for a backdrop to showcase these two herbs.

Now for the recipe. I’ll try to give you details as experienced by a first-timer. I’ll also point out where the mistakes were made so you can decide how to proceed when you try this recipe.

The Recipe:

shredded meat of about 2 bucayo-stage coconuts, about 3 cups (1 coconut will do)

1/4 kilo fresh shrimp, peeled and roughly chopped

about 4 c. milk of 3 mature coconuts, extracted with about 3/4 c. water added

12-15 taro leaves for wrapping, lightly wiped with a damp cloth to remove any debris. If you get rust stains on your cloth, it’s not mud, just the sap from the leaf. Be sure to cut the stem at the center of the leaf so it’s easier for wrapping. Just cut it with a knife till it’s flat.
about 6 leaves fresh Philippine oregano

about 2 stalks lemongrass, washed and cut in 1-inch pieces, pound with the back of a knife to release the flavors

5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 large onion, peeled and minced

2-inch ginger root, peeled and sliced thin

2-3 siling haba or pepperoncini peppers

2-3 bird chilis or any hot chili you prefer

1 tsp. rock salt

2 tbsps. fish sauce

latik

coconut leaf rib or kitchen twine for tying the pouches

There’s a lot of prep work for the ingredients but once you have it all ready, the next step is just wrapping and cooking.

Lay out a taro leaf on a small tray and place about 2 tablespoons of the coconut meat, Top it with a tablespoon of shrimp. Wrap as you would a paper envelope and tuck in the last flap into a fold. Repeat the wrapping 3 times with more leaves. Tie it lightly just to keep it from unravelling during the cooking. Repeat till you’re out of stuffing and leaves, after making about 4 pouches.

My mistake here was putting more stuffing than was necessary, about 1/2 c. coconut meat and 1/4 c. shrimp and just using one leaf to wrap it. This made my pouches quite flimsy.

In a flat-bottomed casserole, place the rest of the ingredients minus the liquids.

Set your pouches over this and pour the coconut milk over it. Add the fish sauce and cook covered over medium heat about 1.5 hours or until the sauce is gone and you are left with nothing but the coconut oils covering the bottom of your pan.

Since the pouches will be sturdier wrapped in more leaves, you can then turn it over once in the middle of the cooking.

Serve individual pouches unwrapped at the top and sprinkled with latik.

Mine started off with a vegetarian squash, longbeans and coconut milk stew. Actually, I’ve featured this same Guinataang Sitaw and Kalabasa recipe in the past but the pot looked so invitingly good that day, I took another photo to show off here. There is a slight variation though – can you spot it?
The only difference with the first recipe and this one was the addition of squash tops. As I’d mentioned in another post, the monster squash vines have been growing in the yard. This was the same day the laundrywoman came to tend the garden and she took a snip of some squash tops which, unlike in the past when I had to run to my mother with a bunch of them for her to prepare, I did all the prep work this time. Of course, it was just a handful so it didn’t require Olympian efforts at all…

This is a salad my mom came up with way back when I was in my teens. It’s a very Filipino salad using the commonly used vegetables, bataw or hyacinth bean and sigadillas, also called winged bean in English. This is just another was you can use these readily available vegetables, aside from adding it to the usual sinigang or pinakbet.  So I hope you’ll give it a try.

My mother’s cleaning lady, who also does our cleaning and ironing, is a green thumb who plants every available space in her neighborhood with all kinds of vegetables. She peddles her greens and supplies a few stores around the area as well. But with 7 kids and an unemployed husband, she needs to makes extra money cleaning and doing odd jobs for her customers.  Life is hard for this woman but she just keeps trudging along and I really admire her for her fortitude.
That morning, she came by with large bunches of these two vegetables and was selling it for a song. I regretted not taking a photo, they were so freshly picked and would have made a good one. Anyway, this salad’s success is really dependent on the freshness of the vegetables. They are tender and crisp and sweetish at this point.

Soon as I saw them, I immediately thought of this salad and my mother gamely got started. This is served with a typical Filipino ensalada vinaigrette of vinegar, sugar, salt and black pepper.

In the past, my mother used to cut the vegetables diagonally in about half-inch strips and parboiled them before setting them on a plate. This time she just cut it in 1-inch pieces and parboiled. Top it with some thinly sliced onions, tomatoes and a sliced hard boiled egg and pour the vinaigrette over it. We skipped the egg this time for some reason…but it was just as good as I remember it.

Serve warm or chilled.

I looked around for the English translation of this commonly used vegetable in the Philippines which we call “upo” and  almost identified it as winter melon.  Apparently, the winter melon is  “kundol” back home.  This vegetable pictured above is a bottle gourd.  It’s a light and delicately flavored vegetable we often use sauted with pork and shrimps or dried fish. 

A Chinese friend of mine said that a winter melon is a good vegetable to “…keep you cool when you’re heaty” and I found that description to be so accurate.  Just like the winter melon, which is actually a gourd and not a melon, ”upo” makes a great soup in the summer or the tropics and perhaps does lower your body temperature, though I have no proof of that.

This time, I thought I’d try cooking it using a Chinese-style recipe that commonly uses winter melon.  It turned out really good for something I just came up with based on what I’ve had in the past.  I will have to do more research on a written recipe and then make improvements.  Perhaps I could add more vegetables for aesthetics and improve the color and texture of the dish. 

My soup was also milky which is a big no-no in  winter melon soups.  I will have to make changes in my cooking method.  That same Chinese friend I mentioned showed me how particular they were with making sure the broth was clear by parboiling the meat (it was pork in that particular case) prior to cooking.  The froth that came up to the top was not just thrown away, all the liquid was thrown out.  So he used only a small amount of water to parboil the meat.  Accoridng to him, the blood and impurities from the meat is removed in the parboiling stage leaving you with a clear broth in the final dish.  Those impurities he said were not good for your health.  I’ve always thought it was a waste to throw out that good stock and probably tried it only once.  But yes, doing it the Chinese way does leave you with a cleaner-tasting broth that’s clear and pleasing.

For now, this is a good and easy recipe when you’re in the mood for a Chinese soup that satisfies.

Chicken and Bottle Gourd Soup

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced thin in 1-inch strips

1 small bottle gourd, peeled and sliced about 1 x 1/4 in. strips (seeded if they are more mature)

1 2-in. piece of ginger, sliced thin (more if you want the soup hotter)

6 pieces dried Chinese mushrooms. rehydrated and sliced in strips

4 c. water

about 2 tbsps. chicken bouillon

salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a stock pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer and cook until the gourd is translucent, about 20 minutes in high altitude.  Correct for seasoning.

Serve immediately.

If you haven’t tried the Daikon Raddish, you’re missing something.  It’s a root vegetable that’s also called a Japanese raddish, Chinese raddish and Satsuma raddish.  Filipinos call it labanos.

This is more commonly sauteed with garlic, onions and tomatoes  or cooked with sinigang.  I hope this won’t freak anyone out, but we also mix in some beef spleen along with the saute.  It’s delicious! 

I haven’t attempted that dish since moving to the US because beef spleen is not readily available in stores here.  I also have some issues with frozen innards that may be a week or a month old.  What I’ve been using is ground beef.  Spouse likes that very much too.

But this one is a Pickled Daikon my mother would make to serve with her fried fish.  If made a day or two before serving and left in the refrigerator, it will produce this very strong odor which is not very pleasant.  But fresh, with the daikon still crisp…it makes  perfect pairing for fried fish. 

For the pickle, peel and cut a medium-sized daikon into matchstick slices.  Rinse in cold water and drain. 

In a small saucepan, mix about a third of a cup of cider vinegar, 3 tbsps. sugar, a pinch of salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  Bring this to a boil over high heat and immediately transfer to a small bowl.  Add the raddish, cover and refrigerate. Serve cold.

NOTE:  My portions are approximate, please use your own taste to guide you.

Longbeans and Squash cooked in coconut milk. This is plain “guinataan” unlike the spiced-up Squash Curry I previously made. Like the squash, I made this without any meats or shrimps.  Normally, I’d put in some “alugbati” leaves but they’re unavailable where I am.  I haven’t had alugbati in years…..ohhhh…what I’d give for another taste of that vegetable!

This was cooked the way my mother makes guinataan, with a little dash of vinegar at the simmering vegetables just before turning off the heat.  I served it with some lechon kawali I got from the Filipino Sari-Sari Store which was a bit under done for my taste.  The lechon came out just right after I broiled it in the oven for a few minutes. 

The Longbeans and Squash wasn’t perfect.  I’d prefer the sweetness of fresh coconut milk anyday…and the butternut squash I used was too pale, both in color and flavor.  But Spouse loved it the way it was and didn’t even touch the lechon.  I’ll bet he’ll like guinataan even more when we move back to the Philippines where ingredients like these can be had fresh.

This is easy to prepare.  Just put the following in a wok:  2 mashed garlic cloves, 1 diced onion, 1 2 in. pc. peeleed and sliced ginger, a dash of red pepper flakes/small labuyo peppers to taste, 1/4 c. fish sauce or shrimp paste, cubed squash, bunch of longbeans cut in 1-in. lengths and a can of coconut milk.  Bring it to a boil over medium high heat and simmer until the vegetables are done. 

Bring it to a boil one last time and add a dash of vinegar.  Correct seasonings and serve hot over steamed rice.

Got gout?  Here’s something you can eat that won’t do you harm.  It’s a Squash Curry that we normally would prepare with pork and/or shrimps.  It’s just as tasty without the meat and quite healthy.  Turmeric is a main ingredient in curry powder and is widely known to be good for gout.  I didn’t use any fish sauce here, but you can if you want to.

Coconut milk gives it a good boost of flavor.  The fact that coconut also has its own oils will make this dish rich without being unhealthy.  Contrary to what some sectors have been touting for years, coconut oil is not bad for your health.  It’s what you put in with it that can kill you.

Squash Curry

2 tbsps. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

about 1 x 1 in. piece ginger, sliced

about 2 tbsps.  yellow curry powder

1 tbsp. fish sauce (optional)

1 can cocounut milk

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut in 1×1 in. pieces

salt and pepper to taste

chopped parsley

Heat oil in a wok over medium heat.  Add onions and curry powder and cook slowly about 10 minutes.  Add garlic and ginger and cook another 20 minutes.  Season with salt or a tablespoon of fish sauce.

Now add coconut milk and squash.  Bring to a boil and lower heat.  Simmer till the squash is tender.  This will take from 5-10 minutes depending on the squash.  Season to taste and add chopped parsley before turning off the heat.

Serve over steamed jasmine rice.

Sounds almost like an expletive, doesn’t it?  ”Cap Cai this, you!!!!” … excuse the weird sense of humor….

I made this dish to go with my siopao buns which, unfortunately, didn’t look worthy enough to be photographed. I thought a light vegetable dish would be a nice pairing with the sweetish buns.  It was perfect.

I first encountered Cap Cai in Jakarta, minus the noodles though.  It was just everywhere and reminded me of the chop suey we know in Manila, but not quite. Now I learned it’s Hokien in origin. I also found a simpler version, with just a bit of noodles like bean threads or bihon.  It’s vegetarian and really quite delicious in its simplicity.  Call it Chop Suey in its simplest form…

Cap Cai

2 tbsps.?cooking oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 medium sized carrot, peeled and sliced digaonally

2 dried Chinese mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and sliced .1-in. on the diagonal

1 large celery stalk, sliced on the diagonal

5 green onion leaves, cleaned and cut 1-in. on the diagonal

1 small head Chinese cabbage (Pechay Baguio) cut in 1.5-inch slices

1/2 c. softened bihon noodles

1/2 c. water

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

Heat the oil in a wok over medium hight heat.  Add the garlic and stir fry for about a minute, add the mushrooms and stir fry a couple more minutes.  Add carrots, stir fry another minute and add the rest of the ingredients, minus the water.

Stir fry a couple of minutes, then add the water. Cover and lower heat to simmer about 3 minutes or until your vegetables are cooked crisp-tender. Correct seasonings before serving.  Always serve piping hot.

Look at that sensuous steam rising from my pot of sauteed long beans!  I took the photo while it was cooking because the colors were still so vibrant….but the steam muted the colors just a little bit. Oh well.

This is a sauteed, all-in-one dish of Asian long beans, what we Filipinos call sitaw. Sauteeing (guisado) a little meat with vegetables is a standard way of cooking everyday Filipino foods.  You start with a hot wok, a little oil then throw in the mashed garlic and cook till they’re almost brown; follow with the onions till they’re translucent; the pre-boiled meat which is usually pork and/or shrimps; fish sauce; tomatoes, if the dish requires it; the broth or shrimp juice then finally, whatever vegetable you have on hand that day.  It’s a quick and healthy way to prepare a meal and is also the basic way to start a variety of dishes including the popular pancit and vegetable lumpia.

Guinisang sitaw usually uses pre-boiled pork and peeled, fresh shrimp. The shrimp shells and head are pound into a paste and diluted in water and the result is passed thru a sieve and splashed onto the cooking meats with some fish sauce.  If you have a Filipino neighbor in your apartment building and wondered what the delicious smells wafting from his kitchen are… this is probably it.

I’m allergic to shrimps and have difficulty finding pork with all the fat and skin on that is required for this dish. Sometimes, you can also fry the pork in its own fat until they’re crisp and use that instead of just plain, boiled pork. Oh, that is good!

I use ground beef  instead.  My beef-eating American Spouse prefers it this way.

Guinisang Sitaw

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed

1 medium white onion, diced

1 lb. ground beef

1 big tomato, diced

2-3 tbsps. fish sauce

4-5 c. long beans, cut in 1-inch length

salt and pepper to taste

Cook as described above.  Allow the long beans to cook until tender, this batch took about 10 minutes.