Halayang Ube

Estimated preparation and cooking time: 2 hours

Halayang Ube Ingredients:

·    1 kilo ube yam root

·    1 can (14 ounces) evaporated milk

·    2 cans (12 ounces) condensed milk

·    1/2 cup butter or margarine

·    1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)

Halayang Ube Cooking Instructions:

·    On a pot, boil the unpeeled ube yam in water and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and let cool.

·    Peel and finely grate the ube yam.

·    Heat a big wok in medium heat.

·    Melt butter or margarine, add the condensed milk and vanilla flavoring. Mix well.

·    Add the 1 kilo grated ube yam,

·    Adjust the heat to low

·    Keep on mixing the ingredients for about 30 minutes or until sticky and a bit dry (but still moist).

·    Add the evaporated milk and continue to mix for another 15 minutes.

·    Let cool and place on a large platter.

·    Refrigerate before serving the halayang ube.

Cooking Tips:

·    You may spread additional butter or margarine on top of the jam before serving.

·    For the sweet toothed, sprinkle a little sugar on top of the jam after placing on the large platter.

·    Instead of manually grating the ube, you may cut it in cubes and use a blender to powderize the ube.

Kare Kare

Estimated cooking time: 2 hours

Kare Kare Ingredients:

·    1 kilo of beef (round or sirloin cut) cut into cubes, beef tripe or oxtail (cut 2 inch long) or a combination of all three (beef, tripe and oxtail)

·    3 cups of peanut butter

·    1/4 cup grounded toasted rice

·    1/2 cup cooked bagoong alamang (anchovies)

·    2 pieces onions, diced

·    2 heads of garlic, minced

·    4 tablespoons atsuete oil

·    4 pieces eggplant, sliced 1 inch thick

·    1 bundle Pechay (Bok choy) cut into 2 pieces

·    1 bundle of sitaw (string beans) cut to 2" long

·    1 banana bud, cut similar to eggplant slices, blanch in boiling water

·    1/2 cup oil

·    8 cups of water

·    Salt to taste

Kare Kare Cooking Instructions:

·    In a stock pot, boil beef, tripe and oxtails in water for an hour or until cooked. Strain and keep the stock.

·    In a big pan or wok, heat oil and atsuete oil.

·    Sauté garlic, onions until golden brown, then add the stock, toasted rice, beef, oxtail and peanut butter. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Salt to taste.

·    Add the eggplant, string beans, pechay and banana bud. Cook the vegetables for a few minutes - Do not overcook the vegetables.

·    Serve with bagoong on the side and hot plain rice.

Pork Kilawin

Estimated cooking time:

Pork Kilawin Ingredients:

·    1 kilo pork

·    1/3 cup soy sauce

·    1/2 cup Vinegar

·    2 medium onions, chopped

·    4 cups of water

·    1 teaspoon salt

Pork Kilawin Cooking Instructions:

·    In a casserole, put pork in water and some salt.

·    Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the pork is tender and the skin is soft.

·    Remove pork from water.

·    Slice the pork into bite sized pieces while still hot.

·    Place in a bowl and add vinegar, soy sauce and chopped, uncooked onions.

·    Serve immediately!

Pork Sinigang

Estimated cooking and preparation time: 1 hour

Pork Sinigang Ingredients:

·    3/4 kilo Pork, cut into chunks

·    3 tomatoes, sliced

·    2 onions, diced

·    5 cloves of garlic, minced

·    100 grams Kangkong (river spinach)

·    100 grams String beans

·    2 pieces horse radishes, sliced

·    3 pieces gabi (taro), pealed

·    2 pieces sili pag sigang (green finger pepper)

·    200 grams sampalok (tamarind)

·    3 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

·    1 liter of rice wash or water

Sinigang Cooking Instructions:

• Boil sampalok in water until the shell shows cracks. Let cool then peal off the shells and with a strainer, pour samplalok (including water) into a bowl. Gently massage the sampalok meat off the seeds, strain again.
• In a pot, sauté garlic and onion then add the tomatoes. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add pork and fish sauce then add the rice wash. Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes then add the gabi. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the pork is tender.
• Add the horse radish and simmer for 10 minutes then add the string beans, kangkong and sili (for spice-optional). Let boil for 2 minutes.
• Serve piping hot.

Sinigang Cooking Tip:

·       Instead of sampalok fruit (tamarind), you can substitute it with any commercial souring seasoning like Knorr sampalok seasoning or tamarind bouillon cubes for this pork sinigang recipe.

Beef Guisado

Estimated cooking time: 30 minutes.

Beef Guisado Ingredients:

·    1 kilo beef tenderloin, cut into strips

·    3 tomatoes, sliced

·    2 onions, finely chopped

·    1 small head minced garlic

·    1/4 cup soy sauce

·    4 cups of beef broth or bouillon

·    1 teaspoon of salt

·    1/2 teaspoon pepper

·    4 tablespoons of cooking oil

Guisado Cooking Instructions:

·    Heat oil in a cooking pan.

·    Sauté the garlic and onions.

·    Add the sliced tomatoes

·    Then add the beef, soy sauce, beef broth, salt and pepper.

·    Bring to a boil then simmer until beef is tender.

Cooking Tips:

·    The above beef guisado recipe can be used for vegetables and other meats.

·    For vegetable dishes, replace the beef with about 200 grams of pork and add the vegetable (e.g. Baguio beans). The salt and pepper can be omitted.

·    Reduce the broth to 2 cups for vegetable dishes or use plain water instead.

Mixed Seafood with Oyster Sauce Recipe

Estimated cooking time: 30 minutes

Seafood with Oyster Sauce Ingredients:

·    1 kilo of seafood (any one or a combination of crabs, prawns, squid, clams, mussels and any seafood)

·    1 large onion, diced

·    spring onions (cut 1 inch long)

·    1 thumb sized ginger, sliced into strips

·    1/2 teaspoon of sugar or monosodium glutamate

·    1/3 cup of oyster sauce

·    2 pieces green finger pepper (sili pag sigang) chopped

·    3 table spoons of cooking oil or olive oil

·    1/3 cup water

·    Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

·    Cut crabs into 2 or 4 if very big

·    Steam crabs and prawns for 5 minutes

·    Clean squid and cut into 1 inch long sections

·    On a big wok, sauté garlic until golden brown, then add ginger and onions, sauté for a minute more

·    Add water and bring to a boil

·    Add squid, clams, mussels and other uncooked seafood.

·    Boil for 5 minutes

·    Add crabs and shrimp

·    Add the oyster sauce

·    Salt and pepper to taste

·    Sprinkle the sugar or monosodium glutamate (vetsin)

·    Add the long green chili

·    Mix well and bring to a boil

·    Simmer for 3 minutes

·    Serve hot with steamed rice

Seafood with Oyster Sauce Cooking Tips:

·    Add the long green chili earlier if you prefer your mixed seafood with oyster sauce hot.

·    The above recipe can be used for just one type of seafood like crabs only or a combination of many including fish.