Foodie Fridays: Pork Sinigang sa Mustasa

My mustasa plant was very prolific when we were in Singapore. I had to think about what other dishes to use it on. We usually had it with our favorite beef mustasa taco-like dish. After some research I found out you can use mustasa for sinigang. It was hard to find some of the usual ingredients so I just replaced gabi with radish. 

It turned out well. Sweetie and I enjoyed the dish especially since the mustasa came fresh from our balcony garden. This is something I hope I could successfully do again here. Will try planting mustasa again soon. 

Here's how we made the pork sinigang sa mustasa -

Full recipe here: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2023/03/recipes-for-my-son-pork-sinigang-sa.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

Have You Tried Mushroom Sisig?

I saw an ad on FB about kabute sisig (mushroom sisig). I got curious and clicked on the ad. The product is made by "The Kabute Farm".  They are based in Lucban, Quezon which is my Dad's hometown. I figured it probably tastes good because it's from Lucban so I ordered a few packets. 

Got a message yesterday morning that they were going to deliver the frozen mushroom sisig. Soon enough the Toktok rider arrived and I told the boys we'll have sisig for dinner. Cooking was easy after defrosting the packet. I wasn't sure if 300 grams was enough for the three of us so I decided to cook 2 packets. Added some olive oil on the pan and sauteed the mushroom sisig in low heat for five minutes. Well, Miggy had to take over cooking because I cut my thumb while washing a pair of scissors (whoops!). 

Miggy made some sinangag and fried egg to go with the mushroom sisig. I brought out a bottle of Knorr liquid seasoning since it usually goes well with sisig. I was anticipating that the sisig would taste like mushrooms, but it didn't. It tasted like your regular pork, yummy sisig. It was like Gerry's Grill/Giligan's sisig, but without the oily flavor. It was really good and I was surprised it was really filling. I'll definitely order again soon!* 

Next time I'll probably order some of their Vegan Mushroom Sisig Pizza. Just a thought since they're based in Lucban, maybe they can also make mushroom longganisa? I'm not sure how feasible that is, but maybe they can try. I'm happy to be their guinea pig hehehe. This was a really good buy for us since we've been building a new set of healthier meals we could have at home. 

#Home48 #NewG198 #Xmas4 #StayHome #BeKind  

*You can order via The Kabute Farm website

I Cooked Pinoy Barbecue Because I Spent My Lunch Money on Baby Yoda

Baby Yoda used his jedi powers on me last week. I made an unplanned purchase. I do have "celebration budget" which I set aside for wants, but I had already spent my celebration budget on something this month so this purchase had to be charged to my "lunch money". 

To earn back my spontaneous purchase I decided to cook as much as I could for the rest of the week. I'm also feeling much better now so I told myself I had to get moving. I finally found a grill pan I could use on our induction stove. I bought it via Lazada and finally put it to good use last weekend. 

It's been years since we last grilled anything. We had an electric griller in Manila, but it was so hard to clean we just gave up using it. I miss eating Pinoy barbecue so I was set on making some even it meant having a hard time cleaning the grill pan. 

Grill pan bought via Lazada.

On Saturday I marinated the meat using my Datu Puti barbecue marinade. I just added a bit of salt, the marinade and garlic. Covered it and left it in the fridge of marinate overnight. Sunday came and I set to work to grill the meat. Ended up cooking a lot! It turned out well and I think I've paid my dues to Baby Yoda haha. 

The finished product - Pinoy barbecue! It'll take us a few days to finish hehe.

And grill? Oh my it had a lot of residue that couldn't be removed with a sponge. I did some research and found out you can use baking soda and salt with hot water to help soften the residue. I did that and used a brush to  remove the residue. It came off easily! I'm so excited because this means I could try grilling other dishes! 

Do you have any suggestions for me to grill?

CB//195 #StuckAtHomeDay/225 #WFH132 #StayHome #BeKind

Lakwatsa Scenarios We Think About on Weekends

I've been sick the last few days and so I've just been resting mostly on the couch during the day. Doctor said my tests have come back normal so my illness is probably because of an imbalance from taking blood thinners. My doctor has taken me off it and I'm waiting for his advise on what to do next since I still feel weak and dizzy at times. I'm not sure why it happened, I hope it means I'll be off blood thinners from now on? 

Anyway, one of my friends pinged today and we talked about what she'd like to do for herself. She mentioned domestic and international travel. That got me thinking about places I miss visiting and places I'd like to explore more once it's safe for me to travel. On weekends, Sweetie and I usually have this conversation -

I think this was at SM Makati last December.

Sweetie: I'll go down to warm up the car and then you follow.

Me: Okay! We'll have lunch in Glorietta?

Sweetie: Yes, then we'll hear mass at Landmark and buy hopia after. 

Me: Yay! I'm so excited! Can we pass by National Bookstore too? 

Yup we're a little crazy like that, although we've been doing that since we moved to Singapore. That's how a typical Sunday is for us when we are in Manila. 

Aside from our usual haunts we always talk about food we miss from back home... 

Like, Dayrit's

My favorite cheeseburger.

Makati Supermart spaghetti

My all-time favorite spaghetti.

Max's

Banana ketchup anyone?

Jollibee (of course)

Jollibee forever!

And even McDonald's coz they have spaghetti over there

This was many, many years ago in McDonald's Bali.

Even Chowking

I attended a Chowking event once...

Commune - I super miss the longganisa pasta!

It's not only about the food in Commune, but also the company.

Don Henrico's - buffalo wings please!

Of course, let's not forget Shakey's!

Sbarro, Pixie's Sinugba, turon at SM! I haven't included here my favorite milk tea places! I'll reserve that for my Tea, Completely blog.

For now we just dream.

#CB31 #StayHome #BeKind

Lockdown Easy-to-Cook Recipes

I've been teaching Miggy to cook by taking videos whenever I cook. This way he can also see visually how I make things. I was so surprised to see that I've made quite a lot of dishes already. Thought I'd make a summary here to help friends who are also stuck at home and want to learn how to cook. I guess this would be useful for foreign friends who'd like to learn Filipino dishes. 

Top on the list of course is, chicken adobo! This dish is so easy to make. The key though is to use Filipino soy sauce and vinegar. 

Second easy to make dish, pork steak. This is originally bistek Tagalog, but I find it hard to soften beef. If you want to use beef, just use beef instead of pork. I tried using Kikkoman instead of Datu Puti soy sauce, I ended up having to add a lot of water because it turned out too salty. 

My friends have been telling me that they miss my spaghetti. It's not your usually sweet Pinoy spaghetti. It was my seatmate from work who taught me how to make this spaghetti. 

And our favorite baked salmon is a frequent dish I make especially during lent.  

For those who love veggies, here's pinakbet. It was my first time to make this my friend Buddy from the onlinepalengke.com sent me a box of vegetables last Christmas.

#CB30 #StayHome #BeKind

Can't Live Without Pinoy Food

Since I got home a few weeks ago I've been eating more Pinoy dishes. One of the drawbacks about living abroad is the availability of more Filipino food options. There's a Filipino food stall in the mall near our home, but they have limited options. Here's a few favorites I've been nomnoming on again and again the last few weeks -

Barbecue (pork/tuna/hotdog)

Grilled bangus

Chicken (lechon manok/Don Hen buffalo wings/Max's fried chicken)

Kwek-kwek, fishball / other street food

Mojos

Silog (tocilog/tapsilog/longsilog)

Bakery Goods like Goldilocks/Red Ribbon/Becky's Kitchen (ensaymada, mamon and other yummy pastries

Sisig

Lumpia

 Makati Supermart spaghetti

Banana snacks (turon and banana cue)

Pinoy breakfast bread (Pandesal and Spanish bread)

















Fruit shakes (mango especially)

Baked scallops (my fave is from AA BBQ in Cebu)
















Ube from Good Shepherd















I would have included adobo, sinigang and Jollibee on the list, but I can cook adobo and sinigang and there's now 6 Jollibee branches in Singapore. I could think of a gazillion other dishes and snacks, but the ones I've mentioned are the ones top of mind for now.

What about you? If you're a Filipino living abroad, what other dishes/snacks/Pinoy food you wish was easily available?