Kare-Kare Bento

  

Bento is a Japanese lunchbox filled with variety of food, arrange like an art form. For our version of Bento we made Kare-Kare Bento. Unlike the authentic bento where you can find variety of meat and vegetables, our Kare-Kare bento is a one dish meal that is deconstructed to resemble a bento meal.  

The Kare-Kare recipe below is quick and modified to reduce the time and effort needed in making Kare-Kare.

Kare-Kare Bento

Ingredients:

½ kilo beef/ox tripe (boiled with celery, carrots and onions until tender)

1 instant kare-kare mix

3 tablespoon peanut butter

¼ cup oil

1 cups of pork broth

1 cup string beans

1 cup eggplant

1 cup pechay

Procedure:

1. Saute meat in peanut butter, then add water. Bring to boil

2. Once the mixture thickens, add the dissolved instant kare-kare mix.

3. Add the vegetables. Remove from the pan and set it aside once half cooked.

4. Season the dish with salt if needed.

5. Arrange vegetables and meat in a lunch box. Pour in kare-kare sauce.

                To compliment the dish cook some ginisang alamang. For the recipe:

Ginisang Alamang

Ingredients:

1 cup bagoong alamang (cleaned and washed)

1 cup pork fat

2 ripe tomatoes

10 cloves garlic, chopped

3 red chilis chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

Procedure:

1. Fry the pork fat until crispy.

2. Add the garlic. Saute until golden brown.

3. Add the tomatoes. Saute until wilted.

4. Add the bagoong alamang. Saute until fried. Add more oil if needed.

5. Add the sugar and chilis.

                Having something to look forward to for office lunch can ease the Monday blues. J

Weekend Comfort Food: Pocherong Pata

Weekend is always spent with family. Most of the time we have scheduled work on weekends, so we maximize our time by spending a meal together every dinner. One of the things that we cook is Pocherong Pata. It is similar to Lauya, but we call it Pochero, just like how my aunt calls it when she handed me over the recipe of this dish.

Pocherong Pata

Ingredients:

½ kilo pata/pork knuckels

1/4 cup fish sauce

½ cup chopped onions

4 ripe tomatoes diced

4 cloves garlic

¼ cup oil

4 cups of water

1 cup sweet potato

3 bananas (saba)

1 cabbage head

2 green chilis

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Saute onions, garlic and tomatoes until wilted. Add water. Bring to boil

2. Add pata. Season with patis. Boil until tender.

3. Add sweet potato and saba. Cook until tender.

4. Season with salt and pepper. Add cabbage until half cooked.

5. Arrange vegetables and meat in a bowl. Pour broth before serving.

                To balance the sweetness of the dish, you may serve it with ginisang bagoong alamang or daing.  Vegetables like green beans can also be added to the dish. Happy Weekend J

Summer Lunch

Lunch seems to be the most exhausting meal for a summer weekend. Sometimes you just want to be transported to the beach in order to tolerate the scorching heat.

Even satisfying a craving for some Inihaw na Liempo requires a lot of patience and hardwork, as you need to get broiled as well under the heat of the sun in order to get it done.

So for this weekend, I decided to make things simple. In the four corners of our kitchen, we decided to broil liempo in a pan. :)

Inihaw na Liempo sa Kawali

Ingredients:

1 kilo liempo (skin removed)

1/4 cup kalamansi

1/4 cup kikkoman soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon sinigang mix

1/4 tablespoon kalamansi rind

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Combine all ingredients. Marinate for two hours.

2. Heat pan.

3. Put the liempo with marinade in a pan. Cook until the liquid is absorbed.

4. Lower the heat, fry the liempo until brown crust is formed. No need to add oil.

5. Served with spiced vinegar/kalamansi  and soy sauce. Add some red hot chili to the sauce for an added kick.

  

For the side dish, go for Bulanglang na Dahon.

Bulanglang na Dahon

Ingredients:

1 cup saluyot leaves

1 cup kangkong leaves

1 cup sili leaves

1 cup kamote leaves

broiled milkfish/bangus  head

1 large ripe tomato

1 red onion

1 cup water

1/4 cup bagoong isda

Procedure:

1. Boil fry/broiled milkfish (bangus) head with tomato and onion.

2. Once tomato and onion is wilted, add the bagoong isda.

3. Add saluyot, kangkong, sili and kamote leaves.

4. Serve immediately.

Bulanglang na Dahon is an Ilocano dish which is usually served with broiled meat or fish. To achieve the authentic taste, it is always a must to cook the broth with fried or broiled fish.

To top it up have some piping hot rice and ice cold softdrinks to complete the summer lunch. After the meal, have some sweet banana or some slices of watermelon. Yum :)

Yummy Baon: Tunying’s Tapa

                 In the province my dad makes yummy pork tapa. The pork is sun dried to preserve it for a longer period of time. Since it is not possible to do such in the metro, we just marinate the pork and then fry it after a day.

                This dish is one of Rhian’s favorite school “baon” and breakfast. It is easy to prepare and it healthier compared to processed meats. It is more economical as well.

                Here is my dad’s yummy recipe:

1 kilo pork strips (sliced thinly)

¼ cup soy sauce

10 garlic cloves mashed

8 cup kalamansi juice

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper

brown sugar

Oil for frying

                Marinate the pork with the above ingredients. Fry with oil or butter. 

               It is best served with garlic rice and sunny side-up/scrambled egg. :)