Kocina De Pinay In Singapura

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Braised Pork: Filipino Humba

Thank you Andrea of Scraptastic Saturday , Thank you Sinea of Wonderful Wedenesday, Thank you Karen of Friday Feature, Thank you Andrea of A Morning Cup Of Joe for the feature of my Food For The Gods.

Humba is an interesting dish. This slow braised pork (could be pork belly, pork ribs or both) is cooked in a sweet glaze of sugar (panocha/palm sugar during the old days) and given depth of flavor with the addition of soy sauce, salted black beans, and star anise. Although this dish finds its local roots in the Visayas part of the Philippines just by casually perusing the ingredients listed below, it is clear that this “local” dish has origins beyond our own shores.

It is clearly related to Adobo Recipe which is handed down to us by the Spaniards.The Chinese settlers came which introduced to us the braising method of cooking and therefore a fusion recipe was created by the Filipinos in Visayas area. I read that a woman was the author of this recipe. Humba is an adobo recipe with a twist of Chinese braise. The difference between Chinese Braise and Filipino Braise is that ours has thick sauce that coats the meat as well with a very strong flavor combination of salty,sweet and sour. The thrill of it is that it does not spoil at once,the shelf life is longer even for weeks. I remember my Uncle who would cooked Humba every time we had a family affair. Humba would usually consist of all the fatty parts and unwanted parts of slaughtered pig. Going home after the event, we have a garapon or jar of Humba with us. Personally, I am thrilled about this discovery because the magic of good food really goes a long long way.

Most Asian culinary cultures have a version of braised pork, sweetened by sugar and balanced by a savory counterpoint of soy sauce, rice wine or even fish sauce. Even within every Filipino household, the preparation of this simple Humba varies greatly. Besides the usual addition and subtraction of ingredients, some recipes recommend the use of pig trotters instead of the more common pork belly. Adding to complexity of this dish, other recipes even suggest adding mushrooms, banana blossoms, rice wine, hard-boiled eggs and even potatoes into the mix. But Id rather keep my Humba relatively simple–cooking a tried-and-true family recipe but of course with some slight changes. And Yes! the most interesting part is ..I love Humba with Fried Banana slices on top.

Printable Recipe

Filipino Humba

Ingredients:

1/2 kg or 500 grams pork belly cut into large cubes

1/2 kg or 500 grams pork butt shoulder cut into large cubes

1 whole head garlic crushed

1/2 cup vinegar

4 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 pcs bay leaf

1 tbsp rice wine

2 pcs star anise

1/2 tsp oregano

3 tbsp tausi or fermented black beans

1 cup whole peanuts

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp paprika

2 cups water

some Fried Bananas (ripe saging na saba)

Direction:

In a bowl, combine these ingredients: meat, garlic, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and rice wine. Marinate for about 30 minutes. Set aside in the fridge.

After 30 minutes, transfer to a sauce pan and add: water, black beans and peanuts.

Cover and bring to a boil, once its boils, turn the heat to a simmering mode and add the rest of the ingredients: bay leaf, star anise, oregano, paprika and olive oil.

Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the sauce thickens.

You can add fried bananas five minutes before turning off the heat or serve it separately

Here...its ready, the meat is tender, the characteristic of taste is..as usual..a chaos between sweet, salty and sour.. lol! but thats how we enjoy our food.

Yes, I am digging in and suddenly I forgot my rule of no rice. It is such a dilemma not to enjoy this wonderful dish with rice. My excuse is that I'm having Brown Rice anyway...

In case you are wondering what Saba Banana is, the photo above is taken from google. Its a variety of banana or plantain in the Philippines. We normally slice and fry it, to be eaten all together with rice and rumba. I wish I have some fried slices now...

Where's The Party?

Saturday Sparks Best Of The Weekend Saturday Sharefest Scraptastic Saturday Saturday Shuffle Dare To Share Saturday Mini Party Happiness is Homemade Create Make Bake Silver Pennies Sunday Whats For Dinner Sunday Tables and More Sunday Sunday Dinner Bell

Inspiration Monday Busy Monday Amaze Me Monday Mix It Up Monday Inspire Me Monday Over The Moon Youre The Star Menu Plan Monday Merry Monday Dishing It and Digging It What'd You Do This Weekend Craftastic Monday Cooking and Crafting Monday Creative Monday The Hearth And Soul

Home Stories Project Inspired Fabulous Party Celebrate Your Story Recipe Diy Linky Happy Now Making A Home Tickle My Tastebuds The Scoop Tuesdays At Our home Reader Tip Tuesday Sew It Cook It Craft It Tasty Tuesday Tuesdays With A Twist

Delicious Dishes Wined Down Wednesday Wonderful Wednesday To Grandmas House Your Whims Wednesday Party In Your Pj Talk Of The town Creative Muster Waste Not Wednesday Homemaking Link Up A Little bit Of Everything Wow Me Wednesday Penny Pinching Wednesday

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Kare-Kareng Pata (Filipino Stewed Meat in Peanut Sauce)

Shout out to the following bloggers for featuring my Filipino Fried Spring Rolls: Helen of Whats For Dinner Sunday; Lina of Sew It Cook It Craft It; Leanna of Waste Not Wednesday; Linda of Encouraging Hearts and Home. Thank you Ladies for hosting and sharing

Kare-kare is a Philippine stew complemented with a thick savory peanut sauce. It is made from a variation base of stewed oxtail, pork hocks, calves feet, pig feet, beef stew meat, and occasionally offal or tripe. Kare-kare can also be made with seafood (prawns, squid, and mussels) or vegetables (sometimes exclusively vegetables, becoming Kare-kareng gulay). Vegetables, which include eggplant, Chinese cabbage, or other greens, daikon, green beans, okra, and asparagus beans are added—usually equaling or exceeding the amount of meat. The stew is flavored with ground roasted peanuts or peanut butter, onions, and garlic. It is colored with annatto and can be thickened with toasted or plain ground rice.

Other flavorings may be added, but the dish is usually quite plain in tastiness, compared to other Filipino dishes. Other seasonings are added at the table. Variants may include goat meat or (rarely) chicken. It is often eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste), sometimes spiced with chili, bagoong guisado (spiced and sautéed shrimp paste), and sprinkled with calamansi juice.Traditionally, any Filipino fiesta (particularly in Pampanga region) is not complete without kare-kare.

There are several stories as to the origins of kare-kare. The first one is that it came from Pampanga. Another has it coming from the regal dishes of the Moro elite who settled in Manila before the Spanish arrival (in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, kare-kare remains a popular dish). Another is from Sepoy conscripts from Southern India that settled in Philippines during the British occupation of Manila. Homesick, they improvised their own cuisine with available materials. They called it kari-kaari, curry, and now, kare-kare. Kare-kare is a well-known dish in Pampanga, which is often hailed as the culinary capital of the Philippines. Its name derived from the word "kari" from the word "curry". However, kare-kare is far different from Indian curry. Kare-kare has a similar flavor to satay because of the peanuts in the sauce.

Oxtail, with the skin on and cut into 2-inch lengths, and ox tripe are boiled until tender. Sometimes pieces of ox feet or shins are added. When the meat is tender, the soup becomes gelatinous. Ground roasted peanuts (or peanut butter), ground roasted glutinous rice is added to make the soup thicker. Annatto is added to give color. The basic vegetables for kare-kare include young banana flower bud or "heart" (puso ng saging), eggplant, string beans, and Chinese cabbage (pechay). Kare-kare is often served hot with special bagoong alamang (sauteed salted shrimp paste).

Now lets go to my post I admit while reading the history, I am already contemplating how to cook the dish. First, beef and it's parts like tripe is so hard to get in Singapore. I needed to go to a market which is kinda far from our place and from what I've experienced before, communication barrier prevents me from enjoying my market experience. Oh yes, I need to learn Mandarin in simple sense. In the end, I opted to use the pig trotter and of course the ever dependable Mama Sita's Kare-Kare Mix. For migrants like us, we miss our food back home so we will find a way to simplify and adapt.

Printable Recipe
Kare-Kareng Pata ( Pig Trotter )

Ingredients:

1 -1.2 kg pig’s trotter

¼ cup rice wine

Some water

1 inch ginger cut into slices

1 bay leaf

¼ cup oil

1 tbsp annato powder

½ cup chopped onion

2 tbsp chopped garlic

2-4 cups of broth

1 bunch pechay

1 bunch snake beans or sitaw cut into 2 inches long

2 eggplant sliced diagonally about 1 inch thick

1 packet of kare kare sauce

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

Direction:

Rinse well the pig trotter or pata. Pour rice wine all over it, make sure the whole part is wet with rice wine. Place in a big saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and care to remove the scum as it rises.We do this in order to take out the pungent smell and taste.

Add a piece of bay leaf and ginger slices.Cover and simmer until tender, around 45 minutes to 1 ½ hour. Once the pata is tender, turn off the heat. Separate the tapa from the broth. Set aside

Next strain the broth and return it back to the saucepan, let it simmer then cooked the vegetables within two minutes interval: snake beans, eggplant, pechay. Scoop the vegetables and set aside. Set aside also the broth, you will need it later.

Prepare a wok or saucepan, in a medium fire, add the oil, followed by annato powder, saute onion and garlic until the smell comes out

Add the pig trotter and the kare-kare sauce in a packet. Mix them all and make sure the pig trotter is well coated with the sauce. Put the peanut butter, ground black pepper and salt. Mix well and add the salt.

Pour the broth into the mixture, 2 cups first and then as it boils in simmering mode, the sauce will thicken. Just add broth according to the consistency of your preference. Cook according to the consistency of your choice. It wont take long because the meat is already cooked.

How to serve: You can actually add the veggies when you are about to turn off the heat. Mix them all together and its done. In my case, I will just put the cooked meat first in serving bowl, followed by veggies and I will pour the sauce on top. This is best eaten with our local sautéed shrimp paste or you can use the bottled one.
Please take note: Ours back home is authentic due to the availability of ingredients. Here in Singapore I just use the ingredients that are available for convenience and obviously to save time.

I do it this way.. as you can see the sauce is just in the right consistency. I will just add the veggies on top and at the back you can see the red bottle or small garapon as we call it in tagalog, inside this garapon is sauteed shrimp or bagoong alamang, the smallest of the shrimp and it is paste like, ready to eat. Caution: the mixture is salty. Please take note Kare-Kare is always eaten with sauteed shrimp or bagoong alamang. Why? because thats the way it should be. Lol, sorry its like this since I was born.

Wow! This is ready...

This is how I enjoy Kare-Kare, see the sauteed shrimp on top of the meat.

Curious of our Kare-Kare Sauce, see the photo above, you can find it in Asian Store I'm sure

Lastly, above is the photo of ready to eat Sauteed shrimp. There are different varieties actually: regular, spicy, sweet etc. There are other brands but this is the only available in the shelf.

Where's the party?

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Food For The Gods

Thank you Maria Elena of Tuesdays At Our Home and Thank you Ladies of Pretty Pintastic Party for the feature of my Pancit Bihon Guisado.

Note: please don't be offended, I am kinda worried because of its name. Yes, these Filipino Bars is called Food For The Gods ever since I can remember. Please don't take it against me.

Butterscotch and Food For The Gods are the two most popular treats or pasalubong back home. We enjoy these with so much delight. Butterscotch is usually a favorite item for pasalubong or present and we eat this anytime of the year. On the other hand Food for the Gods is an old time favorite and best give away during Holiday Season (Christmas and New Year's Day). In my case I don't wait for holiday season because I can bake and enjoy Food for the Gods anytime I want. The name itself is a mystery because we don't produce dates and walnuts in the Philippines. I believe that it is also a Spanish specialty and the origin theoretically can be traced to the Arabic occupation of the Ibizan Peninsula from 740 to 1235 AD and the exploration of the Arab world by the Spanish and Portuguese. I tried to know the history of Food For The Gods but I really cant find any that will answer or support the history of its name

Well I just thought that maybe.. yes, maybe..since dates and walnuts are not produced in the Philippines, the price of these two major ingredients is very expensive and not all have the access to it during those days. So, this Filipino Bars is kinda precious and as a term of rarity, we call this Food For The Gods..or shall I say because we were under the Spanish Regime for 333 years, these Espanols were the only privilege ones to enjoy it as a dessert, as a treat. Well, I could only share my assumptions but Im glad I was not born in that era. Our country and its people suffered so much.

Here is my recipe for Food For The Gods. Brace yourself because its a unique version and I am proud of its heavenly taste. If you like your bars to have longer shelf life then you may add brandy. During Holiday Season, I prefer to add brandy.

Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup butter melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
4 large eggs
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp brandy(optional)
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 tbsp brandy,to soak dates and nuts(optional)
3 tbsp all purpose flour ( from 2 1/2 cup flour)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Direction:
Combine dates and walnuts, then soak them in 3 tbsp brandy. Set aside for 3 to 7 hours.
Drain any excess liquid then toss with 3 tbsp of flour taken from 2 1/2 cup flour and in case you don't want to put brandy, then you can just toss dates and walnuts with 3 tbsp flour.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a mixer bowl, mix butter and both sugar, brown and white until soft and smooth.
Then add the eggs, one at a time.
Continue mixing and add honey, molasses, vanilla and brandy(optional).
Make sure the ingredients are well combined.
This time add slowly the flour mixture, mix with the use of your spatula.
Mix them gently and make sure its well combined without any bubbles.
Batter should be thick and smooth.
Next add the mixed dates and walnuts and lastly add the chocolate chips.Mix gently.
Transfer the mixture in a greased square baking pan the size of 9x9.
Bake at 350 or 180 for 30 to 40 minutes.
Cool and cut into square bars.
Now you have delicious bars, enjoy!

Here is the mixture,The result is amazing anyway...see the batter with its golden brown color and its thick smooth consistency..dates and nuts are all in.. and...it really has no chocolate chips but if its for the gods,then I might as well add Chocolate Chips..What do you think?

I can't wait, I am so excited..I forgot ...the good old expression.."let it cool first"..I made the mistake of cutting and eating my bars at the same time.Oh no..my precious butter fingers..you cannot do two
things at the same time...OK?

I decided to continue anyway,what done is done..I cant do anything more..but I can do anything less... take some..take some...and enjoy while its hot!

Take a look! buttery..dense..moist..nutty chewy! the presence of brandy and chocolate chips has made a new impression ..an addition of sweetness and chaos is always welcome. I would love you to enjoy and savor one classic Filipino Bar...Food for the Gods, now with Brandy and Chocolate Chips.Lets eat.lets giggle and lets be merry. Have a great week to all!

Where's The Party?

Artsy Fartsy Full Plate Thursday Thursday Favorite Things Thrifty Thursday Encouraging Hearts Grace at Home Creatively Crafty Flaunt It Friday Foodie Friday Pintastic Party Friendship Friday Sweet Inspiration Friday@Fire Station Create Bake Grow and Gather Weekend Potluck Fiesta Friday Friday Feature Friday Favourites A Morning Cup of Joe Friday Favourites Home Matters