Two weeks ago, I had another one of my lucky breaks at the Asian store and scored some green mangoes.  I meticulously picked 3 of the greenest, most unripe mangoes without any hint of yellow whatsoever.  And because my idea of perfect green mangoes (which are white when sliced and never never yellow!) are hard to chance upon, I always celebrate by making bagoong rice.  This time, I stored them in the fridge right away to prevent them from ripening!

This was how the mango strips in my previous bagoong rice looked like…

Such big difference between the mangoes!  You’d think I used ripe mangoes for the bagoong rice in the second photo when they were actually unripe.  Hee hee.  The mangoes I recently purchased were definitely winners.

I previously posted the bagoong rice recipe here.

Champorado according to Wiki,

“is a sweet chocolate rice porridge in Filipino cuisine. It is traditionally made by boiling sticky/sweet rice and cocoa powder giving it a distinctly brown color. However, dry champorado mixes, which may be found in some Asian food stores, are prepared by adding just boiling water. It can be served hot or cold and with milk and sugar to taste. It is served usually at breakfast and sometimes together with dried fish locally known as tuyo. The pudding becomes very thick and the lighter milk helps to “loosen” it. It’s almost like eating “chocolate oatmeal.”

Don’t you just love Wikipedia? *wink*

I would love to make champorado the old-fashioned way but for now, I’ll settle for the champorado mix.  (Oh please don’t crucify me for that!)

I can have it hot or cold, for breakfast or as an afternoon snack.

Back home, we use evaporated milk with the champorado.  But here, we’ve been using whole milk instead.

Rice and chocolate.  How’s that for comfort food?!  Hee hee!

I can’t even recall the last time I had Bagoong (Shrimp Paste) Fried Rice!  When we had lunch at a Thai restaurant several weeks ago, I was hell bent on ordering it.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have it (and never will!) because most customers (non-Asians obviously!) will find the smell offensive.  Hmp!

When I found the perfect green mangoes at the Asian Market some time last month, I took it as a cue to make my own Bagoong Fried Rice.  What I couldn’t eat in a restaurant, I just cooked myself! Ha!

To  make, you’ll need garlic, onion, ginger strips, pork slices (about 1/2 cup), shrimp paste, cooked rice, green mango strips and egg.

For some semblance of organization, I set to work on the toppings first:

First, I sliced the green mango into thin strips then set it aside.

Next, I cooked two eggs as an omelette, folding it into three, to resemble a crepe.  I sliced it into strips then set it aside.

After the eggs, I worked on the pork topping next.   I sauted a few cloves of garlic and some onion slices in hot oil then added the pork.  When the pork turned brown in color, I added a bit of shrimp paste and a sprinkling of sugar for a touch of sweetness.  From the pan, I transfered the pork to a small dish and set it aside.

Next, the fried rice.  On the same pan where I cooked the pork, I again sauted some garlic and onions with the addition of ginger slices.  Then, I added about 3 tablespoons of shrimp paste and let it simmer for a minute or two.  Next, I added the rice and made sure to mix the contents of the pan well.  It’s a good two minutes of mixing.  Hee hee.  When the rice was ready, I transferred it into a serving dish.

Time to bring out the prepared toppings!  With the rice sitting nicely on the serving dish, I arranged the egg, pork and mango slices on top of the rice in a neat row.  Voila!  My very own homemade Bagoong Fried Rice. *wink*

Hubby and I added some crushed pepper to our heaping servings of bagoong rice.  The contrast of the salty shrimp paste, the sweet pork and the sour mango just had us craving for more!  Yum!

To say that I was pleased with how this dish turned out is an understatement.  I even took separate photos with my camera phone just so I’ll have copies in a  micro sd card as well.  Hee hee.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Yesterday, we had lunch at Korea Grill, a newly opened Korean restaurant at the China Town Center.  We only ordered two items from the menu, Beef Bulgogi (which I wasn’t able to take a photo of because my daughter was too hungry already!) and Dolsot Bibimbap. 

I loved the Dolsot Bibimbap.  This is what I always, and I mean ALWAYS, order whenever we go to a Korean Restaurant.  What is it exactly?  Here’s a bit of info from Wiki:

Bibimbap is a popular Korean dish. The word literally means “stirred/mixed rice” or “stirred/mixed meal.” (It is also sometimes spelled “bibimba,” “bibimbab,”b-bop” or “bibimbop”).

Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. It can be served either cold or hot.

Vegetables commonly used in bibimbap include julienned cucumber, zucchini, mu (daikon), mushrooms, doraji (bellflower root), and gim, as well as spinach, soybean sprouts, and gosari (bracken fern stems). Dubu (tofu), either plain or sautéed, or a leaf of lettuce may be added, or chicken or seafood may be substituted for beef. For visual appeal, the vegetables are often placed so that adjacent colors complement each other.

Dawn is breaking here, my other WS entry. :)  Have a fab week! 

The theme for week #7 of Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is “Soup”.  I love soup, but I’m a bit partial to one that is already a meal in itself, like noodle soup and porridge (or congee as it is commonly referred to in the Philippines).

Last Sunday, we had dinner at TC Noodle House and I realized it’s been ages since I’ve had congee.  I thought I ought to give it a try.  I ordered something really simple, but something I’ve always liked:  Porridge with Centruy Egg (Hundred Year Old egg is what it’s called here)… 

I had very high expectations because we like TC Noodle House and their food.  But, the porridge, while OK, wasn’t exactly what I had hoped it would be.  It was bordering on bland.  I’m used to tastier, well-seasoned ones from Chinese restaurants in the Philippines.  This porridge reminded me of lugaw (Filipino term for porridge) that my Nanay (maternal grandma) would make for my Lolo (grandfather) when he’s sick.  I had to use lots of soy sauce!  And the century egg?!  They were cut into very small pieces!  I doubt if they even used a whole egg for the porridge.  Hmp!

After everything I’ve said, I still haven’t decided if I’ll have porridge in that place again.  Seafood porridge next time perhaps?  We’ll see.  You’ll definitely hear read about it when it happens.

Ok, not exactly the healthiest meal there is but hubby didn’t complain when served this bowl of adobo rice and fried egg for breakfast last Thursday. I saved the sauce from the chicken adobo we had some nights ago and finally found good use for it. I would have done so sooner but it’s fairly rarely that we have enough left over rice for fried rice. See the rice here? That’s all the left over rice we had. Not even one cup! Maybe I ought to cook more rice. Hahaha!

Happy Easter everyone and have a great week ahead!

“Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness.” ~ Floyd W. Tomkins

I dare say that anyone who has spent a great deal of time cooking has made arroz a la cubana at least once…knowingly or unknowingly. :)  Wikipedia simply defines Arroz a la Cubana, which literally means Cuban-style rice, as “a Spanish dish consisting of rice, fried egg and tomato sauce.”  How simple is that?   

In my 4 years in high school, I remember having one too many servings of this dish at a popular fastfood among UST students located on Dapitan Street, Janet’s.  It is served on a sizzling plate with a piece or two of fried saba bananas and a fried egg on top of the ground beef.  That’s pretty fancy for students, don’t you think? ;)  My friends and I ended up smelling like the dish by the time we got to class but we didn’t really mind.  It’s nothing a little baby cologne couldn’t fix.
I have whipped up this dish countless times in the 6 months that I’ve made the kitchen my territory.  It’s simple and one could do very little to sabotage it.  Hahaha!  It’s one of hubby’s favorite dishes…one that his paternal grandma, Lola Sion, used to make for him.  Well, I could never compete with Lola Sion’s arroz a la cubana, or anybody’s lola for that matter!  ;)  But my most recent version of the dish just had hubby complimenting me to high heavens. ;)  Credit goes to MarketMan whose version I followed, save for the ground pork (which I have ran out of) and addition of green peas. :)  Thank you, MarketMan!

The not so secret procedure and ingredients:  Saute some garlic and chopped onions in vegetable oil for a minute or two.  Throw in some chopped tomatoes (or just add tomato paste).  Then add the ground lean beef and ground pork and cook until the liquid evaporates.   Add several tablespoons of Kikkoman soy sauce and 1/2 or 1/3 the amount of Worcestershire sauce.  Add salt and pepper to taste if you feel the dish still needs further seasoning.  One may add green peas but hubby and my daughter didn’t want any so no green peas for us.  Hubby isn’t a big fan of raisins in dishes as well, but I held my ground on this and went ahead to add about a tiny box and a half of raisins.  He just picked them out of the dish.
I fried some bananas to accompany the dish.  The bananas needed a sprinkling of sugar as they weren’t sweet at all.  I miss Philippine saba bananas! :(  We had fried eggs as well! ;)  The arroz a la cubana “showcase” won’t be complete without the hot steaming rice.  Yum!

Not bad at all, if I may say so myself!