Quinoa mango breakfast

At some point we all come into a point in life where we have to be more careful about what we eat.  We have to pay for those days of unlimited fat consumption someday.  Now, I am quite determined to eat clean and healthy. It's clean eating time at "Bubut's House!

I will start with my favorite breakfast meal, the quinoa mango breakfast.  I love quinoa for breakfast because it keeps me going all day.  I recently discovered this south american grain and I like it  a lot.  Of course, I eat it not only because it tastes good but also because it is high in fiber, iron and all the essential amino acids.

Quinoa Mango Breakfast
1/2 cup quinoa (any kind)
1 ripe mango, sliced.
Almond/oat/rice milk

Directions

1. Wash quinoa in water.
2. Boil for 15 minutes ( or as directed in package)
3. Cool boiled quinoa.
4. Add sliced mango pieces.
5. Top with milk of choice.
6. Enjoy.

PS
I usually prepare a big pot of quinoa and keep it in the fridge.  It saves time (and electricity!) in the morning.

Tart Tartin - Upside down Apple Pie

I did not blog here for a long time. Sorry. We moved apartments and somehow I lost my cooking mojo. My new kitchen is too modern that I found it difficult to cook. Not enough homey for cooking. When I am cooking in my new kitchen I have a feeling that I am in a star-ship cooking a meal for Captain Piccard. It is difficult to feel like Julia Child inside The Enterprise ( for those of you who don't know, that's the spaceship from Star Trek). Anyways, I like my kitchen a lot but I really hate messing it up. It's difficult to cook when you are afraid to mess up your kitchen. Oh well...If the last few weeks is any indication, it seems that I have regained my cooking mojo. I guess I have finally managed to perfect the cooking-cleaning dance. Anyways...


I love caramel. Caramel is my poison. Tarte tatin is the first type of apple pie that I learned to make. It is easy, fast and best of all full of that caramel goodness that I love. Also it reminiscent of that famous Filipino street food, the one and only banana-q. It is like a classy banana-q. Sometimes I use bananas instead of apples when I am homesick.

Enough babble. Here is the recipe:

8 medium gala apples, peeled, cored, and quartered
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 pack frozen puff pastry (blätterteig)

1. Caramelize sugar, butter and apples in a pan over medium heat.
2. Place caramelized apples in an 8 inch round pan carefully filling all the space with the mixture.
3. Cover with pastry sheet and cut to fit pan. Pinching the pastry onto the sides of the pan.
4. Poke a hole into the pastry.
8. Bake for 30 minutes at 200 C or until pastry is brown.
9. Cool a little bit , then carefully invert to a platter. Serve with ice cream.

Caramelize apples in pan

Cover with pastry sheet and cut to fit pan

Best way to cook rice

I always had pain in cooking rice without a rice cooker. The first few years, I always get the bottom burned. I then learned a new system which I had been using these past few years. That system is Jurassic now so I won't bother describing it to you. A few days ago I learned the easiest, fastest and fool-proof way to cook rice and it is using the .....microwave!

1 cup rice
2 cups water
cook for 15 minutes in microwave (high, 700 W)
cool for a while

Depending on the rice variety used, you may need to use less water. My advice is to try it this way first then if the rice is too soggy, adjust the amount of water.

Chicharon nga!

Last Saturday we went to the schlacthof (slaughterhouse). It is the only place in Zürich where I can find meat as I know it. Not the aseptic, museum-type ones that are so nicely packed at the Migros and Coop. I saw the pork skin and immediately asked for it. The butcher, I think, was just happy to get rid of it that he gave it to me for free. I think he gave me enough to make a few leather jackets. =)

I remembered I saw a recipe for chicharon in Reynaldo Alejandro's cookbook. It seemed easy enough. I decided to give it a try without any expectations.

So, I cut the pork skin (the ones I had was already clean---shaved and everything) into 4 cm by 2 cm rectangles. I boiled the skin in water with salt for about 30 minutes. I didn't measure how much salt I added but probably it was about 2 tablespoons. After boiling, I laid the skin on a baking pan and baked for 3 hours at 150C . After baking, the skin looked brown, dry and leather-like. I heated oil in a pan and deep fried the rectangles one by one.

"Wow! Ang galing-galing!" I exclaimed while jumping up and down. My husband was looking at me in amazement wondering I guess if we had won the lotto. "I made chicharon!" I shouted as the pork skin started to expand and pop in my frying pan.
I think I have reached a peak in my quest for Filipino cuisine culinary expertise. Not even in my wildest dreams have I thought I could make chicharon.

After frying, I placed the chicharon on a strainer to allow the oil to drain. Of course, after draining, I immediately tried it. It tasted like "real" chicharon!
Shallow? There is a reason why chicharon is found in every street corner in the Philippines. Filipinos love chicharon. Some dishes are not complete if not laced with this cholesterol-filled wonder. La paz batchoy without chicharon? Incomplete. Palabok without chicharon? Definitely incomplete. Me eating chicharon? Happiness.

Don't forget to dip it in vinegar for best results! =)

chicharon chicharon+recipe how+to+make+chicharon Filipino+food Filipino+recipe

Apple and Sage Stuffing

As soon as I saw the pumpkins at Coop, I knew I have to work on this post. Since Thanksgiving last year, my good friend Mike has been asking me for the recipe of the stuffing that I prepared for our Thanksgiving dinner (the picture below was taken by Mike from this dinner). Today, I willed myself to look for my recipe which my husband seriously hid under some papers.
The first time I tried stuffing was maybe about 7 years ago at a Thanksgiving party thrown by American students in my hometown in the Philippines. It was such a revelation for me. My Japanese friend, Kazumi and I "camped" near the buffet at the party and together we ate all the stuffing. I never forgot the taste of that stuffing. So, years later in Zurich, I tried to recreate that beautiful stuffing recipe. I realized that "the new taste" I was so fascinated about was the combination of apples and sage. So, armed with the memory of that stuffing from 7 years ago, I put together this stuffing recipe.

2 tbsps garlic, chopped
3 onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 apples, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsps dried sage
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp thyme
2 whole wheat bread loaf, diced
1/2 cups chicken stock
milk

1. Saute garlic and onion in butter;
2. Add apples, celery, raisins and bread;
3. Add chicken stock;
4. Slowly add milk until all the bread is soaked;
5. Add the herbs;
5. Season and taste;
6. Remove from heat;
7. Place inside turkey or bake in a pan at 180 C for 30 minutes.

Note: Adjust the amount of sage to taste.

So, my dearest Mike and Christina, I am sorry for the delay and advanced happy Thanksgiving!

stuffing+recipe stuffing thanksgiving thanksgiving+recipe