Fried Eggplant in Shrimp Paste Sauce (蝦醬茄子)

By    :      Mymy Suajico - Santiago 蔡马安

There is a universal love for fried foods as everything cooked in fat seem to taste better. This though has posed health risks as most fried foods are usually chicken or pork.

This is a healthy Vietnamese recipe using Eggplant. Traditionally steamed, frying was rendered for a different flavor facet.

Ingredients  :

1 pc              American Eggplant, sliced into Discs

                  (If Chinese Eggplant, use at least 2 pcs.)

1 pc              Egg, whipped with salt (add Sriracha for heat)

1 cup             Shrimp Batter

Canola Oil, for frying

2 tbsp            Shrimp Paste

¼ cup            White Wine

¼ cup            Water

1 tbsp.            Black Sesame Oil

2 tbsp.            Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

To Taste          Salt & Pepper

Procedure   :

Slice the eggplant ¼ of an inch or use a mandolin

Season with salt & pepper, set aside
Heat Canola Oil in a pan to frying temperature
Dip eggplant piece by piece in egg & coat with shrimp batter

Fry fast to golden brown, do not overcook
Set aside to rest in Paper Towel lined colander
Arrange in a Dish

In a separate pan, sauté garlic in Canola Oil until brown

Add shrimp paste and cook for until rich brown

Deglaze with white wine, Add water to thin Sauce
Stir in Sesame Oil, simmer
Drizzle over fried Eggplant discs

Enjoy with garlic rice…

Blue Crabs in Black Bean Sauce

By    :      Mymy Suajico - Santiago 蔡马安

Eating crabs is interactive. Picking its meat takes patience and pumps anticipation. One of the reasons why crab meat is much coveted & prized. It’s soft, delicate and ‘umami’ flavored meat is unique to its own kind. Like all seafood, crabs definitive flavor is best savored when fresh; when it is still succulent & sweet, firm & not mushy.

This is a 5 minute recipe of blue crabs. Overcooking them is the most common mistake as it drains the natural juices & sacrifices the flavor quality of the crustacean.

Ingredients  :

½ dozen          Blue Crabs (cleaned)

1 tbsp.            Oyster Sauce

2 tbsp.            Chinese Spicy Mustard

2 tbsp.            Black Bean Paste

½ cup            white wine

2 tbsp.            Black Sesame Oil

Garnish     :      sesame seeds, green onions & nori flakes

Procedure   :

In a pan, heat to boil 2 cups of water, add in crabs & reduced heat.

Simmer for 3 minutes. Drain the crabs. Arrange in a serving dish.

Continue to simmer the crab broth in the pan. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Allow to cook for 2 minutes. Pour sauce in the dish over the crab.

Garnish & serve…great with light beer too!

Cantonese Pork & Shrimp Shumai 燒賣

By    :      Mymy Suajico - Santiago 蔡马安

Shumai, a type of Chinese dumpling which literally means ‘to cook & sell.’ The oldest variety of Shumai is the Huhhot from Huhhot, Inner Mongolia; mainly served for breakfast in restaurants as a come on to attract people for lunch & dinner. Shumai is traditionally eaten with chopsticks and presently popular in food stalls all over asia.

This Shumai recipe is Cantonese influenced, characterized by its standard filling consisting primarily of ground pork, small whole or chopped shrimp and ginger with seasonings of Chinese rice wine soy sauce, sesame oil. Bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and pepper can also be added. For this recipe, I used jicama instead. The Cantonese Shumai from the province of Guangdong is the most well-known variety among dumplings.

Ingredients:

1 pack                  dumpling wrapper (preferably round)
1 cup                   lean ground pork
1 cup                   roughly chopped shrimp
1/4 cup                white onions (chopped)
1                       egg
¼ cup                  chopped jicama
1 tbsp                  ginger finely chopped
2 tbsp                  black sesame oil, the black is more aromatic
1 cap                   Shao Hsing rice wine
2 tbsp                  Oyster Sauce
To taste                Salt

Garnish:
Parsley & black sesame seeds

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients (except wrapper) in a bowl.

Fill in dumpling wrappers, center the filling.

Pleat the Shumai, garnish & ready to steam.
In a steamer, heat water to boil.

Arrange Shumai on steamer rack & steam until done (approximately 6 minutes)

Pleating  the Shumai:

assemble the shumai: Place a lump of filling in the center of the wrapper. Cup it in your hand and, with the index finger and thumb of your other hand, pleat the top edge. Squeeze the dumpling gently in the center to indent slightly and tap the bottom to flatten. Using the back of a teaspoon dipped in water, pack the filling gently and smooth the top.

Hot Dipping Sauce:
Soy Sauce, citrus & spiracha

Serve with your favorite tea

Tilapia with Star Fruit & Tamarind Broth (Sinigang na Tilapia)

Mymy Suajico – Santiago 蔡马安

Sinigang is a sour broth native to the Philippines. Its every ingredient is contemplated to complement the flavor of the core component which may be beef, poultry, seafood. Tamarind is the key component in preparing Sinigang. It’s natural sour taste gives the broth a unique essence that is “umami.”

Tilapia is the fifth most important fish in fish farming due to rapid growth & palatability. It is also affordable and available for all seasons almost worldwide now. Mundane as it may seem, this is to substantiate that there is no such thing as a dull fish, just dull seasonings.

Ingredients:

3 cups            water

3 cups            shrimp stock

1 pc              Green Star Fruit (sliced to stars)

1 pc              Jalapeno Pepper (whole) 

- or any pepper of your choice, I love mine extra hot & biting back

1pc               large tomato sliced

1pc               thumb size ginger sliced thinly

½ cup            sliced white onions

2 stalks           lemon grass (gashed, for essence to properly expel)

2 lbs.             Tilapia (cleaned, gutted & sectioned)

2 tbsp.            lemon pepper spice

½ cup            tamarind paste or 1 pack tamarind powder

2 tbsp.            cilantro roughly chopped (garnish)

To taste           Salt

Preparation:

In a Stock pot put all first 8 ingredients and heat to simmer.

Add in slices of Tilapia and continue to simmer until fish is cooked (all of which will take less than 10 minutes)

Skim the fine bubbles

Stir in Tamarind Paste and add lemon pepper spice

Salt to taste, Serve garnished with cilantro

Serve very hot with rice...a la Filipino Style

Basa Ceviche with Flying Fish Roe

Mymy Suajico – Santiago 蔡马安

Ceviche is a raw seafood salad marinated in citrus. Ceviche is most popular in Coastal Americas & the Philippines. Originating from Peru, food historians believe that it was the Spanish conquistadors who introduced this dish to other regions under Spanish colony which clearly explains why the Marianas & the Philippines are the only islands in Asia making ceviche. “Kelaguen” to the indigenous people of Mariana Islands, ceviche reflects the Micronesian archipelago's Hispanic-Asian-influenced native culture. “Kilawin” to the Filipinos, the fixings may have been reinterpreted to what is native in the region but intrinsically, it rings its roots to the Peruvian Ceviche.

Ceviche is all about celebrating the taste of every ingredient in its raw form; so for this salad, only freshest will do. Consumption of raw food is a vector to potential health risks but then, if you haven’t had Ceviche you miss a big part of your gastronomic life.

This is my interpretation of Ceviche. It is partly Asian & Spanish..but so am I.

Ingredients  :

1 lb.    Basa Fillet, chopped into medium chunks (you    may use any fish you prefer, the firm ones which don’t easily flake are most ideal)

½ cup    Calamondin (or any citrus :lemon, lime)

1 tbsp.   Calamondin

1/4        white onions, paper thin slices

½ tbsp.  ginger root, chopped paper thin slices

1 tbsp.   cilantro (optional)

1 pc       salted egg (optional)

To taste  Salt

Garnish   Flying Fish Roe (for touch of sweetness)

Put chopped Basa in a Bowl. Pour in 1/2 cup of Citrus & chill to marinate in refrigerator for 3 hours. Remove excess fluid. Add onions, ginger, salted egg, cilantro and salt to taste. Drizzle with 1 tbsp. of Calamondin and garnish with Flying Fish roe. Serve chilled.

Best paired with umbrella drinks

Duck Meat & Chicken Liver Rillettes

By           :              Mymy Suajico-Santiago蔡马安

Rillettes are commonly prepared with Pork, where the meat is shredded, cooked in fat, salted & seasoned to form a paste. Often used in bread as spread and served in room temperature.

Making Rillettes have been known to be the most popular methods of meat preservation back in the fifteenth century in France. Nowadays, it remains to be one of the most practical recipe applications for excess meat in your coolers.

This is my version of Rillettes using the Roast duck leftover and Chicken liver for added essence and texture. Chicken liver compared to duck liver is sharper in flavor, plus it’s cheap and very much available for all seasons.

 

Ingredients:

3/4 lb.           roasted duck meat (grounded or flaked)- Any type of cooked duck will do

1/4 lb.           Chicken Liver

3 pcs.            Bay Leaf

4 pcs.            Shitake Mushrooms

1/2 pc.           White onions

1 tbsp.           garlic

1/2 tbsp.         light brown sugar

                  Oil for sautéing

1 shot            scotch/brandy/cognac (whichever is available)

1 tbsp            favorite herbs or Mrs. Dash salt free original blend (For convenience I used Mrs. Dash as it has all the blend of spices I want) 

                  http://www.mrsdash.com/products/All-Purpose-Original-Blend/1

Options for fat: (choose 1, I used drippings on mine)

¼ lb. non-fat butter

¼ cup EVOO

¼ cup Duck Drippings

To taste          red pepper flakes, salt & pepper

How to cook the Chicken Liver:

Simmer Chicken Liver, shitake in water with Bay Leaves until cooked & tender. Remove from heat, take out the bay leaves & fluid, set aside.

Caramelize onions & garlic in a pan. Add light brown sugar, continue to sauté until melted and remove from heat.

In a food processor add all the ingredients including the caramelized onions, grind & you’re done...how easy was that?

Great as pate, sandwich spread or dip

Pancit Molo 云吞面莫洛 (Molo Wonton Noodles)

by    : Mymy Suajico 蔡马安

Pancit Molo is the comfort food of the Philippines. More than just food, it holds the history of Molo in a bowl. Before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, Iloilo was already having a flourishing trade with the Chinese through one of its districts which was Molo. Some of the Chinese traders eventually decided to settle down in the place and took local women as their wives. It was the early Chinese settlers who introduced wonton to the natives. In time, the recipe was handed down from generations to ge nerations. Reinterpreted by native Filipinos & strongly inspired by Spanish who ruled the Philippines for almost 400 years.  云吞面 “Huntun” (wonton) which was Chinese in origin eventually was Hispanicized as “Pancit Molo,” Spain being the strongest culinary influence of the Philippines. Pancit Molo therefore, strictly speaking is a fusion cuisine.

Presence of my family’s own Chinese heritage (Chua-Cua Association)

in Iloilo City,Philippines

In this photo is my late 'Ang Kong' (Grandfather): "Chua Kim Puat" (Vicente Suajico) , this is the wall in the Che Yong Cua Chua Bacolod Office honoring the past Presidents of the Clan Association

This is my own interpretation of Pancit Molo. I have added shrimp to oomph! the Asian flavor stronger. A home recipe passed down from my Filipino-Spanish maternal side (Britanico) & influenced by my paternal Chinese side (Suajico 蔡) – both incidentally, have direct roots in Iloilo, Philippines.

Pancit Molo Ingredients:

Wonton & Filling:
1 pack                    wonton wrappers
1 cup                     lean ground pork
1 cup                     roughly chopped shrimp
1/4 cup                   white onions (chopped)
1                          egg
¼ cup                     chopped jicama (optional)
Freshly ground             black pepper
To taste                   iodized salt

In a mixing bowl, combine all filling ingredients.
Fill in the wonton wrappers and chill for 3 minutes to set.

link provided for wrapping fillings into wonton:
http://justonecookbook.com/blog/how-to/how-to-wrap-a-wonton/ 

Stock:
1 lb.                      Chicken breast
2 cups                    shrimp broth*
6 cups                    chicken broth
To taste                   fish sauce
To taste                   black pepper (freshly ground)
*Shrimp broth extracted from shrimp heads using mortar & pestle and water
3 cloves                   garlic, minced
To sauté                  Canola oil
1  pc.                       small onion, chopped
Garnish:
1 tbsp                     spring onions chopped

In a pot, combine shrimp & chicken broth. Upon easy boil, add in chicken breast until cooked. Remove chicken, flake and put back into the stock. Upon boil, add in wantons and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Use fish sauce to salt (this gives your stock the “umami” taste.

In a separate pan, Sautee garlic & onions, brown & caramelized. Pour this all in the pot. Top with spring onions, add in pepper…serve.