Baon food: chicken sandwich

All of my life, I had had nothing but tuna sandwich spread. My older brother used to make it--mayonnaise mixed with tuna in oil (sans the oil), with sliced onions. Then I learned it and tweaked it to my taste--with pickles to make it a bit sweeter (or I used sandwich spread). Further along, I modified it again--added carrots cut in tiny cubes.


Then maybe I got fed up with tuna. I don't know. I replaced it with cooked chicken.

Entering a time space warp from an eternity of tuna:
chicken sandwich spread (shigi-shigi-makashigi-uma...)

One time I was doing groceries, I grabbed a bottle of capers more on impulse and curiosity more than anything else. If eaten on its own, it's weird--sour, salty, blech (the one I got is in vinegar). But I mashed a few pieces (again out of impulse and curiosity) and tossed it into my chicken spread.

Food for the aliens: capers

I was certainly surprised how the capers behaved with the rest of the ingredients of the spread. It made the flavor more full. I even popped a few more pieces into the container.

The lovely Japanese mayo, made lovelier by thestar-shaped hole on the bottle.

Another recent discovery for me was Japanese mayonnaise. It's rather expensive, so I use it sparingly. But even if I skimp on it, it adds just enough of its presence to make a lovely sandwich. I also add chopped parsley now, making the spread taste "fresh".


Chicken Sandwich Spread (the way I do it)
Cooked chicken (in a bit of salt), shredded
Mayonnaise (can be Japanese mayo) or sandwich spread (or both proportioned to your taste)
Carrots, chopped
Capers, mashed
Parsley, chopped (optional)


*BB*

WCS turned ILYS: Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce

I don't get to see my in-laws often. To be honest, I'd rather spend the weekend somewhere nearby, if not at home. There's also Saturday night choir practice and Sunday morning mass service midway through the weekend, so going somewhere far is not really advisable. Usually, it would just be hubby who would go to Calamba on random days. So when I do go to visit hubby's family, I've made it a point to bring something, usually ulam. Once, I also bought some of my Cheater Cookies, which my mother-in-law liked.

After a very long while, I visited with hubby just this Saturday and brought some Stir-fry Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce.

Stir-fried Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce

I'm very happy with this stir-fry. It's simple but really delicious. My mom told me it was something worth serving to guests and my dad complimented me that I've really gotten good in cooking (palakpak ang tenga, hehehe). Hubby's parents liked this dish, too. They even served it to a couple of guests who dropped by their house shortly after hubby and I finished lunch.

Because we planned to leave early on Saturday morning--supposedly at 8:00 AM, but because I suddenly decided to make a cheater breakfast, we were not able to leave until almost 9:00 AM--I planned to already cook the evening before. However, I had to render overtime on Friday night. Hubby and I arrived home almost 11:00 PM. We just took a quick break then went to work. I asked hubby to help me prep up as I had two recipes in line: the beef dish for lunch, and my very own chicken sandwich spread for the choir's after-practice merienda.

"Men for a Month" featuring...hubby! Hahaha!

While the rest of the world sleeps, here's
me and hubby toiling away in the kitchen

As I said, I love this recipe. My only complaint is not on the dish, but on the meat. Beef takes so long to cook, even if you have them sliced thinly. I'm afraid of pressure cookers so don't suggest that I use one. The good news is, because it does take time, the flavors in the sauce would have been well absorbed by the meat and all the waiting would be worthwhile.

Stir-fry the beef until it changes color.

Not the usual sequence. The garlic and onion

come in after the beef has been stir-fried.

The bell peppers make this dish colorful.

Add oyster sauce, water and brown sugar. Season with

salt and pepper, stir in sesame oil. Before serving, you
may top with spring onions and sesame seeds (if you
have). Easy, no?

With the two recipes, I finished sometime between 2:00-3:00 AM (take note, the beef was still somewhat rubbery, hahaha). Hubby already went on ahead and went to bed an hour before and I let him go lest he started slicing his fingers. ^_^

Other recipe this evening/midnight/early morning: Chicken Sandwich Spread

Stir-fried Beef with Garlic Oyster Sauce

Recipe in Yummy Menu for a Month and Yummy.ph

*BB*

WCS: Cookie cheat

Each person has his fear. Or fears. Me? I have two main fears: I am afraid of (1) fire, and of (2) tight, enclosed spaces. The fear isn’t really of the abnormal sort, not enough to call me a case of pyrophobia and claustrophobia. I’m just afraid of fire. Period. It took me a long time to learn how to use matches and light candles or the stove. And until now, I never use lighters (good thing I don’t smoke, else I’ll probably always have a box of matches, which doesn’t seem very fashionable). I’m uncomfortable with enclosed spaces, for fear of getting locked in and suffocating (which is also connected to my fear of drowning). Morbid.

However, the combination is most unfortunate because:

Fear of fire+
Fear of tight,
enclosed spaces=
Irrational fear of ovens

Yes, I’m afraid of ovens. So if you’ve criticized my posts, you now know why they only relate action on the stovetop. I am irrationally afraid of the oven. I have this lurking feeling that either Hansel or Gretel will push me in and shut the door.

It’s a real misfortune for me because I love baked things: cakes, cookies, casseroles...  and the fear has barred me from learning to bake.

But early this year, I promised myself that I will learn to bake. Force myself to learn if need be. I want to be able to bake the delicious cakes mom and dad make, and all the cookies, pies, casseroles and baked things in the world. Mom herself doesn’t turn on the oven. She asks dad to do it. So perhaps, I’ll get dad to teach hubby to light the oven, too. LOL

And this evening, I am happy to report that I have kicked off my baking career. And what better way to do that... than by making NO-BAKE cookies!

Cheater. Hahaha!

Thanks to my beloved Yummy.ph, I secured a recipe for No-Bake Oatmeal Drops. Great, since we have a pack of oatmeal nearing expiration. Hahaha! The other ingredients are equally commonplace, so I didn't need to drop by the grocery anymore.

Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, and 1/2

cup milk* in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and

and remove from heat. (*I used evaporated milk)

Add 3 cups quick-cooking oats, 1 tsp. vanilla

and 3 tbsps. peanut butter. Mix well.

Drop in heaping tablespoons on a baking sheet lined

with wax paper*. Allow to firm before serving. (*As
seen here, I used a plate lined with a torn glasserine
sandwich bag. What a cheap cheat.)

The recipe yielded almost 30 cookies (my output was 29, LOL, perhaps there were a few pieces that were too thick). I finished the recipe in less than half an hour, just in time for dinner.

Assembly took most of the time, as I really made effort

to make the drops more presentable, using a spoon to
to smoothen the edges. Still, the recipe is very easy.

I left the cookies on the plate where I formed them and ate my dinner of sinigang na isda and rice. Mom and dad were looking at the drops with some sort of suspicion, and were surprised that I was actually already finished. "Hilaw?" mom asked me. "No-bake," I emphasized. "It's a no-bake recipe nga e."

The no-bake cookie was moist and chewy. And very

oatmeal-ly rough. Like eating whole wheat bread. It
looks like kakanin here.

I cut the sugar, so it isn’t very sweet. Good thing i did it. The peanut butter was of the creamy sort and was sweet enough to compensate for the reduction.

At dad’s suggestion, I popped a few pieces in the electric oven (still not the real oven, LOL) and toasted them for less than 10 minutes at 175°C. But he didn’t get to try it as he already brushed his teeth.

Baked no-bake oatmeal drops. I just browned it a bit.
These actually resemble the photo on the recipe at
Yummy.ph compared to the no-bake pieces.

So I just tried it myself.

The toasted cookie was still chewy, but a bit dry and
crumbly. This really felt like cookies in the mouth.

The baked cookie (right) appears to have “risen”. If you ask

me which is better, I think I prefer the baked one. Of course,
the brand of oatmeal might have something to do with the
texture, as the one I used is one my family doesn't really like
(kaya nga meron pa e, enough to make 3 cups).

I immediately reported to hubby, who’s on night shift, that I made cookies. He immediately asked, “Paano ka nag-bake? Marunong ka na magbukas ng oven?” I just told him I’ll let him sample when he came home in the morning. I didn’t tell him that I cheated. Hahaha!

Little brother came home late tonight. I let him try a piece of both the original no-bake and baked versions, and sure enough he preferred the latter. So I finally decided to toast all the others. Little bro ate a couple more pieces while updating his Facebook page. It seems like he likes it, since he would normally stop at the first piece he tried if he didn't.

I wasn't eating everyhting tonight so I stored the
remaining drops in one of my trusty Lock 'n Locks.

The oatmeal I used is a brand my family doesn't like much, one which I bought because I expected it to be good--mainly because it's branded. Turns out, my folks prefer SM Bonus. Hahaha!

Hmmm...maybe I will try using SM Bonus next time. =)

P.S. (3/16/2011): I brought a few pieces as baon, just to see how it'll be if not eaten at once and stored for a while. Will post a follow-up to this. ^_^

No-Bake Oatmeal Drops

Recipe on Yummy.ph

*BB*

WCS: Rice gone wild

4 MARCH 2011. I still laugh when I think about this. =)


As I have mentioned a post ago, my mom cooked too much rice the other evening. We ended up bringing some for baon yesterday (with the katsu-daw) and still had enough for dinner for 5 people last night. And there was still some more rice!


I had my breakfast at the office canteen yesterday morning. I brought rice from home, so I only bought ulam, a serving of pork tapa. I wasn't able to finish it so I packed what was left (about 2/3 of the serving) to be brought home. I thought maybe I'll make fried rice out of it.


Which was exactly what happened. As I mentioned, we still had a lot of rice. Even after we had dinner that night, the rice can probably feed 3 or 4 more people.


I shredded the pork tapa pieces and heated them in a pan. Following no recipe, I drizzled the meat with Worcestershire sauce.


What? O_O


I tossed in thinly sliced onions...and added a wild combination of ingredients: soy sauce, bagoong and chili-garlic sauce.


WHAT? @_@


I put in the rice, adding a bit more of each ingredient as needed (or as my whim dictated).


Voila. "Wild rice". LOL. I let it cool down for a while before packing it in a container and putting it in the refrigerator. This will be for breakfast tomorrow.

Wild rice (or should it be weird rice?)

Up close. Pork tapa in Worcestershire sauce and onions,
soy sauce, bagoong and chili-garlic sauce.

It was a good thing I decided to cook this the night before, because I woke up late the this morning (thanks to Bejeweled 3). For some reason, hubby also woke up a bit later than usual (to think he went to sleep more than 2 hours earlier than I did).


I heated half of the wild rice. I thought that would be enough for the both of us. I put just half in a plate and hubby had it with a bit of corned beef (also leftovers). He finished the whole pan. -_-' I ended up heating the rest, with additional chili-garlic sauce on hubby's request.

His merienda at work (including two sandwiches and a
chunk of pandeciosa) and my breakfast at home.

This paper bag was from an officemate's gift last
Christmas. It has since become hubby's lunch bag. =)

Is it wild, or is weird? Tell me about it! ^_^


Wild Rice
Serves 2-3 (but ended up serving just 2--or rather, 1 1/2, hahaha!)
5 cups day-old rice
Leftover pork tapa (might also work for other leftover meat)
Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsps. Chili-garlic sauce
1 tsp. Bottled spicy bagoong


*BB*

WCS: Last night's dinner at home is today's lunch at work...but with an upgrade

03 MARCH 2011. I don't know what time the idea exactly hit me. I got up (with a bit of struggle) to get hubby’s breakfast in order, which is—tada: rice topped with a fried egg. OK, I’m really dismayed at myself. I can do better than that. But hubby didn’t want sardines or anything else with his meal, and apparently enjoyed his breakfast (I would never have finished all that rice with just a bland, fried egg).

We still had a lot of rice from the night before. Hubby said I bring some for our lunch para hindi masayang. Lately, rice spoils easily at home. We don’t understand the phenomenon. We used to have leftover rice survive until the next evening, at times, even the day after. There was still leftover pork chop, the thin kind you buy from the grocery already breaded, from the previous night. It was mom who cooked it last night so there were pieces that were too brown (in other words, sunog! LOL). I said I’ll heat it and put it over the rice.

I put hubby’s baon together—which was composed of Spanish bread and ensaymada we brought from the plaza last night, a bag of steamed peanuts and a pack of Hansel cookies—and went upstairs to get a few more minutes of sleep. I leave the house for work an hour later than hubby does so he encourages me to sleep some more. I’ve been having a toothache that has been waking me and keeping me up at night the last few days, robbing me of precious winks.

So I really don’t know what time the idea hit me—just before I took a nap or when I woke up again. I do remember remembering the bottle of mirin—Japanese sweet rice wine—in the refrigerator, the one I used for the gyudon-ish beef dish a few weekends ago. Then the cold leftover porkchop on the kitchen table…


And katsudon. I want katsudon.


Wait…maybe I can make katsudon, ne?


The last katusdon meal I had was the one served at Sizzling Plate at SM Southmall food court (OK, it’s not even authentic, hahaha!) before the total renovation. The sudden craving is understandable.

No sooner had I made up my mind to it, I was in the kitchen once more. I didn’t check a recipe online—honestly, it didn’t occur to me as I was just so focused to get at it. =) All I did was try to remember what was in a Sizzling Plate Katsudon bowl (gosh, it isn’t even authentic)…

I beat an egg in a bowl and added thinly sliced onions and a pinch of salt. There were no veggies in the refrigerator. Was looking if we had at least a small carrot (to make for a “healthy” dish). But I had to make do with the onions. Anyway, I think that’s what the recipe just calls for…and green onions, which I do not have.

Shortcut of all shortcuts, LOL

In a small bowl, I mixed a small bit of mirin with soy sauce. I didn’t put anything more, as the breaded porkchop already had this sweet taste that little bro—Mr. Plain Dry Food Please—complained about last night. I bought it thinking it was plain (it looked plain), and not knowing it had some kind of marinade. Malay ko ba.

Soy sauce and mirin only. It just happened

that my leftover breaded pork chop already
had this light sweet flavour. On normal
occasions, sugar will be needed.

I dipped a porkchop in the egg mixture and fried it, constantly turning the porkchop over so the egg will coat it, dripping a bit more egg and onions as needed. As the egg was cooking, I drizzled the soy sauce-mirin mix on it. I wasn’t able to do this quite evenly though. I also made some more of the sauce to put on the rice, but too little, fearing it would already be too salty.

I know this isn’t the correct procedure,

but I don’t want to be late for work!

It was done in almost a flash. It is after all a shortcut. I put rice in a big Lock-n-Lock, put the katsu-daw (katsudon daw) on top, slipped in fried sweet potato slices (leftovers also) and locked it up.

OK, so it isn’t very attractive (with mom

burning the meat last night), but hubby
and I had a rather enjoyable lunch today. ^_^

All packed up!

I immediately made a disclaimer, just as hubby and I got seated for lunch, that I did something with our ulam. So he was no longer shocked when he saw the egg-y thing I bought. And he liked it. Enough to finish all that rice I brought. ^_^

Katsu-daw

Makes 2 pieces

2 pieces leftover breaded porkchop

1 small egg, beaten

1 tbsp onion, sliced thinly lengthwise

Pinch of salt

Katsu-daw sauce*

2 tbsps soy sauce

1 tsp mirin

*I used store-bought breaded porkchop that has been flavored. If yours is plain (or you make it from scratch), a few more ingredients need to go into the sauce like sugar. For the real recipe, you may refer to this one I found this afternoon, long after I swallowed the last bite of my cheap shot lunch. =)

*BB*

WCS: Corned tuna torta (special)

17 JUNE 2010. I got the idea from an officemate, who one day brought mini tortas of corned tuna. Everyone eating lunch with us had a bite and liked it. When asked about the sophisticated recipe, she simply said, laughing, "Wala, corned tuna lang, hinalo sa binating itlog. 'Yun na!"
I tried it at home, adding a bit of dried oregano and ground pepper to the usual pinch of salt, and it got good acceptance. My younger brother, who's currently my food critic (as he's the pickiest person here)--with my older brother and his family now moved out of the house--liked it. Quick, easy and delicious, I've made it for breakfast several times even if I didn't have that much time. It was that cheap shot.

Now stuck quarantined at home for days now, I've been itching to cook. This morning and plucked out the leftover corned tuna in a plastic container from the refrigerator. It would definitely not be enough for me, my dad, my mom and my younger brother. There must've been just 2-3 tablespoons left. Previously, a part of it was made into a sandwich combined with dried thyme, Chiz Whiz pimiento, slices of fresh white onion and tomato; another portion of it was tossed with angelhair pasta the next day.
A whim had come over me from the time I woke up. I already knew I wanted to make the tuna tortas again, but I wanted to tweak it. So I rummaged the refrigerator for more items aside from two eggs...
Good morning! Corned tuna torta (special)!

I like making small Corned Tuna Tortas (volume is about three tablespoons).

Younger bro found it a bit weird, of course, given his preference for the plainest of them all. But he had it with rice, satisfied enough. Dad liked it; he had it on bread and with some banana ketchup (something I don't exactly recommend, because I haven't tried...parang gross e). Mom, who didn't seem to be in a good mood, I didn't get feedback...
Corned Tuna Torta

serves 4-6

1 small can corned tuna

1 small carrot, julienned

1 small red bell pepper, julienned

1 small white onion, julienned

2-3 eggs (depending on size)

grated parmesan cheese (optional, honestly, I don't think this did any good)

a pinch of dried oregano (optional, but this makes the tuna taste less fishy)

salt and pepper

Note: Amount of veggies depend on the amount of tuna. Feel free to tweak as you like. I'm thinking of mushrooms next time... Servings depend on the amount your folks can eat. Hehehe! 

Corned tuna torta on bread

P.S. I'll go back to my previous posts so I can write down the recipes. Do feel free to try them and comment. You might have I good idea how I can improve them. *BB*

Coffee break!

I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but here's my office mug with a cupful of my "own" special blend: half a sachet of 3-in-1 plus a cup of hot choco from the vendo.

1/2 sachet 3-in-1 coffee + 1 cup vendoi hot choco = perfect morning

My morning is perfect for just 13 pesos. =) *BB*

Weekday Cheap Shots (WCS): Turning Japanese...almost

26 APRIL 2010. I did something unique today. Right after dinner, I still had a bit of time. So I cleared a space on the table to make what I called sushi peke...because it was a fake sushi recipe. LOL


I think it's called Spicy Tuna Sushi in Yummy: Quick & Good. Instead of the usual raw stuff inside (I really don't like my food raw), the recipe used a can of spicy tuna. As it was, the recipe was already "fake", but what made it even more fake was that I skipped the wasabi (because I don't like wasabi as well) and in place of Japanese mayo I used Miracle Whip!

Will have to master the wrapping.

But the dish was a miracle. It made even my dad, who was already in bed contentedly waiting for his favorite late night Koreanovela, get up and go to the kitchen for a few pieces (he had to brush his teeth again afterwards).


Wrapping up the nori was a bit of a challenge. Good thing I bought me a sushi mat. Still, I ended up with deformed logs which were a bit too big in diameter with the rice (which was not Japanese rice, not even malagkit!) not very intact. Then all our knives weren't very sharp. Slicing became a bit of a chore, further making the pieces go out of shape. But the taste was good (despite the omissions and substitutions) and I found the rolling quite fun. For two days, I brought my sushi peke as baon to the office.

Packing up

Will surely do this again. =) *BB*