Chicken Congee / Arroz Caldo
While being sick all week last week, I had a craving for Filipino comfort food, arroz caldo, or congee. It’s basically rice soup with chicken in porridge consistency. I wanted that taste of ginger and soupy rice so badly. So I made some. The thing is, I actually can’t remember the last time I made arroz caldo. Let’s just say I enjoyed every warm bowl of arroz caldo last week.
By the way, the best rice to use in congee is sticky rice. The kind I use for sushi but I didn’t have any so I just used what I have which is the regular long grain rice. Fish sauce is also good with this but I’m low on Pinoy supplies so I just used salt. Believe it or not, my life didn’t crumble with those substitutes. When you crave for something, make it work with what you have.
Pork Adobo With Coconut Milk
I have different adobo recipes in this food blog such as PORK ADOBO W/ COCONUT MILK & SCALLIONS, then the HOW TO COOK PORK ADOBO TUTORIAL Pork Hocks Adobo With Potatoes, Baked Chicken Wings Adobo, Baked Chicken Coconut Adobo, and the Pork & Chicken Wings White Adobo In Apple Cider Vinegar. It turns out, I don’t have a regular pork adobo with coconut milk recipe in the archives. Adding coconut milk is my favorite “twist” in cooking adobo these days so I have to put the recipe here even though there’s already a version with scallions in the recipe. Chalk it up as another one of my OCD tendencies.
Just so you don’t think this is totally useless, let me add that I actually used whole peppercorn instead of ground black pepper so there, Hmmmph!
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Spicy Pork Binagoongan W/ Napa Cabbage
Pork Binagoongan is NOT one of the Filipino dishes that I make often. Truth be told, this is probably the 2nd time I’ve made it in my married life of 14 years. The first time I made it was years ago that I can’t even remember the exact year. I do remember though that I turned it into a filling for lettuce wraps. Yup, no rice. My husband would be surprised about this info too. This time around though, I ate the pork binagoongan with rice. Hey, why not, right?
After I cooked and consumed this Spicy Pork Bingoongan W/ Napa Cabbage dish for lunch the other day, I googled how other Filipinos cook it. Most of the recipes I’ve read call for big chunks of pork, simmered for a while, some in coconut milk, and some even cooked the pork chunks on the crispy side before adding the shrimp paste. I thought, well, that explains why I don’t cook this dish often. I know nothing of how to make it authentically, hah. I just sliced a pork steak in cubes, then sauteed them with garlic, ginger, tomatoes, green onions, and for a vegetable factor, I added slices of napa cabbage. VOILA!
Homemade Tocinokatsu
Like I’ve said many times before, Tocino is one of my most favorite Filipino dishes. It comes after pork adobo. I will forever profess my love to JMOM for teaching me how to make homemade tocino. So anyhooo, while blog hopping the Link Friday entries the other week, I came upon Tara, Let’s Eat recipe of Tocinokatsu. I’ve never heard of Tocinokatsu before until that day.
Tocinokatsu is basically your regular tocino, then breaded in breadcrumbs then fried in oil. It makes sense right? I decided right then that I am definitely making some as soon as I get a hold of some pork. So I did, and my whole world made total sense even more.
Catfish Fillets In Creamy Coconut Milk Sauce (Ginataang Hito)
I had 9 full ziploc bags of catfish in my freezer after my husband’s fishing trip last Thursday. So far I’ve made creole catfish nuggets out of the stomach fillets. The other night I cooked up another bag of the fillets by simmering the fish in coconut milk. It was soooo good. Anything simmered in coconut milk always turns out well, right? This Catfish Fillets In Creamy Coconut Milk Sauce is not an exception.
Baked Orange-Lemon Garlic Chicken
Technically, we have oranges in the house(along with grapes, apples, bananas, and watermelon) because my husband needed the mesh bag that holds the oranges. While going through the pictures of custard cake the other day, I realized that the bowl of oranges is quite prominent in some of the pictures. I thought about how delicious it would be to make orange flavored custard cake too. But I know I probably need to take a break from making another dessert for at least a week. Cooking with oranges is still something I wanted to do though so I decided to use 1 orange for a chicken marinade.
A very simple marinade involving citrus, soy sauce, and fresh garlic. That combination is such a really good marinade that could go with either pork, chicken, or beef. And here comes Baked Orange-Lemon Garlic Chicken.
Chicken Sinigang
It’s raining right now and I’ve suddenly had the craving for sinigang aka sour soup. I remembered the chicken sinigang I made weeks ago that I’ve been meaning to write about here but it’s just too simple I figured it’ll just be taking space. However, I like to build up my foodblog archives so I might as well. When I make sinigang, I usually use pork but it’s just as delicious to make it with chicken or beef short ribs. Since I love pork-anything, I prefer the pork sinigang. I didn’t have pork when I made this so I used chicken instead. It was good nonetheless. I believe chicken just takes a little faster to cook than pork.
Mushrooms Cabbage Shanghai Lumpias
I made these Mushrooms Cabbage Shanghai Lumpias during Super Bowl along with bacon-peas fried rice and shrimp & veggies stir-fry. I laughed at the irony of cooking Asian dishes on the most American day in America. I’m a “rebel” that way, I guess. Anyhooo, if you’re asking why these are called Shanghai Lumpias or Lumpiang Shanghai, my answer is, I really have no idea. They could just as easily be called lumpias or eggrolls. But I grew up with the term lumpiang shanghai whenever these skinny eggrolls were served at our table so I gravitate towards that name when I make them now.
Perhaps, it’s the skinny form of the eggrolls. Instead of folding up the sides after putting the filling in the wrapper, these are just rolled all the way leaving both ends exposed. Maybe that’s why. Seriously, I don’t know. In any case, here’s how I made these skinny lumpias, 
Rabbit Stew(Caldereta)
I had no idea how to cook rabbit so I turned it into a stew with Filipino flavors. This is more like Rabbit Caldereta with a sweet and tangy tomato based sauce. FYI, this recipe was originally posted in b5media when I used to write for their Lifestyle site. I’m posting the recipe here in Feistycook for my archives. I bought the frozen rabbit from a Farmer’s Market in Raleigh.
Pork Steak W/ Onions
Here’s a pork adaptation of a much-loved Filipino dish called Bistek(beef steak). This is so easy to make you can whip it up real fast for either lunch or dinner. I’m assuming of course that you already have rice cooked in the rice cooker or leftover rice in the fridge waiting to be warmed in the microwave. The waiting part comes from the marinating process which can take about 30-35 minutes, longer if you’re not that hungry or in a hurry.
I for one marinated the pork, did my Turbo Fire workout for 45 minutes, started sauteing after workout, went to take a shower for 20 minutes, went back to cooking to add the onions in the end, then ate lunch 10 minutes after. I know, I probably shouldn’t have been taking a shower while that was cooking in the stove but hey, it worked for me. I don’t advice that for anyone, of course. Just wait after you take a shower(or whatever else you’re doing) which in turn will marinate the meat a bit longer.
| Pork Steak W/ Onions |
- 2-3 pounds of pork, sliced thinly
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 lemon
- 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce(optional)
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup of water
- sprinkle of red pepper flakes(optional)
- 1 large onion, sliced in rounds
- 2 tbsp of oil
- In a marinating bowl, combine soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce(optional), lemon juice, crushed garlic, and sprinkle of red pepper flakes. The latter is optional. Store in the fridge to marinate for at least 35 minutes or overnight. The longer the better.
- Heat oil in a pan. Take the garlic from the marinade, cook it the pan for a 30 seconds, or less. Add the marinated pork into the pan. Add water, stir and cover the pan. Let that cook in medium heat until the pork is tender. Stir a couple of times.
- Add the sliced onions to cook until soft and translucent.
- Serve with white rice.
