Fresh Start: Steamed Tamarind Chicken

I really haven't been following Oprah.  I mean the Oprah episodes that I've seen are far and few between.  So I was surprised to see a magazine subscription sent to me a couple of weeks ago.  I found out later that  a close friend of mine, Cathy, had given me a full year subscription of the magazine O as a gift.

A Fresh Start is the theme for January.  And you know it's January when the gym is packed and the park is full of people running, walking and roller blading. Magazines and blogs talk about resolutions:  to spend more time with the family, to start getting organized, to lose 20 lbs., etc.  Sorry I digress.  But the magazine offers fresh strategies on how to better oneself with the start of the new year, and boy I am so inspired.

With O magazine and my friend Cathy on my side (she calls me and emails me regularly to check on my diet and organizing projects) I can't fail.  I am set to clean my pantry and make a conscious effort to make our food healthier.

So just like my previous Kulinarya post, I am making a healthy version of another Filipino dish called sinampalukan manok (chicken with tamarind).  Instead of doing the traditional soup with chicken version, I steamed the chicken and used the same sinampalukan manok ingredients as a dry rub... 

Pinasingaw na Sinampalukang Manok (Steamed Tamarind Chicken)

This recipe is under the category I can't believe it's that easy recipe.  You can also prepare chicken soup stock with tamarind and serve it on the side (making this a deconstructed version of sinampalukang manok).

Ingredients:

Chicken cut ups or whole chicken
Sinigang mix
4 cloves garlic, minced
freshly grated ginger
lemon hedges

Procedure:
Clean the chicken pieces and pat dry.  Make a rub by mixing the 3 ingredients:  sinigang mix, garlic and ginger.  Rub the chicken with the tamarind rub.   If you are doing the whole chicken, rub inside the cavity and inside the skin.  Throw in lemon hedges in the cavity.

Steam the chicken for 45 minutes to an hour or until the chicken is fully cooked.

Best served with rice (I used brown rice), cooked with the drippings from the steamed chicken.  But please note, remove the visible fat and just add the liquid used to steam the chicken...

Enjoy!

The Ibanag Longanisa Experiment

I can't tell you how gratified I was when Nami of Just One Cookbook blog fame featured my Arroz Ala Cubana. One of the goals of my blog is to promote Filipino food, and I'm glad I have been able to do so. Nami, who has a Japanese background, sharing that her family loved my Filipino dish is just one example of my goal.

I also appreciate readers who email me to share how my blog has inspired them to cook. Recently, I received emails from two of my readers. These two emails have made me doubly excited because the readers who sent them are from my hometown. Mae, who balances her time working at DENR and being a mom wrote:

I enjoy reading your blogs which I find heartwarming and inspiring. Like you, I love going to the kitchen, too. I'd like to believe that it is in the kitchen where we, moms, put our magic wands to good use. Isn't it that the best ingredient that we sprinkle in every dish is LOVE?:-)

She further shared that when she tried one of my recipes, she was so pleased with the finished product. More than that, her kids showed their approval by overwhelming her with hugs and kisses.

Melisande describes herself as a novice in the kitchen and she emailed me saying:

I used to hate cooking but not anymore... and that's because I find a lot of inspiration in your blog... I don't think I'll ever become as good as you are in cooking but I hope I become a good mom like you.. God Bless!

I share my stories and recipes to inspire home cooks like me to be creative in the kitchen and to celebrate family life around their dining tables. Nothing thrills me more than knowing that some readers try the recipes and appreciate the family stories I share. I thrive on feedback, so all these emails do me a great favor.

So with Mae and Melisande in mind, I was inspired to make this dish using ingredients that are readily available in my hometown of Tuguegarao. I took a breakfast staple, Ybanag Longanisa,which I shared a few posts ago, and mixed it with an unexpected partner: tahong (mussels). An easy and inexpensive fix; yet I'm sure it will bring forth love and warmth around the dining table.

Tahong con Longanisa (Mussels with Sausage)

Ingredients:

6 pcs. Longanisa

2 lbs. mussels 

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium tomato sliced

maggi seasoning

3/4 cup white wine

Procedure

Cook the longanisa in a large sauté pan with 3/4 cup water over medium heat until they turn golden brown on all sides. Set aside. Using the same pan (but pour out excess fat, use only about 2 tbsp) saute garlic, onions and tomatoes.

Toss the mussels into the pan, and increase the heat to high. Cover lightly with a lid and cook over medium heat for 2-3  minutes or until the shells have opened.  

Meanwhile slice the longanisa into halves.  Add it back to the pan.  Toss and cook a little more.  

Pour in the white wine,  to deglaze the pan.  Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Stir until the wine reduces by half.  Season with maggi seasoning, salt and pepper.

Garnish with toasted garlic and cherry tomatoes.

Enjoy

Ube Bread (Purple Yam Bread) with Cinnamon Streussel

Joey (my son): Mom make some Zucchini bread.

Me: I don't think I ever made one yet.

Joey: Oh yeah, you haven't but Nicci's mom made some and it was good!

Me: Let me get the recipe and I'll make it sometime.

Joey: You could make your own version mom. I think it's like banana bread; just replace the bananas with Zucchini

That's when an idea popped in my head. Since I didn't have any zucchini in stock but had a bag of frozen grated ube (purple yam), then why not make ube bread instead.

So here friends, I'm excited to share with you my first attempt to make Ube Bread...  it's not as purple as other ube breads (maybe you could add more ube to make it look ube-usque) but this bread disappeared fast from my kitchen... enjoy!

Ube Bread with Cinnamon Streussel
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup sugar
1tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
1 cup grated ube
1 cup milk

For the streussel:
1/4 cups flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt


Directions:

Pre-heat oven at 350 F.

Grease pan with butter.

Make the streusel by stirring together sugar, flour, and salt and cinnamon. With a pastry blender, cut butter  until mixture is course. 

In a mixing bowl,  mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Add in salt and sugar.

In another bowl place the grated purple yam.  Pour in the milk and beat the eggs.  Add the flour mixture little by little.  Add vinegar and mix thoroughly.

Pour into a baking pan.  Add the streusel on top of the ube bread.

Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes. Let it cool.