Crispy Pork Belly Soured in Tahitian Gooseberry

I love being with my Mama.

I remember putting my arms around her soft shoulder and tightly squeezing  as we weave our way around town. To wake up next to her in the morning was like a dream.  To get a glimpse of her daily routine... praying bead after bead of her rosary... to see her stay true to her promise to my Papa even beyond "through death do us part".  I'm glad that after living abroad for the past 13 years  I was lucky enough to stay with her for 3 weeks - which was oh so precious...and 'twas truly a gift.

 I am sure she loved those moments too.

The other day while I talked to her over the phone, she conveyed  to me how much she misses me especially my cooking.

"Martha (her cook) is back to cooking adobo again" she said in between giggles.

"What??? It's barely a week after I left and she's back to adobo?  I  purposely used local ingredients for her to easily re-create the dishes".  I said.


Oh she tried but her Crispy Sinigang sa Bangkiling (Crispy Pork Belly Soured in Tahitian Gooseberry) didn't turn out to be like yours.  


"Ok, let me post it so she'll recall my instructions". I told her

So for that purpose let me share with you one of my Mama's favorite dishes that I created for her while I was on vacation. But first let me discuss with you what gooseberry is all about.

So who's ready to pucker up? haha!

My mom was so excited to bring home Karamay for me from the market that day. Karamay is how we Ibanags call the little tiny yellow fruit almost the size of a blueberry. But don't let its size and radiant color fool you.  This fruit is really sour. Since I didn't know the English nor the Tagalog term for it, I posted it on my Facebook wall for my FB peeps to help me. Lo and behold I got so many reactions from my friends.  I found out that the tagalog term is Balingkikng; Tahitian Gooseberry in English.  

I brined it just the way I remember eating the fruit when I was younger.  I filled up a bottle with water, added some salt and poured the gooseberry in. After a day it was still very sour, so hmmm Why not use it as o souring agent for a soup base?  came an idea in my head...


And voila, that was how this dish called Crispy Sinigang sa Bangkiling (Crispy Pork Belly Soured in Tahitian Gooseberry) came about. The dish was sensational. I cooked it over and over for the time I was there.  My family couldn't resist the crunchy, crispy pork belly punctuated with a sour soup.  The vegetables also made this a one pot meal that delighted everyone.

Crispy Sinigang sa Bangkiling (Crispy Pork Belly Soured in Tahitian Gooseberry)
Ingredients:
3 lbs. pork belly strips
2 pcs. radish (thinly sliced)
2 pcs. eggplant (thinly sliced)
1 pack okra
3 medium tomatoes
2 pcs. onions (quartered)
2 cups extracted tahitian gooseberry ( you could use other souring agents such as tamarind)
fish sauce (optional)

Other vegetables that you could add on include: taro, bokchoy and chili to give this dish a kick.


First let's extract the gooseberry juice.  In a stockpot, boil 2 cups of tahitian gooseberry submereged in water.  Cook until the meat falls off from the seed.  Now mash the gooseberry and extract as much juice from it.  Use a strainer.  Discard the seeds and pulp and set aside the juice.  

Now in a pot, boil rice water (water used for washing rice) onions and tomatoes.  Add the pork belly strips.  Cook until tender.  Add the vegetables and the extracted juice from the gooseberry.  You may want to add a small amount first then see from there.  Season with fish sauce or, if unavailable, with salt.

To make the pork belly crispy, you must set aside the pork belly, pat dry and deep fry the strips. For healthy options you could bake the pork (or use turbo broiler) until the pork becomes crunchy and crispy.  Slice the strips into serving cuts.  Serve the pork with vegies and soup on the side... 

Enjoy!

Sinigang 2 ways

I  have been staring at an empty screen for an hour now.  Writer's block?  You bet and I blame it on a full  stomach.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoyed eating sinigang 2 ways.

Ok so let's tackle the first way, which I made the traditional way of cooking sinigang. Sinigang is a sour soup.  Traditionally, pork, fish or shrimp are the main ingredients for the soup with tamarind or guava usually added as the souring agents.  So here's my traditional dish:

This soup dish always hits the spot.  My kids look forward to coming home because on their first day back this is what greets them.

But then this is a Kulinarya challenge.  So I went further:  I made Sinigang Fried Rice.  This is my take on a similar dish that my sister raved about on her recent visit to the Philippines.

I literally fried every component of the dish and made it into a fried rice.  The pork, which was cooked with the sour broth, was fried and had the salty, tangy taste.  It is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. For the vegetables, I soaked them into tempura batter and also threw them on the fryer.  I then sprinkled some fresh tomatoes and onions on top of the "fried rice".  Added the tamarind broth to complete the sinigang fried rice!  Now I'm in a food coma... LOL!

I hope you are having a great weekend... and oh, please visit the other Kulinarya members' recipes.  You will be amazed on how many ways Sinigang could be made.  Enjoy.

riding the charcutepalooza wagon

When my friend  Annapet of The Daily Palette suggested that I should join Charcutepalooza,  I agreed instantly, even if I didn't know what the challenges lie ahead nor how to pronounce the word CHARCUTEPALOOZA... char what?

So I tiptoed to the the sites of the creators Mrs. Wheelborrow's Kitchen and The Yummy Mummy to figure it out. These two wonderful ladies are bringing back the old-fashioned way of curing, salting and smoking meats. Something that I've never done before, and quite frankly, I was intrigued... so here I am stepping up, joining the challenge they have set up.  To know more about the fun challenges, you could click here.

The March challenge is brining,  There are different options to choose from, so I opted to make corned beef. Oh yes corned beef... that red looking beef brisket that is usually in a sealed bag at the grocery store or the ones that you buy from a deli  or for us Filipinos, the one that is canned! While making corned beef,  I never thought it would be that easy.  Who would have thought?  The most difficult part really is the waiting game (as you brine the beef brisket for 5-7 days).

How fortuitous that the challenge this month is corned beef?  What with St. Patty's Day just around the corner.  Or maybe that's what the hosts had in mind for this challenge.

I first did my version of an Irish jig more than ten years ago when we migrated here in the US.  I don't particularly remember any similar kind of celebration in my home country.  All I can remember is that my first year here in the U.S., I dressed my kids in green outfits and shamrock necklaces.  I did such a good job dressing them up that it convinced my second daughter she was part Irish.  And for dinner, I remember quite vividly how my father-in-law introduced me into eating corned beef.  He had a big slab of red beef sliced thinly on a big white platter boiled to perfection with brussel sprouts and potatoes.  It was my first corned beef meal beyond the canned corned beef that I was accustomed to back home.

"Eat this with horseradish" said my father-in-law  Oh boy did I love it.  From that time on, everytime I cook corned beef, I would perfectly do it exactly as how he served it to us more than a decade ago. Corned beef with brussel sprouts, potatoes and horseradish on the side.

But for today's challenge, I wanted to stamp a Filipino badge on my dish, a unique take on a common Filipino food.  Instinctively, I imagined corned beef as a breakfast staple.  We usually have it for breakfast, either with our pandesal (literally means salt bread) or with sinangag (fried rice) but I'm going on a new adventure - so I'm taking this Irish staple to a trip to the Far East.

Inspired by what I had in my pantry I made Corned Beef Sinigang  (Corned Beef in Tamarind broth)

Sinigang is a sour  soup.  Traditionally, pork and shrimp are the main ingredients for the soup.  Tamarind or guava are usually the souring agents.  I never get tired cooking Sinigang as it is comfort food for my family, as I usually cook this when my girls come home from their school break... and after each sip of the soup, I could almost hear them say "I'm home!"

Now the vegetables that you see here are okra, radish and eggplant.  You could also add long beans.  I sliced my corned beef as cubes to follow the template of pork sinigang, complete with a thin-layer of fat ala "liempo".

  

Believe me, the Irish meat blended so well with the unfamiliar ingredients surrounding it. So let me share with you my recipe for Corned Beef in Tamarind Broth.

Ingredients:
3 lbs. Corned beef (sliced in cubes)
2 pcs. radish (thinly sliced)
2 pcs. eggplant (thinly sliced)
1 pack okra
3 medium tomatoes
2 pcs. onions (quartered)
1 pack tamarind soup base
fish sauce (optional)

Other vegetables that you could add on include: taro, bokchoy and chili to give this dish a kick.

In a pot, boil rice water (water used for washing rice) onions and tomatoes.  Add the corned beef.  Cook until tender.  Add the vegetables and the souring agent.  You may want to add a small amount of the souring agent first then see from there.  Season with fish sauce or, if unavailable, with salt.