Baby Back Ribs, Pinoy Style

Baby Back Ribs, Pinoy Style. I would like to share my easy Pinoy version of Baby Back Ribs for this Holiday Seasons. Most would have thought that Baby Back Ribs served at classy steak restaurant would be difficult to make. My version is fairly easy and any novice cook can make it as long as you have an oven at home.

For this this recipe I used pork ribs rack which should be available in most large supermarket. For our dish today I bought it from my favourite supermarket, the South Supermarket in Filinvest Alabang, yes I am in Manila for my Holiday Vacation. For the Pinoy style marinade, to make it simple I used Mama Sita’s barbeque marinade plus some soy sauce, banana ketchup, kalamansi and chopped garlic.

Here is the recipe of my Baby Back Ribs, Pinoy Style.

Ingredients



1 pc. about 1.5 kilo pork rib rack, cut in half

1 small bottle Mama Sita’s barbeque marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4-1/3 cup kalamansi juice

1/2 head garlic, chopped

1/2 cup banana ketchup

1/4 cup cooking oil

Cooking procedure



To marinate, place the pork ribs in a rectangular container with lid. Add in the garlic, kalamasi, Mama Sita’s barbeque marinade and 1/3 cup of banana ketchup. Using your hand mix thoroughly the marinade and ensure that the pork ribs are evenly coated with the marinade mixture. Replace the lid, place inside the refrigerator and let marinate for at least overnight.



To make the basting mixture mix banana ketchup and cooking oil in a small bowl.



To bake arrange the marinated pork ribs in a rectangular baking dish, cover with 2 sheets of aluminium foil. Place the baking dish in an oven pre-heated to 125°C to 150°C, bake for 1.5 hours. Then remove the aluminium and discard the oil that have accumulated on the baking dish.



To broil, baste with a thick coat, about half of the basting ketchup. Return to the oven and broil for 5 to 8 minutes. Carefully turn over the pork ribs and baste with the remaining basting ketchup, broil for 5 to 8 minutes. Serve hot with your favorite grilled side dish.

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Pinoy Lengua Estofado

Pinoy Lengua Estofado may not be as popular with Menudo, Kaldereta or Afritada but it is a special holiday dish to those who have acquired the taste and texture of the ox tongue. This version is the closes Pinoy version of Lengua Estofado that I could think of. Sure there are other Lengua Estofado versions that use fancy ingredients but those are reserved for future post.

My version of Legua Estofado is cooked using the traditional cooking method of the Pinoy estofado with plantain banana and sweet potato.

Here is the recipe of my Pinoy Lengua Estofado.





Ingrediets:



1 small size ox tongue, about 1 kilo size

1 medium size carrot, skinned, sliced diagonally

3-4 pcs. plantain banana, peeled, sliced diagonally

3-4 pcs. plantain banana, peeled, sliced longitudinally, fried

3-4 pcs. medium sized sweet potato, skinned, sliced crosswise, fried

1 whole garlic, cut crosswise

1 large sized onion, quartered

5-6 pcs bay leaf

1 tsp peppercorns

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

salt

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



Wash the ox tongue thoroughly and place in a medium size sauce pan. Pour enough water up to 1 inch above the meat. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and discard the first boiling liquid. Rinse the ox tongue peel out the white hard outer skin, use a small sharp knife as necessary, if having difficulty. Return the cleaned tongue to the pan and add in fresh water to about 2 inches above the meat. Add in the garlic, onion, peppercorn and half of the bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until tender add more water as necessary. Now remove the ox tongue from the pan and slice crosswise keep aside, now filter out and discard all the residue of the boiling liquid and reserved broth. Using the same sauce pan return the slice tongue. Add in 2 cups of the reserved broth, the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cooking oil and remaining bay leaf bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to about half. Add in the carrot and raw banana continue to simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Thicken sauce with cornstarch diluted wit 1/4 cup of water, cook a couple of minutes. Serve with the fried banana and sweet potato.

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Fish Menudo, Tuna Menudo

Fish Menudo, Tuna Menudo is our next 2014 Celebration’s Recipe that I would like to share. This dish is a non-meat alternative for your Christmas celebrations which most likely is a feast of meat dishes. For my Fish Menudo I used tuna for the reason that the meat of these types of fish is firm. The basic ingredients are similar to the regular Menudo except of course that we are using fish instead of meat. Cooking method is adjusted since fish cook faster compared to meat.

Fish Menudo, Tuna Menudo is another addition to our innovative menudo dish, click the links below to see the other versions of menudo on the archives.



Menudo with Baked Beans

Beef Menudo

Chicken Menudo

Menudo

Pork Menudo



Here is the recipe of my Fish Menudo, Tuna Menudo

Ingredients:



I kilo large tuna steak, cut into cubes

1 small block hard tofu, cut in to rectangles, fried and cut into cubes

2 small size potato, skinned, cut into cubes

1 medium size carrot, skinned, cut into cubes

2 small size green and red bell pepper, cut into small squares

1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped

1/2 head small garlic, peeled, crushed then chopped

2-3 pcs. bay leaf

1 small packet tomato sauce

2-3 tbsp. soy sauce

salt and pepper

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



In a medium size non-stick sauce pan heat generous amount of cooking oil and sauté garlic and onion until fragrant. Add in the fish and continue to stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the fish from the pan and keep aside. Now using the same pan add in the bay leaf, potato and 1 cup of water let boil and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes then add in the carrot and continue to simmer for another minute. Now add in the fish, soy sauce and tomato sauce, continue to stir cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the bell pepper and stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Kare Kare, Kare-Kare

Kare Kare. It’s time to again celebrate Christmas it has been an OPC’s tradition to post as many special Pinoy Christmas dish for the Holiday Seasons. For our first 2014 Celebration’s Recipe I would like to share an easy to prepare and never go wrong Kare Kare dish. I have already cooked this on countless occasions in Australia using oxtail, yes I am back in Manila for the Holiday Seasons. For this recipe I used the local cow tail that you have been seeing hanging in the meat section of local public markets.

A lot of Pinoy use cow tail for their especial Kare Kare dish on Christmas. In fact Kare Kare is always an especial dish prepared on most Pinoy celebrations or special occasions and the Christmas Noche Buena dinner it is definitely one of talked about dish. See and click below other Kare Kare dish that on our archives if you are looking for another Kare Kare version.



Marinara Seafood Mix Kare-Kare

Seafood Kare-Kare

Kare-Kare, Kare-Kareng Pata ng Baboy

Kare-Kare (Beef Tripe)

Kare-kare Buntot ng Baka

Here is the recipe of my Kare Kare using the local cow tail, enjoy.





Ingredients:



2 kilos cow tail, cut into 2” lengths

8-12 pieces young corns

3 medium size eggplant, sliced

1 small size banana bud, quartered

1 bundle sitaw, cut into 2" long

1 bundle pechay

1 head garlic, crushed

2 large size onion, quatered

3 packets Kare-kare mix

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

ginisang bagoong alamang

Cooking procedure:



In a large sauce pan put cow tail, add enough water to cover the meat, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes until all scams are floating. Discard the first boiled water and rinse off the cow tail of scam. Now put fresh water about 1 to 2 inches above the cow tails, add in the garlic and onions bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 4 to 5 hours or until tender, add more water as necessary. Add in the young corn and banana bud and continue to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add in the kare-kare mix and peanut butter cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens stirring occasionally. Now add in the string beans and eggplant and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes, and then add all the other vegetables. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the vegetable are just cooked. Serve hot with ginisang bagoong alamang.

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Baboy at Langka with Black Eyed Peas

Baboy at Langka with Black Eyed Peas. This recipe is adopted from KBL - Baboy Langka at Kadyos a popular Iloilo. Kadyos is obviously not available down here so I used black eyed peas or beans instead. I have just recently cooked a similar black eyed beans dish using fork belly instead of pork hocks or pork pata, Black Eyed Pea with Pork Belly, that dish however was adopted from a similar dish called Pinablad a Pusi. There are also similar beans and pork dish in the archive just click the links below to check out recipes recipe.



KBL – Kadyos, Baboy at Langka

Kadyos, Baboy at Langka – Purple KBL

Black Eyed Pea with Pork Belly, Pinablad a Pusi

As a substitute for batwan as a souring ingredient I just used sinigang mix. Obviously langka is also not available therefore I have to use the canned langka usually available in Asian stores I Here is the recipe of my Baboy at Langka with Black Eyed Peas.

Ingredients:



1 small size pata ng baboy, pork leg

2 cups black eyed peas

1 big can canned unripe langka, drained, sliced thinly

1-2 tbsp. sampalok sinigang mix

1 medium size onion, quartered

2 medium size tomato, quartered

2 stalk tanglad, lemon grass

3-4 pcs. green long chili

salt

Cooking procedure:



Ask the butcher to saw cut the pork leg crosswise at 1 1/2” thick slices. Wash thoroughly and drain, in a charcoal grill quickly sear pork leg, in a large pot put seared pork leg and cover with enough water, bring to a boil for 3 to 5 minutes, Discard first boiled liquid and rinse boiled pork leg off scum. Now pour fresh water to cover pork leg add the lemon grass, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes then add the black eyed peas. Continue to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pork are tender and the black eyed peas start to disintegrate and the desired liquid consistency is achieved. Take out all scum that rises to the surface and add more water as necessary. Add in the sampalok sinigang mix, onion, tomato, green chili and canned jackfruit, simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes or until vegetables are cooked. Season with salt to taste. Serve hot with rice.

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Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy, Crspy Fried Pork with Tofu

Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy, Crspy Fried Pork with Tofu. Tokwa at baboy is synonym to lugaw and arroz caldo. Tokwa at baboy is served as a side dish for lugaw or arroz caldo. To most Pinoy Tokwa’t Baboy is made up of boiled pork face and ears plus fried tokwa or firm tofu, with vinegar, soy sauce, chopped onion and garlic dressing. OPC has been very innovative with discovering other version of this dish using other meat that goes with tokwa. Click the links below to discover some alternative for Tokwa’t Baboy.



Tokwa't Baboy, Pork and Tofu

Tokwa't Isda, Fish and Tofu

Tokwa't Baka, Beef and Tofu

Tokwa’t Manok

Tokwa’t Pinakurat

Today I would like to share a crunchy version, Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy. I cooked this Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy as a side dish for a Beef Face and Tripe Lugaw that I have prepared which I thought would best serve at this time since it has been raining for most part of the week here in Central Queensland Australia. During this time of the year it should be very hot, we should be experiencing extreme high temperature. November and December are the peak months of summer on this part Australia. With a lot of rain lately, the weather is behaving strangely. Yesterday November 17, 2013, it even rain with ice the size of grapes, below is the video of that hailstorm.

Queensland November 17, 2013 Hailstorm

Ok let’s get back to my version of Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy, Crispy Fried Pork with Tofu. To make the dish it is similar to my other Tokwa’t Baboy recipe, the only difference is the extra cooking step of deep frying the pork till crisp similar to the Lechon Kawali. I have also added some Chinese twist to the fried pork by pre-boiling the pork, I used pork belly, with Chinese 5-Spice and some star anise. Here is the recipe of my Crispy Tokwa’t Baboy, Crispy Fried Pork with Tofu.

Ingredients:



1/2 pork belly, cut into four parts

2 large blocks, firm tofu

2 medium size onion, peeled, chopped or sliced

1 medium size onion, peeled, quartered

1/2 head whole garlic, peeled, crushed

1/2 head garlic, peeled, chopped

1 piece bay leaf

1/2 tsp. peppercorns

1-2 pcs. Star anise

1-2 piece long chili, chopped

1 small bunch spring onion, trimmed, chopped

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. Chinese 5-spice powder

cooking oil

salt

Cooking Procedure:



In a big pot place the pork belly, crushed garlic, quartered onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, star anise and Chinese 5-spice powder, add generous amount of salt. Pour enough water to cover ppork and bring to a boil, simmer for 30 to 45 minutes or until pork is tender. Remove from pot clean any scum and let cool, and chill in a refrigerator. In the meantime, using a big bowl mix chopped onion, chooped garlic, chopped long green chili, soy sauce, vinegar, salt and sugar keep aside until ready to serve.



In a frying pan deep fry chilled boiled pork belly until color change to a golden brown, remove from pan and drain excess oil, let cool. Cut fried pork belly into cubes or serving pieces set aside.



Now using the same pan, deep fry the tokwa until color change to golden brown, remove from pan and drain excess oil, let cool. Cut fried tokwa into cubes or serving pieces set aside.



When ready to serve toss fried pork, fried tokwa and the vinaigrette mixture in a bowl, garnish with chopped spring onion. Serve as side a dish for lugaw or arroz caldo.

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Baked Tinapa

Baked Tinapa. Tinapa what-ever type of fish is one of our favorite Pinoy fish dish, but it cooking leave’s a smoky fishy odor on your kitchen walls and curtains that will linger for days. Today I am again craving for tinapa but the last time I cooked it, that smoky fishy odor even get into my office shirt. Well I have thought of cooking tinapa in an oven to reduced the smoky fishy odor and today it’s time to try it and let see if we could at least minimize the odor beside making it as yummy or even better than frying the tinapa.

To bake the tinapa I needed some aromatic ingredients that will go with my bake tinapa but I found out that I have anything special in the ref and cupboard except onions, tomatoes and lemons. So I have to stick to the basic Pinoy ingredients and it return it is more authentic Pinoy dish, the final product? It did come out great and the tinapa smoky fishy odor was confined inside the oven and it was overwhelmed by the aroma of the onions.



Here is how I cooked my Baked Tinapa try it!

Ingredients:



12 pcs. galungong ginapa or other fish tinapa

2 medium size onions, peeled sliced

2 large size tomatoes, sliced

1 medium size lemon, sliced

olive oil or cooking oil

Baking Procedure:



Pre heat the oven to 250°C. Arrange half of the sliced onion in a medium size glass baking dish to form a bed for the smoked fish. Arrange the smoked fish side by side then disperse the remaining half of the sliced onion on the top. Arrange the sliced lemon evenly on the top of the smoke fish. Place the sliced tomato around the side of the baking dish then generously drizzle with olive oil. Place the baking dish inside the preheated oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes at 250°C. Serve while it is still hot with vinegar garlic and chili dip.

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Tinolang Tahong at Pechay, Green Mussels with Bok Choy

Tinolang Tahong at Pechay, Green Mussels with Bok Choy. Back home we would prefer our tinolang tahong with kangkong. But when in overseas kangkong will likely be not available in most part of the world. Down here in Australia kangkong is only available in some key cities with significant number of Asian communities. I am presently located in some remote mining town here in Australia therefore I had to innovate or find an alternative to kangkong. Luckily bok choy is for some reason is one of the more common Asian vegetables here, which is as good as kangkong for my tinolang tahong. Frozen green mussels from New Zealand are readily available in most supermarkets here. In fact I have already posted a recipe using New Zealand frozen green mussel, Green Mussels and Vegetables in Coconut Milk. Cooking tinolang tahong with pechay is not new, you may have found a similar recipe in the net already. But I am sure you may want to cook the OPC version. Cooking is easy and simple, it is basically the same with your tinolang tahong with kankong. Here is the recipe of my Tinolang Tahong at Pechay, Green Mussels with Bok Choy.

Ingredients:



1 kilo frozen green mussels

1 to 2 thumb size ginger, skinned, sliced into strips

1/2 head garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped

1 medium size onion, peeled, sliced

1-2 bunch bok choy, trimmed

1 small bunch of spring onions or leeks, trimmed, cut into 2” lengths

2-3 pieces green/red long chili

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



Rinse the mussels and drain, scrub off any dirt that are attached to the shells. In a wok or pan sauté garlic, ginger and onion until fragrant. Pour 1 to 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Add in mussels and allow water to boil once more and simmer until the shells start to open then add in the bok choy, long chili and leeks, simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes or until done. Serve hot.

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Coffee Break Vigan, A classic Taste in a Historic Place

Coffee Break Vigan. This post is overdue because of my limited time and busy workload I have been setting the post aside until I almost lost the photos. When you’re in Vigan and trying to find a cafe along Calle Crisologo for break and sit down for a hot coffee or cold refreshing drink then the best place is Coffee Break Vigan. It is conveniently located just halfway along Calle Crisologo at Salcedo Street intersection on the right side if you are coming from St Pauls Cathedral.

Coffee Break Vigan has a wide range of hot beverages to choose from, from my personal favorite, cappuccino to Hazel Nut Flavored coffee, another favorite. Now if you are in to cold drinks and refreshments they do have also a large selection which most likely include you own personal favorite.

If you are looking for a light meal or meryenda they also offer a selection of snacks including some local delicacies.

You will definitely fall in love with the place atmosphere and enjoy your coffee, they also have a mezzanine floor where one can quietly chill out with friends or just want to be left alone and enjoy your coffee surfing the net. Now if are a smoker and want to enjoy your coffee while on your cigarette fix they do also have an outdoor section.

Coffee Break Vigan is located at:

3 Salcedo St, 2700 Vigan City, Ilocos Sur



Visit them at their Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/coffeebreakvigan



I just want to mention that this is not a paid advertisement, Overseas Pinoy Cooking do not do paid post. Once in a while OPC do similar post if we like the food and place, and want to share it to our readers. For the record Coffee Break Vigan is owned by my “Pamangkins” never the less the place is great and it is highly recommended if you are in Vigan and looking for a place to chill out while enjoying your Calle Crisologo Tour.

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Pork Chop and Tofu with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce

Pork Chop and Tofu with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce. This is just a twist of my Pork Chop with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce, I was originally planning to cook a vegetarian version of the dish by substituting pork chop with tofu but I finally realised that the regular oyster sauce is not a vegetarian ingredient. I know there is a vegetarian version of oyster sauce out there, I have to do another post of the vegetarian version of the dish when I find one.

For now tofu is used as meat extender for the dish, never the less the pork chop fried tofu combination was great, not only that the cost of the dish is reduced it has also become healthier. I used a skinless cut of pork chop for the dish, that means the skin and most of the fat of the pork chop was removed.

Cooking is basically similar to my previous post of Pork Chop with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce, except for the extra cooking step of frying the tofu. Here is the recipe of my Pork Chop and Tofu with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce.





Ingredients:



4-6 pcs. skinless pork chops

2 large block tofu, sliced into thin rectangles, fried

200 grams, fresh button mushroom, sliced

1/2 cup oyster sauce

1 small size onion chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 tsp. sugar

1 tbsp. coarsely ground peppercorns

salt

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



Dash the pork chops with salt and keep aside. Heat 2 to 3 tbsp. of cooking oil in a medium size frying pan. Fry the pork chops for about 3 to 5 minutes each side do not over fry, keep aside. To make the sauce, heat the same frying pan with all the pork chops residue, add in the garlic and stir fry for about a minute now add in the onion and parsley, stir cook for another minute. Add in the oyster sauce and 1 to 1/2 cup of water and sugar bring to a quick boil and let simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, correct saltiness if required. Add more water if salty. Add in the fried tofu and l let simmer for 2 to 3 minute to absorb some of the flavors. Then add in the mushroom and continue to stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Thicken sauce with cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup of water, cook for another minute or until sauce has thicken. Now add in the fried pork chops a let cook for about 1 to 2 minutes to let the sauce infused to the meat. Serve immediately with mashed potato or rice.

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Special Chicharon Bulaklak

Special Chicharon Bulaklak. The chicharon bulaklak is made up of pig mesentery, the fatty tissue that hold together the pig’s small intestines. Usually for economics reason the small intestines are separated from the mesentery to make two types of chicharons, Chicharon Bulaklak using the mesentery and Chicharon Bituka using the small intestines.

For today’s Special Chicharon Bulaklak I did not bothered to separate the intestines from the mesentery this makes this Chicharon Bulaklak special. Anyway it would be also difficult to buy the mesentery separately from the intestines.

To make the dish the pig innards are pre-boiled till tender with Pinoy aromatic ingredients. For best results I used an electric deep fryer, this is also safer and easier compared to using a deep frying pan or wok. But again if you do not have the convenience of an electric deep fryer you can use the conventional deep fryer just be very careful as there will be a lot of hot oil splashing.





Ingredients:



1 1/2 Kilo pork small intestine with mesentery intact

2-3 pcs bay leaves

1 tbsp peppercorns

1 head garlic crushed

salt

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



To Clean, Cut the pork intestine/mesentery into manageable sizes. Using a thin sharp knife,make a slit along the outer radius of the small intestine. Wash each pork intestine/mesentery thoroughly with running water. Scrubbing off all solid matter inside the intestines. Do this several time until all the solid particles are removed.



To Pre-boil, put the pork intestine/mesentery in a large sauce pan, pour in water about 2 inches above the intestines. Add in the bay leaf, peppercorns and 1 to 2 tbsp. of salt. Let boil and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes or until tender. Remove the pork intestine/mesentery from the pan and let drain, discard the boiling liquid and other residue. eep refrigerated for several hours to chill or until ready to fry.



To Deep Fry, Cut the pork intestine/mesentery to desired size and evenly season with salt. Add oil on the deep fryer at recommended level. Pre-heat the deep fryer to 200°C or to the highest setting. Now deep fry the pork intestine/mesentery in batches. Expect the oil splashing so replace the deep fryer lid immediately. Deep fry for 3 to 5 minutes or until the vigorous oil splashing has stopped turn over the pork intestine/mesentery. Continue to deep fry until the intestines/ mesentery color has changed into a nice golden. When done remove from the deep fryer and drain oil in a plater lined with paper kitchen towel. Alternately heat generous amount of oil in a deep frying pan. Deep fry for 3 to 5 minutes in batches or until color change to golden brown and crisp, drain excess oil in a kitchen paper towels.



To Serve, serve with vinegar garlic chili dip.

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