A scientist in the kitchen

A riot of shapes and colors, wish I had the chance to cook all of them!

Popularity: 17% [?]

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

It’s almost the end of the month and I almost forgot the Grow Your Own event that I have started to participate since I started A scientist in the kitchen.

The last few weeks, I have been busy at work, writing my theses, drowning in DNA sequences that my head is almost spinning. Sunday, though, is family day. And after a week of eating at the cafeteria, I look forward to going home. Time for home-cooked meal that’s sure to drive the blues away.

And the beauty of living in the tropics is that any plant can grow. Some vegetables you just stick on the soil, water a few times, and leave to on their own to grow. Well, almost…

So last Sunday, we had some fish which my mom wanted to fry. I immediately suggested this dish that utilizes local vegetables such as malunggay (Moringa oleifera). Malunggay leaves are highly nutritious, being a significant source of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, protein, iron and potassium. Local doctors recommend eating malunggay leaves for lactating moms.

While it may be higly nutritious, it is still an underrated vegetable as only certain regions in the Philippines use malunggay in their cuisine. The dish I will share with you is something I learned from the South where I spent my childhood. Here, where I live now, near Manila, malunggay is not used as much so planting them at home is a must. The dish is called “law-uy” or “bas-uy” and consists of a broth made from lemongrass, fish or shrimps, malunggay leaves, eggplant, squash, string beans or any combination thereof. The broth is made more delicious by adding fish that has been fried already. So when we have some small fish to fry, one or two pieces goes into the pot as well.

Law-uy

two stalks of lemongrass (we grow them, too)
1 stalk of fresh pepper (I just harvested some, so why not add into then pot?)
1 tomato, quartered
1 onion, quarterded
1 inch ginger, sliced
2-3 eggplant, sliced lengthwise ~3 inches long
1 cup of squash, sliced
1 cup of malunggay leaves
1 small fish that has been fried
fish sauce/salt to taste

In a pot, put 3 cups of water, the onion and the tomato, fresh pepper, lemongrass, ginger, and a tablespoon of fish sauce to a boil. Once the broth has started boiling, add the fish and boil for 2-3 minutes. Add the squash. Once squash is half done, add the eggplant to cook. Add the malunggay leaves, boil for two minutes. Taste the broth and adjust taste with fish sauce.

Notes: You may use shrimps instead of fish, so add it with eggplant to cook. In some Asian countries, lemongrass is used in cooking and leaves are cut off. From where I come from, the leaves are tied around the stalk before cooking.

***

To market, to market - it’s a blogging event revolving around your local farmers’ market.

Popularity: 31% [?]

I’ve changed themes a few times, and I was getting to like the last one, but alas, as Lalaine of the Cookmobile pointed out, it loads so slow. So I’m back to this old one…

Popularity: 13% [?]

In the Philippines, almost all parts of the chicken is eaten, from the feet (grilled feet is called Adidas in street talk) to the head (also grilled, a common street called called Walkman!).

It’s another week of Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Claudia of Fool For Food (whew, lots of Fs!). This time, I am presenting the star anise in combination with another chicken part, chicken neck.

As the name implies, this spice is star-shaped and has a similar flavor with the regular anise. They are not related however, as star anise is the seed pod of an evergreen tree (Illicium verum) while anise is herbaceous (Pimpinella anisum).

This recipe I learned from my Mom who took Chinese cooking lessons when my sister and I were young. We used to live in the south of the country where there is still a Chinese community hence our exposure to Chinese cuisine. Star anise is not common in Philippine cooking but it is something our family has come to like. Our pantry will always have a stock of star anise so we could always have it anytime we want. We use any chicken parts and in this case, I used chicken neck which was available.

Chicken neck braised in star anise

500 grams chicken neck (or any other chicken part)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp freshly crushed peppercorn
2-3 pieces star anise

Mix all ingredients together. Put in a pan and add 2-3 cups water (or just enough to cook the chicken). Bring to a boil and simmer till sauce is halved. Taste and adjust sugar, soy sauce or pepper. It should taste slightly sweetish and peppery.

***

Ever wondered how a market looks like in other parts of the world? Check out “To market, to market”. Or you can share yours, too.

Popularity: 21% [?]

It was my parents’ wedding anniversary two weeks ago. A week or so before that day, we usually ask them what they would want to eat for dinner that day. This time, Dad wanted to cook his spaghetti and some fried chicken too. Dad got his way, and cooked Pinoy-style spaghetti while I got my way to cook the fried chicken as I’d want.

I’ve always wanted to do oven-fried chicken ever since I’ve read about The Amateur Gourmet’s fried chicken which he learned from the Barefoot Contessa. The recipe called for marinating chicken overnight in buttermilk. Since buttermilk is not easily available for me, I settled for having my own marinade but following their cooking method. And since I’m in a fennel high the last few weeks (I’m trying to find different ways to cook the 500 grams of fennel seeds I bought last month, suggestions anyone?), I decided to rub fennel to the chicken pieces and keep them for an hour in the fridge.

Fennel seeds, I’ve found out, are really great with meat dishes. Fennel is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean area. The ancient name of fennel is “marathon”, because the famous battle at Marathon (490 BC) against the Persians was fought on a field of Fennel. Did you know that in Greek mythology, Prometheus used the stalk of a fennel plant to steal fire from the gods?

Oven-fried chicken with fennel seeds

1 whole chicken, cut into serving pieces

To make fennel rub:

2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp black pepper whole
1 tbsp coarse salt

Mix everything together and ground till fennel seeds are bruised. Rub the mixture evenly to the chicken pieces and keep in the fridge for an hour prior to cooking.

Note: The cooking process calls for dredging the chicken in flour then frying in oil only until chicken is browned then it is finished off in the oven.

Dredge chicken in flour (mix with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper). Fry chicken till brown. Transfer to oven-proof pan and bake till juices are clear (around 20 minutes at 300oF).

The fried chicken was really tender and juicy and really flavorful. No need for gravy. We had leftovers for the next day and the chicken remained juicy. Move over, KFC!

For more herbs and vegetables this week in the food blogsphere, check out Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Anna’s Cool Finds.

Popularity: 25% [?]