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Calamansi

November 29, 2008 By Gay 23 Comments

My contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging (hosted by Scott of the The Real Epicurean) this week is all about the calamansi.

Calamansi (Citrofortunella microcarpa – this is the scientific name, notice how a scientific name is written?) is a type of citrus that is native to the Philippines. It is also known as calamondin, Panama orange or acid orange. It is very sour hence its popularity as souring agent for sinigang and sawsawan (dipping sauces). It is also one of the more common backyard trees in Philippine homes (along with papaya and guava). One can use it in marinades as well, and in fact, it goes well with soy sauce and lemongrass for marinating meats for grills. It is a deodorizer too, notice that your hand smells fishy after handling fish? Just rub calamansi juice! It is also incorporated in soaps and lotions and shampoos.

For more uses of calamansi: 13 ways to use calamansi.

And check out this calamansi chronicles from Burnt Lumpia. That’s how we Filipinos love calamansi :)

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Filed Under: Filipino food

Inihaw na liempo and dill

November 28, 2008 By Gay 4 Comments

There is variety of mango called paho which has a pungent aroma. The fruit is usually around 1-2 inches long, sold green in the market and is great with salsa. We typically eat paho by combining it with sliced tomatoes, a pinch of salt and chopped paho. There is short window for the season of paho so I really watch out for this fruit in March.

We’ve found an alternative to paho minus the aroma. A few weeks ago, one of those Sunday picnics in the garden that we love to do, I cooked inihaw na liempo (grilled pork belly). Chopped them up into bite size pieces then served with tomatoes, onions, soy sauce, chopped Thai chilis and calamansi juice. As an afterthought, I added fresly chopped dill to the mixture. The dill was just begging to be picked up near our grill area. My sister and I were wondering why the dill tastes familiar till it dawned on us that it tastes like paho! So now another alternative herbs for uncommonly available ones we love to use (try pak-chee instead of cilantro). We usually serve inihaw na liempo with a dipping sauce (soy sauce, chilis, calamansi juice). But here we make a sauce of soy sauce, choppped tomatoes, chopped onions, dill and chilis. Of course with calamansi juice. Just combine everything and serve with lots of rice.

This post is submitted to Grow your Own hosted this round by Rachel of The Crispy Cook. Here’s the round-up of the Grow Your Own I hosted several weeks ago.

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Filed Under: Asian, Family, Filipino food, Meat

Bam-i

November 27, 2008 By Gay 7 Comments

What’s a birthday without noodles? When my sister celebrated her birthday last month, we cooked a traditional noodle dish from Northern MIndanao. It is called bam-i, consisting of two types of noodles, the pancit canton and the sotanghon. Aside from that, the ingredients and manner of cooking is generally the same as canton or sotanghon.

Bam-i

200 grams sotanghon
200 grams pancit canton
200 grams chicken liver and gizzard
150 grams liempo/pork belly
1/4 cup sliced green beans
1 cup cabbage, sliced 1/2 inch thick
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, coarsly chopped
soysauce, salt and pepper to taste

Soak sotanghon in water for 15 minutes. Drain then cut into half. Boil chicken liver, gizzard and liempo together in about 3 cups water. When chicken liver and gizzard are tender, remove and set aside. When pork belly is tender, remove from fire and reserve the broth. Fry pork belly in oil till it is crispy and golden brown. Chop pork belly, liver and gizzard into bite size pieces. Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add the meat and soy sauce. Add a pinch of pepper and stir for a few minutes. Add the green beans and cabbage then about half a cup of hot broth. Let simmer for a few minutes then add some more broth. Add the dried pancit canton and stir all together so the broth wets the noodles. Add more broth as need taking care not to dry noodles. Add the sotanghon and more broth. Here I usually estimate how much broth I need that is enough to cook noodles. This is sauteed noodles and not soup noodles.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. When noodles are done, remove from fire and serve.

Can’t believe it has been a while since I’ve last joined Presto Pasta Nights , as Ruth reminded me a few weeks ago. So here’s my entry this week that Daphne of More Than Words is hosting this week. Have a great weekend cooking!

Filed Under: Filipino food, Pasta and Noodles Tagged With: pancit, Pasta and Noodles

Sawtoothed coriander

November 19, 2008 By Gay 7 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve contributed an entry to Weekend Herb Blogging, but now I am back to share with you this wonderful Thai herb called pak-chee or sawtoothed coriander, named so because of the leaves which are long, slender and serrated. It has a similar but rather more pungent flavour than the cilantro leaf. It is easier to cultivate than cilantro, so now this takes the place of cilantro in most of the dishes I cook at home. They are perennial so they tend to last long unlike cilantro. Here is how it looks.

The scientific name of pak chee is Eryngium foetidum. Pak chee is one of the herbs used in Southeast Asian cooking (except Philippines *sigh*) and is one of the flavors in the Thai soup tom yum. Other names are Mexican coriander, fitweed and long coriander. Interestingly, while it tastes and smells like the cilantro, it grows well in areas where the cilantro doesn’t grow well because of the heat.

So hurray for me, I have an alternative to cilantro. We don’t use this herb in Philippine cooking (hence the sigh above) but I was lucky to have neighbors from Myanmar. They eat a lot of this and it grows well in their garden. They gave me the carte blanch to “raid” their pak chee plots anytime I want! Since they are so easy to grow, I have my own patch of pak chee in our garden already. One of the dishes I savor with pak chee is Thai fried rice.

Thai Fried Rice

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp Thai shrimp paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
5 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp chili flakes (add more if you want)
4 cups leftover cooked rice
2 eggs, scrambled, fried and sliced into strips
4 pak chee leaves, chopped
green mangoes, sliced thinly
fresh chilis
extra pak chee leaves

Heat oil in a wok and add the shrimp paste. Stir in the garlic and mix everything till garlic is translucent. Add chili flakes. Add the cooked rice and stir constantly till rice is well-heated throughout. Add half of the eggs and mix well. Turn off heat then add the pak chee. Put rice on a plate and garnish with mangoes, chilis and extra pak chee leaves.

Siri from Siri’s Corner hosts this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging recap.

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Filed Under: Asian, Rice Tagged With: fried rice, Rice, Thai food
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