A scientist in the kitchen

I’ve been using lemongrass for a long time. In fact, this herb was my first entry to Weekend Herb Blogging. We usually use it for cooking by tying it into a knot and added to soups. Exposure to people from other Southeast Asian countries however have expanded my repertoire in using lemongrass for cooking. For them, the stalks are used rather than the whole plant. I’ve have it as appetizer, stalks cut crosswise and thinly and served with peanuts and chili. For roasting chicken, I use several stalks to fill the chicken cavity to give flavor. Recently, I joined Taste and Create and chose to cook lemongrass pork barbecue. The recipe called for making a paste out of lemongrass and chilis. It was really delicious! It brought out the flavor lemongrass really well. Encouraged by this success, I decided to roast chicken using this method. I made a paste out of lemongrass, ginger and chilis and marinated the chicken before roasting. Delicious!

–>Is cooking an art or a science?<–

I had a long conversation about this success with my Indonesian friend who is also into cooking. Let’s call her Ms. Indonesia (:)). I think making a paste really made the difference in blending and bringing out the flavors of the herbs. Tagalog cooking does not use lemongrass nor that much chilis. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand it is quite common to make a paste out of chilis. No wonder they have such distintive mortar and pestle. While ours are more of the Western type mortar and pestle that is similar to the mortar and pestle we use in the lab for grinding rice leaves. Ms. Indonesia says that in every meal, they have chili pastes to dip their food into. Probably our equivalent of the soy sauce and vinegar dipping sauces. It did lead us to think that the manner of cooking dishes will also characterize the kitchen. Like them making pastes, and they have this distinct mortar and pestle. In anycase, whenever I make lemongrass meat barbecues, I’ll be sure to make a paste.

Now, this post seems to have so many “paste” words, don’t you think? Anyway, this is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging this week, which yours truly is hosting. I look forward to your posts.

Lemongrass Roast chicken

Paste:
2 stalks of lemongrass
1 inch knob of ginger
1 tsp of crushed black pepper
1 pc bird’s eye chili (add more if you want)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tbsp of fish sauce

1 whole chicken
1 cup salt

2 tbsp soy sauce
juice of two kalamansi or lemon

1. Brine the chicken first. I usually submerge it in enough water then add the salt. Leave for an hour then drain the chicken well.
2. To make the paste, pound the lemongrass, ginger, black pepper and chili in a mortar and pestle (or a food processor). Add the rest of the ingredients and leave for a few minutes. Rub onto the chicken, inside the cavity and underneath the skin. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Just before roasting, rub chicken skin with soy sauce then with kalamansi or lemon juice.
3. Roast the chicken at 400oF. I used a turbo broiler to do this and the chicken was cooked after an hour.

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Don’t forget, I am also hosting an event to celebrate farmers’ markets everywhere. I’ve postpone the deadline to May 31 so there is plenty of time for your spring/summer harvest.

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I’m waiting… and waiting… for the bubbles to appear… Waiting for that hint of fermentation. Then it’ll be kimchi time for me (hopefully)!

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Ampalaya or bitter melon or bitter gourd is one of the vegetables you can find in the market all year round in the Philippines. It is probably the most hated of vegetables by kids as it really is bitter. I didn’t learn to eat ampalaya dish till I was in my 20s, and when I did, I found that the bitter taste kinda grows on you. Now I can eat ampalaya anytime, anyway is it cooked. How did I learn how to eat it? I cooked and ate ampalaya for almost a week and had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner till finally my taste buds came to appreciate it. I had it stirfried with eggs, or with beef strips marinated in calamansi, or with black beans. I also like it cooked with coconut milk.

Ampalaya is also a medicinal plant, with the belief that it can lower blood sugar levels. The leaves are boiled and the decoction is cooled down. My dad, who is a diabetic, drinks a glass of this decoction once a day. It is bitter though so it takes some to appreaciate the juice. In Chinatown, you can buy dried ampalaya slices which can also be used to make teas.

My dad does not like the ampalaya juice but he does like sautéed ampalaya. So I’m sharing his recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging this week, hosted by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook. Oh, and by the way, I get the chance to host this lovely event in May!

Ampalaya with beef and black beans

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, choppped
100 grams beef strips, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp salted black beans
1 piece ampalaya, sliced thinly
soy sauce
pepper to taste

Cut ampalaya lengthwise. Remove seeds and pulp then slice thinly crosswise. Saute garlic and onions in 1-2 tbsp oil. Add the 1 tbsp soy sauce then the beef strips, stirring until they are no longer pink. Add the ampalaya, then stir to mix all ingredients evenly. Add 1/4 cup of water and let it boil till almost reduced. Add black beans, a tbsp at a time and check for saltiness. Mix well. Add pepper to taste.

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To market, to market is a blogging event I am hosting to celebrate farmers’ markets everywhere. Hope to see you there, too. - Gay

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I’m currently checking out vacation deals these days, it’s still our summer vacation. Time to head out to the beach!

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For April’s Grow Your Own, I am sharing with you an age-old practice in my father’s hometown. It is basically a rice growing town, with farmers still practicing traditions handed down for generations. One of these traditions is patilaok or the sharing of rice harvests. It is the practice to share with friends and neighbors the first batch of milled rice from their rice harvest. So often we get a share, a kilo or two, from neighbors. We get to taste different rice varieties as they are really proud of their harvest. Since April is harvest season, we have enjoyed these gifts each week.

We eat rice three times a day. When cooking rice for dinner, we often cook extra rice so that the leftover rice can be cooked as fried rice for the next day’s breakfast. Sometimes, we cook fried for lunch or dinner if the dish calls for it, if there is extra rice and if I feel like cooking fried rice (which can be often).

Cilantro rice

2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups cold cooked rice, crumbled to separate grains
a bunch of cilantro, chopped
salt

Heat oil in wok. Add 1 tsp salt, stir to dissolve salt then add the garlic. Cook garlic in oil, make sure it does not get burnt. When garlic is light brown in color, add the rice. Stir quickly to prevent rice from sticking in the wok and to distribute heat evenly throughout the rice. I usually cook it like this for around 5 minutes. When rice is heated through, remove from fire then add the fresh cilantro. Stir again then serve.

I served cilantro rice with fried salted fish. The fish is called espada or swordfish, about 12-15 inches long flat fish with thin flesh. The fish is cut in the middle to open it up, cleaned then salted and dried. This was my first time to eat this kind of dried fish. The saltiness was just rice and it was very crunchy when fried.

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