A scientist in the kitchen

Lemongrass is one of my favorite herbs and have been using it a lot on soups and roast chicken. I can’t believe I haven’t used it with pork barbecue until I read Katie’s Lemongrass Barbecued Pork recipe. Katie B., of Other People’s Food, is my partner for this month’s Taste and Create event - a brain child of Nichole from For the love of Food.

I used the same ingredients as the marinade but used pork belly instead of boneless pork loin. And instead of lime juice, I used kalamansi, the Philippine version of lime. The family is more partial to pork belly and we love to eat grilled pork belly every week. I love the aroma of lemongrass on the barbecue with each bite I took. I know I must do this again.

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Currently searching over a catalog of MP3 players… something I need for a new project coming up.

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Crispy pata or deep-fried pork legs is one special dish that is served during fiestas and special occasions. Pork legs and boiled till tender then deep fried. I haven’t cooked it yet, though whenever I crave for one, a Filipino restaurant nearby satisfies my cravings. To accompany the crispy pata is a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, kalamansi and fresh chilis. Others prefer sweet-and-spicy gravy or simply atsara.

The dish is so rich and oily, you wouldn’t want to make a habit of eating it regularly. Otherwise, you need those life insurance quotes quick!

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To continue with my Thai dish escapades for Weekend Herb Blogging, here’s another variation of pork stir fry with red curry paste. Most red curry recipes call for ading coconut milk to the dish. While I love using coconut milk in my dishes, somehow the combination of coconut milk and red curry paste does not suit well with my taste. I love red curry as it is, stir fried with meat and with lots of vegetables.

For this recipe, I added some green beans to the stir fry and finished it off with the addition of Thai basil from our garden. There are three common Thai basil varieties that are commonly used in Thai cooking. These are bai horapa (Thai or anise basil), bai gka-prow (holy basil) and bai maeng-lak (lemon basil). The most popular in the west is the Thai basil with an anise/licorice-like flavor, and is also popular in Vietnamese and Laotian cuisine.

Pork and red curry stir fry with Thai basil

300 grams thinly-sliced pork strips
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 tbsp sugar
5 clove garlic, finely chopped
50 grams green beans, cut into 2″ pieces
5 or more basil leaves

Heat oil in wok and add the red curry paste. Add the chopped garlic, mix for several seconds then the meat and sugar. Stir fry till meat is done. Add 1/4 cup water and scrape the paste that stuck to the pan. Adjust flavor for saltiness, sweetness or hotness (these flavors should be balanced). Add the beans and mix a few times till beans are half done. Add the basil last and mix 3-5 times. Serve with rice.

Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting WHB this week.

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Del Monter is a very popular food brand in the Philippines. Think tomato sauce. Think fruit cocktail for fruit salad. Think pineapple. Del Monte is always associated with these products. What I love about Del Monte, though, is it’s Kitchenomica Club, which dishes out a lot of viands and desserts through newsletters and pamphlets. My mom collects all these pamphlets and we get ideas from them. Mind you, this is not a paid post by Del Monte ok? I’m just setting the background to where I got the inspiration for this recipe. Well, it was my mom who got the idea for this recipe and insisted that we cook it during my dad’s birthday party. I tweaked it a bit, though and here’s the recipe.

Fried Wontons with Pineapple

1 kg ground pork
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large turnip, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp freshly ground pepper
salt to taste
2 cans Del Monte Pineapple tidbits, drained (reserve syrup)
3 tbsp sesame oil

Mix all ingredients together. Take a small portion and wrap in wonton wrapper. Fry till deep brown. Taste and adjust saltiness. It should have a slight sweetish taste. When it is according to your taste, place the mixture in the refrigerator to marinate for at least an hour. Wrap the meat in wonton wrappers, adding a small portion of meat only so it would still be well wrapped. To wrap, bring opposite corners of wonton wrapper together and seal with water or egg white. Fry until golden brown. Serve with sauce.

To make the sauce:

Mix 1/2 cup cane vineger, the reserved syrup, 1 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 cup of water, 1 tbsp soy sauce (optional), 1 tbsp of chili flakes, and 3 tbsp of tomato paste. Bring to a boil till the volume reduces to half. Meanwhile, mix 2 tbsp of flour to 1/4 cup of water. Pour slowly into vinegar-sugar mixture while constantly stirring. When sauce thickens, it is done.

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Want more recipes with pineapple? Check out Root Source Challenge # 2. 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: 28% [?]

I had my first taste of bulgogi a few months back. The dish originally called for beef but back then, I used chicken. This time I used pork strips. My mom found this recipe in a Nestle newsletter. This dish we served during my dad’s birthday celebration so the quantity is a lot. Bulgogi is a Korean dish consisting of marinated beef slices on a bed of sprouts.

Korean Bulgogi

1kg pork strips
1/2 cup rice wine
1/2 cup Maggi Savor seasoning
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp white sesame seeds

Mix everything together and marinate for at least an hour. Stir-fry the meat by batches until browned.

To prepare the bed of sprouts, bring water to a boil. Add 1 Maggi beef bouillon cube. When boiling add about 2 cups of mungbean sprouts. Boil for two minutes then drain. When drained, mix the sprouts, 2 tbsp sesame oil, chopped scallions and 2 tbsp black sesame seeds. Place the sprouts in a round serving plate, make sure to cover all of the plate. Place stir fried meat (one to one-and-a-half cup, depending on how meaty you want it to be) on top of the sprouts. Top the center of the meat with more white sesame seeds.

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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.

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