Purplesketches' Kitchen

2010 Resolution - More Blogging time

2010-01-08T07:36:00.004+08:00

It's been a while since I last blogged here, almost two years hehehe... I have been very busy with work, house and the kid. This year, I resolve to do more blogging of my kitchen stuff. We actually moved to a new home and it is always fun to cook in a new kitchen although it is much smaller than what I used to have, it's new nonetheless. :)

For starters, I am uploading this picture the pasta I cooked last January 2. We checked in to Prince Plaza last New Year and had lunch with my family at Glorietta 5 so there's no cooking for me on New Year's Eve. For Christmas we had pot luck at my brother-in-laws house, brought two chicken dishes - Buffalo Wings and Chicken Ole. The wings is an old recipe, the other one is new from Yummy. I'll post the recipe some other time together with the recipe of this picture here. This pasta dish is just an ordinary pinoy style spaghetti although I put in a lot of fresh basil (yum!) and for the bread, its toasted butter garlic tostillas :).

Will be back soon!

spicy beef salpicao

2008-08-05T07:09:00.008+08:00

I just finished cooking our baon for today, spicy beef salpicao. I got this recipe from Yummy July 2008 issue. The original recipe was not spicy, I added chili pecantes because the hubby and I like spicy dishes. :)

Here's the recipe:
1/2 kilo beef brisket
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 piece beef broth cubes
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn oil or cooking oil
2 tbsps butter
6-8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 small can button mushroom halved
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
parsely chopped (optional)
chili pecante (I added this :))

1. Cut the beef into bite-size cubes. In a pan, combine soy sauce, water, beef broth cube and sugar. Bring to a boil and transfer to slow cooker. Leave to cook for 3-4 hours until the meat is tender. (I had the beef simmered before I cooked it this morning since I don't have a lot of time :))
2. In a skillet, heat oil and butter. Saute garlic until brown. Add meat and mushrooms and saute for another 2 minutes. Then put the chili pecante.
3. Pour in the sauce. Add Worcestershire sauce, season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsely.

I don't usually follow the measurements in the recipes. Most of the time I estimate and make adjustments on the based on how I think it should taste. For this recipe, I marinated the beef in the soy sauce mixture so that the flavor will sip into the meat. Here is the finished product -

buffalo chicken wings

2008-08-03T15:48:00.010+08:00

Disclaimer: This is not a crack of the recipe of the famous Don Henrico's Buffalo Wings, it does not even taste anything like it. But I did manage to make the dip a bit like theirs. :) I am posting this upon my cousin's request. I prepared this in one our gatherings and she liked it. Now that she's doing her own cooking at their apartment in Dubai, she is asking for this recipe.

This recipe is in my collection of recipes. In groceries, I would collect these free recipes and compile them. Whenever we have gatherings, I would browse through my compilation and look for something to try. This recipe is created by Lady's Choice featuring their Sandwich Spread as in ingredient for the dip.

1/2 kg chicken wings
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
oil for frying

Dip:
1/2 cup Lady's Choice Sandwich Spread
1/4 cup thick cream
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1 tbsp garlic, chopped

Rub chicken with paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Let stand for 30 minutes and then fry in hot oil. For the dip, mix all ingredients together and let it stand for about 15 minutes to let flavors blend. For sweeter blend just add 1 tbsp sugar.

There you go KF! :) This recipe makes 4 servings according to the recipe. Good luck! Just IM me if you need help on anything else. Regards to Aaron. Take care.

spicy honey spareribs

2008-07-27T15:01:00.011+08:00

I usually get to cook on weekends, when I am at home and not doing any work. :) As much as I want to cook all our meals, I don't have the time since I still have to play with my baby when I get home. During weekdays, I cook lunch for me and my hubby. Preparation and cooking of breakfast and dinner are usually done by our house help. But I still plan our meals, do the grocery and go to the market for our meals.

This weekend I tried the recipe I saw in one of my FLAVORS Magazines. The recipe is called Heinz Honey Spareribs. Below is the recipe which I followed.

500 grams baby back ribs, sliced into single ribs
2 tbsps soy sauce
1/2 tbsp worcestershire*
1 tsp dried basil leaves*
1/2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsps Heinz tomato ketchup
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups water
salt to taste
2 tbsps brown sugar

Put all ingredients, except brown sugar, in a saucepan (*Basil leaves and worcestershire sauce can be replaced with hoisin sauce to give the dish a more Asian flavor). Boil over very low fire until meat is tender. Add brown sugar when meat is tender. Adjust the seasoning according to taste

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We can see where it got the Heinz part of the recipe but I am not sure where the honey came from :). I didn't had Heinz Tomato Ketchup so I used tomato sauce instead. I was thinking of actually using honey but when I opened the refrigerator I saw some left over maple syrup. I got the syrup and mixed it in place of the sugar. When I tasted the dish, it was quite bland so I added some more tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce and hot sauce. And then I stir fried the meat so it would not look pale. This is how the finished product looked like :)

I need a better camera and training on food photography... hehehe :). Tomorrow I'll try to cook beef salpicao for lunch (that is if I manage to wake up early).

After three years...

2008-07-27T15:01:00.003+08:00

It's been a looonngg while since my last post :). I've tried a lot of new stuff already and did a lot of cooking but I haven't had the time to write about them. I'm back and hopefully I'll get to post a lot of new stuff. Specially now that I am a wife and a mother, I would have more reasons to try new recipes.

meet the cook

2005-09-30T10:18:00.000+08:00

meet the cook... the person with the passion...

o well... may be the sidekick... hehehe....

this cutie is one of my favorite companions in the kitchen. she can be really stubborn and makulit at times but i let her do stuff just to make her feel that she's helping me out. i am hoping someday, she'll share my passion for cooking. :)

she loves removing the skin of the onion, mixing stuff, putting on the breading on meat, beating eggs... she'd probably love everything because she thinks we're just playing.

anyway, i love this kid. i hope other than sharing my passion in cooking, she'd grow up to be a very good girl.

baked tahong

2005-09-29T16:54:00.000+08:00

hello miss diane :). here's the recipe of baked tahong as requested. sorry i can't provide you with exact measurements.

ingredients:
tahong
garlic (minced)
butter (melted)
cheese
parsely (optional)
evaporated milk (optional)

procedure:
1. steam tahong until the shells open and the meat is cooked. do not put anything on the pan, just the tahong. the mussels are usually salty already.
2. while doing that you can mince the garlic, and chop the parsely. mix them with the melted butter and pour in the milk. do not put a lot of milk, just enought to make the mixture appear hazy. :).
3. when the tahong is cooked, remove one of the shells. retain the side where the tahong is attached. remember to remove also the hairy thing that sticks out of the tahong.
4. in a container, align the mussels for baking. pour the butter mixture on each tahong and top with cheese slices.
5. bake until cheese melts. :)
6. serve. :)

fish tempura

2005-09-20T15:07:00.000+08:00

i was so excited to do this recipe. aside from it being very simple, i wanted to check whether i'd be successful in replicating a dish in kitaro - sakana furai. i got the recipe from pinoycook.com. the recipe is quiet simple but preparing it was quiet difficult. thank God for mothers! my mom was the one who filleted the fish. we used asohos as indicated by the recipe. i used cornstarch instead of flour and so i did not use the batter mixture. just dipped the fillet in cornstarch, then egg and the breadcrumbs.

i think i got the dish :). because one of my patrons recognized it as sakana furai. :) i just was not able to couple this with the right dip because tempura dip is quiet expensive.

lechon con tokwa

2005-09-08T15:15:00.000+08:00

it was my first attempt to make a lechon kawali. I got the recipe from www.pinoycook.net. :)

i got home last night and followed every step indicated in the recipe. it was already past 10 but i was wide awake and was very busy preparing it. i boiled the pork belly slab in water with 2 whole onions, a whole head of garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf and salt. Then while allowing it to cool down, i went to sleep.

woke up at 5 am and placed the pork slab in the freezer. according to the recipe, this will ensure that the pork will be tender & moist inside even after deep frying.

then at around 6 am i woke up to prepare the rest of the recipe. i also prepared my other menu - soy fried tofu with black bean sauce (recipe below). anyway, i fried the pork as instructed and true enough, the intensity of the spattering was really strong. i kept a distance from the stove and i would turn off the flame every time i would check on it.

too bad i did not take a picture of my dish but i got a perfect brown lechon kawali. at least perfect for me :). the taste was a bit bland, i should have added more salt. anyway, i was still happy with the outcome. i hope my patrons liked it too. :)

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soy fried tofu

note: sorry but i can't provide you exact measurements of the ingredients. i seldom measure them.

ingredients:
firm tofu
ground pork/beef
black beans (tausi)
light soy sauce
oyster sauce
leeks/spring onions
seasoning
garlic and onion
cornstarch

procedure:
- slice tofu in serving sizes and cover each side with the seasoning. the seasoning is just a generic fried chicken seasoning usually bought in the market.
- deep fry tofu until crisp and slightly brown. set aside.
for the sauce
- saute minced garlic and onion slices in oil.
- put in the ground meat and let it cook for a while.
- when slightly brown put in soy sauce and the black beans. don't put in too much black beans. some brands may be too salty. it is advisable to put a small amount first and just add more later on if needed. bring to boil.
- put in oyster sauce and water. bring to boil. then taste. the taste should be salty and sweet. :) adjust taste as desired.
- dissolve cornstarch in water and put in the sauce mixture. add more cornstarch until the desired thickness is attained.
- garnish with leeks or spring onions. serve.