How To make a Perfect Suman

Suman is a  delicious Filipino Dainty that is very popular in the Philippines, there are different types of suman and the ingredients varies from each type. When I met Ate Pabling and tasted her "Suman" I said "wow this is so yummy" that's why I let her teach me how to cook a perfet suman because I want to share it to everybody and here is her secret and the suman she made.

Ingredients:
4 cups glutinous rice
4 cups coconut milk
1/4 kilo white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
thumb size ginger ( grated) optional
wilted banana leaves
water ( enough to cook the suman)

Procedure:
1. Soak the glutinous rice in a water for at least 20 minutes or until bloated then drained.
2. In a pot put the coconut milk, sugar, ginger and salt then bring to a boil, when boiling,  add the soaked glutinous rice, give a good stir, cover and cook it like a normal rice (sinaing) but do not cook thoroughly, when it is almost done (medyo bigas pa pero malapit ng maluto) turn off the heat.
3. Get the wilted banana leaves, spoon a portion of the rice then wrap in the banana leaves, do this until all the rice will be wrapped.
4. Put in the pot, add the water and boil the suman until fully cooked. ( around 45 minutes or more).

Buttered shrimps

Easy to cook shrimp dish that will make the eaters/ loved ones, love you more. Give it a try.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo shrimps
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Heat the butter then saute the garlic, tomato and onion until soften then add the shrimps.
2. Give a good stir and increase the heat, add salt and pepper to taste then stir until done.
3. Serve it hot.

Pork Inihaw ( Carenderia Style)

Pork inihaw (Grilled pork) is one of the best sellers in my sisters eatery, but to make it affordable the technique is to put a lot of cucumber and additional soy sauce and slices of calamansi are added when serve. For those who wants to start a carenderia ( eatery) I hope this post will give you an idea.


Ingredients:
1 kilo pork belly ( marinated with calamansi, soy sauce, black pepper and salt)
1 kilo cucumber ( sliced)
Vinegar according to your taste
1 onion ( sliced thinly)
ground pepper according to your taste


Procedure:
1. Grilled the pork and slice into bite size, combine with the cucumber, vinegar, onion and ground pepper, mix well.
2. Then serve with extra condiments and chili to enjoy.

Binakol

Another Ilonggo's pride is this delicious chicken dish that's rich in taste, cooked in coconut water. If you know how to cook chicken tinola, this is very similar to it, the only difference is this is cooked with coconut water. You can add tinola vegetables for this recipe, mine I only want it this way.

Ingredients:
1 whole native chicken ( chopped to your desired size)
3 young coconut (buko)  coconut and water seperated
2 cloves garlic
1 onion (minced)
2 stalks spring onion
1 stalk lemon grass (tanglad)
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Saute the garlic, ginger and onion then add the chicken and braise for few minutes.
2. Add the coconut water and bring to a boil, when boiling add the lemon grass then simmer until the meat is tender, add the coconut meat, salt and pepper to taste then simmer for 5 minutes and turn off the heat.
3. Put the spring onion and serve it hot.

You can add coconut water if needed.

Binalot na Dilis Paksiw

I love cooking anchovies paksiw this way to avoid it from breaking up. I learned this style from my parents.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo anchovies ( dilis)
thumb size ginger
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (crushed)
salt
banana leaves for wrapping



Procedure:
1.  Combine the anchovies, ginger, black pepper, salt, garlic and 1/4 cup vinegar and mix well.

2. Spoon a portion then place it on the banana leaves and wrap well.

3. When wrapping is done, put the rest of the vinegar, cover and cook over low heat. Serve when done.

How To Cook Spam

 Here is my simple way of preparing a spam.

1.Slice the spam into your desired thickness.

2. Dip each slice in a beaten egg until well coated.

3. Fried until cooked. Rest in a paper towel to remove excess oil before serving.

Sinigang na Bangus

I'm craving for  a milkfish belly with soup and this is the perfect dish for it, the creamy milkfish belly in a hot sour soup oh so yummy.

Ingredients:
1 big milkfish (bangus)
1 bunch kangkong (swamp cabbage)
1 onion
3 cups water ( add if needed)
2 tablespoons patis
chili finger ( siling haba)
1/4 kilo tamarind  (wash well boiled and drained) or  sinigang mix according to your taste
salt to taste

milkfish

Procedure:
1. In a pot put the onion,  fish sauce, chili finger, salt and fish then cook over medium heat, allow the natural juice of the fish to come out and simmer for 3 minutes then add the water and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer until the fish is cooked then add the swamp cabbage and simmer until cooked then add the tamarind extract or sinigang mix then simmer for a minute and turn off the heat.
3. Serve it hot.

Simple Tapioca Macaroni Salad

Simple and easy to prepare salad yet so delicious. I prepared this when I arrived at a friend's house who wants to taste one of my tapioca salads :-). She recommend this recipe for everybody because she really loved it after she tasted.

Ingredients for 20 servings:
1/2 kilo Tapioca pearls or Sago( cooked and drained)
1/2 kilo macaroni ( cooked according to its packaging procedure)
1 can Fruit cocktail (380 grams)
500 ml Nestle All purpose cream (2 tetra packs)
1 can condensed milk (390 grams)
1 can evaporated milk (370 ml)
2 cups  any color nata de coco

Procedure:
1. Combine all the ingredients then refrigerate for few hours.
2. Serve with a smile :-).

Rellenong Bangus

Stuffed milkfish ( rellenong bangus) a little laborious to make but it's worth it, very yummy and perfect to prepare for the whole family specially during special gatherings.

Ingredients for 3 regular size Milkfish:
3 pieces milkfish  (properly cleaned)
1 onion( diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 carrot (minced)
1 cup green peas
1 bell pepper (minced)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup corn starch for dusting
salt and pepper to taste
cooking oil for frying

Procedure:
1.Pound the fish gently to loosen meat from the skin, then remove all the meat and bones from inside the fish by scraping it with a spoon or handle of a ladle. Remove the central bone by breaking it in the tail and near the head.

2. Over low heat cook the fish meat, then let it cool and remove all the bones, set aside.

3. Saute the garlic and onion then add the de-boned and flaked fish, stir then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done. Stuff the skin of the fish with the filling.

4. After stuffing the fish, dust it with corn starch to avoid oil from splatting when you fry it. Heat the oil and deep fry the fish until golden brown.

5. After frying, set aside to cool before slicing ( slicing it while hot is easy to break) Serve it with rice and enjoy.

Note: You can marinate the skin with soy sauce and calamansi juice if you want.

Clam soup ( Sinabawan nga tuway)

This variety of sea shell is one of the bests for soups, in Mindanao region this is called Tuway. The meat is succulent and the soup is irresistible. "Higop na!" .

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo clams
1 cup horse radish (malunggay)
1 onion
1 tomato
1 1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. In a pot put the water, onion and tomato then bring to a boil, when boiling add the clams and boil for 2 minutes or until the shells opened.
2. Add the horse radish, salt and pepper to taste then simmer for a minute and turn off the heat.
3. Serve it hot and enjoy.