Kaldereta Beef using Mama Sita’s Caldereta mix cooked in a Slow Cooker

We call it Kaldereta, others call it beef stew. However one wants to call it, we call it yummy in our house. I use Mama Sita's Caldereta mix in this recipe. I also cooked it in a slow cooker. The meat is so tender when it is cooked in a slow cooker, and it doesn't lose its shape as well. Unlike if you simmer it for a long time in the stove or oven top. Since my friend Jing told me to buy a slow cooker, it's been an important gadget in my kitchen eversince. One can make a cheap cut of meat into something classy if one cooks it in a slow cooker. And I find, when I use the slow cooker, the meat absorbs all the ingredients around it.

I used Mama Sita's mix because it is quite handy, and it gives that certain Kaldereta smell. I did not put liver spread or any liver ingredient in this version because my family does not like it. Some might say it's not Kaldereta without the liver spread but it works fine with us. I substituted grated cheese instead to make it thicker towards the end of the cooking. Oh, the pictures does not have green peas, I've run out ... hehehe.

Ingredients:

1 kilo of beef, cubed
3 tbsp of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 medium onion, sliced finely
½ tsp of salt or to taste
3 – 5 medium potatoes, cubed in big pieces (1 inch by 1 inch)
2 medium carrots, chopped round or diagonal
1 capsicum (bell pepper) sliced the same size like the carrots
a handful of frozen green peas (or fresh if it is handy)
2 tbsp of tomato paste
½ cup of grated cheese (optional)
1 cup of water

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan.
2. Sauté garlic in the olive oil until fragrant
3. Add the onions, stir until translucent.
4. Add the beef. Cook the beef until it turns a different colour, greyish.
5. Season it with salt, and then add the carrots, capsicum and the potatoes. Mix it through.
6. Mix the Mama Sita Caldereta mix.
7. Put the tomato paste and add the water.
8. NOW transfer everything into your slow cooker.
9. Set the slow cooker in automatic and cook for about 4 hours. Stir it occasionally.
10. Add the peas when you have been cooking it for 3 hours.
11. Half an hour before serving it, add the grated cheese.

Ginisang Ampalaya (Sautéed Bitter melon/gourd)

It's only once in a blue moon that I get to cook ampalaya or bitter melon, sometimes called bitter gourd. They won't grow in this part of the world, at least, I can't grow them. I tried. Very seldom that they sell them in the supermarket or in the asian shop, and when they do, it's like buying gold. That's how expensive they are. But since they're good for our health, and my honey knows I love them, we buy them, although it's like buying gold or maybe silver. When we buy ampalaya, we pick the lighter coloured ones. I believe they are less bitter than the darker green. Don't take my word for it, but I've never been wrong (in this theory). I don't like putting meat with it, maybe few shrimps, but most of the times I just cook the ampalaya by itself, then I will have fish on the side, in this case some smoked herrings (tinapang tawilis). So, here goes ...

Ingredients:

2 medium size ampalaya
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced finely
1 medium onion, sliced finely
3-4 big tomatoes, chopped
3-4 eggs, depending on the size
fish sauce to taste

Directions:

Slice the ampalaya (lengthwise) then scrape the seeds in the middle. Sliced them very thinly/finely. Put the finely sliced ampalaya in a bowl of water with salt. Leave it soaking in the salted water while preparing the other ingredients. Don’t squeeze the ampalaya when you take it out of the water, I don’t. Just drain the water and wash it again in running water.

1. Sautee garlic in the olive oil
2. Add the chopped onion, stir until translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes; cook until tomatoes are very soft.
4. Season with fish sauce.
5. Add the drained ampalaya, and mix it through. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT stir the ampalaya, once it’s mixed through. When it’s half-cooked, add the beaten eggs, then you can stir it until the beaten eggs is mixed through. Remove from the heat and serve with rice.

I had fried smoked fish with it. I bought them in the pinoy shop in Melbourne.

Coconut Crème Caramel (Recipe best made a day ahead)

Leche Flan is an all time favourite in our home. Whenever I bake this dessert, it's guaranteed to be eaten up to the last morsel. I was so proud of myself the very first time I ever baked this. I always thought it is a very difficult dessert to tackle. The leche flan I used to eat was the one steamed and only with egg yolks and condensed milk. Ohhhh cholesterol! Luckily, I found this recipe in "Australian Women's Weekly" published in August 1994, and it's been my version of leche flan ever since. With a bit of adjustment of course. It's also very popular with friends because it's not very sweet.

Ingredients:

½ cup (110 g) caster sugar
½ cup (125 ml) water
6 eggs
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar, extra
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk
1 can (400 ml) coconut cream

Directions:

1. Combine sugar and water in medium pan, stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Boil uncovered, without stirring, until mixture turns golden brown. Keep your eye on it, because it might burn. Pour caramel over base of deep 20 cm round cake pan.
2. Whisk eggs, extra sugar and essence in medium bowl until combined. Bring milk and coconut cream to boil in pan, allow bubbles to subside.
3. Gradually whisk milk mixture into egg mixture; strain into jug then pour over in pan with caramel. Place pan in big baking dish (roasting pan or a bigger round cake pan is ideal) with enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of pan.
4. Bake in a moderately slow oven (160 C) for about 40 minutes or until the centre is just set.
5. Remove pan from water, cool; cover, refrigerate overnight. Invert onto rimmed serving plate.

Mussels (Tahong)

I love mussels. When I went to New Zealand, I saw the biggest mussels ever. I was really awestruck with their sizes. I couldn't stopped talking about them. Not only were they really, really big, they were also meaty. Sometimes, the shells of ordinary mussels are so big, then the meat inside were very small. But New Zealand Mussels are really big and meatier. Here I am again, all agog about New Zealand mussels.

We're lucky living in Tasmania, because we're surrounded by water. Whenever we have the time, we go for a drive and collect mussels, oysters and if I'm lucky some crabs. But this time, these are bought mussels and they happened to be New Zealand mussels. And boy, did I enjoy eating them ....

Ingredients:

1 kilo mussels
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 onion, chopped finely
1 inch ginger, thinly sliced or 1 tsp minced ginger from a jar
4 – 5 tomatoes, chopped
fish sauce to taste
a bunch of spinach or pechay or silver beet

Directions:

Clean the mussels thoroughly if they are not clean yet. Remove the moustache-like sticking out.
Sauté the garlic in the oil until brown.
Add the onion and ginger.
Stir for a minute then add the chopped tomatoes.
Add the mussels. Mix thoroughly then cover it. Let it simmer for few minutes.
Season with fish sauce. Be careful with your seasoning. Mussels have a natural taste of the sea, more often than not, they are salty already. So keep tasting the sauce. Put water if there is not enough sauce, or if you want your dish soupy. Let it boil.
Put the leaves in, mix and let it boil until the leaves are tender.
Serve with rice.

Rule of thumb with mussels. When they are open before you cook them, throw them away. If they don't open when you finished cooking them, throw them away.

Pancit Guisado

Pancit, the versatile food. One can eat it at breakfast, lunch, dinner even during merienda (morning tea or afternoon tea here in Oz). I think this is more popular during merienda. In our household, it is always a meal. This is what we had for lunch yesterday. I must have hit it right because there was no left-over. Poor dog didn't have any tucker afterwards. I was so busy taking a picture of it, by the time I sat down on the table it was almost gone. So this is the only serving I had ... but it was worth it. Calamansi were from the garden. I have heaps in the garden, I wonder if I can sell them ... hmmmmm.

Ingredients:

1 500 grams packet of rice vermicelli noodles (bihon) Soak the noodles in hot water before preparing all the ingredients
1 cup of shredded cooked chicken or pork (left over bbq chicken is ideal)
a handful of shrimps
2 tbsp of cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 onion, chopped finely
1 carrot, sliced thinly, julienne
50 - 100 grams of beans (Baguio beans) sliced thinly and diagonally
1 – 2 cups of shredded cabbage (I like cabbage, the more the merrier)
2- 3 tbsp of soy sauce
1 – 2 tbsp of sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), optional

Directions:

Heat oil then sauté the garlic until brown.
Put the onion and stir for a minute.
Mix the carrots and beans.
Mix thoroughly, then add the cooked chicken and shrimps.
Season with soy sauce and sweet soy sauce.
Keep stirring then add the cabbage. Stir until the cabbage is well coated with the sauce then add the noodles and mix thoroughly.
Serve with calamansi, pepper and extra fish sauce on the side.

Left over Chicken BBQ omelette

Breakfast is always a family meal in our household. I always want my boys (I have twins) to have a proper breakfast during school days. They only take sandwiches to school, so I make sure they eat a hearty breakfast as often as possible. This morning, it was omellette with left over bbq chicken. One of them had rice, the other one had bread rolls like his daddy. Of course, I had some rice too. You can also have this at lunch time, have some salad on the side or still serve it with rice. Or even for a light dinner, again with salad and rolls or rice again ... lol.

Ingredients:

1 cup of left over bbq chicken (bought from the supermarket is fine)
2-3 tbsp of cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
4 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
6 -8 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oil and sauté garlic until brown
Put onion and cook until onions are soft.
Add the tomatoes, cook until tomatoes are cooked.
Add the chicken, stir and season with salt and pepper.
Pour the beaten eggs and make sure the beaten eggs are spread out evenly.
Cook on the stove without stirring so that it will set on the bottom.
Finish cooking the omelette under the grill so that the top part is also cook.

If you haven’t got a grill, you can try flipping the whole omelette onto a big plate when the bottom is set. Then slide it back onto the pan. I wish you good luck when doing this. Or if you don’t want to be bothered flipping it and making the presentation nice, just turn the omelette portion by portion. The taste will still be there.

Misua with Zucchini

The humble misua. I remember when I was little, we only get to eat misua when we're sick. I guess because it's easy to eat. It slides down your throat so easily. You don't need to chew it. I never liked the patola (bottle gourd) that went with it, too. But now, I am missing that patola. I wished I have eaten all those patolas served to me when I was a little girl. Very seldom that I see patola being sold in the asian shops here. I have mentioned in a previous post that we only have 2 chinese shops in this part of the world, and that they don't sell everything I need and I want (it's all about what I want and what I need, LOL). What we have here is an abundance of zucchini. Especially when they are in season. They are easy to grow as well. So instead of using patola, I used zucchini in my version of misua.

Ingredients:

2 thin rolls of misua noodles

2 tbsp cooking oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 onion chopped finely
50 – 100 grams of shrimps (or pork or chicken)
2-3 small zucchinis, sliced thinly (round)

2 cups of water
fish sauce to taste
pepper


Directions:

Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add garlic, sauté until brown. Add onions.

Put the sliced zucchini and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the shrimps and season with fish sauce.

Add the water. Boil until the zucchinis are tender.

Put the misua noodles. Stir thorougly.

Serve immediately.