Misua with Pork Balls

The photo is not as appealing as the taste but I assure you this one is delicious as well. I got the recipe from one of my cookbooks. I replaced some ingredients though like minced chicken instead of minced pork, I garnish it with dried parsley instead of spring onions. I also added a little bit of lemon juice in the minced chicken. However I’d like to share to you the original measurements and ingredients so you know the basic first. You can experiment with this once you have tried the original recipe. Enjoy!

YOU NEED:

500 g minced pork
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
½ medium onion, chopped
1 egg
1 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper
8 cups of water
2 chicken stock cubes
100 g Misua (wheat noodles) ***
2 tsp fish sauce (to taste)
Chopped spring onions, to garnish (optional)

WHAT TO DO:

1. Combine pork, carrot, onion, egg and flour in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Shape into meatballs and set aside.
2. In a deep saucepan or casserole, bring water to the boil.
3. Drop in pork balls and simmer over medium heat until balls are fully cooked, about 15 minutes.
4. Stir in stock cubes.
5. When cubes have dissolves, add the misua.
6. Season with fish sauce.
7. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes (misua cooks very quickly).
8. Garnish with spring onions, if desired.

*** Click this link to find out more about Misua http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misua

Leche Flan (Custard)

I was making sure I am eating healthy but… I had a left over egg yolks from my egg white omelets. All I could think of is the Filipino style leche flan. This is a very sinful and tasty dessert unfortunately. Aside from its tempting taste I haven’t tried making it. But since I consider myself as a person who can at least make my husband happy on the table I was positive I can make leche flan. I had 3 tsp of the custard by the way and had to throw the rest of it because no matter how delicious it is I know it will not do well in my fat body. My leche flan was a success though.

YOU NEED:

8 egg yolks
1 can (14 oz) condensed milk
1 ½ cup evaporated milk (I used fat free skim milk)
¼ tsp grated lemon rind
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup sugar

WHAT TO DO:

1. Divide ½ cup sugar and pour in 6” oval pan (see the photo)
2. Melt sugar in the pan over low heat. Allow to caramelized sugar evenly
3. Stir egg yolks until well-blended but not frothy
4. Pour skim milk and condensed milk slowly on the egg yolk. Stir
5. Add lemon rind and vanilla. Mix well
6. Pour mixture in the 2 pans with caramelized sugar
7. Place pans in a larger, shallow baking pan containing hot water about halfway up the sides of the 2 pans
8. Preheat oven to 190 degrees
9. Place pan in the middle shelf of the oven
10. Bake for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean
11. Let cool at room temperature
12. Chill for several hours before serving.

Sinigang Na Manok

Three years ago I didn't know how to cook Filipino food, honest! I mean I know how to sauté and fry veggies, meat, fish etc. however there are Filipino dishes that I wish I can eat anytime. I can easily get this food when we lived in Singapore. There are places there that you can dine in or buy a take away like Lucky Plaza. It was a different story though when we lived in Bangkok, Bali, Australia and Beijing. I wasn’t really looking for this dishes but I found out I needed to learn because when I got pregnant with Trinity I got cravings for Filipino food. I had to call and ask my Mom how to make an “Isdang Paksiw” (fish cooked in vinegar, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper etc…) when we were in Bangkok, I was 3 months pregnant then. Janice (my brother in-law’s wife) was kind enough to cook “Kaldereta” (beef stew) for me when we were in Australia (I was 4 months pregnant). So I started cooking and learning our food; today’s dish is one of the popular dishes in the Philippines.

YOU NEED:

600 grams of chicken
1 bunch of kangkong (water spinach)
1 medium size eggplant
1 small chayote (sayote)
1 chopped onion
2 minced garlic
2 chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp of olive oil

3 cups of water
Pepper
Fish sauce

WHAT TO DO:

1. Sauté garlic, onion and tomatoes
2. Add chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes until brown
3. Add water and fish sauce to taste
4. Let it boil for 10 minutes
5. Add chayote and cook for 3-4 minutes
6. Add eggplant cover for 2 minutes
7. Adjust the taste by adding more fish sauce and pepper
8. Add kangkong and let it boil for another 2-3 minutes.