Saving Dried Fish For A Year

When I was pregnant with my second child I was craving for Filipino food. Dried fish is one of them. When I went to the Filipino store to get them, they came in bulk. One packet of dried fish has like 30 to 50 pieces in it. I was a bit hesitant to buy but then I really like to eat dried fish that time. One of my favorites is called "parutput" in Waray Waray dialect or "kiampi" in Bisaya dialect. So there, I bought one packet but then my problem is how am I going to save all of them? I will not be eating all in one go and I will certainly not eat them everyday as it is salty and can be rather unhealthy as well. Cooking them everyday also mean my house is going to stink and that it will take me weeks if not months to get rid of the smell. I am the only one in the family who enjoys this food so imagine the distorted faces of my husband and daughter every time I fry them?

So here's what I did and you may want to do as well if you want to save your dried fish.

1. Fry all dried fish in olive oil. You may want to use whatever oil you have in the pantry.
2. Once brown and cooked, place them in a tight container with a kitchen towel at the bottom to drain the excess oil. I used 2 take away containers for this.
3. Once it's cool down, remove the kitchen paper.
4. Put the lid on and place the container inside a zip lock bag. I find it useful to use a ziplock bag because I still see a bit of oil coming out from the container and it also help me get rid of the smell totally.
5. Put the bag in the freezer and there, you can save it for a year or more!

How to reheat? Do any of these...

1. You can either defrost it half an hour or an hour before you eat them or
2. Heat the fish in the microwave or
3. Fry them again.

I have been doing #1 , this way I can save 1 bottle of air freshener to get rid of the smell hehe... Once defrosted, all I have to do is pour vinegar on it and yummmmmmmmmmm!

Below are the only fish left after a year!

Wholemeal Banana Chocolate Muffin

My daughter brings either muffin, cookies or a finger bun for morning tea at school. I would normally buy them at  the supermarket but this time around I decided to bake them. Thanks to http://www.joyofbaking.com for a great recipe! Most of the ingredients below are the same except for the flour, I used wholemeal instead of white flour and I added 3/4 cup of brown sugar instead of 1 cup white sugar. This looks really good with the frosting but I didn't add any as I didn't like to use butter this time.

You need:

1 cup wholemeal flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup skim milk

1/4 cup canola oil

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl.

3. Combine dry and wet ingredients together, stir just enough to combine everything. Do not stir too much.

4. Pour batter in the muffin cups. This makes for 12 muffins.

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes in 180 degrees.

6. Do not overcook. Enjoy!

French Toast with Wholemeal Bread

A French toast for breakfast came to mind this morning when my daughter asked what we are going to have for brekky. She would normally eat Coco Pops every weekend but I wanted to cook her something nice. I unfortunately don't measure what I put in my food anymore. However I will try to give you the estimate of the ingredients.

I put the following together in the bowl. Please note that the cream and milk are both an estimate, I wasn't sure of the exact measurements. Just add more or less of it.

2 Eggs 

1/4 cup light cream

1/4 cup skim milk

a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

honey 

6 slices of wholemeal bread

butter

Beat 2 eggs in the bowl then stir in cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and honey. You may want to taste it to make sure you put in enough honey.

Heat pan and add butter. Dip one bread at a time in the mixture making sure bread is well coated. Please do not dip the bread into the mixture too long as it will be too soggy. Cook until brown and serve with your desired fruit, caster sugar and honey. You can also use maple syrup instead of honey. Hubby didn't have honey on his toast so it is up to you. Enjoy!