Bicol Curry Express

This is my own fusion dish between a Filipino Bicol Express and an Indian Curry. The outcome was a great-tasting whole new spicy dish, but if you do not want Bicol Express to taste like curry, just exclude all the spices and probably replace with 3 to 5 red hot thinly-sliced chili peppers with seeds to add the distinct heat of a Bicol Express.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo pork, cut into small cubes
1/4 kilo fresh and lightly-salted alamang (shrimp paste)
1/3 kilo green finger chilis (siling pansigang), seeds discarded and sliced thinly
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup water or unsalted stock
1 bundle coriander (wansoy) or flat leaf parsley (kinchay), finely chopped
3 small onions or shallots, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 thumb equivalent of ginger, chopped long and thin
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Spices:
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp fennel powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp chili powder

NOTE:
Make sure that the shrimp paste (alamang) is lightly salted. If the shrimp paste you bought is very salty, then wash it to remove excess salt.

Green finger chilis

Go to the wet market and buy fresh alamang.

You need 1/4 kl. of this.

Instructions:

• In a saucepan, heat 3 tbsp of oil in a medium-high heat.
• Lightly put salt and pepper to the pork and place in the saucepan to sear or brown on each side.
• Once the pork has been seared, remove the pork and set aside.
• Do not discard the oil.
• In the same saucepan, saute and brown the onions. Do not caramelize. Just let the onions brown a little bit.
• Add the garlic, ginger and bay leaf. Wait until the aromas are released.
• Add the tomatoes and soften.
• Add the seared pork, shrimp paste and 1 cup of water.
• Let's make this dish interesting. Add all the spices!
• Lower the flame to medium-low and let it simmer until all the water has mostly evaporated.
• Afterwards, add the coriander, green chilis, and the coconut milk.
• Adjust seasoning for saltiness if needed and ground black pepper.
• Simmer more until the coconut milk gives out its oil.

The leftover Bicol Curry Express.

It tastes better the next day. :)

Pasta in Seafood Marinara

Serves: 5

Ingredients:
300 gms fettuccine pasta
1/4 kilo squid, sliced thinly
1/4 kilo clams
1/4 kilo mussels
10 tomatoes, chopped
5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 dried chilli peppers, chopped
1 bay leaf
Finely chopped fresh parsley
Finely chopped fresh basil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Thoroughly clean the squid and remove the ink. Slice thinly.
• Thoroughly clean the clams and mussels then soak in water for 30 minutes to remove the sand inside.
• In a pot, boil heavily salted water, around 2 liters.
• Add the pasta when boiling then cook until al dente.
• Now let's make the marinara sauce. In a saucepan, saute garlic, pepper and bay leaf in a low flame.
• Let the garlic brown a little bit but be careful not to burn it.
• Add the chopped tomatoes.
• Add the basil and parsely.
• Simmer and crush the tomatoes with the spatula when it's already tender.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Let the sauce simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.
• After that, add the squid, clams and mussels and increase the heat to medium. 
• Do not add water. Let the clams and mussels give out their own juices.
• Cover the saucepan and let it simmer until the shells open up and get cooked, around 5 minutes.
• Pour the sauce over cooked pasta and serve.
• Cheese and seafood usually do not go together so I am not putting cheese on my seafood pasta.

Fetuccine with Anchovies

This is a quick, simple and delicious dish to make.

Servings: 2

Ingredients:
100 gms Fetuccine pasta
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 dried chili peppers, chopped
1 bay leaf
Pinch of crushed black pepper
4 fillets of anchovy
5 small tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Anchovies

Instructions:

• In a pot, boil 2 liters of water for cooking the pasta.
• In a pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and then saute the garlic, chili pepers, bay leaf, and anchovies in a low flame.

• Crush the anchovies with the spatula.
• When the anchovies are fully crushed and the garlic is already fragrant, add the chopped tomatoes. Heat still set to low.
• Add a pinch of crush black pepper.
• Continue sauteing while waiting for the water to boil in a separate pot.
• When the water is already boiling, add fistful of salt into the pot then add the pasta.
• Halfway through the boiling of the pasta, scoop a ladle of the pasta water and pour into the pan.
• Crush the tomatoes with the spatula, still the heat is set to low.

• When the pasta is already al dente, strain the pasta and add it to the pan where the sauce is being simmered.
• Turn of the heat, stir the pasta to incorporate into the sauce.
• Serve while hot.
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese on top.

Beef with Brocolli

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo of ribeye or sirloin beef, sliced thinly
2 brocollis
1 green bell pepper, cut into wedges
1 red bell pepper, cut into wedges
1 white onion, cut into wedges
2 stalks onion leeks, sliced
5 pcs. thinly sliced ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed

For the marinade:
Combine beef, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, pinch of crushed black pepper, 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp chinese cooking wine into a bowl and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

For the sauce:
Combine 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp chinese white wine vinegar, and 3/4 cup chicken stock into a bowl.

Instructions:

• Separate the brocolli by its stems and blanch in a salted boiling water for 3 minutes, then remove.
• Heat pan or wok with 2 tbsp cooking oil in a high heat.
• Stir-fry beef for 2 minutes.
• Add the garlic, onion, onion leeks, and ginger and continue stir-frying for 2 minutes.
• Add the sauce and bell peppers, stir-frying for 1 minute.
• If you need to thicken the sauce more, combine 1 tsp of cornstarch with 3 tbsp water and pour into the sauce.
• Add the brocolli and continue stir frying for another minute.
• Serve with rice or fried rice.

Pickled White Radish

This dish is a good side dish for fried or grilled foods.

Ingredients:
1 long white radish, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsps Japanese soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
Pinch of crushed black pepper

Japanese soy sauce

Mirin

Instructions:

• In a pot, pour vinegar and sugar then boil for 1 minute or until the sugar has been dissolved.

• Turn off heat then add the sliced radish.
• Then set aside for at least 8 hours in room temperature.
• After 8 hours, strain the pickled radish and discard the vinegar.
• Place the pickled radish in a container then add the soy sauce, black pepper and mirin.
• Store in the refrigerator or serve.

KFC 11 Secret Herbs and Spices

In this dish that I made, I have accidentally concocted a spice mix that tasted almost exactly like KFC. So I am now in a quest to discover the secret KFC recipe and this is my first attempt.

To compare my herb/spice mix with the real deal, I went to KFC and bought a gravy and made my own gravy using the following:

1 tsp 5-spice powder (which contains, szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seeds)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano powder
1 cup flour

 

The KFC gravy

 

My first attempt gravy

By making the gravy, you can put chicken stock to the thickness that you like and add salt to your taste. 

The 5-spice powder counts as 5 so there should be around 12 herbs/spices in there, but I count szechuan peppercorns and black pepper as one spice. So all in all it's 11.

The result was that my gravy almost tasted just like the KFC gravy, except that it's hot due to the paprika. I also felt that there was something in the KFC gravy that was missing from my gravy.

I created another batch of gravy and replaced paprika with sage and the taste was much more closer to the real KFC flavor. Some people I know who tasted this gravy immediately said it was KFC although I have not told them what it was.

Below is my modified version that has no paprika:

1 tsp five spice (peppercorn, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black peper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp sage
1 tsp oregano

I thought that this might already be the 11 secret herbs/spices of KFC and so I went to the supermarket and bought chicken wings so I can fry them using my spice mixture.

 

I added 1 cup of water to my spice mixture 

to create a batter and then put the chicken 

wings to coat them.

 

The cooked chicken seasoned with my own spice mixture. 

Since I do not have a pressure cooker, I just deep-fried 

the chicken using palm oil

 

My second attempt of gravy, together with the chicken wings.

The result, although the chicken tasted so delicious especially together with the gravy, the smell of the cooked chicken did not smell like KFC. The taste is also not quite there.

But why does the gravy taste so much like KFC and the spice mixture was exactly what I used in cooking the fried chicken? In the fried chicken, I can smell the cinnamon while in the gravy you cannot smell it.

So I guess I need to create my own 5-spice powder but without the cinnamon then replace it with powdered bay leaves or coriander powder. As I have noted earlier that there was something in the KFC gravy that was missing from my own gravy, although the distinct flavor of KFC is already present in my mixture. I strongly feel it's a spice and not an herb. I also feel that the measurement of each herb/spice is not so important as you can immediately detect the distinct flavor of KFC once you got all the 11 herbs/spices correctly. From there, you can then adjust to your taste. Oh, another good candidate for testing is allspice. Let's see.

My quest continues so please keep posted...

Deep-fried Breaded Beef

While making this dish, my wife did a taste test and she noticed that it tasted like KFC. I was surprised to realize after tasting it myself that it had a striking similarity to KFC indeed!

The spices that I used was put in haste so I did not really intend to copy the taste of KFC. Luckily, I remembered what I put and come to think of it, I may have accidentally discovered the 11 herbs and spices of KFC.

If you can see from the ingredients, there are 9 herbs and spices that I used, but it was not really 9 but 13 since the five spice powder contained, well, 5 spices namely, szechuan peppercorns, ground cloves, star anise, cinnamon, and fennel seeds.  Now, since KFC only has 11 herbs and spices, I may need to experiment more and try to remove 2 herbs/spices that I used and try to find out also the correct proportions of the herbs/spices.

Once I got the correct herbs/spices, I will update this blog and share to everyone the recipe.

So keep in touch.

Ingredients:
1/2 kl sirloin beef, sliced thinly
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups ice-cold water
bread crumbs
Pinch of cayenne
Pinch of paprika
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of ground white pepper
Pinch of ground black pepper
Pinch of five spice powder
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of ground oregano
1 tbsp salt

 

a cup of flour

 

Breadcrumbs

Instructions:

• To make the batter, combine flour, water, salt, and all the spices.

 

Make a thick batter

• Dip the beef into the batter and then dip into the bread crumbs.
• Then deep fry 2 minutes on each side in a medium high heat.

 

Sumptuous!!!