Recipe: Birthday Misua

Birthday misua (fine-noodle) or cha misua (stir-fried fine-noodle) is a traditional fujien dish that is served on someone's birthday to wish them a long life.

Serving: 8

Ingredients:
12 prawns, still in shell and with head
1/4 lb of pork shoulder, sliced into elongated 1-inch rectangular strips
2 carrots, julienned
6-8 cloves of garlic
2 cups of dried shitake mushroom
1 cup of salted roasted peanuts
8 quail eggs, boiled, shelled, and dyed red
3 chicken eggs, scrambled
2 spring onions, sliced
1/2 cup of stir fried sliced shallots
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

box misua
soy sauce
vegetable oil

Procedure:

Use medium heat for all of these.

Prawns
1. Stir fry a couple of cloves of garlic in vegetable oil in a pot.
2. Add prawns until it turns lightly orange.
3. Drizzle soy sauce (maybe a medicine cup worth or two)
4. When the prawns are cooked (orange), add enough water to lightly cover the prawns
5. Chop off the head with your spoon and set the body aside in a dish.
6. Leave the heads to simmer in low heat.
7. Shell the body and chop it into chunks.
8. Set the chunk aside.

Pork
1. Stir fry a couple of cloves of garlic in vegetable oil in a frying pan.
2. Add the sliced pork
3. Drizzle just enough soy sauce to color the meat.
4. When cooked, set the meat aside.
5. Pour all the liquid in the frying pan in the prawn juice.

Carrots
1. Microwave the carrots for 60-120 seconds on the microwave.
2. Stir fry a clove of garlic in vegetable oil.
3. Add carrots until cooked to the texture that you prefer.
4. Drizzle with soy sauce.
4. Set aside on a dish.

Mushroom
1. Stir fry a clove of garlic in vegetable oil.
2. Add the mushroom and stir for 2-3 minutes.
3. Drizzle with soy sauce.
3. Set aside on a dish.

Eggs
1. Scramble the eggs.
2. Slice or break into pieces.
3. Set aside.

Misua
1. Boil water, enough to cover the misua with a couple of inch of headroom
2. Put the entire box of misua in the boiling water.
3. After a minute or two, remove the misua from the water and put in a bowl.

Putting things together
1. Put the misua in the shrimp stock, mix until the noodles soak up the sauce.
2. Turn down the stove to low heat.
3. Add sesame oil to finish the noodle.
4. Transfer misua to a bowl.
5. Arrange all the other ingredients in pie segments over the misua (mushroom, carrots, peanuts, pork, scrambled eggs, red quail eggs.
6. Garnish with spring onions and shallots
7. Present colorful bowl.
8. Mix the ingredients before you serve.

Recipe: Filipino Arroz Caldo

Arroz caldo is a Filipino chicken porridge/congee seasoned with onion, garlic, ginger. It's a comfort food that's best served for merienda (mid-afternoon meal in between lunch and dinner).

Ingredients

Cooking

1 kg tucked chicken wings
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 head minced garlic
1 head minced onion
2 thumb-sized julienned ginger
1/4 kg glutinous rice
3 liters water
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
Optional: 8g Magic Sarap (6 sachets of Maggi product); you can substitute with chicken bullion.

Garnish

2 heads toasted minced garlic
1/4 cup sliced spring onion
6 pieces hard-boiled eggs sliced into wedges
15 pieces of calamansi (or 1 lemon or lime)

Procedure

1. Cook the chicken

1. Season the chicken wings with 2 sachets of Magic Sarap (or salt and pepper).
2. Preheat 2 tbsp of oil in a pot and sear the chicken until golden brown. 
3. Set aside.

2. Cook the rice

1. Use the same oil used to cook the chicken in a pot. 
2. Saute garlic, onion, and ginger.
3. Add the rice, cook for 2 minutes.
4. Pour water, stir, and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Cook the chicken and rice together

1. Add the seared chicken.
2. Simmer for 30 more minutes. 
3. Add water, as needed. 
4. Season with 4 sachets or Magic Sarap (or add your chicken bullion).
5. Season with pepper.

4. Serve in bowls

1. Transfer the porridge into bowls and garnish with toasted garlic, spring onion, and eggs.
2. Serve with a side of calamansi or wedges of lemon or lime.  

Source: Magic Sarap (If you haven't guessed already from all the product placement :P)

Recipe: Grilled Steak Salad

Ingredients

• Steak (pick your favorite, skirt, flat iron, or NY)
• Finely chopped onions
• Finely cubed cucumber
• Apple cider vinegar
• Canola oil
• Egg
• Citrus
• Mustard
• Sugar
• Salt 
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Lightly grill a steak (keep it medium rare), then slice into strips. 
2. Add chopped onions and cucumber.
3. Mix with apple cider vinegar, canola oil, egg, citrus, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. To taste. 
4. Put the mix on a lettuce leaf.

Eat it as a salad, rice topping, or sandwich filling. 

Recipe: Making Fujian Lumpia (Fresh Spring Rolls)

Lumpia is a spring roll in the southeastern province of Fujian, China (潤餅 or rùnbǐng). Chinese migrants to other parts of southeast Asia brought the dish with them and variants of lumpia exists in the adopted countries, like Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam.

This recipe is a traditional Fujian version. It's fairly complex and takes hours of prep time, followed by a couple of hours of cooking. And then the diners have to assemble many of the ingredients at the table.

It's generally a communal affair, where family members prepare the ingredients together and dine together.

Picture from Baby Rambutan

Lumpia Serving Size : 2 Large Woks

Main ingredients 

Mix

White preserved tofu (tokwa) - 5 packs
Carrots - 5.5 lbs
Cabbage -2 medium heads
Snow peas (ho-lin taw) -2 packs
Green beans - 4 lbs
Mushrooms - 2 packs
Ground pork -2 lbs
Shrimps - 2 lbs
Chinese leek (sng-a)

Wrap

Lumpia/spring roll wrap - 60 pcs
Romaine Lettuce (sng chai) - 2 packs. This keeps the mix intact and from dissolving the spring roll wrap

Condiments

Eggs - 16 eggs
Garlic - 4 heads (at least)
Mung bean sprouts - 2 packs
Cilantro/Coriander - 2 packs
Peanut drink powder - 2 boxes
Fried Fujian sea weed (ho-ti)
Hoisin sauce
Tiny flat fish (optional)

Cooking instructions

Before anything

Wash cilantro and Romaine lettuce first so it will be dry by eating time.

Prep work

Tofu - julienne
Carrots -cut fine
Mushrooms - cut fine
Green Beans - medium fine
Garlic - fine
Cabbage - medium fine
Snow Peas - medium fine
Shrimp - medium fine

Cooking

1. Put little oil in the wok. Add a little garlic.
2. Stir fry in medium heat each ingredients in its own pan (you can reuse the pan). Start with the meat, then add the veggies, from the ones that take the longest to cook to the shortest. 
3. Start mixing the ingredients in one big wok. 
4. Stir everything under medium to low heat every 10-15 minutes, for about an hour or two.  

Tips

• When stir frying ground pork, add oyster sauce to taste.
• Simmer the lumpia in low heat until soft.
• Add some water or chicken broth (about 2 –3 cans) little by little, when things look dry. Do not add too much.
• When serving, squish on the side to release liquid before putting in serving dish.

Preparing condiments

Fried seaweed (hoti)

1. Add a little oil in pan
2. Stir fry in very low heat (1-2 level).
3. When the color has changed and it's crunchy, turn off heat and stir some sugar bit by bit.

Eggs

1. Scramble the eggs.
2. Pour enough in pan for a thin omelet. 
3. When done, roll up the omelet and cut into strips. 

Garlic and mung bean sprouts

• Put in food processor to get fine pieces and add a little hot water. 
• Blanch mung bean sprouts in boiling water for just a few seconds. You want it still crispy. 

Eating instructions

This is everyone's favorite part!

1. Get a dry plate. Keep it dry. 
2. Lay the spring roll wrap flat.
3. Lay the lettuce on the wrap
4. Put the mix in the lettuce. Don't be greedy or your lumpia will be too fat to roll up. 
5. Add condiments of your choice: mung bean sprouts, peanuts, garlic, fried seaweed, cilantro, peanut and egg. Take care to not make the roll too fat.
6. Roll up the wrap and add a dab of hoisin sauce to seal the wrap. 
7. Eat it.

Grilling meat right

Consumer Reports (December 2010)

(Also see video)

• Food sticks to the cooking grates and/or won't sear properly. Preheat the grill for 15 to 20 minutes. Gas grills have a tendency to burn cooler than charcoal, so it's imperative that yours be fully preheated.
• Flare-ups occur.
  Don't overcrowd the cooking surface. Keep 40 percent of the grates empty. If fatty foods such as salmon or rib-eye steaks flare up, move the items to a cooler or nonflaming section of the grate.
• Food is under- or overcooked.
  Cooking with the lid open allows heat to escape and compromises roasting. Use high heat for searing thick cuts of meat, then lower to finish cooking.
  To check doneness of meat, insert an instant-read thermometer into the sides of steaks and chops or into the thickest part of burgers and chicken to ensure proper temperatures have been reached. Cook food to at least the following internal temperatures, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
  beef burgers, 160° F
  beef steaks, chops, and roasts, and lamb, 145° F (medium-rare) and 160° F. (medium)
  chicken, 165° F
  fin fish, 145° F or until flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork
  pork, 160° F
• Food tastes bland.
  To add flavor and tenderness, use a marinade made with an acid--vinegar, lemon juice, plain yogurt. But marinate for too long and the food can become mushy.
  Marinate:
  shrimp for 15 to 30 minutes
  salmon steaks, 30 to 60 minutes
  chicken breasts, at least an hour, and up to 4
  other chicken pieces for 4 hours.
  tender cuts of beef, 15 minutes to 2 hours
  ­less tender beef, 6 to 24 hours
  Always refrigerate marinating foods.
  
  Spice rubs are another great way to add flavor. Start with a base of sugar and salt and doctor it with the spices and herbs you enjoy--black pepper, chilies, cumin, and garlic and onion powder. Apply the rub just before cooking or, for less-tender cuts, up to one day in advance to intensify the flavor.
  Note: Brush on barbecue sauce near the end of the cooking time. This allows the meat to thoroughly cook without burning the sauce.
• Smoking results are poor.
  People often make the mistake of trying to smoke food on a gas grill. The results will never be good even with a smoker box, because too much smoke rushes out of the grill vents, making it hard to get true barbecue flavor.