recipephilippines.com

With all the news about colon cancers, we think of switching to vegetarian diets. Maybe we can try this dinengdeng recipe. This is an Ilocano recipe as vegetables abound in the backyards of the Ilocanos.

Ingredients
1 cup water
1 pc grilled fish, sliced
2 tbsps bagoong Balayan, strained
2 tbsps shallots
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp tomato
1 cup string beans, cut into 1″ pcs
1 cup ampalaya, sliced
1 cup eggplant, sliced
salt and pepper

Procedure
1. Boil water with fish to absorb flavor.
2. Remove the fish and set aside.
3. Pour in bagoong Balayan. Let it boil.
4. Add ahallots and ginger.
5. Add the string beans then the eggplant and, lastly, the ampalaya.
6. Simmer for a few minutes and add the tomato. Let it boil again.
7. Lastly, add the grilled fish on top and simmer to cook.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is a local version of the Spanish dish “paella”. Arroz a la Valenciana is great for fiestas, birthdays, and family get-together after the Sunday mass. It’s a complete meal, a one-dish meal of meat, rice and vegetables. It’s healthy, too.

I don’t actually cook this dish but I tasted one that really made me like it. If you’ve got any suggestion to make this dish more sumptuous, please share it here for a yummy arroz a la valenciana. Gracias!!!

Ingredients
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 k pork kasim, cut into cubes
2 pcs chicken legs, cut-up
1 tbsp atchuete seeds
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 pcs 11g MAGGI Chicken Broth Cube dissolved in
5 cups water
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 cup malagkit rice, uncooked
1 medium carrot, cut to wedges
2 medium potatoes, cut to wedges
1 tsp paprika
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into cubes
1 pc hardboiled egg, peeled

Procedure
1. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry pork and chicken until brown.
2. Remove from pan then fry atchuete seeds until color comes out. Remove seeds from pan and saute garlic and onions, and tomato paste.
3. Add broth and rice. Cover and let simmer until rice is half-cooked.
4. Add in fried pork, chicken, carrots, potatoes and paprika.
5. Simmer until rice is cooked then toss in peas and bell pepper. Serve garnished with sliced egg.

This recipe includes muffin pre-mix that you can store and consume within 6 months. Isn’t that wonderful? I won’t have to rush making those muffin mixes to bake yummy muffins for my kiddies…for the next few months.

A. Muffin Pre-Mix Ingredients

8 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions for Muffin PreMix

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well. Put in a large airtight container. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool, dry place. Use within 6 to 8 months.
2. Makes about 11 cups of Muffin Mix, enough for 4 batches of muffins.

That’s it! Now, here’s the recipe for that melt-in-your-mouth muffins. You’ve got to try it one weekend, then tell me what you think!

B. Melt in Your Mouth Muffins Ingredients

2 3/4 cups Muffin Mix
1 egg — beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine -melted or
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions for Melt in Your Mouth Muffins

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Put Muffin Mix in a medium bowl. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine egg, milk and butter.
3. Add all at once to Muffin Mix. Stir until mix is just moistened; batter should be lumpy.
4. Fill prepared muffin pan 3/4 full. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Place pan on wire rack for 5 minutes; remove muffins from pan and serve immediately, or place on wire rack to cool. These muffins freeze well.
6. Makes 12 muffins.

Note: To make these muffins attractive to the kids you can decorate them with choco chips, ground peanuts, crispy rice, tiny MnM or Nips sprinkled over colored or white frostings.

I specially love it with garlicky peanut dipping over the crepe.

INGREDIENTS:
10 cloves garlic
1/2 cup roasted pecans (peanuts if you prefer), roughly chopped
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup brown sugar (maybe white would be better) + 1 tbsp white sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce (maybe light would be better)
1-1/2 cups water
salt, if needed
4 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup cold water

For crepe topping:
1 clove garlic, minced (to be added after cooking the sauce)
1 cup chopped roasted pecan nuts for topping

Procedure
Mix the sugar, soy sauce, and water. Saute the garlic in peanut oil until golden brown then add the chopped nuts and stir to cook for about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture and stir, add 1 tbsp white sugar, and salt as necessary. thicken by pouring the cornstarch-water mixture in a slow stream while stirring, stopping when the desired consistency is achieved.

To serve:
Put the fillings in the middle part of the crepe/lumpia wrapper. Place a layer of fresh greens at the bottom (lettuce is most preferable), then the filling. Add some sauce before you fold the sides over the filling. Spoon the sauce over the lumpia, then top with chopped nuts.

Happy eating!!!