Buffalo Chicken Wings are fried chicken wings coated with a hot and tangy sauce. Buffalo Chicken Wings are traditionally fried without any breading. However, there are recipes such as this that calls for breading to add a crisp texture to the dish.
Buffalo Chicken Wings are usually served as an appetizer. It comes with a dipping sauce (such as ranch or blue cheese dressing) and is best eaten with celery sticks.
Potato Croquettes are pieces of mashed potato balls that were rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fried until crispy. This is a good side dish or snack and it goes well with basic condiments such as ketchup or mayonnaise.
Potato croquettes are nice addition to the usual side dishes like French fries, onion rings, mashed potato, or potato chips. These can also be a hash brown substitute for breakfast.
I enjoy having these taters as side for burger or hotdog sandwich.
Try this Potato Croquettes recipe and send us your feed back by placing a comment.
Round Steak in Criolla Sauce is perfect to have as a cold appetizer or a light dinner.
Round Steak is also known as Rump Steak in other countries. It refers to the cut of beef that includes the top of round, bottom round, and eye of round. This nice cut has no marbled fats; this can be a good thing to those who are in a low fat diet. However, the lack of fat makes this cut of beef dry-out when broiled or grilled. The most recommended cooking methods for this cut are the ones that require the use of liquid such as braising, stewing, and mixing with Criolla Sauce.
I enjoy eating this dish for many reasons. Round steak is flavorful. A tender round steak is enough to make my taste buds go wild. I also enjoy the criolla sauce. It is full of wonderful flavors and nice colors. When criolla sauce is combined with thinly sliced round steak, it becomes a complete work of art.
This dish is meant to be served cold. Refrigerating for at least 4 hours will do, but I prefer placing it in the fridge overnight.
Baked Tahong or Baked Mussels is a well loved appetizer seafood dish. Mussels are very abundant in coastal areas wherein they are harvested fresh everyday and sold at a cheap price. If you’re in the Philippines, getting some fresh mussels will never be an issue.
This recipe is simple and very tasty. It is like making your own homemade gourmet masterpiece with minimal effort and ingredients.
Some of you might be planning to enroll in culinary art schools to enhance your skills or perhaps taking short culinary courses so that you can make fabulous dishes. Enrolling in the top cooking schools will definitely boost your cooking skills to a whole new level.
That is necessary if you plan to have a career in cooking, but it is not that needed when you only want to learn the basics of cooking – such as preparing simple recipes like this one.
Using conventional oven is necessary to complete this dish. However, you may also use electric ovens and it will still produce good results.
Crispy Crablets are seasoned small crabs that were dredged in cornstarch and deep-fried until crispy. These types of crabs are usually found in riverbanks while some are cultured in fish ponds. In some cases, these small crabs can be caught in rice fields.
This dish has become a popular appetizer among Filipinos. This is often eaten with a spicy vinegar dip; it goes well with beer or any alcoholic beverage.
What is the first thing that you think about when you hear the words “Spicy Dilis”? Are you thinking of the pre-packaged spicy dried anchovies sold in sari-sari stores? Yes, the ones with red coating.
I am a big fan of this stuff; I’m not sure if you are. I know that eating those packaged anchovies is scary, but I still did because I love the taste.
I remember a time when I almost ate a staple. Yes, that shiny metallic thing used to hold pieces of paper together. Each pack of spicy dilis is stapled in a long card board; it is not impossible for the staple to get into the package.
Sinuglaw is a dish composed of grilled pork belly and fish ceviche. This can be considered as a main dish or an appetizer. The name “sinuglaw” was derived from two famous cooking methods in the Visayas and Mindanao areas: sugba, meaning to grill; and kinilaw, which means to cook by soaking in vinegar or citric acid.
Who knew that the marriage of “Inihaw na liempo” and “Kinilaw na Tuna” would produce such a fine offspring? This dish, though simple easy to make, is something to die for.
Which restaurants in Manila do you think serve the best Sinuglaw? How about in Cebu and Mindanao?
Try this Sinuglaw recipe and let me know what you think.
Calamares is the Filipino version of the Mediterranean breaded fried squid dish, Calamari. There are different methods on how to make this dish; the most usual does not involve breadcrumbs. However, I chose to add breadcrumbs for this recipe for visual appeal and a crunchier texture.
So, what is the difference between Calamares and Calamari besides the spelling?
Well, there is no big difference at all. The only difference that I noticed is the dipping sauce. Calamari is often dipped in marina or other tomato based sauce while Filipino Calamares is dipped in spiced vinegar or toyo mansi.
I enjoy this dish when spiced vinegar is around. This makes a real good “pulutan” (beer food) too. Do you also like to pair Calamares with beer?
If in case you are having a hard time looking for fresh squids, you may always purchase the packaged squid rings for calamari. These are located on the frozen food section of most supermarkets or grocery stores.
Try this Calamares recipe and let me know what you think. Cheers!
Ukoy is the Filipino version of shrimp fritters. Small shrimps (usually with head and shell on) are mixed in a batter and fried until crispy. This is can be an appetizer, a main dish, or a mid afternoon snack. Several variations of this dish exists, the most common ingredients that are mixed with shrimps are mung bean sprouts (togue) and julienned squash. There are also other ukoy variations wherein small fishes such as dulong or dilis are used instead of shrimp.
I learned to eat Ukoy when I was still a kid. Every afternoon, our trusted vendor peddles this dish along with turon, lumpiang prito, and bananaque. I used to have this for meryenda (mid afternoon snack) and I enjoy having it soaked in spicy vinegar such as sinamak or pinakurat.
The secret to a good Ukoy is its texture. You can put any ingredient that you want as long as it is within the norm but it should come out extra crispy. During my first few tries, I was not satisfied with the texture. Although the taste was extremely superb, the texture is a bit soggy. Instead of giving-up, I did several more experiments and finally got the crispy texture that I wanted. How did I do it? I simply changed the flour and cornstarch ratio by adding more cornstarch and decreasing the amount of flour.
If you’ll notice in the video, I used small dried shrimps (the size is bigger than hibi) instead of the fresh small ones. I can’t find the right sized (small variety) fresh or even packaged shrimps in my area. It turned out that the dried shrimps are more flavorful than the fresh shrimps that I usually use.
Are you craving for Ukoy?
Try this recipe and let me know your thoughts.
Marinated Shrimp with Lemon Dill Sauce is an appetizer dish that makes use of peeled semi-cooked shrimps. The preparation of this dish is a bit similar to how we make our “kilawin” although some of the ingredients are not common in a typical Filipino pantry.
I tried this appetizer while having some wine and it was a good combination – in my opinion. The taste is a little bit sour with a hint of sweetness and you can feel the creamy texture brought about by the mayonnaise and sour cream. This will make a good appetizer during cocktail parties and gatherings.
Maybe it’s time for you to raise your palate to the next level; don’t you think?
Try this Marinated Shrimp with Lemon Dill Sauce recipe
Embutido is a type of meatloaf prepared Filipino style. Though a well known dish for the holidays, Embutido can be enjoyed everyday without any hassle. Several meat processing companies now produce this meatloaf for commercial purposes; all you have to do is grab one from your favorite grocery store.
For those of you who want to enjoy the naturally prepared Embutido, this is the recipe to go for. My version (or should I say my Mom’s 🙂 ) focuses more on giving this dish the wonderful taste and aroma that can’t be found in commercialized Embutido. You can serve this as a cold cut or you can even fry it after steaming. Do whatever you want but don’t forget to put the Banana Catsup on the side.
Try this delicious Embutido recipe.
