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A Simple Filipino Breakfast

This is my simple Filipino breakfast: Pandesal with tender juicy red hotdogs, and fried eggs. The one that I missed among the three was the tender juicy red hotdogs. Even if red hotdogs are available in some Filipino stores (most of which are imitated), nothing beats the authentic red hotdogs that were made in the Philippines. As for the pandesal, I can bake it anytime because of our Pandesal Recipe while the eggs are always available anywhere.

I had this meal during my fifth day in Manila. Since my body clock has not adjusted yet, I am always awake during the wee hours of the morning. It was 4:30 am when I decided to walk to the local bakery to purchase some pandesal. It made me smile when I saw the freshly baked pandesal, kababayan, monay, Spanish bread, and other types of bread -some which are totally new to me. I said to myself “wow, I missed these stuff…I am really in the Philippines…I must make the most out of this for it won’t be that long before I leave again”.

The pandesal has 2 sizes: the large and the small. The small ones are really small; the length is just a few millimeters over the diameter of an Oreo cookie and it sells for about Php 1.50 a piece. The large ones, on the other hand, are what you see in the picture. I can’t say that they are large enough though but 3 to 4 pieces can satisfy my appetite. As for the price, I got them for Php 3.00 a piece.

My dad knows that we missed the tender juicy red hotdogs so much that is why he bought several kilos of those and reserved them in the freezer. I cook hotdogs the way I cook tocino and longaniza. How do I do it? I simply boil a cup or two of water and add some cooking oil in it (don’t worry, it won’t spatter right away since it only happens if you add water to hot oil) then I put-in the hotdogs and wait until the water evaporates. You will know that its time to get back to the stove when you hear the crackling sound of the cooking oil. When this happens, I just roll the hotdogs for a few minutes then I’m done. And yes, I always top my pandesal sandwich with my favorite banana ketchup.

What is your simple Filipino Breakfast like? Is it something served with sinangag (garlic fried rice) such as tuyo, tocino, longganisa, or beef tapa? Perhaps it is porridge like champorado, arroz caldo, or goto?

Whatever it is (they are), I love to hear your answers. Let me know your thoughts and opinions.

Lechon Dinner

Finally, I was able to feature Lechon here in our Filipino Food Blog. I hate to disappoint everyone but this is not a Lechon Recipe that most of you might be expecting (hopefully, I’ll be able to feature that when I visit the Philippines in May this year). This is all about the Lechong Baboy (Roasted Pig) that we had a while ago during the birthday party of our friend’s daughter, Lia.

See the smile in the pig’s face? I think that he or she is not camera shy at all. We had this a few hours back for dinner along with some sumptuous Filipino foods. The last time that I had Lechon was 2 years ago during New Year’s Eve and Panlasang Pinoy was not even born during that time.

Fried Talong with Bagoong

The first day of lent for this year started last Wednesday (Feb 17, 2010); this is also known as Ash Wednesday. During the Lenten season, Catholics are encouraged to practice fasting and abstinence. Abstinence is a form of personal sacrifice wherein one temporarily refrains (or abstains) from eating meat and indulging in other pleasurable food (this also applies in other areas such as lifestyle etc.). On the other hand, fasting refers to limiting one’s usual food intake for a day. This is usually done by just eating one full meal for the whole day.

Trying to abstain from meat, I prepared a simple and quick dinner meal which I refer to as Fried Talong with Bagoong. All I needed were two pieces of Chinese eggplants, some cooking oil, and cooked shrimp paste (bagoong). You can figure-out how this is done by simply looking at the picture but if you still have second thoughts then please allow me to narrate the steps.

Tuyo: Smelly but Lovely

It has been more than a week since I last posted an article for our What’s Cooking section so I decided to write something about what I had for breakfast this morning. After taking a shower and brushing my teeth twice, I’m now inspired to write something about one of my favorite breakfast foods: Tuyo.

Tuyo refers to salted dried fish (usually herring); this is also known as stockfish in some countries. In the Philippines, tuyo is considered as a poor mans food because of its cheap price – however, this connotation has been expunged over the years since people of different social status learned to love and enjoy it. This can be justified by the different recipes involving tuyo; these ranges from fried tuyo to gourmet pasta with tuyo.

Beef Lugaw

Chicago winter is one of the coldest in the country. There are weeks wherein the average temperature ranges between 5 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit; there are also days where it falls below zero (not to mention the wind chill factor which makes it colder). During this season, a single cup of hot chocolate or coffee…

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Corned Beef with Potatoes

Eating breakfast like a king is what I’ve been doing since I can remember. This improves my metabolism and fuels-up my day. There is nothing like a good Corned Beef meal for breakfast especially when served with garlic rice (sinangag): this is what I had just a few hours ago.

Fried Bangus (Milkfish)

Before anything else, let me first acquaint you with a section of this blog called “What’s cookin?” This section (or category) is intended to showcase simple yet delicious food that we usually prepare on ordinary or busy days.

Unlike the recipe section, this does not show details on how certain foods are prepared. The ones featured here are done using basic cooking procedures that almost everyone is familiar with. In addition, this section is also intended to promote our appreciation on simple everyday meals that most of us had while growing-up (or still having until now) and remind everyone that some good food does not need to be costly and complicated.

I was craving for pritong bangus (milkfish) since last week: it is not until today that I was able to visit the local Pinoy store to get a pack of bangus marinated in vinegar and crushed garlic. I even saw some salted eggs and was able to grab a dozen.

Asian Food

Today is our market day. Its the time to go to the grocery and pick-up all the food supplies needed for the week. Right now, we decided to go to Super H Mart, a Korean grocery located in Niles, Illinois (Waukegan and Oakton).This is the place to shop for seafoods, vegetables, and meat. I thought of grabbing some blue crab, squid, shrimps, and some pork belly for grilling.

Fried Galunggong for the First Friday of Lent 2009

Today is the first Friday of lent for the year 2009 and we are having Fried Galunggong. During Friday’s and the whole holy week, Roman Catholics practice the virtue of fasting and abstinence. We fast by eating just one full meal a day while the rest of the meals should be lesser than the usual….

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