I find it expensive to buy siomai. Don’t you? So why not make your very own siomai and freeze it? The price of Siomai alone forced me to concot my very own Siomai recipe taken from various sources. My kids love to dip their dumplings in soy sauce and calamansi mixed with chili garlic sauce. If you are a pesco-vegetarian like me, just replace the pork with chicken meat or crab meat. I usually cook it separately because the rest of the family love their siomai to contain pork. I will add the photos soon but in the meantime, enjoy cooking.

Wonton Wrapper (You can make your own wrapper or just buy them at the grocery)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg white
4 tablespoon lard
3 tablespoons water

1. Place flour in a bowl. Make a well in the center.

2. Add the egg white, lard and water in the center. Mix the ingredients in the center thoroughly and quickly work in the flour. Knead well.

3. Roll out thinly and cut into rounds of about 4 inches in diameter.

4. Put filling in each wrapper.

Filling
1/2 kilo Ground Pork with a bit of fat (instead of ground, diced to small pieces or chopped)
1 kilo cooked crab, shelled and chopped (or just substitute with 1 kilo ground pork)
1/4 kilo shrimps
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. rice wine
3 Tablespoons Chopped spring onions
8 Chinese dried mushrooms (soaked in hot water until softened and chopped)
1 small chopped water chestnuts or Singkamas or 1 small can bamboo shoots, drained and chopped
1 small carrot, grated
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
dash of black pepper
1 teaspoon 5 spice powder (if You don’t have this, see below on how to prepare the 5 spice powder or buy the McCormick Chinese Five Spice (Ngo Yong) at your favorite grocery store)

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Posted: September 4th, 2009 under Pork, Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: 8

I promised that I’d share Singapore Food recipes from the chefs in Singapore. Now this Chilli Prawn recipe called Sambal Goreng Udang is so simple.

Here is a recipe shared by Singaporean Chef Veni Knight

Ingredients

500gm large prawns, remove heads and veins but leave shells intact
2 tbsp of chilli powder (You can easily buy these at the supermarket)
2 large onions, sliced
Salt to taste
3 tbsp cooking oil

Method
1. Mix prawns with chilli powder
2. Heat oil in the wok
3. Add the prawns and stir on high heat
4. When the prawns have all turned red, stir in the onions
5. Let the onions soften slightly before putting the fire out
6. Serve hot

Posted: July 31st, 2009 under Asian Cuisine, Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: 1

Crab Omelet is one my favorite omelet dish. With crab meat available in the groceries, it’s easier to prepare now. My mom used to prepare this by boiling the crabs and flaking the crab meat. The top shell is saved for filling in the crab meat. Anyway, this recipe is just plain crab omelet or tortang alimasag. A very simple dish.

Ingredients

1 cup flaked crab meat (you can buy this at the frozen section of the grocery)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon constarch
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon refined salt
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup shredded onions
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 peeled potatoes, finely diced
1/4 cup shredded celery
5 eggs

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Posted: July 30th, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: 1

Tsiju Culinary Arts shared this Singapore Chilli Crab recipe which is one of the most popular dish in Singapore hawker centers. It is sometimes known as Singapore’s unofficial “national dish” which had its humble beginnings in the country itself. In the 1950s, Madam Cher Yam Tian had a hawker stall right on the seashore, and she spent her time everyday from dusk till the wee hours of the morning cooking by the light of a kerosene lamp. One of Madam Cher’s specialities? Live crabs in a zesty chilli-spiked gravy, the first version of the Singapore chilli crab.

The recipe looks simple but I still have to try it. Just substitute the ingredients that I noted in the closed parenthesis.

Ingredients

1 Sri Lanka Crab (of course use our local crabs, the bigger the better)
3 tbsp. Canola oil
8 cloves garlic, chopped
8 fresh chili, chopped
2 eggs
2 spring onions, sliced
1 ginger, grated
2 tablespoon lime juice (or substitute with calamansi or lemon juice)
2 tabsp sugar
4 tbsp ketchup
1 teaspoon cornflour (substitute with corn starch)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Mix the following for the sauce

1 cup water
4 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1/4 teaspoon salt

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Posted: July 18th, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: 3

I started my herb garden when we moved to our new home. It’s a great feeling to pick freshly homegrown basil and add it to our pasta. This afternoon, I cooked Shrimp and Pasta with Pesto sauce to make up for the Lechon Manok that I was supposed to buy.

Here is the recipe that is even beginners can follow.

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Posted: June 30th, 2009 under Pasta, Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: 4

There are many ways to cook ukoy. In Vigan, ukoy like the one above is prepared from a mixture of galapong (sticky rice with water), shrimps, onions, spring onions and salt to taste. One has to prepare galapong first but I prefer to use rice flour . (You can prepare galapong though)

Ingredients

1 cup small fresh shrimps
1 cup rice flour (or cornstarch if rice flour not available)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup green onions part julienned
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
oil for deep fat frying
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Posted: June 24th, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: none

I love coconut milk recipes and they taste really great with seafoods especially shrimps. Whenever a relative gives us kilos and kilos of shrimps, we prepare Guinataang Hipon as the shrimp flavors seep in to the coconut milk preparation.

Ingredients

1/2 kg fresh shrimps, medium to large sized Shrimps
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 cup coconut milk (check Coconut Milk Preparation)
2 pieces green siling haba or finger chilies
1 thumb sized fresh ginger, mashed (optional)
1/2 cup coconut cream (Check the Coconut Cream Preparation)
salt to taste

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Posted: April 13th, 2009 under Coconut Milk, Seafood.
Comments: none

My late brother, Ruben shared this kropeck recipe with my sister Lorna when he was still studying at the Fisheries department at UP Diliman. This is the real thing. Lorna unearthed this gem of a recipe for anyone to try out. Here it is

120 grams ground, cooked fish meat (use any inexpensive fish)
500 grams all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. MSG (optional)
1 tsp. sugar
2 drops of food coloring (FDA-certified, especially the red color)
1 egg, well-beaten
4 cups water
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsps. lime water (dayap)

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Posted: April 12th, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: none

Just looking at the photos makes me want to eat more kilawin or kinilaw na isda. Once can use either tuna or lapu-lapu fillets to make this dish. I always associate the Kinilaw with a beach outing. Preparing dishes with vinegar ensures there is little chance of food spoilage. The fish is “cooked” using vinegar as the meat turnes opaque in color. Though kinilaw may not be as popular as adobo, it certainly has a one-of-a-kind taste that many Pinoys abroad crave for.

In Philippine Food and Life (released by Anvil Publishing in 1992), Gilda Cordero-Fernando narrates of an Ilokano group who, during the Spanish period, were part of the crew English navigator Thomas Cavendish’s ship. Right after the sailors threw all the intestines of a goat into the sea, the Ilokano assistants dived into the sea for their kilawin — dipped or cooked in bile sauce or broth. The chronicler, who was ignorant of what the Pinoys were preparing, described the dish as “a disgusting mess.”

Not only goats, which is believed to be a good source of protein and calcium, however, may be made into kilawin. Beef, carabeef, fish, shelfish, including octopus are also popular options.

(Sources: Alegre, Edilberto N. and Fernandez, Doreen G. “Kinilaw: A Philippine Cuisine of Freshness.” Bookmark Inc.,1991;Cordero, Gilda Fernando. “Philippine Food and Life.” Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, 1992)

Kilawin na isda is so easy to prepare too.

Here are the ingredients:

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Posted: April 11th, 2009 under Asian Cuisine, Filipino Food, Recipes, Seafood, kakanin.
Comments: 1

The lapu-lapu is always a special dish. Childhood memories of our family dinner involves a feast of lapu-lapu topped with sweet and sour sauce known escabeche. Escabeche has a slight ginger taste to it unlike the Chinese version of sweet and sour sauce. I am not sure if this is a Cebuano version of the sweet and sour sauce because I have not tasted it here in Manila.

Here is how I prepare it:

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Posted: April 10th, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: none

There are many ways to cook Shrimps and the easiest is to saute the shrimps in garlic. This style of cooking is Gambas. Others add tomato sauce and other vegetables like carrots or red bell pepper. I prefer the toasted garlic taste on my shrimps.

Ingredients

500 grams medium-sized shrimps, in shell
2 tablespoons, rock salt
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Tabasco or hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 Sliced green chili
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
5 tablespoons olive oil

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Posted: March 25th, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: none

Dagupan City once promoted 100 ways to cook Bangus but for me the best Bangus dish is still Rellenong Bangus (or Relyenong Bangus)> Here’s the recipe I use.

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Posted: March 21st, 2009 under Recipes, Seafood.
Comments: 5