Lumpia - Filipino Shanghai Style Eggroll

This is probably in the Top 5 most popular Filipino appetizers. You can't really go wrong with this dish. Almost everyone enjoys lumpia. Make it for movie night/tailgating or a potluck, it will be a sure hit! :o)

For this recipe, I stayed with a VERY basic version explained to me by my parents as this was more experimental/impulsive than anything. My brother doesn't eat seafood, so I omitted the ground shrimp.  This can be a little time consuming, yes, but can be prepared ahead of time for convenience. This is also a great dish to have your kids involved in the kitchen (and some extra sets of hands! hehe)

 

Shanghai Style Filipino - Lumpia

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 medium jicama chopped
• 4 carrot stalks chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon granulated onion
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 package spring roll wrappers (or wonton wrappers)
• 1 quart oil for frying
• optional: 1 lb shrimp ground
• optional:1 cup green onions chopped

Cooking Directions

1. Using a knife or food processor, mince carrots and jicama.
2. Combine with ground pork in a mixing bowl. Add seasonings. Combine thoroughly.
3. Assembling eggroll (refer to pictures below)
4. Deep fry 3 or 4 at a time in 350 degree F oil until golden brown on all sides (5 minutes)
5. Meat will still be slightly pink when ready. If too pink, double fry in lower heat.
6. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

The amount of filling is up to you and how big you like your egg roll.  (If unsure - the width of your thumb)

 I ended up cutting each wrapper in half, but the process is still the same. Use water to seal the egg roll.

I dusted the surface with a little bit of flour to prevent sticking while they wait to be fried.

Get Your Feast On!

Mongo Guisado Style Stew

Boston Strong. Just quickly, I'd like to give a shout out to the cities of Boston & Watertown who have been so resilient throughout the past week. Also if I could I'd hug every single law enforcement official who worked tirelessly since the explosions putting their lives on the line for the safety of the people. Condolences to those lost and injured from the attack. 

 I rejoice with you all as I was glued to the TV as well as twitter for hours following the coverage of the manhunt up until the very end as they captured the perpetrator. 

Cheers to Boston!

Visit the American Red Cross website for details on you can help the victims of Boston, Texas, as well as those in my home state of Illinois who recently experienced historic mass flooding.

^_^

No excuse. So it's been quite some time since I last blogged. To be honest, inspiration has eluded me. I know that's no excuse. Inspiration is everywhere if you just look.

With a new educational adventure to be had in just less than a month, I decided to post not only one of my favorite Filipino dishes (I seem to say that about every one I've posted so far bahaha), BUT an amazingly healthy dish that I also find quite comforting for those long nights of studying as well as traveling. .  It not only does the soul good, but the body as well.


Some health benefits of mongo (mung) beans include, but are not limited to the following:

• Low in cholesterol, high in dietary fiber
• Low glycemic index for those with diabetes or are moderating sugar intake
• Contains protease inhibitors, which work to prevent tumors from forming
• Great source of protein 
• Contains high amounts of potassium and very low sodium which is ideal for controlling blood pressure.

Preference. I've seen this mongo dish cooked many different ways. I've seen it in more of a soupy consistency. I've seen it cooked with shrimp. I've seen it used with different greens (more commonly spinach). My dad cooks this with collard greens as well, but my favorite so far has been kale. I also prefer this dish to be slightly thicker--almost like a stew, so if you're Filipino and you come across this post, you're probably thinking "Whaat??" lol If that's the case, go ahead and add more broth or water to thin it out a bit.

Mongo Guisado Style Stew

Ingredients

• 2 Cups (or 1 package) green mongo beans (mung)
• 1 medium sized onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1-2 Cups pork diced
• 1 tomato chopped
• 3-4 Cups kale chopped
• 4 Cups water or broth
• 1 tablespoon patis (fish sauce)
• pinch of pepper to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Cook mongo beans in boiling water until tender. Separate 1/2 Cup of cooked beans in a bowl and mash (to thicken stew).
2. In a sauce pot, saute onions and garlic in some canola oil over medium-high heat. Add pork and continue sauteeing. Once pork is no longer pink. Add water, patis, kale, and beans.
3. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and continue to simmer until desired thickness is reached.

Serve over white (or brown) rice or alone. Enjoy!

Get Your Feast On!

Torta! Filipino Omelette

 I love this dish for many reasons. It's easy and quick to make. You can switch up the ingredients depending on what you like: meats, vegetables, cheese, spices, etc. (I guess you can do that with pretty much all dishes hehe), and it brings back memories everytime I eat it. Since I usually have a sweet breakfast palette i.e. cereal, cinnamon/vanilla oatmeal, fruits, yogurt, etc. I prefer eating this for lunch, brunch, or dinner.

I first tasted this as a child when my parents would make them for us kids. They usually make this with onions and tomatoes, potatoes, or with eggplant. My favorite is Talong (the eggplant version), but I still have to learn how to make it as good as they do. I will share with you my parents recipe maybe in the future :)

In this version, I used tomatoes, potatoes, kale, topped off with mozzarella and basil. I also added some turmeric for color and flavor as well as its healthy benefits and cayenne pepper for some heat because I love spicy foods. Torta is delicious on its own or as a side.

Since I was young, I love to eat torta with banana ketchup. It tastes especially good with the potatoes. It gives it that extra punch of flavor.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe and try it sometime! If you do try it, please let me know!

Tortang Kamatis, Patatas, at Kale (Filipino Omelette)

Ingredients

• 6 medium/large eggs
• 2 tbsp water or milk
• 1 cup (roughly 3 medium sized) tomatoes diced
• 1 1/2 cup (roughly 6 or 7 medium sized) red potatoes diced
• 1 cup (roughly 1/2 a bundle) fresh kale chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 pinch salt (or to taste)
• 1 pinch black pepper (or to taste)
• handful grated mozzarella cheese
• handful fresh basil leaves 

Cooking Directions

1. In a bowl, whisk together egg and water. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a frying pan or skillet over medium-high flame, heat up a few tablespoons of cooking oil or butter.
3. Saute potatoes and kale until tender. Add tomatoes last and cook until softened. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and turmeric.
4. Place vegetables in center of the pan and poor whisked eggs over top.
5. With spatula/wooden spoon, slowly shift vegetables from center outwards, evenly spreading vegetables throughout egg as it solidifies.
6. When veggies are all spread out, leave it alone until bottom is completely cooked.
7. Cover skillet or pan and let top cook through over medium flame. Add cheese and basil and continue to cook. (You can also speed this up by placing underneath broiler. Just make sure your pan has metal handle if not wrap it in foil)
8. Top should be golden brown.

Get Your Feast On!

Filipino Dessert: Cassava Cake

This is by far my favorite Filipino dessert EVER. Even though it's called a "cake", texturally it's nothing like a cakel. It's more starchy and comparable to eating sticky rice type dessert. Cassava or Yuca (different from Yucca) is a root crop native to South America, but very widely used in the Philippines and other tropical regions. This dessert is very popular in my culture and for good reason! It's so delicious and quite easy to make.

As exotic as this dessert is, all the ingredients I used can be found at the grocery store. The grated cassava and young coconut are probably the 2 that will be harder to find. An Asian Supermarket or Filipino Store are your best bets, BUT they also sell them at Garden Fresh here in Illinois, if you have one nearby.

Cassava Cake

Cake

• 2 packages grated cassava
• 1 package shredded coconut drained
• 3 eggs
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 stick butter melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Cooking Directions

1. Thaw grated cassava and young shredded coconut.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
3. In a large bowl, whisk in eggs and condensed milk with the cassava.
4. Add coconut milk,sugar, and shredded coconut. Whisk.
5. Add butter and vanilla extract. Mix well. Final batter will be thin and liquidy.
6. Line baking dish with parchment paper or grease with butter.
7. Whisk together topping ingredients until smooth and light in color. Set aside.
8. Bake for 40 minutes or until top has just start to set. Cake will still be pale. Brush thick layer of topping mixture, then continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until top is golden or until toothpick inserted comes out clean

batter will be liqidy with some lumps

Get Your Feast On!

Kare Kare - Filipino Beef Peanut Stew

Kare Kare is one of my favorite Filipino dishes. Actually it's one of my favorite dishes period. It's a beef stew w/ an assortment of veggies made with peanuts, peanut & rice flour, and yes....PEANUT BUTTER.  I was always afraid to try making this on my own because it does require a lot of time and effort. Creating the thick luscious peanut sauce that makes this dish what it is takes more than just opening a jar of Jiffy.

If you do have the time, 100% made from scratch is best of course, but I recently learned how to make the easy, quick version and it's parent approved (they make the best Kare-Kare!), so I'm quite proud haha. With a little help from "Mama Sita", this version is pretty much fool proof and quite honestly, it tastes just as amazing.

- 2-3 lbs beef (preferably cross cut shank)

- 3 tbsp canola or peanut oil

- 1 lb pechay or bok choy sliced 1 inch pieces

- 2 eggplants sliced 1 inch pieces

- 1 lb sitaw or green beans sliced 1 inch pieces

- 1 package of Mama Sita Peanut Mix Seasoning

 - 1-2 C peanut butter

- 1 Quart of water

- salt to taste

Plan A. Pressure cook the beef until tender (about 20-25 minutes)

Plan B. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can slow cook beef in a regular pot over the stove top. First brown beef on both sides to seal in juices. Submerge beef in water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to VERY LOW, and cook until beef is super tender (4-6 hours)

CHEAT STEP. In a separate bowl, prepare Mama Sita Peanut Mix Seasoning according to package instructions. Set aside.

In the same pot as beef, add in vegetables, water, peanut butter, and salt.  Bring to a boil. Lower heat, add cooked beef chunks and peanut seasoning mix, and continue to simmer until vegetables are cooked, but not mushy. Season to taste.

Best served with rice and bagoong/alamang or shrimp paste.

FEAST ON

Snack Time! Mango & Rambutan

I recently spent the weekend in Holland, MI for the Tulip Festival and my sister and bro-in-law brought some fruity snacks for the trip. The Rambutan looks a bit scary, but I assure you beneath the fuzzy layer is the most delicious soft fruity core. Very similar to lychee! And of course, my favorite fruit of all, mango!! I had so much fun spending time with family. Holland, MI is such a cute little town with lots of Dutch influence (it is called Holland after all hehe) I will post pics soon!

Feast On,

Andrea Marie

Mom's Sopas

Everyone has their favorite soup to help during those days under the weather. Luckily, I don't get sick too often but when I do this soup is THAT soup. My mom usually whips this up during the flu season or after we've eaten rotisserie or fried chicken and need to do something with the leftovers.

I'm pretty sure this is a common soup recipe in the Philippines, but for some reason  growing up I've always thought of this soup as just My Mom's Chicken Sopas. I've never tasted it anywhere else except at home *shrugs* hehe.


What makes this different than other chicken soups, I guess would be the fact that it uses milk. My mom uses regular whole/2%  milk, but traditionally this is made with evaporated milk.  It's good either way, but I prefer the thin subtle flavor that regular milk brings to the dish.


- 16oz of elbow macaroni (or whatever pasta/noodles you want to use)
- 4 C chicken stock
- 2 C milk
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 C celery chopped
- 2 C carrots chopped
- 2 C cabbage chopped
- 2 C pre-cooked shredded chicken
- salt & pepper to taste

Cook macaroni al dente. Set aside.

Saute onions, celery, and carrots, and chicken with salt and pepper in a large soup pot until tender over medium-high heat. Add chicken broth. Let boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Add milk, then cabbage and continue cooking until cooked through.

Add macaroni very last right before serving.

Feast On! 

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