Fish Fillet w/ black bean sauce

Fish Fillet w/ black bean sauce
Originally uploaded by cutejoos

For mother-earths welcome home dinner I decided to cook her a fish dish which I again saw in Yummy magazine. I think there must've been an error in their recipe because the dish certainly lacked in saltiness, and the one big boo boo I did was I didn't taste the sauce before adding it to the fish. I normally do do a final taste test but I don't know why I completely forgot it this time. Plus the fish was a tad bit overcooked by maybe 2 minutes. Recipe said 10-15 minutes steaming and I only did 10 mins. can you imagine if I did it for 15 mins.? It would have been as tough as pork. The only saving grace is that the finished dish looked so lovely.

Shrimp Foo Yong

Shrimp Foo Yong
Originally uploaded by cutejoos


Shrimp Foo Yong 2
Originally uploaded by cutejoos

What happens when a crab-lover like me has to cook Crab Foo Yong for a crab-hater like father-earth? Simple. Just replace the crab with shrimps, which is exactly what I did for our dinner tonight. Saw the recipe in Yummy magazines Jan '08 issue and just couldn't resist trying it out since crab/shrimp foo yong has been one of my all time favorite dishes to order whenever we go out for chinese. I was tempted to try out this particular version because of the fact that tau miao (pea sprouts) was used instead of the usual bean sprouts and it really gave this dish a whole new dimension in terms of flavor. After peeling the shrimp (250g), I deveined it and washed it in some rock salt & water, after draining the shrimp I marinated them in a generous amount of ginger juice, (a staple in our kitchen) for a few mins. While waiting, I combined the sauce ingredients which consisted of oyster sauce, rice wine, stock, sesame oil, sugar, pepper & salt in a saucepan and let it cook till it came to a boil. I then set aside the sauce & returned my attention back to the marinated shrimp which I then strained of the ginger juice. The shrimps were now ready to be added to my 5 beaten eggs. For this dish I felt that a non-stick pan was the best thing to use especially since I was dealing with eggs, I wouldn't want to deal with eggs getting stuck to the wok scraper-rama!! So first I sauteed the garlic, onions & leeks till tender then added the tau miao & carrots, at this point it's best to turn down the heat of the pan to low before pouring in the shrimp/egg mixture. Continuously move the eggs & shrimp all over pan and cook till just set & not dry. Now you can add some cornstarch water into the sauce mixture then cook till thick. Pour this on top of the omelet. This dish is best served while piping hot.

Earth Day & Buridibod

Earth Globe
Originally uploaded by cutejoos

I knew Earth Day was fast approaching with all the events being advertised over the radio & on TV. So with all the talk of green this & green that I unconciously planned tonights dinner menu to include not one but TWO healthy vegetable dishes, an event that is unheard of in our highly carniverous household. For the first dish, I used the leftover ground pork stir fry that mother earth made extra before she embarked on her annual trip to Lam Hai, I decided that I would saute it with some chayote which I knew father earth liked a lot. The next dish was one that I saw in Yummy Magazine and featured a very interesting combination of ingredients. Imagine grated RAW plantain bananas, mashed sweet potato, mushrooms & malunggay leaves as it's main ingredients. The dish had it's roots in the Ilocos region and was called Buridibod. Believe me I was a bit wary at first to the success of this dish but decided to push all negative thoughts aside and put my faith in the capable editors at Yummy. In a casserole, I first sauteed the garlic, onions & the grated banana in some olive oil till tender then added some chicken stock ( the recipe called for water), then in went the sliced mushrooms & mashed sweet potato & I let it simmer for 5 mins. after which I put in the maluggay leaves & added salt & pepper & a dash of sesame oil. Then came the taste test. The dish was amazing!!! It was creamy but still had some texture from the maluggay leaves & mushrooms. It's so hard to describe how it tasted because it's as if my taste buds were still adjusting to this new flavor experience. The bottom line is that IT IS GOOD & HEALTHY!!!! Happy Earth Day!!!