One of the things we always plant in the garden is long beans or snake beans (sitaw). This year, we have been enjoying a steady harvest. Here's one recipe that I used them in. I cooked this on a weekday when time to get dinner on the table is short. I called this the lazy stirfry because I did away with various steps usually involved in stirfrying. This way, I got dinner on the table in less than an hour and still served up something healthy and delicious.

Click here for the recipe for my version of Pork and Sitaw (long beans) Stirfry - the lazy way



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It's almost ridiculous how easy and delicious these pork chops are. I can't believe I hadn't done this before!

Well from now on, I am keeping buttermilk on my regular list. Before, whenever I fried some pork chops, I simply seasoned them with salt & pepper, floured them and fried them. Sometimes, when I get really good cuts of pork chops, they come out really good. But other times, when I get a tougher cut, they come out tough and dry. It's like a box of chocolates, ya know? You never know what you're going to get :)

Anyway, when you briefly marinade your chops in buttermilk before breading them and frying, something magical happens in the process and you end up with moist pork chops with a to-die-for, crunchy coating. I've tried it with different cuts of pork chops from different sources, and every time, the result is fantastically the same. If fried pork chops weren't so bad for us, my family would eat this everyday or at least every week. I'm not kidding!

Here's the recipe for buttermilk fried pork chops although you really don't need a recipe.



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Click on the photo for the recipe.

Any self respecting pork lover will tell you that the greatest attraction for pork is in the fat and in the crunch. This oven roasted shoulder of pork will give you all the best that pork has to offer.

First, the skin. By following my roasting method, you will end up with a crackling that is worth dying for. Surely you'd be in heaven when you feel the skin crunch between your teeth and the full flavor of roasted pork hits your tongue. It truly is pork nirvana. I cook this roast solely for the few squared of skin I get. Dipped in spicy vinegar and garlic, and you'd be moaning like a kitten!

OK, so maybe I exaggerate and maybe I'm even making some of you queasy by now. Well, to each his own, eh? You cannot deny though, the flavor that is in the pull-apart-tender meat. It is the stuff that most barbecue aficionados search all their life for. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating again... But it is darn good, I tell you!

You just have to try it out yourself so you can see what I'm talking about. Don't forget now, the road to heaven is long and low. Don't try to shortcut the cooking time. The secret to the tenderness and crunchiness is the long cooking time at a low temperature. You can vary the seasoning to suit your taste, but not the cooking time, capish?

Here now then, is the recipe for this oven roasted lechon.

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I made these oven barbecued country style pork ribs not too long ago and they were so easy to make and delicious, I just had to share it with you.

These were served up with potato salad and pan fried zucchini in this plating, but a small pot of baked beans was also served with it for those who wanted something more. The barbecued pork was perfect for the kid's lunch the next day. We made pork sandwiches and some banh mi (Vietnamese style sandwiches).

Click here for the recipe.

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Hey it's challenge time again for Recipes to Rival and guess what it is this time? SHRIMP DUMPLINGS! While we normally depend on the gigantic bag of LingLing's Potstickers from Costco, this time we made everything from scratch from the fillings to, gasp! , the wrapper!

Yep, we actually made our own wonton wrappers. I can't believe it either. And even with the slight mishap of having all of the wrappers get stuck to each other and caused us to start all over again, I believe we will be doing this again! I know, we're gluttons... both for food and punishment. hehe!

So check out how to make SHRIMP DUMPLINGS from scratch. They are delicious and you'd be so proud of yourself when you're done making them :)



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My husband used to be not too crazy about curried dishes, but like his aversion to fish, we soon got rid of that. Now he is the one who sometimes asks for curry!

This is another one of our quick weekday recipes that uses up what's in the fridge and what better way to marry all the flavors together than with curry. I used pork loin for this dish which speeded up the cooking time even more as I didn't have to cook the pork as long to tenderize it.

Click here for the Pork & Vegetables Curry recipe.

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Here's another pork recipe that is fatty, melt in your mouth kind, not the 'other white meat' kind. I don't know what it is, but we just love cuts like fresh pork hocks. I like them, I think, mainly for the texture. Of course, the braising flavors does a lot in making us want more of them. So most of the time when I cook something like this the girls would eat the lean parts and I eat the fatty parts.

Yummy!!

Unfortunately, the days of fatty pork is nearing its end from my diet. *sigh* I just had another doctors appointment and you gotta know another restriction has been imposed. Oh well.

Anyway, here is the recipe if you want to try it out.



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I love making braised dishes because they're easy and they are packed with flavor. So here again is another variation of braised pork that I fixed for me and my husband last week. Since the kids are gone, we made it spicy. Actually, even with the 5-6 peppers I put in the braise, the meat itself wasn't too spicy since I left the chilis whole. Now had I chopped them up and let the pork cook in the chili sauce, that would have been a different story. :)

It's great over rice and you can pair it up with just about any vegetable you have on hand. This time around, we paired it with sauteed green beans from the garden.

Click here for the recipe.



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Potstickers are really very easy to make, and they are great to have in the freezer for the times when you need a quick snack or a quick and easy meal.

They can be steamed, boiled, fried or dropped into soups. Whichever way you prefer to have them, they are delicious and very easy. When you make your own potstickers, you can also make them more healthy by adding veggies and using better quality meats. Best of all, you can customize the flavors to suite your palate and pocket book :)

Click here for the recipe...

Another easy but delicious recipe for weeknights. Click here for the recipe for Braised Pork Anise.






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If you're a porker and you are tasting pork belly on your tongue right now, then this easy recipe is for you. For those times when you just gotta have some crispy skin and luscious pork belly, you gotta try Braised and Roasted Pork Belly.



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Want to cook the perfect bacon? Even better than the ones at the restaurant? Yes, I'm serious! It's better than any bacon I've ever ordered at restaurants!

Here's our perfect way of Cooking Bacon...



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This is a delicious soup or bean dish all by itself, or it could also be a great side dish. You can cook your own black beans from scratch or used canned. Either way, it comes out delicious and the pork just makes it to die for :)

Recipe for Black Beans with Cured Pork Belly



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Check out our recipe for Oven Roasted Spareribs



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This is my entry for Lasang Pinoy's Crockpot Cooking. Visit our hearth to see the recipe.



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This is another dish where there are as many variations as there are regions in the Philippines. From the region that I come from, it is called "balatong". Some prefer it thick some like it soupy. Some like to put different types of vegetables with it. Me, I happen to like mine on the soupy side and I like it best with bittermelon (ampalaya) leaves. I had a couple of bittermelon plants come up in our garden this year, one was scrawny but the other one was lush and full of big pretty leaves. I just had to make this soup to use some of the leaves before the frost beats me to it.

Want to cook mung bean soup?

This recipe earned me the Rockin' Girl Blogger award from the Feisty Cook, Dexie. Although I've described the recipe in this blog previously, I've never really given a recipe since I don't ever measure when I'm making this. This time around though, at Peggy's request, I decided to measure out the marinade.

Continue to the Pork Tocino recipe.

In the Philippines, this dish is also called 'binagoongan'. Translated loosely as something cooked in bagoong, a term used for fermented fish or in this case shrimp paste. While I have heard of this dish for years I have never made it myself nor have I ever tasted it, I don't think. I was intrigued by its description though, and I have heard of how delicious it is from other people, I just had to try it out.

Plus, for some reason, I have had the weirdest craving for something fatty and salty lately so could anything be more perfect than this dish to sate my craving? The more I researched how to cook this dish, the more I realized how many different versions and variations there are. It's almost like our beloved adobo. Everyone has their own version of it. So even though I didn't at first plan on associating this dish with the traditional 'binagoongan' as I didn't really follow any of the recipes I looked at but rather did one of my cafeteria methods again by picking and choosing elements that I liked from each recipe, I supposed I can honestly say this is my version of 'binagoongan'.

Ingredients:
1 lb. pork belly, cut into chunks or cubes
6 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, sliced
1 inch knob of ginger, sliced
2 serrano chilis, chopped with seeds
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. shrimp paste
1/2 cup water (or more as needed)

Place the pork belly chunks in a pot over medium heat and lightly brown the sides until some fat have been rendered. Add the garlic, onions, and ginger. Saute' with the pork for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Add the chili peppers and vinegar, cover and cook for a couple of minutes until the vinegar has almost been absorbed and the dish starts to sizzle again. Add the soy, shrimp paste and a half cup of water. Mix, cover and simmer until the pork is tender and almost all of the liquids have been absorbed. Check every 20 minutes or so and if the liquid is almost gone but the pork is not as tender you'd like it to be, add another half a cup of water. Keep repeating this until the pork is fork tender and the liquid has been reduced. This shouldn't be soupy.

Good luck, and good eating :) Make sure you have lots of steamed rice on hand.


Filipino Cookbooks

What can be simpler than frying up some meat for dinner? This is one of those dishes that just kind of evolves simply because you have ran out of time and hungry kids are banging on the table for food (I'm exaggerating). I was going to make a slow simmered stew with these cubes, but between the slicing and dicing of all the veggies and spices required for the stew, I knew that would be out of the question. So as a quick and easy solution, I simply salt and peppered the pork cubes and fried them up in hot oil until they were nicely browned. Just so they won't look so pitiful, I sliced up some green onions and threw them in the skillet just before taking the meat out. Stirred through, they were ready to serve.

These were dipped in a mixture of soy, vinegar and pepper flakes. Or if you are not the dipping kind like my husband, just drizzle the sauce over the meat.

With me working, I like either quick and easy dishes or dishes that cook long but without a lot of fuss. This dish requires a long braising time in the oven, but it is easy to cook even by remote. All you need is a 14 year old girl and a phone. While at work, I told Asi what to throw in the baking dish, cover it, put it in the oven to bake and by the time I got home from work, dinner was ready! This was served with black beans & rice (recipe later), pico de gallo(my version is here), and fried tortillas.

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs. Country Style Ribs
1 10 oz. can of Enchilada Sauce
1 onion, chopped
Black Pepper

Put all the ingredients in an oven safe dish. Notice that I Asi did not add any salt. This is because the enchilada sauce is already seasoned. All it needed was some cracked black pepper before it was covered with foil and put in the oven to bake for about 1 1/2 hours (or until the meat is tender) at 350 degrees F.