Lumpiang Prito – Fried lumpia

Lumpiang Prito literally means fried spring roll. It consists of a briskly fried pancake filled with bean sprouts and various other vegetables such as string beans and carrots. Small morsels of meat or seafood may also be added. Though it is the least expensive of the variants, the preparation – the cutting of vegetables and meats into appropriately small pieces and subsequent pre-cooking – may prove taxing and labor-intensive. This variant may come in sizes as little as that of lumpiang shanghai or as big as that of lumpiang sariwa. It is usually eaten with vinegar and chili peppers, or a soy sauce-and-calamondin juice mixture known as toyo-mansi.

Main Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground shrimp or beef
1/2 cup water chestnuts -- chopped
1/2 cup green onion -- finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 package egg roll wrappers -- or lumpia wrappers
1 cup cooking oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
2 cups water
1/2 cup catsup
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red-hot sauce
3 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 4T.water

Garlic Vinegar Sauce:
1/2 cup vinegar, preferably coconut or palm*
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Salt to taste

Cooking Instructions:

Lumpiang Shanghai (filling)

Combine pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, green onion and soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Place a level tablespoon of filling on center of each egg roll wrapper. Brush edges with a few drops of water. Fold one flap over filling. Fold inside flaps and roll up toward top point. Deep fry in hot oil and drain on paper towel. Serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce or Garlic Vinegar Sauce.

Sweet and Sour sauce

Mix all ingredients in a pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens. Serve hot.

Garlic Vinegar sauce: Mix together and set it out for dipping.

Serving Ideas : Serve with piping hot white rice or fried rice. Good up to 4 servings.

NOTES : You may substitute the pork and shrimp for beef and chicken instead.

Chopsuey

In Chinese, it means "mixed pieces". It is originally an american-chinese dish consisting of meat and cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean, sprouts, cabbage and celery. In our pinoy version of chopsuey, we usually include wood ear (tenga ng daga), carrots and chayote. Some may even include bell peppers and cauliflower. The usual cooking and preparation time is about 45 minutes.

Main Ingredients:

• 1/4 kilo pork, sliced into small pieces

• 1/4 kilo shrimps, shelled, deveined and halved

• 1/4 kilo chicken liver and gizzard, sliced to small pieces

• 1/4 kilo cauliflower, broken to bite size

• 1/4 kilo string beans

• 1/4 kilo snow peas (sitsaro)

• 1/4 kilo cabbage, cut into squares

• 2 stalks of leeks, cut into 2" long pieces

• 3 stalks celery, cut into 2" long pieces

• 5 cloves garlic, diced

• 2 onions, diced

• 1 carrot, sliced thinly

• 1 piece red bell pepper, cut in strips

• 1 piece green bell pepper. cut in strips

• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

• 2 cups chicken stock (broth)

• 3 tablespoons of sesame oil

• 3 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

• 4 tablespoons of corn oil or vegetable oil

• Salt to taste

Cooking Instructions:

• In a big pan or wok, sauté garlic, onions then add in the pork. chicken liver and gizzard. Add 1 cup of stock, pinch of salt and simmer for 15 minutes or until pork and chicken giblets are cooked.

• Mix in the shrimp then all the vegetables. Add the remaining 1 cup of stock, patis and the dissolved cornstarch. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are done. Add the sesame oil.

• Salt and pepper to taste.

• Serve hot with rice.

Tinolang Manok

Tinolang Manok (Chicken Ginger Stew) is another popular pinoy dish because it is easy to prepare and very nutricious. Tinola is commonly served as home-made dish for lunch or dinner in a typical filipino table settings. It is also known as Chiken Ginger soup because a ginger added to it makes the unique taste and flavor. It is also mixed with other vegatables such as papaya, sayote, chili leaves and malunggay leaves. The perfect dip for this is patis (soy sauce) which makes it even tastier.

Main Ingredients:

• 1 kilo whole chicken, cut into pieces.

• 1 small young papaya or sayote, cut into small pieces.

• 2 tablespoons ginger, crushed and slliced into strips

• 1/2 cup dahon ng sili (chili leaves)

• 1 liter of water

• 5 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 red onion, diced

• 4 tablespoons oil

• 2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)

Cooking Instructions:

• In a stock pot, heat oil and sauté garlic, onion and ginger.

• Add water and the chicken.

• Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is almost done.

• Season with patis

• Add papaya and continue to simmer for an additional 5 minutes or until papaya softens but not overcooked.

• Add sili leaves then turn off the heat.

• Serve steaming hot with plain rice.

Rellenong Manok (stuffed deboned whole chicken)

A great looking dish perfect for classic occassions such as noche buena, weddings and other special events. The hard part is deboning the chicken where the chicken is ideally left with bones and wings, both the thighs and drumsticks are deboned and stuffed as well. It is either done by cutting through chicken breast and sewing it up again during the stuffing part. You can use a small knife and cut through the meat and bones little by little. After completely deboning the chicken, the stuffing is done by spooning/filling the space through the cavity with stuff like grounded meat, egg etc. a stuff being is chicken embutido. Pat the chicken occassionally to get it into shape.

Main Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, deboned with shape kept

• 2 tablespoons calamansi juice

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Stuffing:

• 1/2 kilo ground pork

• 1/2 cup bacon, diced

• 1 cup ham, diced

• 1 can Vienna sausage, drained and sliced

• 1/4 cup sweet green peas

• 1/4 cup carrots, minced

• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

• 1/4 cup pickle relish

• 1/4 cup raisins

• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

• 5 whole eggs, beaten

• 1/2 cup butter

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instruction:

• Marinate chicken in calamansi juice, soy sauce and sugar.

• In a bowl, mix all stuffing ingredients well.

• Stuff the chicken in all parts.

• Sew the cavity opening and truss the chicken.

• Wrap chicken in aluminium foil.

• Heat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake breast-up for an hour or until chicken is cooked.

• Open the foil an rub chicken with butter and put back in oven until golden brown.

Mechado

Mechado is a stew served as a viand in the Philippines. Traditionally, it is cooked with beef briskets, potatoes, pimiento (red bell peppers), and tomatoes. It is similar to a beef stew, with elements of Filipino ingredients such as patis.

The dish originated from a Spanish recipe whose name originally referred to the strips of pork back-fat that are threaded (mecha - wick) through thick pieces of cheaper lean beef to render them more tender and less dry. The larded pieces of beef are then marinated in vinegar, soya sauce, calamansi juice, crushed garlic, black pepper and bay leaf, browned quickly on all sides in hot oil or lard and then slowly braised in its marinade with the addition of soup stock, onion slices, and tomatoes until tender and the liquid is reduced to a thick flavorful gravy.The addition of soya-sauce and calamansi juice to the marinating liquid gives this recipe its distinct Filipino touch and character. Estimated cooking time is 1 hour.

Main Ingredients:

• 1 kilo of beef cut into chunks

• 1/8 kilo of pork fat cut into strips

• 4 onions, peeled and quartered

• 5 medium potatoes, quartered (optional: fried)

• 1 medium sized carrot, sliced in 1/2" sections

• 2 red bell pepper, sliced

• 2 cups beef stock or 2 bouillon cubes dissolved in water

• 3 bay leaves (laurel leaves)

• 1/4 -cup vinegar

• 2 cups tomato sauce or 1/2 cup tomato paste

• 1 cup soy sauce

• salt & pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

• Cut an incision on the beef chunks and insert a pork strip in the middle (mitsa)

• In a casserole, combine the beef (with the fat), tomato sauce, soy sauce, bay leaves and beef stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until the beef is almost tender

• Add the vinegar and let boil for a minute or two

• Add the potatoes, onions, carrot, and bell pepper

• Let simmer until potatoes and carrots are cooked - occasionally stir to thicken sauce

• Serve hot with white rice

Cooking Tips:

• Pressure cook the beef with the beef stock for faster cooking time.

• Fry the potatoes before adding to the casserole.

• Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil and stir when the mechado dish is almost done for added flavor.

Nilaga (Pork/Bee stew)

It's a pinoy term which refers to boiling meat or fish in water with spices and vegetables added. The variation can be pork, beef, chicken or fish. This is very easy to make, just throw everything in the pot and let the meat cook until tender.

Main Ingredients:

• 1 kilo beef, cut into 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" cubes

• 8 potatoes cut the same size as the beef

• 1 bundle Pechay (Bok choy) cut into 2 pieces

• 1 small cabbage, quartered

• 5 onions, diced

• 1 head garlic, minced

• 4 tablespoons of patis (fish sauce)

• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil

• 10 corns of black pepper

• 1 liter of water

• Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

• In a big casserole, heat oil and sauté the garlic and onions.

• Add water, the beef, black pepper and patis. Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 hour or until the beef is tender.

• Add the potatoes. Continue to simmer until potatoes are cooked.

• Add the cabbage then the pechay. Do not over cook the vegetables.

• Salt and pepper to taste.

• Serve steaming hot in a bowl and plain white rice.

Cooking Tips:

You can substitute the beef with chicken (chicken stew) or pork (pork stew) for variety.

Crispy Pata (Deep-Fried Pork Leg)

This is one of the best seller dish in most authentic Pilipino restaurant. Pata is the front of hind leg of the pig. Crispy pata means deep fried pata with a crunchy rind and soft and moist meat inside. The best pata for this dish is usually that of a young pig to make a tender, tasty and really crispy pata. The only thing to consider is that it takes a while to cook crispy pata where the pata has to be both boiled and deep-fried. But its really worth the effort once you come up with a tasty and yummy crispy pata!

Main Ingredients:

• 1 Pata (front or hind leg of a pig including the knuckles)

• 1 bottle of soda (7Up or sprite)

• 1 tablespoon of salt

• 2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)

• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda

• 1 tablespoon of monosodium glutamate (MSG)

• 4 tablespoons of flour

• Enough oil for deep frying

• Enough water for boiling

Cooking Instructions:

• Clean the pork pata by removing all hairs and by scraping the skin with a knife. Wash thoroughly.

• Make four to five inch cuts on the sides of the pata.

• On a deep stock pot, place the pata in water with soda and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the baking soda and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

• Remove the pata from the pot and hang and allow to drip dry for 24 hours. An alternative to this is to thoroughly drain the pork pata and refrigerate for a few hours.

• After the above process, rub patis on the pata and sprinkle flour liberally.

• In a deep frying pot, heat cooking oil and deep fry the pork pata until golden brown.

Crispy Pata Deep Sauce:
Mix 3/4 cup of vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 head of diced onion and 1 hot pepper. Salt and pepper to taste.