lumpia (filipino egg roll)

this is the egg roll that will make you rethink about all other egg rolls. i have served this at school projects all the time and it never fails to be the favorite. it is the ultimate egg roll.

LUMPIA (FILIPINO EGG ROLL)

First, you will need to thaw out the lumpia wrappings and separate them. Be sure to put them back in a sealed plastic bag so that they don’t dry out. Set aside for rolling.

They can be found at Asian supermarkets but if your store does not have lumpia wrappings but a different kind, you would need to fry it a little longer since other wrappings tend to be thicker than lumpia wrappings.

2-3 lbs of ground pork

1 eggs

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp sugar

Mix all ingredients well in a large mixing bowl and put bowl aside. Then with…

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

1/2 onion

4 pieces garlic

After chopping them in small pieces, place in a food processor to mince or mince them by hand. Mix them well in the mixing bowl with pork.

1 egg

2-3 tbsp flour

Beat the egg and then mix the flour in until pasty. This will be like a glue for the egg rolls so that they don’t break open while frying.

Set up an area for rolling with the meat, egg glue, lumpia wrappings, and a plate for rolling. Now you are ready to roll!

Heat a big wok or pan on medium heat with at least 2-3 inch deep oil. I use canola or vegetable oil.

Grab a little more than a tablespoon of meat filling and line it thinly across on a flat egg roll wrapper. Fold the sides vertical to the filling line you made. Then while holding that fold with your fingers, bring up the bottom over the filling, tuck it under the filling and roll tightly upward. Wipe lightly a little of the egg glue on top and finish rolling. Set aside on another plate.

Once the plate is full, take it to the wok and cut each lumpia (they are pretty long) into 3-4 pieces with kitchen scissors. Fry until golden brown or when you sqeeze it gently with tongs, its not too squishy. While they fry, keep rolling but keep an eye on the frying.

Place finished lumpia on a plate with a paper towel on it or a drying rack with paper towels under it and serve with rice and vegetables!

My mom like to cook it outside in a wok that plugs in so that the house isn’t so smoky and plus it makes the neighbors jealous! x3

nilagang baka (beef soup)

i have been craving this filipino soup for awhile, despite the heat. mom finally made it for me today! it’s easy, delicious, and one of my favorite filipino dishes.

my mother says that lola (grandma) liked to put corn in it while lolo (grandpa) enjoyed having saba’s (hawaii banana) in the soup.

NILAGANG BAKA (BEEF SOUP)

1-1 1/2 lbs sliced beef shanks (with bone)

6-10 pounded garlic heads

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 tablespoon salt

lemon juice (optional)

pechay (bok choy) chopped

cabbage half a head, chopped

6 cubed potatoes

carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, saba (optional)

In a large pot, place beef, garlic, salt, and pepper and pour 4-6 cups of water or enough to cover ingredients in the pot. Bring to a boil, then medium heat, cover, and cook for about an hour or until meat falls off the bone.

Add potatoes (carrots, sweet potatoes, and corn if choose to put in the soup) and boil until soft. Lower the temperature to simmer. Taste test for salt and pepper (sometimes my mom adds  a couple of squirts of lemon juice). Add pechay (bok choy) and cabbage last and let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Serve hot over rice.

the dogs enjoyed chewing the bones x3

strawberry pie

japanese word of the day: ichigo! (strawberry)

pronounced itch-e-go

i originally wanted to make strawberry rhubarb pie but then i remembered that texan rhubarb is not in season in the summer like the north. CHOMP’s sister was able to grow a big bush of it in the cooler seasons. so hence the strawberry (ichigo!) pie.

hello kitty first came to mind but then me friend convinced me to do my melody since she had more red to her.

STRAWBERRY PIE

Crust:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Crisco shortening

bowl of ice cold water

Filling:

2 packages of strawberries (2 lbs.)

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup orange juice (i had orange juice with mango)

wax paper

About 1 tablespoon of milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, pour the flour in. Mix the shortening and salt with the flour by hand until it becomes crumbly. Add one tablespoon of ice cold to the mixture and mix. Keep doing this until 7-8 tablespoons have been mixed in and the dough is smooth. Try not to over mix.

On a slightly floured cutting board, cut the dough in half. Rub some flour onto the rolling pin. Roll out one of the dough into a circle big enough to cover the bottom of the pie pan. Use the rolling pin to roll up one side of the dough to the other and unravel carefully over the pie pan. If you need more dough at the edges, you can take some from the other half of dough and pat together. Set the other ball of sough aside.

Mash the strawberries and get a large saucepan out (I like to use a wok). Warm the saucepan to medium heat and pour the mashed strawberries in the saucepan with the sugar. Bring to a boil and stir frequently for about 5-10 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together with a fork the cornstarch and orange juice. Pour it into the pan of strawberries while stirring. Reduce heat and let it simmer until thick (about 15 minutes). Stir occasionally.

While the filling is thickening you can make my melody crust! Roll out the last ball of dough like the first. Get a piece of wax paper big enough to cover the rolled out crust. Lightly trace the crust with a pencil or pen so you know exactly how big it is. Draw or trace my melody into the traced circle. Place the wax paper drawing over the crust and retrace the drawing by dotting the lines with a knife or toothpick. Once all the lines are poked through, take off the paper and the drawing should be on the crust. Use a knife to cut the lines. Carefully, peel off the parts that will have strawberry filling. Refer to the pictures to see the process.

Stir the filling one last time and pour it into the pie pan evenly. Then, cut the part of the crust that outlines the ears (the edge of the crust) into 3-4 parts so that you can place them easily on the top. Then place the face and the flower. Use the leftover dough to make a pattern at the edges or to fill any holes. Brush with some milk and cover the edges with aluminum foil so that the crust wont over brown.  Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown at 425 degrees F.

i think i found my favorite pie<3

curry bread (kare pan)

one of the things i miss most about korea and japan are the many bakeries they have! when i bit into my kure pan for the first time, i knew that i absolutely had to learn how to make it at home.

it took me awhile to think of what i can make them look like with their pointy oval shape. CHOMP helped me brainstorm and we ended up with cats and fish! as i was making them i figured you can make dogs too by simply using one of the cat ones, upside down and you have a floppy eared dog. you can make a bone to go with it by twisting both ends rather than just one for the fish. have fun with these!

they are originally fried but i decided to bake mine this time to be a little healthier.

CURRY BREAD (KARE PAN)

NOTE: For the curry, I like to use the Japanese brand, GOLDEN CURRY but you can use whatever curry you’d like. For example, you can get instant curry, or curry cubes at asian grocery stores, curry powder in the herb section of almost any grocery store, or indian curry. Make sure that it is leftover curry (about a day old, refrigerated) because new curry can make it leak and runny.

Makes 8-11

1 teaspoon yeast

½ cup warm water

3 teaspoon sugar

¼ cup water

3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

About 1 ½ cup of refrigerated leftover curry

Bowl 2 egg beaten

Bowl 1 cup bread crumbs (panko)

*Oil if you decide to fry

Mix yeast, warm water, and a teaspoon of the sugar in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes then stir again. To make the dough, combine the rest of the sugar (2 teaspoons), water, flour, salt and butter. Knead the mixture for a few minutes until smooth. Place the ball of dough on a greased big bowl, cover with towel, and let it rise in a warm place for half an hour to an hour. While you wait you can get the leftover curry out of the fridge, mash it well, and put it back in the fridge.

Knock down the dough and knead it for a couple more minutes. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Take 3 of the 8 and cut those in half so that you will end up with 5 regular size kitties and 6 mini size fishies. Cover and let it rise again for 30-45 minutes.

After that, get the bowl with a beaten egg, bowl with panko bread crumbs, and mashed curry ready and out. First using the small balls of dough (fishies), roll the ball out on a floured surface and place a smaller portion of mashed curry in the middle. Fold the bottom over the curry to the top half and use a little of the beaten egg on the edge of top half to seal it better. Twist one end to make the tail and place it on a pan with parchment paper on it. Keep doing this until all the fish are shaped. Now, one at a time, cover them in egg in the bowl, then panko, and place back on the pan. Fix the shape if need to.

Time to make the fish eyes! I cut up raisins to do this but you can use pretzel sticks, nuts, chocolate chips, or sprinkles.  It helps to put a little of the beaten egg on it to stick. After you are done, spray them a little with spam and place them in the oven at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

While the fish are baking you can make the kitties! Do the same that you did with the fish just with a slightly bigger portion of curry in the middle and shape them like a crescent moon. Bake them at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

*To fry, make the kitties too before frying. After all the fish and kitties are done, warm enough oil to cover the bread in a large wok or pot. Once its hot enough, fry and flip until its golden brown. Place them on a plate with a paper towel on it to soak some if the oil out.

(=^ㅅ^=)

To reheat leftovers, bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes.

pork tenderloin

i’ve always wanted to make these at home since the only time we eat these are when we visit the grandparents in iowa. i made sure to watch grandma make them this past visit! you know how great saltines are? i had no idea i was eating them in my tenderloin sandwich! i look at saltines in a new light now.

no grocery store in my neighborhood can compare to the meat selection they have in washington, iowa so i bought 8 already cut pork loins and had fun tenderizing them with the big heavy kitchen hammer. CHOMP saw me hammering away and he had to try it  and ended up doing the messy part for me. Note that you can make these as sandwiches like i did or just a tenderloin with gravy and mashed potatoes.

PORK TENDERLOINS

a big skillet

8 tenderized pork loins

a bowl of 2-3 beaten eggs w/ pinch of salt and pepper

a bowl of finely crushed saltines (about 2 packages)

canola or vegetable oil

Cut off the fat if you want to and then tenderize the pork loins. Cover the bottom of the skillet with oil. Warm the skillet on mid temperature.

Coat the tenderloin in the bowl of beaten eggs then transfer it to the saltine bowl to completely cover it with saltines. When the oil is warm enough, place it flat on the skillet. Repeat this until the skillet is full. Give each side about 3 minutes and flip constantly with tongs until golden brown. When golden brown, shake the tenderloin carefully of excess oil and place on a plate with a paper towel on it to soak more oil off.

Once they are all done you can make them look like piggies! Build the sandwich first however you like it (lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo, pickles…). I chipped away the corners of saltine crackers to shape the nose and the ears but you can also use sandwich cheese or sandwich meat (ham!) and for the eyes I used seaweed (you can still use sandwich cheese or meat). You may want to break a toothpick in half for the cheese or meat ears to stick up. Place a little ketchup or mayo in the back of eyes and nose so they stick. What’s fun is that you can make them have all kinds of faces!

since the sandwich pretty much has everything (carbs, protein, veggies) i served it with freshly cut watermelon slices since it is summer. thanks grandma for the recipe! <3