Bistek (pronounced bee-stick) is pretty easy and quick to make. Our family likes to top it off with fresh slices of tomatoes to give it a balanced taste. My mother was having a feast with some family on her trip recently and they had some bistek. It’s been too long since I have eaten some myself so I had to make it!

BISTEK

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1 lb eye of round steak sliced

3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

1 white onion sliced in circles

1-2 potatoes peeled and sliced into thin circles

1 tomato sliced

2-4 green onion chopped

Combine lemon juice, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and water in a mixing bowl. Place the sliced eye of round steak in the mixture and let it marinade for about 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok or skillet at mid-high temperature. Cook the sliced potatoes and onion in the oil until translucent or the potatoes are soft. Be sure to stir constantly.

Once the potatoes and onions are cooked, add in JUST the meat. Keep the marinade sauce in the bowl. Mix and stir everything until the meat is cooked. Place bistek in a large serving bowl while keeping the wok or skillet warm. Boil the marinade for a few minutes and pour over bistek in the serving bowl.

Top it off with sliced tomatoes and green onions and serve with rice.

Here’s a couple more pictures. I prefer using the soy sauce below. It always gets the taste in my dishes just right and plus it’s from the Philippines x3

This particular torta always calls for a huge plate to rest it on. Whether you want to eat it all out of that plate is up to you, I know a couple of my friends can! My mother always showed off as my sister and I grew up by flipping the whole torta in one piece from skillet to plate successfully. Me? I’ll leave it to your imagination when I tried to do the deadly flip being the clumsy person I am. Nah, I play it safe and simply place the meat filling on the plate first then the omelette. One day though, one day.

FILIPINO TORTA

1 lb ground beef (nowadays I like to use turkey :3)

1 large potato, peeled and diced in small cubes

1/2 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, diced or a can of diced tomatoes

1 tbsp patis (fish sauce)

1/2 tbsp soy sauce

ketchup

pepper

3 eggs, beaten

Heat the skillet to mid high and brown the meat. While it’s browning (draining grease as you go), combine potato and onion. Cook until potato is soft and onion translucent. Add garlic and tomato. Mix together and stir while cooking for 3-5 minutes. Stir in patis and soy sauce. Cook for a minute. Now give the mixture a good, generous squirt of ketchup. Mix well while adding a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cook for another minute and pour the mixture on a big serving plate, patting it down flat.

Place the skillet back on the burner and lower the heat to low. Pour the beaten eggs in the skillet, making a circle. Once the omelette soaks the flavors from the skillet and is cooked all the way, place it carefully on top of the meat filling.

Slice like a pizza and serve over rice. Squirt some more ketchup on your serving if you want to (^-^)

More torta photos taken with my phone:

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

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

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

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.

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

on my 20th birthday my boyfriend, jono, made me the most amazing totoro carrot cake! i discovered that age doesn’t really apply when it comes to the spirit. as this semester is coming to a close, i find myself thinking more and more about the possibilities i can do after i graduate. right now i am thinking of taking the GRE and going into sustainable architecture. it feels good to make something.

when i finished my korean this week, the more i wanted to go back someday. what better way to make you feel better than the korean corn dog (my friend called it the heart attack dog)! i figured out how to make it from CHOMPING it down multiple times of course and seeing what they do behind the stall. i recognized the ingredients as well. they use a simple corn dog batter and coat it with asian bread crumbs for the “regular” corn dog or wiggly frozen french fries for the “french fry dog”. its amazing how just one ingredient can amplify a dish. koreans win this fight!

for mother’s day (and it hurts my wallet to say that my moms birthday is on the same week) i took my parents and jono to lavendou bistro for some good southern french food. poor jono has never really been exposed to those kind of restaraunts and felt a little uncomfortable (especially seeing the price) but he got a better understanding after CHEWING his veal happily. my mother asked me to find a vintage cookbook of julia child for her birthday. bring on the butter. as i flipped thru her recipes i recognized one of them is in porco rosso!

speaking of mother’s day, soon i will be able to do something i have always wanted to do. sit down with my grandma and ask about her favorite recipes.

and everything is bigger in texas so i’m trying not to gorge myself too much but its so hard when it comes to mexican food. when i finally ate at taco cabana after half a year has past, i almost cried. they truly earned their place on our christmas tree (no joke we have a christmas ornament from a kids meal we ordered and it hangs on our tree since).

while i was traveling, the many exciting dishes i CHOMPED and drooled behind a window over made me really miss a kitchen to try and cook everything i’ve experienced. but since i’ve returned home, i’ve mostly been cooking food i’ve missed overseas like filipino food! i guess experiencing other cultures made me want to dig into my own roots. one of the first i made was stir-fry noodle dish, pancit! whenever my mom makes pancit, she always makes a huge wok of it and the next thing we know it’s all gone! this was my first time making it so i had my mom help me out.

PANCIT RECIPE

use a large wok

Ingredients:

1 package of canton noodles

1 package of bihon (vermicelli) noodles

you can choose one rather than using both noodles if its to your liking. our family loves mixing the two. just be sure to use two packages of noodles.

1 cup of chicken, pork, or beef sliced in thin strips (optional. or you can use shrimp)

1/2 sliced onion

5 beads of minced garlic

1 cup of julienned carrots

1/2 cup of sliced celery

1 red or green bell pepper(optional)

2 cups of shredded cabbage (half a cabbage)

2-3 cups of chicken broth

2 Tbsp of vegetable oil

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp lemon juice

open the top of the noodle packages and fill the packages with water in the sink for the noodles to soak while you cut the ingredients.

cut the celery in half length-wise then slice side-wise. cut the carrots every 2 inches and then cut into thin strips. cut the cabbage in 4, turn over slice, and slice diagonally (look at pics for reference).

once everything is prepared, warm vegetable oil in wok. brown garlic and onion. add carrots (and sliced meat if desired) and mix well.

add celery slices and mix in. then add cabbage, fish sauce, soy sauce. Stir for about 1 minute then add the drained noodles and chicken broth. Taste test for salt and pepper. add more soy sauce as you stir until it has a light brown color. continue mixing well with two utensils like tossing a salad until a bit dry. add lemon juice to taste and CHOMP!

my mom was really surprised i did so well my first time because apparently one of my aunts has trouble making this because it always comes out too soggy. we made this one vegetarian and like old times it was all gone in a flash!

okay so i had to do something cute. i’m into cute food like the amazing bentos they make in japan! so for valentine’s day i was wondering what i should whip up this time. i’ve been indulging in peanut butter since i’ve been back and i thought peanut butter cups! DOMO peanut butter cups!!! perfect.

if you check out the pics above you can see what i came out with. i bought a flex silicone pan with little squares perfect for DOMO-KUN’s shape at micheals and my imagination did the rest! i used a family friend’s amazing peanut butter cup recipe first.

Ingrediants:

1 cup of smooth peanut butter

1 cup of butter

1 3/4 cup graham craker

2 cup powdered sugar

2 cup milk chocolate chips

Add-on ingrediants for DOMO:

1 package of white chocolate

1 bar of dark chocolate

crush graham crackers in a plastic bag and mix in a bowl with butter and peanut butter. microwave 30-60 seconds and use a blender to stir. may need to do twice.

add powder sugar and blend in. set aside unless u don’t want the bottom of the peanut butter cup to have chocolate then smooth out in each square.

microwave milk chocolate for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until melted. spread the bottom and sides of each square and drop peanut butter mixture in each square. then smooth out more milk chocolate on top and place in the fridge until it hardens enough to decorate. if chose not to have chocolate on the bottom just smooth out chocolate on top and place in fridge until it hardens.

while you wait for it to harden, separate the white chocolate bag in half into two different bowls. dark chocolate in another bowl. use the same method to melt all the bowls. in one of the white chocolate bowls add red food coloring until you’re satisfied with the color. it will also come out pasty but this makes it easier to shape the mouths.

once the squares hardened start making DOMO! dark chocolate for the eyes (if you don’t think the eyes are dark enough play with food colors to make it darker) and then do the mouths. the mouths harden pretty face so by the time your done making them you can go ahead and start making the teeth on the first one you made a mouth for. then DOMO CHOMP!

my boyfriend and friends mouth almost fell to the floor when they saw these! i had fun figuring out how i would make these and the result was worth the work!

we had a 3 day chuseok holiday off from school this week. chuseok is a big celebration for koreans here. it’s like the american thanksgiving where family from all around get back together and share a huge feast! jonathan and i got invited to share the festive holiday from a couple of our generous friends but since jonathan has a lot of family here in korea he has never met we politely turned our friends down and couldn’t wait to meet the relatives!

procrastinators as we are, we went to buy a box of korean pears (these pears are huge compared to the ones in america and are one of the common things to give when visiting someone’s house. since they dont come cheap they are really appreciated!) at 11PM the night before chuseok. luckily, we caught our neighborhood grocery right before they closed and got a box already wrapped in yellow cloth (a lucky color in korea). i also discovered a little fact to never give things in multiples of four because four is an unlucky number here.

by the time we got to jonathan’s gommo’s (aunt) house, the food was already being placed on the table one after another until the two tables put together were completely filled. the tables were the traditional sitting on the floor tables which i realized makes you feel closer with your company. the table was filled with all sorts of dishes like bulgolgi (bbq beef), chapjiggae (korean noodle stir fry), egg fried fish and veggies, anchovies, korean pancake, and of course a couple of kimchis. jonathan forced a anchovy on my rice bowl. i did my best to avoid eye contact with it and i managed to CHEW it down. surprisingly it wasnt as bad as i thought it would be. afterwards was nothing but family time and the young ones including us went to check out the new time square near their house where we shopped, played at the arcade, and shared laughs over a smoothie.

when we all came back a couple of hours later all the young ones crashed in a bedroom while jonathan and i talked with the elders. even though i couldnt get all the recipes that i wanted, i got a lot of tips regarding what they enjoy to eat. jonathan’s gommo, kunabba(uncle), and halmoni(grandma), specifically enjoyed telling me about the crab soup that is in season now. they also mentioned something about boiling rice and water to wash down with after a big meal which im guessing is either rice wine or a rice dessert. we promised each other another day for them to show me how to cook some meals and share recipes so ill have a chance to clarify later ^^

dinner was spread out and had leftovers from lunch and a new addition of what jonathan thinks is bean curd stew. noticing it was our last chance for awhile to eat a korean home-cooked meal, jonathan took advantage of the opportunity by being the last to eat and CHOMPING down almost everything that was left from the rest of the family which was still quite a large amount. the spicy crab soup left an impression on me and sounds perfect if you want to warm yourself up or just do what the koreans do and beat the heat with heat. here’s the recipe below! a picture of the soup is above. another thing they mentioned about the soup is that when you get your crab shell, they mix their rice in the shell and gulp it all from there! give it a try ^^

꽃게탕 Koatgaetang- Spicy Korean Crab Soup

3-4 Servings

Ingrediants:

3-4 fresh blue crabs, scrubbed and cut into pieces. remove the gills, mouth, end tip of legs, and claws

6 cups of water

about a 1/4 of daikon radish, sliced

1 strip of sea kelp

1 green zucchini, sliced

1 small white onion, sliced

3 red chili peppers

3 green chili peppers

2-3 stems of green onion, sliced

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tblsp of red chili pepper flakes

about 1 tblsp of red chili pepper paste

chrysanthemum leaves

Cooking Procedure:

Place the 6 cups of water in a large saucepan or wok and put on high. Add the radish and sea kelp.

When boiling reduce to medium heat and add the red pepper flakes, red pepper paste, and garlic.

Add the crabs and cover. cook for ten minutes or until the crab shells turn orange.

Add green onion and red and green chili peppers.

Add the chrysanthemum leaves last and its ready to CHOMP down! serve with rice (try mixing it in the shell and eating out of the shell ^^)