Fruit Salad with Corn Kernel

I experimented a bit with my fruit salad for Ms. L's birthday. I hesitated to put the kernel at first so I searched if anybody had done it before but I found none from the web. I found my courage after remembering that one of the would be guest would eat anything with corn. I'm sure however my fruit salad turned, Ms. L's ninang would appreciate and save me from shame.

500 grams Fruit Cocktail
2 bottle Nata de Coco
1 big can Condensed Milk
2 Nestle Cream
1 can Sweet Kernel Corn

 

1) Mix all the ingredients together.
2) Chill and serve. 

The corn was a good extender. Although it was labelled as "sweet corn", it was surprisingly a little salty that gave balance to the flavour of the dessert. It turned out that we all loved this version of fruit salad, the Ninang guest most especially.  

Fried Tilapia with a Twist

This recipe is actually 1 of the dishes that only Mr. M’s can muster. He learned this from way back, when he and some officemates where assigned for a project in our Baguio Office. He immediately made this version for me when he got home and I fell in love with it in an instant. From then on, I requests this dish whenever I feel bored with usual fried tilapia (but only during the cheat days, I can never eat less with this).

Tilapia, fried
Garlic, Onion, and tomatoes
Egg, beaten
Oil, Salt and Pepper

1) Saute garlic, onion and tomatoes in a pan with little oil. Dash a little salt and pepper.
2) When everything is translucent, add in fried tilapia.
3) Add the beaten egg, mix well until the egg is cook.

Hmmm, I’m drooling right now. This dish is complete on its own, the flavour of the side dish (tomato-onion mixture) that were supposedly separated blended well with the fish, plus the richness of the egg. I love eating this with my bare hand and you bet I over eat every-single-time.

Nacho Rice

There came a time in our family life when Mr. M. thought of nothing else to feed his family but tacos or nachos. We were having the same snack as a dish for 3 straight meals when I figured out “hindi lang sa nachos nabubuhay ang tao”.hehe Since I believe that rice is still the best option in filling one's tummy, I figured why not combine it with the only readily available resources we had - the nachos’ ingredients. I then accidentally discovered this dish.

Cooked Rice
Meat filling (see cooking procedure here)
Tomatoes
Onion (I didn’t put in in my rice meal though)
Chili Sauce
Cheese Spread
Oil, salt and pepper

1) Add a little amount of oil in a pan, break the cook rice, add a dash of salt and pepper.
2) Add the meat filling, tomatoes and onion, mix evenly.
3) Season with hot sauce and cheese spread. Mix well.

Pardon the photo, I was gearing towards the half of it when I though of taking a picture. ;) This dish was actually inspired by Shawarma Rice and surprisingly it was as good. Of course, you'll never go wrong with cheese, even on rice. Be very careful though because it will make you eat more without you knowing. But hell no, I still wasn't able to convince him to try this. He's loyal to his nachos, remember. hehe 

Mr. Chow Chinese Fast Food

During Master E’s party preparation, Mr. M and I stumbled upon this relatively new fastfood chain. We were hesitant to try at 1st but the menu board outside the store was rather inviting. Let me share with you our dining experience at Mr. Chow, SM North Edsa.

Mr. Chow has the usual busy-fastfood ambience. Customers have to line-up to give their orders and pay directly at the cashier, then food will be delivered in the table. They offer Chinese Food in very affordable prices. Their rice meals were as low as P103 which comes with unlimited serving of Youngchow Fried Rice. The crews were also friendly and attentive which will give you pleasurable stay. Here’s what we were able to try:

Pork Siomai (P52 for 4 pieces) 

Wanton Soup Noodle (P78)

Lechon Macau (P103)

Spicy Porkrib (P103)

Black Gulaman (P40)

I’ll be saying the same thing over and over again if I had to describe each item. For me, each dish we had captured the authentic taste of a Chinese food, it was nothing like a cheap version. Every bite has that umami factor you’re looking for in a Chinese dish. Though I have to say that the appearance/presentation was not enticing at all, (but of course you know that you should never judge a book by its cover. J), it was really delicious. At 1st sight you also might think that it has a small serving but it was surprisingly very filling, it will give you boated tummy as you leave. Since Mr. M is a solid Chinese Food fan, Mr. Chow was automatically added to his loyalty list, noticed that 2 table numbers? We had been there twice in a month, and yes, we took exactly the same foods.

Calamares Fritos

Mr. M and I had this practice of marketing together. We relied on the wet market when it was just the 2 of us, but now that we’re 4, grocery is more comfortable. But the grocery wasn’t as reliable as the wet market when it comes to sea foods that made us eat sea foods lesser. But when we discovered a meat dealer just beside our office, I grabbed every opportunity I got to get water-based meats. 

Squid, ink removed and peeled, cut into rings
Flour and Crispy fries breading mix mixture
Egg, beaten
Bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying

1) Season the squid with salt and pepper. In a container, toss in flour mixture.
2) Dip in egg, roll in bread crumbs.
3) Fry to golden brown. 

** Vinegar with diced onion is the best dip for me.

Cheese Sticks

Had it ever occurred that you over estimated your lumpia wrapper and you had a lot of left over? Well, you’re not alone. But there’s nothing to worry, in fact, you can turn this misfortune into a blessing with this easy snack recipe.

Lumpia (spring roll) wrapper
Cheese, cut into stripes (cheddar will do the trick)
Oil for frying
Cheese powder (optional)
Mayo-ketchup dressing

1) Roll a strip of cheese into the wrapper, sealed with water.
2) Fry into golden brown.
3) Toss in cheese powder.
4) Serve with mayo-ketchup dressing.

Home Made Nacho

I am blessed Mr. M. is one loyal man. That loyalty goes to as far as food choices. He sticks to his comfort food and very hard to convince to try other. He doesn’t mind repeating the same dish over and over as long as it’s the same dish. Like just recently, he had this love affair with nachos which we had for every single weekend for more than a month.

Nacho Chips
Meat filling (ground pork, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, oyster sauce, chili sauce, ketchup)
White Onion
Tomato
Cheese Spread
Chili sauce
Ketchup
Grated Cheese

For the meat filling:
1) Place the ground pork in a pan, add water, salt and pepper. Break it until the water fully evaporates and the ground pork is brown.
2) Saute garlic, onion and ground pork. Season with oyster sauce and salt and pepper. Add chili sauce and ketchup to make more flavorful.
3) Arrange all the ingredients in a plate, preferably in the same order as the listing above. 

My take: Home made nacho is always way better than commercially bought. It's less costly and you can put or adjust everything you want depending on your taste (as the same way as you can omit what you don't like, sorry onion (me thinks)).

Tip: You can add cabbage or lettuce, no rule say you can't do that.

The verdict:  With this snack, who wouldn't be loyal?