Featured Filipino Food Blog - Jean's Recipes

Jean's Recipes food blog is all about Jean Fermano's (the owner) top recipes, tips and advice for good food and healthy living.

JeansRecipes.Com And Jean Fermano Mini History

Jean started this foods and recipes blog as her way of documenting and compiling all of her food masterpiece. She is planning to have or build a mini-restaurant or eatery sometime soon. While waiting for the right time and budget for her mini resto, she's already making a name online in terms of great cooking skills via the jeansrecipes.com food blog.

Binagoongang Baboy (Pork in Salted Shrimp Paste)

Binagoongang Baboy is another authentic Filipino dish. As we all know, for Filipinos, anything that comes with bagoong is irresistible. This pork (baboy) dish is not an exception to those bagoong flavored recipe.

Binagoongang Baboy Recipe Ingredients:

* 1 kilo pork with fat (cut into chunk cubes)
* 2 cups bagoong alamang
* 1 head of garlic (minced)
* 1 big onion (minced) 4 tomatoes (diced)
* 4 chili peppers (minced)
* 1/4 cup vinegar
* 4 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1/4 cup water

Binagoongang Baboy Cooking Instructions:

1). In a casserole, boil pork and lower fire until waterevaporates and pork oil starts to come out.

2). When pork is lightly crispy, put in on the side andsaute garlic, onion, tomatoes and chili peppersin the fat and mix pork once more.

3). Add in the bagoong and cook while stirring for 5minutes.

4). Pour in the vinegar and stir well.

5). Add in the sugar and let simmer for 10 minutes orjust until cooked.

Serve hot with steam rice! Enjoy!

Laing (Taro Leaves In Coconut Milk)

Laing is another authentic recipe originated from Bicol region. As I have said on my previous post(s), Bicolanos are one of the greatest cooks or chefs ever, making this dish as one of the most sought after Filipino recipe.

The main ingredient of this recipe is dried taro root (dahon ng gabi) cooked with coconut milk and red chili. You can include shrimp paste with pork on this one. But if you are health and diet conscious, the plain Laing recipe alone will be the best choice for you.

Laing With White Rice Image By camperspoint.com

Laing Recipe Ingredients:

* 30 pieces gabi (taro) leaves, dried and shredded
* 1/2 kilo pork, diced
* 1/4 cup shrimp paste (bagoong)
* 5 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 red onions, chopped
* 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
* 5 jalapeno pepper, sliced
* 1 cup coconut cream (kakang gata)
* 2 cups coconut milk (gata)
* 2 tablespoons of oil
* 1 teaspoon salt

Laing Cooking Instructions:

1). In a casserole, sauté garlic, ginger and onions then add the pork.

2). Mix in the gabi (taro) leaves.

3). Pour in the coconut milk (kakang gata) and bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes.

4). Add jalapeno, bagoong, and salt. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

5). Add the coconut cream and continue to simmer until oil comes out of the cream.

Best serve hot with plain white rice.

Bulanglang

Bulanglang is an authentic vegetable recipe in the Philippines. Sometimes, bulanglang dishes are being mistaken as Pinakbet. Bulanglang is much more soupier and includes dark leafy vegetables making it as a healthy and diet friendly recipe. Also, bulanglang is a very flexible dish, meaning you can add or vary the included vegetables on the recipe. Fish is sometimes included on the dish.

Bulanglang Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kusineronggill/4826129612/

Bulanglang Recipe Recommended Ingredients:

* 2 tablespoons lard
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1/4 cup minced onions
* 1/2 cup red tomatoes, sliced
* 2 cups rice washings
* one medium-sized milkfish sliced crosswise into four pieces
* 1 cup squash, diced
* 1 cup eggplant, diced
* 1 cup ampalaya, sliced into strips
* 1/2 cup malunggay leaves
* 1/2 cup kangkong tops
* 1/2 teaspoon ginger, chopped
* 3 tablespoons of bagoong

Bulanglang Cooking Instructions:

1). Use the lard to saute the garlic, onions, tomato and ginger.

2). Add the two cups of rice washings. Bring to a boil.

3). Season with the bagoong, and add the milkfish.

4). Simmer for five minutes and remove the fish.

5). Add the vegetables starting with the squash, which takes the longest to cook. The leafy vegetables should be added last.

6). As soon as the vegetables are done, remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish.

Now, you can place the fish on top of the vegetables and serve as soon as possible.

Bagoong Alamang

Bagoong Alamang is Filipino for shrimp paste, made from minute shrimp or krill (alamang) and is commonly eaten as a topping on green mangoes or used as a major cooking ingredient.

Bagoong paste varies in appearance, flavor, and spiciness depending on the type. Pink and salty bagoong alamang is marketed as "fresh", and is essentially the shrimp-salt mixture left to marinate a few days.

Mangga At Bagoong Image Via pinoyrecipe.net

This bagoong used in this form, serves as a topping for unripe mangoes. The paste is customarily sauteed with various condiments, and its flavour can range from salty to spicy-sweet. The colour of the sauce will also vary with the cooking time and the ingredients used in the sauteeing.

Here is the bagoong alamang recipe and cooking instruction.

Bagoong Alamang Ingredients:

¼ kilo of fatty pork, cut into tidbits
2-3 cloves garlic, grinded using mortar and pestle
1 onion, minced
3 tomatoes, chopped
a bowl of bagoong alamang

Bagoong Alamang Cooking Procedure:

1). Cook the pork in its own juice until it renders fat and sauté until the meat is brownish.
2). Separate the cooked meat to one side and fry the garlic using the pork fat until golden brown. 3). Throw in the onions and tomatoes, and sauté together with the pork until the tomatoes are mashed.
4). Add in the bagoong alamang and continue frying over low to medium heat until desired consistency.
5). You may wish to add vinegar, chili and sugar for zest, zing and sweetness.
6). Remove from oil and drain or leave it drenched in pork fat.

Enjoy your bagoong alamang with those green mangoes!

Kare Kare

Kare kare (kari-kari as others called it) is one of my favorite Filipino foods. Every Filipino family do have their own version of Kare-kare, wheter its kare kareng baka, kare kareng baboy or kare kareng manok (beef, pork and chicken Kare kare).

But one thing is common, this Filipino dish is a rich and heavy meal served with rice. An ideal lunch dish during special occasions like fiestas, family gatherings and even for simple family outings.

The most popular Filipino version is the beef stew flavored and thickened in a peanut - based sauce, with a variety of vegetables. The most common cuts of beef used are tail, shank or face. A combination of the three may be used and most cooks preferred to add tripe.

Kare Kare With Peanuts And Bagoong

Kare Kare Cooking and Serving Overview

The meat is first tenderized, then sauteed in garlic, bagoong, annatto seeds, and vegetables. Peanut butter is added during the last stages of cooking to thicken the sauce and give the characteristic flavour of the kari-kari.

Most common vegetables used are string beans or snake beans, pechay or baby bachoy, eggplant and banana buds from the banana heart, (optional ).

Kare-kare is always serve with white boil rice and bagoong alamang on the side. Bagoong Alamang is a paste of salted and fermented shrimp fingerlings, it is like a shrimp paste. Bagoong has a strong taste for some people but for me kare - kare is not kare kare if not serve with bagoong.

If green mangoes are available, it will be nice to serve it as a salad.

Kare Kare Basic Ingredients

Meat:

* 1 oxtail
* 1 ox leg
* 1 ox tripe

Vegetables:

* 2 medium sized eggplant cut in small pieces
* 1 banana heart sliced diagonally (optional)
* 1 bunch of pechay or baby bok choy
* 1 bunch of sitaw (snake/string beans)
* 1/2 head of cabbage

Other Ingredients :

* 1 cup peanut butter
* 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced or chopped
* 1 big onion sliced thinly
* 3 tablespoon cooking oil

Kare Kare Cooking Procedures

1). Wash the ox tail, legs and beef. Cut into serving pieces. Place in a heavy saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, remove the scums as it rises, cover, add more water if you need to. Kare kare is better if the meat is tender. Let simmer until the meat is tender this will take about 1-2 hours.

2). Transfer the meat into a plate or a bowl and let it cool, set aside the stock.

3). In a large caserrole put the cooking oil to saute the garlic and onion in about 30 seconds.

4). Put the meat in the skillet and continue mixing.

5). Pour in the stock and bring to a boil for another 10 minutes.

6). Add the vegetables.

7). In a small bowl, stir the peanut butter with about 1/2 cup of stock and pour it in the caserrole. Stir to blend well. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the sauce is thick.

8). Serve hot with bagoong alamang and boil rice.

Note: The image above may differ from the end result of this recipe.

Filipino Foods Cooking Style

The Philippines or Filipino cooking style is quite unique and simple as it is. You don't have to study culinary arts or cooking arts a lot to be able to learn how the Philippines dishes is cooked.

Most dishes in the Philippines are stewed, sauteed, broiled, braised, or fried. This is very common on a tropical country or tropical cuisines.

One of the major ingredients or dishes being cooked in Filipino style is called "suka" or simply vinegar. You will find it being used at the popular "adobo" may it be chicken or pork adobo and "pinaksiw". The vinegar do have a preserving effect on this recipes. Those foods cooked with vinegar tends to last longer and taste even better.

"Patis" or fish sauce and sometimes shrimp sauce. Patis have become a part of Filipino cooking and eating lifestyle. When "patis" is not around, salt is used as a substitute.

Coconut milk or "gata" is common in Philippine cooking, quite popular in the Bicol region. It's common cooking used is for the dish Bicol Express that is quite extraordinary.

"Bagoong" fermented shrimp or fish paste) is one of the most popular Filipino cooking ingredients. Foreigners tend to find this one to have an aweful smell, but once they tasted it along with the famouse "kare-kare", they will crave for more.

Cooking the dishes of the Philippines is very basic and easy to start with. Ingredients and its substitutes can be found anywhere even at the nearby store. Philippines cooking style and recipes mostly came from the creativeness and uniqueness of Filipinos. Have a taste of our very own Filipino Foods and Recipes. I am quite sure you will love it.