Come Dine In

Champorado is a hit to most Filipino kids. Everytime I cook this for my daughter, I always remember how my grandma cooks it for me back then. Everytime she cooks, I always eat up the cocoa and sugar mixture and before she knows it, it’s already half-way empty. I told that story to my daughter and so everytime she asks for champorado, she asks that the story be told over again. She’s now the little me and I can see myself as my grandma who screams “anak, wala na akong ilalagay sa champorado… inubos mo na!!!”

see???

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar (adjust sugar to your liking)

1/2 cup rice grains

water, casserole half-filled

milk (optional)

METHOD:

1. Mix together the cocoa and sugar.

2. Boil the rice in water until soft, broken and sticky, about 30-40 minutes.

3. Add in the cocoa-sugar mixture and mix well. Let boil for another 2-3 minutes.

4. Serve with or without evaporated/fresh milk.

Last weekend, cherries are all over and they are pretty cheap (2lbs. for £1). We ate it the way we eat java plum back in the Philippines – sprinkle some salt and shake! shake! shake! Yum!!!

I placed these cherries into the stainless steel bowl and while I take pictures hubby asked me to transfer them into a more decent bowl but I insisted and good thing my ever reliable Canon camera did justice to these lovely cherries.

I was able to buy 3 frozen mackerels about 10-15 inches long for £2.99 (roughly about $5). Hubby is a real fish-lover and so thinking of the best dinner hasn’t been hard for 2 days in that week. He loves any kind of fish cooked in any way.

Our family is a very small eater and 1 piece is more than enough for the 3 of us. I fried the tail part and stewed the head part to vinegar. My soon-to-be 5 year old is just like her dad, so when asked what she wants, aside from her favorite mi

Hubby has been going to work without packed lunch several weeks already and he’s already complaining about the not so good yet very pricey sandwiches he usually buys, but he said he liked the burritos (he wasn’t even sure of the name) that he ordered twice – and yes I was surprised that he really ate those because he’s such a man who’s afraid to try something new, not only in foods.

Imagine, he even requested if I can prepare the same kind? So what can I do, it’s an order! I scanned my pantry and really thought hard what to put in our burrito. I saw my teriyaki sauce and my chicken breast fillets so I said maybe it’ll work. And guess what? It’s now a hit to my 2 bosses who only eat plain rice.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pieces of chicken breast fillet, cut into strips

about 4tbsp. Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce

1 tbsp. Kikkoman  Soy Sauce

1/2 tbsp. Japanese Rice Wine

2 tablespoons oyster sauce (I just like it as it gives the slightly sweet taste)

garlic powder (optional)

freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tbsp. melted butter

1 medium onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small bell pepper, sliced into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes

mushrooms, sliced (i used fresh button mushrooms)

4-5 cups cooked rice

flour tortilla wraps

lettuce

tomatoes

cheese

METHOD:

1. Mix together the all the sauces (teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce), plus the rice wine, garlic powder and pepper. Marinade the chicken strips for at least 15 minutes.

2. In a non-stick wide pan or wok (if you have), heat the oil and butter then saute the minced onion and garlic for a minute or 2. Add in the chicken strips (reserve the marinade) and cook until tender. Saute together the mushrooms and bell pepper.

3. Add in the cooked rice and the reserved marinade and mix well. You can adjust the taste by adding any of the sauces you think is appropriate or just a dash of salt.

4. Prepare the tortilla wraps following the package direction. It may be heated through the grill or microwave. Now spread the teriyaki rice in the middle of the tortilla, topped with the lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Roll and cut diagonally. Serve.

Remember, as what everyone says – add anything you want in your burrito. The options are endless.

The Aristocrat Restaurant, though Greek in term, is 100% Filipino owned. This is a well-known restaurant in the Philippines famous for its juicy and tasty chicken barbecue and a lot more Filipino dishes. I have just tried dining there twice and in both times I ordered their really yummy chicken barbecue. I always like my barbecue sweet, may it be chicken or pork and I would say, Aristocrat’s is my favorite.

Because summer has finally begun, I thought of making a really good chicken barbecue to start with. So I searched around the net to find a recipe that wou

My husband always as in ALWAYS loves my version of bistek or beef steak (in Filipino cuisine). He is definitely a “steak” lover and this beef steak is no exeption. This is actually called bistek tagalog which originally has a dark watery sauce  and hubby doesn’t like his bistek that way so I tried cooking it almost the same way as how I cook my adobo, only that there’s some sau

One afternoon, hubby requested for cheesecake while my little Alyssa requested for chocolate cupcake. I only baked 4 pieces since it’s supposed to be – ONLY for Alyssa. But once done, we ended up sha

Squash or Kalabasa in Tagalog is widely availbale here in London, so one time I decided to cook it in coconut milk. It usually has string beans so when I found string beans for the first time, I immediately asked how much and I almost fell down when the vendor answered, “£3.00″. Gosh! It’s like $5? So I went back to my ever reliab

Hubby and I have been wanting to buy prawns, but the price is holding us back. It was just the other week when I decided to buy some so we can finally satisty our cravings for this yummy seafood. I bought 1 kilo of frozen prawns for £7 (about $12). And because I always cook what’s enough for the family, I was able to serve those for about 5 times, meaning 5 meals for

My cheeky munchkin don’t eat pasta in red sauce so when I cook pasta it has to be white. She never liked it and unfortunately, when she tried it she got hospitalized because of food poisoning. Well, it’s home cooked and it didn’t show any sign of spoilage so we were really shocked when everyone in the family who had it was throwing up after a few hours. Her dislike of red pasta hasn’t changed since then and if only she can say, “Mum, it’s all your fault! I told you I don’t eat red pasta!”

Because of that, I believe I’ve tried almost all creams around already and only sourcream suits my family’s taste. I would say it’s the