Jun 25, 2019 | Main Course, Poutlry, Recipes
Chicken Long Rice is one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s one of the simple dishes my Filipino grandmothers made when I was growing up, but Filipinos call it Sotanghon.
Living in Hawaii it’s a dish one can easily find on the menu of local restaurants and is a staple at Hawaiian Luaus. That’s probably why it never occurred to me to make it at home. So much easier to order it at Zippy’s or some other local eatery. Besides I didn’t have a recipe for Chicken Long Rice and never actually thought to go look for one.
Well that recently changed after I attended an Alumni Luau at my Alma Mater. Of course Chicken Long Rice was served, and like my classmates I wasn’t too impressed with it. The version served was pretty bland and tasteless. That’s when I mentioned that it was one of my favorite dishes but alas didn’t know how to make it.
So the discussions began and for the next couple of days during our class reunion a couple of classmates shared their recipes and tips. A week or so later I finally made some, tweaked the way I like it of course!
Now before I share my version I should explain what it is. In a nutshell Chicken Long Rice is Hawaii’s version of chicken noodle soup. But I suspect it’s a dish adapted from the Asian immigrants who came to the islands to work in plantations in the 1800’s.
I’m pretty sure just about every culture on earth has its own version of chicken noodle soup and Asia is no different. In fact I think every Asian country has a chicken noodle soup version; Udon or Ramen in Japan; Phð Gà in Vietnam; and Sotanghon in the Philippines just to name a few.
Where ever it originated Chicken Long Rice is simple chicken stock with clear bean thread noodles aka glass or cellophane noodles, seasoned with fresh ginger and topped with chopped green onions. I like it soupy and eat it with steamed white rice mixed in. So here’s my version of Chicken Long Rice, it tastes almost the same as the Sontaghon my grandmas used to make!
*Bean Thread noodles can be found at any Asian Market and sometimes in the Ethnic Food section of your local grocery store. Or you can order it from Amazon.
*I prefer to use Aloha Brand Soy Sauce as it’s milder than most brands available on the US Market (like Kikkoman and La Choy), but it’s not easily found unless you are in Hawaii or order it from Amazon. If you can’t find Aloha Brand Soy Sauce an alternative brand is Silver Swan Soy Sauce. It too has a milder taste and it can be found in most Asian Markets anywhere. But you can use any brand or your favorite brand of soy sauce.
*Use fresh ginger. Fresh ginger root can be found at most Asian Markets. Ginger can be frozen in a sealed ziplock bag for a long time. Just break of pieces as you need them. You can adjust the amount of ginger root in this recipe to suit your taste. I love the strong ginger taste and usually add a bit more to my broth.
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Chicken Long Rice
Ingredients:
4 Bone in chicken thighs. Be sure the skin is on too!
Water
1 Tbs. fresh ginger, sliced into small slivers
4 cups chicken broth
2 packages clear bean thread noodles
Salt to taste
Soy Sauce to taste
1-2 stalks green onions, chopped
Directions:
Place thighs in large pot and add enough water to almost cover chicken.
Add chicken broth and ginger. Make sure liquids fully cover the chicken.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
Cook for about 45-60 minutes or until chicken starts to fall off the bone.
Debone Chicken, remove skin, and return to pot.
Stir in salt and soy sauce to taste.
Add noodles and cook until noodles are soft.
Garnish with green onions and serve with or without steamed rice.
Chicken Long Rice - Hawaiian Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Long Rice - Hawaiian Chicken Noodle Soup
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Instructions
Place thighs in large pot and add enough water to almost cover chicken.
Add chicken broth and ginger. Make sure liquids fully cover the chicken.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
Cook for about 45-60 minutes or until chicken starts to fall off the bone.
Debone Chicken, remove skin, and return to pot.
Stir in salt and soy sauce to taste.
Add noodles and cook until noodles are soft.
Top with chopped green onions.
Jun 10, 2019 | Main Course, Recipes, Seafood
I’m pretty sure Sushi, all types, are here to stay. It’s not a fad food, we’ve all pretty much incorporated sushi into our dining repertoire. Most of us no longer hear the word “Sushi” and think yuck raw fish!
California rolls seem to be the most popular type of sushi along with Nigiri tpes, that’s the one with a slice of raw fish or boiled shrimp pressed into sushi rice. And many of us still consider sushi a splurge at a sushi restaurant which admittedly can cost a pretty penny. (We’ve spent about $100 just to take the kids and grandkids out to Genki Sushi. That’s what happens when you all get carried away grabbing $3 dishes off the conveyor belt!) But really Sushi is very easy to make at home and doesn’t have to cost you your first born child!
After all what is sushi? It’s seasoned white rice, some type of seafood and or veggie that can be rolled into a sheet of dried seaweed. Easy right? Ok rolled sushi comes out better when rolled with a bamboo mat that one can buy at any asian market for less than $5. But what about making sushi without a mat or sheets of dried seaweed? That would be super easy sushi!
Well recently I came across sushi molds while wandering around Daiso, the Japanese version of a dollar store that recently opened not far from my house. I grabbed all the molds they had, they were just $1.50 (it’s not really a dollar store, it’s more like the $1.50+ store.) Anyway I got the molds (I gave some to my kids) and proceeded to make these Layered Spicy Shrimp Sushi. They’re actually “deconstructed” sushi as my grandson tells me. Best of all they are super easy to make!
Hey don’t worry if you can’t find the molds, you can use an empty can, old school but it works. Your sushi will be round instead of square, but it will work just fine. Just clean an empty can and remove both ends so that you end up with a tube. Place it on a plate and layer your sushi filling into the tube, when done just slip the can off. Be careful as the can edges will be sharp.
Anyway here’s my recipe. I make the rice in my rice cooker, which actually has a setting for sushi rice. But if you don’t have a rice cooker just cook the rice on the stove or however you usually make rice. My recipe makes a lot of Layered Sushi so if you don’t need as much just cut the recipe in half or in thirds.
Ingredients:
3 Cups uncooked short grain rice, rinsed well
6 Cups Water (if cooking on the stove) if using a rice cooker follow the cooker’s directions
6 Tbs. Rice Vinegar
3 Tbs. Sugar
3 Tsp. Salt
3 Cups mashed avocado
3 Cups Cucumber diced in small cubes
3 Tbs. Lime Juice
1 1/2 Lbs. Cooked shrimp diced in small cubes
1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
3 Tbs. Sriracha Sauce
Furikaka for garnish
Wasabi Paste for garnish
Sriracha Sauce for garnish
Directions:
Sushi Rice:
Make rice in rice cooker and let cool
If making rice on stove top:
Bring rice and water to boil in large pot. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer about 20 minutes or until water has been absorbed and rice is tender. Let cool.
Mix Rice Vinegar, Sugar, and salt in a small bowl.
Place cooled cooked rice in a large bowl and gently fluff, you don’t want clumps of rice.
Gently fold vinegar mixture into rice. Set aside.
Green Layer:
Mix together mashed avocado, cucumber, lime juice, and salt to taste. Set aside.
Shrimp Layer:
Mix together shrimp, mayo, and sriracha sauce. Set aside.
Assembly:
Scoop about 2 Tbl. of Green Layer into mold. Smooth top making sure it’s distributed evenly.
Scoop about 2 Tbs. of Shrimp Layer on top of Green Layer. Smooth top making sure shrimp mixture is evenly distributed.
Scoop about 4 Tbs. Sushi Rice on top of Shrimp Layer. Smooth top making sure rice is evenly distributed. Press rice layer down firmly into the other layers so that the layers will hold together.
Gently unmold and slide into serving dish. If using a can you will have to gently flip your sushi so that the Green layer is on top.
Sprinkle top with Furikake and drizzle with sriracha sauce. Squirt wasabi paste on plate and serve with soy sauce.
If you have extra sushi rice and shrimp no worries make my version of Nigiri Shrimp sushi by forming rice into rectangular cubes.
Butterfly the cooked shrimp and gently press on top of rice cube.
Sprinkle with Furikake.
Drizzle with sriracha and dot with wasabi and voila! You’ve got yummy Nigiri Sushi!
Layered Spicy Shrimp Sushi
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Layered Spicy Shrimp Sushi
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Apr 23, 2019 | Beef, Main Course, Recipes
Mechadong Baka (Beef Mechado) could be a tart Filipino beef tomato stew with potatoes, carrots, and onions. Historically, the stew was created exploitation low-cost and lean cuts of meat that had little or no fat/marbling. To assist add flavor, associate degree incision was created into each bit of meat and a strip of pork fat was inserted, as delineated at Kawaling Pinoy. This method is what gave the stew its name- Mecha which means wick for the strip of pork fat protruding of the meat sort of a candle. I served the Mechado over a bed of steamed polished rice; however Chad conjointly likes it with Pandesal (Filipino Rolls).
While exploring through recipes, I found variable amounts of soy. Begin with 2 tablespoons and rise to four tablespoons supported style. Mixture of onions, carrots, and potatoes to the stew Shredded bell peppers also are widespread.The instruction is well doubled to serve additional individuals or create enough for leftovers. Like several stews, the flavor is even higher consequent day.
Calamansi (Kalamansi, Calamondin Orange, Golden Lime, and Chinese Orange) could be a style of citrus native to geographic area. it’s a cross between the Mandarin Orange and Kumquat. The fruit has associate degree orange bitter flesh and a skinny, sweet rind that starts inexperienced, however turns orange because it ripens. The rind is usually consumed with the flesh to supply a sweet bitter flavor. it’s usually found in Filipino preparation, from garnishes to condiments. The fruit are often found within the turn out department or the juice frozen in some markets that includes Filipino ingredients. If you’re unable to find it, substitute with lemon (I have seen mixtures line of work for one half fruit crush to three elements lemon juice), lime, or Meyer lemon.
(This post has affiliate links)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 pound stew beef (chuck, round), cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup water
1/2 cup tomato sauce
3 tablespoons calamansi or lemon juice
2-4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 bay leaves
1 large potato peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
Steamed rice for serving
Instructions
1. In a large pot, drizzle the oil over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides.
2. Add the water, tomato sauce, calamansi juice, soy sauce, and bay leaves. Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
3. Add the potato and carrot. Continue to cook until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve hot with steamed rice.
MECHADONG BAKA (FILIPINO BEEF MECHADO)
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MECHADONG BAKA (FILIPINO BEEF MECHADO)
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Apr 11, 2019 | Beef, Main Course
As many of you know one of my daughter’s gave me an Instant Pot for Christmas last year. It took a few weeks of staring at the box before I actually opened it; all those buttons were a bit intimidating! But once I made my first recipe, Instant Pot Beef Stew, it was instant love! Now I don’t know what I’d do without it! So I’ve been exploring possibilities and one of my new favorites in this Instant Pot Mongolian Beef.
Mongolian Beef is a family favorite and we always order it when we dine at Chinese Restaurants, we love the tender morsels of beef in its delicious sauce. I’ve tried to make it at home, after all it’s just a basic sitr fry, but I could never get the meat to be so tender. I’d tried all sorts of cuts except filet mignon, I mean seriously who’d use filet in a stir fry? Whatever I did I could never get it as tender as the restaurants do; that is until now! It never occurred to me that the secret was in the cooking method. I mean all the recipes said fry the meat in a wok or a pan, I’m guessing you’d get very tender meat if you stir fired filet mignon, but at over $15 a pound that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon!
Well it seems to me the secret to tender beef is to pressure cook it! Enter the new love of my life, the Instant Pot! When I adapted my Mongolian Beef stir fry recipe to the Instant Pot the whole dish changed! It transformed from a pretty good stir fry to a tender delicious restaurant worthy dish! This Instant Pot Mongolian Beef is seriously delicious!
But it’s not only yummy, Instant Pot Mongolian Beef is easier than stir fry! What? Easier than stir fry? How is that possible? First of all my original recipe has me marinating the meat for at least an hour; no need to marinate Instant Pot Mongolian Beef so that cuts kitchen time down a bit. And stir fry requires you to, um, well, stir what you’re frying; with the Instant Pot Mongolian Beef stirring is kept to just a few minutes to brown the meat. And best of all from start to finish you could get Instant Pot Mongolian Beef on the table in about 30 minutes!
I serve it over steamed white rice which I make in my Zojirushi Rice Cooker. You can even make bowls and bentos with this recipe!
So here’s the recipe for Instant Pot Mongolian Beef!
Ingredients:
2 Lbs. Flank or Sirloin Steak cut into small thin slices
1 Tbs. Sesame Oil or vegetable oil will work if you’re allergic to sesame seeds or don’t have sesame oil on hand
2 Tbs. Minced Garlic
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar
1 Tbs. Molasses (or you can skip the coconut sugar and Molasses and use 2/3 cup dark brown sugar instead)
1 Tsp fresh minced ginger
3 Tbs. Cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup water
3-4 stalks green onions cut to small pieces
1 Tsp Sesame seeds (optional)
Directions:
Turn Instant Pot to Sauté and place oil inside inner pot
Heat oil about 1 minute
Place small amounts of beef in pot and brown both sides – about 2 minutes
Remove browned meat from pot and brown remaining meat in small batches until all meat is browned
Add garlic to pot and cook about 1 minute
Add soy sauce, water, worcestershire sauce, sugar, molasses, and ginger into the pot and mix well
Turn pot to manual and adjust time to 12 Minutes
Return meat and any juices that seeped out to the pot
Place lid on making sure the valve is set to Sealing
When timer goes off move valve to venting to quick release the pressure
Remove lid and stir in cornstarch mixture until the sauce is thickened
Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds before serving.
Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
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Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
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Instructions
Turn Instant Pot to Sauté and place oil inside inner pot
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Place small amounts of beef in pot and brown both sides - about 2 minutes
Remove browned meat from pot and brown remaining meat in small batches until all meat is browned
Add garlic to pot and cook about 1 minute
Add soy sauce, water, worcestershire sauce, sugar, molasses, and ginger into the pot and mix well
Turn pot to manual and adjust time to 12 Minutes
Return meat and any juices that seeped out to the pot
Place lid on making sure the valve is set to Sealing
When timer goes off move valve to venting to quick release the pressure
Remove lid and stir in cornstarch mixture until the sauce is thickened
Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds before serving.
Apr 2, 2019 | Recipes
Escabeche is a type of sweet and sour fish recipe. There are many version of Escabeche around. This version that we have here is probably the most simple of all. However, the taste will not be as simple as it seems because this recipe has all the good flavors in it.Not to be mistaken as Ceviche — which is a South American favorite that makes use of raw fish — like kilawin. Filipino Escabeche requires the fish to be fried and cooked in vinegar.
I grew-up eating different kinds of fish. I enjoy both fried fish dishes and fish dishes with sauce. I’m continuously excited to own this dish as a result of I in person suppose that the results of deep-fried fish being well-done in any sort of sauce is really amazing. You get the good flavor of the sauce while enjoying the texture of the fish — which is not too soft at all. Having escabeche is like uptake deep-fried fish with a touch of atchara.
Try this Escabeche Recipe and let me know what you think.
(This post has affiliate links)
Ingredients:
1 large fish 1 to 2 lbs, cleaned and salted
1 medium red bell pepper sliced into strips
1 medium red onion sliced
1 cup white vinegar
5 cloves garlic crushed
1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
Instructions:
1. Heat cooking oil in a frying pan then fry both sides of the fish until a bit crispy. Set aside.
2. Heat a clean pan and pour-in the vinegar. Let boil.
3. Add sugar, whole peppercorn, and garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
4. Put-in the onion and red bell pepper. Stir and cook until the vegetables are tender.
5. Sprinkle salt and then stir.
6. Put-in the fried fish. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Turn-off heat and transfer to a serving plate.
8. Serve. Share and enjoy!
