Penne Tuna Creamy Pasta Recipe

This penne tuna creamy pasta recipe is one of the yummy recipes that my hubby makes.

When I arrived in the UAE on New Year’s Eve of 2008, I discovered that my then fiancée was famous for his creamy pasta dish. His friends were all praises of him and they beamingly call him as the “pasta master”. Friends can really be so supportive right? He can only cook one of the many sauces of pasta then he becomes the master! I couldn’t disagree with his friends because his creamy pasta is certainly delicious! A lot of friends have asked for the recipe and are proud of their own creation as well.

Sinigang na Tilapia Recipe

Sinigang is a common dish for Filipinos. It is a soup characterized by its sour flavor. Different fruits can be used as souring agent such as tamarind (which is the most common), guava, green mango, kamias or bilimbi and santol. Back home, my most favorite fruit ingredient for sinigang is kamias or bilimbi, next is tamarind. We have a kamias tree in the backyard that bears fruits abundantly when in season. I hope it is still alive up to this day. That’s one of the things I would check when we go home this December for vacation.

Nowadays, powdered soup base or cubes have become popular in place of the natural fruits, especially for OFWs like us. They are commonly known as sinigang mix and are made of tamarind or guava. The tamarind powdered soup base is what I used for my sinigang na tilapia recipe. I usually like my sinigang to be really sour. Fortunately, hubby likes the same and so I used the whole sinigang mix pack.

It is best to add an assortment of vegetables to sinigang. I used pechay and banana blossom for this recipe. I learned from my mother that the banana blossom will make the soup white in color. Just be careful on the timing of slicing the banana blossom. I suggest slicing it seconds before it is added in the stew. Slicing it early will darken the color of the banana blossom.


Sinigang na Tilapia

Here’s my recipe for the Sinigang na Tilapia:

Ingredients:
2 pcs whole tilapia fish
1 bunch pechay
1 pc banana blossom, sliced to ½ inch thick, remove tough petals
2 pcs tomatoes, quartered
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced thinly
1 onion, sliced
2 pcs banana chili
1 pack sinigang mix (use only half if you prefer less sour soup)
2 cups water
Salt

Cooking Procedure:
Bring to boil 2 cups of water. Add tomatoes and onion. Simmer until the tomatoes and onions are tender. Add sinigang mix and ginger. Cook until sinigang mix has completely dissolved. Add tilapia and vegetable ingredients. Season with salt. Cook until tilapia is done. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste.

Stir-Fry Squid with Broccoli Recipe

This stir-fry squid with broccoli recipe is supposed to duplicate the Chinese recipe I researched on the Internet. Unfortunately, we do not have rice wine on our shelf as we are not using such ingredient in our cooking. Rice wine is one of the required seasoning for this recipe. We were a bit lazy to go to the supermarket to buy one at the time. Nonetheless, having missed out one of the ingredients did not stop me from cooking this delectable dish. I replaced the rice wine with water and added cornstarch to thicken the sauce. The result was a delicious seafood-vegetable dish that is perfect for steamed rice.

So far I cannot tell the difference in taste if I had use rice wine, but I would love to test it in future. I’d like to point out though that the water is not a substitute for the rice wine in terms of taste, instead it was intended to replace the sauce that could have been produced by the rice wine.

Meanwhile, here is my recipe for the Stir-fry Squid with Broccoli.


Squid with Broccoli

Ingredients:
500 g squid, fresh
500 g broccoli, cut into small florets
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size ginger, finely sliced
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
100ml water (as needed)
Cooking oil

Cooking Procedure:
1. Clean fresh squid. Remove ink and peel the skin. Score lightly on one side and slice to bite-size pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Sauté ginger and garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
3. Add soy sauce and sugar together.
4. Stir-fry the broccoli florets in the mixture for 2minutes over high heat.
5. Add water and cornstarch. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Add squid and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
7. Do not overcook the squid as it will turn out to be gummy.
8. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Linguini with Clams Recipe

We love watching cooking shows. This linguini with clams recipe is inspired by many pasta recipes we’ve watched in different shows. As I previously mentioned in my Clam Soup Recipe, clams are in season here and it’s a good thing to take advantage of its abundance because for sure they’re fresh.

There is actually nothing exactly like this recipe because I tweaked it a little, like instead of using parsley for the herb I used fresh basil leaves, which I and hubby are both crazy about. In addition, most pasta with clams recipe I’ve seen are using white wine for the sauce. I intended to skip the white wine, instead I planned to replace it with vegetable cubes to turn it into a broth but we couldn’t find any veggie cube so I settled for the pasta water for the sauce.

I may say my linguini with clams recipe is a success. Hubby enjoyed it so much and I would definitely love to prepare it again in the future.


Linguini with Clams

Here’s is my linguini with clams recipe:

Ingredients:
1 kg clams
500 g linguini pasta
½ bulb garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 handful fresh basil leaves
100 g parmesan cheese, grated
1 pinch dried chili flakes
olive oil

Cooking Procedure:
1) Clean clams well and soak in water for at least 2 hours. Replace the water every half hour. Throw away clams that have opened.
2) Cook pasta according to instructions. Linguini will be cooked al dente in boiling water with a teaspoon of salt for 10-11 minutes. Drain pasta and sprinkle with olive oil then set aside.
3) Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet.
4) Sauté garlic, do not brown.
5) Sauté onion until translucent.
6) Add in clams and half cup of pasta water.
7) Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until most of the clams have opened.
8) Add basil leaves and dried chili flakes. Stir well.
9) Turn off the heat. Add the cooked pasta and parmesan cheese in the same skillet and combine well with the sauce.
10) Serve hot. Sprinkle with dried chili flakes, grated parmesan cheese and olive oil if desired.

Paksiw na Galunggong Recipe

Paksiw na Galunggong is one of the varieties of paksiw na isda recipes. I like the small-size galunggong or scad fish better than the large ones as I find them more flavorful.

Paksiw is a process of stewing meat or fish in vinegar and some spices. The spices added to it may vary depending on the main ingredient, regional cooking style or preference of the cook himself.

When I’m making paksiw na isda, I don’t use garlic as most people would do. Instead, I’m using onion, which I think makes the broth more appetizing. Another tweak that I do is I add a teaspoon of olive oil to the broth just two minutes before I remove it from heat.

Another tip that is worth trying is to keep the paksiw for a day in the ref then re-heat. It’s much tastier this way. Also, it is best to pair it with garlic fried rice. Yum!


Paksiw na Galunggong

Here’s my recipe for the Paksiw na Galunggong:

Ingredients:
250 grams Galunggong (scad) fish
½ cup vinegar
¼ cup water
1 thumb size ginger root, crushed or finely sliced
1 small onion, sliced
3 pieces banana pepper (siling haba)
2 large eggplants (optional), sliced according to your liking
1 teaspoon olive oil (optional)
Pepper, roughly ground
Salt

Cooking Procedure:
Clean fish well. Remove gills, innards, etc. Combine all ingredients in a pot except olive oil. Turn on the stove and cook from 10 to 15 minutes over low fire, or until the fish and eggplants are cooked. Just keep in mind to add in the olive oil two minutes before turning off the heat. Serve with steamed rice or fried rice.

Halaan (Clam) Soup Recipe

Clam Soup

Halaan or clam soup is one of my favorite soups (and it has now become one of hubby's too). It is so appetizing and refreshing. It also brings back memories of my childhood. We used to eat the clams using our hands and scoop the meat out of the shell using our mouth. Then I would reserve some of the clam shells and dry them under the sun. I and my cousins would then play with them.

These past few weeks, there had been plenty of fresh clams being sold in supermarkets. I think it’s because it’s in season these days. So, before it gets out of season, we’d rather take advantage of its abundance. We decided to cook halaan soup for lunch yesterday.

Here is the Halaan (Clam) Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:
½ kilogram halaan or fresh clams
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumb-sized ginger, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
3 tbsp. fish sauce or patis
2 cups water
Cooking oil

Cooking procedure:
1) Wash fresh clams and drain. Place the clams in a container and cover with water. Let it sit for several hours or overnight in the fridge. If possible, replace the water every few hours. This procedure will allow the clams to expel sand.
2) Heat oil in a pot. Sauté ginger and garlic together.
3) Add onion and cook until translucent.
4) Add tomatoes, cook for 3 minutes while stirring occasionally.
5) Add fish sauce and the fresh clams. Sauté for a couple of minutes.
6) Pour in water. Cover and let boil.
7) Turn off the heat when the clams have opened.
8) Serve immediately.

Guinataang Tanigue (King Fish) Recipe

Guinataang Tanigue

When I was growing up, I never liked guinataan dishes (except for the deserts) because my mother rarely cooked guinataan. As time went by, I learned to appreciate guinataan flavored dishes. What has drawn me to it is the rich taste of the coconut milk combined with the ginger flavor.

Since I’m a veggie lover I particularly like Guinaatang Sitaw and Kalabasa. Fish cooked in coconut milk has also become one of our favorite dishes.

From the supermarket shelf we went to yesterday, the steak-cut tanigue or king fish were neatly packed fresh and clean. It is always wonderful to cook fresh fish as the taste is quite delicious and the fish meat is tender and firm. Since our last guinataan dish has been a while ago, we decided to cook the tanigue this way.

Here is the Guinataang Tanigue (King Fish) Recipe:

Ingredients:
½ kilo tanigue, steak cut
250ml coconut milk
1 tbsp. ginger, thinly sliced long strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium size onion, sliced
3 tbsp. fish sauce or patis
1 bunch pechay or bok choy
4 pcs. banana chili
Cooking oil

Cooking Procedure:
1) Heat oil in a pan.
2) Sauté minced garlic. Do not brown.
3) Add ginger, sauté for 30 seconds.
4) Add onions and cook until translucent.
5) Pour in fish sauce. Sauté for a few seconds.
6) Pour in the coconut milk. Cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until the natural oil from the coconut milk comes out. Stir occasionally.
7) Add the banana chili and fish. Simmer for 5 minutes.
8) Add pechay or bok choy. Simmer for another minute or until the bok choy have wilted.
9) Serve hot with steamed rice.

Tuna Fried Rice Recipe

Hubby turned our canned tuna and leftover rice into a creative dish. The Tuna Fried Rice is an interesting alternative to our usual garlic fried rice.

This recipe can be a complete meal on its own with a little sprinkle of pepper, salt and lemon juice. And, just like any other fried rice, it can be paired to any of your favorite dish. As for me, I like to serve fried rice with saucy dishes.

What I like about this particular recipe is the crunchiness of the carrots. Initially the carrots were intended to add color to the dish. It served its purpose though and as a bonus it did make the fried rice fun and healthy to eat.


Tuna Fried Rice

Here is our Tuna Fried Rice recipe:

Ingredients:
1 can tuna chunks, drained
3-4 cups cooked rice (leftover rice)
1 medium size carrot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch of salt
Cooking oil

Cooking Procedure:
1) Heat oil in a deep pan or wok.
2) Fry the garlic until golden brown.
3) Stir in the diced carrots and cook for 1 minute (or until tender if you desire).
4) Add the tuna chunks and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5) Add the cooked rice gradually in order to blend well with the stir-fried mixture of tuna and carrots.
6) Season with salt and stir constantly to heat the rice throughout.
7) Serve hot!

This recipe serves up to 4 persons.

Shrimps and Vegetable Spaghettini Recipe

This shrimps and vegetable spaghetti recipe is a healthy option for a pasta dish, in which I used oil-based sauce. Other types of pasta sauce may be tomato-based, cream-based, herb-based or meat-based.

It is recommended for oil-based sauce pasta to use strand pasta. I used spaghettini for this dish. Spaghettini is thinner than the regular spaghetti.

What makes my shrimps and vegetable spaghetti recipe healthier than other spaghetti recipes? It is because I incorporated a mix of vegetables to it.

Shrimp and Vegetable Spaghettini
Here’s my shrimps and vegetable spaghetti recipe.

Ingredients:
400 grams Spaghettini
500 grams fresh shrimps, shelled and washed
1 large broccoli, cut into small florets
1 large red bell pepper, roasted and sliced into long strips
2 large fresh tomatoes, diced (or 200g sun-dried tomatoes)
5 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon chili flakes
½ teaspoon dried basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Procedure:
1. Cook spaghettini according to instructions. Cook it al dente and reserve a little amount of the pasta water.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan.
3. Sauté minced garlic. Do not brown. Then, add the chili flakes.
4. Stir in shelled shrimps and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add broccoli, stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the grilled bell pepper and diced tomatoes.
7. Season with salt, pepper and dried basil.
8. Toss in the cooked spaghettini.
9. Mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes.
10. Remove from heat. Drizzle with olive oil.

This recipe serves 4-5 persons.

I sliced the shrimps into half and the result was a twirled cooked shrimps which were delight to the eyes.

To add more herb flavor, use sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and chopped parsley.

Sardines with Misua

I prepared one quick and easy recipe for a late lunch today. It is the second day of no lunch breaks policy at work to give respect to the fasting traditions of Ramadan. I got home from work with a really hungry stomach at past 2pm. Anything in the cupboard or fridge that can be cooked and eaten was appetizing for me but it had to be done quickly. I initially thought of opening a can of sardines and eat it right away but I had a better idea. Besides hubby is still on his way home so I had to wait a little more. I enhanced the plain sardines in can dish and cooked it with misua.

Sardines with Misua
Misua is made of wheat flour and one of the varieties of Chinese noodles. It is very fine and brittle.

I finished cooking in no less than 15 minutes. It is recommended though that the sardines should be in tomato base but the only available can of sardines we had in the cupboard is in oil. I cooked it anyway with a little twist. I sautéed 2 large ripe chopped tomatoes to satisfy the tomato base. I was brave with the experiment and it tasted just as delicious as in using a tomato base sardines in can!

Here’s the recipe for my Sardines with Misua:

Ingredients:
1 small can sardines
50 grams misua
2 large chopped tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. fish sauce
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1-2 cups water
cooking oil

Cooking Instructions:
1) Heat oil in a small cooking pot.
2) When the oil is hot enough, sauté garlic until light brown.
3) Add chopped onions and cooked until translucent.
4) Put in the chopped tomatoes. Cook until saucy under medium heat.
5) Add the sardines, fish sauce and ground pepper. Cook for 2 minutes while stirring.
6) Add the water and let boil.
7) Put in misua and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
8) Remove from heat, then serve in a bowl.
9) If desired, garnish with toasted garlic and chopped spring onion.

Thai Crab Curry Recipe

I love Thai food!

Having lived in Thailand for more than 4 years, I developed my fondness for Thai food. Fortunately, my hubby Boq has a penchant for the same.

Since I have now learned my way into the kitchen, I would like to experiment on Thai cooking especially on some of our favorites. For a start, I prepared Thai Crab Curry. In the days to come, I will be posting more Thai recipes.

Thai crab curry is one of our favorite Thai food. I checked a couple of Thai cooking tutorials and found out that it is not that hard to prepare it.

Thai Crab Curry
One setback in Thai cooking is that it involves a lot of ingredients and some are usually unique to Thai cuisine. Some of the original ingredients for the crab curry were not easy to find in the market here so I made do with whatever was available. The result was good especially for a first-timer but I know that I can still make it better next time.

Frying Crab Pieces
Here is the recipe for the Thai Crab Curry.

Ingredients:
½ kilo fresh crabs, wash clean
1 tbsp. Thai curry powder
1 stalk celery
2-3 stalks spring onion (scallions)
1 large onion (preferably white onion)
2-3 pieces red chili, sliced
2-3 tbsp. oyster sauce
½ tsp. ground pepper (preferably white ground pepper)
2 pieces egg
1 to 2 tbsp. Thai chili paste (preferably roasted Thai chili paste)
1 cup evaporated milk
Cooking oil

Chili Paste, Milk ang Egg Mixture
Cooking Instructions:
1) Combine the chili paste and the milk then beat in the egg. Mix thoroughly then set aside.
2) Remove crab shell then cut the crabs into pieces. Separate large claws and crack them including legs.
3) Heat oil in a large wok or deep pan then fry crabs pieces until done.
4) Add Thai curry into the wok.
5) Pour in the mixture of chili paste, milk and eggs.
6) Then add oyster sauce, celery and spring onions. Sprinkle with pepper. Mix well and continue cooking until done.

Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes
Serving size: 2-4 persons

Guinisang Ampalaya with Shrimps Recipe

Guinisang ampalaya is one of my favorite vegetable dishes. As I previously mentioned, Boq and I love ampalaya, one reason is because of its health benefits.


Some people especially the kids do not like to eat ampalaya because of its strong bitter taste. There are actually a couple of ways to reduce the bitterness of ampalaya. One is to soak it (already sliced) with water and squeeze, and the other is to rub it with lots of salt and wash thoroughly. I also encountered one particular cook that she was boiling the ampalaya to reduce the bitterness. I do not like soaking or boiling the ampalaya, what I always like to do is the rubbing and rinsing method.

Guinisang ampalaya can be cooked with strips of pork or shrimps. For this recipe, being another favorite, I used shelled shrimps.


Ingredients:
4 medium size ampalaya or bitter gourd or bitter melon by others, cut in half lengthwise, cored and sliced diagonally
3 medium size tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
3 pieces egg, beaten and slightly salted
300 grams shrimp, shelled
Vegetable oil
Shrimp cubes (optional)
3-5 tbsp. fish sauce

Cooking Instructions:
1. Sauté garlic until slightly brown. Add onion and cook until translucent.
2. Add tomatoes and shrimp cubes. Cook until tomatoes are soft. Then add shrimps and cook until half done.
3. Put in sliced ampalaya. Cover and stir occasionally until cooked.
4. Lastly, add beaten eggs. Stir continuously until egg is completely cooked.


Preparation and cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Serving size: 4-5 persons

Bon appétit!

Fish Spring Roll Recipe

Want to try something different for your fish craving? Why not make fish spring roll. It’s healthy and great for light snack or party meal.

This spring roll recipe is quite different than usual. My friend and a former officemate, Gemma, introduced to me this dish, which she fondly calls fish shanghai. Shanghai spring roll is widely known in the Philippines as lumpiang shanghai, which is usually prepared with pork or beef. I first tasted fish shanghai during her birthday celebration in 2008, and I got hooked to it since. Fish spring roll is simply delicious and far healthier than its beef or pork counterpart.

Here’s the recipe for fish spring roll.

Ingredients:
1 kilogram fresh mackerel fish, thoroughly cleaned (or any fresh fish of your choice)
2 pieces medium size carrot, grated or finely chopped
2 pieces medium size onion, (one is grated or finely chopped, the other piece is simply sliced)
1 large stalk celery, grated or finely chopped
1 large egg
Ginger
Vinegar
Water
Salt
Ground black pepper
Pastry wrapper (about 60 pcs)

Instructions:
Boil the mackerel fish in a deep skillet together with ginger, sliced onion, vinegar, salt, ground pepper and water. While cooking the fish, start grating carrots, onion and celery for the spring roll mixture. When the fish is done, separate its meat from its bones, shred and mix with the grated ingredients. Add egg, and then season with salt and black pepper. Wrap a teaspoon size of the mixture using the pastry wrapper. Fry in a low fire until golden brown.


Dip fish spring roll with your favorite sauce (ketchup, sweet chili sauce or vinegar).

Preparation and cooking time: 60 minutes
Serving size: 6-8

Bon appétit!

Garlic Shrimps Recipe

This dish was prepared by Boq two weekends ago. It’s a rather late post but it’s worth the wait. He knows I love seafood especially shrimps. Seafood, in general, are easy to cook and delectable.

Below are separate ingredients for garlic shrimps and lemon butter sauce:

Ingredients for Garlic Shrimps:

500g Shrimps, cleaned

50g butter

5 cloves minced garlic

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Chili flakes (optional)

Ingredients for Lemon butter sauce:

50g butter

¼ cup lemon juice

3 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

Cooking procedure:
Mix all the ingredients for the lemon butter sauce in a clean container. Microwave or steam the mixture to soften the butter. In a separate pan, sauté the garlic in hot oil until golden brown. Add the butter, followed by chili flakes (optional). Stir for a minute, and then add the shrimps. Cook the shrimps for 5 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

This dish is appetizing. Try it.

Did you know? Shrimps are related to lobsters, crabs and crayfish. Unlike its relatives, shrimps are swimmers than crawlers. They swim backwards using their fanlike tails to escape from danger and they use the swimmerets on their abdomens to swim forward. Swimmerets are the abdominal limbs of shrimps that carry the eggs in females.