Pinakurat and Pinoy Kurat

My family loves fried foods, although we have shifted to the use of olive oil completely when it comes to frying. This was since I found out that my cholesterol level is quite high. Just like other Pinoys, we love to use dipping sauces to make fried foods more exciting.

I am not exactly a ketchup person, but I am definitely a fan of vinegar! When I started managing the household in 2008, we only have the Del Monte Red Cane Vinegar because I can use to it to make Pinoy vinaigrette for my salads (just add patis and sugar). Although lately I also started using Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar for my Honey Cider vinaigrette.

About last year, my neighbor from GenSan introduced Sinamak to me over "pulutan" of chicharon. Sinamak, from what I know, hails from Iloilo/ Bacolod and is made up of different spices. It was also last year that my family started using Pinakurat which we got from Salcedo Market. Definitely, Pinakurat makes fried foods really yummy.

I remember during my corporate days a specific medrep from Iligan who would always give me a bottle of Pinakurat. I think that happened twice but I would always give the Pinakurat to my driver because I thought it was dirty. I was fooled by the packaging which is quite similar to Tanduay and the "pampa-regla" concoctions from Quiapo. Little did I know that it was a legit company.

Pinakurat is made of fermented organic coconut sap plus chilies. I learned during a beach trip that Doritos and Pinakurat can be a good combination.

Anyway, about a month ago, I discovered that SAFI, makers of Datu Puti, just launched Pinoy Kurat. I gave it a try and to be honest it was a good match with the Pinakurat. However, I read somewhere that the company that manufactures Pinakurat and Safi are into a somewhat Intellectual Property battle. But I hope that the Pinakurat business will continue to flourish. SMEs help grow the economy.



Now I'm feeling hungry.

Feeling Like a Top Chef this Noche Buena

When I was still single, I used to cook tomato-based Italian spaghetti for Noche Buena. As far as I can remember, I did that for about 5-8 years before I tied the knot. It's not really that special but I really loved my spaghetti. I barely cook that now because I now prefer oil-based pastas. This tradition stopped when I got married and spent Noche Buena at my in-laws, my mother-in-law being such a great cook. I just appreciated what was served before us.

This year was a different story. Hubby and I decided to have Noche Buena at our home with my parents, and I did the cooking! I felt like a Top Chef because I only had 2 hours to prepare the salad, 2 main courses, and a pasta dish. Our theme was something healthy (our next door neighbor though just kept on sending "sebo" and "ma-cholesterol" foods which spoiled our diet a bit. :D)

I made the oriental salad that I learned from raw food class, which was a hit to my hubby because of the kelp noodles. I was a bit disappointed though when the helpers threw the remaining dressing because the ingredients were quite expensive. Hubby just told me to move on-- it's Christmas!

The other courses were buffalo wings, which is one of my signature dishes. I use Frank's hot sauce and tried using margarine this time instead of butter for the coating. That was suggested by my neighbor Pia who's the master chef in our village. I still preferred the my butter version though, because it tasted closer to that of Friday's. The other course was grilled blue marlin with lemon butter sauce.


Buffalo wings (taken months ago)

Our pasta was simply tuna with olives and capers. That was a choice by my husband who really wanted something light.

I'm very very happy because my parents and hubby appreciated the dishes I made. I could have cooked turkey but hubby said we'll do that next year on thanksgiving. We were also trying to "be healthy" though the sauces that I used are not exactly the healthy kind.

Speaking of Top Chef, I'm so excited to watch Season 8, their All-Stars season. I know it's still on-going in the US, but we are just waiting for it to finish so hubby and I can do the watching marathon.



Merry Christmas everyone! Have a healthy year ahead!

Raw Food Diet, Anyone?

During the weekend, I attended a raw food diet workshop by Dahon Kusina. Mommy Denise Gonzales of Indigo Manila shared this type of diet with me while we were exchanging emails about activities that will nourish the mind and spirit. As followers of My Magic Wand may know, I experienced a series of health-related problems that displaced my usually high self-esteem.

According to Wikipedia, "Raw foodism (or rawism) is a lifestyle promoting the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet." It has a lot of health benefits which I will no longer expound on here because my interest on raw foodism right now is limited to just adding another repertoire in our family weekly menu. By the way, I found out that I had high cholesterol and uric acid in my blood, hence the search for healthier foods.

Asha Peri, the initiator of this workshop is eating 90% raw already. I cannot contest her passion for the diet because of the many benefits that she has experienced since she started. She's been a vegetarian for about 8 years too.

Offhand, my husband and I are committing at least our breakfast to eat raw by starting on the green smoothie. Admittedly, the green smoothie is quite filling. It gets challenging though this season because we have been receiving a lot of yummy breads and cakes from friends. Choosing between green smoothie versus holiday feasts is a daunting task. We are committed as I have said. My hubby calls me a big nerd when I'm into something, so I am not sure how starting on this new food interest will lead me.

For beginners, I stopped drinking sodas for 5 years. I mostly drink just water, though I'm a coffee aficionado. My intake now though is just one cup a day due to my acid reflux. Ordinarily, I consume mostly vegetables, fish and poultry. My bad cholesterol and uric acid only started after I started experimenting on "sebo" foods in the kitchen (with paksiw na pata as my favorite!). During the past 3 weeks, it's mostly veggie, fruits, fish, and poultry for me. My meat "suki" got actually sad when I told her I will stop buying pork and beef from her.

Anyway, here were highlights of the workshop. I have been raving about it to friends. This Noche Buena, I will try the oriental salad, so hubby and I will be off to Healthy Options today to buy some of the ingredients.







Good luck to us and have a merry healthy Christmas to all!

Paksiw na Pata ng Baboy

Me and the 2 helpers are always excited to cook after the kitchen renovation. Yaya would make her signature gata favorites due to her Bicolana roots, while Ate would look forward to chopping sprees with our new cutlery sets.

As for me, the first part of the house that I would go to after I wake up (besides the toilet of course) is the kitchen. Just a mere toast of my bread with margarine felt like bliss.

Last Saturday, I decided to make Paksiw na Pata ng Baboy for lunch. Hubby, who does not like pork at all, was in a book signing event and was not around to partake my sinful dish.

I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs. I simply followed the recipe from Home Cooking Rocks/ Pinoy Cook. Since I am still recovering from my operation, I had to compensate my guilt by eating a slice of cucumber after each spoonful of pata with hot steaming rice. It was truly a yummy dish.

Menu Planning and Cooking

When my husband and I were living in the condo during our first year as a married couple, we ate take-out food everyday. We were staying at a strategic location in Salcedo Village, hence we were in near proximity to a lot of restaurants and fast food chains. I was pregnant with my daughter then, so this explained why I gained 60 lbs given my petite frame of 5'1".

After we transferred to our own home in Taguig, I was at a loss on how to plan the family menu. With 2 helpers in the house, we cannot survive on take out everyday.

Admittedly, I was not a learned kitchen diva 3 years ago. I knew how to cook spaghetti and adobo, but I can never claim any title in the realm of food. As a beginner, I simply read cookbooks and food magazines and asked more experienced cooks about meal planning. I wrote simple recipes (i.e., adobong kangkong, chop suey, pakbet, tapa) in index cards. Our helper did mostly the cooking (because hubby rarely eats at home) but I'm quite hands on in the whole cooking process. Later on, we graduated to more complicated recipes.

Every Sunday prior to market day, I already plan the menu for the week. Since we are only 3 in the house (me and the 2 maids) who really eat (my daughter consumes too little food to be counted), we only cook once a day. I'm very particular with the combination of food that is served. I make sure that there's always vegetables in the menu. Weekends are usually special days wherein we either eat out or prepare something really yummy because my hubby eats with us.

Upon completion of the new kitchen, I got a little more hands on in cooking. There were a lot of new additions in my recipe collection. I promised myself to study cooking and baking next year.


My recipe collection. We had to dry them out because the accordion folder that secures the cards got wet when we stored it under the sink.