Eggplant Spread (Baklazhannaia Ikra)
Serve this very cold with highly-flavored breads.
1 (1 pound) eggplant
1 medium green bell pepper
1 small onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cocktail pumpernickel rye bread or black bread
Prick eggplant 3 or 4 times with fork. Wrap green pepper in aluminum foil. Place eggplant and green pepper in shallow baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees F until eggplant is very soft, about 35 minutes; cool. Remove skin from eggplant and seeds from green pepper; chop eggplant and green pepper.
Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until onion is tender. Stir in eggplant, green pepper and remaining ingredients except bread. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.
Place mixture in blender container. Cover and blend on high speed, stopping blender occasionally to scrape sides, until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours.
Serve with bread.
Makes about 2 cups.
Chicken and Pork Afritada
1 (2 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
1 pound pork, cut into 1 1/2 inch squares
Salt and pepper to taste
Flour
Cooking oil
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 medium size onion, chopped
1 medium size tomato, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
1 small bay leaf
1 sprig oregano
1 bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
4 medium size potatoes, cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 1/2 ounces pimento, cut into 1-inch squares
Dust chicken and pork pieces in flour, salt and pepper. Brown quickly in hot oil. Saute garlic, onions, tomatoes and tomato sauce in separate pot. Pour 2 cups water and let boil. Add browned chicken, pork, bay leaf, oregano and bell pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes or until tender.
Add potatoes and cook until tender. Add salt and pepper according to taste. You may thicken the sauce by adding flour dissolved in water into the pot. Finally, add peas and pimento and cook for another 3 minutes.
Serve with rice.
Chicken and Pork Adobo
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 pounds boneless chicken, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 pound pork or beef, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 small onion, sliced
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar (optional)
Hot steamed rice
Add oil to saucepan and heat on medium heat. Add chicken, pork, bay leaves and garlic. Saute about 5 minutes or until chicken and pork are light brown.
Drain off excess oil. Add black pepper, onion, vinegar, soy sauce and brown sugar; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
Stir meat to cook evenly in the sauce.
Serve with hot steamed rice.
Bagoong Alamang
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, sliced
1 small tomato, sliced
4 tablespoons alamang
Saute garlic, onions and tomato in a little oil. Add alamang. Saute for another minute.
Pork and Chicken, Filipino Style (Adobo)
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder
1 1/2 pounds chicken legs or thighs
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Hot cooked rice
Trim fat from pork; cut pork into 1-inch cubes. Heat pork, chicken, water, vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, salt and pepper to boiling in Dutch oven; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until pork and chicken are done, 45 to 55 minutes.
Remove pork and chicken from Dutch oven. Skim fat from broth if necessary. Cook broth uncovered until reduced to about 1 cup.
Heat oil in 10-inch skillet until hot. Cook chicken in oil over medium heat until brown on all sides. Add pork; cook and stir until brown.
Serve pork, chicken and broth over rice. Garnish with minced parsley and tomato wedges.
Olongapo (Fried Rice)
2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
Oil for stir fry
1 cup meat, any type cooked or raw
MSG
1 onion, chopped
Soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 to 3 whole green onions, chopped
1 egg, beaten
Add sufficient oil to stir fry in your wok or to cover the bottom of a frying pan. If the meat is raw, add it to hot oil and stir fry until almost done. Add onions and garlic, stir frying until onions are beginning to brown on the edges. Sprinkle a generous portion of MSG across the entire surface of the oil, then add a serving spoon full of soy sauce. Be careful. The soy sauce causes the oil to "pop" a bit. After the oil has calmed, add the celery, cooking just a bit, still keeping it crunchy. Add the rice and stir gently. If you constantly stir the rice, it will become mushy.
When rice is hot throughout, add cilantro, chopped green onion and beaten egg. Stir gently until egg is done. Garnish with a bit more green onion if you like.
Serve with additional soy sauce. When you add the egg, you can also add fresh tomato bits, mushroom slices and French-cut green beans.
Indonesian Pork Skewers
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/4 cup light molasses
2 tablespoons ginger preserves or orange marmalade
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 (1 1/2 pound) lean boneless pork, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 medium pineapple, halved lengthwise,
cored and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 medium red sweet pepper, cut into strips
Combine the vinegar, mustard, molasses, ginger preserves and ginger in a small mixing bowl. Alternately thread the pork cubes, pineapple slices and pepper strips on 12 (6-inch) metal skewers, leaving about 1/4 inch between pieces. Brush with the molasses mixture.
Grill the kabobs on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium-hot coals about 12 minutes or until no pink remains and juices run clear, turning and brushing with molasses mixture after 6 minutes. Heat the remaining molasses mixture and pass with the kabobs.
Makes 6 servings.
Indonesian Chicken Breasts
You can make this with whole chicken breasts or with boneless ones. The advantage of the boneless is that they are lower in fat and easy to slice and work well on a serving platter. The advantage of the whole ones is that they have more flavor.
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons best quality curry powder
1/4 cup shredded coconut
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut in half
Make a marinade out of the first 5 ingredients. Pour it over the chicken and refrigerate for several hours, turning it occasionally to make sure every part of the chicken is coated.
Heat the grill and remove the chicken from the marinade. Grill the chicken and the bell pepper for about 15 minutes, using the leftover marinade as you do so.
To serve, cut chicken and the pepper diagonally into 1-inch slices.