Fried Tofu with Malunggay Leaves

Just last tuesday, I felt like being adventurous and so I tried to experiment a new dish... Tada! "Fried tofu with malunggay leaves"

Ingredients:

1 bundle of malunggay (Moringa oleifera) leaves (~3 cups)

2 small cubes of tofu, cut into fours (tokwa)

a thumb-sized ginger, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Fry the tofu then set aside.
2. Saute the garlic and onion on a saucepan.
3. Add the malunggay, water, ginger and fried tofu.
4. Season to taste then bring to a boil until leaves are cooked.

The verdict:
Haha, well, the dish I made was a bit blunt. But I guess you can add mushrooms to give it more flavor. During this times I missed the flavor meat or meat broth gives, but hey! I already made a commitment to be an ovo-lacto vegetarian and I'll definitely take "blunt meals" as a challenge to improve my cooking skills. lol. xD

Fresh Lumpia

Ingredients:
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp atsuete
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fat
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup camote, diced
1 cup potatoes, strips
3 cup cabbage, shredded
2 cup stringbeans, strips
1 cup garbansos, cooked
1/4 cup kinchay, stripped
12 pieces tokwa (tofu, cubed into small pcs
25 pieces lettuce leaves/ lumpia wrapper

Procedure:
1. Soak atsuete in 3 tbsp. cooking oil. Set aside.
2. Saute garlic in 2 tbsp. fat until light brown. Add onions.
3. Add camote, potatoes, tofu, and water and cook for 5 minutes. Then mix the rest of the vegetables.Strain atsuete into the vegetable mixture.
4. Season with salt. Cook until all vegetables are done.
5. Cool the mixture in colander while the liquid is drained out. When the mixture is cool, wrap in lumpia wrapper with leaf of lettuce showing at one end. Serve with lumpia sauce.

Makes 12 servings.

Type: vegan

Candied Tamarind

Ingredients:
1 kilo tamarind (peeled)
1 kilo brown sugar
2 tbsp salt

Procedure:
1. Mix well and cook over moderate fire. Stir continuously until dry.
2. The candy is ready when the mixture is easily removed from the pan and can already be molded.
3. Mold into balls and dredge with sugar.

Sayote Mixed Pickles

Ingredients:
1 kilo sayote peeled and cut into strips
2 pieces carrots peeled and cut into strips
4 pieces red and green pepper cut into strips
2 pieces ginger (medium size)
1/8 kilo baguio beans cut into three
1/2 cup tagalog onions

Procedure:
1. Prepare all the vegetables.
2. Treat each group of vegetables with salt.
3. Allow the vegetables to wilt then remove water content by squeezing through a cheesecloth.
4. Pack in sterilized jars. Arrange well, showing the colors of all the vegetables.
5. Prepare vinegar syrup.
6. Pour vinegar syrup while hot.

Preparing Vinegar Syrup:
1. SOUR
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar
2. SWEET AND SOUR
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar
3. SWEET
2 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar

Boil with pickling spices wrapped in a small cheesecloth.

Guidelines in canning vegetables:
1. Choose tender, young and unblemished vegetables. Arrange them according to size and ripeness to ensure good product.
2. Prepare the jars and other processing equipment.
3. Work reasonably fast to preserve the freshness of the vegetables.
4. Determine the method of preservation to be used
a. wash the vegetables thoroughly
b. handle them carefully
c. remove soil or any dirt on the vegetables
d. prepare the vegetables, cut in desired uniform size

Type: vegan

Guava Jelly

Ingredients:
1 kilo guava (1 part ripe; 2 parts unripe)
white sugar
citric acid

Procedure:
1. Wash and cut off stems and blossom ends. Boil for 5 minutes in 10 cups of water for every kilo of fruit.
2. Remove water and set aside. Mash the guavas with a wooden spoon. Boil slowly for another 15 minutes in a covered pan.
3. Strain the juice with muslin cloth, using enough preserve to squeeze the juice from the pulp.
4. Test the juice for pectin. Add 1 tbsp. fruit juice to 2 tablespoon of denatured alcohol.
5. Observe: Poor pectin- cloudy and stringy precipitate. Rich pectin- large mass from juice. Test the juice for acidity with standard acid solution (1 tbsp. of calamansi juice and 1/2 cup water). Taste sour. If fruit is poor, add citric acid. Combine fruit juice and sugar or 2/3 cups of sugar per cup of fruit (high pectin higher ratio of sugar.)
6. Boil until the sugar is dissolved completely without stirring.
7. Cook to jellying point.
8. Pour in sterilized jars. If needed, place sinamay on the jar to strain the scum or bubbles.
9. Cover and seal immediately.
10. Cool and label.

Type: vegan

Bulanglang

Ingredients:

1 cup horseradish tree (malunggay)
1 bundle of watercress(kangkong), stems removed
1 cup squash, cubed
1 cup white squash (upo), sliced
1 cup tofu (cubed then fried)
1/2 small onion
1 cup water
2-3 pcs. tomatoes

Steps:

1. Saute onion, tomatoes, and squash in pan
2. add water and boil
3. Add tofu and upo
4. add malunggay
5. add salt and pepper

Type: vegan

Banana Blossom Ginataan

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized puso ng saging (heart of banana)
  
• 2 cups coconut milk
  
• 4 tbsp. vinegar
  
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
  
• 1/2 cup onion,chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2 tbsp. oil
  
• 4 pcs. red chili
  
• salt and pepper
  

Steps:
1. Saute the following on a frying pan in order: chili, garlic, onion, tomatoes, puso ng saging (heart of banana), then vinegar.
2. Boil without stirring.
3. Add salt and pepper.
4. Add coconut milk.

Type: Vegan

Stir-Fried Veggies w/ Mushroom

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch cauliflower, sliced


• 1 bunch or 1/4 kg baguio beans, sliced


• 1 pack (~20 pieces) oyster mushrooms, sliced


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 2 cloves garlic, chopped


• pinch of salt


• pinch of pepper


• oil

Steps:

1. Heat oil in pan, then saute chopped garlic.
2. Add baguio beans and cauliflower. Fry til brown.
3. Add mushroom and onions.
4. Season to taste.
5. Add oil if needed.

Serves 4-6


Type: vegan