albondigas – that’s a fun word to say out loud

Posted on September 24, 2009 by kat

What IS an albondigas anyway? In a nutshell, it’s the Spanish word for meatballs.

The first time I ever heard that word was when I was in my International Cuisine class.  We were exploring the South American dishes of the world, and we happened to have a recipe for Albondigas.  Living in California, there are plenty of people with Central and South American origins – and my class, was no exception.  Being the little island girl that I was, I had no idea what this dish was. I read the recipe, and looked at it in confusion… I thought, “Hey, this recipe looked like a meatball recipe. What gives?” I turned to one of my classmates in askance… he simply chuckled at me and told me I was right.

I’ll never forget that day, because I realized, that every culture has its own version of the meatball. It comes on sticks, in sandwiches, in soups, on pasta, with rice… all sorts of shapes and sizes! And what about the American hamburger? That’s just a flattened meatball, right? It can be grilled, barbequed, boiled, broiled, baked, fried… so many endless possibilities!

Here’s a really easy recipe for albondigas soup in homemade vegetable broth. This is something that I’ve simple thrown together with ingredients from my garden, and an overabundance of ground beef.:

Broth:

¼             brown onion – chopped

2              medium tomatoes – chopped

4              tbsp of fresh ginger – minced

4              garlic cloves – minced

1              sprig of thyme – chopped

5              fresh basil leaves – chopped

1              sprig of lemon verbena – chopped

1              sprig of cilantro – chopped

1              juice of lemon

2              zucchini or yellow squash – chopped into half moons

½             medium daikon – chopped into half moons

3-4          red potatoes – cleaned and quartered

3-4          bok choy, bunches – cleaned and separated

3-4          tbsp olive or canola oil

1/2         cup unsalted butter

water

2tsp       cumin powder

2tsp       paprika

Cayenne pepper to taste

Salt and black pepper to taste

Albondigas (meatballs)

3lbs        ground beef (you can mix/substitute with pork or chicken)

1              cup of cooked rice, Calrose preferred

3              tbsp powdered garlic

2              tbsp salt

2              tbsp black pepper

½             tbsp seasoned salt

Cooking:

  1. Heat a large pot on medium heat. Add olive oil and half the butter. Add onions, garlic, and ginger.  Let cook until onions are translucent and soft.
  2. Add the tomatoes. When these start to look soft, add the lemon juice.
  3. Add the zucchini and daikon. Add the rest of the butter. Sprinkle with a little salt and cover. (This will help release some of the water content in the vegetables to help soften them faster). Let this sit for about 6-8 minutes. Add the cumin, paprika, a little bit of fresh ground black pepper, and salt.
  4. Add the potatoes, and then add enough water to cover all the ingredients. Let this come to a boil.
  5. While your broth is boiling, you can start making the meatballs.
  6. Mix all your ingredients in a large bowl. Use your hands! You’ll get better coverage this way. To roll the meatballs, take the desired amount in your hands (you can make these any size you want! I recommend meatballs that are about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter) and roll.
  7. Now that your water is boiling, check on your potatoes. These should be fork tender.
  8. Taste your broth – if it needs salt, add more! For more spice, add black pepper and cayenne. Once you have your flavor adjusted, it’s time to drop the meatballs.
  9. Carefully drop the meatballs into the boiling water one at a time. Be careful! You don’t want to splash this on yourself.
  10. Once all the meatballs are in, check your water level – is there enough liquid in there to cover all the ingredients? If not, just add as much water as you want (and be sure to adjust the salt).
  11. Let the meatballs cook for about 2 minutes.
  12. Turn the heat off, and add the bok choy on top. Cover. The residual heat from the soup will cook the bok choy – so don’t panic.

Enjoy with some rice, crackers, or by itself!

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morning rumbles and more memories of breakfast

Posted on September 10, 2009 by kat

Breakfast someone once said that this was the most important meal of the day… and they are absolutely correct! The word all by itself can be broken down to say, “breaking one’s fast”. The fast, being the time that the human body goes into its beauty coma; the break, being the time we awaken from this state of unconscious bliss. Like many people, sometimes life just gets too busy to grab a quick bite before taking off to meet the challenges of the day. What usually happens? Crankiness usually sets in, followed by headache, stomach grumbling, and finally, crash (well… that’s what happens to me anyway 🙂 ). The lesson here is: never skip breakfast. It’s a bad idea, not just for myself, but for the poor people who have to put up with my crabiness when I’m hungry.

Enough about the lack of – let’s talk about what to eat! I woke up this morning with the usual rumble in my tummy. My stomach was gnashing about, and my mouth began to salivate with thoughts of something hot, salty, pungent, sour and most importantly, something filling. I go on a mission, and dive into the fridge in search of something to tantalize my taste buds. After a few minutes, I found what I wanted. Voila!

A cup of old rice, a clove of garlic, half a chicken and apple sausage, two eggs, and a tomato. Filipino breakfast, here I come! What do I do with these ingredients? Slice up that sausage into thin rounds, and fried them up until they were nice and crispy. Unlike pork sausages, these were a little less greasy, but still packed with flavor (not my usual type of sausage to eat, but it was delicious!). While the pan was still hot, a little olive oil, and in went some minced garlic. Before that garlic gets toasty, in goes the rice and a pinch of salt.

Fry fry fry… mmm… the house is beginning to smell like toasted garlic, and my mouth is already watering. Out goes the rice, and in goes a little more olive oil. Two eggs go in – simply fried, sunny side up. Slice up the tomatoes, and here I go with a plate of good eats that took less than 10 minutes to make. To accompany this fabulously Filipino meal, a side of sukang maanghang (distilled vinegar with thai chilis).

The garlic fried rice reminds me again of my childhood. Ester, my grandmother’s cook who has been with the family for 60 years, would cook everything in this old, blackened wok… I don’t remember that wok EVER being changed. (ever). The rice always came out perfect – the grains were fluffy, not mushy or oily, and the perfect amount of salt paired with delicious not-quite-toasted garlic. The eggs were always the way I liked them, sunny side up with the yolk extra runny and cooked so that the sides were crispy and brown. She would usually pair this with some type of meat – sausage, bacon, or even daing (dried salted fish that is usually fried before serving. This can come in a boneless dangit, my fave, or tuyo, which is a little harder to eat because of the bones, but still delicious). Tomatoes or some kind of fruit (mangoes, guavas, bananas… whatever’s in the fruit bowl) usually accompanies the meal, this is mostly to break up the salt. Personally, I like having some kind of fruit because I don’t feel so guilty eating all that fried food!  To top it all of… condiments in the form of patis, vinegar, maggi or toyo (what’s a Filipino meal without these delicious bottles of flavor!).

Whenever I reminisce about life when I was younger, I’m always grateful that I have family who can teach me how to prepare these dishes so that enjoy them today.

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sinigang

Posted on September 8, 2009 by kat

A few weeks ago, my sister let me in on a little secret…  her and her fiancee were expecting a little one! (okay, maybe it’s not such a little secret)

Apparently, it’s pretty common for most expecting mothers to keep things on the dl when a pregnancy has been discovered before the baby reaches the third month. Of course – something like this could never have been kept secret from me! I would have known something was up the minute my sister (who happens to have a rather large appetite), has stopped eating because of extreme nausea.

Excited much? Absolutely. First things first… tame the nausea. Saltines, buttered toast, butter noodles… anything salty to appease that “gotta hack it all up” feeling. She didn’t know about this very basic rule of handling not so pleasant nausea (not enough experience with hangovers in her lifetime, imo 🙂 ).

Secondly – the food craving. The only thing Michelle was able to consume without gagging was anything that had these three flavors: salty, sour, and slightly spicy. We went out for some tum yum gai and rice the same day she made her announcement to me, and this delicious Thai dish seemed to greatly help her poor stomach. (she usually dresses this with chilies, vinegar, and fish sauce… mmm mmm good!).

Third… what a dilemna! What do we feed an a nauseated person who, on a normal basis, has a voracious appetite – plus, of course, the little raisin growing inside her? The solution: Sinigang.

A brief history: My sister and I grew up and spent plenty of meals eating this traditional Philippine soup when we were kids. The aroma has a tendency to leave us glassy eyed and drooling when we imagine the heat of the soup combined with a plethora of gently bobbing meats and vegetables. It also reminds us of the simple pleasures of childhood, and just how different our idea of comfort food can be compared with some of our friends today.

But what is it and what is it made of? Sinigang is usually made with a combination of tamarind, fish sauce, vegetables and meat (usually pork or beef). Some regions actually use guava instead of tamarind (it tends to be a little less sour, and sweeter), or replace their meat with fresh seafood (fish and shrimp). The biggest thing to remember about this soup, is that it’s salty, sour, and sometimes spicy… and serve it with a bowl of hot rice… DELISH!

(my mouth is starting to water just thinking about this.)

Like most people, we all have our own way of making our favorite foods. My own recipe is derived from my aunties and my grandmother’s cook, Ester. My sister tells me I’ve completely captured the flavor of this soup, and asks me to make it for her on occasion. Of course, that “on occasion” usually ends up with about two very large pots full of soup… thank god for the invention of vacuum bags and freezers! On a side note, I’ve managed to lose the recipe that my family members have given me, so I have a tendency to cook this straight from my head.

I’ve attempted to make this soup from scratch before, using tamarind paste and a lot of hot water. It actually came out pretty well, but to be honest, it’s extremely time consuming and I’m not sure everybody would be willing to try it out. For a quick fix, I usually pick up 3-4 Knorr Tamarind Soup Base (Pangsinigang sa Sampalok) packets… and I also tend to ignore whatever the instructions are on the back :). Most of the vegetables that I buy are obtained from either my garden, or the farmer’s market. For out of season items? I pick them up from my favorite green grocer… Produce World.

One other note to remember about this dish, it is definitely, and distinctively Filipino… so don’t be intimidated by the smell of the patis (aka fish sauce) – this is where a lot of flavor comes from, and most of the salt found in this soup. Both mine and my sister’s guys usually put on the “I am so horrified by this smell, that I’m going to find an excuse to leave the house while you cook that” face. That doesn’t ever deter me from cooking what I consider the ultimate comfort food.

Sinigang

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp                Canola/olive oil

2 lbs                     beef chuck – cut into cubes

1 large                  brown onion – quartered

2 large                  tomatoes  – quartered

1.5 cups                fish sauce – choose your favorite brand!

1 bunch                 radishes – stems removed

1-2 cups                daikon  – sliced into ¼” thick half moons

1 small                  butternut squash – large dice

1 lbs                     okra – cleaned

1.5 lbs                  long beans * – trimmed and halved

½ head                 romaine lettuce – washed, chopped into large pieces

6-8                       jalapenos** – washed, kept whole (the dark green and yellow kind)

3-4 packets           Tamarind Soup Base

To taste                salt and black pepper

*may be substituted with green beans

**this is optional … but I recommend keeping them in!

  1. Heat up a large stock pot. Add your oil (be sure it’s nice and sizzling). Brown the meat on all sides. Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. In the same pot, sauté the onions and tomatoes until the onions start to become translucent and soft. About 4 minutes. Add the meat back into the pot.
  3. Cover the mixture with fish sauce. Let it reduce until the amount of liquid goes down to about half. About 6-10 minutes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and black pepper over the mixture.
  4. Fill the pot about half way up with hot water. Let it come to a boil, and let it boil for about 10-15 minutes. Add 2 packets of sinigang mix. Stir well.
  5. Add the butternut squash. Cook it until it becomes partially soft (the center should still be firm, but the outer area should be easily pierced with a fork)
  6. Add the daikon. Cook until it becomes partially soft.
  7. Add the radishes and jalapenos. Cook until the radishes becomes partially soft. (we’re noticing a pattern here, right?)
  8. At this point, the butternut squash should be getting soft, and so should the meat. If the meat is not fork tender… keep boiling away until it is. (the meat should be so tender that it takes a spoon to tear it apart!)
  9. Add the okra and the long beans. Cook for another 6-8 minutes.
  10. Taste your soup. If it needs salt, add as much salt as you’d like. I usually sprinkle a little bit more to suit my taste. If it’s not sour enough, add some more sinigang mix in. The best way to not overdo it is to sprinkle about half a packet into the mixture at a time. Stir it in and sit for about 2 minutes, and taste again. I usually end up using 3-4 packets, but I also cook this soup in a very large pot. J
  11. Once you’ve got your taste perfected, turn your stove off, add the romaine lettuce and cover. The residual steam from the soup will cook the lettuce. Mix it in when you’re ready to serve. Enjoy with hot rice!

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