Tinolang tahong na may malunggay, Filipino mussel soup with moringa

Mmmm, my mouth is watering from just smelling this dish may friend said after taking a big whiff of her bowl with Tinolang tahong, I haven’t eaten mussels or moringa for ages.  OMG and a big sigh followed after her first spoonful.

This ginger broth dish  is a simple Filipino dish traditionally made with chicken, wedges of green papaya, and leaves of the siling labuyo(local chili), chili pepper in a broth flavored with ginger, onions and fish sauce, but this shell fish dish is becoming just as popular.

Pasta with ramson pesto, scallops and almonds

Foraging for some or even just one of the ingredients for my dishes gives me a lot of satisfaction. A couple of weeks ago I picked a basket full of ramson leaves and made a few condiments. Last time I posted ramson butter, this time I made ramson pesto and made a simple pasta dish.

This dish has few ingredients but it is really tasty.

500 g pasta
4-5 tbsp ramson pesto, see recipe below
20 scallops
100 g almonds
2-3 tbsp butter
1 lemon, the juice and a few wedges for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Start by cooking lightly salted water for your pasta. Roughly chop the almonds and cut the scallops in two

When the water is boiling add your pasta.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and start by browning the chopped almonds, when nice and toasty remove the almonds and set the nuts aside.

Fry the scallops in the butter on both sides, add the juice of half a lemon or more. Salt and pepper to taste.

Drain your finished pasta and add desired amount of ramson pasta, stir untill nicely blended. Plate your pasta and top with the scallops and nuts.

Garnish with lemon and some fresh ramson.

 

Picture from when I made ramson butter

Ramson pesto

200 g Ramson
75 g white hard cheese(I used a cheese called Balsfjord, a white norwegian goats cheese)
150 ml rapeseed oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by placing almonds and cheese into a food processor and blitz into crumbs. Add wild garlic, process again until you’ve got a coarse pesto. Then add the oil little by little, with the machine still running.
Season with salt and pepper.

Put the pesto in cooled sterilized jars and pour a little oil on top and keep them in the fridge. The pesto will keep for a few weeks.

 

Shrimp Po’boy with kimchi kraut

I got hold of some fresh raw shrimps from the fjord not far from my livingroom window and felt like some type of Po’ boy sandwiches

You need for 4 people:
4 sandwich bread500 g cleaned raw shrimp, but you can certainly use regular fresh shrimp or small prawns.
1 dl corn starch
salt and pepper as desired
2 eggs
2 dl panko crumbs or bread crumbs
Oil for fryingKimchikraut salad see recipe HERE
1-2 thinly sliced heads of small romaine lettuceDressing
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons creme fraishe
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
about. 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt and pepper to tasteMix all dressing ingredients in a bowl.

Toss the peeled shrimps in the corn starch before you dip them in the beaten egg mixture and then crumb them.

Fry on medium to high heat until the shrimp are nicely golden.
Slice your bread spred som dressing on, fill them with lettuce and shrimps top with the kimchi kraut and some more dressing.

Enjoy your sandwich, we did:D

Okonomiyaki, Japanese pancakes

Savory delicious Japanese pancakes, these pancakes can be made with anything your hearts desires.

The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki meaning “cooked”or “grilled”. So basically cook what you want. Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with the areas of Kansai or Hiroshima in Japan, but is widely available throughout the country.

Make individual Okonomiyaki or a big one for sharing.

 

Ingredients

3 eggs
3,75  dl vegetable broth or dashi
5 dl all-purpose flour or whole-wheat pastry flour
5 dl finly chopped/thinly sliced cabbage
1 onion finely sliced
4 dl prawns, sliced in two
Chopped nori
Chuno Sauce
Mayonese

Quick Chuno sauce
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup Worchestershire Sauce

In a large bowl whisk together flour, stock and eggs. Add chopped cabbage and mix so that the cabbage is gently crushed into the batter, fold in prawns and season with salt.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Add 1/4 of the batter, gently pushing the batter down with a spatula until flattened. Cook for about 4 minutes on both sides. Serve immediately with mayonnaise, Chuno sauce and a sprinkle of finely shopped nori on top.

Or pour all the batter in the pan and make a big one.

Share and enjoy with others.

 

Milkfish paksiw

This paksiw is not the one I grew up with, first of all you could not get Bangus/milk fish her in the 70’s, I do not know about the 80’s because by then we were used to using other types of fish, specially mackerel. My moms take on paksiw is with rhubarb and mackerel, I will make that later, but I have to wait for the rhubarb to get in season and the mackerel.

Paksiw is a Filipino style of cooking, and means”to cook and simmer in vinegar”.

600-800 g fish, cleaned and scales removed
1 knob ginger, sliced and pounded
6 cloves garlic, skin removed
½ cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 medium onion, sliced
birds eye chili
3-4 small eggplants
2-3 orange peppers
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon whole peppercorn

Arrange the fish in the pan along with the ginger, garlic, onion, eggplants, pepper, and birds eye chili.

Add vinegar, water, salt and whole peppercorn then bring to a boil.

Cover and simmer in low to medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving plate.
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Shrimp cakes

Fresh raw shrimp from the fjord not far from where I live is a not in abundance, you have to special order them from the fisherman. Here in Norway these shrimp are cooked right away and sold cooked. I ordered some fresh raw shrimps because I wanted to try to make other dishes than just eating the cooked shrimps au naturel with mayones, dill and lemon on baguette or some other nice rolls. Don’t get me wrong I love the Norwegian way of eating these nordic shrimps

Being asian I wanted to make shrimp cakes,  in this country where I grew up it more common with fish cakes, so if you want other kind of seafood cakes you have to make them yourself.

Snack or appetizers for 4

500 g shrimps
4 cloves minced / crushed garlic
A handful chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp salt
desired amount of finely chopped chili pepper

For breading
1 slightly beaten egg
1-2 dl panko crumbs or other breadcrumbs

Oil for frying
I used coconut oil, which gave them a light coconut flavor.
if you do not have coconut oil as you can add desiccated coconut with the bread crumbs

Sweet chili saus recipe HERE, but you can use store bought.

Salad

3 grated carrots
equivalent amount of grated daikon.
You can also use green papaya or finely grated cabbage.1 clove crushed garlic
5 tablespoons fish sauce
1-2 tablespoons sugar
juice of 2/3 lime.

Mix garlic, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice in a bowl.
Grate the vegetables and add the sauce with the vegetables.

Chop all the ingredients for the shrimp cakes together to make the shrimp cake mince.

Make shrimp patties, dip it in beaten eggs and bread them in panko crumbs.
Fry the cakes in a little oil on medium heat on both sides until they are golden.
Serve with sweet chilli sauce and salad.

Pumpkin and shrimps in Coconut milk, ginataang kalabasa na may sugpo

Ginataan

My mum has been visiting and she came with me shopping and saw the pumpkin and the shrimps in the store and wanted to make one of her favorite dishes. Pumpkin and shrimps coconut stew or as it is called in the Philippines, Ginataang kalabasa na may sugpo.

1 chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
3 chilis or more or less depending on how hot you want it.
1 can coconut milk
1 box coconut cream
1 small pumpkin remove seeds, peel and cube
1 kilo large shrimps
3-4 Bok choy bouquets
1-2 tbsp fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, garlic, ginger and chili in a pot until soft and fragrant.

Add coconut milk, coconut cream and pumpkin cubes and bring to a boil.

Turn down the heat and let it simmer until the pumpkin is getting soft, then add the shrimps and let it simmer about 5 minutes before you add the bok choy.

Add fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

When the bok choy is starting to wilt the stew is ready.

Serve with rice.

Sour tamarind soup with seafood made from scratch, Sinigang

Sinigang my all time favorite when it comes to Filipino food, I have always loved this dish a little salty and deliciously sour. You can make this dish with pork, beef, chicken, fish and shrimps. My favorite is with salmon and shrimps, and I never make it with any of the other meats, it has to be salmon and shrimps.

Many people use ready made Sinigang mix, but it is so easy to make this from scratch.

Since I have always known sinigang I have no other name for it, I tried to ask someone if she knew if Sinigang had an english translation, but no she did not either. Then there was only one thing to do, I googled. I found out that there is a Malay recipe that is similar and it is called Singgang a sweet and sour soup with tamarind also, but with few other different spices.

500 g large shrimps

500 g salmon filets

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 liter water

100 g Tamarind paste

1-2 lemon, juice, I used two

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tomatoes, diced

10 red radishes, halved

250 g Green beans, cut

1 bunch water spinach/morning-glory

Chilis if you want heat in this soup.

I made with out because this is what I am used to, hot sinigang is a bit strange I think.

In a pot sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger with 1 tbsp cooking oil until onions are translucent.

Add water, tomatoes, radish, tamarind, lemon juice of one lemon, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, add the green beans and then turn down the heat to medium low.

Add salmon, shrimps and let them simmer in the pot for about 5 minutes before you add the morning glory. Cover the pot and turn the pot don to low. simmer for a few more minutes.

Adjust seasoning to taste, my sinigang turned out a little sweet because of the shrimps so I added juice of one more lemon.

Serve the dish with rice.

 

 

Seafood burger with wakame.

Seafood burgers with a taste of the East, a little salt, a little hot, slightly sweet and slightly tart.

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I got hold of fresh uncooked shrimps that was caught just hours before I purchased them.

I wanted to make something with them othar than cook them whole in a dish. With teens in the house burgers are always a hit, I think.

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First I made a traditional fish cake mix and added shrimps and and more fish.

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For 8  burgers you need

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8 Burger Buns

Shredded lettuce

Wakame salad
Nori flakes

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Dressing
Mayonnaise
Shiraca sauce or some other chili sauce

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Mix the desired amount of mayonnaise with the desired amount of sauce

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300 g coarsely chopped salmon fillet
300 g coarsely chopped cod fillets
300 g peeled raw shrimp
1 teaspoon salt

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Fish cake mix
300 g pollock fillet
1 teaspoon salt
0.5 dl cream
1 egg
2 tsp cornflour
2 cloves crushed garlic
3 tablespoons chives
Pepper
Oil for frying

Put the pollock pieces and salt in a food processor, blend the fish and
dilute with cream until a smooth mince.
Add the cornflour, crushed garlic and hopped chives, and continiue blending.
Season with freshly ground black pepper.

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In a bowl combine the fish cake mince with the coarsly chopped fish and shrimps.

Mix everything together and dvivide this into 8 equal part and make urger pattys.

Fry them in a pan with a little oil on medium heat until they are cooked through.-

Assemble burgers
Spread mayonnaise on the bottom part of the burger bread, add shredded lettuce, burger, nori, wakamesalat and finally the top of the burger bread.

Potato and seafood soup with asparagus and scallops

Luxurious and yet a quick and easy soup to make, made with a ingredients I had in the freezer and fridge.

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Ingredients for 4 appetizers or 2 dinners

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3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced. If you want less starch, you can use Jerusalem artichokes
2 shallots
250 g fresh shrimps
1 liter water
3 dl cream
12 scallops
2 packages asparagus tops about 32 pcs
Butter
Salt and a pepper mix, a mixture of white, black and red
If you want, add a 1-2 dl of white wine, reduce the water if you add wine.

Start by sauteing the chopped shallots in a saucepans with a little butter until it becomes tender, add the shrimp with shells and keep sauteing until the shrimp looks toasted and cooked through.

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Add water, wine and potatoes, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let this simmer until the potatoes are tender.

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Use an immersion blender and blend everything to a smooth mixture.

Strain the soup, set the liquid a side and warm for later use.

Saute the asparagus with butter, salt and pepper. Fry scallops in butter until they have a light golden crust on both sides on medium to high heat.

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Bring the soup to a boil, add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Remove the soup from the heat.

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Plate the asparagus and scallops in a soup bowl and ladle soup in the bowl.

Played around with the camera and tried to take some mood pictures in the dark.