Doenjang Jjigae (된장찌개)

Made this dish for my Dear a few weeks ago to help cure her colds.  Basically a spicy vegetable stew (jjigae) made with fermented bean paste, or doenjang.  Like most stews, proportions depend mostly on taste, so I'm not bothering with measurements.  Just throw everything into a pot, boil, taste, and adjust as you go along.

Ingredients:

doenjang*

kimchi**

firm tofu, cubed

cauliflower, chopped

water

1.  Put everything into a pot and bring to a boil; cook until cauliflow achieves desired texture.  Taste from time to time and adjust flavours.  

2.  That's it.

Serve piping hot, ideally in a heated ceramic bowl like here.  Cook with some pork belly chunks or bone for a richer soup. 

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* I got 1/2 kilo of good doenjang from Gourdo's for P80.

** Although kimchi jjigae also exists, my Korean colleague tells me they don't make a jjigae with both doenjang and kimchi as flavour bases.  To be more authentic, replace the kimchi with chilli flakes.

Jamaican Jerk Porkchops

"Jerk" does not refer to the one cooking but to the jerk spice mix from Jamaica.  "Jerk" in this case comes from the Quechua charqui, which means dried meat and is the origin of the word "jerky", that staple of, er, people who can probably relate to Larry the Cable Guy.  Jerk spices, whose main ingredients are ground allspice and chilli powder, are used to cure dried meat and as a dry rub for barbecues.

Ingredients:

pork chops, butterfly cut

Jamaican jerk spice mix*

red bell peppers

soy sauce (optional)

Worcestershire sauce (optional)

vegetable oil (optional)

1.  Rub the spice mix on both sides of the pork chops.  For more flavour, marinate the meat in some soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce before rubbing in the spice mix.

2.  Slice the bell peppers and lay them on the pork chop so they cover half of the area; fold over the pork chop (hence, the use of the butterfly cut).  You will have some pork chop "sandwiches" with bell pepper and spices in the middle.

3.  Grill until well done; better to use a contact grill so that you will blacken the pork chop.  For more flavour and added moisture, drizzle some oil on the pork prior to grilling.  Take care not to overcook them, lest they dry out.

Serve with steamed rice and a side of salad.

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* Most important elements are equal parts allspice and chilli powder (e.g., cayenne pepper).  You may also add other dried herbs and spices such as black pepper, paprika, thyme, garlic, onion, ginger, or cinnamon.

Estofado de San Miguel

Spanish-style pork stew with chorizos, potatoes, and three kinds of chiles (bell peppers, dried arbol chiles, and paprika), cooked in San Miguel beer.  I just made this up, but I'm sure there's a traditional recipe just like this somewhere in Spain.  Gave me a chance to use one of the Tefal stew pots we got for our wedding (thanks, Law friends).

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo pork, cubed (adobo cut)

2 long links Spanish chorizos (raw, not dried), sliced into chunks

1/3 kilo potatoes, cubed

3-5 bell peppers (depending on size), chopped

1 bottle San Miguel beer

1 garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3-5 dried chile pods (dried chile flakes could also be used)

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup canola or olive oil

coarsely ground black peppercorns

paprika

fennel seeds

laurel leaves

1.  Heat up the cooking oil in a stew pot and fry the dried chiles, ground peppercorns, laurel leaves, and fennel seeds until you start to smell them.  Add garlic and onion until they start to brown.

2.  Add chorizos; this will cool down the pot so wait for the temperature to go back up.  Fry chorizos until lightly cooked and oil turns red; add bell peppers.  If you have time, it would be good to roast then peel the bell peppers prior to cooking.

3.  Add pork and cook until lightly brown or at least until the pork loses its raw colour.

4.  Add potatoes and paprika.  Bring the pot temperature back up and make sure potatoes are well coated with oil.

5.  Pour in vinegar and beer, making sure there is enough liquid to cover the pork, etc.  Quickly bring pot to a boil then bring it down to a simmer.  Cover pot.

6.  Let the stew simmer for about an hour or until most of the liquid has reduced and you are left with a reddish sauce.

Serve with steamed rice and some greens.

This dish is very amenable to reheating as the flavours become stronger after time in the ref; best to reheat in a broiler so you get some crusty bits. I learned to make these kinds of dishes during my severely budget-constrained MA days, but back then I'd put a lot more potatoes than pork to extend the number of servings.  After the pork has gone the tasty potatoes and sauce can be turned into an instant Spanish omelette.

Sunday Lunch

Sundays are a great day to stay in and cook, free from the busy hours of weekdays and the errands of Saturdays.  I usually set aside Sundays to make slow-cooking stews that we'll eat the rest of the week, sometimes in different reincarnations.  This Sunday, however, my Dear prepared for us a Filipino-Korean lunch, which, unholy as it sounds, actually worked.  I helped, of course, though it felt new to me to be relegated to prepping in what used to be my own kitchen.

For the Korean part, we had a side dish of sukjunamul (숙주나물), which is basically blanched mung bean sprouts seasoned with minced garlic, sesame oil, ground black pepper, vinegar, and soy sauce.  We put in a tad too much garlic on this one, resulting in a pretty pungent sukjunamul which I liked but my Dear found quite overpowering.

The main course was boiled-then-fried Tuguegarao longganisa, named after the capital city of Cagayan Province.  Compared to the more famous Vigan longganisa, the Tuguegarao longganisa has bigger links, a more yellow colour (thanks to atsuete), and a milder garlic taste.  To serve, they are first boiled in water to fully cook the sausage and render the fat; the links are pricked so they won't burst.  After the water has evaporated you are left with sausage links frying in their own fat, which then browns the longganisas.  

After cooking, we ate the sukjunamul and longganisa with steamed brown rice.  Although both dishes were strongly garlicky, they presented the ingredient differently-- raw and pungent on the sukjunamul while sweet and mild in the longganisa.  The fresh taste of the bean sprouts also complemented the fatty richness of the pork sausage.  For dessert we had some fresh lakatan bananas, all washed down with senna leaf tea.

E&M: Our Reception

So the big day was yesterday.  We had dinner with around 40 guests at Alba Restaurante Español on Tomas Morato in Quezon City.  Here's our buffet spread (photos to follow, courtesy of my friend johnnydu):

Tapas (Appetisers):

Tabla de Embutidos-- various Spanish cold cuts

Pescado Vinaigretta-- raw fish marinated in a vinaigrette (basically a kinilaw)

Coca Mallorca-- Mallorcan pie, quite similar to a pizza

Champignon al Ajillo-- mushrooms in garlic sauce

Croquetas de Pollo-- fried chicken croquettes

Calamares y Rabas Fritas-- battered and deep-fried squid (with tentacles)

Albondigas-- Spanish-style meatballs

Sopa: Caldo de Mallorca-- soup of chorizos, morcillas, beans, and cabbage

Ensalada: Ensalada Catalunia--salad of lettuce, carrots, jamon serrano, and parmesan cheese

Pasta: Espaguetis dela Casa-- Alba's house spaguetti; sauce of tomatoes and fried chorizos, topped with parmesan cheese

Verdura (Vegetable Course): Berenjenas al Horno-- roasted eggplant baked with anchovies and three kinds of cheese

Paellas:

Paella Valenciana-- Valencian paella with pork, seafood, and vegetables

Paella de Pollo Finas Hierbas-- chicken paella with fine herbs

Platos (Main Courses):

Lengua Sevillana-- ox tongue with mushrooms and olives in a sherry brown sauce

Cochinillo Asado-- oven-roasted suckling pig

Tuhod y Batoc-- stewed ox kneecap and chuck in brown sauce

Caldereta de Cabrito-- goat stew in a tomato-based spicy sauce

Pollo al Ajillo-- chicken in garlic sauce

Pescado a la Vizcaina-- fish in a tomato-based sauce

Rosbif Español-- sliced roast beef with gravy

Postres (Desserts):

Canonigo-- soft meringue (like the whote part of a brazo de mercedes) with a custard sauce

Torta de Sta. Teresa-- torte with almonds and yema (candies egg yolk balls)

Lemon Squares-- tangy lemon pudding on a thin crust

Frutas-- watermelon and pineapple

Spice Trade

There was a time when spices were so expensive in Europe that they were more expensive than gold.  After centuries of subsisting on salt, herbs, and cheeses to flavour their food, Europeans couldn't get enough of exotic Eastern spices when these were introduced by Arab merchants.  This hunger eventually forced Europeans to find alternatives to the Arab spice monopoly, bringing in the Age of Exploration, the "discovery" of the New World and the Philippines, and eventually colonisation and all the problems it generated.

Fast-forward to today where mass production means spices are affordable by everyone and globalisation means they're potentially available everywhere.  Thanks to these economic forces of our day, here's what I got from my last Bay Area trip, and how I plan to use them:

7 Spices-- Arab spice mix, also known as bokharat; stews, rub for roasts

Berbere-- Ethiopian spice mix; stews, rub for roasts

Cayenne Pepper-- ground Mexican cayenne pepper (really a chilli powder); seasoning

Chile Arbol-- Mexican dried chile, hot; stews, sauces

Chile Chipotle-- Mexican dried chile, hot; stews, sauces

Chile Pasilla-- Mexican dried chile, mild; stews, sauces, for stuffing

Furikake-- Japanese condiment mix; rice topping

Jerk Spices-- Jamaican spice mix; rub for roasts

Kabsah Spices-- Arab spice mix; stews, stock base for rice

Ras El Hanout-- Arab spice mix, literally meaning "head of the shop"; stews, rub for roasts

Shichimi Togarashi-- Japanese seven-spice mix; seasoning, rice topping

Sumac-- ground Iranian sumac fruit; seasoning, stews, rice topping

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By the way, for the English nuts out there, here's a guide on the proper usage of chile, chili, and chilli:

Chile refers to the pod of the Capsicum genus of plants; e.g., habanero chile.

Chili refers to the Latin American or Southwestern dish made with meat and beans; e.g., chili con carne.

Chilli refers to the ground spice sold as a seasoning or in a mix; e.g., chilli powder.

Ride N' Roll Diner

We recently tried Ride N' Roll Diner over at Xavierville Avenue in Quezon City. Having opened around late November, it presents itself as a diner/music lounge/art gallery, with cheap beer. We went on a day without any band or exhibit, so the ambience was more like a casual eatery than an artsy place. Service was friendly and efficient, although at the time there were more waiters than customers. But they were very professional, which is a plus. The menu ranges from staples such as sandwiches and fries to more surprising fare (given the setting) such as baked oysters. Here's what we got:

Calamares (P165)-- The usual battered and fried squid rings, served with a mayo-based sauce. Not bad, but not spectacular either. The squid was cooked inconsistently, some were soft but others were quite rubbery. The batter remained crunchy enough, albeit a bit oily.

Pork Sisig (P145)-- Worst. Sisig. Ever. It was more onion salad than pork sisig-- it had more onion in terms of volume and probably in weight, too. And if you think the onion extenders would result in a larger serving size then you're wrong-- despite being spread so thinly the dish could barely cover half the sizzling plate's surface area. As for the pork bits, they were all greasy and fatty without any of the flavour that would make them edible. I've had much better sisig straight from the freezer. Sisig is usually a very forgiving dish; it's very difficult to mess it up to the point of being inedible. This dish managed to achieve that feat with flying colours. Congratulations.

Garlic rice (P25/cup)-- This was actually pretty good. The rice was well-infused with the flavour of garlic, and the crunchy garlic bits were a good garnish.

Maybe it does showcase good art and music from time to time. It does look like a good place to hang out and have a few beers or coffee. The service is good; beer is relatively cheap (P38/bottle). But from what we've had, steer clear of the food. My Dear has sworn off the place forever; I'm willing to give it a second chance.

Here are the scores:

Quality = 2.0
Size = 3.5
Taste = 3.0
Ambience = 6.0
Service = 6.0
Value = P63.33
Price = P125.00
Sulit Rating = 0.51 < 1

Being in the neighbourhood, I would like to have more good places to eat in the vicinity so I wouldn't have to drive to Katipunan or Kalayaan for a good meal. So far this place has been very disappointing; I hope my second visit, which will have very low expectations, will be a better experience.