pollo al ajillo

Been making a French version of this dish before -- the 40-clove chicken in one of the recipes below -- but this recipe is based on the one by Pete's Pans and The Academy. Glad how I got the sauce wonderfully emulsified in this one. Also used the Instant Pot as I needed the chicken meltingly soft (post-dental surgery soft diet). 

Ingredients

600g chicken (with skin and bone), cut into serving pieces
350 mL white wine

2-3 garlic bulbs, peeled

olive oil

juice of one lemon

pimenton de la vera

salt and black pepper

1. Marinate chicken in lemon juice, salt, pepper and pimenton. Set aside for about an hour. 

2. On Saute, saute some of the garlic cloves and black pepper in the olive oil to transfer their aroma. Use enough olive oil for your chicken. When the garlic is a bit blistered, take them out of the pot. 

3. Brown the chicken pieces in the olive oil. All of them. Brown them well to get some good Maillard reaction going, but no need to cook completely. Transfer the chicken to another container. You will notice some burnt/sticky bits in the botom-- this is good. You want this. 

4, In the oil and still on Saute, fry all the garlic bulbs (including the ones you fried in step 1) until they're aromatic and blistered. Add the white wine, bring to a simmer, and stir/scrape the bottom with a spatula. You want to scrape all those sticky bits and get them dissolved in the wine/oil mixture. 

5. When you've cleared the bottom, put back all the chicken in the pot, trying to make them stay in one level and all touching the liquid. The blistered garlic cloves can stay in the bottom. Pressure cook on High for (or Poultry setting) for about 25 mins. 

6. When pressure cooking is done, let it natural release for about 15 mins then quick release to open the pot. Then back to Saute to reduce the sauce to an appropriate thickness. 

Ideally the sauce should be wonderfully emulsified with the oil, wine and disintegrated garlic, almost with a creamy texture. But this dish is quite forgiving and at worst you will have some split but very flavourful sauce.

thịt kho tàu 3.0

Third iteration of this dish, which I first made about two decades ago. Still cooking as of this writing, but I think it's going well. An IG post will prove it. I used to call this thit heo kho, but apparently that is a more general term for braised pork stew. This is the more precise name, which refers to this dish cooked in caramel, fish sauce and coconut water. 

INGREDIENTS

1kg pork belly, cubed (adobo cut)

1 cup sugar (brown or muscovado preferred)

3/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup water

1 onion, minced

1 garlic, minced

500mL coconut water 

6 hard-boiled eggs

1. Heat the sugar in a large pot over low heat, stirring often to prevent burning. This will take a while and a bit of effort, but trust the process and the sugar will eventually turn into a syrupy caramel (try not to burn the thing). 

2. Mix the fish sauce and water and put it into the pot. This will cause your hard-worked syrup to solidify into a salty, fishy clump of candy, but trust the proccess. Continue cooking the "candy" into the fish sauce liquid until it is all dissolved. 

3. Put the onion and garlic into the pot and cook until it's aromatic. Some recipes call for cinnamon and star anise at this point, but I like to keep it simple. 

4. Now this is a tip from Tra's mom: turn off the heat, put the pork into the pot and let it marinate for 30 minutes. It will cool down, yes, but that's the point. 

5. Pour in the coconut water and simmer over low to medium heat for about 30-40 minutes,  

6. In the last 5-ish minutes of simmering, add the hard-boiled eggs. 

Serve with steamed rice and greens. 

World of Food in World of Tanks Blitz

So I've been hooked on World of Tanks Blitz (WoT) lately, playing on the Nintendo Switch. For those familiar with the game, one aspect of improving tank performance is to purchase provisions which can improve characteristics like defensive capability, repair speed, or shooting/aiming speed. One of these provisions is food to give to the tank crew, and what makes it interesting is that the food for each nation reflects its cuisine. I really won't go into WoT details here -- iykyk -- but here is the list of nations and their corresponding culinary provisions (note that WoT features tanks from around the 1920s to the 70s, so there are some nations that do not exist anymore):

Some thoughts: 

• I like the attention to cuisines. WoT could've just put anyonymous MREs for provisions, but they changed it by each nations' cuisines. 
• Especially interesting are the Eastern European ones where they featured very hearty stews and soups for premium provisions. It's not always I learn more about a cuisine through a shoot-em-up game.  
• Asian cuisine is well represented in China and Japan, although the practicality of having Peking duck -- delicious as it is -- on the battlefield is questionable. But the onigiri is spot on. 
• WoT was just lazy with Germany and the USA. I mean from cola to more cola, or from chocolate bar to better chocolate bar? Really? 
• WoT must hate the Italians. There was so much to choose from, and they went with cinnamon rolls -- a pastry one wouldn't necessarily associate with Italy -- and a whole wheel of what I think is Parmegiano Reggiano but called "Cheesehead."
• The USSR selection was also disappointing. Condensed milk is fine -- I could imagine them actually having it in their tanks -- but Extra Field Rations? Soviet cuisine offers quite a lot. I'd have gone with Uzbek plov or Georgian khachapuri for premium provisions. 
• The food for the Brits and French was fine, if a bit stereotypical. Although I understand the Brits do have a hot water dispenser in their tanks for teatime.
• Grilled salmon for the Swedes was a bit lazy too, but plus points for drawing the salmon very deliciously.  
• General "rations" for Hybrid Nation is practical. I mean, choosing any real dish would imply a source or cuisine and therefore a nation.  
• If the Philippines were a WoT nation, I'd go with kapeng barako (liberica beans coffee) for 3% and binalot (adobo, egg, tomatoes and rice wrapped in banana leaf) for 10%. They're morale boosters and practical on the field. Hey, if the Chinese could get Peking duck and the Czechs could get goulash, then adobo binalot is par for the course. 

Instant Pot Rogan Josh

My Dear bought a Kashmiri rogan josh spice mix during her recent trip to Bengaluru. I'll be trying my hand at it mainly based on this recipe. I purposefully looked for a recipe that doesn't include tomatoes, which is what the Kashmiri version is supposed to be like. Let's see if my slightly modified, theoretically sound version works out. 

Ingredients

1 kilo beef cubes for stewing (or lamb, which is more traditional)

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic, chopped

2 cinnamon sticks

3-4 bay leaves

4-5 cardamom pods, smashed

6-7 cloves

4-5 tbsp Kashmiri rogan josh spice mix

150 mL beef stock

150 mL yoghurt

canola oil (and/or butter or ghee)

salt and pepper

1. On Saute mode, heat up the oil/butter/ghee. Add the whole spices (bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorn) until fragrant then add the onions and garlic until translucent. 

2. Add the beef and powdered spices (spice mix, pepper) and brown the meat. Season with salt. 

3. Deglaze bottom of the pot with a bit of the broth, then add all the broth and yogurt and stir. Continue until everything heats up. 

4. Go into Stew mode and pressure cook on high for 50 minutes. Then NPR for about 20 mins before opening the pressure valve. 

5. Go back into Saute mode and reduce sauce until desired thickness. Season with salt to desired taste. 

Garnish with chopped cilantro or, if you're like my Dear who thinks cilantro tastes like soap, parsley. Serve with rice or naan. 

Buta no kakuni

Buta no kakuni (豚の角煮) is Japanese braised pork belly named after the shape of the cubed pork. I've had it a few times in restaurants and love its sweet flavour and unctuous texture. Here is my easy, one-pot version based loosely on this recipe. 

Ingredients

1 kg pork belly skin-on, cubed

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup hon mirin

1/2 cup sake

300 mL dashi broth (or water, but add salt)

2 tbsp brown sugar

ginger, sliced

green onion stalks (white part)

1. Put everything except for the dashi broth in the Instant Pot and let it marinade for about 1 hour. 

2. Pressure cook (or use Meat Stew function) on High for 45 minutes. Allow NPR for 15-20 minutes then release. 

3. Press Saute and reduce the sauce to desired thickness. 

Garnish with chopped green onion and hard-boiled eggs. Serve with rice and greens. Best paired with Japanese sake, of course, but a dry red wine will do too. 

Nikujaga, without the jaga

Nikujaga (肉じゃが), literally meat and potatoes, is a Japanese stew of beef, potatoes, and onions stewed in soy sauce and mirin. I was having nikujaga cravings after bingeing on Midnight Diner. However, we ran out of potatoes so this is nikujaga without the jagaimo (potato). 

Ingredients 

1 kg beef brisket, cubed

2 onions, chopped

175 mL soy sauce

175 mL mirin

150 mL water

1. Put everything except the water in the Instant Pot and let it marinate for an hour or more. The longer the better. 

2. When ready to cook, pour in the water and Pressure Cook on high for 1.5 hours, then natural release. 

3. Cook on Saute until desired sauce thickness. 

Serve with steamed rice. Next time I should make this with potatoes. 

It turned into a kind of guytamagodon the next day. 

Lechon Kawali without the Kawali

Lechon kawali is traditionally boiled then fried in a kawali, which is a Filipino cooking vessel that is a bit like a large, heavy wok. This one uses an electric pressure cooker and oven instead. 

Ingredients

1 kilo pork belly, skin-on

salt

coarsely ground black pepper

laurel leaves

peppercorns, whole

lemongrass, smashed

canola oil

1. Generously season the pork belly with salt and ground black pepper. You may also season with crushed garlic, chilli, or other spices as desired, but make sure not to put any wet ingredient like garlic or fresh chilli on the skin. Crisping up the skin requires taking moisture out, so avoid anything that will add to that moisture. 

2. Put about about 150 mL of water in the Instant Pot and throw in the laurel leaves, whole peppercorns, and lemongrass. Put in the trivet and place seasoned pork belly on the trivet. Pressure cook on High for 50 minutes then NPR for 30 minutes. 

3. After pressure cooking, place belly on a rack to air dry for a few hours. You want the skin to be as dry as possible before broiling. 

4. Pre-heat oven to 220C. While waiting, use a fork to make small pricks all over the skin. Use a tissue to wipe any moisture that comes up. Dab on a thin layer of oil on the pricked skin to help it crisp in the oven. 

5. Broil at 220C for about 1.5 hours until desired brownness. The skin should usually crisp up by this point, but in my experience the crisp depends a lot on the quality of the pork belly. There are days when all possible methods for crisping just won't result in a satisfying crisp. 

Update: in an air fryer, air fry for 30 mins at 190C.

Complement with a dipping sauce of spiced vinegar or Mang Tomas sauce. Serve with steamed rice and grilled eggplant or green salad.