Shanghai Meatballs

I have been keeping this picture for quite some time now. I have been very quite about the recipe of my specialty, Shanghai Meatballs. Since I have time for blogging today, I decided to share this with everyone. I invented this by accident. During that time, there was no wrapper for the always-present-in-our-fridge-food Lumpiang Shanghai mix, and we have to consume it because it's been living there for ages (no, I'm just exaggerating). So I have decided to cook it as meat balls and add tomato sauce to spice it up, so it's not dry and boring. I am very proud of this recipe because I've learned this since I was 5 years old. The best cook I've ever known taught me this, and I am always in the kitchen when I was young (in case you're wondering who that cook was, that was my father, and yes, why didn't I took up Culinary Arts instead, damn!). So this recipe have been running in my blood for decades? Shall I say, a family specialty?

So this Shanghai Meatballs consists of Lumpiang Shanghai mix, fried and formed into balls, then cooked with  spicy tomato sauce. This is how I did it:

Lumpiang Shanghai Recipe

• 1 kilo Ground Pork
• 1 large onion
• 1 large carrot
• Kinchay (my favorite!)
• 2-3 Eggs
• Salt and Pepper
• Singkamas (optional)
• Shrimp (chopped finely; optional)

Add salt on ground pork and let it sit until salt dissolves. Then chopped everything finely. Add the veggies and lastly, the eggs to combine everything. I don't like using a blender for the veggies, I like to finely chop it because I think the blender releases some of its juice, and will make the mixture a little wet? So I like to do it with a knife (then smell your hands after, it feels like heaven). Form them into balls, and fry. As what I've learned from Mario Batali, don't brown the meat too much, for it will be overcooked and will be dry on the inside. 

After frying the meat balls, set aside, prepare the tomato sauce.

1. Saute onions and garlic. Onions should be cut in circles, I don't know how you call it, it looks like you're going to decorate something with onions. The cut that you have on burgers and onion rings. Add red chili pepper.

2. Add the meat balls and stir fry it for a few minutes. Then add tomato sauce. Lower heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add a pinch of nutmeg. I dunno why, but it was an accident when I put it, but does great wonders on the dish. For finishing touch, add a pinch of kinchay. Turn off the heat and serve hot.

Promise, my cousins love it when I cooked it once for lunch. Give this a try, and by the way, just put 1 red chili pepper or your family will die. But if you love spicy foods, then add some more! I hope you like this.

Chicken Pastel

My friends know me for being a cook aficionada. I haven’t posted anything yet regarding my love for cooking. This is going to be my first post regarding food. I have an old multiply site by the way, where I post all of the things I cooked and baked, but uh-oh, I forgot the site. Anyway, I had this great dish from our canteen; it was a chicken with creamy white sauce. I found out that it was the same dish my sister was telling me about. This was her favorite dish too from our canteen when she was still working there. So I get to know the name of this dish which is Chicken Pastel.

The ingredients were pretty obvious; cream, chicken, veggies, but I still researched on it just to make sure. Chicken Pastel is supposed to be a dish with some crust on top, which should be baked. I used chicken breast. I asked the lady in the market to fillet it and I cut it into cubes. To make life easier, I decided to cook the way our canteen does it. So here are the ingredients I used and the procedures:

1.     Cut the chicken fillet, potatoes and carrots into cubes.

2.     Sautee onion and garlic in butter. Add chicken and season with salt. Wait till it’s cooked (for about 5 minutes) or until the meat turned white.

3.     Add potatoes, carrots, red bell pepper, mushroom, and hotdogs. (optional ingredients). Simmer for about 5 minutes.

4.     Add all purpose cream, and I’ve seen a blog that doesn’t recommend powdered cream of mushroom, but this is what I’ve used since grocery stores are still closed when I got off from work. I didn’t get the exact amount of cream of mushroom but it’s pretty much like 2 tablespoon I think? Let the cream and cook for another 5 minutes.

5.     Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with rice or mashed potatoes?

So that’s the way I cooked it. Hope this helps! And by the way, this was an experiment. 

Aikology

"Aiko", that's my name; "-logy", meaning the study of something. I am really planning to "renovate" my youtube channnel and turn it into a new me. Aikology is the username I thought of very hard, which means,the study of Aiko. I realized I've been doing so many things, trying out so many DIFFERENT things, and when I say different, it's like a challenge, something I've never done before. I want to realize those things whenI get older. Curiosity is what make me do these things. A compilation of crazy things I do. One example was back in college, I asked the "taho seller" if I can sell the taho for him. I did the scooping-mixing thing, which I wasn't able to tape! Too bad... The feeling was cool! I also tried "sumabit sa jeep". (LOL too craziness in my life? yeah, that's me).

I will be repeating what I did and show it to you guys! Still planning on things... I also want to have this compilation so when I get older, I would remember and understand the youth. HAHA Aikology- soon to be youtube channel. Watch out!