Seafood / Lamang Dagat

Corn Crab Soup

Corn Crab Soup

  If you think about it, so much of our fond memories revolve around food. When I was in my teens, my family loved to celebrate in Chinese restaurants. My mother’s favourite soup was this; but she would complain that it lacked heartiness; it was more like thickened dish water soup. I was already experimenting at that time and decided to please my mother and come up with something more hearty; therefore this recipe. Another instance is my BFF in graduate school, Victoria Faicol, who was a non-cook, wanted to impress one of her visitors and asked me to give her a recipe that was super easy. We still often laugh together when we remember this moment. Serves 6 persons. Ingredients: 1 kilo blue swimmer crabs (alimasag; cook and peel) – set aside or 100 grams Kani sticks shredded 2 tablespoons cooking oil 1 can cream of corn (1 ¼ cups) 1 teaspoon crushed garlic ½ cup thinly sliced onion 4 cups of chicken broth or boiled water with 2 chicken cubes dissolved â…› teaspoon freshly ground pepper dash of salt handful of baby spinach leaves or chilli leaves (dahon ng sili) 1 whole egg – well beaten Procedure Using a non-reactive pot, I like using either a glazed clay pot or a pyrex pot for this, so that I can cook in it and then straight to the dining table, pour the oil over medium heat. Place the garlic and onion and saute till onion is opaque. Add in the crab meat and saute for another 2 minutes. Pour in the broth and simmer till the soup comes to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning; adding the pepper and salt. Bring the soup to a boil and drizzle the well beaten egg into the soup while stirring. Add the spinach leaves, stir and...

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Rellenong Alimasag ( Fried Stuffed Blue Swimmer Crab)

Rellenong Alimasag ( Fried Stuffed Blue Swimmer Crab)

When I was a child (noong bata pa si ‘Sabel), Rellenong Alimasag was only served during special occasions. Why? Because it takes a lot of time to prepare it. Nowadays, you can buy canned, peeled, crabmeat; but it doesn’t come up to par to the laborious, old-fashioned method. Alimasag is also known as Blue Swimmer Crab. Alimasag is much sweeter than Mud Crab or Alimango. Try and choose crabs that are similar in size so that there is no fight at the table. All the effort in preparing this dish is worth it. Ingredients: 1 kilo alimasag (blue swimmer crabs) – rinse with cold water and drain. Place crabs in large saucepan and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt all over the crabs. DO NOT ADD WATER; THE WATER INSIDE THE CRABS WILL SUFFICE TO COOK CRABS. Place sauce pan over low heat and cover. Cook crabs for 20 minutes or til the crabs turn orange. Remove from heat and uncover and cool. Now comes the tedious part; remove and pick the crab meat from the crab, including the meat from the legs. Save the top shell of crab (carapace); that is where you will put the mixture. Set aside the crab meat. 2 tablespoons cooking oil 1/4 cup finely chopped onions 2 tablespoons chopped spring onions 1/4 cup finely chopped tomato – remove seeds before chopping 1 tablespoon Mirin 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 2 whole eggs – well beaten till frothy flour for dusting tops of stuffed crab 1 cup cooking oil for frying Procedure: In a medium sized frying pan, set over low fire, pour in the cooking oil. Let the oil warm up. Saute the onion till wilted or translucent. About 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chopped tomato and continue to saute for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the spring onions and mix; continue sautéing. About 1 minute. Add the crab meat and toss and turn. Season with mirin, black pepper and salt. Taste the mixture and adjust by adding salt and pepper to your liking. After about 2 minutes, remove from fire and set aside. Stuffing the crab shells: Depending on the size of your crab shells, divide equally the crab meat mixture. Place mixture inside the crabshells, but do not over stuff. Sprinkle flour lightly on top of the meat. Set aside. In a medium sized frying pan, pour cooking oil and bring to 350ºF or 180ºC. Beat the whole eggs til very frothy. Place the beaten eggs, one at a time, on top of crab meat. Very carefully, slide the crab shell, meat facing oil, and fry the Rellenong Alimasag for about 20 to 30 seconds each or...

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Adobong Pusit (Squid Stewed in Vinegar)

This the traditional Adobong Pusit which I avoided like the plague when I was young till I learned how to make it in a different style. Now I love ‘calamari’ aka squid specially Paella Negra. You see, I am not fond of sour foods in general. When I learned how to temper the sourness in foods, then I began to like and appreciate sour food. Ingredients: To cook the squids: 500 grams fresh squid (pusit) – small sized ones 1 whole bulb of garlic – crushed 1/4 cup white vinegar (coconut or palm) 2 tablespoons calamansi juice or lemon juice 1/4 cup water 2 teaspoons salt To stew the squids: 2 tablespoons cooking oil 1/2 cup squid broth 1 head garlic – crushed 1/2 cup chopped onions 1/2 cup fresh tomato – chopped 1 lady finger chili (siling mahaba) Procedure: Detach the head of squid from the body. In the tube part, clean the squid by removing the plastic looking spine; be careful with the ink sac that is found at the bottom part of the head. Gently remove the sac, which looks like silver beads and place in a tiny bowl; set aside. Remove any dead fish or other sea creatures found (you’ll be surprised to see what you find – like baby clams, baby crabs and the like) in the the cavity. Do not remove the fat, which looks like gelatine and do not remove the skin of the squid. Rinse with water, drain, cut into 1-inch circles and set aside. With the tentacles, remove the teeth, which looks like a small tube (it’s hard). If the tentacles are small, leave whole, if its big, slice lengthwise in half. Rinse and drain. Set aside together with the rings. In a non-corrosive sauce pan (glass, clay, non-stick, or ceramic), over low fire, put in the vinegar, water, calamansi juice, garlic and salt. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer then add the squid rings and tentacles and simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove from fire, drain out the squid, save liquid and set aside. Rinse non-corrosive sauce pan and place over low fire. Sauce garlic and onions in oil till the garlic is light golden tan. Add the saved ink sacs, and using the back side of wooden spoon, crush the ink sacs. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Add the broth from the simmered squid and the siling mahaba; simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the squid rings and tentacles and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust by adding salt, pepper or patis. Serve with hot...

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Pancit Luglug aka Pancit Palabok (Rice Noodles with Seafood and Pork in Anato Sauce)

Pancit Luglug aka Pancit Palabok (Rice Noodles with Seafood and Pork in Anato Sauce)

The most popular pancit that we serve and sell is called Pancit Luglug. It’s not only popular with us, but in most Filipino restaurants, this is a best seller. Because thin rice noodles are used, it’s light and bright! BUT, it’s very time consuming to make because it has so many ingredients, thus the term ‘palabok’ (flowery or flamboyant). But because it is so delicious,  every morsel and mouthful is well worth in making  the effort. Luglug refers to the technique used in cooking the thin rice noodles; one just quickly dips it in boiling broth for 3 seconds. The good thing with Pancit Luglug, one can also eat it cold and it will still taste good. Then, there are those like my daughter, who likes to eat this at room temperature.  Topping: 1/4 cup cooking oil 2 tablespoons finely minced garlic 1/2 cup finely chopped onions 1 tablespoon anato liquid – to extract anato liquid, get 1 tablespoon of anato (atswete) seeds. Mix anato with 1/2 teaspoon liquid lye. Leave for 1 hour. Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water and mix well. Leave for 30 minutes; strain out the seeds and use liquid. Use the balance for the sauce. In the Philippine market, one can get anato seeds that have lye mixed with it. In other countries, one can find anato/atswete powder (follow instructions on package) 250 grams shrimps – steam to cook, peel and cube – save shrimp heads, set aside 250 grams blue swimmer crabs (alimasag) – steam to cook and peel to get meat (you can also use the canned or frozen variety) 1/4 kilo pork belly – boil till tender; slice into 1/4-inch thick strips 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Topping Preparation In a medium sized frying pan, over low fire, pour in cooking oil and saute the garlic till a light golden tan. Remove half of the sauteed garlic and place over kitchen paper towel to drain. This is to be used for garnishing. Add the onions and continue to saute till the onions are translucent. Pour in the anato/atswete liquid and simmer for 5 minutes. Add shrimps, crab and pork and simmer for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Sauce Ingredients: 1 tablespoon cooking oil 1 teaspoon finely crushed garlic 1/4 cup finely chopped onions 2 tablespoons atswete liquid 1 tablespoon fish sauce (patis) 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3 cups chicken broth 1/2 cup shrimp head juice – shrimp heads – using a mortar and pestle, pound shrimp heads and place in a small sauce pan; add 3/4 cup water to pan and simmer for 10 minutes then strain...

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Paella Negra (Rice Casserole with Squid Ink)

Although Paella Negra is an Italian/Spanish dish, it is very similar to our Adobong Pusit sans the vinegar. I first tasted this dish in the now defunct restaurant “Barcelona” in SM Mega Mall on EDSA. Although I am not a fan of Adobong Pusit, I swooned over the Paella Negra and couldn’t get enough of it and had to make my own version. It took me some time to discover that the secret was ‘nutmeg’. You can make two other dishes with the basic recipe of the Paella Negra. Instead of rice, cook your favorite pasta and use the sauce plus the seafoods. For another version of ‘Adobong Pusit’ sans the vinegar, you can use the basic sauce and just place the pusit (squids). Serve with Ali-Oli sauce and sliced fresh lemons on the side. Ingredients: 1 kilo small fresh squid – remove tentacles and skin; save the tiny ink sac (it looks like tiny, silver bags); clean inside of squid from any particles that are not part of the squid (tiny shrimps or fish), leave the fat of the squid intact (looks like tiny gelatin); slice into 1/2-inch rings. In a medium sized frying pan, over low heat, pour 1/4 cup of olive oil and saute the squid in batches (about a handful at a time) till the squid turns slightly white and then set aside. 1 kilo Manila clams (halaan) or mussels (tahong) – to clean the Manila clams, soak for about 2 hours in salted water (1/4 cup salt) dissolved in 3 cups water, so the clams can spit out the sand. The halaan must only be in enough water so that the top of the shell is still exposed to the atmosphere. Then rinse the halaan in running water and drain. In a sauce pan place 2 cups of water and bring to a boil and place the halaan in pot and simmer till the shells open then remove from fire. With the mussels, remove the beard before doing the same as halaan. With either shell fish, remove the meat from the shell and set aside. Strain the liquid, measure and set aside. 500 grams prawns – place prawns in sauce pan, no water, and cook over low fire till they look like pink question marks; remove from fire; cool, peel and set aside; do not over cook. 1 tablespoon squid or octopus ink – in the Philippines you can buy either one or two of the large squids and get their ink; in other countries, squid ink is available in bottles or sachets. 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic 2 cups finely chopped onions 3 3/4 cups Japanese rice or Jasmine rice – rinse only...

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Taba ng Talangka Sauce for Pasta (Tiny Crab Paste Sauce for Pasta)

Taba ng Talangka Sauce for Pasta (Tiny Crab Paste Sauce for Pasta)

Kapampangas love their ‘tabang talangka’ (tiny crab paste). Before it used to be seasonal; that is when the rainy season came, so did the talangka (tiny crabs). The talangka is a tiny crab; the shell is from 1 inch to 1 ½ inches wide. The fish pond owners call it ‘singaw’ (coming out of nowhere) because as they prepared their ponds for new fingerlings, the talangka would pop out of nowhere. One must gather the talangka by the hundreds just to make one cup of sautéed tabang talangka. Tabang talangka is usually eaten with steaming hot rice. Since one can eat it with rice, why not pasta. So here is a take on tabang talangka as a sauce for pasta. Because of the proliferation of bottling and canning, now one can enjoy tabang talangka even if its out of season. One finds it in Filipino stores around the world and in Supermarkets in the Philippines. Serves 6 persons. Ingredients: 4 tablespoons cooking oil 1 teaspoon crushed garlic ½ cup bottled/canned tabang talangka ¼ cup coconut milk ½ cup fish broth or water 2 tablespoons Mirin or Sake (this removes the fishy flavor of the talangka) ½ teaspoon Tabasco or chili sauce or 1 long lady finger chili (seed and chop) ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 12 pieces of prawns – peel, devein, leaving tail on 500 grams twisted pasta, pasta twirls or pasta that makes the sauce cling to it (do not use spaghetti) – follow cooking instructions of pasta Procedure: Using a skillet, over medium fire, pour 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in pan. Warm pan till it reaches 180°C. Sear prawns each side of prawn for about 1 minute; till prawns curls up on both sides. Place in pan, only six prawns at a time. Set aside and keep warm. In a medium sized cooking pan, over medium-low fire, warm pan for 2 minutes and pour 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Sauté garlic till very light gold. Add the tabang talangka, coconut milk, fish broth, Mirin, Tabasco, and ground black pepper. Stir continuously and simmer for 5 minutes. Cook pasta according to instructions on box. Put pasta in sauce and mix well. Place in serving dish and garnish with prawns. Serve...

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Paella

Paella

Although Paella is a Spanish dish, we Filipinos have adopted it a long time ago and is served in our fiesta fare. When having special guests at home, one can serve just paella and salad because Paella has all the meat and seafood needed to make one feel special. Good for 8 to 10 servings as main dish. Ingredients: 2 chicken thighs, boneless, cut each thigh into four 250 grams pork rasher or belly cut into 1-inch by 2-inches length 500 grams prawns – slit at the back and de-veined 100 grams scallops 1 piece calamari or 250 grams squid tubes – sliced into ¼-inch rounds 2 blue swimmer crabs (alimasag) or mud crab (alimango)– remove top shell and air sac; cut crab into 4; save top shell if it has fat 2 pieces Chorizo de Bilbao or 1 piece Spanish Chorizo – cut into ½-inch rounds ½ cup olive oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic ½ cup chopped onions ½ cup tomato paste 3 cups broth (boil water and place 2 fish cubes) or cooking liquid from 1 kilo of mussels cooked in 3 cups water pinch saffron 1 teaspoon Tabasco (hot sauce) or Habanero sauce or ½ teaspoon cayenne powder ¼ cup pimento (red capsicum) – roasted, peeled and sliced julienne 2 cups Jasmine rice – wash and drain ½ teaspoon black pepper salt to taste ¼ cup Mirin (Japanese cooking rice wine) or ¼ cup white wine grated cheddar/Edam cheese –for garnish 1 hard boiled egg sliced into eight for garnish 1 tablespoon green peas – cooked – for garnish Procedure: Place large casserole over medium low heat; place olive oil and sauté garlic, onions and saffron till the onions are translucent. Set aside. In another skillet, place over medium heat and place ¼ cup olive oil. (add olive oil if necessary) Sear the pork spare ribs and remove. Sear the chicken and remove. Sear the prawns and remove. Sear the scallops and remove. Sear the calamari and remove. Go back to main casserole and add the tomato paste and continue sautéing for about 5 minutes. Add the broth and simmer for another 5 minutes. Season to taste. (Tabasco, salt and pepper) Add the Mirin/White wine. Place the pork spare ribs and chicken and simmer the chicken and pork for 15 minutes. Taste and season again. Add the rice and chorizo and mix well. Simmer on top of stove for 10 minutes. Remove from stove fire. In a pre-heated oven (180°C) place the casserole inside oven; cover and bake for 10 minutes. Remove cover and fluff rice; return cover and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Check on rice; fluff; and arrange crab and top shell on...

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