i will be trimming my lemongrass plant which has grown very lush and so i asked who among my friends would want to have some. a handful "raised their hands" (well, it was an fb status post and a handful commented that they wanted some) and so i will be giving away about 20 bulbs for both planting and cooking.
one of those who asked also asked if there was a recipe to go with the lemongrass. well, here it is: SERVES TWO hungry tummies !!!
500 grams chicken legs (2 pcs)
4 cloves garlic crushed
2 medium sized onions sliced
4 bulbs leeks, white parts sliced
2 bulbs lemongrass
500 grams potato, peeled and quartered
4 leaves cabbage (whole leaves)
150 grams carrots (medium size) julienned
100 grams baguio beans
1/2 cup kernel corn
this takes some rocket science to do:
PAN FRY chicken until brown. reduce oil to about 2 tablespoons (chicken still in pan).
ADD garlic, onions, and leeks and continue frying in medium fire.
ADD 1 liter water and bring to a BOIL.
ADD lemongrass and potato.
BOIL and reduce heat to medium.
REMOVE potato from the soup.
MASH potato in a small bowl.
SET ASIDE.
SCOOP cooked spices (garlic, onion and leeks) with about 1 cup of soup stock and put in a blender.
BLEND with 1/2 tsp patis and 1/2 tsp kalamansi.
SET ASIDE.
ADD kernel corn to soup.
SIMMER until served.
BLANCHE cabbage.
DRAIN cabbage.
MOLD 2 cabbage leaves in a small bowl leaving edges outside the bowl.
(BLANCHE carrots and baguio beans while doing this procedure.)
FILL cabbage leaves with the mashed potato.
FOLD OVER the edges of the cabbage on the mashed potato.
TURN OVER on the side of plate.
REPEAT MOLD, FILL, FOLD OVER and TURN OVER for other serving.
DRAIN carrots and baguio beans.
ARRANGE carrots and baguio beans on center of plate.
PLACE chicken on top of carrots and baguio beans.
POUR blended spices on chicken and vegetables.
SERVE with the soup.
good eats !!! =D
monkey food. yeah, that’s right. uhm, it’s actually the shortened form of the monkey, rabbit, squirrel, tiger digest. the monkey, rabbit, squirrel, tiger digest is admittedly too long for comfort. thus, monkey food.
digest. well, this is what we, as well as monkeys, rabbits, squirrels and tigers do with food after eating. yeah, we all digest our food.
my mother used to tell us when we were too young to dispute her wisdom,
for breakfast eat like a king, for lunch eat like a prince, and for dinner eat like a pauper.
my wife still usually tells me the same thing; which she too (in all probability) heard from her wise folks. the downside of this is that, once you eat like a king for breakfast, you want to eat like a king for lunch and dinner - all day.
monkey food is about eating a monkey breakfast, a rabbit lunch, a squirrel snack and a tiger dinner. not strictly, of course.
a monkey breakfast. what does a monkey eat? ask any adult or even a 6-year old child, and you will invariably get the same answer – bananas. that’s it, basically. i eat bananas for breakfast. or bananas could be a symbolism that stands for the whole fruit group. uhm, so i also eat papaya, apples, oranges and whatever fruit is locally or easily available to me, whether at the public market near our home, or at the supermarket whenever i have the chance to go to metromanila.
a rabbit lunch. i heard it before from an aunt of a friend. the aunt was telling her neice (who was then on a diet) to go on a rabbit diet, that is, eat lots of veggies, green leafy veggies, and, i suppose what bugs rabbit eats (or is it bugs bunny?) - carrots. now i have to google that - what’s the difference between a rabbit and a bunny. uhm, but what i eat is not entirely all veggies, but i eat veggies for lunch. not raw veggies, but cooked veggies. well, raw veggies when i make a simple salad. not all veggies, but veggies either with tofu, mushrooms, beans or seitan.
a squirrel snack. i am going nuts. yeah, that’s right. uhm, i’m not going crazy or sumthin. i’m going nuts for snacks, in-betweens or before and after meal nibbles. i’m not really a fanatic diet freak. i love nibbling, nibbling on chips (or chi-chi as we love to call it) especially during most informal moments, with my wife and kids or while watching TV, chatting, or just sitting around thinking about limitless possibilities. thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box inciting and inviting me, says a line in a popular beatles' song.
peanuts, of course, are the most readily available, most ubiquitous nut of all. you can find it everywhere you go in metromanila, in street corners, in sari-sari stores, in bus depots, and in supermarkets, almost everywhere.
there are a variety of nuts you can nibble besides peanuts; cashew, pili, almonds, sunflowers, walnuts and some more. of course, some nuts are more expensive and harder to come by than others, which is stating the obvious. but the biggest nut... is the coconut!
a tiger dinner. what in the world is a tiger dinner? it’s quite simple, really. what does a tiger eat? uhm, well, a tiger eats the monkey, the rabbit, and the squirrel including everything that the monkey, the rabbit and the squirrel had eaten. yeah, that’s right. it’s sort of my 10% license to eat anything other than bananas, carrots and nuts, that is good for your body, like tofu, mushrooms, beans or seitan. a tiger dinner could include sunday lunches with family or friends.
we attend church at calvary reformed evangelical church every sunday, and three times a month many of the members and attendees bring and eat lunch together, and once a month there is a church sponsored luncheon. these lunches are hardly vegetarian lunches, pork and chicken are almost always a fare in these lunches. this is included in my tiger dinner digest. (the once-a-month sponsored lunches have been replaced by a regular every-now-and-then saturday potluck luncheon --- apr.11, 2014)
well, basically, i am vegetarian. i am not vegan. i don’t think i can keep up with being vegan, well, at least at the moment or at this stage i am in. i cook vegan dishes, uhm, food that vegans can eat. many of the recipes that appear in this blog are vegan. the others are vegetarian. the rest, nah!
--- updated apr.11, 2014.
