Month: January 2018

Recipes, Society

Foodie Friday – Black Bean Burger

mspatsperous

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I love veggie burgers (well, this recipe ain’t really vegetarian because of the egg).  As proof to that, I have been having them for one too many lunches and dinners this week.  Others might think that making veggie burger patties is hard but it’s really simple.

Black bean burger patties:

2 cups black beans (boiled, and drained)

1 medium-sized onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg

2/3 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon chili powder (if you’re like me who loves spicy food)

salt and pepper to taste

(Mash the black beans.  Add the onions, garlic and bread crumbs.  Add in the beaten egg.  If you have a blender, it would be nice to blend all the ingredients together to a desired consistency.  Scoop 1/2 cup of the batter, shape into a ball then press.  You can either bake the patties or fry them until cooked.  They can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to five days.)

Family Ties, Recipes

Foodie Friday – Pizza

mspatsperous

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I have been trying to perfect the art of making pizza dough and what better way to make homemade pizza than using the simplest ingredients.  Read, no yeast.  Although a couple of my friends find it funny that I make pizza dough from scratch, since frozen pizza is easily available in the supermarkets, nothing, still, beats homemade.  I would occasionally give in to the frozen pizza craving (just pop it  in the oven), but more often than not, I prefer to make my own dough, topping it with ingredients I fancy.  Anyway, I’m talking too much, off to the pizza dough recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt (I usually use less)

1 teaspoon oil

2 teaspoons sugar (again, I usually use less)

2/3 cup milk (or water)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Knead the dough for three or so minutes.  Form it into a big ball, poke it, if the dough rises, it’s ready to be flattened using a rolling pin.  Roll it to a thickness and size you like.  Brush oven tray with butter or oil.  Top the dough with ingredients you have available.  (My default toppings include cheese, onions and tomatoes.)  Cook for about ten to 15 minutes, or until the pizza bottom is a bit brown.  (Trick: by the end of the last few minutes, turn the oven setting to grill, if you like the toppings to be a bit crispy.  Especially the cheese.)

 

Recipes

Foodie Friday – Peanut Butter Cookies

mspatsperous

My friend, Melissa, went home to the States for Christmas break and when she asked what I wanted her to bring back, I shrieked, “PEANUT BUTTER!!!”  And because she loves me and supports my craziness, she did bring me peanut butter, a BIG tub of peanut butter, at that.  In mspatsperous fashion, I immediately made cookies with it.  The cookie jar has been empty for a while.  You won’t need eggs for this very simple recipe.  I hope you like the cookies as much as I love them!

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/ tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup milk or water

 

Procedure:

  1. Preheat the oven.
  2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl; whisk milk (or water), peanut butter, sugar and butter together in a separate bowl.
  3. Make a crater (?) in the middle of the dry ingredients bowl and pour in the milk (or water) mixture.
  4. Mix until smooth.  Line the oven pan with baking paper.  Make one tablespoon size balls from the cookie dough with 1-2 inch space in between and press with a fork to flatten.
  5. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are golden brown.
  6. Let cookies cool and serve! The cookies will last for five days or so in an airtight container in the fridge.
Family Ties, Recipes, Society, travel

Foodie Friday – Filipino-style chicken adobo

mspatsperous

This is my favourite Filipino dish, I think most, if not all Filipinos would say it is theirs too.  I would usually cook adobo for potlucks here and it has always been a superstar.  Filipino-style adobo shouldn’t be mistaken as Spanish adobo, because even before the rediscovery of the Philippines, the “adobo” method of cooking has already been in existence.  When the Spanish came, they named the dish adobo, only because of the similarity to the Spanish adobo.  So much for gastronomic history, haha.  Let’s go to the recipe.

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Ingredients:
3 lbs chicken, cut into servings
3-4 dried bay leaves
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 head garlic crushed, 1 medium onion
6 tbsp vinegar (the sourer, the better, lol.  I love vinegar!!!)
3/4 to 1 cup soysauce

(1 tbsp oyster sauce, optional)

3 tbsp sugar (brown)

1 cup water
salt to taste
oil

Procedure:

  1. Heat oil in a pot.  Add onions (I cook onions first because garlic tend to burn quickly, it’ll make the dish bitter. Plus, onions have oil in it which makes food more flavourful). Set aside.
  2. Cook chicken for around five minutes.
  3. Add pepper, bayleaves, soysauce, (oyster sauce) and water.
  4. Mix sugar with vinegar.  Add mixture to pot.
  5. Let simmer until chicken is cooked through.

(Taste the sauce every now and then to make sure that it isn’t too salty or sour then adjust according to your taste.  If you want the sauce to thick, let simmer until most of it evaporates.)

There you go.  The recipe is very easy to make.  I hope you try it at home soon!  Enjoy!