Pinoy Barbie (Filipino Style Barbecue)

And I do not mean a variation to the popular fashion doll. Rather, “barbie” is how Aussies affectionately refer to one of the favourite pastimes downunder, barbecue/barbecuing. Hence it is the cooking method of choice every Australia Day celebration (I meant to post this on that day for that particular reason…but just did not find the time). Large pieces of marinated meat/seafood are “thrown on the barbie” for a quick and tasty summer meal in the great outdoors.

We Filipinos have our own barbecue tradition if you like. Instead of large chunks of meat we like them bite size and skewered (using bamboo) much like the more well-known Southeast Asian satay. But rather than a spicy peanut sauce we Pinoys favour the smoky savoury sweet taste not too dissimilar to the style of our North American brothers.

There is another stark difference between the Aussie and the Pinoy barbie. Rather than cooking over charcoal the preferred antipodeans’ method is the use of a gas heated hot plate or a grill. You will not get the smoky barbecue finish doing it this way so I still revert back to using coal (or heat beads).

Barbecuing is meant to be easy. That is why I do not bother concocting a complicated alchemy of ingredients. The main component of my marinade is a pre-made mix made by Mama Sita’s (a popular Filipino food manufacturer). I add pineapple juice for some fruity freshness and some tomato ketchup for a right sweet and sour balance.

The marinade works well with other kinds of meat but my preference is pork. You do not have to skewer the meat if that’s too much of a chore. I tried this using pork chops and the result was still fantastic. It’s best to use cuts with a little bit of fat to keep the barbecue moist. Otherwise put a bit of oil in your marinade and use it to baste the meat as it cooks.

Grilled eggplants to make an Asian style salad

Quick & Easy Pinoy BBQ ala Beancounter

1 packet Mama Sita’s Barbeque Marinade

¼ cup soy sauce

1 cup pineapple juice

¼ cup tomato ketchup

Chillies (optional)

1 kg pork (belly strips, chops or any pork cut you prefer)

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients.

2. Pour the marinade on the meat and set aside for at least an hour.

3. Prepare your barbecue using charcoal or heat beads.

4. Length of cooking time depends on the thickness of your meat. Baste it from time to time to avoid drying out.

5. Serve with rice and some grilled eggplant salad.

My de-glamorised BBQ assistant

Australia - The Food Icons - ANZAC Biscuits

As much as I’d like to think that a whole nation stops to celebrate my birthday, the 25th of April has a much deeper significance to the Australian people. It is the day when the country commemorates the ANZACs (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey in World War I. This day of remembrance (ANZAC Day) then evolved to include all those who've been involved in other wars and military operations Australia has engaged in since the Great War.

ANZAC biscuits (originally called ‘soldiers biscuits’) were supposed to have been sent to the troops by their loved ones as they kept well during the long and arduous naval journey. From that description alone you can probably infer how much a “tough cookie” the ANZAC biscuit is. It maintains its “crunch” in spite of. (By the way, you should never refer to it as a “cookie” as the term is American and not Australian. I didn’t know this till recently. Some are actually offended by this.)

ANZAC biscuit is quite “hard” as you can imagine. It had to withstand elements other biscuits are not normally exposed to. It’s mainly made of rolled oats, desiccated coconut and golden syrup.

I couldn’t say it’s one of my favourites. The biscuit is fine on its own but experts recommend you dunk it in a hot beverage to fully appreciate it. If you’ve read my past blogs you’ll know that I have an aversion to soggy bread/biscuit. So, no thanks.

I bought a packet of these biscuits solely to write about it. But don’t worry; they did not go to waste. My two school age kids have developed a taste for them and finished them with gusto!

Unlike Hot Cross Buns, ANZAC biscuits have no restrictions and are available all year round.

Below is a recipe from Australia’s multicultural TV station, SBS:

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup of rolled oats1 cup of sugar

1 cup dessicated coconut1 cup flour

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 cup of butter

2 tablespoons boiling water

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Mix oats, flour, sugar, and coconut together. Melt syrup and butter together. Mix soda bicarbonate with boiling water and add to melted butter and syrup. Add to dry ingredients. Place 1 tablespoon of mixture on greased tray. Bake in a slow oven for 20 minutes.

At home – Salt & (Chilli) Pepper Calamari (aka Deep fried squid)

A lot of people find squid intimidating. It is easy to see why as these creatures look like they belong to another planet. It is impossible to visualise how something good can come out of these slimy beasts.

There are other good reasons why squid could be daunting. For one, cleaning squid is an art. I’m sure you can Google this. Next, cooking them must be perfectly timed. You either cook them really quickly (like the recipe below) or stew them for hours. In the wrong hands squid might turn out to be the worst fodder on earth. But if done right…

My recipe below is similar to what they usually served at Yum Cha. Their good on their own as entrée or main with salad (or rice for us Pinoys).



Salt & (Chilli) Pepper Calamari

Ingredients
6 large squids (best to buy fresh rather than prepared squid tubes)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sea salt (Iodized salt might be healthy but it does not taste good so don’t use it! Get your iodine fix elsewhere!)
1-2 teaspoons chilli powder
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
Lots of oil for deep frying

1. Clean the squid by separating the head from the body. Turn the body inside out to make sure nothing nasty is left in it. Cut off the eyes from the head but make sure the tentacles are intact.
2. Cut the body of the squid into rings. Marinate all the squid pieces in soy sauce for about half an hour.
3. Mix the flour, sea salt and chilli powder.
4. Heat up the oil in a deep pan or use a deep fryer. Test the oil by dropping a piece of squid. If it sizzles immediately then your oil is probably ready.
5. Coat the squid in the flour mix a handful at a time. Shake the excess flour off.
6. Drop the squid pieces in the hot oil. It should be ready in less than a minute.
7. Drain excess oil and serve with lemon wedges.

Fusions Italian Ristorante - Singleton, NSW

Entree: Spaghetti Marinara

Home made spaghetti with prawns, calamari, fish, scallops and mussels

Main: Angus Fillet and Jumbo Gulf Prawns

250g char-grilled Angus fillet (medium rare) with giant prawns in their shell, mash, garlic butter sauce

Wine: Melville Hill Cabernet Merlot

Whenever oyster is available on the menu it would be my first choice as entrée. I still found it tempting. But after consuming more than 3 dozen of these bivalve molluscs just a few days ago I decided to go a different direction.

There was a wide selection of pastas on the menu that were also offered as entrées. And since I feel like seafood there’s no better option than the spaghetti marinara. I was quite surprised when my order arrived as the plate it came in was just as big as the “mains” plate (not that I’m complaining).

The calamari and scallops mentioned on the menu were noticeably absent from my plate. Also, it seemed the chef was a bit too generous with the salt tonight. But I overlooked all these flaws as the whole dish was actually good. The seafood tasted of the sea (and not of the fish market). Fresh tomatoes were obviously used (as opposed to bottled or canned passata di pomodoro). It tasted much better than the last time I had it in the same restaurant.

After the pasta I soldiered on with my main! The steak was done just as I ordered (medium). In fact, it was the most perfect steak I’ve had in a restaurant for a long time. The vegetables that came with it enhanced the already exceptional meal. The caramelised carrot batons that came with it were terrific!

Corporate Breakfast - Andavanth

It’s very rarely for me to go out to have breakfast. And when I do it’s normally something quick and nasty from Subway, McDonald’s, or Hungry Jacks (yes, in that order). So, it is always a treat to have a proper hot breakfast not from a fast food restaurant.


the restaurant menu

For this month’s “corporate” breakfast we were booked at Andavanth located in Milton. My choice is always either pancakes or omelette. Unless there is something really interesting on the menu (or if there are no pancakes or omelettes on the menu) I would rarely deviate from my favourites.

someone else's tea

Andavanth has got a menu online. The breakfast selection sounded very interesting. They’ve got the usual plus some more appetising sounding items like brioche French toast and ricotta omelette. I already knew what I wanted before that morning came around. I was going to have the omelette made with ricotta, chorizo and spinach. This was to be served with sourdough bread. Yum!

my soy latte

Unfortunately though, the menu in the restaurant was quite different from what’s online. I was indeed disappointed (shattered, felt deceived, etc…! My heart was already set on having an omelette that morning. I had to settle for a “traditional” ham and mushroom omelette served with white bread toast. It was alright.

the omelette

Lesson learnt: DO NOT TRUST ONLINE MENUS! To avoid disappointment it’s better to ring the restaurant to confirm!

In-room dining 23.04.08

Entrée
Chicken and prawn nasi goreng
Sautéed rice with coriander, green shallots and bean sprouts

Main
Tasmanian Salmon
On Minted green peas, steamed Kipfler potato and lemon butter sauce

Dessert
Rich Chocolate Cake
With coffee cream and pistachio ice cream

Drink
Lemon, lime & bitters

I thought I better write about what I just had for dinner while it’s still fresh on my mind and palate, of course.


The Holiday Inn in Darwin offers two types of Room Service menu. One is called A La Carte and the other cheaper option is affectionately called Take Inn. A La Carte comes as a full tray service and finishes at 10pm. The hotel charges $4.00 for the tray. Take Inn, on the other hand, is served “Takeaway” style with some items available to order 24 hours a day. The 24 hour availability is a very good idea as some flights to Darwin from interstate does not get in till close to or just after midnight.

Looked promising!?!?!?!?!

For what the hotel charges for such a simple dish I was certainly expecting something much better than what most take-away shops offer. Most of what I paid for probably went into the packaging. (Ok, ok, the office is paying for it). The dish came in a Chinese takeaway box. The box really looked good. But as soon as I opened it my heart sank with what I saw. The Nasi Goreng looked more like a badly made risotto. The grains of rice were hardly recognisable as they were all stuck together like glue. Parang paste! The coriander and green shallots were also missing. Big disappointment! I will not order it again!

Really bad Nasi Goreng!

As a Pinoy, I actually did not have the courses separately. I did not finish the Nasi Goreng first before having the salmon. I had them both at the same time.

I’m not really fond of minted peas. I’ve decided early on to eat the salmon with the Nasi Goreng anyway so it didn’t really bother me that the salmon was served with it. I just would not eat it. To my surprise though, the minted peas (which was mashed) actually tasted good. I finished all of it together with the Kipfler potatoes. The salmon was a bit overcooked but it was nice enough I finished all of it.

The pistachio ice cream that was supposed to be included in the dessert I ordered was nowhere to be seen! Yes, the chocolate cake was served with ice cream but it was not pistachio! I was already suspicious when I first saw the ice cream. The colour was too much on the pale side. It wasn’t pale green. It was white! Maybe it’s coconut (I was hoping)! What other white coloured ice cream are there around? Of course it’s vanilla! It was plain old boring BANILYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cake, unfortunately, was not able to make for it. It was more like boxed Sara Lee chocolate cake straight out of the freezer.

All in all, tonight’s dinner is a 4 out of 10!

In-room dining 21.04.08

Entrée
Warm crab frittata
Flavoured with Roma tomato, chives and potato with lemon aioli and soft herb salad

Main
Char grilled Emerald Hills porterhouse steak
On creamy mashed potato, Puttanesca relish and baby beans

Usually on my first night in every city I visit I tend to have my meals in the hotel first. And tonight was no exception.

Frittata is sometimes served cold that is why, I suppose, it was emphasised on the menu that this item in warm. Frittata is much like the Pinoy tortang itlog. The ingredients are not much different either. Anyway, I enjoyed this entrée tremendously. I could have ordered another one as a main. The aioli worked well with the frittata. It was a bit tart to balance the richness of the frittata.

There were no surprises with the steak. It was medium just as I ordered. The mashed potato was creamy indeed as stated in the menu. I like Puttanesca as a pasta sauce but not on my steak that’s why that one was pushed aside. The beans were fresh and done just right.

Dinner tonight is 7 out of 10!