Lugaw, improved

A Filipino friend of mine brought a potful of stew to a party once. It was a delicious mixture of rice and chicken, cooked in chicken broth and seasoned with ginger, fish sauce and soy sauce. "What is it?" I asked after my second bowl. "Lugaw," he said.

Ever since then, I've been trying to recreate that stew. The first time, it was too bland--too much rice, not enough seasoning. The next few times, it was so salty that no one could eat it. Apparently, combining fish sauce, soy sauce and canned chicken broth is a really bad idea.

UPDATE: I made this recipe again, added a few things (people use garlic in their lugaw?) and left others alone (the chicken is still there!).I think I cobbled together a pretty darn good recipe--it's better, and a lot faster, than my previous version. Enjoy!

Lugaw/Arroz Caldo

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 2-3lb. chicken, cut into serving pieces
1/2 a small onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and julienned (or use two teaspoons of ginger powder)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons fish sauce
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked white rice, rinsed and drained

Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the chicken pieces to the pot, along with a cup of water, and then cover the pot. Allow the chicken to cook (covered) over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes, until about a cup of liquid is left in the bottom of the pot.

Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the onion and minced garlic. Saute them until the onion is translucent and the garlic is lightly browned.

Add the julienned ginger, soy sauce, and fish sauce to the pot and stir. Continue cooking for 2 more minutes until the ginger becomes fragrant. If you're using powder, save it for the next step.

Add the chicken  and the broth to the pot (and the ginger powder, if you're using)and water, if needed, to completely submerge all of the chicken pieces. Add all of the rice to the liquid in the pot and cook over medium heat until the rice is soft and the porridge reaches the desired consistency--this can take 20-40 minutes depending on how thick you want the porridge. If the porridge becomes too thick, you can add water to thin out.

For Lugaw, serve the porridge in bowls as is.

For Arroz Caldo, remove the chicken meat from the bones and add the meat back to the porridge. Arroz Caldo can be topped with sliced hard boiled eggs, fried garlic, sliced scallions, additional fish sauce, ground black pepper, fresh kalamansi, anything you feel like.

KFC (no, not the Colonel's recipe)

As a treat for a couple of friends, I made Korean Fried Chicken. The link is from Modernist Cuisine, a site dedicated to the technical side of cooking.  I'd heard about the dish on the Food Network, but I didn't know it could be made at home. After going to my local Asian food store and picking up a few ingredients, I was ready to cook. Instead of doing chicken wings, however, I  quadrupled the amount of ingredients and cooked an entire chicken. This left me with extra sauce, but considering that it's absolutely delicious (I'm going to have to try it on ribs next time), I really don't mind.

The only criticism that I have about this recipe is that it takes a couple of hours to make--this is not a quick night's dinner. The Modernist Cuisine website gives you an idea of this by the exact nature of their recipe; don't get thrown off by the use of both grams and cups as well as percentages (and this is why I didn't want to post the recipe here, since they do a much better job). I'd save this for a good weekend dinner, but in the end, it's worth it.

It's Lent again! Cheater's Gumbo

So my dad, as I may have mentioned before, is from the South. He knows how to make things like hog's head cheese and a few other specialties. One thing he also makes is gumbo. Now, his gumbo isn't a traditional one--he uses canned soup, which is absolute heresy to gumbo enthusiasts--but it's still really, really good.

Tuesday was Mardi Gras, so I decided to make a batch for myself and the household. I had to keep everyone's tastes and issues in mind--the roomie can't handle a lot of spice, and my husband is allergic to crab. With a pot of rice, this filled us up for a couple of days. Don't get turned off by the chicken gizzards, by the way. They add to the flavor and they taste like (what else?) chicken. :)

Cheater's Gumbo

3 cans cream of chicken soup
4-8 Louisiana hot links, sliced into rounds
1 whole chicken, cut up into parts
1-2 crabs, washed and cut up into quarters, legs removed and set aside
1 package chicken gizzards (no hearts)
Water to cover
1 pot of cooked rice

Put all ingredients except rice into a large stockpot. Cook slowly for four to five hours until gizzards are tender, and chicken is falling off the bone. Serve with a pot of rice.

Putting the Soul in Soul Food

My parents are both Southern--Mom's from North Carolina, and Dad's from Arkansas. I go to a Southern Baptist church, which is filled with women who look like my mom and hail from Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. Many of them, including my aunt, are amazing cooks when it comes to food from the South. Even my pastor is good at it--his collard greens put the ladies' versions to shame.

I, on the other hand, suck at cooking that stuff. My fried chicken is either burned or underdone, and the first two times I tried to make collards, I nearly killed my then roommate with salt overload (I'd forgotten that flavors get more concentrated as water boils off). So I decided to fix it.

After a chat with my mom and my aunt, I decided to attempt chicken and dumplings, candied yams, collard greens (my nemesis!), red beans and rice, and banana pudding. Everything turned out really, really well, except for maybe the red beans and rice (too much water, not enough time).

My mom was very proud of me when I told her how dinner came out. She was glad I'd finally learned how to cook this stuff for myself. So I guess, in general, I've managed to get over my fear of soul food.

Except for fried chicken. I'm coming for you, ya clucker...

Collard Greens

2 bunches collards
1 chicken boullion cube
2 tablespoons pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon tumeric
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

2 slices bacon

Wash leaves and place them on top of each other in a stack. Fold the leaves in half, and slice into 1 inch strips. Fill pot halfway with water and add strips. Add all spices. Cook leaves on medium heat until tender and water has evaporated, roughly 1-2 hours or longer.

Brown bacon in small pan. Just before serving, add bacon and bacon fat to collards. Toss until covered and serve. Serves four.

Doorknock Dinners--Fried Chicken,Stuffed Bell Peppers, and More

After two days of being taken out to eat, and a day of fast food, my friend begged me to come over and help her move. I was starving and I told her as much. "I'll help, but I can only stay for a short time. I have to make dinner for myself and the fiance."


"You can cook here," she said, waving at the partially enclosed, well lit kitchen. "The middle shelf in the refrigerator is mine. You can use whatever I have on there."


My friend lives with two other roommates,hence the "personal shelf". And lemme tell ya, this kitchen is a dream. It's the size of my dining room, you can see into the living room and the rest of the area, and it has a GAS STOVE. I haven't cooked on a gas stove since I moved out of my parents' house!!! Needless to say, I consented, and pulled off my own version of "Doorknock Dinners."


My appetizer came from my friend's fruit bowl. Who knew kiwi and banana could taste so good?


Kiwi and Banana Hors'dOeuvres


2 kiwis (ripe, yet fairly firm)

2 bananas

1/4 cup chai honey


Slice the kiwis and bananas crosswise. Stack the banana slices onto the kiwi slices, arranging on a nice plate. Heat the honey in a separate container for 15 seconds, and drizzle over the fruit. Done!


While my fiance and her boyfriend ate the fruity hors d'oeuvre, I started in on the side dishes. Bell peppers, yams, and ground chicken are your friend. And so is sugar and butter.


Stuffed Bell Peppers


3 bell peppers

1 package ground chicken (sold in a sausage like tube; about 1/2 lb)

1 small can sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste


Take the tops and seeds off the peppers. In a separate bowl, mix the ground chicken, mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper. Stuff the bell peppers with the mixture and place in an oven safe pan. Bake at 350 for roughly 45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.


After starting the bell peppers, I realized I needed to make the candied sweet potatoes. I then remembered that I could cook them in the microwave. And it would take about the same amount of time as the bell peppers!


Microwave Candied Sweet Potatoes


3 sweet potatoes (the ones with the bright orange flesh)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 stick butter, cut into small pieces

Cinnamon to taste


Peel the sweet potatoes, then slice crosswise. Put the first layer in a microwave safe container, then add a small piece of butter on top of each slice. Sprinkle the whole thing with a teaspoon of sugar from the 1/2 cup. Do the same thing with the next layer of sweet potatoes, and continue till all the potatoes are gone. Add the last of the butter and sugar (if there's any left), then carefully pour the orange juice down the side of the container to avoid washing off the butter and sugar. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon. Cover with saran wrap or a lid, and microwave for 30-40 minutes on high. Serves four.


Last but not least, at one point in the evening, my fiance had to go home to pick up some tools for my friend's computer. I asked him to bring back the chicken I'd just defrosted in the refrigerator. It became our main course. Who knew one chicken could feed four hungry people?


Fried Chicken for Four


1 chicken, cut into pieces (separate the thigh and leg, and cut the breast into four chunks)

4 tablespoons oil

Salt, pepper to taste


Carefully dry the chicken parts and season with the salt and pepper. Pour the oil into a hot pan (use medium to medium high heat). Once the oil is hot, carefully place the chicken pieces into the pan, with the bone-in pieces close to the center. Cook for ten minutes on each side. Serves four, depending on the number of pieces per person.

Spinach With Vidalia Onions, Baked Chicken Thighs

Dude. I. like, wrote up two thirds of this entry, and inadvertently erased it ALL.


*sigh* OK, round two...


For my birthday, even though I was hacking up a lung, I managed to make us dinner. The spinach dish is something my mom used to make when I was a kid; she would add a little bit of sugar to caramelize the onions. But she never knew about Vidalias, which are now available year round. I skip the sugar and use those instead. It's now my fiance's favorite dish.The baked chicken thighs are one of the easiest recipes ever, and you'll see why in a moment.


To be fair, my fiance did make rice--four cups of it. And I mean four UNCOOKED cups, which translates into, like, 8-10 cups of cooked rice.


Meh...at least we have leftovers.

Do you have any creative tricks for leftovers?


Spinach with Vidalia Onions


2 tablespoons oil or a few blasts of a nonstick spray

1 bag of spinach

1 sweet onion, sliced into rounds (it doesn't have to be a Vidalia; sweet onions go by many names. Look for them near the yellow onions, and look for the sticker).

Salt and pepper to taste


Add oil or spray to a pan. If you're using a nonstick one, you can skip this step. Give the pan a minute or two to get hot over medium to medium high heat, then add the onions. Cook till they become slightly translucent. Then, add the spinach. Cook everything until the spinach is fully wilted and the onions are slightly browned. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Baked Chicken Thighs


2 tablespoons oil or a few blasts of a nonstick spray

1 package chicken thighs, boneless

Salt and pepper to taste


Spray an oven safe pan with oil or nonstick spray. Preheat the oven to 350. Salt and pepper the thighs, place them in the pan, and bake for an hour or until chicken is no longer pink. That's it!

Baked Chicken and Peas With Bacon

So yesterday, I raced off to a job interview at a local paper. It took me forever to get there, since my boyfriend had the car, and lemme tell ya, public transit in the Bay is not perfect. By the time I got home, it was almost 8 PM--and I'd left at five. From there, I raced off to visit a friend I hadn't seen in ages. But I knew my boyfriend was hungry, and I didn't want to leave him with nothing to eat--that didn't seem right at all. So I made Baked Chicken and Peas with Bacon. Or rather, I started the chicken and prepped the peas, and he finished it. I hope he didn't feel abandoned, even though he only saw me for five minutes.


What kinds of meals do you make for someone who doesn't cook very often ( children, spouse, elderly person) that can be finished quickly and easily?

Baked Chicken and Peas With Bacon

1 whole chicken

1 cup frozen peas

1 slice bacon

Garlic powder

salt and pepper

Get a 9x13 baking pan, preferably Pyrex or metal. Spray it to avoid sticking. Take one chicken, defrosted, and cut it apart. Carefully arrange the pieces in the pan, then season the chicken with garlic powder, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Flip the pieces and do the same for the other side. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 hours or until done.

Just before the chicken finishes cooking, put a cup of frozen peas in a microwave safe bowl. Add a tablespoon of water, and one slice of raw bacon. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a microwave safe lid, then nuke the whole thing for three to four minutes, making sure the bacon is done. Serve everything hot. May serve two or more.