Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag sa Bawang)

Ingredients:
Rice is a staple in the Filipino diet so it is no surprise that we have a lot of rice dishes which range from plain old steamed rice to sweet as well as savory dishes. In the Philippines, most people eat rice three times a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). If you go to any household around meal time, the possibility of seeing rice at the dinner table is very high. To a Filipino, a meal without rice isn't really a meal but rather a snack...that is how much we love rice :) There is a running joke about spotting a Filipino in a dimsum place. Just look for someone who eats dimsum with steamed rice...hehehe.


Aside from steamed rice, another favorite rice dish is fried rice. This is a staple in almost all of the restaurants - from the neighborhood turo-turo (hole in the wall resto) to the fanciest digs - in the Philippines. There are so many variation to this simple dish but the most common is garlic fried rice. The reason is probably because it is cheap as it only involves a few ingredients but taste so good. Although it is served on all three main meals, it is famously associated with breakfast as part of several traditional breakfast combination such as longsilog (long for longganisa = Philippine sausage; si for sinangag= fried rice; log for itlog = eggs), tapsilog (tap for tapa = cured beef slices), and tuyosilog (tuyo = dried fish)to name a few. The garlic rice that I made was served as a breakfast combo hotsilog which uses Philippine style hotdog, garlic fried rice, and sunny side up egg. Hotdog is cooked according to direction and eggs are lightly fried. Together they taste really yummy and delicious. For a more authentic Filipino breakfast, you can serve this combo with a combination of sliced onions, tomatoes, and salted eggs splashed with a little vinegar.



1 tbsp cooking oil for sauteeing
3-4 cups of day old cooked rice
1 - 2 shallot, finely minced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp soy sauce
sea salt, to taste

1. Heat pan over medium heat. Add oil and let it heat up a little bit
2. Add garlic and shallot. Cook until fragrant and translucent.
3. Add rice and mix with garlic/shallot mixture. Saute for about 2 minutes.
4. Add soy sauce and mix well.
5. Season with salt according to taste
7. Continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes then remove from heat and transfer to a serving dish. Serve warm.

No-Knead Pig in a Blanket (Sausage Rolls)

I love sausage rolls which I often get from my favorite Korean bakeshop. Theirs taste good but the problem is that it is way too greasy...Its like someone slathered it with oil or butter. This morning I was craving for it but was too lazy to go out and buy some. Then I remembered that I still have some leftover No-Knead Dough in the Kitchen... hmmm, great idea, right? So, I rummaged through my refrigerator but couldn't find any hotdog. Otoki? Looked in my pantry and found a couple of cans of vienna sausage so I used that.






Ah, not too long after, the sweet aroma of freshly baked goodie filled the entire house. The roll turned out really good. Ayayay, how come I didn't discover this No-Knead Dough earlier? It is fantastic and could eaily be adapted into a lot of recipes.

Ingredients:

1 baseball size No-Knead Dough
1 can vienna sausage or cocktail dogs
flour for dusting
1 egg yolk with 1 tsp water (for brushing on top of roll)

1. Pinch a baseball size No Knead Dough and place on floured surface. Fold 2-3 times then cover withplastic wrap. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

2. Roll the dough into a rectangular shape. Using a floured serrated knife, cut the dough into 6 equally sized triangles.

ALTERNATIVE: you can divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll out individually.

3. Wrap dough around the sausage or hotdog. Place in baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 45 minutes to an hour or until it has doubled its size.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, paint top of the rolls with egg wash. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until it turns golden brown in color. Remove from heat, transfer to a serving dish and serve.