Homemade Fishballs

Fish ball is a popular Filipino street food and it reminds me of my summer vacations during my younger years. I used to spend my summer vacation in my grandfather's place and I was selling some fish balls to earn some money so I can buy school supplies before the school will start. I  enjoyed those days because I was doing it  with my close friends and once in a while I think of it  and it bring smile on my face:) I miss my friends, I miss the smell of the fish balls and I miss everything...

Today I am going to show you how to make my own version of homemade fishballs.


Ingredients:

200 grams of fish filet,mashed (boiled in water with salt and pepper)
1 cup of water from the boiled fish

2 cups of flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
3 cloves of garlic,minced
3 tbsp of minced onion
3 tbsp of minced red bell pepper
3 tbsp of minced scallion/onion leaves
1 egg,beaten

oil for frying

Procedure:

Mix flour and baking powder together.
In a bowl or food processor, mix all the ingredients and stir well until all the ingredients incorporate with each other.

Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Dip/wet a spoon in a glass of water, scoop some fishball mix/batter and make a ball in your palm by the help of the spoon.

Deep fry the first fish ball batter  in a low heat until the color turn into light brown. Taste it first and adjust the taste of the mixture or batter before frying the next batch .

Obviously, my fish balls are not perfect balls:)) Sorry I'm in a hurry:))


You can make a perfect round/circle fish balls by forming it in your palm. Use extra flour if the batter will stick into your hands. If you want to save some of the fish balls  for later use, you can boil them in a boiling water and keep it in your freezer. Defroze them later and fry. Look at the picture below:

Use sweet and sour sauce for dip or make a Filipino style fish ball brown sauce.



Filipino Style Fish ball Brown Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tsp vinegar

3 tbsp soya sauce

5 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp of cornstarch diluted in 1/2 cup of water

1 cup water

Optional ingredients

1 tbsp minced onion

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced chili

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients in a pan and bring to boil. Stir constantly.

You can add minced chili,minced onions and minced garlic if you like a spicy sauce.

(Adjust the ingredients according to the taste you like).

White Bread Empanada

An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe, and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. The stuffing can consist of a variety of meats, boiled egg, cheese, vegetables or fruits among others.

Empanada shell is usually a butter dough or a pie dough but today, I am going to show you my version of empanada using a white bread dough. Maybe you can try this one day if you want to serve something yummy for your family and friends.


Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil
1 small onion, cubed
3 cloves of garlic, minced
500 grams of minced meat (beef or pork)

200 grams of mix vegetables ( I used frozen greenpease, diced carrots and corn)
You can use any vegetables you like as long as you will sliced or cut it into small pieces.

150 grams of cooked ham, diced
scallion, sliced
1/2 big bell pepper,diced (red or green)
2 tbsp of soya sauce
salt and pepper to taste

4 cooked eggs, sliced into small pieces

1 egg, slightly beaten ( to brush on the empanada before baking)

Prcedure:

For the filling:

Saute garlic and onion in a pan with warm oil. Add minced meat and let it simmer for 8 mins or until the meat is cooked properly. Stir once in a while.

When the meat is already golden brown, add the vegetables. Simmer for 3 mins, add soya sauce,scallion, bell pepper and cooked ham. Stir until all the ingredients incorporate with each other.

Set aside and let the filling cool.

For the dough:

This is how you will make the white bread dough.

Wrapping the filling:

Divide the dough into 20 pieces or more if u want a smaller size. Use some extra flour if the dough is sticking into your hands.

 Form them into a ball and flaten them using a rolling pin. Make sure not to flaten it too thinly ,it might open up later when you start filling it.

Put 1-2 tbsp of filling int he center of the flatenned dough and boiled egg on the top.

Fold the dough in half over the top of the filling, forming a half moon shape. Squeeze as much air out as possible and seal it properly  by kneading a pork in the dough or fold the dough using your finger.

Put the empanadas in an oven plate with parchment paper and let them  rise for 15 minutes in a room temperature. Brush  beaten egg on the top and bake empanada in the oven for 8 minutes at 250*C.

These are my newly baked empanadas.

How to make a white bread dough

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour
1 1/4 cup of warm water (40*C)

1 1/2 tbsp yeast  (some yeast has a very intense/stronger effect, so pls. read the package of ur yeast and follow the  exact amount that you are going to use for 4 cups of flour)

2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp oil




                                  




Procedure:



Mix flour,salt and sugar in a bowl  using your hands or a kitchen machine.
Melt the dry yeast with a little bit of warm water.

Add the melted yeast, remaining warm water and oil in to the flour mixture.

Mix all the ingredients for 5-10 minutes or until the dough looks very fine.

Let it rise for 30 minutes ( or until it doubles it's size)  in a  room temperature.

After 30 minutes, take out the dough from the bowl and use some extra flour if the dough will stick into your hands.

We can use this dough for siopao ,bread dough for empanada and any kind of bread. If you want to make a sweet bread just add more sugar to make it sweeter.





Pansit ( Stir fry rice noodles)

Pansit is made of rice noodles and it is stir fry together with meat and vegestables.  Noodles were introduced into the Philippines  by the Chinese and have since been adopted into local cuisine. The term pansit is derived from the Hokkien, a chinese dialect " pian i sit"  which means "something conveniently cooked fast".

There are many ways in making pansit and Filipinos all over the world has their own twist. Today, Mariella will show you how to make pansit with chicken and prawns in our own way:)  We hope that you will like our version:)



This recipe is good for 4-5 persons.


Ingredients:



2 tbsp oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced

200g chicken breast, sliced thinly and marinated in 1 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp oyster sauce

10 pieces prawns, cleaned and peeled
1/2 cup of chicken stock ( or water with 1 chicken cube)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
60 grams of egg noodles (optional)
200 grams rice noodles (ris vermicelli in Norwegian)
1 carrot, sliced in strips
1/2 bell pepper, sliced (green or red)
10 pieces of snow peas
scallion, sliced
100 grams of  cabbage, sliced thinly (I used chinese cabbage)


I used this rice vermicelli noodles or also known as glass noodles Longkou Vermicelli .
And this for the egg noodles Cucina Filipina Flour Stick.
You can buy these types of noodles in any Asian store.



Procedure:


Soak the rice noodles   in a bowl with lukewarm water. Take it out from the bowl when it's already soften.

Heat the oil in a pan and saute garlic and onion.


Add chicken and prawns and let it simmer for 3 minutes in a high heat.

Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock or water with chicken cube followed by the soy sauce and oyster sauce.
Let it boil and add egg noodles and simmer for 1 minute.

Add vegetables but save some for garnish later when you will serve the pansit.
Add  rice noodles and stir until all the ingredients incorporate with each other. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.

The veges should be crunchy and should not be over cooked.

Done!!!

HOMEMADE Siopao

Siopao is a Filipino favorite comfort food and snack. It  is a steam white bun or dough with meat and boiled egg as its filling. Filipinos learned to make this food from the Chinese many many years ago before the Spaniards. When you will buy Siopao in the bakery back in Philippines, you can see that the texture of it is so fine and it has a super white color, just like a cotton. Bakeries in Philippines are using super fine and super white flours and they have a modern dough machine that makes the dough so fine. My homemade siopao is for sure not as fluffy and white as the siopao from the bakery back home but it taste exactly the same. Everyone has it's own way of making it and this is my own way.

 I learned to make siopao back in Philippines because my Aunties used to sell siopao for snacks.  I have been making siopao since I moved to Norway for 7 yrs ago . And  I got an electric steamer as a gift from my husband's parents and it made all the work easier for me. This is truly a favorite of my family.

Ingredients:

This will make 12 siopaos


For the dough:

4 cups of flour
1 1/4 cup of warm water (40*C)

1 1/2 tbsp yeast  (some yeast has a very intense/stronger effect, so pls. read the package of ur yeast and follow the  exact amount that you are going to use for 4 cups of flour)

2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp oil

For the filling:

1 kilo pork meat marinated in 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce (sliced thinly or in cubes)
2tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 part of big onion, diced
scallion, sliced
1 tbsp soy sace
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup water
4 hard boiled eggs ( 1 egg is divided into 3)

salt, pepper, garlic powder and sugar (optional, to adjust the taste)
Filipino siopao taste a little bit sweet.

Procedure:

For the dough:


Mix flour,salt and sugar in a bowl  using your hands or a kitchen machine.
Melt the dry yeast with a little bit of warm water.

Add the melted yeast, remaining warm water and oil in to the flour mixture.

Mix all the ingredients for 5-10 minutes or until the dough looks very fine.

Let it rise for 30 minutes ( or until it doubles it's size)  in a  room temperature.

After 30 minutes, take out the dough from the bowl and use some extra flour if the dough will stick into your hands.

Divide the dough into 2. Make a long sausage like shape for each dough.

Divide each sausage-like dough into 6 pieces, in that way  we can make 12 pieces of siopao dough. Form  12 doughs into a ball.

These are ready for filling.



Making the Filling:


Procedure:

 Heat the oil in a pan and saute  garlic and onion. Add marinated meat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce. Stir.

Add the cornstarch diluted in water, this will thicken the sauce. Simmer for 2 minutes and add the scallion. Set aside to cool.

Filling the dough:


Flaten the dough using a rolling pin but make sure that it will not be so thin because our filling is so juicy and there is a tendency that the dough will open up.

Lay the flaten dough in to your hand, put a slice of egg in the center and put 2 tbsp of meat filling. Close the dough by gathering together all the sides around it to pack the filling.

Here is another way of packing the filling.

Just gather all the 4 sides of the dough in the center and close...turn the dough upside down.

Make a perfect ball by massaging around the dough using your palms.

Put the siopao in a square parchment paper with the closed part under. Let it rise for 15 minutes and steam for 20 minutes.

Here are my siopao after 20 minutes of steaming:)

Look at that juicy filling..yummyy!