LP 8 : Pork and Pig's Liver Chop Suey

During my early childhood, I was not a vegetable eater. My mother’s mother whom we called “Lola Cleta” used to scold me for not eating vegetables and almost always compared me to my cousins who ate veggies with much gusto. When I got sick one time, my grandmother prepared stir-fried vegetables with liver for me. Since there was no choice for me then but to eat, I tried eating a spoonful. To my surprise, I took one more spoonful till I was able to finish eating the whole bowl of veggies. The sweet taste of the snow peas and carrots made me like the dish more. And that was the beginning of my love affair with stir-fried vegetables.

When I visited my twin grand daughters in Williamsburg last year, I found out that one of the twins, Darrielle, likes to eat vegetables. That was why we branded her that time as the ‘vegetarian” twin. So, with my stir-fried vegetables, I am setting aside one bowl for my dear Darrielle. Surely, she’ll like this.

And for you who love chop suey here’s how I prepared it.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound fresh pig’s liver
1 pound pork
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 piece Knorr beef stock cube
½ pound snow peas
½ pound Beijing cabbage
1 piece sayote

1 piece carrot
1 large green pepper
1 onion
Garlic
Oil for stir-frying

PREPARATION:

Cut the pig’s liver and pork into strips. Add seasonings and marinate for 10 minutes.

Cut all the vegetables and slice diagonally.

Heat the wok and add oil. When oil is ready, stir- fry pork and pig’s liver until the redness is gone.

Take another wok and heat it and add oil. When oil is ready, stir-fry each of the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste . Add water and the beef stock cube. Gradually add the sauces and stir to thicken. Add and combine the the stir-fried pork and liver. Once it has boiled, it is ready to be served hot.

So do you like my version of chop suey?

A Tale Of Two Palabok

Above are my two palabok. As you can see, they don’t look the same though both of them are called palabok, a Filipino dish made from white noodles and garnished with shrimp paste, smoked fish called tinapa, eggs and other sea foods like shrimps and or squids.

When I visited my mother in Laguna province, my younger sister ordered this palabok and so this is home made and especially cooked for me. My sister paid six hundred pesos for a “bilao” of this palabok and I say it’s not bad, considering it tasted excellently. The squids and shrimps tasted so nice for they seemed to be so fresh from Infanta, I could say. It may look a little bit pale in colouring but just looking at it you’ll know it is a real yummy palabok. Though, it may represents a probinsya look, I was so happy with my sister for allowing me to taste one of my favourite Filipino dish.

On our last day of stay in the Philippines, I was still craving for the deliciousness of palabok. So I told my sisters that before I fly home, I want to eat at Goldilocks for their palabok. You know, Goldilocks palabok was one of my favourite then. So we went to a Goldilocks outlet in Metro Market Market. And as you can see, the palabok looked so nice too. Only I was not satisfied. It did not taste the way I envisioned it. My sister opined that since the eatery was only an outlet, they never served the real taste of the original Goldilocks palabok.

And so this is my two palabok: Same in colour, same in name, almost same in ingredients. But the one from the province tasted better than the one served by a well known establishment.

So don’t be deceived by the looks and the place where palabok is served. For me, the home made palabok will always be the best.

Turon

This is called turon, bananas sprinkled with brown sugar, wrapped with lumpia wrapper and then fried.

My sister-in-law bought a lot and spend thirty pesos only on our way to their farm in Laguna. The bananas were so tasty and I really ate a lot while watching the animals like turkeys, chickens, ducks, horses and pigs.

When my daughter's friend who is a Malay saw this photo, she got so curious and asked how to cook it.

Of course, my daughter taught her how to cook the tasty turon. And now, just looking at this photo, I can already envision the crunchy lumpia wrapper. Hmmm, I better say bye and prepare cooking my turon.