Home-made pumpkin soup

There's a vegetable soup I've been religiously cooking and it satisfies me and the people I share it with. It's my home-made pumpkin soup. I'm sure I got the inspiration from Barefoot Contessa, but I've always simplified her ingredients and procedures until I come to my own comfortable, yet still delicious version.

Such is the case of my pumpkin soup. It's very simple. Here are the ingredients and the no-frills cooking method that can serve four to five people:

INGREDIENTS
- a quarter of pumpkin, a.k.a. calabasa, peeled and chopped into cubes
- a box of full cream milk
- a large onion (yellow or red)
- about 6 pieces of garlic
- chicken cube
- salt and pepper
- fresh basil leaves, at least two for every serving bowl

TO COOK
Boil the chopped pumpkin in fresh water until they are tender. When it boils, add the chicken cube, chopped onion and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

Why chicken cube? Because I don't always have chicken stock and the inevitable "debris" in chicken stock makes the final pumpkin soup looking kinda muddy.

After boiling, let everything to cool a bit before putting in a blender or osterizer in small batches. First puree the boiled pumpkin, then you may opt to liquify it for just a minute towards the end. Pour the pureed batch in a cooking pot and continue pureeing the rest.

When all is ready, return the pot to the stove and season the soup with salt and pepper. Minutes before it boils again, add the creamer and stir constantly and make sure to lower or turn off the heat before the boiling peaks again, otherwise, the cream tends to cluster and turn cloudy. Although stirring will make the cream blend in the soup well, I just think not letting it boil anew is better.

Pour in serving bowls and garnish with fresh basil leaves. Make sure to add the fresh basil when the person is really about to sip the soup, otherwise the leaves will turn black, wilt and cook. The flavor will be the same but it won't look as nice as in the picture. Enjoy!

Superior Singapore Chicken Rice by Wee Nam Kee

Mouth-watering Singapore Chicken Rice at Wee Nam Kee

One of my favorite dishes in the world is Singapore chicken rice. It's a national dish in the island state and I always try to enjoy a set meal that includes fragrant rice, soft chicken, and the condiments that go with it every time and I mean every time I find myself in Singapore.

I order it wherever and whenever the opportunity shows up that is why I have enjoyed this dish in different areas such as the Funan IT Mall food court, in different hawker stations, at restaurants in Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, in two branches of East Coast restaurant, at the food court of the Changi Airport, and in other hole-in-the-wall locations. That's how I love the dish. It helps, too, that it's usually a cheap but satisfying meal to have for lunch or dinner.

Cereal prawns

My last Singapore trip took me to a new haven of Chicken Rice. It was the famous restaurant Wee Nam Kee at Novena Ville in Thomson Road. It was simply the best.

I've never had chicken rice served family style, meaning in big quantity for sharing until I had the pleasure of dining at Wee Nam Kee with friends. The group I was with ordered one whole chicken and cups of rice and condiments for all. We didn't waste another minute when the complete chicken rice number was laid on our table. We engaged in some very serious fork and spoon maneuvering as we happily share the tender chicken swimming in shallow salty and sweet sauce. We downed mouthfuls of Wee Nam Kee's delicious chicken rice with cans of cold soya milk. It was a match made in heaven!

Mr. Wee during our interview with him after dinner

My next favorite meal in Singapore is prawn with cereals. Wee Nam Kee also serves it, and we also devoured a plate of it. I also love chili crab, but sometimes the hot chili overwhelms me.

Wee Nam Kee is opening a branch in Ayala Triangle and the night we ate there the owner was just days away from going to Manila himself for the restaurant opening. The owner, Mr. Wee Liang Lian is the third generation proprietor who now shoulders the management of the restaurant after his father and grandfather. He sat down with us and willingly answered my questions regarding his chicken rice enterprise and the soon-to-open branch in Makati.

He told us that his grandfather started the restaurant in 1989 and since then it never closed its doors to customers except during Chinese New Year. Happy to hear how we enjoyed his product, Mr. Wee or Junior, as he is called by family members, informed us that the sweetness in the chicken and its sauce comes naturally from the broth.

Feasting diners at Wee Nam Kee

"When you eat the cold chicken with the hot rice, it creates a different sensation in your mouth," he told us.

Wee Nam Kee is famous among locals and especially among Filipinos in Singapore. That night we were there, several tables were occupied by Filipinos who were obviously enjoying what they're eating. Wee Nam Kee is so famous that Mr. Wee said even Philippine presidents have been his customers.

Wee Nam Kee's busy store front

Former President Joseph Estrada at one time closed the entire restaurant with his police escorts to enjoy Mr. Wee's chicken rice. Former President Gloria Arroyo also turned to Wee Nam Kee during one of her state visits for individual packed chicken rice meals to feed 1,000 Filipina domestic helpers working in Singapore.

Mr. Wee said Philippine generals, celebrities and Philippine embassy guests and dignitaries often dine at his restaurant as well. They belong to the mob of customers who collectively eat an average of 150 to 180 chicken (rice) at Wee Nam Kee everyday. During weekends, Mr. Wee said they cook over 200 chicken (rice).

The Makati branch sent its chefs at Wee Nam Kee in Singapore to train for a month. Mr. Wee, on the other hand, sent here his own chef to also provide the training. He said he is not worried about sharing his recipes because it is a way for him to promote Singapore's national dish to the world.

Tempting display of Wee Nam Kee's white chicken.

The Makati restaurant, being in the country's premium business location, will surely have a much more upgraded look than the one in Singapore which is a very unassuming restaurant. I remember us sitting next to carts of canned drinks as we ate. There were airconditioners but the place is wide open so we sweated a bit. In other words, forget ambience. What you won't forget, however, after eating at Wee Nam Kee is the perfectness of their chicken rice. I'm happy and excited that Wee Nam Kee is now here with us sans a plane ride.

Refreshing Japanese salad

The Japanese restaurants that I frequent serve a refreshing cold salad called Kani. It's made of thinly sliced cucumber, mango, crab stick, fish roe, and Japanese mayo. If there's Kani in a buffet spread I take it as my appetizer and, if the mango is really sweet, as my dessert as well. It's so light and refreshing. It's really a good way to start and end a meal.

At home, I sometimes make my own version. I don't have access to fish roe (it's expensive and I don't know how to buy and serve it) so the quality is not the same, but it ain't bad either. Here's what I toss in a bowl:

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 medium cucumber
- 1 ripe Philippine mango
- 4 crab sticks
- 2 tbsps of mayonnaise
- salt and pepper

TO PREPARE
- Wash and roughly peel the cucumber. Remove the seed.
- Slice the cucumber thinly. Place the slices in a sieve and sprinkle some salt. Let it stand so the cucumber releases its water. The salt helps speed up this draining process.
- Slice the mango flesh as thinly as the cucumber
- Loosen the crab sticks until they are like thin noodles
- Put all three ingredients together in a bowl and add the mayonnaise
- Add a bit of pepper
- Put in fridge to cool before serving. Enjoy!

I'm a soup person

I'm a soup lover. I have a few acceptable recipes under my sleeves that I am not shy to serve to others who could appreciate or use a hearty soup to warm the soul. But the peeling, mixing, pureeing, blending and, of course, cooking, could be quite tiring that I sometimes find it simpler to open the cupboard and look for instant canned or boxed soups. Usually I buy Campbell soups and it's a brand that saw me through many rainy nights when a hot soup makes me cozy inside. But Campbell now has serious competition in my cupboard space. A trip to Healthy Options made me discover Pacific Natural Foods selection of all natural and organic soup.

Now I don't always have to do so much work to have a creamy tomato or squash soup when I want it. The company Pacific Foods of Oregon, Inc. does all the work that give me a happy tummy. My favorite is the Creamy Tomato Soup. It can serve two to three people for less than P130, I think. The company says their milk comes from a local dairy, their tomatoes ripen on the vine and there's a real coconut in the Cashew Carrot Ginger.

 

 Here are five of the Pacific Food creamy soups I've bought. Of course, nothing equals the pride a cook feels when a pot of soup she cooked gets praises, but taking the instant route with this brand is not bad at all because it's really satisfying, healthy and could even be more affordable.

Vegitating

I'm a meat-lover, but I can eat my share of greens as well. Just recently, I happily noted the abundance of vegetables in my refrigerator. Here in the Philippines, we have a nursery rhyme about a little house with all kinds of vegetables in its garden. I felt I'm living in one when I saw the variety of vegetables I have. I temporarily took them out from the ref for a short photo opp. How lovely they look, I think, not to mention the vitamins and nutrients they have. My vegetable spread includes the following:
1. Spinach ( the leafy one at the leftmost side of the photo)
2. Baguio beans (still in its plastic bag)
3. Zucchini (partly hidden under the spinach)
4. Carrots
5. Eggplants
6. Cauliflower (with a barcode still on)
7. Leeks
8. Pechay Baguio (to the right of the cauliflower)
9. Sweet potato or camote
10. Singkamas (turnips or jicama)
11. Squash
12. Cucumbers
13. Yellow onion
14. Red onion
15. Tomato
16. Green bell pepper
17. Green lime
18. Long green chilis
19. Garlic
20. Celery
21. Potatoes
22. Black olives

Part of the stack is a bag of peanuts, but I'm not sure if it counts as vegetable. These items either played the lead or supporting role in the dishes I cooked later in the week. Because vegetables don't keep long, I feel pressured to cook them right away. I think keeping them in their plastic wrappers and moistening the tips of some help them stay fresh longer. Any effective tip on how to preserve vegetables in the ref longer?

Garlic Prawns

I love prawns cooked the simple way. My mother would just boil prawns in small amount of water with some salt and, presto, we have finger-licking lunch or dinner. Finger-licking because it's really not that enjoyable to not eat prawns with your hands, especially if it's as delicious as this garlic prawn dish I made recently.

INGREDIENTS:
- A kilo of tiger prawns, heads removed
- 2 tbsps of garlic powder
- half a box of butter
- salt and pepper

TO COOK:
- Slowly boil the prawns with salt and pepper in a deep pan
- Before the water completely evaporates, add the garlic powder and mix well to coat every prawn.
- Add in the butter and stir fry fast in medium heat.
- Serve immediately. Enjoy!

* Hopefully, you are not allergic to prawns because that would be a shame. I am allergic to certain types of shrimp though, like many other people.

Philippines' Farmers Market

I don't like going to wet markets. If I must, I have to be mentally prepared and suitably dressed for it because it's no small effort to step on slimy floors, to get bumped by "kargador" (porter, stevedore), to get nasal assault on every turn, to haggle for good price, to guard against pickpockets, to pay for goods in bills and coins, count your change, and to carry your own shopping bags. In fact, things get even more challenging if the one shopping is a blogger who must take photographs to chronicle an adventure. :) It also doesn't help that I have to have my mobile phone with me at all times and my parking ticket, too! I could probably think of a hundred reason why I'll avoid going to a wet market on most days, except when I need fresh seafood.

(Photos: public weighing scale, the seafood and meat sections, fruit vendors)



And seafood were exactly what I need one Sunday morning when I got dressed in simple shirt and jeans and drove to Farmers' Market. Here in the Philippines, this wet market is an institution. Located in Cubao, Quezon City, Farmers' Market has a good selection of seafood, meat, fruits and vegetables, and flowers, too. I go here mostly for the seafood. It's not the cheapest market to shop, but I think many come here for the quality and wide selection of seafood.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures I took during my recent trip at Farmers' Market. I took close-up pictures only from stores or vendors I patronized because I was afraid others would mind if I took photos without buying. I love the one of the mussels because there's a tabby cat at the foreground looking jaded towards all that the seas and ponds in the country came up with that morning.



(Above, fresh fish: Lapu-lapu are the rosy ones, and Pampano, I think, are the flat, silver ones.)



(Above, basins of prawns and shrimps in different sizes, next to a basket of live crabs tied up so they don't escape.)



(Above, baskets of kuhol or escargot. I don't eat snails, ty. The next stand sells mussels guarded by a shy young tabby.)



(Above, scallops that sell for P350 a kilo or about $8. Next photo shows clams for P60 or $1.50 and oysters and seaweeds.)