meal, me, and more

Honestly, I just came up with this recipe because of the coconut powder in my cupboard that's about to expire in a month's time. Hehe... The squash and the eggplant (along with other veggies) came all the way from MMSU in Ilocos Norte. My in-laws always bring some when they visit us. They believe that vegetables are fresher and cheaper there. It's also a subtle way of telling me to cook healthy foods for their son and grandchildren. Oh well... I choose not to disagree. It's an advantage on my budgeting anyway. I remember the recipe my mom taught me way before. But in hers, she used fresh coconut to get the cream from. I'm kinda lazy with this so I opt for the "unnatural" one. My bad!!! Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil 1 tsp minced garlic 1 small onion, chopped 1 tsp fish sauce ( patis) 200 g pork belly, boiled until tender and cut into pieces 1 pack coconut powder (to yield 1/2 c cream when prepared as to directions) 1/4 c water (use the pork broth) 2 cups squash, ...

Inabraw/Inabrao is a recipe from the Ilocos region made of vegetables with native fish sauce in steaming broth. Being a true-blooded Ilocano, my hubby loves this dish so much. Before we got married, I really tried so hard to perfect this recipe. Well, it's only after three years of marriage that I somehow learned to cook it in the taste he wants. Hehe... Now, I have lots of versions of inabraw, combining different veggies available in the fridge. I have tried a combo of two or more of these: horse radish ( malunggay ) leaves and fruit, squash, eggplant, lady's finger ( okra ), string beans, bitter gourd, battle ( upo ), sponge gourd ( patola ), sweet pepper ( siling haba ), and a lot more. The choices are endless actually. You just have to experiment as to which ones match best. This one is my most recently discovered version. The squash flower ( bulaklak ) came from a village vendor who walked by our house one morning. She said she picked the flowers herself from her own backy...