Food To-Go

CEBU, Philippines - The return of the school classes brings a load of things to think about and prepare.

This entails an even earlier rise from bed for home-bound moms. It is much harder for working parents.

Here are two recipes that are easy to prepare to lighten up the pressure of deciding what’s good for breakfast and what "baon" to send with the kids to school. As always, there's nothing quite like home-cooked meals.

It would be more helpful if the ingredients are prepared ahead of time, such as the meat and vegetables to be used.

Chicken in Clear Ginger Broth (Tinola)

Ingredients:

500 grams Chicken, cut into serving pieces

20 grams Onion, finely sliced

20g Ginger, finely sliced

5g Garlic, crushed

100g Young Green Papaya or Chayote, peeled, seeded

and sliced diagonally

10g Young Chili Leaves, fresh or frozen

1Tbsp Fish Sauce (patis) or Soy Sauce

8g Rock Salt

1tsp Umami seasoning or monosodium

glutamate (if desired)

5ml Cooking Oil or Chicken Fat

1 liter water, preferably water from washing the rice

Procedure:

1. Heat the oil or fat on medium heat and sauté

ginger, onion and garlic.

2. Add the chicken and fish sauce, and then cook

for five minutes.

3. Add water and salt and bring to a boil, then lower the

heat and simmer.

4. When the chicken is almost tender, add the papaya

or chayote and cook until tender.

5. Add the chili leaves and umami seasoning, cover

and turn off the heat. Serves 4 persons.

Bistek Filipino

Ingredients:

500g Beef Sirloin, sliced

100g Onion, sliced into rings

1Tbsp Lime Juice

60ml Light Soy Sauce

½ tsp Black Peppercorns, cracked

2 Tbsp Corn Oil

20g Coriander or wansoy, fresh and chopped (optional)

50g Potato, peeled and diced (optional)

Procedure:

1. Marinate the beef slices and onion rings in soy sauce

and pepper for about 15 minutes. Just before

frying, add lime juice.

2. In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the potato until

golden. Add the coriander until crisp.

Remove from pan.

3. Drain off the excess oil and fry the beef in the same pan.

4. Add the onion rings and stir-fry. Add the marinade.

Cook through.

5. Garnish with the fried potato and coriander.

Serves four persons.

(Helpful Source: Umami World Recipe Volume 4, Filipino)

Special Sandwich Recipe

A sandwich snack is most common when the family gathers together. It is not only tasty and filling, but also easy and quick to prepare. Preparing sandwiches also adds to the family's bonding time, as it is often done with the whole family participating.

A delightful and delectable sandwich to prepare is one that makes use of Gardenia bread. Following is a unique sandwich recipe especially developed by Gardenia.

Gardenia Beef Steak Sandwich with Enoki Mushroom

Ingredients:

10 slices Gardenia Classic White Bread, thick slice

300g Beef sirloin, sliced

Salt

Dried pepper flakes

Ground black pepper

2 Tbsp Vegetable oil

100g Enoki Mushroom

1 pc white onion, sliced

1 pc bell pepper, cut into strips

¼ cup sour cream

Procedure:

Season beef slices with salt, dried pepper flakes and ground black pepper. Marinate beef for at least 20 minutes. Pan-fry beef in a hot pan until cooked. Set aside.

Using the same pan, sauté onions, bell pepper and enoki mushroom until cooked. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Place cooked vegetables on one side of the bread. Top with beef slices. Add a spoonful of sour cream on top. Cover with another slice of bread. Serve.