Start with a Bam-i

Time does fly when one is having fun and the two years as a retiree has been all that I wanted and more. I have to say that life after 30-years of corporate work continues to get better. In the short time, I have gained more friends than wrinkles; and you my friends are more than enough reason for me to continue with my musings.

So what do I have "cooking" for such wonderful people at the start of a brand new year?!?! Why only the best that Cebuano cuisine can offer: I give you Bam-i. (Nope, this is not the Cebuano version of W. Disney's "Bambi".) Bam-i is a soupy noodle dish bursting with flavor that can only be described as "Lami kaayo!" (delicious) .

My first encounter with "Bam-i" was at my first Noche Buena (Christmas dinner) as a new member in my husband's family. There was the usual fare of ham and cheese and tsokolate. But in their home, Bam-i was the most welcomed treat. It's aroma and warmth was enough to drive the chills out of one's bones.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxox

The following recipe was taught to me by my mother-in-law. This recipe has been passed on from mother to daughter from one generation to the next. If you have done some cooking or messing around in the kitchen, you will know that a good cook does not relay on exact measurements. She (or he) uses her senses-- smell, taste, touch, sight and even hearing. Measurements are at best estimates or guide-- so trust your senses and let's begin.

Bam-i ni Mommy Janet

Ingredients:

1/2 k kasim
1 chicken breast
1 small onion, quartered
1 c shelled small shrimps
1c shredded dried squid-- the rounded one, not the elongated one
1/2 c tengga sa daga (mushroom)
1 small pack of miki (egg noodle)-- about 1/2 k
300 grams of sotanghon (glass noodle)
1 Knorr chicken cube
1 med. onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
some cooking oil
soy sauce and/or patis (fish sauce)
salt, pepper
green onions, sliced



Preparation:
First, you got to have a lot of soup stock. So boil the chicken and the pork in 5-6 cups of water with a small onion and a pinch of salt. Once the meat is tender; remove from stock and set aside to cool. Once cooled, shred the chicken meat and cut the pork into thin strips.



Soak the mushroom in some water and when soften cut into strips as well.

Shell and de-vein the shrimps.

Ready the onion and the garlic by slicing them thinly.

Soak the sotanghon.

Cooking:
Saute the garlic, then the onion in a little oil. Follow this with the knorr cube, shrimps, the chicken and the pork. Add the squid and the mushroom. Then add enough stock to cover. Simmer over low flame until flavours have blended.



When serving time is almost near, add the miki and the sotanghon (drained of it's water) to the soup. Check that your soup does not dry out. If it does, add the reserve stock. Stir and season with the soy sauce, salt and pepper.

Serving:
Put this noodle soup in a pretty bowl and sprinkle sliced green onions on top. Serve with pride.

Tips:
• Knorr cubes may be omitted. Although these magic cubes does add the necessary kick (maybe because of the MSG).
• To have more stock on hand, you could boil some chicken back and neck pieces and reserve the resulting stock.
• To devein shrimp, after shelling slit the back and remove the black vein. This is the shrimp's intestine (yuk!)
• As you will realize at the end of the cooking experience, noodles tend to soak up the broth in which it has been placed in. So it is important to have on hand extra soup stock. To guarantee that this is a soupy dish and not some ordinary pancit guisado creation, do not add the noodles until close to serving time so that the noodles will not have time to soak up the stock.
• Use a scissors to cut the squid into match stick strips.
• You may increase, decrease or omit the amount of meat (pork, chicken, shrimps, squid) depending on your preference.



Here's hoping this soup warms up your spirit and jump starts your year in the right direction.

The Planted Seed

Seeds are like people. And like people, seeds have different ways of getting up from their cosy beds. Some seeds, like the mongo, can’t seem to wait very long to burst out of their case after just an overnight soak in water. Some seeds, like basil, come up with two tiny baby leaves stretched out as if to say hello world.



And there are seeds, like chico and other fruit tree, that take their sweet time straightening first their spine-like stems before they leaves shyly take a peek.


Their long sleep have caused me to despair and often I am turned between digging them out or patiently continuing to water their barren beds.

Like people, all seeds once awaken need nurturing. You have to give them nice cool shower, time to sun, time to rest in the shade and give them a once over to check for pesky bugs.

Like people, the treatment you give your a come-alive seedling can very well determine how that seedling will turn out in life.

Sounds familiar?

:::::::* :::::::* :::::::* :::::::* :::::::* :::::::* :::::::* :::::::* :::::::*

Seeds are not only for planting but if done right, are good to eat. Steamed soy beans, crushed pepper-corn steaks, popped corn, and boiled jackfruit seeds.

And here's a seed of a recipe. A favorite during Sunday lunches at home is a soup made of mongo beans, flaked dried fish and coconut milk. This soup is usually paired with grilled meat.

Mongo in Coconut Milk (Ginatang/Linubihan na Mongo)

1 cup of mongo beans, soaked over night in water
½ cup of flaked dried fish (bisugo or other fleshy dried fish works well)
½ cup coconut cream (the resulting milk when you squeeze grated meat from a large coconut for the 1st time—add about ¼ c warm water)
2 cups coconut milk ( the resulting milk when you squeeze grated coconut for the 2nd time—add about 1 ½ c warm water)
1 sliced medium size onion
1 minced clove of garlic
Optional:
Some chopped green onions or leeks (sibuyas dahonan)
A handful of mallongay leaves or ampalaya leaves



Procedure
Drain your mongo beans and put in a pot with some water to cover. Bring to a quick boil then let simmer until beans are very soft. Set aside.
In another pot, sauté in a little oil the garlic, onions and then add the flaked dried fish. When done, add the cooked mongo beans (including the resulting stock).
Add the coconut milk, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.
Once the flavors have mingled, turn off the heat, add the mallongay or ampalaya leaves (optional) and pour in the coconut cream.
Ladle into a lovely soup bowl and sprinkle the top with chopped green onions.

Paseo

"Come on kids," called my father. "Let's go for a paseo."

Quickly, sometimes forgetting a slipper or to brush our hairs, my four sisters, 2 brothers and I climbed into the car, jeep, panel— whatever vehicle my father owned or was assigned with at the time he said the magic word—"paseo". This was a word synonymous to adventure. In our child's mind, we did not care how we looked or dressed. What was important was that we were ready for adventure in our ride around our town. There was no telling what we would see or experience along the way—a new neon sign, maybe some barbeque on a stick or boiled peanuts bought at the park, or just the chance to be the first to seat by the open window and feel the rush of the wind in our tangled hairs.



Every now and then these "paseos", with the able assistance of my mother, would become the never-to-forget, one-of-a-kind outings in the summer of my youth—a trip to a small town on the outskirts of the province to look at an old church; a tour to the Southern tip of our island; barge rides to access secluded white sand beaches; rough terrain that was considered to be a road to my grandmother's farm hidden up in the mountains; a ride on a motorized banca to reach a sandbar in the middle of the deep blue sea.



That was a long time ago. Now I continue the “paseos” with my children. And I am glad to report that they are certified bitten by the "paseo" bug. Indeed, travel, even local in scope, opens one's senses to the beauty and wonder of life.

"….life is a journey not a destination. Life is about wanting to experience the world and its myriad of colors with your own senses."



-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Do you want to be adventurous but have a cautious nature? Well, I have just the recipe for you. Green Bellpepper Soup! This was a favorite of my father. It has lots of vitamins and it's so easy to prepare.

Green Bell pepper Soup

You will need:
2 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
2 tablespoon of ground beef
2 cloves garlic, sliced thingly
2 tablespoon of sliced onions
2 cups broth (you may use a beef or chicken buillion cube & follow the directions to make the broth)
sale and pepper

What you need to do:
Saute the garlic, then add the onions. Once the onions are translucent, add the beef and stir it about. When cooked, add the broth and let simmer. After 5 minutes or so, add the sliced bell pepper. Continue to simmer until the pepper is tender but still holds it's shape.

Season with salt and pepper. Savour the new adventure in taste.

Vegetables: Love-Hate Relationship

When I was a little baby, my mother would boil and mash all sorts of vegetables and lovingly feed me. No complaints then. Like any innocent and hungry baby, I just gulped down all that goey stuff. But when I developed a taste of my own (maybe around the age of seven), I remember how my mother did everything in the book to force me to eat my vegetables. ("No dessert until you eat up all your vegetables") Except for corn-- the only vegetable I seemed to like because of its sweetness. The rest, well I had found many ingenious ways to make my mother think I had truly eaten them. I would excuse myself from the table with vegetables discreetly on the sides of my cheeks, proceed to the toilet to spit and flash it all down. If I had done too many visits to the comfort room, I would next pretend to wipe my mouth with the napkin. After the meal, I would bring my plate and napkin to the kitchen and efficiently dump the napkin's contents into the garbage can. And when we started to have dogs, disposing of my vegtables was a breeze.

Well, as I grew older, I started to crave for that certain clean and fresh taste only vegetables bring to the palate. This is so true for veggies in soups, salads and those lightly cooked using the least seasoning. Now why is that? Does age bring about the realization that eating ones vegtables do have merit? Or are we no longer the rebelious child nor the dare devil who was once not afraid of vessel-clogging steaks and chops?

+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o++o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+o+

Whatever the reason might be, there is no better time to begin enjoying your vegetables than NOW. To help you get a headstart, below is the basic cream style soup recipe and salad vinegarette that you can apply using any vegetable or a combination of vegetables.

Cream Soup- Basic
Ingredients

1 c milk
1/2 c cream
1 chicken cube dissolved in 1 cup hot water
3 T buter
1 t salt
1/4 t white pepper
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T dry sherry (optional)
1 c of any of the following boiled vegetables:

broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, lima beans, corn, green beans, squash, spinach, mushrooms, potatoes, leeks

Procedure:
• Cut up the vegetable of choice to make blending easier and quicker. Put all ingredients into the blender's pitcher or food processor. DO not overload your appliance-- make sure that the blender is only two-thirds full.
• Press the liquify button for 30 seconds. Stop motor and push down with spatula if necessary. Blend longer if smoother consistency is desired.
• Empty contents into a saucepan and heat gently (do not boil) until hot.
• Serve with some croutons and a dash of cayenne pepper. You can also sprinkle some parmasan cheese to your soup.

Note 1: If you don't have cream, you can increase the amount of milk to cover for the absence of the cream. And if you find the soup to thick, dilute with some water or milk. Correct the seasoning after each addition.

Note 2: You can also use non-fat milk for this recipe

Note 3: Use the liquid that you boiled your vegetable in for the water to disolve the chicken bouillon.
Cream of Squash Soup



Basic Vinegarette
Ingredients:
Vinegar
Olive Oil or any cooking oil
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Water

Start with a tablespoon each for the vinegar and the Oil and water. Add a teaspoon of sugar, a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix well. Adjust to your taste--- by adding more of any of the ingredients.

You may or may not heat up the vinegarette prior to adding to your favorite vegetable: carrots, salad greens, peppers, onions, tomatoes and the like.

Bitter Melon Salad (Ampalaya)



Mustard Greens Salad with Flaked Smoked Fish