Tag Archives: recipes

Crab Fried Rice

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The husband has been bugging me to make Crab Fried Rice and I thought I’ll share with you my quick and easy recipe.

You will need:

  • 1 1/2 cup day-old cooked rice
  • 1 cup cooked crab meat
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tbsp Fish sauce or Patismansi (fish sauce with Philippine Lemon)
  • 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic
  • 1/4 cup chopped spring onions & carrots (optional)
  • pepper to taste
  • canola or olive oil

Use rice that’s been cooked ahead instead of newly cooked steaming hot rice from the rice cooker which will yield a mushy fried rice. The drier rice will yield a fluffy fried rice.

Most crab meat from the grocery are pre-cooked but taste it to determine how much fish sauce you will need later. Using a very hot wok or pan, pour oil and sauté the garlic and crab meat quickly. Right before I add in the rice, quickly stir in the carrots, half of the fish sauce and pepper  for a few seconds. If you’re in the Philippines or have a Filipino or oriental store nearby, try to find Patismansi. It has a better taste than ordinary fish sauce.

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Add in the rice and stir. Make room at the side of the wok to scramble the egg (chefs do it in the middle of the wok. I can’t seem to do that trick + I’m not a chef , tee hee!).  Add a drizzle of oil and crack the egg. Scramble the egg and slowly incorporate the egg to the fried rice. Work your way from the outside and gradually stir in some rice. The first time I did this, I incorporated the egg altogether with the rice even if it was not well scrambled. It was a disaster! If you don’t feel comfortable doing this trick, you can always scramble the egg separately and add it in the fried rice.

Add the remaining fish sauce and season with pepper to taste.  Turn off heat and stir in the green onions. You may garnish with a few more spring onions or cilantro leaves.

Super quick and easy Crab Fried Rice.

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Valentine Chocolate Lollipops

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Here’s another easy Valentine’s activity you can do with your kids. We made these heart lollipops yesterday morning and my daughter enjoyed it a lot. Of course she did! She kept tasting the chocolates, saying “I want to taste if it’s sweet”. Now what do you make of that?

On to the lollipops.

You will need:

  • heart lollipop mold
  • chocolate chips or any good quality chocolate bar
  • heart sprinkles
  • lollipop sticks
  • small treat bags
  • curling ribbons

Procedure:

  1. Melt and temper the chocolates in a stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water. It’s important to properly melt and temper the chocolates because they become crisp, shiny and easy to unmold. Click here and learn how to temper chocolates properly.

2. Put lollipop sticks into the mold.

3. Put melted chocolate in a piping bag or you can just use a spoon like what I did. I’m not making a lot of lollipops so the spoon works just fine. However, using the piping bag would really make your work faster if you’re planning to make a lot of lollipops.

4. Spoon melted chocolate into the mold. Put a little bit of chocolate to cover the stick.

5. Don’t forget to temper your chocolates when necessary. Otherwise it won’t come out of the mold.

6. Tap the molds slowly to smoothen the surface and to release any bubbles.

7. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

8. Release the lollipops from the mold by turning it upside down. You shouldn’t have any problems as it will come out easily or you can pull the stick.

8. This is optional but my daughter insisted we add some heart sprinkles to the chocolate lollipops. This is the fun part for her :) As soon as your chocolates come out of the mold, brush a little bit of melted chocolate in the center of the heart and let your child sprinkle hearts on it. I just allowed my daughter to sprinkle all to her hearts content, haha! Oh how she loved it!

9. You can put this in little treat bags and put curling ribbons on it.

There you have your cute little Valentine’s treat. Spread the love this Valentine’s Day by making and giving these cute little heart chocolate lollipops with your kids.

 

 

 

Homemade Mozzarella Sticks

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I have to be honest. I am not much of a steak or soup girl (except tomato soup which I really love) but I am definitely an appetizer girl. One of my all-time favorites is Mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce. The picture above doesn’t really do justice but this is ooey gooey mozzarella sticks that’s so easy to make.

Ingredients for Mozzarella Sticks:

  • canola oil for deep-frying
  • fresh mozzarella or you can use bocconcini (then you will have Mozzarella balls :) )
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cup panko
  • salt and pepper

Ingredients for Marinara Sauce:

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 cup whole peeled tomatoes
  • 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon sweet basil, finely chopped
  • salt and pepper
Procedure:
To make the Marinara Sauce:
  1. In a saucepan, heat olive oil and sauté the onions until they sweat. I usually add just a pinch of salt to the onions.
  2. Saute the garlic just for a few minutes.
  3. Add the whole tomatoes with their juices and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Add the chopped basil right before turning off the heat. Set aside.
To make the Fried Mozzarella Sticks:
  1. If you’re using Bocconcini, drain the liquid and pat dry.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together milk and eggs.
  3. In separate bowls, prepare the all-purpose flour and panko/bread crumbs. Season the panko with salt and pepper.
  4. Roll the cheese on the all-purpose flour.
  5. Dip the cheese on the egg mixture.
  6. Coat it with the panko, shaking off excess.
  7. Repeat this process for every piece of cheese.
  8. Deep fry the cheese for a few seconds. Be very careful when frying as the mozzarella may easily ooze out like what happened to some of my sticks :)
There you have this ooey gooey mozzarella sticks that’s just perfect paired with the marinara sauce. Best of all, it’s homemade!