Fresh Fruit and a Quick Salad Dressing

My daughters and I have been cooking and baking some sweet goodies for desserts recently. Since we have a lot of fresh fruits available, we've been preparing fruit salad quite regularly.

Actually, we use just about any fruit available- buko (young coconut meat), avocado, pineapple, papaya, banana, etc. When we want more, we sometimes use canned fruit cocktail and add some nata de coco. We just simply mix them up with this quick fruit salad dressing:
All purpose cream and condensed milk mix completely at the ratio of 1:1/2 respectively.

This fruit salad dressing us best used chilled, but just in case your cream just came right from the grocery store, you may mix the salad dressing with the fresh fruits and chill it up before serving.

The fruit salad dressing actually is versatile. you can use it for a lot of other dessert recipes. I personally use the same cream for my Mango Float, Mango and Nata de Coco Delight, and just about anything I can think of for dessert that requires a sweet cream dressing.

Boneless Pata Tim

While browsing over my numerous copies of my favorite Food Magazine, I came across this recipe - Boneless Pata Tim.

While I have already been cooking the regular Pata Tim recipe also from Food Magazine, this boneless version is one that I still have to try in my kitchen. But with the reputation of Food Magazine as one who'll try cooking first any recipe before they feature it, I'm certain that this one would be another excellent one.

Here's the recipe for the BONELESS PATA TIM. This will serve 6.

Ingredients:
1 Pork front leg (pata)
8 cups water
¼ cup Minced garlic, divided
1 medium Onion, sliced, divided
1 tbsp. Peppercorns, divided
1 tsp Salt, divided
¼ cup Soy sauce
¼ cup Cooking oil
3 tbsps sugar
3 tbsps Oyster sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
1 tbsp. Cornstarch dissolved in
¼ cup water

For the Vegetable:
1 tbsp. Vegetable oil
1 medium White onion, sliced
1 medium Carrot, sliced
1 small Bokchoy, sliced

Directions:
1. In a pot, put the pork leg (pata) in water with half of garlic, onions and peppercorns, and salt. Bring to boil. Simmer under low heat for one hour or until pork is tender.
2. Drain pata from the liquid. Set aside liquid.
3. Run a knife inside the pata to loosen the meat from the bone. Discard the bone.
4. Brush pata with soy sauce.
5. In a skillet, heat cooking oil to medium high and fry the pata until golden brown. About 3 minutes on each side.
6. Pour in reserved liquid and add remaining garlic, onions, peppercorns and salt.
7. Stir in sugar, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Simmer over low heat until stock reduces in half. Add dissolved cornstarch in water and bring to boil until sauce thickens slightly. Set aside.
8. Cook the vegetables. In a skillet, heat oil and stir fry onions, carrots and bokchoy about 3 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.
9. Serve pata tim with vegetables on the side.


Source: Food Magazine, March 2007

Enjoy cooking and eating!

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Pata Tim

Pata Tim! It's one of those oriental dishes that makes me salivate.Hmmmm...

Long before I stumbled on the perfect Pata Tim recipe I'm about to share with you today (thanks to FOOD magazine!), I thought, whenever I eat this dish in restaurants, that it is probably difficult to prepare. But lo and behold! When I tried preparing this recipe, I found out, it's not difficult at all!

I'll tell you my little cooking secret.

Pata Tim is actually prepared in 4 stages. But I discovered based on my own experience that I can do it one stage at a time according to my convenient schedule.

So, let me give you the recipe and I'll insert my own cooking tips as I go along with the cooking procedure.

PATA TIM

Ingredients:
1 front pata, about 1 kilo
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. ginger extract
2 stems spring onions, chopped
oil for cooking
2 cups water
1 beef broth cube
1 tbsp. rice wine
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. sesame oil

For the veggies-
1/2 cup butter
chinese pechay, sliced
carrot, cut into your desired design
red bell pepper, sliced
spring onions, sliced

Procedure:
1. Combine soy sauce, ginger extract and spring onions. Rub them on to the pata. Let stand at least for 1 hour.

Cooking Tip: You can do this the night before you plan to cook the Pata Tim.

2. In a wok, fry the pata in hot cooking oil until brown. When done, remove pata from wok and transfer it to a pressure cooker.

Beware: Do not overcook the pata to the point that the meat is already falling off from the bone. Keep it intact yet tender!

Cooking Tip: If you wish to stop here and continue for later, you can do so.

3. Pressure cook your fried pata in 2 cups of water, beef broth cube and rice wine. Cook until the meat is tender. Transfer the pata to a platter and reserve the sauce.

Cooking Tip: In many instances, this is actually the stage where I often "park" my cooking, and wait until we are about to serve the meal before I continue. That way, I always serve my Pata Tim hot, and the vegetables are not overcooked.

4. Dissolve cornstarch in the 1/2 cup water. Add to the reserved sauce of the cooked pata.

5. In a separate pan, combine sugar and sesame oil and heat until sugar is dissolved. Add to the cornstarch mixture. Heat in a saucepan, stirring constantly until smooth and thick.

6. Pour sauce over pata before serving.

7. Cook the vegetables. Stir fry the vegetables over heated butter. Put the carrots first followed by bell pepper, pechay and then the spring onions. Serve as side dish to the Pata Tim.

Cooking Tip: I like serving the vegetables laid underneath the pata and on the sides of the serving plate. Choose a nice serving dish. It would make your Pata Tim look more palatable!

Wheeew! Just sharing this with you makes me crave for Pata Tim!

This recipe yields 6 servings.