Eggsperiment

Dubai. Where tap water is scalding hot.

Its noon and the sun is at its peak of heat. I opened the tap for some reason, "shit! init ng tubig." And i told myself, I bet water this hot could cook an egg... Ding! and an eggsperiment popped into my head.

Challenge:
Cook raw egg under hot water tap for 30mins.

Prize:
Food for lunch

Cool, eggs here comes with expiration dates. My nanay taught me that fresh eggs should still be with that grainy texture, old eggs are the ones with a smooth shell. But here in Dubai, you just do math! count the days before the expiration date! (like thats easy)

After having the brilliant idea of cooking egg under the tap and mainly because I hadn't had lunch yet, I started the eggsperiment.

I placed the egg in a bowl and put it under the tap.
I never let the water flow for 30mins, I just replace the water in the bowl every 3 - 5 mins. Did this process until I made my 30minute mark.

Tada! 30 minutes is up and at that point I was spining the egg to see if its hardboiled. It was spinning good, but that won't be the test to see if the eggsperiment is a succes. We need to crack... the egg.

The result: uncooked egg

Conclusion: 30 minutes is not enough to cook an egg if water is not extremely hot.

The prize? well, I can't eat an egg raw. So, I made it into..... (see following pic)


Fried egg sandwich with tomatoes on toast bread






















Yumm

Lumpiang Tofu

Being vegetarian (for 5 years now) its refreshing to think that what you are eating is good and healthy. More than the positive effect of this thinking, you'll feel the effect of not eating meat, like feeling lighter and cooler, not feeling heavy after having a good meal and easier bowel movement (yakers). I would advice this diet to people who are concerned with their health and for the desperate ones who want to lose weight, this could be a healthier alternative to killer diets like starvation and the ones that makes you eat only high protein food which is meat.

For my food entry this time, I made "Lumpiang shanghai". It's good for packed lunch, since its easy to cook if you have prepared it beforehand. And another reason why I chose this recipe, is because of those gazilion birthday parties we attend to when we were still little. In those parties its always a routine having small hotdogs on toothpicks with little pineapples and marshmallow that always spoils the glory of eating hotdog on its own, sweet spaghetti with tasty bread that serves as napkin for your mouth as well, mocha cake from goldilocks, and then, the lumpiang shanghai that hardens like a twig when it gets cold.

Ok, here's how it goes. Same procedure as to making it T-rex style, saute the meat with spices, let it cook, cool it down then wrap them in lumpia wrappers, fry/soak in hot oil until cooked and yummy brown.

For this recipe we will substitute ground meat with our ever-handy, ever-versatile tofu. First, mash the tofu, (use your hands, its fun. let it ooze out of your fingers) mash it good. then saute tofu in a pan with a little oil. Saute until light brown. This may take a while, so find some other things to do... like pillow fight! When tofu is light brown, put aside and saute garlic, onions and some chili (you could explore and add a little curry powder). When onions and garlic are ready, add the ground tofu, let it cook a bit, settling the flavors to the tofu. Don't forget to keep mixing or else the tofu underneath will burn. 10 to 15 minutes of cooking would do. Remove from flame and let it cool.

Wrap, fry, strain excess oil. Best served in a birthday party.

Pininyahang gulay

Inspired from pininyahang manok which my amore truly misses. We call it "pininyahang manok" but it is actually "pininyahang veggy meat". As our friends know, we both are vegetarians (Pescetarians, to be specific) According to wiki, Pescetarianism is a diet in which the only animals consumed are fish or other seafood. So, this veggy meat, and this kind we have is called "magic meat". Probably derived from its magical properties to became meat like from a dehydrated from after being soaked in water (pineapple juice, in this recipe). I think its made from wheat and corn fibers, maybe thats why it has fibrous properties.

After consulting to various pinoy blogs on how to cook "Pininyahang manok" old-school and t-rex style, I gathered the ingredients:



INGREDIENTS/SAHOG:

Potatoes (3 medium sized pieces - cut into quarters)

Carrots (1 medium sized piece - cut into smaller units than of the potatoes)

Onions (1 whole)

Garlic (a few cloves)

1 can pineapple chunks (put aside juice/preservatives to soak the veggy meat into - if your using chicken, dump the meat into the juice to marinate)

Half serving of instant coconut milk (Forgot the brand, but I remember its imported from sri lanka- you could use the real thing or the coconut king instant mix would be alright)

half cup milk (evaporated or fresh milk)

A few pieces of veggy meat (this thing expands like your belly when soaked)

Dried chili flakes
(like the ones in sbarro pizza where you could hoard when you do your take outs)

Ground pepper

And, lets start cooking. Saute the garlic & onion in oil(very standard to filipino dishes as I had observed) till garlic is light brown and onion a little transparent and soft. Add in dried chili, its better to cook chili at the first stage of cooking so that the juice blends well with the oil(base) of the food. Add in carrots and potatoes since they would take more time to cook. If you' re using chicken meat, cook the meat first then put aside when its nearing half-cook state. Take your time cooking the vegetables, then, bring in the meat, let it cook a bit then add your coconut milk and evaporated milk. I read that to avoid curdling of the coconut milk, just don't cover the pot or pan when cooking. Then add your pineapples, it will juice out so you don't have to add water for "sabaw". Add patis to taste. Serve and sprinkle in pepper.

Serves 3-5. So, we had this for dinner and brunch the next day with our kaning lamig.