Chicken Lollipop

You must be getting bored with your usual fried chicken dish. If you had enough of the fried, buttered or garlic chicken you often see in your parties, Chicken Lollipop is a good alternate.

Combine ground chicken meat, spices, chopped onion, chopped carrots, egg, salt and pepper, make a ball out of it, roll it on the bread crumbs and put a lollipop stick while elongating its shape.

This is best for children's party and good to serve for cocktails.

Embutido

It is the time of the year again when your strict food diet is temporarily put on the side. As a blog special for this Yuletide Season, I will be posting different Filipino dishes as often as I can to help you decide what to prepare for your holiday get together and parties. For those abroad, this is to remind you of the Christmas Celebration here in Philippines that you surely miss.

Let me present to you Embutido as my first special offer. Embutido is a traditional Filipino style meatloaf, wrapped in an aluminum foil and steamed. There are so many ingredients needed and preparation time to make this recipe, but once it is prepared and cooked it can be stored and freeze, it is the perfect dish for those unexpected guests.

I love my embutido fried, but it is also good freshly steamed.

You can also sell Embutido as sideline for additional income.

There are many recipes available on-line on making Embutido, the one from Panlasang Pinoy is highly recommended.

Foodie Critique: NATIONAL SPORTS GRILL

Whenever I go and visit the Metro in Luzon, I always make sure to holler my friends and most often than not, we usually meet at Greenbelt in Makati for their workplaces are around the area. During one of my visits, we tried a Sports Bar called National Sports Grill.

Said to be a first international sports bar to blend dining and sports together, their portions are big, and meant to be shared. National Sports Grill is the restaurant for the sports aficionado meets food connoisseur. You can watch NBA, UAAP, F1, UFC and other sports while enjoying good food.Their prices might be quite high but the serving and quality is very reasonable for the price tag.

 

During our visit, we had a taste of their Chicken Caesar Augusta - a grilled chicken breast on top of romaine lettuce and garlic croutons with their famous Caesar dressing, garnished with grated parmesan cheese and tomato wedges. For the main course, KARATE CHOPS were ordered, made up of two grilled pork chops marinated in teriyaki sauce that comes with a serve of rice, coleslaw, buttered corn, a fruit of the season and BBQ sauce.

I should make mention of a National Sports Grill must-try appetizer - "Chickie-Baby" Quesadilla composed of blackened chicken with jalapeno cheese and Pico de Gallo in a large grilled wheat tortilla, served with guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

 Chicken Caesar Augusta

 Karate Chops

 
Try them out. Do not forget to order their burgers too. You can find one of their branches at 3/F Greenbelt 3, Paseo de Roxas Ayala Center, Makati.

OK Mang!

I know you are craving for this. The Okra-Kamatis-Mangga Combo, is one combination most of our kababayans missed. Paired with diced ginger and onion on a cane vinegar, this sure is a hit appetizer. Another dip that is best for OK Mang is bagoong with kalamansi. Now, just the thought of it makes me salivate.

Camote Fries

 

Many Filipinos love to eat fast food bought French Fries but a few knows that an inexpensive local crop can be a good substitute to it. Filipinos are known rice eaters. A time came when a higher percentage for demand on rice is being imported, the government adviced the people to look for other alternatives, Camote as one. 

Camote is one healthy crop that we often disregard. It is an energy food because of its carbohydrate contents, high in dietary fiber and low fat content, an effective detoxifying agent and more. 

To be make it more appealing especially for children, you can have a deliciously made Camote Fries.

FRUIT TOPPED CAKE

Nothing beats a home-made meal, more a home-made cake. On one of our Friday Pig-out, our host, a Pastry Chef on a Cruise Ship made us this delectable sponge cake coated with an off-the-rack cream and topped with citruses. You barely see cakes like this on market.

Chills at Bo's Coffee

Bo's Coffee found another home at SM General Santos City. Located at the ground floor right at the entrance from the Al Fresco Strip.

Leche ala Petite

Foodventures: Quail Siomai

Was amazed with this special Siomai being sold on one of the food stalls of SM Cebu. It is not your usual ordinary siomai. It has quail egg as its filling.

Foodie Critique: Coco's South Bistro

I have been dining at Coco's South Bistro for quiet some time since it occupied the space a fast food chain left years ago. Been also trying to finish a post about the place with a tag line: "Food for the Soul; Wine for the Spirit" for months now but its just today that I finally hit the publish tab. Here's  Foodimps take to one of Gensan's must visit food haven.

AMBIANCE. If you want a peaceful dining experience, Coco's as everyone fondly call it, is one of the restaurants in General Santos City that can offer you that. Though situated at the corner of a very busy street, a warm and calm atmosphere will welcome its guest upon entering the place. Its dining tables are strategically spaced to give its customers its due privacy. Coco's diners who want to relax and dine, may choose the table with an upholstered sofa like chair with a clear view of the busy street where they can do people watching. Those who come in big groups, can have their tables set to comfortably occupy the group. They also have an available room for private meetings and the likes. The Flat screen televisions mounted on its wall showing either a basketball game or Food Channel is also a staple at Coco's. I find the totality of its interior a mediocre. So I give its ambiance a rating of 2 and a half stars, 5 as the highest.

 

2 of Coco's Bestsellers: Citrus n' Herbs & Cajun Shrimp & Corn Chowder

FOOD. I totally do not care about the ambiance. What keeps me from going back to Coco's is their food. On my first visit, I fell in love with their Cajun Shrimp & Corn Chowder. The thickness of the soup is consistent plus it has an extra kick because of its spiciness. My every visit to Coco's became a gastronomic adventure, every visit means a different order from the menu. I have tried their burgers, pizzas, steaks and vegetable salads which impressed my taste buds. On a hot day, I usually crave for their Citrus n Herb Drink, which I highly recommend. Dining at Coco's may not be a good idea for our frugal friends, what is worth noted is the generous serving they provide for each meal. A hundred something Buffalo Chicken Salad can be shared by maximum of four persons, while one of their best sellers, Bistro Chicken can be shared by two. Simply talking about these food makes me drool, thus I am giving the place 4 stars for their food. Still giving them a room for improvement.

SERVICE. Aside from food, what makes me go back to a dining place is their service and Coco's gave me a good first impression with its attentive and courteous staffs. Once you are settled on your preferred table, the staff would be give the menu and will patiently wait for your order. Make sure to ask them, how many minutes will it take for your food to be ready though, they seem to fail on that part (informing you to wait for how long). Since they serve you freshly cooked food, get ready to wait for ten minutes or more, since some dishes takes time to cook. For that, I give them a 3.

OTHERS. Coco's South Bistro has an exclusive parking lot that can accommodate up to 25 vehicles. If you properly position yourself in a table with visible view of where you parked, you can have a clear view of your precious car. Plus, its parking lot is well lighted. Or you can always use the parking lot of the neighboring mall. I give Coco's 3 for their Parking Space.

I always been particular with comfort rooms especially of dining places. Coco's and all other dining place should at all times maintain a dry, clean and good smelling comfort room. A dirty CR can shoo customers away. I am not totally impressed with the design of Coco's comfort station. I find it's space narrow and tight. They keep it clean though, so I still give them a 2.

Coco's South Bistro is located at Jose Catolico Avenue. For queries and reservation, you may call them at: 552-800.

FOODIE XPRMNT - Quial Egg in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Good thing about TV cooking show, you can really get something good out of it. Aside from making you salivate most of time, there is actually learning from it phenomenon.

On the eve of New Year 2012, Papa decided to make his own version of Quial Egg in Sweet and Sour Sauce. It is so easy, you can have you toddlers make it (a bit of exaggeration there). Here is a dish where those small quail eggs are the main STAR and not just an add-on or a garnishing.

Simple ingredients, easy procedure, quick fix on any special occasion or anytime of the year. Making its special for the new year, is the round shape of the quail egg making it as tradition says, LUCKY! Very timely for the upcoming Chinese New Year in this year of the Water Dragon!

Quail Egg in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Here are the ingredients:

Quail eggs

Cooking Oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce (You can make sweet and sour sauce from scratch)

Garlic

Onion

Carrots

Bell pepper (red/green)

Here’s how:

1.      Boil the quail eggs first.

2.      Unshell the boiled eggs. Deep fry them after. Let it stand while you make the sweet and sour sauce.

3.      Sautee garlic and onion. Add the carrots and bell peppers.

4.      Add the ready mixture of sweet and sour sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer.

5.      Toss the quail eggs on the mixture.

6.       Serve while hot!