a continuation…

April 3, Day 7 of COVID Quarantine Lock Down…

After finishing that Crash Landing series I needed to give it a rest. No movie today, because today I’m going to do some productive stuff around the house. First stop cleaning the man cave, then the cars, then the garden and then the pantry/kitchen.

The man cave got a bit tidier but not what I had in mind. Well I started moving stuff, then I saw my action figures and so I started playing with some, fixing their poses and moving them from cabinet to cabinet. Have almost forgotten how much I actually have in my collection. Next thing you know i have already spent almost 3 hours in there with no cleaning progress. The display I must admit looks amazing…

Now you see that is just one wall. So spending all those hours really threw me off my suppose to be schedule for the day. Siri change my calendar… Which means the cars did not get done, again. The garden is going to look like the amazon pretty soon. And my only saving grace today would be to clean the kitchen and pantry then have time to cook something nice depending on what I find. Lucky that after wasting a bit of time, I still had more time to spare really thanks to being in lock down. But still the cars and the garden will be done tomorrow.

One thing about this lock down that I figured is a plus for everyone, is the fact that it took away that busy schedule we all once had. The last time I was actually inside this room was about 9 months ago, hence all the pile of shit everywhere. If everyone would really think about it and take advantage of all this spare time we all of a sudden have. Then coming out of lock down would be like re-spawning fresh from Call of Duty. Everything done, everything in order, no back logs with things to be done around the house etc. All personal stuff taken cared of. Just like me, all of a sudden I have all the time in the world to try things and write things on my blog page. I will try to finish all the other series that I have started but left push aside because the normal times did not really permit it.

Ok now back to getting the kitchen and pantry organised. Bits and pieces got condensed and combined. Some stuff got tossed out, others went in to the use first pile. I have to remember to use them first. Then there was the fridge and the freezer, that was like one of those storage containers forgotten about in the tv shows. They were a mix bag of all sorts, good sorts, you had marinated meats and cold cuts of all sorts, packets of veggies and cheese, chips, pies and nuggets. They got organised then I found some half used portions of fish, some calamari from i think a month ago and some crabmeat in cry vac that was meant to be for competition. Well although they are in the freezer I still better think of a way to use them now.

I’m going to make Fish Balls (seafood balls) with Manong’s Sauce (manong meaning old man in tagalog). Fish Balls is a staple street food in the Philippines. In one of my other series called “Seven Thousand One Hundred Islands”, filipino street food will be a topic too because of the uniqueness of it compared to other places i have been to. So fishballs are very versatile you could use them for soups, stir fries, and many other dishes. The end product we are going to do today will be deep fried with a side sauce that is sweet and spicy.

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Fish Balls with Manong’s Sauce

1 kg Squid Tubes (blanched for 8 minutes)

1 kg White Fish (I used Hoki Fillets, poached for 5 minutes)

500 gms Cooked Crab Meat

8 cloves Garlic (chopped)

1 small Ginger

2 stems Celery (including the leaves, chopped)

1 pc Carrot (chopped)

4 pcs Spring Onions

1 cup (180gms) All Purpose Flour

2 cups (260gms) Corn Flour

2 TBSP (30gms) Salt

1 TBSP (14gms) Lemon Pepper

1 TBSP (12gms) Crack Black Pepper

2 TBSP (20gms) Onion Powder

2 tsp (10 gms) Ginger Powder

3 TBSP (45mls) Sesame Oil

2 TBSP (30mls) Fish Sauce

STEP 1 – Combine all ingredients and divide into 3 part. In a food processor blend divided ingredients till very very smooth, then combine in a big bowl.

STEP 2 – Lightly knead the mixture just to bring them all together evenly and form into a big ball. Lightly oil it and set aside in the fridge for 1 hour.

*use this time to clean up and get a pot of boiling salt water ready.

STEP 3 – Divide mixture in to evenly desired size (I weighed mine at 40gms each and got about 75 portions). Roll into a tight ball then drop in pot of boiling salt water. When they start to float to the top you know they are ready.

STEP 4 – Cool down balls and then dust with a mixture of flour and corn flour.

STEP 5 – Deep fry till golden.

For the sauce:

STEP 1 – In a sauce pan put 3 cups of water, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 TBSP salt, 1 TBSP pepper, stir well till sugar is dissolved and bring to a boil.

STEP 2 – Add 1 red chilli chopped fine, 5 cloves garlic chopped fine, 1 red onion chopped fine.

STEP 3 – Thicken mixture with 2 TBSP corn flour dissolved in water.

*better not be caught double dipping in the sauce!!!

Happy Cooking and always remember to cook with your heart…