Oxtail Soup

This is a Filipino recipe that I grew up with. It's really good for good evening.

Ingredients 

• 2 lbs - 3 lbs oxtail
• can of diced tomatoes
• tamarind soup base mix 
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash and rinse 2 lbs - 3 lbs of oxtail. Place the oxtail in a pressure cooker pot.	Fill the pot with water until the oxtail is all covered.
Bring the water to a boil. A meat foam will form on top. This foam will need to be skimmed off.	After the foam has been skimmed off...
Place the cover of the pressure cooker and lock into place. ****USING A PRESSURE COOKER IS DANGEROUS, DO NOT USE IF YOU HAVE NEVER USED OR DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE A PRESSURE COOKER****	I set the pressure cooker to 15 lbs of pressure and cooked under pressure for 45 minutes. ****USING A PRESSURE COOKER IS DANGEROUS, AS AN ALTERNATIVE, YOU CAN USE A REGULAR POT AND COOK FOR 3 TO 4 HOURS OR UNTIL THE OXTAIL IS FORK TENDER***
After 45 minutes, turn off the heat to the pressure cooker. Wait until the pot is no longer pressurized before opening it. The oxtail should be fork tender. ****OPENING THE PRESSURE COOKER BEFORE THE POT IS DE-PRESURIZED IS DANGEROUS AND WILL CAUSE SERIOUS HARM OR WORSE****	Add water to the pot to cover the meat.
Add a can of diced tomatoes...	Bring the soup to a boil...
This is tamarind soup base. It gives a sour/tart flavor. A more popular brand of this is Knorr brand.	Add salt and pepper to your desired taste. Add the tamarind soup base mix, 1 tsp at a time. Mix the soup and taste the soup. If desired add another tsp of soup base. Taste the soup again. Continue to add soup base until reached desired taste, tasting the soup each time.
Add one head of chopped cabbage.	Bring the soup back to a boil. Boil until cabbage is just soft. For a lack of a better word, until the cabbage is al dente.
The soup is great for a cold night. Very tasty, meaty and sour soup. And the meat is tasty and soft.

Crispy Pata

We use to cook this a lot when we were growing up but I haven't made it in years. I love this, especially the crispiness of it.  This dish is a staple and very popular at Filipino gatherings.

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IT'S VERY DANGEROUS PROCESS TO COOK THIS CAUSE OF THE WATER AND HOT OIL. ONLY COOK THIS DISH IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE DANGER IN THE PROCESS AND ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR POSSIBLE DAMAGE AND HARM IT MAY CAUSE.
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Ingredients 

• pork hock
• onions
• salt & pepper
• oil for cooking

I took pork hock and boiled it for about two hours to soften it. I boiled it with some onions, salt and pepper added to the water. After boiling it, I let it cool.

Fill a tall pot, I used a pasta pot, ⅓ full with a high smoke point oil such a peanut or avocado oil. Slowly place the cooled pork hock a few pieces at a time into the oil. Be prepared to quickly cover the pot. Since the pork was boiled it will have water in it and will cause the oil to splash, take precaution to prevent from getting burn by the oil. The splashing oil can also cause fires if it lands on an electric burner or the flames of a gas stove. ************************************************** THIS IS A DANGEROUS COOKING PROCESS, ALL PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN, ONLY PERFORM THIS IF YOU UNDERSTAND AND ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR POSSIBLE DAMAGE OR HARM IT MAY CAUSE **************************************************

To make the pork hock really crispy, take a spray bottle and set to spray, not stream, lid the pot cover a crack and spray water into the oil. This will call the pork, especially the skin to cook really crispy. ***VERY DANGEROUS*** ************************************************** THIS IS AN EVEN MORE DANGEROUS COOKING PROCESS, ALL PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN, ONLY PERFORM THIS IF YOU UNDERSTAND AND ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR POSSIBLE DAMAGE OR HARM IT MAY CAUSE **************************************************

After the pork hock has cooked, place on paper towels on top of a cooling rack to cool. Then cut into pieces and serve.

Pancit (Filipino Noodle Dish)

This is one of my favorite dish, can never get enough of this! Please don't ask me for amounts to use of each ingredient cause this is one of those dishes that you learn with practice. This is also one of those dishes that I can't make in small batches, I don't know how to. I learned how to make this in batches like this or larger when my dad made it for family get together or parties, and when I try to make it in smaller batches it just doesn't work for me, hahahaha. My wife says I need to learn my fractions again LOL.

Ingredients 

• Chinese sausage
• side pork or pork belly
• shrimp
• carrots
• cabbage
• onions
• garlic
• oyster sauce
• soy sauce
• Achuete (annatto) powder
• broth (beef, chicken or vegetable)
• Bihon noodle (rice noodles)
• Canton noodles (flour noodles - yellow)
• salt and pepper

This is a package of Chinese sausage, we usually find it at an Asian store.	This is what the Chinese sausage looks like
Cut up the chinese sausage	We used side pork or pork belly for our pancit
Cut the pork into slices...	then cut the slices...
Peel and cut your carrots. We cut it a little fancy this time but we usually don't.	Peel and clean shrimp. You don't have to get really large shrimp since they will be cut up anyways, we used size 25-31.
Cut up the shrimp	We use a wok for cooking but you can use a regular pot. Brown the pork then add the onions.
When the onions have sweated a bit, mix them with the pork then add the garlic.	When the garlic has browned, mix then add the Chinese sausage
Mix in the Chinese sausage then add the shrimp	When the shrimp has turned pick mix with the rest of the ingredients then add salt, pepper, oyster sauce and soy sauce.
This is a package of Achuete (annatto) powder	Next add annatto powder, for color and flavor
Add the carrots...	Add chopped cabbage...
Mix all the ingredients together...	Add broth, you can use chicken, beef or vegetable broth, I used chicken here. It's what we had available.
Bring to a boil. Taste the liquid for season, add seasoning as necessary	We use two kinds of noodles for our pancit. This is Bihon noodle or rice noodles.
This is Pancit Canton noodles or flour noodle (yellow color). We use the Excellent brand for our pancit. We've used it for years and it's always had the best results but there are other brands available.	We recommend that you place a fourth to half of the liquid in a sauce pan and put in low heat in another burner to keep it warm. This will ensure that you don't have too much liquid and can add the liquid back as needed. Put in the package of rice noodles (bihon). Mix the noodles in with the ingredients. Add the liquid from the sauce pan if needed to cook the noodles.
We usually use half the package of the flour noodles (canton). Mix the flour noodles in, again adding liquid as needed. You want the noodles to be soft and not crunchy but not soggy.	Mix until both noodles and the other ingredients are evenly distributed then you're done. Ready to serve.

Lumpia (Filipino Egg Roll)

Lumpia is a staple at Filipino parties and gatherings.  It can be used as an appetizer or as part of the main meal. As with a lot of Filipino recipes, there's usually no measurements. You just get to know, with practice, but for the purpose of a basis to start with, I weighed the ingredients. I used 6 ounces of shrimp, 12 ounces of lean ground pork, and 3 ounces of pork back fat. The garlic, carrots, celery and onions, I used what's pictured. As for the oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper you will have to suit it to your taste and experiment. Like I said it just comes with practice.

Ingredients 

• lean ground pork
• shrimp
• pork back fat
• garlic
• carrots
• celery
• onions
• oyster sauce
• salt & pepper

Ingredients	Dice the garlic, carrots, celery, onion in a food processor
Add the pork back fat and run the processor again. I'm adding the pork back fat to give it a little fat since I'm using lean ground pork	Add the shrimp and run the processor
In a bowl, put the ground pork and add salt and pepper	Add soy sauce and oyster sauce
Add the mixture from the food processor	Mix until it is all combined together
This is the wrapper that I'll be using	Take a sheet of the wrapper and lay on a flat surface
Put 2 to 3 spoons of the meat mixture on the wrapper	Fold the wrapper over the meat
Flatten the wrapper on both sides of the meat	Roll the meat over onto the wrapper
Fold both sides over on top of the meat	Roll the meat over again
I cut a couple of inches of the wrapper off so that the wrapping on the meat won't be too thick	Roll the wrapper over and seal with egg wash
In a pan, heat up oil and place a few pieces of lumpia at a time into the oil	Flip the lumpia over when the bottom has turned golden brown
When both sides golden brown, removed and drain oil. Place on paper towel to absorb the oil	When both sides golden brown, removed and drain oil. Place on paper towel to absorb the oil