Curacha al Vapor y Langosta en Salsa Especial (Steamed Curacha and Lobster in Special Sauce)

Steamed Curacha and  Lobster in a Special Sauce

When we hear or see seafood, we always think it is very expensive especially lobsters and crabs, others think it is exotic, therefore must be cook with very expensive ingredients.  Sourcing them from the local mercado or palengke or from your manong or manang suki and much better from Kuya  Mangingisda is cheaper and they even reserve to you the freshest tienda that they have. With  Kuya Mangingisda,  I do not haggle or bargain but for my sukis, I do not ask them for discounts because they always give me one being a suki.  Therefore it is best to have a suki, well if they do have the goods that you want, they always source it from other vendors too. That is the price of having a suki. Besides, you are supporting the local economy and empowering the people in your community.

However, to have the best taste,  it does not really require long cooking preparations and hard-to-find ingredients. Today, I share with you how  I prepare kinds of seafood in a very simple way and in a very quick manner but the end products taste heavenly.   I always buy my ingredients from the mercado or palengke to get the freshest stuff! 

Curacha is a kind of deep-sea crab sourced from Southern Mindanao seas but the Marine Spiky Lobster or painted Lobsters abound in the seas of the Philippines specifically in the bottoms of the coral reefs.

 INGREDIENTS: 

• Fresh curacha and  lobsters catch
• Sea rock  crystal salt

Ingredients of the Sauce

• finely chopped spring onions
• finely chopped red hot chilies, labuyo is preferred.
• finely chopped onions
• finely  chopped garlic
• soy sauce
• coconut vinegar
• finely chopped the freshly picked coriander from the garden
• a little amount of coconut sugar

The special sauce or salsa

PROCEDURES:

• Wash and clean thoroughly  the  lobsters and the curacha
• Put the seafood in a steamer but make sure the water in the steamer mix it with the coarse sea rock salt crystals.
• Steam  the seafood until they are totally red or orange in colors
• When the color of the seafood is already orange or red,  it means it is already cooked
• Remove it from the fire and let it cool.
• Once cool, you have to cut linearly in a frontal manner from head to the tail but do not include the back.
• Then arrange it on the platter.
• They mixed all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and put it next to your steamed seafood.
• But before eating, make sure to remove the shell of the lobster and curacha. then dip into the sauce before eating it.

See it was easy and fun, it will take you only less than 30 minutes to prepare your steamed seafood with a special sauce where the materials are locally available.

NOTE: Make sure that lobsters and curacha are not overcooked or else the meat of the seafood will be tough and have a rubbery texture.

Avocado Fresh Tuna and Shrimp Salad

 INGREDIENTS:

• 1  avocado, firm but ripe, hash avocado is preferred
• 1 cup of fresh tuna chunks
• 1/2 cup of blanch  shrimps, deveined,  and cut into  smaller pieces
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 small ripe tomato, minced
• sesame seeds for sprinkling

Sauce

        Mix the following until they will be blended well.

• 2 tablespoon of lime juice (kalamansi will do)
• 1 tablespoon of  olive oil (vegetable oil will do)
• 2 red hot chilies, minced.
• 1 tablespoon of  soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of white sugar
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil (will add also an aromatic flavor)

PROCEDURES:

• Cut the avocado into half and remove the seed, then feel it.
• Put the avocado into the plate and filled the avocado with the tuna chunks 
• Add on the top of the tuna,  the shrimps
• Then spread the onions and tomatoes
• Then pour on the top the sauce and sprinkle the sesame seeds
• It is good to serve it with chilled and cold pomelo and mint juice.

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Asparagus

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4  kl of shrimp, unshelled and deveined
• 1  bunch of young asparagus 
• 2  cloves of minced garlic
• 1 small onion minced
• 2 pcs of small, red  chillies minced.
• 1  finger of  ginger minced
• 2 small tomatoes, sliced thinly
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• salt to taste 
• 2  tablespoons of  sesame oil.

PROCEDURES:

• heat the wok  until it is hot and the pour the sesame oil until it is very hot
• saute the onions, then garlic ,and then ginger
• then add the chillies
• add the  shrimps and keep stirring it 
• add the tomatoes, then the  asparagus
• keep stirring it, then add the  oyster sauce , the put a half cup of water
• then add the asparagus, cover  the wok  until the asparagus will be tender
• when it is tender, add salt to taste until  to your desired saltiness
• then mixed the sugar, taste its spiciness and the sweetness  and it should be  equal but the taste of the shrimp and asparagus must be prevail from all ingredients.
• do not overcooked, make sure that the asparagus is crunchy and  the shrimp is not  rubbery in texture.
• to avoid the rubbery texture, remove immediately the shrimp  when it turns red or orange in colour.
•  it is best to serve  it with  fresh  hot, steam rice.

COCONUT HEART ( UBOD) SALTED EGG SALAD in GARLIC KALAMANSI JUICE DRESSING

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium  size boiled salted eggs ( itlog na pula or maalat), cut into dice
• 1/4 kl of coconut  heart ( ubod)  julienne cut
• 1 medium slide tomato,  slice into dice
• 1 medium size  red onion, slide thinly in a vertical manner
• 1 teaspoon of  roasted garlic
• 2 tablespoons of  calamansi juice or lemon juice 
• 2 leaves of lettuce

PROCEDURES:

• In a clean bowl, mixed  and toast all the  ingredients slowly except for  calamansi juice and roasted garlic.
• Once all the ingredient are well mix, add the calamansi juice and then sprinkle the roasted  garlic  and toast all the ingredients again.
• then  in a  serving plate, arrange the lettuce leaves in a  circular manner and then put the mixed ingredients in the middle of it.
• Then sprinkle the remaining  roasted garlic on the top. By the way, if you want it more salty, then add salt.
• Then serve it immediately to retain the crunchiness of the  coconut  heart.

CANTALOUPE KALAMANSI HONEY COFFEE

Cantaloupe Kalamansi Honey Coffee

Wanted to have a  healthy drink that boosts your immune system and also at the same time keeps you perky during the day?  Then prepare this   Cantaloupe Kalamansi Honey Coffee.

Cantaloupe Kalamansi Honey  Brewed Coffee

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 medium-size cantaloupe (honeydew melon)  peeled and cubes
• 3 tablespoons of freshly squeeze kalamansi, lemon juice will do.
• 1 tablespoon  of  instant coffee or   cap of brewed coffee
• 2 tablespoons of muscovado sugar
• 5 ice cubes

PROCEDURES:

• prepared the blender,  put the cantaloupe, then the ice cube, pour in the instant coffee or the 1 cup brewed coffee then add the sugar and lastly the kalamansi juice.
• blend  slowly the  ingredients until all the  materials are blended well, then  blend it at a higher speed for  1 minute
• pour into the class the blended ingredients and serve.
• if you opt for a warmer or hotter one, then use 2 cups of brew coffee without the ice cubes.

SPICY CLAM CURRY in COCONUT MILK SOUP

Clams are one of  best seafoods what contains a  lot of minerals and vitamins.  This cool  Holiday Seasons, this is one of the best to serve,  highly  nutritional,  economical and delicious.  To find a good quality clams in the market,  it must not very watery and smell fresh from the sea, Avoid buying it when it is  emitting a foul odor.

Spicy Clams Curry in Coconut Milk Soup

INGREDIENTS:

•              1 kilo of clams, medium size

•              1 medium size onion, cut into quarter

•              2 medium size tomatoes, cut into quarter

•              1 small, young fresh ginger, pound finely

•              4 pieces of green chilies

•              2 pieces of lemon grass, pounded and knot

•              2 tablespoon curries

•              1 cup of pure and concentrated freshly squeeze coconut milk

•              1 medium size green spring onion, cut in about an inch long

•              1 small size red bell pepper

•              salt to taste

Wine, is  recommended after having  seafoods like the clam soup after  dinner

.

You can remove the shells of the clams if you wish and if you  do not to have it in your soup.

PROCEDURES:

•              wash thoroughly the clams and drain, then set aside

•              boil two cups of water in the pot.

•             add the clams in hot boiling water, then after three minutes, when clams start to open, add the onions, tomatoes, ginger, lemon grass, curry and the coconut milk, stir gently the ingredients until it is half cook

•              then add a salt to taste

•              serve while it is hot

NOTE:  you can adjust the spiciness of your soup by adjusting the number of chilies added according to your   desire taste, either you want it hotter or less spicy.

UMI-BUDO (Sea Grapes) SEAWEEDS SALAD

Caulerpa lentillifera (sea grapes) or commonly known as Lato in the Philippines or Umi-budo in Japan is a seaweed that is edible and highly nutritious. This plant grows in the intertidal at 3 to 5 meters from the surface of the sea. This highly nutritional value seaweed usually grows wild but now this is a promising mariculture farming business. Though considered an exotic food to many, this a good substitute for other sources of food that contains the needed magnesium, calcium and iodine. In fact, this recommended for people having goiter.

Below, I will be sharing to you the simple preparation of  the  Umi-budo (Seagrapes) Salad.

INGREDIENTS:

·         1/4 kilo of Seagrapes or Lato

·         1 medium size Onion , thinly slice in  cubes

·         1 medium size tomato, thinly slice in cubes

·         1 small, young fresh ginger, thinly slice in cubes

·         kalamansi or lemon juice, freshly   squeeze

·         salt to taste

PROCEDURES:

·         wash thoroughly the  seagrapes and  drain well, cut them into bite size

·         mix all the remaining ingredients well until the salt is melted

·         put  in a dry, clean  serving plate the  cleaned, drained  seagrapes

·         then add all the mixed ingredients, slowly   it with the seaweeds

·     the  serve it   immediately  in  preparing this salad with other   recipes for the meal, it is  advisable to prepare this one last.

·         enjoy your  lato, umi-budo or seaweed salad.