New Year Brunch

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I was craving good ol' Filipino food today. I just needed some rice and ulam (what we call any dish we eat with rice). I appointed today as Get Rid of Stuff in the Fridge Day, most specifically the bag of Brussels sprouts I had been planning on cooking for a while, the black tree fungus that I was going to throw in the Christmas dinner stir-fry that I had forgotten about and had been soaking in the fridge since, and a half can of puso ng saging, banana heart or banana blossom in English.

Brussel Sprouts
I threw a cup of jasmine rice in the rice cooker and started to look for Brussel sprout recipes and came across this Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts recipe from Heidi. Click on it for the whole recipe but it's simple. You need Brussel sprouts, olive oil, and salt & pepper. Wash the sprouts, take off the loose leaves, cut off the stems and then slice sprouts in half. Rub the flat end with olive oil and start heating a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Then you place all the Brussel sprouts on the pan flat side down for five minutes until the flat side is golden. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste and after it's golden, toss them a few times to brown other side. And I don't know why I typed all that when the actual recipe is much better written. I skipped the sprinkling with cheese since we use cheese sparingly in this household and they were still pretty yummy. I was popping them into my mouth like snacks while waiting for hubby to get out of bed.

Fried Tofu with Toyo-Ginger-Garlic Sawsawan
My favorite fast and easy ulam. Slice a block of tofu in 1/2 inch slices, heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan until hot and arrange slices in pan and fry until golden brown. It's important to use just enough oil to prevent sticking, too much will result in soggy tofu. The tofu slice is easy to turn once the side is golden. Fry on the other side until golden brown and then transfer to a plate with paper towels to absorb any excess oil. My favorite sawsawan (Filipinos have a lot of different dipping sauces with everything) is a simple toyo or soy sauce with a clove of garlic, peeled and crushed. Today I also added a small piece of ginger, peeled and crushed, just to be different. I love all the sawsawans we have in Filipino cuisine, you can click here to try others. The problem with being vegetarian is there's not a lot of possibilities for using sawsawans. I usually arrange sliced tomatoes with the tofu slices, or else dice the tomatoes and sprinkle them on top of the tofu and then top with sliced green onions.

Puso Ng Saging with Tofu & Black Fungus Strips
And this is where it gets a bit crazy. I needed to use my puso ng saging but I couldn't find any ulam recipes, they were all for salad. So this is what I threw together.

1 T grapeseed oil
1/3 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 ginger, peeled and grated
1 large tomato, sliced or diced
3/4 can of banana blossom (or a whole can will do fine), sliced in strips
2 T of lemon juice
1/3 block of tofu sliced in 1/2 inch slices, fried until golden and sliced into strips
1/2 cup of rehydrated dried black fungus mushroom, sliced in strips
1-2 T of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
dash of patis or fish sauce
3-4 green onions, sliced

I'm still not sure how to work with canned banana blossom. Usually you're supposed to soak the fresh one in vinegar or lemon juice first to get rid of the sap. I sliced them in strips and then rinsed them with water, then soaked them in the lemon juice just to be sure. Heat oil until hot in pan. Throw in onions, garlic and ginger, until slightly brown. Add tomatoes, banana blossom, tofu and mushrooms. Throw in the soy sauce and salt & pepper to taste. I threw in a dash of fish sauce as well just for fun. I think it took about 3 minutes on medium heat for flavors to mix and then topped the whole thing with green onions.