The making of an Overseas Frantic Worker

As everyone knows, I am in love with RICE. My breakfast, lunch and dinner (should I be lucky enough to have 3 meals) would always include rice. But, because I am feeling a little heavy , I have made (or I tried) to eat healthier food for breakfast. Hence, the muesli and the yoghurt. It feels like I am going under rehab because I feel like I am going to get a withdrawal syndrome. I almost cried while finishing my breakfast :(

Let’s see how this week will go. I don’t feel like any kind of Champion just yet.

Pork is a staple in my refrigerator. With the exorbitant prices of fish and beef, pork and chicken have been my meat sources here in Finland. Chicken is a little bit more expensive than Pork and I’ve been having a difficult time finding chicken cuts that have not been pre-marinated. Hence, more pork than chicken in the diet.

Pork is like a blank canvas. You can do almost anything with it: Roast, Fry, Deep Fry, Bake, Saute, Ground, Boiled, Poached, and the list goes on and on. Pork is my canvas and I am the artist.

I constantly try to look for ways to jazz up and make pork a little bit more exciting to eat. Believe me, it hasn’t been easy. I am only 3 months into the year and I am running out of things to cook. It’s always good to experiment, though. I think I have mastered the art of improvising and creating dishes out of what I have.

Initially, I planned to cook  Pork Afritada because I had tomato paste and chopped tomatoes at home. But this Pork Afritada plan turned into a Spanish influenced Pork and Sausage stew dish! No regrets, though. Every dish whipped up in the kitchen is something to be proud of.

Pork and Sausage Stew

Ingredients:

Pork, cut into cubes

Potatoes and Carrots, cut into cubes

Sausage, cut into thin rounds (You can also use chorizo if it is available)

Onion, cut into cm thick strips

Garlic, 2 cloves, minced

Tomato and Onion, minced

Bay leaves, 2 pcs.

Tomato paste, 1 1/2 Tbsp

Sugar, 1 Tsp

Fish sauce, 1 Tbsp

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pork fat and skin, cut into small cubes (to be fried for garnish)

Procedure:

1. Heat a pot with oil. Add the garlic and the onions. Then add the tomato and onion mixture. Saute until the onions are translucent.

2. Add the pork and season it with salt and black pepper. Make sure that the pork gets browned and not burnt. 

3. Add the sliced sausages to the pot.

4. Add the potatoes and carrots. Saute all the ingredients together.

5. Add the tomato paste and mix it altogether. Make sure the ingredients get covered in tomato paste and brown the tomato paste a bit (to lessen the acidity in it). Drop the bay leaves and fill the pot enough water to cover the pork.

6. Cover the pot and let it boil for 15 minutes. Add the sugar and the fish sauce. And, let it simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes or until the sauce is reduced into half.

7. While waiting for your stew, heat up a frying pan with oil. Fry the pork rind and fat until it becomes crispy and strain excess oil on a paper towel. Set aside for garnish.

8. When the stew is done (and the pork tender, the sauce reduced), transfer it to a serving dish and garnish the way you want to. I’d prefer to eat this with rice, of course. But, it would also be a good idea to serve it with toasty garlic buttered baguettes.

Happy Eating everyone! ^^

Potatoes.

Finland is so abundant with potatoes that I do not even recognize the varieties of potatoes that they have. According to them, potatoes are a staple food in Finland. When people go abroad for a time and come back to Finland, the 3 things that they would look for is: rye bread, potatoes and Finnish chocolates.

I am not exactly a fan of potatoes. As everyone knows, I am a hard-core RICE FAN. But, I promised myself that I would make a dish out of these potatoes for my blog someday. And, today is the day.

Out of so many kinds of potatoes in the grocery, I bought the frozen pre-cut ones. Mind you, frozen vegetables (or anything) are very popular in Finland. And it is way cheaper than buying the fresh ones. Anyway, one pack does go a long, long way.

Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

Potatoes, peeled and sliced into very thin strips or very thin slices (a little thicker than potato chips)

Garlic, 3 cloves, minced

Bay Leaf

Cream, 1 1/2 cups

Butter, 1 Tbsp

Ground Black Pepper and Salt to taste

Cheese (I used Gouda cheese for this recipe because it was what I had. Any cheese will do!)

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan with butter. Saute the garlic.

2. Add the cream.

3. Add the bay leaf and let it simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

4. While your sauce is simmering away, place some potatoes on an individual baking dish. Pour enough sauce on the top of the potatoes and then some cheese slices.

5. Put another layer of potatoes on top of the cheese and repeat step 4.

6. Pre-heat the oven at 250- 300 degrees and bake your potato gratin for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

7. When the top gets golden brown and the cheese all melted (and the potatoes cooked), take out the gratin from the oven and serve ^^

I think I gained 10 pounds just by looking at it.

@.@

I love Kare Kare to death but I don’t think I can eat it for 3 days straight. Hence, my taste buds are looking for something new to eat. I still have a lot of leftover sausages and vegetables in the refrigerator and I know that I have to use i real soon.

Looking at my pantry, I see my curry supply staring back at me and screaming “USE ME! USE ME! USE ME!”. The screams are definitely deafening so I decided to pick up one of them. My weapon of choice: Penang Curry Paste.

Penang Curry Sausages

Ingredients:

Sausages, Hotdogs, sliced into rounds

Onion, cut into strips

Green Beans

Penang Curry Paste, 1 1/2 Tbsp

Fish Sauce, 1 Tbsp

Sugar, 1 Tbsp

Water, 2 cups

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan with oil. Saute the onions until they are brown.

2. Add the sliced sausages into the pan and brown them, as well.

3. Add the green beans to the pan and saute for 1 minute.

4. Add the curry paste and pour in the water. Dissolve the curry paste and let it simmer until it thickens.

5. Add the fish sauce and the sugar. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Transfer it to a container (I don’t have any other containers so…sorry if it looks so bare. Haha)

Leftovers don’t have to be so bad ^^