Tag: noodles
Filipino-Style Lasagna
Filipino-Style Lasagna
Filipinos have their take on lasagna, just like spaghetti. The meat sauce for the lasagna is made the same way as the spaghetti sauce: with ground beef and diced Filipino red hotdogs; with banana ketchup in the tomato sauce to give it the distinct sweetness that makes the lasagna Filipino in flavor. The noodles are layered with meat sauce and a bechamel sauce, then finely topped off with cheese. The lasagna will take 30-40 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Most importantly, let the lasagna rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting into it or you’ll have a plate of slop instead of a nicely layered tower of goodness.
Servings: 8
Equipment
- 9”x13” baking pan; at least 3” deep
Ingredients
- 1 package lasagna noodles prepared according to box
- 1 cup cheddar jack cheese
Meat Sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 16 oz Filipino hotdogs sliced
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 red or green bell pepper diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 24 oz tomato sauce
- 12 oz banana ketchup
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Bechamel Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Instructions
Meat Sauce
- Heat up cooking oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Sauté the hot dogs for 3-4 minutes until browned. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add in the ground beef, breaking up all of the clumps. Cook for 10 minutes. Drain any remaining grease.
- Add in the tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, banana ketchup, beef broth, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cover. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the hotdogs . Cover and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Bechamel Sauce
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until there are no remaining lumps. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk in the milk, salt, and white pepper.
- Continuously whisk for 7-8 minutes until the sauce is thick and can coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat.
Lasagna Assembly
- Grease the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish that’s at least 3” deep. Ladle a thin layer of the meat sauce on the bottom.
- Take 4 lasagna noodles and lay them horizontally across the pan; slightly overlapping each other.
- Ladle 1/3 of the meat sauce over the noodles.
- Pour half of the cream sauce over the meat sauce.
- Repeat these steps one more time. Once you are done layering the lasagna, there shoulad be the rest of the meat sauce on top. Cover that with the cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes; until the cheese is melted and slightly browned on top.
Tempura Soba
Tempura Soba
Tempura soba is a hot soba noodle soup with fried tempura shrimp over the top. Making this soup is extremely easy. The dashi stock just needs heating up. Prepare the soba noodles according to the package. Ladle the stock over the noodles. Top with lots of spring onions. The only real effort is making the tempura shrimp, and that is fairly simple. If you don’t like shrimp, you can substitute tempura chicken, mushrooms, green beans, tofu, etc. Sprinkle some togarashi pepper powder over the top. It kind of gives a numbing feeling, similar to Sichuan peppercorns.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 cups dashi stock
- 3 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sake
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 portions soba noodles prepared according to package
- 3 spring onions chopped
- 12 tempura shrimp
- togarashi pepper powder to taste
Instructions
- Bring the dashi, mirin, soy sauce, sake, and salt to a boil.
- Place 1 portion of cooked soba noodles in a soup bowl.
- Ladle in 2 cups of stock. Top with spring onions. Place 6 tempura shrimp over the stop. Shake on togarashi pepper powder.
Shrimp Tempura
Tempura is one of the most famous Japanese food items outside of Japan. The batter is light and crispy without absorbing excess oil. Shrimp is one of the most popular ingredients to fry in tempura batter. Like all tempura frying ingredients, the shrimp need to be pat dry before dipping in the batter. They will only take a total of 6 minutes. Drain oil on a rack instead of paper towels to maintain the crispiness.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb 26/30 count shrimp tail on; peeled and deveined
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup ice water
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix together all of the dry ingredients.
- Mix in the water.
- Heat up 3” of cooking oil in a pot over medium high heat(350 degrees). Pat dry the shrimp. Dip in the tempura batter. Drop in the oil. Make sure to not over crowd.
- Fry for 3 minutes a side. Drain grease on a rack.
Suugo (Somali Spaghetti Sauce)
Suugo (Somali Spaghetti Sauce)
Suugo is the Somali version of spaghetti sauce. Baasta iyo suugo translates to pasta in sauce. Italy once colonized the southern part of Somalia, introducing garlic and onion to their cuisine. Suugo specifically uses red onion, green bell pepper, and beef stew meat. The addition of xawaash gives the tomato sauce a unique savory flavor. Suugo is garnished with cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. And with most Somali dishes, a banana is served on the side. Sounds weird, but it works.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 medium red onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat 1/2” cubes
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp xawaash
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 lb spaghetti al dente
- bananas 1 per person
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
- lime juice
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions and green peppers for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add in the beef. Sauté for 5 minutes until browned.
- Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, xawaash, sugar, and black pepper. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.
- Uncover. Season with salt.
Xawaash
Xawaash (pronounced hawaaj) is a complex spice blend used in Somali cuisine; much like berbere is used in Ethiopian cuisine. It is used in dishes such as suugar, a meat and vegetable stew, and suugo, a Somali pasta sauce. I highly recommend that you lightly dry toast the whole spices. It completely changes the flavor, making the xawaash more aromatic.
Equipment
- Spice grinder
Ingredients
Whole Spices
- 3 tbsp cumin seeds
- 3 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp green cardamom pods
- 1 tsp whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
Ground Spices
- 1 tbsp ground sage
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Dry toast the whole spices in a skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Grind the whole spice in a spice grinder. Mix together with the other ground spices. Store in a container for up to 3 months.
