Recipe #14: Chicken Mami : 9:30 - Recess Time

Let's admit it. In High School, our favorite period was recess. Okay, if you're gonna stay in Hypocrite Land, I'll own it. Recess was MY favorite period. Period.

I was a crammer. That means that I woke up at 6am when I was supposed to be at school by 7am. Luckily, I went to school in the province, so an hour difference bought me enough time. And because I woke up at a time just enough to afford me a bath, I didn't have time for breakfast. Now you probably understand why I looked forward to 9:30. It's the time when my famished self first gets replenished with well needed comestibles.

Isn't a hot broth to die for when your stomach has become starvation central? Oooooh how good a burp feels after you've warmed your tummy with soup. It lightens up your day in an instant. And after that first excrete of cold stomach air, you feel relieved that dry season is over. Stomach Spring Time has finally arrived.

You'll Need:

- egg noodles
- vegetables ( cabbage and carrots)
- chicken
- water
- salt and pepper
- pepper corns
- Garlic

How to:
- First boil your chicken for an hour in a potful of water with crushed garlic cloves, salt and pepper and about 5 peppercorns
- Pull the chicken out and let it cool. Save the broth.
- Once the chicken has cooled, shred it with your fingers. Discard the bones.
- Add the shredded cabbage, shredded chicken and chopped carrots in your potful of broth.
- Adjust the taste with salt and pepper
- Simmer for about three minutes
- Cook egg noodles in fast boiling water for about 4 minutes, drain, dip in cold water, drain again.
- Set your drained noodles in a bowl.
- Top with the broth

Serve.

Kain na!

Don't get me wrong. The best part of recess is not the burping. It's the eating!

Who says you have to spend for a great meal? This dish costs about P150.00 and can feed four hungry people for merienda. So get your cooking gear out and start the fire.

Your hot cook,
Hahan

Recipe #13: Tuna Wrap - On the Go

Welcome July! This month's theme has something to do with Merienda. Yes ---the meal that's not quite a meal, which is taken in between meals to fend off one's hunger for the next meal.

My husband is out on a trip today. He is off to go Pawikan-sighting in Bataan. Yesterday I was concerned that there might not be enough places to eat in the rural areas. Though my husband assured me that they'd be served free lunch and dinner, I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't go hungry in between. Since I was planning to have Tuna wrap today anyway, I decided to make it last night instead so he could have packed wraps on his trip on which to snack on.

You'll need:

-tortilla wraps, about 8 inches in diameter, cut in halves
-canned tuna chunks in water, drained - I recommend tuna in water instead of tuna in vegetable oil
-garlic, peeled and diced
-onion, peeled and diced
-salt and pepper
-tomatoes, diced
-lettuce
-quick melt cheese, cubed
-mayonnaise

How to:
-In a hot pan, saute your tuna with garlic and onions
-add salt and pepper to taste, set aside
-toast your halved tortilla wraps in an oven toaster on high heat for about a minute
-lay your toasted wrap on a flat surface
-add a portion of tuna
-top with diced tomatoes and cubed cheese

-add about a leaf or two of lettuce
-top with about a teaspoonful of mayo
-roll

Serve.

Kain na!

How I wish I could go pawikan-sighting with dear hubby today. Except that, his trip is a company trip. It is sponsored by his employer, OOCL Inc, and I didn't want to spoil his fun by being the strict-overlooking-wife that I am. It suffices that he has taken a part of me with him...the tuna wrap I made for him last night to defer his hunger until lunch and/or dinner is served. I hope he enjoys both the wrap and the sights.

Who says you have to spend for a great meal? This dish costs about P150 all in and it can feed four hungry people for merienda . So get your cooking gear out and start the fire.

Your hot cook,
Hahan