Ginisang Pechay (Sauteed Chines Cabbage)

Here's another Filipino recipe to add to my lists. I learned to cook ginisang pechay from my late mom who was a very good cook herself. I remember she had a pechay garden in our yard when I was a kid. I love this recipe because I love eating veggies mixed with some meat. This is easy to prepare, delicious with ground beef, and is rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus and other nutrients. We just had this the other day.

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef
4 to 5 stalks of pechay, roughly chopped (around 3 to 4 cups)
5 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely sliced
3 pcs. tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsps vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare pechay leaves by trimming ends and chopping to bite-sized pieces. Separate white ends from darker parts.

2. In a pan, heat vegetable oil. Over medium heat, saute onions and garlic until softened. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tender.

3. Add in ground meat. Saute ground meat until lightly browned.

4. Pour in fish sauce. Continue to stir and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Pour in water. Add more as necessary to simmer the meat in and to maintain one cup for when the dish is pulled together. Allow to simmer until meat is fully cooked. Skim off scum that may aggregate on top.

6. Add in white ends of pechay leaves. Cook for around one minute. Combine in dark parts of leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until leaves are slightly wilted, around one to two minutes.

Nilagang Baka (Boiled Beef With Veggies)

This Filipino beef recipe is so yummy especially during cold weather. The hot soup warms the stomach and the beef with veggies are so appetizing. My hubby is not very fond of boiled recipes that's why I seldom cook this. But when I do cook, I really enjoy eating it with rice. It fills me up and this is one of my favorite comfort foods.

Ingredients :

3/4 kilo of beef, cut into serving pieces
1 whole garlic
1 whole onion, peeled
1 bunch of womboc (Chinese cabbage) or pechay or cabbage
4 medium-sized potatoes, quartered
4 pcs. bananas (saging na saba)
salt and black pepper to taste

Cooking procedure:

Place the beef pieces in a casserole and cover with water. Pierce the garlic in several places using a sharp pointed knife. Add the garlic, onion and black pepper to the beef. Season with salt. Set over high heat and bring to a boil, removing scum as it rises. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the beef is tender.

Add the potatoes, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Turn up the heat to medium-high. Place the womboc or pechay leaves on top of the beef and potatoes and boil gently until the leaves begin to wilt. Push down the leaves into the broth, if necessary. Turn off the heat, cover the casserole and finish cooking the womboc leaves for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.