The Best Foods Made From Fresh String Beans or Sitaw

The Best Foods Made From Fresh String Beans or Sitaw

What are the most popular and unique recipes for sitaw or string beans? Check the link for the answer.

Among the most popular and longest varieties of beans is the “string beans. It grows well in the different parts of the world especially in tropical regions. It grows well and highly productive in the Philippines. Here are some of the moist popular recipes you can cook with string beans locally known in Filipino language as “sitaw”. It is also called Green Bean and Snap Bean.

Boiled String Beans or Nilagang Sitaw

Image Source

Boiled or Nilaga is the simplest way to cook string beans or sitaw. Simply cut the beans in serving cuts and put in a boiling water in a pot. Cook until tender and serve. Prepare a condiment composed of sliced tomatoes, calamansi juice, chili and bagoong or patis (fish sauce).

String Beans Adobo

One of the commonest way of cooking sitaw or string bean is Adobo. Cut the string beans about an inch long. Prepare onion and garlic and pork which are cut into small pieces. Saute garlic and onion and add pork. Simmer for a while and add sitaw or string beans. Add paminta or black better, laurel leaf and soy sauce (toyo) Cover pan stirring occasionally until cook. Serve hot.

String Beans With Chicken Liver and Gizzard

Image Source

Sitaw or string bean with chicken liver and gizzard is a perfect and nutritious dish. Sautee garlic and onion and add chopped liver and garlic.  Cover until all water evaporated and add string beans cut into pieces an inch long. Season it with soy sauce, paminta and laurel. Cook until tender and serve hot.

Image Source

Inabraw

String beans can also be added with sinigang na baboy, sinigang na baka and inabraw o dinengdeng. The Thai people have a unique way of eating string beans. They usually eat it raw and added with spicy ingredients.

The Best Recipes for Bangus or Milkfish

The Best Recipes for Bangus or Milkfish

One of the most abundant edible fish in the world for human consumption is the so-called “bangus” or milkfish. These fish are usually grown/farm in saline ponds.  Dagupan City, tagged as the “bangus capital of the Philippines” is the largest producer of milkfish in the country. Because of its abundance, the price of this good tasting fish is not so high. It is affordable for everybody.

Here are some of the best foods/recipes you can make from “bangus”. Always choose fresh fish when buying.

image source

Relyenong Bangus

In a large clean, deboned and scaled milkfish or bangus whose meat is already removed and boiled, insert the mixture of sautéed garlic, onion & tomatoes; boiled fish meat, finely chopped carrots and siling berde; finely chopped ham and raisins; with flour and egg. Wrapped it with aluminum foil and fry or cook it in the oven.

Stuffed Bangus

Stuffed Bangus is a grilled food prepared by inserting into the empty stomach of the fish a mixture of finely chopped tomatoes, cabbage, ginger, onion and season with fish sauce and msg.

Paksiw na Bangus

Paksiw na bangus is an easy recipe to prepare. Put together in a pot the milkfish which is cut into pieces, vinegar, black pepper (ground and whole) siling pangsigang, fish sauce, ½ cup of water. cover and bring to boil until the fish is cook.

Sinigang na Bangus

In preparing Sinigang nab angus, you will need 2 medium-sized bangus slice in 3 parts, 1 medium-sized chopped onion, 2 pieces crushed ginger, patis, sliced tomatoes, siling haba or pansigang, camote tops or kangkong (abt 2 in long), radish (labanos) cut diagonally about 1 cm thick and tamarind powder.  In a pot with 6 cups of water, boil together ginger, onion and tomatoes. Add slices of bangus, cover and simmer in a medium fire. Add siling haba, kangkong and radish and let boil. Pour in the tamarind powder and fish sauce to taste, bring to boil for 5 minutes. Dish out and serve hot. Kangkong is called water spinach in English. Eggplant and okra can also be added.

Boneless Bangus

Boneless bangus is perfect for breakfast although it can be served also during lunch and dinner.  Boneless Bangus is prepared byslicing/ cutting the fish from the head to the tail in halves and marinated with vinegar, salt, pimiento or ground black pepper. It is cook by pan frying and served with a condiment which is a mixture of soy sauce and calamansi extract or vinegar, crushed garlic and calamansi extract. Catsup is also another alternative condiment.

Kilawing Bangus

Kilawin is a no-cook preparation of bangus or milkfish. Remove the scales and debone the fish. Cut into small cubes and flavor with salt, msg, chopped red chili (siling labuyo), calamansi extract or vinegar if calamansi is not available. This is good as appetizer. Just make sure that the bangus are fresh.

Inihaw na Bangus/Grilled

Inihaw or grilling is the simplest way to cook bangus. Condiment for this is a mixture of bagoong, calamansi extract and chopped red chili. It is good for picnics and perfect as appetizer.

Tinapang Bangus/Smoked Milkfish

Medium fish bangus or milkfish are also smoked. Cooking is pan frying and usually served with slices of tomatoes seasoned with msg and salt or fish sauce (patis)

The Best and Most Popular Philippine Fast Foods

The Best and Most Popular Philippine Fast Foods

What do you think is the most popular fast food chain in the Philippines? Check out the link to find the answer.

Fast food chains are the most favorite place of eating destinations of most people all over the world. They are the best choice by many because they don’t have to wait long for their orders unlike in restaurants where customers have to wait long for their foods to be served.

1. Jollibee

Image Source

Undeniably, the most popular fast food chains in the Philippines is “Jollibee”. It has the largest food chains in the archipelago. It is the huge favorite of Filipinos because of its spaghetti which suits much the taste of Filipinos. The company’s chicken joy is also popular and is a heavy favorite. It is the favorite of young and old, rich and commoners alike. Jollibee has as a total of 2,510 stores worldwide.

2. McDonalds

Image Source

McDonalds, which is a popular American fast food, is also popular in the Philippines. This fast food’s most popular foods include the very crispy and perfectly seasoned “French fries”, the huge and amazingly good “big mac”  and their enormously good-tasting crispy fried chicken. It has several branches all over the country. Most of its patrons belong to the middle class and elite.

3.  Chowking

Image Source

Chowking is another very popular fast food chain in the country. Chowking is the favorite destination of lovers of Filipino-Chinese foods. It specialized in Filipino-Chinese foods such as noodles and others. Among its most popular foods are Chao Pan, Laureate, Halo-halo, Wanton, Siopao and many others. It is a sister company of Jollibee.

4. Greenwich

Image Source

Greenwich is probably the most popular Philippine fast food that offers pizza. This sister company of the Jollibee, also offer other foods such as chicken and others. It has several food chains all over the Philippines. It is the largest pizza and pasta chains in the Philippines.

5. Pizza Hut

Image Source

Pizza Hut, an American restaurant chain, is another very popular fast food chain in the Philippines. Teens and pizza lovers favorite fast food chain is Pizza Hut. Like Greenwich, it specialized in pizza and their good-tasting “iced tea” is a favorite of Pizza Hut fanatics. This food chain has several branches which are located in the different parts of the country. Pizza Hut has more than 5,139 store locations in 94 other countries and territories around the world.

6. Mang Inasal

Image Source

Mang Inasal, which is another Filipino-owned fast food chain, is very popular among Filipinos who love chicken barbecue. Other foods are also offered at Inasal. Rice is unlimited if you order selected foods. Mang Inasal is one of the fastest growing fast food chains in the Philippines and has now scores of branches nationwide. It is the favorite fast food chain of chicken barbecue lovers.

7. KFC

Image Source

Chicken lovers favorite food hub is KFC. KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken is another American fast food chain that has been loved by millions of Filipinos. This food chain specialized in chicken. Their chicken barbecue is truly mouth-watering and gorgeously best tasting. All the ingredients of the foods they serve are all made of chicken. KFC is the the world's largest chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants.

  

8. Max’s

Image Source 

Max’s, a food chain that offers the best chicken in town, is the favorite destination of chicken lovers especially among the wealthy ones. It has several branches from all over the archipelago.

Other popular fast food chains in the Philippines include Tokyo Tokyo – the most popular Japanese fast food chain, Kenny Rogers, Cindy’s – both popular American fast foods and several others.

The Best and Most Popular Dishes Made Of Tilapia

The Best and Most Popular Dishes Made Of Tilapia

Not known to many, Tilapia fish can be prepared in many unique and good-tasting dishes or recipes. It you are interested in finding out the different foods that can be prepared with the “Tilapia” fish that can be found in many continents and countries, check this out.

The City of Munoz in Nueva Ecija is regarded as the “tilapia capital of the Philippine”. It is the largest producers of “tilapia” in the country and in Asia or perhaps in the world. The agency that manages it is the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources or BFAR.

A former college student of mine who used to work in BFAR gave me the chance to see the largest varieties of tilapia – one of them is the “Red Tilapia”. It is also one of the best tasting “cultured” tilapia.

Here are some of the best foods you can prepare from Tilapia.

Image Source

Pinapaitang Tilapia

Perhaps the most ridiculous recipe you ever heard about tilapia is “pinapaitang tilapia”. So how it is done? Only the innards of tilapias, the meat can be added too, are used in cooking “pinapaitang tilapia”. The best tilapias for this recipe are those that have been keep in fish cage for 5 days or more. Their stomachs and intestines are already clean. 

Selected stomach, intestine and other internal organs of the tilapia are sautéed with finely chopped ginger, garlic, onion and tomatoes and seasoned with salt, paminta or black pepper, red chili and MSG. Simmer until fats appear. If you want it with soup – simply add water and salt to taste.

Grilled or Inihaw na Tilapia

Grilled Tilapia is perhaps the most common way and the best way to cook tilapia. Live tilapias are best recommended if you like grilled tilapia. Simply pour salt in the live tilapias and put them on the grill.  Best condiments include vinegar with crashed garlic and red chili seasoned with salt and sodium glutamate and bagoong or fish sauce with calamansi juice and finely chopped red chili.

Fried Tilapia

Image Source

If you like fried tilapia, simply remove the scales and innards. Pour some salt and dip fried. Best condiments include catsup, vinegar with crashed garlic, paminta, salt and MSG or bagoong with chili and calamansi juice.

Ginataang Tilapia or Coconut Milked Tilapia

Ginataang Tilapia is one of the best recipes you can cook out of this fish. Remove all the scales and innards, cut the fish into serving pieces and put it in a pot. Add ingredients such as patis or salt, paminta, stripped ginger, chopped onion, vinegar and siling pansigang. Simmer for few minutes and add instant gata or kakang gata you prepared for yourself. Mustasa or petsay leaves can be added also.

Stuffed Tilapia

Stuffed Tilapia is one of the most recent and favorite ways to cook tilapia. The fish is cleaned well and stuff such as chopped tomatoes, onions and cabbage seasoned with salt and seasoning are put inside the tilapia’s empty stomach. It is then grilled and served.

Sweet and Sour Tilapia

Remove all the scales and innards of the animal and dip fried until brown. Sautee ginger, garlic and onion then pour a mixture of flour with paminta, sugar, MSG, soy sauce then add fried tilapia and simmer for minutes. Bell pepper and carrots can also be added.

Image Source

Sinigang na Tilapia, Paksiw na Tilapia, Daing na Tilapia, Steamed Tilapia and Pinaputok na Tilapia are also good recipes and are common among fish.

Remarkable Gods of Love from Around the World

Remarkable Gods of Love from Around the World

You have already met the many goddesses of love, sex and beauty from all over the world. It’s is time to meet their counterparts. If there are goddesses of love, beauty and sex there are also gods of love, beauty and sex. Let us meet some of them – the different gods of love from around the world.

1. Cupid – Roman God of Erotic Love

Image Source

Perhaps the most popular god of love in the world is Cupid. The Cupid is taken from the Latin “Cupido” which means desire. As the name implies, Cupid is the Roman god of desire, affection and erotic love. His Greek counterpart is Eros from whom the word “erotic” was derived. Cupid is also known in Latin as Amor which is the equivalent of love.

Cupid is often depicted as the son of the goddess of love and beauty – Venus. The bow and arrow is associated with him. Any one who is shot by Cupid’s arrow is filled with uncontrollable desire. Cupid is a popular icon of Valentine’s Day being shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love.

2. Bes – Egyptian god of Sexual Pleasure

Image Source 

Bes is the Ancient Egyptian god of sexual desire. He is also the god of dance and music and was worshipped as a protector of households, mothers, children and childbirth. Bes was regarded too as the defender of everything good and the enemy of all that is bad.

3. Eros – Greek god of Love

Image Source 

Eros is the Greek god of love and sexual passion – the Roman counterpart of Cupid. Originally, Eros is depicted as a slender winged creature but his Roman counterpart – Cupid, oftentimes depicted as a chubby boy. Although he is regarded a primordial god in some myths, oftentimes, he is the son of the Greek goddess of love and beauty – Aphrodite in many myths.  Eros is armed with bow and arrow.

4. Anteros – Greek god of Requited Love

Image Source 

In the Greek mythology, Anteros id the god of requited love. He is the perfect representation of the quote “Love begets love” because Anteros literally means "love returned" or "counter-love". He is also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of unrequited love.

Anteros is the son of Ares and Aphrodite and was given to Eros as a playmate because the latter is lonesome.  He is armed with either a golden club or arrows of lead.

5. Himeros – Greek god of Sexual Desire

In the Greek mythology, Himeros is the god of sexual desire. His name literally means “uncontrollable desire”. He represented sexual desire or unrequited love. His parents are Ares and Aphrodite and brother to Eros and Anteros. Like his 2 other brothers, he is equipped with a bow and arrows to create desire and lust in people.

6. Hymen – god of Marriage

Image Source 

So you thought Hymen is a goddess, well, he is not. He is the Greek god of marriage and marriage feast. Hymen was supposed to attend every wedding. If he didn't, then the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous, so the Greeks would run about calling his name aloud. He presided over many of the weddings in Greek mythology, for all the deities and their children.

7. Pothos – god of Longing

Image Source 

In Greek mythology, Pothos is one of the “erotes”. He is the brother of Eros and Himeros. He is the god of yearning and longing.

8. Kamadeva – Hindu god of Love

Image Source

Kamaneva is more popularly known as Kama, he is the Hindu god of human love or desire. Kama is the son of the Hindu goddess Sri.

9. Freyr – god of Fertility

Image Source

In the Norwegian mythology, Freyr is worshipped as a phallic fertility god. His anglicized name is Frey which means lord.

10. Kurupira – Fertility and Sexuality god

Image Source 

Kurupira, also known as Kurupi is the god of sexuality and fertility in Guarani mythology of South America. Kurupi is one of the seven monstrous children of Tau and Kerana.

11. Yue-Laou – Chinese god of Love

Yue-Laou, also spelled Yue-Lao is the Chinese god of love who binds two people together with an invisible red string. He is also regarded as the god of marriage.

12. Siebog – god of Love and Marriage

Siebog is the god of love in the Slavic mythology. He is also considered as the god of marriage and is consort to the goddess of love and marriage Ziva.

13. Adonis – god of Desire

Image Source

In Greek mythology, Adonis is the god of beauty and desire. His religion belonged to women. He is an annually-renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god, a life-death rebirth deity and is often applied in modern times to handsome youths, of whom he is the archetype. Adonis is often referred to as the mortal god of Beauty.