The Kitchen Explorer

I love seafood. I would choose them over chicken and other meat. And mantis shrimp is one of the few that I get to cook when bigger ones are available in the market. I have been curious about mantis shrimps for a long time as I have seen them on social media and in my local market so when a vendor asked if I wanted to buy, I said yes right away! Since it was my first time cooking it, I did what we love - cooked in chili garlic sauce. I had a difficult time eating them because I didn't know how to properly get the meat off of the shell. Upon checking online, I sort of got the hang of it and realized there was very little meat in small ones. The next time I was at the market and saw these babies, I bought again and my eating experience was better and I certainly enjoyed it more. I still think bigger ones would be best. Since not all of us have premade chili garlic sauce available on hand, I will be sharing something that does not use that but definitely tastes great just the same. YO

Some food won't be complete nor enjoyable to eat without the bagoong - Kare-kare, manga, singkamas, steamed/boiled vegetables to name a few. It may be stinky for some people but pleasant to others. It's not expensive and goes well to flavor a lot of food like the Filipino favorites pinakbet, binagoongang baboy and ensalada. What is my secret to a delicious bagoong? Aside from sauteeing it properly, it's vinegar! Yes, the ever reliable vinegar. This helps tame the fishy smell. Other people add a couple slices of ginger. Make sure to buy your bagoong from your suki in the market so you can be sure of its taste and quality. I always buy the matabang variety. Ginisang bagoong is very cheap and simple to cook. You can make it special with addition of chicharon but this is optional. All you really need is bagoong, garlic, onion, tomatoes, vinegar and sugar. Take your time sauteeing them and you'll get a good tasting bagoong. You can also add chili peppers to make it spicy. YO

This is probably one of my favorites homemade soup dish. I had no idea it is called suam na mais until a few years ago. We have been calling it ginisang mais. The white variety of corn is usually the one used for this recipe because it has thickening properties that is natural to it but sometimes it is not always available. The yellow sweetcorn can be used plus a slurry to thicken it a bit. If you have money, you can add shrimps, crabs or pork ribs to make this dish even more flavorful. Our family always used shrimps but we also tried pork ribs. This is better than the ready to cook soups available in the supermarkets. For this one, I have used a combination of white and yellow corn. This is budget friendly too which makes this perfect to cook since we have this pandemic and money isn't easy to come by. A dish that is nutritious, affordable, healthy, tummy filling, very easy and can serve a whole family. YOU WILL NEED: Canola oil 2 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 small o

The start of the year hasn't been great for the Philippines with the Taal Volcano eruption. Shortly after, news of a new corona virus was reported. It spread like wildfire infecting and killing a lot of people starting from China and to other countries around the world. And the Philippines wasn't spared. We are all battling this COVID-19 and with cure nowhere in sight all we can do is to take extra precaution with better hygiene like washing our hands with soap and water as often as we need, use of hand sanitizers and alcohols, wearing masks if we feel sick but had to go out, taking multivitamins and vitamin C, drinking enough water and generally eating healthy foods to boost our immune system. No one is safe no matter how poor or rich you are so we should do our part to help contain and prevent spread of this disease. To make sure my family gets to eat nutritious food, I prepare food that are full of nutrients. I made Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw for lunch. Just like other ve