Survival Cooking - Fusion Dishes?

The second part of my survival cooking tips is about dishes with a twist. Apple calls them "fusion" dishes. When I posted the photo of my beef steak as beef steak tagalog, I was surprised by the comments of FB friends including my wife on why my beef steak has potatoes. Maybe beef steak tagalog has no potatoes. But I remember eating beef steak with potatoes and I love it. So that's what I cooked for my children. And I know that Geof and Julia love potatoes. I first fry the potatoes before mixing it with the chicken which was marinated overnight and the sauce. To avoid confusion with the "tagalog" version, let me just call my recipe as just "beef steak with potatoes".

I love Max's style fried chicken. Its' crispy and tasty especially when eaten with ketchup and worcestershire sauce. So when I found the recipe in the pinoy food blog, I tried the recipe and was successful in coming up with almost the same as the original Max's style fried chicken. FB friends asked for the recipe and I just sent them the link to pinoy food blog. The last time we ate at Max's, I didn't order their chicken because I already know their secret.

Another recipe that I really miss is the recipe which I will just call as "pork vegetable soup". My cousin, Ate Dina, cooked this recipe one day when we had lunch at their house. I told her I missed eating this soup. According to her, it is an original recipe from Sta. Rita, Pampanga and she doesn't know the recipe's name. Knowing the basic ingredients of the soup - pork, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes - I ventured cooking it. The preparation is very simple. You simply saute' the pork with the garlic, onion and tomatoes and then add the water, potatoes and cabbage. Add salt, pepper and pork broth for the taste.

The final dish in the photo is the pork and chicken adobo. I usually cook adobo by mixing the pork and chicken with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, salt and black pepper together and boil. But this time, I asked Apple to send me her adobo recipe by email which I really love. Her instructions to me: first to tender the pork in water, salt, black pepper and laurel leaves . Then add the chicken and liver. When all the meat ingredients are tender, ONLY then that you add the vinegar (this is a very important advice from her mom). Add a half cube of pork or chicken broth(optional). You may add a little soy sauce for taste and color. Then, in a separate pan, fry crushed garlic until brown and then saute the adobo meat without the sauce. Add the sauce and boiled eggs and simmer.

Happy cooking!