Crunchy Rolled Oats

I have a pack of rolled oats that has been sitting in the pantry for several months now. I bought it when I learned six months ago that I have high cholesterol and instead of asking for prescription drugs, I opted to adopt a healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet.  The first thing on my mind back then was to eat oatmeal regularly.  But I realized I can't enjoy eating oatmeal cooked with milk anymore as much I used to 24 years ago.  To avoid the gooey texture, I once ate it by just pouring milk on raw oats and I didn't like it still because of its chewiness.  So I looked for ways on how to make these rolled oats crunchy and based on various recipes, here's what I came up with:

I mixed together 3 cups of rolled oats, 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1/4 tsp salt.  I added to it 1/3 cup of honey, 1/4 cup of applesauce (instead of oil) and 1 tbsp of vanilla.  I used my hands in making sure that the oats were well-coated with the honey mixture.  I laid everything on a cookie sheet and baked in a pre-heated 325F oven for almost 45 mins, and stirred the oats every once in a while (every 10 mins) to prevent them from burning.  They were so crunchy that I couldn't wait to pour milk on them and as soon as they cooled off, yum yum yum! =) I actually enjoyed eating them more than cereals because they maintain their crunchiness.  And my nit-picking husband, who so-criticized my lumpiang sariwa (vegetable spring roll) earlier, liked them as well!

Tasty Tom Yum Soup

Today I’m making Tom Yum soup for lunch because its spiciness is great on this cold and rainy weather. Besides, I bought a bunch of wansoy from the grocery two days ago for this recipe so before the leaves expire, I better use them. I also want to try the Tom Yum paste that we bought from the Duty Free store in the Suvarnabhumi Airport in place of chocolates (grr!). This recipe is much like the Filipino sinigang but with added flavor of lemon grass and wansoy. I’m sharing my simple recipe, the taste of which is similar to what we have tasted in the restaurant at MBK Mall in Bangkok and at Jatujak Restaurant here in Manila. The authentic soup has galangal but the root is not available everywhere here and even if it is, I wouldn’t dare use it because I don't like its smell.

Ingredients:

Onion, quartered
Tomato, quartered
Lemon grass or tanglad (cut off the leaves to use only the solid portion several inches from the root end. Slice diagonally and pound a bit to release the oil)
Kaffir lime (I use dried leaves, particularly that of the Thai Heritage brand sold in grocery stores)
Water
Tamarind flavoring/cube or sinigang sa sampaloc mix (if u don't have lime)
Fish fillet, cut into cubes
Squid, sliced into rings
Shrimp, removed from shell
Mussels, cleaned
Wansoy (similar to Chinese selery but with a lime-lemony taste)
Fish sauce (patis)
Red chillies (siling labuyo)

Put the onion, tomato, lemon grass, kaffir lime, water and tamarind/sinigang mix in a pot to simmer. Add the fish, squid, shrimp, wansoy and flavor with fish sauce and chillies and simmer for about 1-2 mins or until the seafoods are tender. I don’t overcook them because they become chewy. The wansoy, I noticed, lose flavor when boiled longer so I recommend adding them with the seafood minutes before turning off the heat.

Enjoy the soup!

Pad Thai, the Thai Way

Pad Thai is a stir-fried rice noodle dish with peanut flavor.  It is one of the most popular dishes of Thailand known here in the Philippines, well at least in Manila, which I initially thought to be so complicated (especially when I saw my Mom-in-law cook it!).  But in our trip to Bangkok last September, my husband and I realized how easy it is to cook Pad Thai.  Here's a simple street version of the dish, which we and other foreigners enjoyed eating along the streets of Bangkok:







Ingredients:

garlic (although the second time we bought Pad Thai, the lady didn't put any)
egg
bean sprouts
green beans (thinly sliced)
carrots (thinly sliced)
wansoy (optional. Looks very much like Chinese celery but has a milder smell and has a very different taste; similar to what is being used in Tom Yum Soup)
Noodles (rice/egg/bihon.  I prefer using the rice noodles because it is the original ingredient for this dish)
Padthai paste (this is my add-on to this recipe.  It is usually sold in supermarkets and what I use is the Thai Heritage brand, which has a combined taste of dried shrimp and tamarind, another two of the main ingredients of this dish)
cooking oil
fish sauce

1)  Cook noodles according to package instructions.  Set aside.
2)  Heat oil in pan.
3)  Saute garlic (then onion if you decide to put some).
4)  Add egg and scramble on the pan.
5)  Stir in vegetables.  Don't overcook!
6)  Put in some pad thai paste (just enough to coat vegetables and noodles). 
7)  Add noodles and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
8)  Season with fish sauce.

If you want to try a heavier version of the dish which is typically served in restaurants, you can check out the following sites:

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Pad_Thai.htm
http://www.templeofthai.com/cooking/about_pad_thai.php