The Quintessential Adobo

Another recipe to keep in mind during the credit crunch season is the trusted adobo. There are a lot of ways to cook this quintessential Filipino dish but the aim here is to make the most economical yet delicious adobo there is. A Php100 budget goes a long way with this dish.



Ingredients:
1/2 kilo of chicken adobo cut, diced - Robinsons Supermarket chicken adobo cut costs Php 138 a kilo. Try buying Php70 worth and select the big cuts
1 clove garlic - costs Php 1.00
5 pcs laurel leaves - costs Php 1.00
1 cup soy sauce Php 10.00
1/4 cup vinegar Php 10.00
2 tbsps oil
1 tbsps black pepper Php 1.00
2 pcs potatoes, diced - Php 5.00
1/4 cup water

Total: Php 98
Good for 3-4 people

There are a lot of variations for this dish but the procedure below is what I recommend.

1. Soak the chicken adobo in the 1 cup soy sauce and vinegar at least an hour before cooking, to make the dish bursting with flavor.
2. Saute garlic in oil.
3. Remove the chicken from the marinade and saute after the garlic has been cooked to a slight brown color.
4. Add water after the chicken has released its oil.
5. Add in the potatoes, laurel leaves and black pepper
6. Simmer until the potatoes and the chicken are cooked.
7. Add in the soy sauce-vinegar marinade and bring to a boil until all the flavors have blended together
8. Serve with hot rice

The excess sauce can be used for sinangag or flavored rice. Yum!

Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry was the main dish the other day. In some restaurants, it costs about P150 to get a decent curry dish. Or you can always get a P50-60 ones from the carinderia, which might not taste good. But this has been a tried and tested recipe. It's a heaping serving for two.


Ingredients:
2 pcs chicken breast, cut into 4-6 pcs per breast (Chicken Breasts in Robinsons cost P138 a kilo, which is palengke presyo. Try buying two small chix breast. That will cost you around P50)

1/3 pack Mc Cormick curry powder (There are some curry powders which cost really cheap, like P15, but I'm not sure if it's diluted. Better to buy a trusted brand worth P20. Using 1/3 cost approx P6)

1 pc. potato, diced (Costs around P7)
1 pc. bell pepper sliced lengthwise (Costs around P7)
1/2 pc ginger minced (Costs around P10. I don't like eating ginger per se but I love the taste it brings to tinola and curry. Try slicing it into really thin pieces so it's okay if you have to eat them.)
5 cloves garlic minced (Costs around P4)
1 pack gata (Costs P15 at the palengke. Don't buy the canned ones. It doesn't taste good.)
1 tbsp cooking oil (P0.50)
4 tbsps patis (P0.50)
1 cup water

1. Saute garlic and ginger in cooking oil.
2. Add chicken and saute for 2 minutes until the chicken releases some of its oils.
3. Add water, potatoes and simmer for two minutes.
4. Stir in curry powder into the mixture and simmer until chicken and potatoes are cooked.
5. Add patis to taste, then put in the bell pepper.
6. Add in all of the gata and bring to a boil. Serve with hot rice.

Some people still prefer to add chili. Boy are they brave. With the curry and ginger, this recipe is hot already. Total cost for two is P100. But for an additional P6, you can add sliced carrots. Enjoy!

Ebay-Cheapskate Heaven

Ebay is such a haven for cheapskates. It is an alternative to value shopping where you can get branded items for almost half its value, all from the comforts of your home. In www.ebay.com.ph, you can find a variety of ukay-ukay items with starting bids at P10! Of course you have to pay for the shipping but compared to the transportation/gas costs these days, it's better to just shop at home.
And it's so easy to create your own account! So you can sell items you might think are junk, but it's a treasure for another.

A Great P100 Recipe for Two

Being a cheapskate is quite relevant nowadays when the economies of the world are nosediving to a splat. And it makes a pretty bad mess. Now the task is to channel my faux-Ilocano heritage and making the most out of my hard-earned money.

That's why I started this blog, with the challenge of maximizing the value out of my P100 bill, the basic amount one should have in his or her wallet. I remember when my P100 can tide me over 2 days of whole day classes at UP with meals, transportation and then some. Three, if I hitch with friends going to school and back home. Now, the P100 can only go so far...

Now, I love to eat, and recently discovered the savings of cooking (I hated to cook, but now I have to). Here's one Thai recipe you might want to try:



Ingredients:
P60 worth of chicken breast - the Magnolia chicken breast is P138 a kilo, the fillet is P170. Just ask manong to give you about P60 worth and select the big parts, then fillet it yourself for savings.
2 tbsps oil
2 pack basil leaves - (19-25 in SM, Sta. Lucia or Robinsons) P38
1/4 cup water
1 clove of garlic, minced - approx P1 a piece
2 pcs big sili, diced - approx P0.40 a piece
fish sauce, pepper or sugar to taste
Recipe for 2 = P99.80

Now I'm assuming that some of these are in your pantry so I'm not putting a peso value on spices, water and oil. Anyway, so here's how to do it:

1. Heat the pan. Make sure it's hot before adding the oil so cooking is quicker.
2. Saute garlic in oil.
3. Add in the chicken. Cook until slight brown.
4. Add the water to put in a bit of a sauce
5. Season with about 3-4 tbsps fish sauce.
6. Add in the sili. Saute for 1-2 mins.
7. Add in the basil leaves. Saute for about 2 mins.
8. In case it's too spicy, add sugar.

Voila! A great dish to serve with hot rice.