Planet ISKCON

We meet quite often with our neighbour, aunt Mary, when gardening. She tells us stories of her family and the good old times. Hladini wanted to visit her one morning, so they took her some tarhana (Turkish soup powder) as a gift. Naturally, auntie Mary reciprocated their kindness and gave us home-made tomato sauce and jam from pear and plum. During the summer the girls will make the preserving for winter together with her.

Hladini volunteered for the mission in Istanbul and wanted to accompany me on my last trip. She is Turkish and speaks the language fluently; therefore, she would be perfect from all points of view. When I tried to leave her behind referring to her young age of 2 and a half, she came forward with some impish trickery in order to get on the plane.

On my last visit to Turkey I had the chance to visit Izmir as well. Izmir is Turkey’s third biggest town, a commercial and tourist centre, which has about 3.5 million residents. Nrsimha Krishna prabhu arranged everything about the trip, which takes 2 hours by ferry plus a 4-hour drive from Istanbul. The journey did not seem long as on our way there we were talking about our preaching plans. At the same time, I became familiar with the country also. I learned where they produce the Yörsan diary products, the Vestel household appliances and which area produces 50% of the world’s raisin output.

Firstly, we went to Alacati, where we met Nrsimha Krishna’s acquaintance, who welcomed us in an orange and lemon grove. I even took a genuine organic lemon for Hladini.

Afterwards we went to Izmir, where we visited a nice family of devotees. Madhu Madhavi is Azeri, who met her husband, Engin, a captain of a ship in Odessa. Their son, Artun is 5 months old. We spoke a lot about the practices of Krishna-consciousness in relation to family life, whereas, the grandmother had more questions on the philosophy. Next day, before departing we went to the city and looked for a nice spot for the to-be Govinda restaurant. On the photo we were walking on the promenade, which by Krishna’s grace could be a great place for the restaurant.

It’s high time that you see the girls after “The evening milk” post. Padma turned 9 months old a few days before Easter. She is completely healthy, very active and happy. On this photo Hladini is teaching from her notes the rest of the family to ride a motorbike.

Hare Krishna!

Below is the March 2011 update for ISKCON Philippines. Devotees can also download the newsletter in PDF form by clicking this link:March Newsletter

For further inquiries, devotees can contact:

ISKCON Philippines Communications

Email: iskconcommunicationsph@gmail.com

Mobile phone: Sridama dasa 0917 8210951/ 0916 5240951

                                Manjula devi dasi 0917 8218324/ 0906 3168324

Landline: +63 62-3582210

Malati

I’d been craving for Filipino food lately; the one that my mother used to cook! Even though almost all of those culinary memories are associated with meat and fish, I still can’t help but to long for my mother’s cooking. I’m certain it’s not the taste I’m hankering for, but it’s the amount of love and care my mother put into preparing and cooking the food. One of my personal favorite, is the one w/ black beans savory sauce with bokchoy! I love the pungent smell of black bean sauce! I know it sounds weird, but for me, the aroma of it brings back happy childhood memories. So, to satisfy my cravings, I made some veggie 2na with black bean sauce, bokchoy, and added some seasoned tofu. I also added my own masala concoction into this one, hahaha! If you notice in this recipe, a lot of tomatoes are needed. Since the black beans sauce is so salty, the tomatoes helps to mellow it down.

Ingredients:

veggie 2na (about 6-8 pieces)

seasoned tofu (optional)

2 tbsp of black beans sauce

2 tsp of white sugar

1 big tomato (cut in small pieces, if you can’t avail of a big tomato, 3 medium size tomatoes will do too)

2 tbsp minced ginger

2 cups water

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp peanut oil

3 cluster of bokchoy

2 medium size red and yellow sweet bell pepper ( cut into small cubes, and you can used any color you want)

broccoli florets (about a handful)

some chives for garnishing

Masala:

1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika

1/2 tsp grounded black pepper

1/2 tsp hing/asoefatida ( you can buy this in any Indian store)

Procedure:

1. Pan fry the veggie 2na until golden brown. Set aside.

2. Cut the seasoned tofu into small cubes and pan fry. Set aside.

3. Cut the bokchoy and separate the leaves from the steam. Cut the steam into medium size cubes.

4. In a hot pan, pour in the peanut oil. When oil is hot, put the ginger and cooked it until slightly brown. Add in the masala and stir it with the ginger.

5. Mix in the tomatoes, bell peppers, and seasoned tofu and add the 2 cups of water. Simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Add the black beans sauce, sugar, bokchoy steams, and broccoli. Stir and simmer again for 2 minutes.

7. Add the bokchoy leaves and sesame oil, and do a quick stir.

8. Lastly, put the veggie 2na and simmer it for a second. Garnish it with some chives.

My first try in making Hong Kong style Snow Skin Moon Cake! The green one is flavored with Pandan essence, while the pink one is coconut flavor. Both have Adzuki bean paste w/ walnuts filling. (^_^) I just followed the ingredients and procedure from this video.

However, instead of only 80 gms for both of the rice flour and the glutinous rice flour, I did 100 grams for each, since I find it kind of watery with the 200 grams of milk. Also, the red bean paste filling I use is store brought, and I added some chopped walnuts on it.

1. Use a cling wrap when you’re kneading the moon cake dough. In this way, your dough is smoother and it won’t stick to your hands.

2. For the cooked starch, I just steamed a couple tablespoon of corn starch covered with paper towel for 15 minutes.

P.S.

Excuse my blurry pictures, for I don’t have a camera (it’s broken :( ) Instead, I took the photos via my iPhone.

Adobo is a very popular method of cooking in the Philippines. Perhaps, it’s the most popular and most distinguished among all Filipino cuisines, unfortunately, it’s commonly associated with meat. It has simple ingredients and very flexible procedures, so I come up with my own version of vegetarian adobo. You can either cook it right away, or have it marinated and cook the next day. Either way, the result is the same, yummy!

Tofu Adobo

Ingredients:

sliced tofu (sliced as you like but just thick enough in size; I cut mine in triangular shape)

1/2 cup lemon juice

6 pieces of slice lemon

1/2 cup of soy sauce or Bragg aminos

dried bay leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp black pepper

sliced ginger (about 1/4 cup)

1 tbsp of oil

1 tsp of sesame oil

Procedure:

1. Drained and sliced the tofu and deep fry (you can pan fry also), set aside.

2. Slice the lemon and ginger and set aside.

3. In a bowl combine, the soy sauce, lemon juice, bay leaves, salt, pepper and sugar stir well, this will be our adobo sauce.

4. In a hot pot, put the oil and sauté’ the sliced lemon, ginger and about 3 pieces of bay leaves.

5. Stir in the fried tofu, and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Add the adobo sauce,mix well and make sure that the tofu are fully coated with the sauce, simmer for 2 -3 minutes then add the sesame oil.

7. Offer and serve with love :) Hare Krishna!

What would it take for a noodle gaga like me? Simple, just dare to cook all those noodle varieties available. From pansit bihon to pansit palabok, Italian spaghetti to Korean jab chae. Heck, even from instant ramen to the unbeatable instant pancit canton, I tried it all and dig it! Come to think of it, I survived my college days by eating instant noodles. Yes, the lazy way of just putting hot water, and viola, you have a hot serving of a hearty noodle. But since I got married, cooking the instant way has to change, or else my husband will disown me,LOL! I’d been eating noodles since time immemorial, in which the amount of noodles I’d eaten could encircle the globe to-and-fro beating Michael Palen, hahahaha! So, this time, I dare myself to cook the famous Pad Thai. I had never cooked Pad Thai, and I always wanted to learn how to do it. At first, I was really intimidated, but after reading some blogs and articles, I conditioned myself not to back out.

One of the best blogs that I find very helpful on how to cook Pad Thai for beginners, is Chez Pim’s blog. In there, she thoroughly explained everything up to the last bits and pieces of ingredients, procedures, and even cooking tips. The article is a long read, but trust me, it’s worth your time. When you’re done reading it, I can assure you that you are now fully equipped on how to make your very first and own Pad Thai, just like me (^_^) Good luck on your Pad Thai quest, and soon enough, you’ll forget about take out!

Click here at Chez Phim on tutorial on how to cook Pad Thai.

Procedure:
1. Sift the flour and baking powder, then add up the 1/2 cup of sugar and the 3 tbsp of oil.
2. Mix together the yeast and sugar in a lukewarm water and stir until it’s lump free and wait till its bubbly.
3. Pour in the liquid mixture in the flour mixture and mix well. Form into a ball and cover with a damp cloth.
4. Leave the dough to rise for 1 hour or until it doubles its volume.
5. Once the dough arises, punch it in the middle and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, knead the dough in a floured surface until it is smooth and not sticky.
7. Divide the dough into 2 balls and roll it into a log then cut it into small balls.

Note: I weighed my balls into 75 grams each just enough for a regular bun size, and it makes about 14 buns.

8.Flattened the balls into a circle and put the filling into the middle.

9.Pull the sides of the dough into the center in closing the bun.

10.Place the bun into a 4″x 5″ square parchment paper and cook in the steamer for 15 minutes.

11. After 15 minutes, viola! Your sio pao is ready :)

My first attempt in making a Rainbow Cheesecake. I’m quiet satisfied with it, but there’s still room for improvements! I will try to post the recipe and a tutorial next time about this yummy delight. This is a vegetarian (eggless) cheesecake, by the way.