FILIPINO CHICHARON BABOY (Filipino Pork Rind Cracklings) Kulinarya Cooking Challenge

This month's Kulinarya Cooking Club's Challenge is inspired by the colors of the Philippine Flag. It's actually a challenge for the month of August and September. Hosted by Oggi, Chef by day, Boyet and Ray . 

Thanks for the a great challenge guys.

Required for the challenge:
- Must use and show Red, White, Blue and Yellow on your dish from plate to the garnish
-You may include the color of your garnish for as long as it is edible.

For this challenge i thought of Chicharon . I like my chicharon w/ substance, not a big fan of those "airy chicharon" . For me chicharon means Pork skin with fat and meat,  deep fried until it puffs up and become crispy and crunchy. Chicharon is another Filipino favorite pulutan (appetizer) served with cold San Miguel beer or chilled soda. But i personally like this w/ steamed rice. Like bbq, chicharon are ubiquitous in every street corners. Sold in plastic bags w/ vinegar as the dip.


This is one of my no reicpe recipe. It's the method and the process that's very important in order to have a crispy, crunchy chicharon.


Ingredients:


Pork skin with little fat and meat
water
garlic
salt (rock salt or kosher salt. Depends on how many lbs. of pork you are using, about 1/2 tsp per lbs.)
peppercorns (6 pieces)
bay leaf (3 leaves)


Place all dry  ingredients in a heavy pot adding water until the pork is covered about an inch high.


Bring to a boil until pork skin is tender ( about an hour).


Remove the pork and drain really well.


Cut into bite size and let these air dry or put in the fridge uncovered over night or so.


(IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE PORK SKINS ARE DRIED. THIS WILL ELIMINATE OR LESSEN THE SPLATTER DURING DEEP FRYING AND WILL MAKE THE SKINS PUFF )


After drying the pork skins overnight you are ready to deep fry them.


Heat up oil and fry the pork skin pieces in batches and cook until light golden brown and puffed up.


Carefully take the chicharon using "spider" or slotted spoon.


Make your dip. There are a lot of choices to go along the chicharon. Traditionally, coconut or sugar cane vinegar is the dip. You can do that or vinegar w/ little of soy sauce and chili w/c is what i have.


Serve with chilled beer -San Miguel or Stella ;) or plain chilled soda.


Like i said i prefer my chciharon w/ rice.


To my KCC members , after reading the challenge i think i missed one color ;). Well, i do have the colors alright, but technically i'm missing the white w/c was supposed to be in the plate, my white steamed rice. Pls.....pretend it's in there ;) . Thanks, for this challenge, this was clever ;p

TONKATSU (Japanese Breaded Pork Cutlets)

Tonkatsu literally mean Ton= Pork, Katsu = cutlet. A quick, easy Japanese dish. This is one of my "go to" dish if i crave for some Japanese food aside from sushi of course.

Add more ingredients to this like fried egg and you'll have a totally new dish called Katsudon but we will  do that some other time.

Ingredients:

8 thin-cut pork loin boneless center cut chops (Pork chop is good too)
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 cup flour
1 egg (beaten)
½ cup milk
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
4 cups cabbage ( I used napa cabbage, shredded)
Canola oil for cooking

You will need three shallow bowls for the egg wash method.

*** You will also be doing the left hand dry, right hand wet method as well to avoid a mess.

1^st bowl – flour mixed with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2^nd bowl – combine egg and milk, add salt and pepper.  Mix and beat. Set aside
3^rd bowl – panko breadcrumbs mixed with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.

Dredge pork cutlets in the 1^st bowl (flour), then coat them in the 2^nd bowl (egg wash) using your left hand (wet).

Then coat with panko (3^rd bowl using your right hand, dry). Press cutlets so panko will adhere to the meat
.
Gently drop coated pork cutlets into the hot skillet by batch. Don’t overcrowd your pan this will produce moisture.

Since the pork cutlets are thinly sliced, fry them for 3 minutes on each side or until brown.

Set cooked pork cutlets on cookie rack to let excess oil drip. I don’t recommend paper towel, it will urn your crispy pork cutlets mushy and soggy.

Tonkatsu Sauce:

½ C Worcestershire sauce
¼ C Catsup
¼ C ponzu * ( you can use Teriyaki Soy Sauce)

* Ponzu is a Citrus ( Yozu) seasoned soy sauce

Mix and whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Breaded Pork Cutlet on a bed of shredded cabbage, with steamed white rice, tomatoes and Tonkatsu sauce.

I told you this was easy, quick and delicious. 

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Fall season means good bye to your vegetable plants that is if you are from the Mid-west area. I still have tons of tomatoes. The green ones i have to pick before it gets frozen. We have been on frost advisory lately. I have plans on pickling some of them, hopefully i'd find the time to do so. You can also make them into salad, but frying them is the  best way to go..it's  our favorite.  Frying them while it's fresh is a good thing, in my opinion. It's crunchy and juicy and a hint of tart...yum!!!

This recipe is my version. Traditionally,  fried green tomatoes calls for cornmeal but i used panko. It just gives more crunch to the fried tomatoes. But if you can't buy or find panko don't fret...do the cornmeal or any regular breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized green tomatoes (wash, slice into 1/3 inch thick) *
½ cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup flour
1 cup panko bread crumbs *
1 ½  tsp salt (divide into 3)
1 tsp pepper (divide into 3)
Canola oil for frying

* I prefer thick slices to have a crunchy end product as opposed to thin slices that will turn soggy after frying.

*Panko Breadcrumbs are Japanese breadcrumbs. Thanks to “supply and demand” they are now available at every supermarket near you ;) Few years back, you can only buy them at Asian stores. If you haven’t tried using them yet, I highly suggest that you give these a try in lieu of the breadcrumbs we used to know ;). If you want to achieve a crispy/crunchy texture, Panko will definitely give you that!

*** You will need three shallow bowls for the egg wash method.
*** You will also be doing the left hand dry, right hand wet method as well to avoid a mess.

1^st bowl – flour mixed with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2^nd bowl – combine egg and milk, add salt and pepper.  Mix and beat. Set aside
3^rd bowl – panko breadcrumbs mixed with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.
Dredge tomato slices in the 1^st bowl (flour), then coat them in the 2^nd bowl (egg wash) using your left hand (wet).
Coat sliced tomatoes w/ panko (3^rd bowl using your right hand, dry). Press tomato slices so panko will adhere to the tomato slices.
Gently drop coated tomatoes into the hot skillet by batch. Don’t overcrowd your pan this will produce moisture. Fry the tomatoes for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown.
Set cooked tomatoes on cookie rack to let excess oil drip. I don’t recommend paper towel, it will make your sliced tomatoes mushy and soggy.
I love to serve this w/ sriracha and vinegar dip.

Tart green tomatoes coated w/ panko and fried perfectly = crispy/crunchy on the outside and warm and juicy on the inside.

What a brilliant way to make use of your green tomatoes before cold season comes.