Sweet and Sour Pork

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb Pork (Cubed)
1 piece Egg (Beaten)
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup Cornstarch
2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Water
Cooking oil
1 small Red Pepper
1 small Green Pepper
1 medium sized Onion
1 small Carrot, sliced diagonally



SAUCE:

8 tbsp. Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Ketchup
1/2 cup Vinegar
1 tsp. Soy Sauce
2 tbsp. Cornstarch dissolved in 5 tsp. Water


COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Marinade pork by mixing together soy sauce in a bowl and let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a pan.

3. Combine flour and cornstarch and mix well.

4. Dip the marinated pork in egg and cover with flour-cornstarch mixture.

5. Deep fry pork for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.

6. In another pan, combine sugar, ketchup, vinegar and soy sauce and mix well. Apply heat and bring to a boil.

7. Pour in dissolved cornstarch with the mixture until it thickens.

8. Heat another saucepan and pour the sauce and add water then bring to boil.

9. Add carrots and simmer for 3 minutes.

10. Put the onions, pepper and simmer for another 4 minutes.

11. Add the deep friend pork cubes and cook for 2 minutes. Serve hot.


NOTES:

This was my first sweet and sour pork, and the ingredients could also be used if you'd like to cook fish or chicken.

I had to dip the pork in the flour-cornstarch mixture two times to make sure it is well covered.

I forgot where I got this recipe but it definitely is just perfect!

Creamy Pasta Carbonara

INGREDIENTS:

425 grams Spaghetti Pasta
2 cans Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup
250 ml Nestle Cream
250 grams Ham (cut into strips)
250 grams Bacon (cut into squares)
1 heard Garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
a dash of Black Pepper to Taste



COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook spaghetti pasta according to product label instructions. Set aside and let cool.

2. Fry bacon until brown but not too crispy. Set aside 1/4 for the topping, and the rest for the cream sauce.

3. Saute garlic. Add ham and the 3/4's of bacon.

4. Add 2 cans of Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup.

5. Stir in 1.5 cans (use Campbell Can) water.

6. Add the Cream, and mix well.

7. Pour sauce mixture over spaghetti pasta and top with bacon.


NOTES:

This was the very first carbonara that I made and I swear it is very delicious! I wonder why my housemates do not help me eat it, I am having a hard time finishing it all actually, what with the 425 grams of pasta haha! I bet my housemates are used to eating the American spaghetti, with the sour red sauce because there was this one time when I cooked the sweet Filipino style spaghetti, I noticed that they didn't like it too. There's approximately two more servings left in the fridge and my goal is to finish them today.

I got this recipe from Pinoy Food Blog. I made a little alteration to the original recipe by bringing down the water to 1.5 cans instead of 2.

I rate this 5 out of stars. Highly recommended!

Banana Cake

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
2 Eggs
4 Ripe Bananas (mashed)
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Walnuts and/or Raisins
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract



COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan, or a 1 dozen cupcake pan.

2. Cream together butter and sugar.

3. Add eggs, bananas, flour, baking soda, salt, nuts and raisins, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly using a mixer and pour batter into pan.

4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Cool and serve.

NOTES:

This is probably my most abused recipe. In the absence of nothing to do, I tried teaching myself to cook. This is the very first pastry recipe that I took interest in and thus I found the above ingredients, which I sourced out online only that I cannot recall where.

This recipe came out good, especially with the raisins, I prefer putting more raisins than walnuts as it compliments the taste of the banana. I am still in the lookout for the perfect banana cake recipe, I'd like to discover the exact recipe that of Red Ribbon, its soft, its creamy, and its rich. I have tried adding 1 more banana to this original recipe in the hope that I could copy Red Ribbon's product, but it only came out dry that I could almost taste the baking soda.

I prefer cooking this in a cupcake pan rather than in a cake or loaf pan, the latter would leave the middle portion of your cake uncooked.

At this time I'd settle for this recipe as everybody at home seems to be okay with its taste, but soon as I discover the improvisation, I will share the recipe right away.

For presentation's sake, you could add a whipped cream on top of the cupcake. Happy cooking!