Tortang Upo (Bottle gourd)

One of the healthy vegetable's here in Philippines. The tetracyclic triterpenoid cucurbitacins present in fruits and vegetables of the cucumber family. In the Philippines, it is known as Upo. Try this quick and easy recipe at home.

Ingredients:

3 cups Upo
3 eggs
½ cup of flour
salt
1 pcs. of Onion

How to Cook:

• Chopped the upo finely and put a little salt and onion. Beat the eggs and add the upo and flour.
• Make it like patties and fry in hot oil. Serve and Enjoy!

Sambal Tahu

Ingredients:

½ cup of chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tbsp. lemon or lime juice
2 tbsp. of ground lemon skin
2 tbsp. of red sugar
1 tbsp. of powdered ginger
3 tsp powdered ginger
3 tablespoons oil
½ kilo tofu, diced cut
1 ½ cup coconut milk

How to Cook:

• Grind or chop the onion, garlic, salt, lemon juice, lemon skin, sugar and ginger. Heat the oil in a pan; saute the mixture for 3 minutes, always mixing. 
• Add the tofu; cook over low heat, mixing constantly for 3 minutes.
•  Add the coconut milk. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Let it cool

Tomato Chutney (Quetta)

Ingredients:

1 cup of lemon or lime juice
¼ cup salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup raisins
¼ cup chopped fine ginger
3 tablespoons of chili powder
2 ½ pound tomatoes, peeled and diced cut

How to Cook:

Put in all ingredients in a cooking pan. Boil and cook over low heat for an hour, until thicken; mix continuously. Let it cool then put inside a clean bottle. It can make up to 2 bottles.

Food Mineral

   It is important to us to know what are the different minerals needed by our body and where it came from. Our body needed this element some of this are called calcium, iron, manganese, chlorine, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, zinc, potassium and sodium. The aluminum, cobalt, fluorine, nickel, molybdenum and silicon are the slightly used mineral and those are called trace elements. All of minerals include above are needed of our body.

1. Can be part of our bones and teeth to strengthen.
2. It can help a human heartbeat to become normal.
3. Needed to stimulate and form a blood.
4. Help to lessen from being nervous and balance water in our body.

   Our body has more calcium than any mineral. Inside the bodies there are 90 to 99 percent of calcium can found in our bones. There are two major uses of calcium. The first one are: It helps to growth and to strengthen bones. It can also help to form blood and have a normal heartbeat. More calcium can be found in these foods are: milk, egg yolk, cheese, salmon, leafy vegetables and ice cream.

Beef Morcon

This recipe is served in different occasion's and fiesta's.

Ingredients:

1 kilo beef, sliced 1/4 inch thick (3 pcs.)
1/4 kilo ground beef liver
200 grams sliced sausages or ham
200 grams pork fat (cut is strips)
3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
100 grams cheddar cheese in strips
100 grams grated cheddar cheese
2 onions, chopped
5 bay leaf (laurel)
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 cup vinegar
2 teaspoon salt
2 cups of water
2 meters thread or string (for tying)

How to Cook:

• Spread and stretch the sliced beef on your working table.
• Arrange the filling on the sliced beef: sausage strips, cheese strips, sliced eggs, pork fat and some ground liver.
• Roll the sliced beef with all the filling inside and secure with a thread or string.
• Repeat the procedure for the two remaining beef slices.
• On a pot, place the beef rolls and put the water, the remaining ground liver, grated cheese, chopped onions, bay leaves, ground black pepper and salt.
• Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour.
• Add the vinegar and continue to simmer of another hour or until beef is tender.
• Slice the beef morcon, arrange on a platter and top with the sauce/ gravy poured on top.
• Serve and Enjoy.