Phabulous?

We did Sam's Chicken Adobo last night, and while I have no idea if it's super authentic—Adobo is like the mainstay recipe of the Philippines—it was mighty tasty.

Which brings me to my question of the day...why are people from the Philippines Filipino? The ph-f conversion confuses me. Can someone explain this one to me? People from France aren't Phrench. People from Philadelphia aren't, um, Filadelphians.

I'm not stoned, I swear, though I realize that's kind of a stoner thing to get all caught up on. Anyway, just wondering. Doesn't matter. We'll move on.

I also made Filipino eggrolls, called Lumpia, though I know they're supposed to be smaller than what I made...I used egg roll wrappers instead of wonton wrappers, cause that just seemed like that much less work. When you're cooking in half hour increments (AKA "Naptime") 20 big rolls seems far less daunting than 60 small ones. So they probably weren't as crunchy as they should have been, but whatever. I served with two dipping sauces-one I'll give the recipe for, and the other was just 1/4 cup or so of sweet chili sauce with a tbsp of fish sauce added. And then I mixed the leftover sauces together at the end, and that was actually my favorite of the three. (Actually, I preferred the rolls the next day, too, just reheat about 5 minutes a side at 400.)

And I used ground turkey, but ground pork would probably taste better. Also, when you open the eggroll wrapper package, and there are only 10 wrappers, even though the nutritional information clearly states there are 21 in there, relax. They're stuck together. Don't shrug and start rolling anyway.

Again, not stoned. But really not helping my case here.

Simple Chicken Adobo
2 pounds chicken thighs
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tsp fresh ground white pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 bay leaves 
Hot rice, to serve

Note: I used boneless/skinless thighs because I think chicken skin is utterly disgusting. It still worked, but was a little drier than it should have been.

In large pot or dutch oven, combine soy, vinegar,  pepper, sugar, garlic and bay leaves over high heat. Add chicken. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn over chicken pieces and leave uncovered to simmer an additional 30 minutes.

Serve over steamed white rice.

Lumpia Eggrolls
1 lb ground lean pork or turkey
1 carrot, (or about 10 baby carrots) grated
1 small white onion, grated
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped fine
1 can bamboo shoots, drained and chopped fine
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 /2 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 package eggroll wrappers (about 20)
1 egg white, beaten

Combine meat through pepper (probably easiest to mix with your hands). Coat a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling  on a wrapper and roll up. Dip your finger in the egg white and use as glue to close, and place seam side down on cookie sheet. Repeat til you're out of either wrappers or filling. Obviously.

Bake at 425 for about 12 minutes a side (20-25 minutes total).


Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch, mixed with the water
1/2 inch piece ginger, grated

Mix. Dip. 

I feel like "Easy" and "Fast" should be the same thing.

Being the size of a house right now, and without the energy to make much more than salads these days, I've been looking for quick and easy dinner ideas.

(And this would be y'alls cue to send me quick and easy dinner ideas.)

I'm bored with Cooking Light recipes. Allrecipes.com is fabulous, but impossible to browse unless you have some inkling about what you want. So I went back to Sam for some help.

He promised these eggrolls would be easy and tasty. Both are true. But easy does not necessarily equal fast. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, if I hadn't also been juggling making cookies and cooking everything in a toaster oven, I could have had these done in one pass. Also, chopping pre-cooked shrimp, sauteeing for less than five minutes, prepping the rolls for another 5 minutes, and baking for 15ish minutes certainly sounds like it's fast. Sooo, how about Ms. Whineypants over here just shuts up and gives you the recipe already.

Served with Sam's Baked Scallops. Something went terribly wrong with my panko and they ended up with total mush around them, but they still tasted good. Add some sriracha to the sauce, it's worth it.

Shrimp Eggrolls
peanut oil
1 bag mixed cabbage for coleslaw (usually white, red and carrots)
8oz cooked shrimp, chopped
1/4 cup of stir fry sauce (We used Saigon Sizzle)
Sriracha (optional)
10 spring roll/eggroll wrappers (from the refrigerated section)
Spray oil
Sesame seeds
Soy sauce (low sodium)

Heat a bit of peanut oil in a wok or large skillet/saute pan. Add cabbage mix, and saute for a couple of minutes until it starts to soften just a bit. Add shrimp, and saute another minute or two. Stir in sauce and a good squirt of sriracha (if you like spicy). Remove pan from heat and let sit 5-10 minutes until cool enough to handle.

Spray a baking sheet with spray oil and heat the oven to 375.

Take an eggroll wrapper and place it with a corner facing you. Add a scoop of filling-2 tbsp or so-and spread it out a bit widthwise. Fold the right and left corners a bit over the filling, then roll up the whole thing away from you. Use a bit of water to wet the wrapper to close it and place on the baking sheet. (You'll get the hang of it. You'll no doubt have extra wrappers if you need to start over a couple of times.)

Spray each roll with cooking spray and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cook about 8-10 minutes, then flip and cook another 5-8 minutes or until they begin to brown.

For dipping sauce, mix another tbsp of stirfry sauce with 1 tbsp of soy sauce. Add a bit of sriracha or rice vinegar, depending on your mood/taste.

About 75 calories each.