I have been craving Philippine crab roe paste for quite some time now and my stash from previous trips have been depleted. When I ran out of the stuff, I tried canned crab roe from Thailand and Vietnam, but they did not have the same texture and taste as the one I got from the Philippines. Homemade crab roe paste from the Philippines is out of this world!! Maybe the crabs are happier, and they have a lot of play space before they ended up on a steam pot? whatever it is, I could tell the difference. The curdly texture erupts with flavors on the palate and then melts like butter. It is a heart-stopping experience not just for the flavor but for its high fat content. I preferred the homemade crab roe paste made by friends from Pampanga (a province located north of Manila, and known for its regional culinary traditions), prepared without additives or preservatives. Just divine crab roe goodness!
A friend who just returned from a quick trip to the Philippines left me a goody box with not one, but 8 cans of homemade crab roe paste (6 homemade, and 2 of the famous commercial Navarro brand), dried mangoes, dried dark cuttlefish, and some other sweets that I did not even notice, as I lustily eyed the cans. Wait!! Whatever happened to the bottled stuff I used to get from her? A quick call and my friend told me that her sister insisted on canning her goodies instead of bottling them, fearing they would leak or be held up at Customs (or visions of: Customs agent to my friend: Ma'am, please step away from your crab paste, now!!!!).
As soon as I got home from dinner tonight. I chopped 6-8 cloves of garlic, 1 medium shallot, 3 pieces of jalapeno peppers, then sauteed them in a tablespoon of vegetable oil, added one 8 ounce - can of crab roe paste, tossed in a pinch of cracked pepper and another pinch of Spanish smoked paprika, some Moroccan harissa and cooked the gooey goodness for about five minutes, until slightly reduced, over low medium heat. I made sure the garlic were properly browned but not burnt, because burnt garlic is the nastiest thing ever on the palate. I set the sauteed paste aside and when cool,I divided the stuff into single serve portions, which yielded about 4-6 portions.
I do not plan to eat one portion over rice and would attempt to hold back and just add a saucy bit over rice, enough to satisfy my craving. I have to watch what I eat right now. My GP and my trainer (whom I have been running away from lately, hello, JG!) are virtually looking over my plate like hawks, but I have been behaving. So here it is, my version of the sauteed crab roe paste in garlic shallots and jalapeno peppers. I also plan to stretch it and toss the sauteed crab roe paste over pasta for a quick fix, or over steamed / blanched asparagus, snap peas or broccoli rabe or sturdy greens, for a few quick after-school, late night ideas. My apologies to the Filipino culinary purists for tweaking the holy recipe and omitting the lime or lemon juice during the process, and adding cracked pepper, Spanish paprika and Moroccan harissa to the mix. I know I bastardized it, but really guys, I am not good at following manuals.
So glad to be back posting on this blog, whom friends thought was forever gone into the Web's limbo. I just did not realize that crab roe paste would get me blogging again.
A friend who just returned from a quick trip to the Philippines left me a goody box with not one, but 8 cans of homemade crab roe paste (6 homemade, and 2 of the famous commercial Navarro brand), dried mangoes, dried dark cuttlefish, and some other sweets that I did not even notice, as I lustily eyed the cans. Wait!! Whatever happened to the bottled stuff I used to get from her? A quick call and my friend told me that her sister insisted on canning her goodies instead of bottling them, fearing they would leak or be held up at Customs (or visions of: Customs agent to my friend: Ma'am, please step away from your crab paste, now!!!!).
As soon as I got home from dinner tonight. I chopped 6-8 cloves of garlic, 1 medium shallot, 3 pieces of jalapeno peppers, then sauteed them in a tablespoon of vegetable oil, added one 8 ounce - can of crab roe paste, tossed in a pinch of cracked pepper and another pinch of Spanish smoked paprika, some Moroccan harissa and cooked the gooey goodness for about five minutes, until slightly reduced, over low medium heat. I made sure the garlic were properly browned but not burnt, because burnt garlic is the nastiest thing ever on the palate. I set the sauteed paste aside and when cool,I divided the stuff into single serve portions, which yielded about 4-6 portions.
I do not plan to eat one portion over rice and would attempt to hold back and just add a saucy bit over rice, enough to satisfy my craving. I have to watch what I eat right now. My GP and my trainer (whom I have been running away from lately, hello, JG!) are virtually looking over my plate like hawks, but I have been behaving. So here it is, my version of the sauteed crab roe paste in garlic shallots and jalapeno peppers. I also plan to stretch it and toss the sauteed crab roe paste over pasta for a quick fix, or over steamed / blanched asparagus, snap peas or broccoli rabe or sturdy greens, for a few quick after-school, late night ideas. My apologies to the Filipino culinary purists for tweaking the holy recipe and omitting the lime or lemon juice during the process, and adding cracked pepper, Spanish paprika and Moroccan harissa to the mix. I know I bastardized it, but really guys, I am not good at following manuals.
So glad to be back posting on this blog, whom friends thought was forever gone into the Web's limbo. I just did not realize that crab roe paste would get me blogging again.
