Prawns with Squash & Coconut Cream Soup

This soup has all my favorite things... coconut, prawns, lemongrass, a hint of chili and the color orange. Serve it in a blue and white bowl, sprinkle with green scallions and you have a wonderfully sunny dish. The original recipe called for canned coconut cream and frozen prawns. Canned coconut cream is good, but freshly made is much better. I bought freshly grated coconut (called niyog) and fresh prawns in the market. I used the grated coconut to make the coconut cream called for in the recipe and saved the prawn shells for the soup. Much of the prawn flavor is in those shells, especially the heads, so I highly recommend using fresh prawns if they are available in your area.

Prawns with Squash & Coconut Cream Soup

1-2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 scallions, chopped (white part only, reserve green for garnish)
2 small red chilis
1 stalk lemongrass, cut into 3-inch pieces (discard tough upper green part)
1/2 teaspoon Thai shrimp paste
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 cups boiling water
500 grams squash, cubed
3/4 cup coconut cream
250 grams prawns, shelled, deveined and butterflied (reserve shells and head)

1. Heat oil in pan, add garlic, scallions, chilis, lemongrass and shrimp paste. cook, stirring frequently, until scallions are soft.
   
2. Add squash and stir thoroughly. Add stock cubes and water, bring to a boil, simmer covered for 10 minutes. Discard lemongrass and chilis, puree soup in a blender until smooth. Pour back into pan and stir in coconut cream and prawn shells. Simmer for 5 minutes, pressing on the heads and shells.
   
3. Strain soup, pressing on the shells to extract all the juices. Pour back into pan and discard prawn shells. Add prawns to the soup and heat gently until prawns are cooked. Serve sprinkled with chopped green scallions. Serves 4 as a first course.
   

Earth Day at Kusina Salud

I applaud the efforts of Nina and her family in promoting and living a sustainable lifestyle. And the food is delicious too!

Here is the email I got from Nina which explains all...

HELLO EVERYONE!

Kusina Salud is a family run restaurant which serves modern Filipino cuisine set in the native weekend retreat of Filipiniana textile artist Patis Tesoro. Opened in October 2004, Kusina Salud aims to be a social and cultural safety net which aids in balancing the impact of industrialization on our natural environment. Our modern world is currently experiencing this technology driven phenomenon called globalization, which has both positive and negative long term effects on the present and future habitat of our children and their children.

Kusina Salud's sustainable development efforts include:

1. the housing and care of over 100 birds, some endangered and currently procreating, all DENR registered.

2. the operation of a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP), an in-house facility which recycles kitchen waste water into gardening water

3. the practice of trash segregation which not only gives our kitchen stewards extra income from the sale of recyclable waste materials, but also ensures the health of our organic garden and nursery, through the nutrients pumped in by our compost pits

4. the staging of art events which promote the appreciation of culture and heritage, while instilling a sense of community, in our target markets

This year, we invite you to experience our first major Earth Day Celebration. Earth Day was started on April 22, 1970 by US Senator Gaylord Nelson to create awareness for the need to preserve our natural environment. On Saturday, April 19, 2008 Kusina Salud presents, "Bird-Man: An Earth Day Celebration".

Bird-Man begins at 3 pm with a talk/open forum by Wild Bird Photographer Romy Ocon, entitled "For the Birds". He will also give a slide-show presentation of the numerous birds he has passionately documented in their natural habitat. This will be followed by the ribbon-cutting of Romy's exhibit in our small gallery. Please visit http://romyocon.blogspot.com for more information.

The second half of our celebration is yet untitled because it is a 15-minute performance art collaborative by multi-awarded poetess Nerisa Guevara, seasoned thespians Nonie and Shamaine Buencamino, inimitable sound designer Malek Lopez, and educator-visual designer Blums Borres. As we speak, we are setting Nerisa's poetry to Malek's music, which will be followed by Nonie and Shamaine's interpretation of the "songs" into movement. Technical Director Mark Lakay and Production Managers Perky Parong & Weng Lopez will provide the necessary support system to ensure the seamlessness of this once in a lifetime performance.

Tickets are PHP 500 each which also includes an all-day vegetarian buffet and a raffle of 13 prizes from artists and entrepreneurs: Master Potters John Pettyjohn and Ugu Bigyan, Brass Sculptor Carlito Ortega, Manila Tourguide Carlos Celdran, Mosaic Artist Denise Celdran, Photographer Isa Lorenzo, Chef Billy King, Accessories Designer Anton Pamintuan, Casa San Pablo, Casa Rap, Earthkeepers, Pilar Antiques and Patis Tesoro.

Proceeds from ticket sales will be shared with the Philippine Bird Photography Forum and the Artists Welfare Project. Please reserve now as limited seating is available.

Kusina Salud is located in San Pablo, Laguna. Please call/text Apple or April at 0921.7726985 or 049.5736155 for ticket reservations.

Please e-mail us at kusinasalud@gmail.com or kusinasalud.yahoo.com for inquiries.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on Earthday at Kusina Salud!

Pigging Out on Filipino Food

Two days ago I had lunch in a Filipino restaurant in San Bruno. It was quite good as evidenced by the amount of food we ordered and the amount we had left to take home. We ate as if it was the last time we were ever going to eat Fil food again. Our craving for Fil food led us to drive out of San Francisco and head towards Patio Filipino. The place was almost full, a few tables were left for us to choose from. If I didn't know better I would have thought I stepped into a time warp and was transported back to the Philippines. Everyone was Filipino, from the waiters to the customers and no doubt the chef. Filipino faces and chatter were all around. Feeling right at home we chose a table and proceeded to order. The food was authentic and well executed. Philippine food is influenced by it's Chinese and Spanish ancestry. In this case, the food served at the restaurant was of the Fil-Spanish variety. We ordered all the standard Fil dishes. Bulalo, a beef marrow soup with cabbage; Bangus Sisig, a local fish chopped and seasoned then served in a sizzling plate; Green Mango Salad, chopped green mangoes, onions, tomatoes and seasoned with fish sauce; lastly Binagoongang Baboy, deep fried cubes of pork tossed with fermented shrimp sauce. We ate all of this with Garlic Fried Rice. For dessert we had the Fil-Spanish (as far as I know this dessert doesn't exist in Spain) Brazo de Mercedes, similar to a a cake filled with cream or custard and rolled into log, in this case the cake is a spongy meringue filled with a thick egg custard, each slice is surrounded with a Creme Anglaise and topped with fruits. We walked out and drove home in stupor.

Patio Filipino
1770 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94006
(650)872-9888

Kusina Salud's Valentine's Menu

After reading Kusina Salud's menu for Valentine's I almost wish I were home just so I could have lunch at the restaurant.

Kamayan Sunday Lunch at Kusina Salud

Chef Paul is doing it again with his creative menu using local and native ingredients in all his dishes. Just reading it is making me salivate.

In deference to one of our national heroes, Andres Bonifacio, we present our KKK Kamayan Sunday Lunch Buffet on Dec 16, 2007. Experience al fresco dining at our aviary courtyard!