My Mama's Kitchen and Garden

Bam-I is very common in our region, the Visayas (Ilonggo). Almost all the carinderias, school cafeterias, and local restaurants serve Bam-I. It is also a staple at every celebration, such as birthdays, Christmas, and other holidays, as we believe noodles represents long life! You can add chorizo de bilbao on your Bam-I if it's available in your area or add shrimp if you like. I prefer to using Sauté Mode with Bam-I because there's two different types of noodles are used in this recipe; if cooked under High Pressure, one set of noodles will easily become mushy.  Instant Pot Pancit Bam-I - Sauté Mode Author: Neliza Ly Equipment: Instant Pot Weighing scale Measuring cup Measuring spoon Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 200 grams cooked pork belly, sliced 200 grams cooked chicken, shredded 8 oz. fish balls, precooked 8 oz. Vermicelli Beans thread noodle (sotanghon), soaked for 5 minutes and drain 4 oz. Pancit Canton (Flour stick noodles)  ½ medium on...

Air Fryer Lasagna Author: Neliza Ly Equipment Measuring spoons Measuring cups 9x13-inch baking dish Breville Smart Oven Air Ingredients For the Meat Sauce: 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 shallot, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 lb ground chicken 2 oz chicken broth 24 oz pasta sauce 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped For the Cheese Mixture & Assembly: 30 oz original ricotta cheese 4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded (divided) 1 XL egg 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped 9 oven-ready lasagna noodles Cooking spray (vegetable oil) Instructions 1. Prepare the Meat Sauce Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté the garlic, shallot, and ground chicken for about 5 minutes until the chicken is browned. Add the chicken broth, pasta sauce, and 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside. 2. Prepare the Cheese Mixture In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, 1 cup (4 oz) of shredded mozzarella, egg, and 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley. Mix ...

Pancit Molo is very common in every household in Iloilo. It originates from Molo Iloilo, the place where I graduated from Nursing School. Each household have their own version. Sometimes we eat pancit molo noodles (yellow noodles) only without molo balls. Every time there’s a birthday, there’s always pancit molo in the table. I remember when I was a kid, During Flores de Mayo, there’s always Pancit Molo as a snacks for each little kids. Several years ago, we don’t have ready-made liquid broth. We use Knorr cubes and a lot of shrimp head as a broth. The shrimp head also adds orange color to the broth. For filling, we use either chicken or pork. Instant Pot Pancit Molo or Ilonggo Style Dumplings Author: Neliza Ly Equipment: Instant Pot Measuring cup Measuring Spoon Pancit Molo Filling Ingredients: 1 lb. ground chicken 2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup green onion or scallion 1 ½ tbsp. Maggi seasoning ¼ tsp. black pepper, grind 1 piece tahure or fermented tofu (optiona...

I saw the Poolee Rice flour noodle at Asian store and decided to try it because Mama always cook with large noodles similar to this. I am satisfied with the result. I prefer this over Excellent brand rice noodle. Instant Pot Pancit Bihon or Poolee Rice Flour Noodle Author: Neliza Ly Equipment: Instant Pot Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 carrots, sliced 1/4 lettuce, sliced 1 cup sweet peas or snow peas (fresh harvest from my garden) 2 dozen jumbo shrimp 6 tbsp. maggi seasoning made in Europe or Regular Soy sauce 2 tbsp. oyster sauce 600 grams Kimbo Poolee Rice Flour Noodle or Pancit Bihon 1 cup warm water Instructions: Soak Poolee Rice Flour Noodle Rice in warm water for 10 minutes drain, add some oil, mix well and set aside Set your Instant Pot on sauté Mode. Sauté garlic and onion for a minute until brown. Add shrimp, carrots, maggi seasoning and oyster sauce and mix for 2 minutes then add rice noodles and wat...

Instant Pot Miswa with Fish Balls and Patola or Chinese Vermicelli with Fish balls and Luffa Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 medium size onion 4 cloves garlic 8 oz. fish balls 48 oz. chicken broth ½ tsp. black pepper, grind 1 tbsp. fish sauce 1 patola or luffa – 13 oz. 4 oz. Chinese Vermicelli or Misua ¼ cup green onion or scallion Instructions: Set the Instant Pot on Sauté Mode. Sauté garlic and onion for 2 to 3 minutes. Add Fish balls and sauté for another minute. Add Chicken broth, black pepper and fish sauce. Close the lid. Set the Instant Pot on Manual Mode, High Pressure for 3 minutes, Quick Release. Switch to sauté mode. Add luffa and Vermicelli into the soup. Cook for 2 minutes. Add scallion and mix. Enjoy.

Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Macaroni Soup or Filipino Chicken Sopas Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 lb. ground chicken or boneless chicken breast cut into small pieces 4 cloves garlic, minced ½ onion, chopped 3 sticks celery, chopped 2 carrots, regular size chopped 1 tsp. salt ½ tsp. black pepper, ground 7 cups (56 oz.) Chicken broth 200 grams Elbow Macaroni 1 cup whole milk 2 tbsp. All Purpose Flour Instructions: Set the Instant Pot  on Sauté Mode. When it shows hot, add vegetable oil. Sauté garlic and onion. Add ground chicken or chicken breast and sauté until brown. Add celery, carrots, salt, pepper, chicken broth and Elbow macaroni and mix well. Set the Instant Pot on Manual Mode, High Pressure for 5 minutes, Quick Release. Switch to sauté mode. Mix milk and flour and add into the soup. Cook for 3 minutes. Garnish with green onions if you like. Enjoy. Notes: You can also use shredded chicken. When you do a QR, try to do it...

This is my kids favorite mac and cheese. Sometimes I need to double my recipe because they keep asking for it. When I double my recipe, the cooking time still the same. If I double the recipe, I use 1 1/2 cup of whole milk. This mac & cheese is very creamy. If you want less creamy use only 4 oz of cheddar cheese instead of 6 oz. My kids love it especially if it just came out from the Instant Pot. If I keep the leftover in the fridge, I just reheat it for 1 minute in the microwave. Instant Pot Mac and Cheese Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 8 oz. Elbow Macaroni 16 oz. Chicken Broth 1 tbsp. unsalted butter 1 tsp. garlic powder ¼ tsp. black peppercorn, grind 6 oz. Shredded mild Cheddar Cheese 2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese 6 oz. whole milk Instructions: Add Elbow Macaroni, Chicken Broth, butter, garlic and black pepper into the Instant Pot . Set the Instant Pot to Manual Mode, High Pressure for 6 minutes, QR. Once Cooking is done, add mild cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese,...

This is my Eldest son favorite pasta aside from spaghetti. This is also a hit at work everytime I cook it for potluck. Instant Pot Pasta with ham and mushroom Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 16 oz. Rotini Pasta 1 shallot, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 16 oz, mushrooms, sliced 2 (10.5 oz.) cans cream of mushroom 3 cups water 12 oz ham, diced ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese 2 tbsp. butter 4 oz. finely shredded mild cheddar cheese 3 oz. finely shredded fiesta blend cheese Instructions: Set the Instant Pot in Sauté Mode. When it shows hot, add vegetable oil. Sauté garlic and shallot for 1 minute. Add ham and mushroom and sauté for 3 minutes. Turn off the Instant Pot. Pour the pasta, do not mix. Mix cream of mushroom and water then pour on top of the pasta. Add butter and parmesan cheese. (Do not mix) Set the Instant Pot on Manual mode, High Pressure for 5 Minutes, QR and turn off the Instant Pot. Once cooking is done, release the press...

Sorry for the very late post that I promised last month. I've been very busy and don't have much time to do my food blog. I have a lot of celery in the fridge. I decided to add celery on my bihon guisado and it works well. Next time, I will double the amount of celery. Instant Pot Pancit Bihon Guisado (small portion/serving) Author: Neliza Ly Equipment: Instant Pot Duo 60 Steamer basket Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 200 grams carrots 50 grams (1/3 cup) celery, sliced 1/4 cabbage, slice 300 grams cooked pork belly, sliced 3 tbsp. maggi seasoning made in Europe or Regular Soy sauce 1 tbsp. oyster sauce 8 oz. Excellent brand Rice sticks 2 ¼ cups chicken broth Green onion, chopped Instructions: Soak Rice sticks noodle yellowish kind using tap water for 2 minutes drain and set aside. For excellent rice stick that looks  white, soak it only for 5 minutes, cut into half and drain. Steam carrots for zer...

This is one of my favorite things to make in the stove before and then I converted it to Instant Pot using a sauté mode only because vegetables cook very quick. I also use the air fryer in order to use less oil. I don't check the time before on how long I cook the food. I only do visual check and taste test. Since I'm posting my recipes, I ended up using a timer on how long to cook the vegetable. Making a food blog is a little bit time consuming because I need to measure things and take step by step pictures. If I'm in a hurry, I only take pictures of the ingredients and the output and then redo the pictures whenever I cook again. Instant Pot Chop Suey or Mixed Vegetables with Air fryer Crispy Noodle Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 500 grams shrimp, peeled 20 grams ginger, minced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 tbsp. cornstarch --- 1  tbsp. maggi seasoning or soy sauce 2  ½ tbsp. oyster sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand) 1 t...

Instant Pot Egg Drop Soup with Miswa (Chinese Vermicelli) and Shrimp Balls Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 32 oz. (4 cups) Chicken broth 1 tsp chicken flavored soup base or other brand (I use Quoc Viet brand) - optional ½ tsp. garlic powder ¼ tsp. turmeric powder 50 grams Miswa (Chinese Vermicelli) noodle  1 ½ tbsp. cornstarch + 1½ tbsp. water 3 XL eggs 20 grams scallion or green onions, chopped Shrimp balls (homemade done in IP) - optional Garnish: Extra green onions for garnish Salt and pepper Soy sauce Instructions: Place the chicken broth, chicken soup base, garlic powder and turmeric powder into the Instant Pot. Set the Instant Pot in a sauté mode, Adjust “More” setting. Let the broth boil. Add Miswa (Chinese Vermicelli) and cornstarch mixture. Cook and stir for 1 minute then turn off the Instant Pot. Whisk Eggs and pour into the soup and stir. Add green onions and sliced shrimp balls and mix well. Enjoy. Serve with soy sauce, salt and pepper an...

Instant Pot Ilonggo Chicken Sotanghon Guisado Instant Pot Ilonggo Pork Sotanghon Guisado This is one of the noodle that we eat in Iloilo. We also make pansit lomi, pansit molo(wonton soup), pansit canton(lo mein), palabok, bam-i and bihon like the one I made before. Sotanghon Guisado, Bihon Guisado and Pansit canton are always a thumbs up at home. As an Ilonggo, our noodles and adobo always have achuete or annatto. Instant Pot Ilonggo Sotanghon Guisado Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil ½ Shallot, slice 3 cloves garlic, minced 150 grams carrots, slice into small pieces 100 grams shredded cabbage (1/4) 2 cups chicken broth 2 tbsp. maggi seasoning or soy sauce 450 grams pork belly or chicken thighs Annatto Oil: 2 tbsp. Annatto seeds +1 tbsp. vegetable oil. Cook for 2 minutes until the color turn deep red. Remove and discard the seeds. 1 bag (8.8 oz or 250 grams) Sotanghon noodles or Vermicelli bean thread noodle Lime slices Green onions I...

When I was young, my mom always cooks spaghetti for us. She usually use the Del Monte brand Italian Spaghetti sauce, ground pork, purefoods hotdogs, ufc or Jufran banana ketchup and at least 2 tbsp. of sugar or condensed milk. Jufran banana ketchup or banana sauce makes the spaghetti sweeter. My kids don’t like their spaghetti very sweet and doesn’t like hotdogs on their spaghetti. No hotdogs and sugar on my spaghetti recipe. I also don't use chicken broth because it makes the spaghetti taste a little bit different and if I make changes, they will not eat it. This is their favorite version of spaghetti. They eat this for lunch and dinner almost every single day. I make this at least twice a week for them. Instant Pot Filipino Style Spaghetti Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients 1 lb. ground chicken  2 tbsp. oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 shallot, minced 1 lb. Spaghetti Noodles, break in half 24 oz. Tuttorosso Marinara pasta sauce or Great Value Chunky Tomato, Garlic and On...

This is my husband favorite. Instant Pot Bun Bo Hue (Not very spicy) Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 3-4 lbs. oxtail or 4 lbs beef shank 1 lb. pork hocks 6 stalks lemongrass - cut into 3, smashed, bruised 1 (70 grams) ginger, cut into half 1 onion, peeled 2 tbsp. fish sauce 1 tbsp. shrimp paste 2 tbsp.Quoc Viet "Hue" Style beef flavored Soup base 15 grams rock sugar 6 cups chicken broth Aromatics: 1 tbsp. annatto seeds 3 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 shallot, minced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 stalk lemon grass, minced Others: Noodle: Either Hai Ca Vang Double Golden fish Brand or Dragon Brand Vietnamese Rice Vermicelli, follow package instructions Purple cabbage Beansprout Chili pepper cilantro Scallion Cha lua Lime Instructions:  In a pot, parboil the meat for 10 minutes then rinse with running water. Prepare the aromatics. Heat oil, add annatto seeds. Cook for a minute. Add lemon grass, shallot and garlic and sauté for a minute and set asi...

This is my Ilonggo version of Bihon. Every part of the Philippines have their own version. In my province, we always use achiote or annatto in our food to add color like for example in cooking sotanghon guisado, pata cansi, adobo etc... I don't know anything about Tagalog pancit bihon version.   Instant Pot Ilonggo Pancit Bihon Guisado Author: Neliza Ly Ingredients: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 Shallot 3 cloves garlic 2 ½ cups (230grams) carrots 2 cups (150 grams) shredded cabbage ½ cup (145 grams) chayote 4 cups chicken broth 3 tbsp. maggi seasoning 1 tbsp. oyster sauce 370 grams shredded cook pork 2 cups (250 grams) sweet peas Annatto oil (2 tbsp. vegetable oil + 2 tbsp. annatto seeds – microwave for 30 seconds, discard the seeds) 1 bag (16 oz) Excellent brand Rice sticks   Instructions: Soak Rice sticks noodle using tap water for 5 minutes, cut into half then drain and set aside. Blanch vegetables for 2 minutes. You can also cook for zero minute, ...