Malaysian Style Sos Cili

The Asian grocery stores in my area for some reason does not carry Malaysian sos cili (chili sauce) anymore for many years now, although they are still available from online stores. It's similar to ketchup but has a stronger chile flavor which I really like. It is not too hot, is sweet, and has the right amount of flavorings.

According to Wikipedia Malaysian Sos Cili has tomato puree, chili juice, sugar, salt and some other spices or seasonings to give the spicy, but not too hot, taste. There are sos cili that have no tomatoes though. Also, some countryside commercial varieties use bird's eye chile together with its seeds to raise the level of heat of the sauce.

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Baked Chicken Marinated in Soy Sauce

Filipino cuisine is in my opinion a tad unique. It's a fusion of Chinese, Filipino, Spanish, and American flavors. Perfect example of Filipino Chinese Spanish is Chicken Arroz Caldo.

This dark brown baked chicken is an attempted copycat of the delicious baked chicken by a Filipino Chinese restaurant in the Philippines called SAVORY. This is where these different influences come in. The restaurant, although in English has the Spanish pronunciation of SABOR (flavor, taste) with a short a, and b is between B and V. If you are in the Philippines, don't make the mistake of pronouncing it as sv-r; otherwise people won't know which restaurant you are looking for. 

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Calamansi Muffins

Filipino food blogs don't seem to get enough of calamansi muffins because I keep reading about them. I tried to bake following the recipes available on several websites but I was not happy with the cakes. The dry-ish muffins lacked flavor and they were too sweet for my taste. I also didn't like that it's almost like chiffon cake. There's nothing wrong with soft fluffy cakes but I prefer moist and dense muffins. 

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Pork Belly Lechon Roll

I will never be a vegetarian as long as there is fatty pork belly calling my name at the grocery store. Pork belly with its skin on is my favorite part of the hog. There is no shortage of ways to cook it. This time I made a small slab into a roll seasoned in the style of Philippine roasted pig and slow-baked it in the oven. It takes 2 days to prepare and roast. The roll is flavorful enough, no sauce is necessary.

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