Barbeque platter is like a festive of Filipino grilled foods. We Filipinos are used to have a barbeque every time when we go to the beach. It completes the event of the day. I am a dedicated woman when it comes to cooking. I am curious about every detail of the food and through that curiosity, I was able to try cooking other foods from other countries such as Pakistani's, Indian's and Emirati's basically more unto Arabic food. Staying in the middle east for 4 years helped me to adapt their foods and I really love its taste and aroma. I learned new spices which I never tried before and I am getting more interest time by time.
When I cooked with meat I always matched it with vegetables. This kind of idea will create more flavors in one stick. It has capsicums, white onion, and tomatoes. It's good to make a balance and putting this kind of veggies will add beauty to the barbeque. The secret of having tender meat, I sliced the meat into small cubes and boiled them for 3 minutes with pepper and bay leaves to remove its impurities and a strong smell of the meat. After that, rinse it with cold water and place it in one bowl. Now, let's move on to marinating time. I put black pepper, chili powder, vinegar, chopped red onions, and garlic, squeeze with lemons, and a little bit of soy sauce. I don't put a lot of soy sauce because, for me, It can easily be burned or turned the meat dark. My goal is not just to serve a good taste but also to maintain its beauty visually because this can attract the interest of someone who loves to take a bite.
Actually, I reuse the big woven basket from the previous occasion. I decided to cook on my own and use my skills than buying and ordering which will cost me a lot than what I budget for this. I was able to buy three pieces of chicken breast, four medium-sized squids, 1/2 kilo of shrimps, 1/2 kilo of meat, and boneless chicken. Now I am going to share with you my strategies on how I prepare and make it tasty.
1. Shrimps with garlic and chili sauce
In cleaning the shrimps, it will be better to take out its small intestines. You can use toothpicks to make things easier. It may take a lot of time but it's worth it because we emphasize here the cleanliness which is the number one factor. I am the type of food eater who is conscious of the cleanliness of the food. I don't want to see any strand of hair because of this kind of food trauma I experienced when I had my lunch in one restaurant, I ordered a soup and when I am about to scoop it, I found a piece of rag a size of an inch. From that experience, I became more strict when preparing the food. In making the sauce, I blended the onions, garlic, and chilies together. If you want your sauce to be buttery then you can use butter instead of oil. To have a perfect texture of your sauce and avoid burning it, kindly cook it in low fire and continue stirring it until you can feel its perfection.
2. Grilled squids
For your squids, you have to safely remove their black ink. Make sure to clean and take out everything inside the squid and replace it with vegetables such as onions, garlic, and scallions to make it more tasteful. Once it's mildly cooked, you can now start slicing its body part to release some pressure inside of it.
3. Crispy thin-sliced chicken with sesame seeds
This is one of my favorites and theirs as well. I have many versions of this and sauces to dip in but today I will just share with the sesame seeds. This is a very simple recipe. You need to have a boneless chicken and slice it thinly. Mix it with garlic and pepper powder, an egg, and cornstarch. Leave it for 10 minutes to absorb the seasoning. Fry it and once it's done, you can sprinkle some scallions and sesame seeds. For the sauce, you can have mayo ketchup. It's a perfect combination of the two.
4. Grilled chicken breast
Create a thin-sliced at least three lines. The purpose of it is to help the meat absorbed the mixture. The longer you marinate it, the better the taste. As usual, I used garlic, onions, lemons black pepper the same ingredients to the meat barbeque stick.
