From the Kitchen: Beef Tomato Winter Melon Noodle Soup

The following recipe is not your traditional Filipino upo* (winter melon) dish, because I turned it into a Chinese-style noodle soup. I decided to change it when I realized it didn’t look like a Filipino dish! LOL

*Because of my lack of experience in cooking vegetables, I really thought I was cooking patola (loofah).

INGREDIENTS
0.5 kg upo
5 cloves garlic
1 large onion
2 ripe tomatoes
1/8 kg ground beef sirloin
8 pcs beef mushroom balls
1 L water
1 beef broth cube
2 tbsp sesame oil
fresh white noodles
spring onions

PROCEDURE

1. Prepare ingredients. Roughly chop the garlic and onions. Then carefully slice the ripe tomatoes.
2. Sauté onions and garlic. Once the onions have started to caramelize, add the ground beef sirloin and star anise (Read about star anise here). When the beef is ready, add the upo and ripe tomatoes (They give color to the dish).
3. When the vegetables have started to cook, add water and bring to a boil. Add the beef broth cubes, mushroom beef balls and sesame oil (Sesame oil adds the Chinese flavor to the soup). Simmer for about 10-20 minutes. You may choose to add black pepper or some chili oil if you wish to make the soup spicy.
4. While simmering, cook the noodles in boiling water. Place a portion of the cooked noodles onto a bowl. Pour the soup on the noodles. Garnish with some spring onions. Serve while hot.

I served this to James who was pretty tired after leading three consecutive Bible studies. Although it’s not the Taiwanese Niu Rou Mien (Spicy Beef Noodle Soup) that he loves, he absolutely enjoyed this version.

Simple Steps For Family Worship

by RC Sproul Jr.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

(via Ligonier Blog)

Effective Group Bible Study

William Boekestein shares seven principles for effective group Bible study:

1. Keep the Bible first
2. Respect the Creeds
3. Stick to the Plan
4. Be prepared
5. Write it Down
6. Study as a Group
7. Apply the Word

Read the full article here.

(via Reformation21)

From the Kitchen: Camote Tops Laing

Laing is a term used for a traditional Filipino vegetable dish cooked with coconut milk. The usual recipe calls for gabi (taro) leaves. But since I didn’t have any at my disposal, I substituted them with camote tops (sweet potato leaves and shoots) from our Good Food Co. basket.

INGREDIENTS
0.25 kg camote tops
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium red onion
2 tbsp bagoong (shrimp paste)
1 cup coconut milk
3 pcs siling pangsigang (finger chilis)
1/2 cup pork menudo cut*
1 tbsp cooking oil
*I used 1/4 kg of minced pork for this recipe since we didn’t have any pork menudo cut. I also added tomatoes, just because.

PROCEDURE

1. Prepare your ingredients. Remove the leaves from the camote tops and discard the stalks. Chop the garlic cloves and onions.
2. Begin heating the oil over medium heat in a small pot. Sauté the garlic and onions. When the onions start to caramelize, add the pork menudo cut. Reduce temperature to low heat. To boost the flavor of the meat, you may add star anise (more on this later).
3. Once the pork has started to cook, pour in the coconut milk. Stir until you see a thin layer of oil coming out of the coconut milk, then add the bagoong and the camote leaves. Simmer for 10 to 20 minutes until the liquid is reduced to about 80%.
4. Add the sili pangsigang and simmer for another 5 minutes. Best served with steamed rice.

Now, why would you want to add star anise? This is something I’ve learned from Heston Blumenthal, owner of the three Michelin star restaurant–The Fat Duck–in the UK.

He explains:

What particularly appeals to me about star anise is the way it helps intensify meatiness in a dish. If you’ve ever wondered why humble Chinese spare ribs taste so meaty, even though they don’t actually carry much meat, it’s the star anise in the spice marinade. Chinese five spice usually contains star anise, Sichuan pepper, cassia, clove and fennel (which also contains anethole).

I prefer to combine star anise with lightly caramelised onions, and use this as the basis for a meat braise or sauce. The combination produces sulphur compounds that bring out the meat notes of a dish. As a rule of thumb, half a star anise to one large onion is about right. Thinly slice the onion and brown it gently with the spice in butter, oil or fat; it’s vital to get some caramelisation on the onions. Then add any other ingredients before putting in the meat.

But be careful. If you use too much star anise, it’s all you’ll end up tasting. You have to treat it with respect, just as you would any other big-flavoured spice or herb.

(via The Guardian)

It’s a fantastic tip really. James and I have done it countless times already. Why don’t you try it on for size?

A Catechism on the Heart

by Sinclair Ferguson

Q.1. What is the heart?

A. The heart is the central core and drive of my life intellectually (it involves my mind), affectionately (it shapes my soul), and totally (it provides the energy for my living).

Q.2. Is my heart healthy?

A. No. By nature I have a diseased heart. From birth, my heart is deformed and antagonistic to God. The intentions of its thoughts are evil continually.

Q.3. Can my diseased heart be healed?

A. Yes. God, in His grace, can give me a new heart to love Him and to desire to serve Him.

Q.4. How does God do this?

A. God does this through the work of the Lord Jesus for me and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in me. He illumines my mind through the truth of the gospel, frees my enslaved will from its bondage to sin, cleanses my affections by His grace, and motivates me inwardly to live for Him by rewriting His law into my heart so that I begin to love what He loves. The Bible calls this being “born from above.”

Q.5. Does this mean I will never sin again?

A. No. I will continue to struggle with sin until I am glorified. God has given me a new heart, but for the moment He wants me to keep living in a fallen world. So day by day I face the pressures to sin that come from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. But God’s Word promises that over all these enemies I can be “more than a conqueror through him who loved us.”

Q.6. What four things does God counsel me to do so that my heart may be kept for Him?

A. First, I must guard my heart as if everything depended on it. This means that I should keep my heart like a sanctuary for the presence of the Lord Jesus and allow nothing and no one else to enter.

Second, I must keep my heart healthy by proper diet, growing strong on a regular diet of God’s Word — reading it for myself, meditating on its truth, but especially being fed on it in the preaching of the Word. I also will remember that my heart has eyes as well as ears. The Spirit shows me baptism as a sign that I bear God’s triune name, while the Lord’s Supper stimulates heart love for the Lord Jesus.

Third, I must take regular spiritual exercise, since my heart will be strengthened by worship when my whole being is given over to God in expressions of love for and trust in Him.

Fourth, I must give myself to prayer in which my heart holds on to the promises of God, rests in His will, and asks for His sustaining grace — and do this not only on my own but with others so that we may encourage one another to maintain a heart for God.

This — and much else — requires development, elaboration, and exposition. But it can be summed up in a single biblical sentence. Listen to your Father’s appeal: “My son, give Me your heart.”

(via Tabletalk)