How to cook isang lingo na ulam in one preparation! A budget dish good for a week or more!

EXPERIENCE THE DELICIOUS TASTE OF A CHEAP FILIPINO - ASIAN FOOD THAT IS HEALTHY AND GOOD FOR THE BUDGET! FOR STUDENTS, HOUSEWIVES, OFWS, LABORERS, MANAGERS ETC! VERY EASY TO PREPARE AND COOK!  This video will show you how to prepare a very delicious, healthy and affordable dish-viand-food ( ulam ) that is good for one week or more in a single preparation! This will definitely help in your budget! Very easy to do, very small amount to use and it can go as long as one week!

For more than two decades we have been eating a dish created by my grandmother. It has a good history since it is somewhat considered as a lifesaver during times of hunger. There were times when having a good meal is a luxury so my grandmother had to prepare this cheap dish ( ulam ). But contrary to what she thinks, we are actually waiting for it. It is delicious and it will complete a meal. In fact, you will eat more rice than you are supposed to.  It has a unique taste. For Asians, it is  very good with rice and coffee. For Westerners, it good with tomatoes and  tacos. The taste I can say is universal. The best thing of course is that you can store it up to a month or less depending on how you prepared it.


Remember to store WATWATWEEK  in a cool place, better if you place it inside your refrigerator. If you do not have a cooler, then prepare watwatday instead of a watwatweek.

The ingredients could be found in your local market. Just choose the fresh ones and when it comes to the meat, it does not matter what kind of meat as long as its not human and its minced (grounded).


How much you will cook will depend on how many people will eat. If you are alone or a family of three, the video presented above could last a week, if you are alone, it will last a month. The taste will differ depending on every persons taste buds so you better do a taste test when cooking. If you think it is too salty, adding a little amount of water will do.




WATWATWEEK


Ingredients:

Ginger – 1/8 kilo or 2 big pcs. ( look at the video )

Grounded pork or beef or chicken – ¼ kilo

Dried Salted fish ( tuyo ) – 15-20pcs.

Garlic – 30 cloves

Salt – 2 table spoons

Pepper – ½ table spoon

Chili ( sili ) – 2-5 pcs fresh or dried ( optional )

Vegetable oil – 1 cup


Materials:

Boiling pan, frying pan

3 cups water

Chopping board

Knife

Spoon

Bowl


Procedure:

1.    Put the salted dried fish  in the pan, add the water and let boil for five minutes. Let the fish smoothen a bit. Get it out of the pan, put in a bowl and set aside for the moment to cool down.

2.    Clean the ginger and chop it into very small cubes like the size of the minced meat. The volume(look) of the ginger when chopped  should at least equal the (look) of the meat.

3.    Clean the garlic cloves and chop it also into very small pieces.

4.    Get the boiled fish and using your hands, carefully remove the fish bones and separate the flesh in another bowl. You can cut the flesh into little pieces if you want

5.    When the ingredients are prepared, heat the frying pan and put the vegetable oil.

6.    When the oil is hot, put the chopped garlic cloves, mix well and let stand for 3-5minutes.

7.    Add the minced meat in the pan and mix well with the garlic. Depending on the fire, cook your meat very well.

8.    When the meat is cooked, add the pepper and the salt and mix again. Let stand for  3 minutes.

9.    Add the ginger then mix well. Put the salted dried fish flesh on top of the frying pan and cover the pan. Let it stand for 5 minutes.

10.    Open and mix very well, taste if it suites your tongue.

11.    Let it cool down.

12.    Prepare a clean container. And I mean clean.

13.    Put the cooled watwatweek in the container and store.


You could add watwatweek every time you eat as a dish/viand or a stand alone dish ( ulam ). It is also good to add with tomatoes and use it as a bread filler. In any way, you could experiment.

I love to cook and I have a big arsenal of unique, delicious  and cheap  food preparations. Depending on how this post will do, I may add some more ingredients.