Ginisang Pechay
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Pechay, petsay, pechay baguio, wombok, napa cabbage ... here's the simplest dish ever that you can prepare for the Children's Shelter of Cebu Virtual Banquet!
One of the best things about living in the Philippines is the abundance of pechay. Sometimes called Chinese chard or Chinese white cabbage in the West, varieties of this plant are grown all over Asia. Why? Because it's super easy to cultivate. If maintaining a garden has become one of your pastimes during the pandemic, you should definitely add this to your garden plot (and then share it with your Asian neighbors if you want to make new best friends for life).
If you live in the West, aren't into gardening, but still want to try pechay, you can always look for bok choy which is a close relative. In Philippine cuisine, pechay often plays a supporting role. However, one of our family's favorite meals uses pechay as the main feature and is probably the easiest dish to prepare in the history of everything. So easy, in fact, that if you're still looking for something to eat during CSC's Virtual Banquet, then you should head to the store right now ( ... go ahead, I'll wait ... ), get some pechay, and give the following recipe a try. After all, what's a banquet without food!? And, with this recipe, you'll be able to enjoy a simple Filipino meal in the comfort of your own home while listening to stories of hope from the Children's Shelter of Cebu.
CSC ANNUAL BANQUET
Speaking of the banquet, don't forget that this weekend (Saturday, April 24th, 7pm Central Standard Time) is when CSC's Virtual Banquet goes live! As we mentioned in our last blog post, you can view the Virtual Banquet online at CSC's Facebook Page (here), on CSC's web-site (here), or YouTube channel (here). Our family will be in the live chat of the Facebook video feed, so if you're wondering what platform to use, choose that one 😊.
Ginisang Pechay
Preparation Time: 10 minutes or less
Cook Time: ~20 minutes
Total Time: Less than 30 minutes
The dish I am referring to above is ginisang pechay. The word ginisang comes from the Tagalog root word gisa. This isn't a language blog so I won't get into the depths of Filipino verb conjugations, but ginisa means to "sauté" or "stir-fry," typically in oil, garlic, onion, and sometimes tomato. So, ginisang pechay simply means "sauteed and/or stir-fried pechay." This is similar to how, in our last recipe blog, the word ginataang in the dish ginataang bilo-bilo comes from the root word gata (gata meaning "coconut milk" and ginataang meaning "something cooked in coconut milk").
All that aside, for this recipe all you'll need are the simplest of Asian ingredients. Truly, the pechay may be the hardest thing to find but as I mentioned above, this should taste just as good with bok choy from the grocery store. If you live in a big city, your local Asian/Filipino grocery store should be able to hook you up (tell them we sent you and you'll get a 20% discount ... maybe).
Ingredients:
• 1 tablespoon oil (veggie or otherwise)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• ½ pounds ground pork (more or less ... if you're on a budget, do a ½ pound ... if you love pork, go for a full pound)
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce per ½ pound of pork
• About 4 cups of pechay, ends trimmed and cut into thirds
• Salt and Pepper
Optional: 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
Optional: Crushed red pepper to taste (for a kick)
Instructions:
1. In a cold pan, add the oil and garlic and bring heat to medium or high.
2. Once the pan is hot, add and sauté the onions.
3. Cook until the onions are softened.
4. Add pork and brown.
5. If you're doing this with tomatoes, add them now.
7. Add oyster sauce. Let boil for a few minutes to incorporate all of the flavors.
8. Salt and pepper to taste (optional: add crushed red pepper if you like).
9. Add pechay and stir fry everything together for about 2-4 minutes, or until the pechay is slightly tender but still crisp.
10. Serve hot over a pile of white rice.
And there you go! Ginisang pechay. Let us know during the Virtual Banquet if you've prepared this dish. Thank you again for all of your prayers, love, and support. We hope to see you soon during our next furlough!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
• Please continue praying for the adoption process of one of our kids. We won't go into specifics, but the process is held up at the "visa medical" portion with the US Embassy. Please pray that all medical tests yield favorable results and that the process can continue for this child and their adoptive family.
• Please continue to pray with us regarding our first furlough to the US this Summer (mentioned in our last blog post). Pray with us that the process would be smooth for our departure; that all of the paperwork that needs to be processed would be processed quickly and easily.
• Please pray for our family's homeschooling efforts. Our hope and prayer is to finish out the school year before we leave for furlough on the 25th of May. Pray with us that the school year finishes out strong for our kids so that we won't have that looming over our heads while we travel to the US and back again.
THANKS AGAIN for all your messages, all your prayers, and all of the love and support you continue to give. Please know that we are also praying for you. God bless!
Learn more about the Children's Shelter of Cebu here.
Support us by clicking here.
SOME FUN VIDEOS
A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege of sharing about the Children's Shelter of Cebu on a podcast called The Edge of Adventure. Check it out below!
And if you're interested in hearing the Easter Sunrise Service message for CSC's locked-in workers, locked-out workers, and kids, you can listen to it here. God bless!
