Serendipity. This is defined as “making fortunate discoveries by accident.” November’s topic for Blogkadahan was on this beautiful word (and it’s my favorite word too!). This is my entry. And ooh trivia. Wanna know where the word serendipity came from? Check this out.
Caldereta. Coming from my entry for Lasang Pinoy 4, my Mom and I decided to cook Caldereta together for the first time yesterday (Family Sunday!). So with our magic powers combined and with my younger sister J’s expertise in peeling potatoes, we were able to prepare a sumptuous dish. It turned out great! I just tweaked Wowo’s recipe a bit. Because I put too much tomato sauce, I added a teaspoon of sugar.
Some cooks like putting grated cheese into the caldereta to give it a rounded taste. I haven’t tried it myself but if you’d like to experiment with your caldereta, do give this a try!
Fishballs. J cooks fishballs as well as any street vendor does. What we didn’t have yesterday was the recipe for the sweet gooey sauce that all fishballs vendors have.
While we did feast on the fishballs with Sweet Chili Sauce, we’d like to make the experience more authentic by having that sweet sauce. Does anyone have the recipe for that? If you do, I hope you can share it with me!
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
tin
November 28, 2005 at 4:15 pm (18 years ago)the caldereta looks really good, toni! i miss fishballs, too. the secret is in the sauce talaga. pa-share ng recipe ha.
Toni
November 28, 2005 at 4:24 pm (18 years ago)tin: Thanks sweetie! Yes when I get the recipe I’ll email ya!
husticia
November 28, 2005 at 7:36 pm (18 years ago)evil girl ka toni! ginutom mo ako waaah!
Toni
November 28, 2005 at 10:00 pm (18 years ago)justice: hehehe kain na!
mare
November 29, 2005 at 3:51 am (18 years ago)This on top of a steaming bowl of rice, we’re in heaven! I love that the movie Serendipity has given people the open door for fate and destiny.
kat
November 29, 2005 at 6:37 am (18 years ago)i loved your “serendipity” entry! so sweet, concise, and makes a powerful statement!
also loved the pic of your kaldereta! it’s making me drool right now!!
dexie
November 29, 2005 at 7:21 am (18 years ago)kakalaway naman…
** going to read you serendipity entry now
Toni
November 29, 2005 at 10:20 am (18 years ago)mare: Exactly! The movie helped some people believe in the magic of love and fate again! It’s one of my favorites. It also helped that I loveJohn Cusack and Kate Beckinsale! Put ’em both together and boom! A great film!
kat: You’re back from Italy?! Gotta read your blog now!
dexie: Heyyy you’re a whiz cook! Do you have the recipe for that sweeet sauce for fishballs? The type that’s sold by the fishball vendors? Can’t find a recipe. Then again I haven’t searched the net yet!
jey
November 29, 2005 at 1:10 pm (18 years ago)your serendipity post made my eyes watery.
Jeanny
November 29, 2005 at 2:01 pm (18 years ago)My inlaws visited us yesterday and I made caldereta for dinner. I’ll try your wowo’s recipe soon. Mine kasi is with gata naman (which I’ll post the recipe this week.):D
About the fishball sauce, I have tried a recipe a long time ago. One time kasi there was this vendor selling at our area. I got curious with his sauce so I asked him. His sauce was consist of..
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup brown or white sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1-1/2 cups water
minced garlic, chili
just mix everything and boil in low heat with continuous stirring. It’s ready when the sauce is gooey. 😀
husticia
November 29, 2005 at 9:05 pm (18 years ago)my dear, pag malapit na ako sa manila…may utang ka pa sa aking ‘luto’ hehe
Rowie
November 29, 2005 at 9:14 pm (18 years ago)that’s one of my favorite words too!
eye
November 30, 2005 at 12:10 am (18 years ago)ang sarap ng caldereta! miss ko na yan!!!
may narinig ako dati na hinahaluan daw ng konting liver yung fishball sauce, i don’t know how true hehe!
sha
November 30, 2005 at 1:31 am (18 years ago)posted comment at blogkadahan another sweet piece of toni’s sweet life…
Jet
November 30, 2005 at 2:09 am (18 years ago)I MISS FISHBALLS!!!
Dati I asked around for the recipe of the sweet sauce, sabi saken, ‘No matter how closely you follow the recipe, you’ll never get it. E kasi you don’t have the tulo of the pawis under the sweltering sun on the sauce, the alikabok and smog from the street and the hundreds of people making sawsaw their fishballs together with their laway on the sauce.’ hahahaha!!!
Naku, I just remembered… the kare-kare recipe! Tell you what, let’s swap recipes. Give me your caldereta and I’ll give you the karekare. Deal? 😀
jen
November 30, 2005 at 7:02 am (18 years ago)For fishball sauce this is what I do:
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c vinegar
cornstarch
sugar
Just heat slowly in pan until it thickens. I like my fishball sauce to be a little on the vinegar-y side.
Christine
November 30, 2005 at 2:12 pm (18 years ago)hi toni — i add grated cheese on my caldereta and it’s super yum! i miss fish balls!!!!
Toni
November 30, 2005 at 2:29 pm (18 years ago)jey : Awww thanks. *hugs*
Jeanny : Great! Thanks for the sauce recipe!!! I’ve shared it w/ my sister na.
husticia: Oo nga! Grabe! I owe you pa a dish!
Rowie: Yey!
eye : Yikes liver sa fhsball sauce? Parang masarap din yun ha. Pampalapot din!
sha : Hey thanks! I’ll hop on over to the site to read it na.
Jet : Hahahaha kailangan ng pawis at laway ba? Eeew! Parang parehas na principle ng dirty ice cream ‘no!? And ok, I’ll email you na my kaldereta recipe!
jen : Fantastic!!! Thank you!
CG: Masubukan nga yang grated cheese next time! How much do you put?
Junnie
December 1, 2005 at 12:49 am (18 years ago)#$@^$@!, ginutom na naman ako…
i may not be able to swap any recipes with you. but i can surely swap my appetite for these….bawal na ata sa akin yang mga yan….why ? product of old age, hehee
Toni
December 1, 2005 at 8:30 am (18 years ago)Junnie: I see you being in your early 30s. Old age na ba yun?
Sidney
December 1, 2005 at 10:19 am (18 years ago)Looks so yummy. But I confess I don’t like the Pinoy habit of adding sugar in many sauces (especially in tomato sauce!).
Sweet spaghetti…
Toni
December 1, 2005 at 10:24 am (18 years ago)Sidney: Oh yeah! We Pinoys have a thing for sweet stuff. I try not to add too much sugar too but sometimes I just can’t help it! 😆
sha
December 1, 2005 at 4:18 pm (18 years ago)i asked a friend if she wants to come this weekend and we will test a kaldereta recipe.. she said ok, hayan ka naman test ng test hehehe..
is this the kind of sweet sauce used in sweet sour? wala pisbol dito eh
Toni
December 1, 2005 at 4:22 pm (18 years ago)sha: Testing testing 123! Hehehe hope your kaldereta experiment turns out well. Not sure if the sweet sauce is the same as the one in sweet-sour… di ko sure!!!
mae gabriel
December 3, 2005 at 8:06 am (18 years ago)hi Toni,
I got here through Sha’s site and like everyone else, i too love your kaldereta. Where can i find the recipe please???
I love your site.
Mae
toni
December 3, 2005 at 5:01 pm (18 years ago)Mae: Hi there! Check out the entry around two posts back.
I emailed the link to you too!
gin
January 26, 2006 at 12:15 pm (18 years ago)yummm…huhuhuhuhu..i love fishballs. pwede ba pong makahingi ng recipe nyo?
thank you…:)
yung pic ng fishballs pwedeng i-frame hihi.
gb
Toni
January 28, 2006 at 7:37 pm (18 years ago)gin: Hi! We just bought our fishballs frozen from the grocery. Then we thawed them and then deep-fried them!
rose
April 12, 2006 at 10:20 pm (18 years ago)hi, i have been looking for the street vendor fishball recipe forever and i must say i stumbled on your site and saw that you had the picture there but no recipe. would you happen to have it and like to share it with me? please???? i’m so craving and other fishballs are not the smae fromt he markets
thanks so much
rose
p
April 20, 2006 at 1:09 am (18 years ago)hi..pa email naman ng caldereta recipe mu..tnx!:)
p
April 20, 2006 at 1:10 am (18 years ago)eto pla email ko: aidz_15@yahoo.com
rose
July 22, 2006 at 4:56 pm (18 years ago)hmmm i am craving those fishballs even more now that i see the picture here! does anyone have the recipe on how to make ‘those’ fishballs.. i mean not he ones you can buy at the markets but the kind that you find just like in the picture on here..
pllllllllease email me thanks
jay
August 9, 2006 at 8:31 pm (18 years ago)pls teach me how to cook kare2x maawa kau
stef macapagal
September 13, 2006 at 5:38 pm (18 years ago)sweet sauce for fishballs:
4T cornstarch, 1.5c water, 1/4c soy sauce, 1/3c brown sugar
combine everything over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. some add garlic and chillis, but the sauce is as good without them. 😉 hope that helps!
ps
i love that picture of caldereta too! can you email me the recipe that you used? my grandma used to add cheese to her recipe, sadly she passed away without any of us knowing how she made it. thanks.
crabmistress
September 28, 2006 at 10:33 am (18 years ago)For street vendor sweet fishball sauce:
Disolve sugar in boiling water
Disolve cornstartch in water then pour in sugar mixture
Add MSG, salt and Mang Tomas sauce
And sili labuyo to make spicy