Kulinary Cooking Club: Lomi

For a few months now, I have been cooking with a group fellow foodies around the world known as the Kulinarya Cooking Club. Members of the group were assigned a month of the year to think of the theme for the members to cook and blog about. This month, our hosts, Abigail of My Nappy Tales and Marni of Kensington Kitchen had come up with a very interesting theme. This is to cook something that reminds you of your first love. And so, I'm whoa!!! Wait a minute! Hahaha! Geez, I really don't know how to do it. As I am not comfortable talking about topics like these in general outside of my circle of 6 closest friends, I really don't know what to do about this. LOL! Geez, how am I to talk about my sacred love for Allan Caidic, the PBA player! Hahahaha! Yes, friends, Allan Caidic is my first love! I believe i was about 13 then, first year high school when I started to have crushes or appreciate boys in general. At that time, I have just moved to La Salle Lipa for high school and at that time, PBA is so big for high school girls. Although that was the only time I had been introduced to the sport, I also got hooked with the influence of my new classmates and friends. 
The good thing about it was that at that time, La Salle was just a high school and so all of us had come from different schools in elementary. It was equal ground for everybody. Being so timid as a child, I found transferring to a new school very refreshing. I thought it would be the best time to reinvent myself to be more outgoing and friendly. So there, I guess really that was the time I fell in love. I fell in love with Life itself. A whole new world had been opened up in front of my and it is time to take it all in and enjoy myself. I can be who I am, to be more open to new ideas and experiences. I fell in love with everything, my school, my classmates and friends, all the clubs and extra curricular activities, even my classes and teachers. I think that was even the stage where I learned to giggle and enjoy myself! Haha! 
And so, for this month's cooking challenge, I have opted to cook something that best reminds me of my high school life in Lipa City. What else but the very popular Lomi. See, your visit to Lipa wouldn't be complete without having a taste of the heavenly noodle soup that is available in big and small restaurants and even hole in the wall eateries. And, if I may say so, this is totally different from the Lomi you get from other parts of the country. Our Lomi in Lipa does not include vegetables in its recipe, instead it is just a simple noodle and meat dish, but oh so delicious. Unfortunately, for my dish I wouldn't be able to recreate that particular type, due to the circumstantial limitations I have in my part of the world. So before anything else, to all Lipenos out there reading this blog, who I know are very propreitary to the lomi, pardon me, and I am not in any making any presumptions that this is Lipa Lomi (Oh my, you wouldn't believe the comments I've read on recipe blogs which had titled their post as Lomi ng Lipa when they are in no means a representation of the dish, so I wouldn't be attempting to do the same! Hehe!) Anyhow, this is My Expat Mommy's version of Lomi. Maybe in the future, I'll also get to prepare the Lomi, Lipa City style!

Ingredients:
1 pack egg noodles (large/ wide), 
6 cups water for cooking the noodles
4 cups chicken broth for the soup (or 1 chicken broth cube for every 2 cups of water)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 cup shitake mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup corn flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
chicken liver
kikiam
squid balls
vegetable oil
salt and pepper


Method:
Cook the egg noodles by putting it in boiling water and simmer until done. When cooked, drain hot water and  immerse in cold water, drain and set aside.
Cook the the liver, kikiam and squid balls by frying them separately. Slice liver, half the kikiam and quarter the squid balls and set aside.
Using the same oil from frying the garnishing, saute onion and garlic in a pan. When slightly cooked, add the carrots and shitake mushrooms. Saute for another 3-5 minutes.
Add the noodles, saute for another 2-3 minutes then add the broth. Bring to a boil then lower heat to medium low to simmer for about 15 minutes with continuous stirring to prevent noodles from sticking in the bottom of the pan. 
Adjust taste with salt and pepper. 
Dissolve corn flour in 1/4 cup of water and pour slowly into the pan with continuous stirring to prevent lumps from forming. 
Stir in the liver, kikiam and squid balls. 
Turn off heat then pour in the beaten eggs, this time stirring hard to prevent from forming big chunks of cooked egg. 
Transfer to a bowl and serve with a mixture of soy sauce, lemon and lots of chili pepper for a very hot yet delicious afternoon snack or dinner. Enjoy!




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