Lumpiang Shanghai

I had a hard time deciding what to cook for lunch because I only had ground meat in the fridge. Then I remembered, I wasn't able to eat Lumpiang Shanghai in Davao last month. Darn that tight schedule. So today, we're having Lumpiang Shanghai for lunch! :)

Ingredients

• 200 grams ground lean pork 
• 1 tsp onion powder (can use fresh medium onion, chopped)
• 1 carrot, grated 
• 1 tbsp soy sauce 
• 1 tsp black pepper 
• 1 tsp garlic powder 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 pc medium sized egg
• 20-30 pcs spring roll wrappers 
• 1 1/2 cup canola oil for frying 

Directions:

In a bowl, combine ground pork and shredded carrot. You can opt to use fresh onions instead of onion powder.  I only used onion powder because I don't like fresh ones :) It's better to use your hands when mixing the meat.

Using a smaller bowl, combine all the seasonings (soy sauce, pepper, garlic/onion powder, and salt). Mix well before adding into the meat mixture.  Add the egg and combine thoroughly.  Just a tip, try to fry a tablespoon of the mixture to try the taste.

Use a flat plate and lay out the wrappers. Place a tablespoon or two in a line on the center of the wrapper. The filling should be about half an inch thick and leave about half an inch space on both sides of the wrapper. Roll from one side up to the top sealing the roll but leaving the sides open.  Cut the rolls into 4 or 5 pieces depending on your liking.

Heat the oil on a heavy skillet. Make sure the oil is really hot to cook the rolls thoroughly, not just the wrapper.  When the lumpia turns brown, you can turn it over and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Serve with sweet and sour sauce and lotsa rice!

shredded carrots

Thick spring roll wrappers

Rolled and cut into small pieces

Crunchy spring rolls

Binignit/Ginataan

During Holy Week, we made Binignit. According to Wikipedia:

"Binignit is a vegetable soup from the Visayas region in the Philippines. The dish [1][2][3] is traditionally made by Cebuanos with slices of Saba banana, taro, sweet potato. The people in the neighboring island Leyte, usually include landang (palm flour jelly balls), langka (jackfruit), anise and thickened with milled glutinous rice in cooking binignit. The vegetables along with pearl sago is cooked in a mixture of water, coconut milk and the local landang and sweetened by muscovado or brown sugar.

The soup is usually cooked and eaten during the Holy Week, especially Good Friday when the Visayans are fasting. It also is a popular afternoon snack. The soup is best served when hot. It is comparable to various "guinataan" dishes in other regions such as Bilo bilo."

Actually, binignit is not only cooked in Visayas but in the whole country. :D We have several variations and names for it, but the common ingredients are banana, sweet potatoes, ube or taro, and coconut milk with sugar.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 pcs langka (jackfruit), sliced thinly
• 6-8 pcs saba (ripe banana plantain), sliced into quarters
• 2-3 medium sized camote (sweet potato), sliced into quarters
• 1 cup sago balls/pearls, cooked in water for about 20-30 minutes
• 1 1/2 cups glutinous rice flour, mixed with water to form pliable round balls
• 500 grams grated coconut (mix with 3 cups water and extract coconut milk)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
• 4-5 cups water

Langka

Saba baby!

Camote

Cooked sago balls

Glutinous rice balls

Grated coconut

Directions:

1. Cook camote, saba (plantain bananas), and langka in 4-5 cups water.  This will take about 45 minutes to fully cook everything.  In a separate pan, cook the sago balls in water. Set aside.
2. Once the everything is tender, add the coconut milk extracted.  Let mixture simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
3. Add the cooked sago balls/pearls and the glutinous rice balls. Make sure to stir the mixture every now and then to avoid curdling.
4. Adjust the thickness of the soup by adding glutinous rice flour. Add sugar if you wish.
5. Serve hot.

Langka, banana and camote cooked in water

Tag dos ang takos

Jay-j's Inasal in Bacolod

We had lunch at Jay-j's Chicken Inasal last Thursday. It was not a busy day since it's the middle of the week. Lucky us, there were only a few tables occupied.  When we came to the restaurant, I realized this was the same Jay-j's in Manila.  A similar hang out place of those who crave for Filipino food with moderate prices and for those who want to spend their time drinking the night away. :)

For me, the inasal mastery should be left to the Bacolodians/Bacoleños. I believe are the experts when it comes to grilling prowess. :D 

Menu - Starters, Inasal, Chicken and Pork

Menu - Breakfast, Merienda, Dessert, Fiesta meals

Menu - drinks

Menu - Beef, Seafoods, Gulay, Sabaw, Rice & Noodles

We ordered this chicken curry but we weren't able to eat it. We had it packed as a doggy bag.

Chicken Curry - Php135

Beef salpicao was really tasty. I didn't like how the beef was cooked though, it was still a bit tough.

Angus Beef Salpicao - Php175

Laing was really good. It had bits of pork and chillies with the wonderful blend of the gata.

Laing - Php 115

For those who love dinuguan, this is a must try! The crispy pork slices add twist to this conventional Filipino dish.

Crispy Dinuguan - Php 145

It was my first time to try Gising-gising. At first, I thought it was Kising-kising. hehe The husband says it's the best he has tried. I guess it's a must try at Jay-j's, too.

Gising-gising - Php 120

The pancit canton was a disappointment. We actually ordered it for the kids but it was really salty. We had to return it because my tot was not eating it. Good thing they gave us another full bowl, a good tasting one. :)

Pancit Canton - Php 135

This was my ordered drink, Sago't Gulaman. I miss having this on a sunny day. I love the softness of the gulaman and just enough sweetness of the arnibal.

Sago't Gulaman - Php 75

The banana shake was ordered by my SIL.  It didn't look fancy or anything but I guess it was good because I didn't hear her say she didn't like it. :)

Banana shake - Php 95

Jay-j's can be found at the back of Lopue's Mandalagan.  It's in a cluster of stores called Art District. The place is a new hang out of the young and young once. hihi

Jay-j's Chicken Inasal
Art District, Lopue’s Mandalagan
Bacolod City

Price per person - Php 200

Chicken Tocino

Drying the chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo boneless chicken breast fillet
• 1 tbsp garlic powder or 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2/3 cup pineapple juice
• 11/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oil (for cooking)

The marinade

Directions:

1. Pat the chicken breast fillets dry to avoid contamination.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade. Mix in the chicken fillets. 
3. Transfer the chicken with the marinade into a container and keep refrigerated for a day or two.
4. Using a shallow frying non-stick pan, heat 2 tbsp cooking oil. Carefully place the chicken tocino and cook it for about 5 minutes or until it caramelizes.
5. Serve for breakfast together with garlic fried rice.

Cooked Chicken Tocino

Wow, Palitaw

I have been craving for kakanin again last week and I thought of bringing this for a get together over the weekend. It turned out really nice but since there were only few of us there, we had lots of extra palitaw so some friends took them home. And since this has coconut, it was prone to spoilage. Next time, I should keep in mind that we should only make enough to avoid leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice flour (malagkit)
1/2 cup water 

3-4 cups water for cooking

4 ounces grated coconut 

Toppings:

1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions:

1. In a deep medium pot, pour water for cooking. Turn on to medium heat.

2. In a bowl, mix glutinous rice flour and 1/2 cup water. Mix well to form a pliable dough.

3. Scoop a tablespoon of the dough and flatten. Drop into the boiling water. Cook for about a minute or until it floats.

4. Once the palitaw cools down, coat it with grated coconut.

5. Prepare the toppings by toasting the sesame seeds on a shallow pan. Cool for 10 minutes.

6. In a clean bowl, mix white sugar with toasted sesame seeds. Serve warm after a hearty meal.

Grated coconut, naked palitaw, sugar with sesame seeds

Oh Adobo-h!

Over the weekend, we attended a small gathering of friends. It was a potluck party so I thought of bringing Adobo and Palitaw. For those who don't know Adobo, it is a Filipino dish which is inspired from the spanish word, adobo -- to immerse raw food in a stock or sauce comprised of paprika, oregano, salt, garlic and vinegar to preserve and enhance flavor.  However, for the Philippine version, we generally use soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. We have several versions as well, one with pork, another using chicken or combining both - conveniently called CPA or Chicken Pork Adobo.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams pork belly, cut into cubes
• 250 grams chicken breast and leg, cut into serving pieces
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 5 laurel leaves (bay leaves)
• 1/2 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
• half head of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

1. In a deep pan, place the pork belly cubes. Pour water, vinegar, soy sauce. Season with pepper, laurel leaves, brown sugar and crushed garlic.
2. Let mixture simmer for about 40 minutes or until pork is tender. Add chicken pieces and season again with soy sauce, vinegar, pepper and sugar to adjust the taste. Simmer for another 30 minutes.
3. Check to see if both chicken and pork are fork tender. Turn off heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.
4. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with hot rice.

Ahhh... Suman!!

Last month, we had a small "side line" during the holiday season. We sold puto and suman to some Filipinos in the husband's office. :) Hihi Good thing the nanny knows how to make suman without having to look at any recipe book. I took care of the puto while she did the suman. It was fun because cooking is something we enjoy and we also got to earn money during Christmas!

Here's what you need:

• 1/2 kilo glutinous rice, soaked overnight
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• banana leaves for wrapping
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Wrapped suman

Latik

Directions:

1. Soak the glutinous rice in water. Do this the night before cooking it or at least 5 hours.
2. In a deep pot, mix the sugar, coconut milk, water and salt. Let it simmer until it boils.
3. Once the mixture is boiling, add the soaked glutinous rice. Cook until the rice has absorbed all the liquid mixture.
4. Check if the rice cooked. Make sure it's fluffy and tender. Remove from heat.
5. Wrap the rice immediately on the banana leaves. Make sure the leaves are soft enough to be folded and won't tear. If not, you can soak these into boiling water then dry roast them over a griller.
6. Put all the wrapped suman in a deep pot and fill with water just the same level of the contents. Boil for an hour.
7. To make latik, mix brown sugar with coconut milk in a pot. Bring to boil until mixture becomes thick.
8. Serve suman with latik.

Thursday Tinola :)

Last Thursday, we had Tinola for dinner. My daughter loves soup and noodles. Since she had noodles the previous days, I wanted her to have rice and soup this time. I think she needs to have more variety in her diet because all she wants to eat are those that are easy to swallow. She's too lazy to chew her food! Oh well. But there are times she loves eating chicken and fish. :) I guess I'd have to introduce different kinds of dishes every now and then.

Anyway, back to Tinola. :) I actually don't like this dish when I was younger. You see, I had a bad experience when I was in college. Not that it's traumatic but I just had a hard time letting go. Haha To make the long story short, when I got home from school, our helpers didn't expect I'd go home for lunch that day so they let the manikurista (manicurist) eat my share. Grrr. I know it's shallow but still. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pc (about 2in), peeled and sliced
• 1 whole chicken, chopped into serving pieces
• 1 unripe papaya (green skin) or chayote, peeled and cut into bite-size
• 1 cube chicken bullion
• 4-5 cups water
• salt and pepper to taste
• fish sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Clean the chicken by washing the pieces and pat them dry to avoid contamination. Set aside.
2. Using a large deep pot, heat the oil over medium fire. Saute onion and garlic then add ginger. Add chicken then season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour water into the pot. Mix in the bullion and wait until it fully dissolved with the soup. Adjust taste with fish sauce according to your preference. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Add papaya and let it cook for 5-7 minutes. Check if chicken is thoroughly cooked, the meat should be white and NOT pink.
5. Add chili leaves and turn off the heat. Let it stand for about 2-3 minutes with the cover on. Serve hot with rice.

Let's eat!

Pregnancy Cravings

What do you do if you're pregnant and craving for something made back home but you're thousand miles away? This was the husband's colleague's dilemma. I don't know how she found out that I know how to make Maja Blanca but she requested for me to make her one. It's been more than two weeks since she asked for it and I was either too busy with my applications or preoccupied with my blogging. Err. Sorry :) But today, I promised to make her one. I hope she will be happy with what I made. :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups coconut mixture (5-6 tbsp coconut cream diluted in 2 cups water)
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 3/4 cup cream style corn
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut, lightly toasted 

Directions:

1. Prepare a 9" round pan and set aside. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a bowl.

2. Mix the remaining ingredients in a pan except for desiccated coconut. Bring to slow boil.

3. Carefully add the sugar and cornstarch mixture into the pan. Stir constantly to avoid any lumps. Do this for 10-12 minutes until you can see that the mixture is becoming thicker.

The right consistency is the key

View from the top

4. To prepare topping, toast the desiccated coconut in a pan. Cook until it turns brown and top on the maja blanca.

Topped with toasted coconut flakes

Puto - Steamed (Rice) Cakes

Usually, what we have back in the Philippines as kakanins (a collective term for snacks made with kanin (rice), particularly malagkit (glutinous) rice; or native delicacies) are the ones made of ground rice. But the one I'm going to write about is made of flour. I actually learned this from my sister who used to be so crazy about making these little steamed cakes when we were younger.

Here's my recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• cheese for topping

Directions:

1. Grease small cake, puto molds, or ramekins for use in a steamer. 
2. Mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl. In a separate, large bowl, scramble the eggs with the evaporated milk and water. Fold the dry mixture into the eggs until evenly blended. Fill the prepared molds 2/3 of the way up with the batter.
3. Fill a wok or a sauce pan that will hold a steamer basket with a few inches of water. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Place the molds into a steamer basket and place over the boiling water and cover.
4. Steam until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the putos comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove from steamer and place the cheese on top just in time to make it melt a bit.
5. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

This yields around 20 pieces (big plastic ramekins used).

Freshly made

This kakanin is so easy to make. You just need a steamer (the rice cooker steamer would do), the easy-to-find ingredients and you're good to go! :)

What's for Dinner?

It's been exactly 7 months since I last tasted good Filipino food.  I have to comfort myself with my own version or else I'll feel miserable. Haha! So tonight, we're having Palabok. According to Wikipedia, Palabok is made of rice noodle smothered with a thick, golden shrimp sauce or other flavored sauce, and topped with:

• Shrimp, (the size and shell-on or shell-off depending on preference)
• Crushed or ground pork rind
• Hard-boiled egg (sliced into disks or quartered lengthwise or chopped)
• Tinapa (smoked fish) flakes
• Freshly minced green onion

As for me who can only depend on instant ingredients because I'm based overseas, I'd have to settle with what I can find in a Filipino store nearby:

Stars of the show - Rice noodles, Chicharron ni Mang Juan and Mama Sita's Palabok Sauce

Pancit Palabok Recipe:

• 1 pouch (57g) Mama Sita's Oriental Gravy (Palabok) Mix
• 8 oz (227g) bihon (rice noodles) cooked as directed
• 2 1/2 cups (625ml) water or unsalted soup stock
• 2 tbsp (30ml) cooking oil
• 1 tbsp (8g) minced garlic

Garnish:

• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup (100g) shrimps, boiled and peeled
• 1 tbsp (15g) fried minced garlic
• 1/2 cup (30g) crushed cracklings
• 1/2 cup (100g) squid (cooked and cut into rings)

Directions:

1. Dissolve Mama Sita's Palabok Mix into favored liquid (water or unsalted soup stock).
2. In a wok, saute garlic and tinapa flakes in cooking oil. Stir in Mama Sita's Palabok mixture.
3. Bring to a boil, stirring until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
4. Place bihon in a serving platter and pour sauce over it.  Garnish with eggs, spring onions and shrimps, etc. Serve with calamansi and patis.

* Note: I didn't follow everything on the recipe.

- I didn't use tinapa flakes. I used chicken breast flakes instead.
- Since I don't have squid as of the moment, I didn't include that in my Palabok, too.
- For the chicharon or cracklings, I used Chicharron ni Mang Juan.  It's made of peas, not pork. :P

My pretty palabok

Have fun eating!