Tres Leches Cake

I forbid myself for making extra fillings and icings but mixing enough for a single recipe particularly on the first try is always inevitable.  Worst, throwing its excess makes my heart break. So, instead of resorting to waste I better use the extras to more explorations. 

I wonder how the leches and the whipping cream will turn out on a vanilla cake? This is a non-recipe entry but it goes down the line of assembly...

TRES LECHES CAKE

Using your favorite vanilla (chiffon) cake , I baked using its cake batter recipe sometime ago and it taste delicious-- 

fill this with tres leches cremé 

TRES LECHES ENSAYMADA

Have you ever tasted pastel ( a custard filled bread famous in Cagayan de Oro) .? Oh, I got carried away by the turnout of the Ensaymada overload and a craving for Pastel so I made a hybrid of these two. 

 Taking it to further overloading by adding tres leches filling. This could be hyperglycemic, I must admit, but the cremé is really superb (which is by the way not too sweet) and filling the bread is simply irresistible....My apologies...

Tres Leches Custard Cremé

I remember the Bavarian Creme -- the star of Dunkin Donuts, even its munchkins sell like hotcakes. But its stardom faded ( in me) when Doc Jorge ( my brother who used to work in pgh) introduced us to Maxims' donut sold at Maxim's Pastry Shop located at the lobby of the defunct Manila Midtown, now where the Robinsons Manila stood still.  I always looked forward to weekends because I get to hangout in Orosa and its neighbourhood -- so rich in food culture and extra-cultural activities...  Need not to elaborate on that =).

ENSAYMADA

I love Muhlach Ensaymada, since it became popular in the late---20th century if I am not mistaken. It's bread is so soft, yummy and less sweet.   Muhlach is so far the most delicious Ensaymada I have tasted in Metro Manila.  My last bite of this yummy bread was 3 years ago and by the way I can hardly see Muhlach at the spot where I used to buy it,  but Megamelts and Supermelts... There were some hearsays about the birth of these companies one after another, but that's immaterial since all of it originates from one family and presumably of the same ingredients. Why I am telling you this, because this was the inspiration in making this overloading bread.

Pansit Habhab

Craving for pansit, I immediately run to NTUC and look for habhab-- look-a-like noodle and I may say...well, this will do--it's a  dry egg noodle cooked directly on a simmering sauce. 

Pansit habhab is a popular saucy noodle dish from Lucban, Quezon which is traditionally serve on banana leaves, Yes! you read me right.  Your plate is the banana leaves-- no fork, no spoon to go with it.  And  habhab? -- is the manner of devouring the noodle out of banana leaves on your hand. You get the picture? =) Pretty cool! But tonight we had it on banana leaf on the plate using spork (but ....ssshhhh....I taught Paige how to eat it the Lucban way).

Bacsilog Lumpia

Nothing beats a good breakfast of Fried Rice, Egg and Bacon or should I say...Bacon, Sinangag at Itlog (BAC-SI-LOG) along side with hot aromatic coffee or sweet milk tea ( Teh - Tarik).

Well, anyway, I have several lumpia wrappers in the fridge with an expiration label:
Best Before: NOW! ... so due to the necessity... it has to be cooked. With frozen meat and the absence of banana at the moment,  given no choice, wrapper turns into--

Beer Can Chicken

Roasts, grills, BBQs and the like are the most palatable food, as I may refer to, before the idea of vegetarian and vegan came to evolution. People from all walks of life knew the what's and how's of this creation.  But little did we know that the term Barbecue means an event, a gathering of people, sharing of time, food and companionship. True enough, since BBQ entails slow cooking in a smoldering fire for a long period of time, the waiting allows guests to be busy with other things and this is where time sharing and companionship comes in. So when we say BBQ it is definitely gathering!  Unfortunately, moving to our new place in AMK limits our space for outdoor BBQ, thanks to the inventors of oven and grills, in a way, BBQ won't be missed.

Let me share this recipe for all those with loads of can beverages, although, there is no other way this recipe can be called otherwise, so let's just stick to it's original name and in doing so we are giving justice to its concept...=) This is not the BBQ that we are drooling about, but fare enough to cover our cravings for one. =D

Alphabet Soup

I totally forgot to introduce sopas to Paige when she started taking solids. Thanks to her I get to introduce this delicious soup to Kai at 8 months with the help of an interesting pasta--San Remo Soup Pasta which I found at Sheng Shiong-Tekka.  Since Paige tasted sopas, she kept bugging me to cook one for her and Kai.  Raining as it has been--- today, she's one lucky kid!

Mango Mouse Cake

Pardon me for this tedious creation. 

It all started one day, Bart, my hubby is on leave and the looks of the piled mangoes across the street is very enticing and ooh did i mention the price?-- 4 medium size for sgd 5 dollars. Cheap huh ( as far as I have encountered)-- normally thai honey mangoes comes for sgd 2.50 a piece. Anyways, 4 pcs on my hand and other ingredients to go with it on the other. With hubby around to "daddy day care", I can have all the time I need with these mangoes.

BG Vanilla Panna Cotta

Since Time is "D' MUST FACTOR" in my daily routines, I became obsessed with it and keen in searching for recipes inherently carrying this quality.  I owe this obsession to my two little hyperactive angels. Despite their sugar underload, they remain my constant booster in my weariness. =)

By the way, my  apologies for posing a marathon of puddings and puddings alike,  that was not my intention.  It just so happen that I found these recipes very appropriate to my predicament of having time constraint and abundant ingredients-- blame this to the market's whipping cream craze which dragged me into this hehehehe... so cream--y recipes are the finalists! So here we go--

Sinigang na Manok

Having a little one in the house dictates you to be time conscious, creative and multi-tasking most of the time. Having a picky eater at home requires you to be innovative. So basically, with kids, gone are our days of "me time of peace and quiet". But their smile, laughter and sweet thoughts magically vanishes all traces of tired--ness and exhaust--ion.
How would i relate this to this recipe?.... well...ahem... i just want to point out that there will be a time that you are caught in a situation where you have no other choice but cook the simplest recipe your kitchen can offer, and most often the ingredients below is always in stock =D.

Pancake

It's been a while when we have pancake from a scratch since we move here in Singapore. We usually have this white kings' instant pancake which was introduced by my hubby. It's golden syrup version taste sweet on its own so you don't need syrup to top it with.  But after a while of grabbing from the grocery and shaking it in my kitchen, not to mention having batter left overs ( Oh yes-- all the time), i thought of making one myself-- well, that's economics so to speak =).  I just need a recipe that leaves no extras and left overs... just enough for two and a half eaters.

Please note though, i have extra buttermilk too, so this recipe is possible.
After all,  small family needs small recipes... so here it is.

Mango Tango Pudding

I love summers in the Philippines. Apart from exploring the beautiful places of this  1,107 islands, it is also a time for fruitstronomic explorations. Fruits are very abundant and whatever region you will land into, you will find palatable fruits in season and Mango is the most popular one.

Yes, Mango is D' MOST favorite ( by wide acceptance, of course) fruit of all, be it on sauces, marinade, desserts, juice or simply fruit on its own-- its sweetness and meatiness is incredibly delicious!

Maja Blanca

Hybernation is over, so I'm back! 

I will pass the long tale talk for this time as  I am sooo excited to share this recipe and oooopss..I forgot which link have I gotten this since I have to revise and experiment for the right combinations appropriate for my requirements-- soft, smooth, creamy, sweet and superbly yummy. If you have the same palate with me try this...

Maja Blanca con leche de mais a.k.a coconut pudding

200ml coconut milk
125 ml fresh milk
1/4 c cornstarch
1/2 can condensed milk
1 cup cream
200 g whole kernel corn
1 tsp vanilla
Chopped peanuts

Cooking procedure:

Pour the coconut milk and fresh milk in a pan and bring to boil.

Add the condensed milk, corn , vanilla and then stir until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Simmer for few minutes until slightly thickened.

Combine the cream and cornstarch in a bow then whisk until the cornstarch is diluted and pour over in the cooking pan.

Allow to cook while stirring in a medium heat until the mixture reaches your desired thickness.

Mixture is still runny (i mean smooth gravy runny--this will tell you if you are in the right track ;-)), pour over a container and garnish with crushed peanuts.



Cool and chill.



Maja is still in the fridge, so I will tell you about the result later..=)

So here it is... Ta-dah!





As Paige would say-- Ooooh-la-la!...So smooth, sweet and insanely deliciously!.. the way it is.