Bibingka

In my quest to find the recipe that fits my "used to" bibingka sold in the dirty market in our home town: grainy yet soft when served hot,  sweet and with the aroma of burnt banana leaves, i've decided to make a hybrid version. More like soft, fluffy and a little grainy texture. Finally a little upgrade of what i used to have, not that i am saying what i used to have is not delicious, it's just like we can make something a little more palatable than what we used to have :-D.

Be warned that if you are immersed in a culturally diverse group of friends, always clarify what you refer because each region has its own version of bibingka, like the bibingka galapong i made or you ask for "puto" and you will be given "biko" instead. So here it is the quest for the authentic bibingka. 

I can't get that authentic burned banana leaves aroma since those were cooked in a traditional way of "oven" where batter was placed in a claypot lined with banana leaves and baked in a clay oven sandwich by charcoal, but this is the closest i can achieve, finally--


BIBINGKA
makes 1 7" pie pan and 1 mamon pan.

1 c rice flour
1/2 c light muscovado sugar ( or you can use 2/3 c regular brown sugar)
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 c coconut milk
1 whole egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Procedure:

Pre-heat oven in 180 degrees.
In a bowl place flour, baking powder and sugar. Mix to combine.
In a mini blender, place egg, coconut milk and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and combine.
Then pour the batter into the prepared pan lined with banana leaf.
Bake for 30 minutes or less until the toothpick comes out clean when tested.
Remove from oven when done and top with grated coconut.
Serve warm with coffee and tea.

Awesome!!!

Fresh from the oven, see those signature cracks? 

This is the texture I am looking for --

Enjoy it with your favorite drink... serve warm with grated coconut or grated cheddar cheese.

Bibingka Galapong

Living in Manila for quite some time exposed and integrated me to various cultures, primarily language. If you're a pure Manileña, language barrier is your major concern cause your friends may talk behind your back  (mostly in a nice/ funny/ joking way). On the other hand, it will be a realization that similiraties abound these different cultures yet expressed in several ways and again language is evident.

The word of the day is Galapong. It is a tagalog word for milled glutinous rice. Some called it as rice flour others defined it as glutinous rice powder. In the province, we simply call it giniling na malagkit (glutinous rice) or giniling na bigas (for white rice flour). The common denominator is that-- it is from rice and in a powdered form.

Got cravings for another native delicacy and as i was researching for the recipe, i came across bibingka. I'm used to bibingka with grainy texture, sweet and cooked in banana leaves topped with shaved fresh coconut but sometimes food photo are looking appetizing that you may want to explore it. So today, i am trying this bibingka galapong made of rice but not regular white rice but glutinous rice, which made me thinking the texture could be different from the one's I am used to but let me give it a try. 

Indeed I was right,  this is more of a smooth sticky side than the grainy, soft bibingka. It's texture is a hybrid of maja blanca and cassava cake: smooth, sticky and soft.  But not bad to have though, here is the recipe i reinvented--


BIBINGKA GALAPONG
makes 2 round 7" pie pan

1 1/2 c glutinous rice powder
1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 tbsp baking soda
200 ml (1 packet) coconut cream
2 whole big eggs 
1/3 c caster sugar
1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
shredded cheddar cheese
Fresh banana leaves ( cured by passing over an open flame) and cut about 9" in diameter so when lined on a pan should cover the whole pan with extra.

Procedure:

Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees.
1. In a big bowl, put rice and baking powder. Using a whisk, mix to combine.
2. Add water and coconut milk. Mix to combine.
3. In a mini blender, add eggs and blend or whisk then slowly add sugar, pulse to mix and then add butter. This process is to get a frothy texture of egg mixture.
4. Pour this frothy mixture  into the bowl of rice.
5. Add in vanilla.
6. Lined the pie pan with banana leaf and brush with melted butter.

7. Pour the mixture into the pan until a little less full.
8. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 mins. 
9. When tested and toothpick comes out clean, it's done.
10. Remove from oven brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle it with cheese.
11. Serve hot with coffee or tea.

Maja Blanca (Mixed Coconut Pudding )

Hubby saw my panna cotta photo and suddenly craved for Maja Blanca.

I warned him not to browse my photo files but he would not listen. :-D 

Begging to gather the ingredients so i can cook it for him yesterday but the rain saved me, hehehehe. But i could not bear his plea, so here is his maja blanca. He just requested for the classic (plain) one but since I am clearing my shelf for the next set of supplies, I might as well go the extra mile to give it a twist (hopefully) with the ube halaya. Unfortunately, purple yam is not in season at this time so i have to content myself with OTC flavouring-- UBE flavour.

Maja Blanca (2 tone)

Ingredients:
makes about 8 slices of 2"x3"
pan size is about 9"x6.5"

for Classic Maja Blanca

1 pack -200 ml coconut cream

1/2 c + 3 tbsp fresh milk

150 ml condensed milk (or you can use half the can of 

               small condensed milk about 370-392g) 

1/3 c cornstarch dissolved in 100 ml water, then set aside

1/2 of fresh boiled corn on a cob, cut the kernels from the cob

for Ube Maja Blanca

1 pack -200 ml coconut cream

1/2 c + 3 tbsp fresh milk

150 ml condensed milk (or you can use half the can of 

               small condensed milk about 370-392g) 

1 tsp ube flavour (McCormick)

1/3 c cornstarch dissolved in 100 ml water, then set aside

1/2 of fresh boiled corn on a cob, cut the kernels from the cob

Topping:
Toasted shaved fresh coconuts.
Just place the shaved (shredded) coconut in a pan, use medium heat and with constant mixing toast the coconut until dry and slightly brown.

 

Procedure:

Procedures for both ingredients is the same except that you have to add the ube flavour on the Ube Maja Blanca.

1. First pour the coconut cream, fresh milk and condensed milk, stir to combine.

2. Bring to boil for about 3-5 minutes on a medium heat.

3. Add the Ube flavour at this time and stir.

4. Slowly drop the corn and stir after which add the dissolved cornstarch.

5. Keep stirring about 2-3 minutes until you reach the paste-like texture. It is done when everything can be scooped up by a laddle

6. Pour over a greased container and cool under room temeprature.

7. You can chill for about an hour before serving.

8. Top with toasted coconuts shavings or roasted nuts or kernels.

Notes:
This is a less sweet maja blanca and a sturdy one (holds its shape)
1. If you want it sweeter, add condensed milk.
2. If you want it creamier, lessen the cornstarch and don't overcook. Once the mixture holds its shape, cooking is done.
3. You have the option to toast a coconut or chopped roasted peanuts or simply garnish with kernels.
4. You can make classic (plain) or flavoured maja blanca.

Lotus Glutinous Rice (Lo Mai Gai)

My kids love the movie Coco that after watching it they've been singing "Remember Me" at any time. They specifically mentioned Nov 2 as the feast of 'Dia de Muertos" a holiday in Mexico celebrating the "Day of the Dead." Although they have no cravings on the mexican tamales, or calavares de azucal nor calabaza en dulce, we have customized the food in commemorating our loved ones -- thru something sticky, savoury, symbolic and cold. Which is why we had glutinous rice, dumpling and mango lemonade. Sticky, colourful deli and delicious. And becuase it was the kids special requests... they have to share the effort.  Paige is the chef and Kai is the moral support this time... So let me share this sticky rice made simple and easy as compared to the real tedious preparations--

Lotus Glutinous Rice
makes 3 parcels

Rice
2 c Glutinous Rice, washed and soaked  in plain water for at least 20-30 mins., then set aside. You do this first before you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

1 tbsp tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp Light Soy sauce

1/2 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce

1 tbsp Sesame Oil

1 head (single head) or about 1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp Olive Oil

200 ml water

Chicken Marinade

1 pc boneless chicken breast (about 200g), small cubes sliced

1 pc lean pork (about 200 g), thinly sliced

1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce

1/2 tbsp Dark  Soya Sauce

 tbsp Shao xing wine (chinese wine)

1 tbsp  Corn Starch

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

***Slice the meat as directed and place in a bowl. Add all the marinade ingredients and marinate the chicken while you continue to prepare the other ingredients.

For Sautéing

2 tbsp Olive oil

I single head Garlic, chopped

1 1/2 tbsp Dried shrimps (if you don't have this it's ok)

1 1/2 tbsp Fried shallots ( if you don't have this its' still ok)

Slices of mushroom ( your preferential amount) if you are using whole shitake mushroom, then 3 pcs of shitake- one pc for each parcel.

>>> Other ingredients that you can add which i didn't as per request of kids not to include these..

3 half inch slices of chinese sausage

3 pcs of whole salted egg yolks

3 cubes of turnips

Wrapping:

3 pcs of lotus leaf (thoroughy washed, and rinsed with warm water), set side

How to do it?--

Place oil in the wok over a medium heat, when hot enough add garlic and stir fry.

Add marinated meat and stir fry.

Add dried shrimps and mushrooms. This time you can add the other ingredients >>.

Stir fry for few minutes.

Remove from heat  and transfer in a bowl and set aside.

In the same wok, without cleaning this up, add the oil.

When hot, add garlic and stir fry until slightly brown.

Then add  glutinous rice and stir.

Add the sauces and lastly add water.

Sauté until the rice absorbed all the water.

When done, remove from heat and set aside.

Assembly:

Divide your cooked glutinous rice into 3 and each part divide into half.

Open 1 pc of lotus leaf, cut if you need to, just make 1 sheet out of it.

Then brush the center of the leaf with oil the, where you will place the rice.

Place 1/6 of cooked glutinous rice on the center of the leaf.

Then top it with 1/3 of the cooked meat.

Then cover it with 1/6 of the cooked glutinous rice.

Fold the right leaf over your rice. Followed by the left leaf.

Then fold the leaf in front of you over the rice and finished it up with folding the back leaf

over the rice towards you....Your finish product is a wrap that looks like a parcel.

Secure with kitchen twine and ready to steam.

Steam for one and a half hour (1 1/2 hr). 

I used the electric steamer for less monitoring.

(You can use the traditional bamboo steamer to make it authentic)

Serve steaming hot with caution.

 

Almond Caramel Popcorn

The corn that popped--- popcorn!

It's an all time fave especially for movies and parties, and since the festive season just started with the Trick or Treats, I have decided to share a simple remedy to an instant,  not too exciting microwaveable popcorns. You may want to try this, so simple with just few steps that are not that complicated, but this will need an oven to make it more exciting so here we go--


Almond Caramel Popcorn

What you need...

1 bag (150g) Almonds (ready to eat  baked or roasted almonds)
1 bag of microwaveable popcorn (microwave as directed)
When done  spread on a baking tray lined with parchment for easy cleaning and spread the almonds on the popcorn.
Then set aside.

Caramel

100 g unsalted butter

1 c brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

On medium heat, place butter, sugar and salt in a pan and let the butter melt.

Then add sugar and salt mix until well dissolved. 

Let it boil until no sugar granules are seen. 

Remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla.

Mixture will create a bubbling light brown solution.

Continue mixing for about a minute then RTU.

Assembling:

Pre-heat the oven at 175 degrees.

Pour (in a stream) the caramel over the popcorn and almonds.

Then mix to cover the popcorn and almonds with caramel.

Place the tray with popcorn and almonds inside the oven and bake for 15 minutes ( 3 times) every interval, take it out and mix for an even baking of caramel.

When done, transfer on a serving bowl and serve with caution.

Note: You can use any nuts you like and colour or flavour your caramel at your preference.

Sit down, relax, see a movie and pop these corns in your mouth! 

UBE (Purple Yam) DODOL

After the customary pastil... now here comes my long overdue Dodol... they are supposed to come together when i made pastil but my ingredients were not complete so dodol has to wait until now☺️😋, finally. 

I used to eat “Dudul, Dudol or Dodol” way back in my younger years when my Mamang brought me to several “Kanduli(s) ”(a Maguindanaon  term for traditional salu-salu accompanied by rituals and prayers) or thanksgivings, weddings or even simple celebrations of birthdays in our muslim communities. Dodol is one of my favorite delicacies prepared for those special occasions. A purple sticky delicacy made of milled purple glutinous rice and jaggery (palm) sugar, i can't remember our local name for this special brown sugar used for local delicacies. Anyways...

While cooking this delicacy, I interestingly realized that dodol is just before my nose all this time. Several years of craving food from places we've been to blinded us of the opportunities to explore, learn and integrate with the local food similar to what we had before and one of that is Dodol. 

Dodol is a very sticky, thick and sweet delicacy made of glutinous rice and sugar (palm sugar specifically called jaggery). It is commonly found in Southeast and South Asia and is very popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and even south India. In Muslim Communities, this Dodol is served in festivals and families take pride in making it. So it's one of those occasions of creating or renewing the bonds between families over a huge wok and a long laddle.  So, this dodol is just right in front of me all the time and i have not noticed it because it is wrapped in a thin plastic and comes in deep brown (original), green (pandan) and light brown (durian) colours and flavours.

All this time i have been craving for the dodol wrapped in banana leaves that look like a "suman" log and to my surprise recently, the dodol in the province becomes less and less popular and now comes wrapped in a thin plastic too. Things changed. 

In my desperation, i have decided to look for recipe and make it according to my preferences... purple and wrap in banana leaves. The only challenge i have is that-- i don't have the milled (powdered) black glutinous rice available in the market so I made my own --- purple one! ;-) 


 UBE DODOL
makes about 6 (half ft)  logs 

Ingredients:

200 g palm sugar
1/2 c fine or caster sugar
1/2 c water
1 tsp ube flavouring 

Place everything in the pan and warm under low heat to dissolve the sugar granules. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix to dissolve the following:

1 c powdered glutinous rice
1 tbsp rice flour
2 steri pack coconut cream (200 ml each)
1/2 c water
Add drops of violet coloring according to your color preference. More drops means more intense purple color.

Then pour the mixture in the cooled sugar  then strain. When done, place in the non-stick pot and cook over medium heat with constant stirring. This will only take you about less than 10 minutes. Cooking is done when you can scoop the entire mixture with the laddle/ spoon.

Remove from the heat and cool.
RTU.

You can either wrap it in greased banana leaves, or place it in a greased container. Your choice.

Baked Prosciutto Wrapped Apple Stuffed Pork Loin with Strawberry Sauce

Kids love food. But between my two kids, my daughter is the picky one. Believe me in her younger years she's hard to please so feeding her was a challenge. I think feeding a toddler is one of the big challenges of most Moms. She was raised as a "gerber kid" as i played safe all the time due to her allergy history. Or what i thought could be her allergic reactions to practically anything. One time, scrambled eggs become her favorite. She eats nothing unless its a scrambled egg. My thought -- giving her what she likes will be a step to wean her. So I fed her srambled eggs (every day) with no complaints nor dislikes and we were into this for quite sometime. This raised a big concern for me.

So you see, food explorations is not my thing, though i love cooking since i learned how to. Yet with my daughter (given that i was not into web world at that time) child-rearing information and updates and any idealistic guides on feeding (raising) your child was not my thing too. My knowledge was based on previous experiences of the Moms ahead of me, so I played hard on the safe side (always) and I despise running to the ER(hospital). My son on the other hand is a food lover. Ever since he learned to eat, he eats everything. Yes! you read me right, he still a baby but he eats grown up food. I learned my lessons with baby bottled food, so with my son, baby bottled food is a NO! Because he always sits with us during meals, he explores grown up food until one day, he never liked any of the "baby food" that i made for him. He abandoned his infant milk voluntarily and he prefers our food instead. This made it easy for me though 😁.  

As they are growing up, this allergic thingy with my daughter never developed. Thank goodness! Then i started from a clean slate. Beginning with our "own food culture" -- the usual filipino food that we get used to. At the start, there were dislikes. But given that travelling started to be in our menu, I begun to sort  of "educate them" by incorporating travel with food, and an explanation that should they become picky, they will go hungry and will never enjoy any of our trips. Their favorite food may not always available at the place we'll visit so its best if they will try eating variety now and be flexible with food on site.

As we go along,  i kept reminding my kids that food exploration is always part of every trip. For my daughter, it's a step for cultural integration. For my son, he'll never go hungrey😂. And they will appreciate the place more if they know the food, and of course we'll never leave the place hungry, something to bank in their (our) memory.

Kids now get used to varieties. They never complained about food rather give their critique instead so I will know which recipe worth keeping and which one is on the trash 😊. Now you know this one is for keeps!


Ingredients:

1 pork loin (you can use beef or chicken)
about 4 slices of Prosciutto (you can use turkey bacon or simply bacon)
Apple stuffing
Strawberry sauce


Apple stuffing:
1 apple sliced (cubes)
1 small onion
EVOO
pinch of salt
minced black pepper

Place EVOO on a pan then sauté onion. Add apples til half done.
Add pinch of salt and some black pepper.
Remove from heat, cool a little and RTU.

Strawberry sauce:
1 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1 tsbp brown sugar or you may use honey
salt and pepper to taste

Place strawberries, balsamic vinegar  in a pan and bring it to boil.
Add sugar, salt and pepper and simmer about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat and place in a mini blender.
Puree and strain.
RTU.

Assembly:
Lay down your prosciutto on a tray lined with parchment or cling wrap.
Place the loin on the prosciutto and slit half open the loin to form a cavity.
Place the cooked apples on the cavity then close the loin.
Hold one end of the cling wrap or parchment and blanket the loin.
Pull the wrap loin towards you to tighten it and continue to roll over to complete cover the loin with your prosciutto. Tighten to prevent it from reopening during baking.
Remove the cling wrap if you used this and fix the parchment on the center of the baking tray without disturbing your rolled loin. Brush the loin with EVOO.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 175℃.
Bake for about 30-45 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your loin. or until prosciutto is invitingly brownish.
When done, remove from oven, blanket with foil and rest for 10 minutes.

Blueberry Caramel Bars

We are craving for Max's Caramel bars but are drooling for Blueberry Cheesecake. So I decided to make a fusion of both and created our very own Blueberry Caramel Bars.  I am happy and so the kids. They can't even stop grabbing those slices! I better save some for tonight's dessert. {wink, wink}. There is always a better way to impress our palates ;-)

Ingredients for the base:

2 eggs
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c caster sugar
3/4 c self raising flour or all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c chopped cashew nuts
1/2 c fresh blueberries
pinch of salt

Caramel Topping:

1/4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 tbsp light cream
1/3 c chopped cashew nuts


Procedure:

Pre-heat oven at 175 degrees
Beat eggs and add brown and caster sugar.
Add flour , baking powder, nuts and salt and mix to combine.
Add blueberries.
Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 18 minutes.
While baking the base, mix the topping.
when baking is done, remove from oven and spread the topping and place it back to the
oven and broil for another 2 minutes or more until the topping bubbles and melted.

When done, remove from oven slice while hot and leave it to cool.

Pandesal Negra

It's been a while since i published another entry and today i'm breaking it.  There's so much to share but either the lack of right words or the absence of inspiration deprived me to upload one. This moment of reconnecting is the presence of the latter blame it on the food trails, trends and craze.  I may be a bit late for this but i believe i'm still one of the (pinoy) pioneers of black beauties. Presenting ULING!  yup you read me right CHARCOAL but this time its edible and healthy. Did you know that charcoal powder can treat insomnia and a good antidote for poisoning? hhhmmm interesting! So next time you'll find yourself in these situations, you know what to do (!... hahaha, NO!) get some help!

Kidding aside, charcoal trend has been in the air since few years back but i guess it wasn't that appealing to the consumers in the Philippines or should i say none of the celebrities has made it that popular. Before the trend will move to extinction, i will savour its contribution.

Have you heard of this BCP --Bamboo Charcoal Powder? I can of loving this black ingredient since i had those charcoal burgers from food chains. Honestly, there is in no way this powder had any effect on flavour nor aroma. It's tasteless but the dark look surely dominates the market aesthetically. The reason why i am lured to the band wagon of charcoal fanatics. To kick off my own food trail, i am officially introducing my Pandesal Negra -- "Black is still beautiful." 

PANDESAL NEGRA

My Personal Recipe
Ingredients: makes about 28-30 pcs pandesal

2 1/2 c bread flour + 2 tbsp bread flour (you can use wheat flour)
1 tbsp charcoal powder
1/2 caster sugar ( you can use honey of the same amount)
1/2 sachet instant yeast (about 6 g)
1 c buttermilk (DIY: 1 tbsp lemon juice placed in a 1 c fresh milk)
1 whole egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp salted butter

Method:

1. Place flour, charcoal powder , sugar and yeast in a stand mixer and mix to incorporate.
2. Add  milk, egg, vanilla and butter and mix at low speed. When the butter melted and invisible, increase speed and start counting the "at least 15 mins clock kneading."  When the dough resembles like a big ball inside the mixing bowl and the bottom of mixing bowl is clean then the dough is ready. Stop the mixer and take the dough out and form into a big ball. Return the dough into the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap. Proof for 1 hour.
3. After dough doubled its size, punch the dough, then take it out of the mixing bowl.
4. Divide the big dough into smaller dough of about 30-35 grams each.
5. Roll into ball and dust with panko or bread crumbs.
6. Place in a tray lined with parchment paper.
7. Rest the dough for another hour, afterwards the dough is ready for baking.
8. Bake dough at 175 degrees for about 15 minutes. Since you can't see any browning, at least 15 mins is the safest baking  time.
9. Remove and serve hot with your favorite spread.

El Pollo Loco, my version

Chicken is chicken anywhere and it's an all time favourite poultry. Usually, fast foods' fried chicken is a fall back meal when time is against you. Thanks to technology, oven was invented to make a speedy cooking. It's a case of putting all ingredients together, cutting, mixing, marinating and baking. Pop into the oven and let the oven do the cooking. Set your timer and ting!!! It's done.

Chicken Blanca Pizza

Home is way much busier on school holidays than when kids are at school.  The most chaotic part of our flat is the kitchen. It's like a restaurant operating 24/7 heating and re-heating anything gastronomic. Not to mention the kids at play in preparing the ingredients and sometimes do the cooking themselves. My 3 and a half year old boy is the most persuasive Sous Chef, demanding to be in charge. It's like a factory, dust of flour everywhere, water on entire counter top, ingredients on the floor... Yeah, it's crazy but i would rather have it this way than having a quiet- peaceful home. For me, home is not a home when the sound of a drop of needle on the floor is deafening. ;-)