Homemade Ube Butter

I bought from an online Filipino store a few items and they gave me a small jar of Ube Butter for free. The ube butter is similar to Biscoff spread because it is also made with cookies and butter. The cookies have ube flavoring, most likely unnatural and not real ube (purple yam from the Philippines). I didn't like it because it is too sweet for my taste and I was put off by the violent color. Yes, violent is not a typo. 

Ube is not supposed to be this dark violet. Real ube yam is a lighter shade of purple and when cooked in milk and sugar should be light purple or very dark lilac. I also didn't like the artificial flavor of the store-bought ube butter so I made my own with homemade Ube Jam and butter plus a little powdered xylitol. Needless to say I prefer homemade Ube Butter because it is made with just Ube Jam and salted butter and the color is very very light lilac. I prefer salted butter because IMHO, salt enhances the flavor of sweets. 

If you are using store-bought ube jam, make sure the color is not very dark purple because it will taste of fake ube flavoring that comes in a small bottle. If you don't mind the artificial flavor, then go ahead and use it.

The recipe for homemade Ube Jam is here.

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Portuguese Style Spicy Sardines

I can't explain why I suddenly have an appetite for spicy Portuguese sardines. I seldom ate them. Recently, I found out I really really like them on toasted crusty bread and also with steamed rice. Suddenly, the stores don't sell the Nuri Portuguese brand anymore. Any other brand of spicy sardines is not good enough, not even the ones made in the Philippines. The Portuguese Nuri brand is available from Amazon but I find the cost too steep at $5.00 to $6.00 per tin. That's $1.00 for each tiny baby sardine! I don't know about you but I'm not willing to pay that much for tinned sardines.

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Mango Chiffon Layer Cake

 

One of the food favorites I sorely miss living here in the USA is the Philippine mangoes. The hybrid mangoes from Mexico are not as good both in flavor and texture but I buy them as substitute because I have no other choice. In the Philippines, mangoes are used extensively  in cakes and other desserts and what I can never find where I live is the mango chiffon layer cake. I searched for similar cakes in my area and all the cake shops have terrible and less than mediocre cakes, IMHO. Nothing can compare with Filipino cake bakeshops. I even tried the much loved Korean bakeries but they are also sub par. There are Red Ribbon shops but they do not deliver and the locations are too far from my house, about 7 to 8 hours to drive. No way!

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Homemade Coconut Jam

Several months ago, I bought from a Filipino grocery store a jar of the best [IMHO] coconut jam. The label says it's from Quezon province. The jam is very dark and thick but surprisingly not very sweet. It's too far to drive to the store and the Filipino online store has sold out.

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Green Jackfruit In Coconut Milk Sauce

A few weeks ago, I went to check out the new Filipino restaurant Bistro 1521* in Arlington, VA. The bistro is run by the same people at the permanently closed Filipino Bistro 7107. The menu has been expanded but one of my favorites at 7107, Green Jackfruit In Coconut Milk is missing.

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Pork Ribs With Fermented Soy Beans

I grew up eating fermented salted black soy beans. In the Philippines it is called tausi and sold at wet markets. They are also sold in cans and plastic pouches. My mom used to add it to sauteed bitter melon or fish. This type of fermented soy bean sauce with whole beans is no longer available here in the US although years ago I bought the canned variety from China or maybe Taiwan but couldn't find the same thing recently. Or maybe I don't know the label.

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Choc*Nut Ice Cream

I have a small bag of peanut powder and didn't know what to do it with. The suggested banana peanut smoothie sounds yucky to me and cookies aren't appealing either. Last week, I used a little of the peanut powder to make chocolate and peanut candy similar to King™ Choc*Nut, a Filipino peanut and chocolate candy that isn't too chocolaty nor overly sweet and has been a favorite of every Filipino I know. This idea of milk chocolate and peanut combination produced a delicious ice cream flavor.

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Puchero Filipino

One of our favorite soup/stew dishes is Puchero or Pochero which is the Filipino version of another favorite, Spanish Cocido. The difference is the added vegetables: Filipino cooking bananas called saba, sweet potatoes, and bokchoy. The Filipino puchero is served with tomato sauce and/or sauce made with mashed boiled or roasted Asian eggplant seasoned with vinegar, garlic, and salt.

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Pork Belly Binagoongan

Pork binagoongan which means pork stewed in fermented micro shrimp paste called Bagoong, is one of my favorite dishes growing up but I've not made it often because I don't like the house smelling of fermented shrimps for days and days.

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Mangoes And Cream

I've made this mangoes and cream before, using Graham crackers. I called the Filipino dessert Mangoes On A Cloud [of sweetened cream]. This time I used chocolate wafers instead of Graham crackers and layered the wafers, sweetened cream, and mangoes in individual glasses (verrines). The chocolate wafers are also good with the mangoes and cream combination.

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Espasol

Espasol is a cigar-shaped Filipino rice cake made with either all glutinous rice or a combination of regular long and glutinous rice. I opted for the former and added shredded young coconut because that's what I remember eating back in the Philippines. 

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Goldilocks™ Mamon

The other day I had a Goldilocks™ Mocha Mamon. I can't remember if I had this before and I was surprised that I loved it. I didn't care much for their other baked goods but their mamon is sure yummy, soft, fluffy, and most important, not cloyingly sweet.

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Pastillas De Leche

Pastillas de leche literally means milk bars, pills, or tablets. I'd go with the bars, as in chocolate bars They are teeny tiny, usually less than 1 inch long and ½ inch thick, made with fresh milk, sugar, a little butter, and powdered milk, and optional natural fruit flavoring such as purple yam (ube) and jackfruit. The original candies were made with carabao's (water buffalo) milk which has a higher fat content than cow's milk. I made it a few times before. This time I ended up making 3 batches because the first was a complete fail although I rescued it and made it into milk caramel spread. The second one is plain milk and I added Milo malt drink powder into the third batch.

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Dinuguan (Blood) Sausage

Pork blood stew (dinuguan), is a Filipino dish I rarely eat. I cooked it once and I actually liked it. It's made with pork blood and meat, and stewed in vinegar and spices. It's usually eaten in the Philippines together with steamed white rice cakes. Recently, I've read about dinuguan made into sausages and smoked, kinda like the Spanish morcilla. What a brilliant idea!

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Strawberry Ice Scramble

1 more day and it's officially Spring. Everyday, temperature has been rising and the last patches of snow have finally melted over the weekend. I'll miss the white stuff...not really, but it's time to try the Filipino icy street snack or drink. It's called Ice Scramble which is shaved ice mixed with evaporated milk, sugar, and flavoring, usually banana, and red food color, then topped with milk solids and chocolate syrup.

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Calamansi Muffins

Filipino food blogs don't seem to get enough of calamansi muffins because I keep reading about them. I tried to bake following the recipes available on several websites but I was not happy with the cakes. The dry-ish muffins lacked flavor and they were too sweet for my taste. I also didn't like that it's almost like chiffon cake. There's nothing wrong with soft fluffy cakes but I prefer moist and dense muffins. 

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Pork Belly Lechon Roll

I will never be a vegetarian as long as there is fatty pork belly calling my name at the grocery store. Pork belly with its skin on is my favorite part of the hog. There is no shortage of ways to cook it. This time I made a small slab into a roll seasoned in the style of Philippine roasted pig and slow-baked it in the oven. It takes 2 days to prepare and roast. The roll is flavorful enough, no sauce is necessary.

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Puto Maya

Reading always makes me hungry. Once again I cooked something after reading a novel; this time it's FALLING TOGETHER by Marisa de los Santos. The last third of the novel is set in Cebu, Philippines and she mentioned some of the delicacies of that region. One of the yummies is puto maya, glutinous rice mixed with a little regular rice, cooked/steamed in coconut milk, sugar, salt, and a little ginger.

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Buco Tartlets

Creamy buco (young coconut) baked in a a buttery crust is always a great treat; truly delicious and addicting. For this batch of tartlets I used a combination of frozen shredded and dried [available from Costco]. I boiled the dried buco pieces in water before cutting them into strips. I also made a few rectangular shaped pies.  

For the most tender crust, I use White Lily® all-purpose flour. It's also good to add salted butter for better flavor. I also add a little salt to the filling.

Buco Tartlet
homemade or store-bought flaky crust
2 cups shredded buco
½ cup buco water
½ cup half and half
½ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg white for egg wash

• Cut crust according to size and shape of pan/s. Refrigerate while preparing the filling. 
• In a medium saucepan, mix the rest of ingredients except egg white. Cook over medium heat, while stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until thickened and cornstarch is fully cooked. Mixture should be smooth and not grainy. Transfer into a shallow container and chill for 30 minutes. 
• Preheat oven to 425°F. 
• Roll crust shells, leaving a 1-inch overhang if desired. Ease into tart molds. Spoon generous amount of filling and cover edges with crust overhang. Brush with lightly beaten egg white. 
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Chicken Liver Adobo Pâté

I don't know why but I've been into liver pâté the past few months. Growing up I never liked liver of any kind but now I'm really loving it specially in pate. And being a Filipino whose favorite food is anything edible cooked adobo-style, I prepared the pâté with chicken liver adobo; yummy on crusty pandesal. I covered the jar of pâté with rendered pork fat instead of the usual melted butter.

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