Homemade Ube Powder

For people obsessed with ube like myself, it gets frustrating buying ube powder that turns out to be half fake. I got a few Filipino ube powder packages from Amazon and the ube powder doesn't soften even when soaked overnight in water. The finished product tastes a bit of real ube but is grainy even after using an immersion blender. I suspect the powder has peels included to increase the weight. There is no other explanation for the bits that never soften. I used it to make ube buns.

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Ube

For the umpteenth time, I'm writing about ube,a variety of yam that's naturally colored purple. The root vegetable is used in the Philippines as an ingredient in sweet snacks and desserts. I have yet to see it added to savory dishes though.

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Fish Ube Jam

You must be wondering why the sweet haleyang ube (purple yam jam) is shaped like a fish. As a small child I used to wonder too as to why this favorite dessert is shaped as such but only during our town's annual festival celebration in honor of its patron saint. The haleya could have been shaped into a large gumamela or kalachuchi but no, year after year I saw a fish haleyang ube not just in our house but the neighbors' too. I'm guessing it has a religious meaning, that is, it's the symbol of Jesus Christ.

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Ube Macarons

they have monster "feet"

Here I go again. This is my third macaron blog post. Sorry but I can't help it, they're so freaking cute and so yummy too.

I finally got Hisako Ogita's i ♥ macarons book after reading about it again in David Lebovitz's blog. When I saw the purple yam flavored ones, I swear I heard it calling my name. Ube + macarons, oh yesss!

The very thin paperback is actually more like a manual with basic instructions on making macarons. The book is not perfect, with a few head-scratching instructions like the Italian meringue cooked in the microwave oven, but what I like about it is the different flavor and cream filling pairing suggestions. It also has an adorable packaging section with teeny tiny boxes and ribbons, read extreme cuteness a la Hello Kitty, and recipes for the egg yolks. At $9.50 it is definitely a good buy.

For the purple yam macarons she suggests to add 2 tablespoons of purple yam powder [which I presume is not ube but the Japanese purple yam, an entirely different root crop that is closer to sweet potato than the Filipino ube] into a basic 3-egg white macarons recipe.

sweet puff and cream sandwich