January 15, 2017
Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin And Chicken Thighs
Labels: pork tenderloin teriyaki, sous vide, tarragon chicken thighs.
January 6, 2017
Spanish Polvoron
Labels: almond flour, cookies, polvorones, Spanish
with cinnamon
with powdered milk
I love Filipino Polvoron, homemade or store-bought. I haven't tasted its Spanish parent which is made with powdered almond. Spanish polvoron, unlike the Filipino cookie which is simply molded after mixing, is baked in a low heat oven for 30 to 45 minutes. They are not as crumbly and therefore easier and neater to eat.
January 3, 2017
Salted Caramel Apple Butter
Labels: salted caramel apple butter, salted caramel sauce
I made [reduced carbs] salted caramel sauce yesterday and added a little of it to pan-browned apples. The result, in my honest opinion, is an improvement on the usual spiced apple butter recipe which I made once before. It pairs very well with toasted challah. If you like apple caramel candy, then this is the apple butter recipe for you.
November 24, 2016
Pumpkin Macarons
Labels: macarons, pumpkin paste, pumpkin seed paste, Thanksgiving 2016
For Thanksgiving this year, I cooked a non-traditional meal. I baked a small chicken Filipino-style with a layer each of bacon, sliced onions, and sliced tomatoes in the bottom of a Dutch oven. The chicken is seasoned with soy sauce, lemon juice, and sea salt. Dessert was pumpkin flavored macarons instead of pie and because we are limiting our sweets intake, the small size of the macarons are just perfect.
November 8, 2016
Yema and Kabocha Pastel
Labels: bread rolls, Filipino yema pastel, kabocha rolls
Filipinos have a wide variety of sweet breads. One of the most popular rolls I see on blogs and bake books is Pastel. It's a sweet bread typically filled with yema paste (egg yolk, sugar, and milk cooked to a paste). Pastel in the Philippines could be savory, as in meat or chicken pie, and also sweet empanada/pie and bread rolls.
October 25, 2016
Coconut Milk And Sweet Corn Ice Cream
Labels: coconut milk, guinatan mais ice cream, ice cream, sweet corn
Guinatan mais, sweet corn stewed in coconut milk, is a favorite Filipino dessert or snack. It's usually served warm but this time I made it into ice cream. It's sooo yummy. Really yummy.
October 13, 2016
Melon Pan
Labels: Japanese, melon pan, Tang melon powdered drink
I've always wanted to make Japanese melon pan but the cookie topping doesn't really appeal to me. Melon pan actually doesn't have melon although recently I've seen recipes with different flavorings like strawberries and musk melon.
This bread is a variation of the Mexican concha rolls which I made once before, the topping was chocolate cinnamon cookie. There is a Malaysian coffee buns too with coffee cream filling and coffee flavored cookie topping. I wasn't wowed by both. Too sweet for me.
October 12, 2016
Pork Belly Binagoongan
Labels: bagoong, fermented micro shrimp paste, Filipino, pork 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.
October 4, 2016
Spaghetti With Mushrooms
Labels: cream sauce, mushrooms, pasta, prosciutto
I love mushrooms and the Asian grocery stores have lots of variety these days. I bought fresh shiitake, pearl oysters, something called bunapi, and white button. They are very good simply steamed in a banana leaf pocket and served with a sprinkle of sea salt and squirt of lemon, or sauteed in olive oil and served with steaks or baked chicken. I found a simple pasta recipe featuring mixed mushrooms. The only additional flavoring to the pasta dish is crispy fried prosciutto and chicken broth which I substituted with vegetable broth. I want the mushrooms to shine and I thought the chicken broth might overpower it. I love this simple yet packed with flavor pasta dish.
September 26, 2016
Sweet Pickled Eggs
Labels: quail eggs, sweet pickled eggs
I don't know why I never had pickled eggs before. I have an 18-piece package of quail eggs that were meant for making the Filipino deep fried bright orange battered egg snack called kwek kwek but changed my mind and pickled them instead. It's easy to prepare if you use sweet pickle liquid.
August 9, 2016
Challah Bread Pudding
Labels: bread pudding, Challah, chocolate syrup, sultanas
Last week I bought a loaf of challah at Trader's Joe although the crust is very pale unlike my homebaked. Although I already lowered my expectations, I was still disappointed for its lack of flavor. It also got moldy after 3 days. What a waste. I baked one loaf flavored with a little orange and lemon zests and vanilla extract. I cubed 4 thick slices and made bread pudding with golden raisins (sultanas). Drizzled with Hershey-style chocolate syrup or limoncello glaze, the pudding is delicious.
August 2, 2016
Japanese-Style Omelette Burger
Labels: dorama, Japanese, omelette burger
I've read about but not made nor eaten an American hamburger omelette. However, when the dish appears in a currently airing Japanese drama (dorama), A Girl and Three Sweethearts, I noticed that it is not served with bread but in a shallow pool of demi-glace. That's interesting.
Japanese-style hamburgers [and other Asian burgers] are a bit different because the meat is seasoned with a little onion and sake and softer like meatloaf with the addition of bread crumbs, milk, and egg. The Japanese burger steaks are usually served with a sauce made with a combination of ketchup and wooster sauce.
July 12, 2016
Homemade Maple Sugar Granules
Labels: homemade, maple sugar granules
Every day I have steamed white rice and breads but I eat high carb food in moderation and haven't had bottled sodas for many many years now. Recently, I started incorporating stevia and xylitol together with regular white or raw sugar into desserts and baked goods. The xylitol I use is made from birch bark and manufactured here in the USA. Most xylitol brands in the USA are made with corn and they are imported from China which is a no no for me. I found out recently that ALL stevia products in the USA come from semi-processed and already whitened material from CHINA! That's absolutely unacceptable and they are most likely more harmful than white cane sugar to every person who tries to avoid processed sugar cane. Any food item made in China will always be suspect regardless of the manufacturers' assurances that their processing are the best. Are they kidding me? The words best and China shouldn't be in the same sentence...EVER!! Remember the tainted toothpaste, dog food, and powdered milk that killed people and dogs around the world, and their own babies, for crying out loud!
May 28, 2016
Mangoes And Cream
Labels: cream, dessert in a cup, Filipino, mangoes, sweet condensed milk
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.
May 26, 2016
Braised Chicken Feet With Salted Black (Soy) Beans
Labels: braised chicken feet, Chinese, fermented soy beans
The first time I had chicken feet was in a Thai restaurant in Hong Kong in the early 90s. The dish was a salad, I think. I never had it again and only started buying them a few years ago to make into healthy soup. We never ate it at home or in restaurants.
May 17, 2016
Espasol
Labels: espasol, Filipino, glutinous rice cake, snack, sweet rice
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.