Chichiria (Snacks)

Last Saturday my daughter and I brought some of her things to the townhouse. We used my car for the trunk space. She drives a 2 door mustang which has a fairly large trunk but not tall enough for bulky items. She asked me to help her with the heavy items so I went with her. On the way back she asked me to show her the Philasia Filipino grocery which is halfway between our houses. I ended up buying $20.00 worth of chichiria and sweets. Hoo, that's expensive, 1 can of dalandan (Philippine orange with vivid green rind and vivid orange pulp) soda is $1 each but I haven't had dalandan in over 25 years, and it was worth it.

Dalandan photo courtesy of www.flickr.com/photos/santos/. We opened a bag of adobo flavor Boy Bawang (garlic) cornicks (crispy corn kernels) while sipping our dalandan soda and almost finished the whole bag, yum, yum, yum. I declare this Boy Bawang the best munchies ever! Other chichiria we bought in addition to Boy Bawang cornicks: Potato rings, Boy chili corn, Prima toast (tiny toasted bread with lots of butter and sugar) and Jacobina biscuits. The sweets: rice paper wrapped turrones de casuy (cashew nuts), buco pandan polvorones, Ovalteenies (yep, the orange wrapped sweets are candied ovaltines), and tamarind candies. One of our favorite sweets that's already in the pantry is ChocNut, a chocolate and peanut candy.

Thai Chicken Masaman Curry

I never liked Indian food, I find it too strong that even the desserts seem to taste of curry. I went to an Indian restaurant once in Manila and almost barfed. The spices and the smell were overwhelming and I never stepped in another Indian restaurant again. However, here in the US, I went to a Pakistani fast food of sorts like a turo turo (point point) and surprisingly loved the food. It has Indian taste but somehow different or maybe my palate was already changing then and I started liking Indian and Pakistani cuisine. I even bought garam as well as chana masala to add to vegetarian chickpeas stew and regularly make it now. But the one I really love is the Thai masaman curry with coconut milk. It has Indian influence but distinctly Thai, it is much more to my liking. I made chicken with yukon gold potatoes and added egg halves to the finished dish and it is fantastic. I used the ready made canned masaman curry soup, added boneless skinless fat trimmed chicken thighs, simmered for 40 minutes then added the potaoes and simmered for another 20 minutes. It can easily be made full vegetarian by substituting seitan and fried tofu for the chicken. My daughter suggested to use this masaman curry with the chickpeas stew. I ate so much I feel like my tummy is bursting. Now I need some Lindt dark chocolate truffles for dessert. Mmmm.

Filipino Kakanin (Snacks)

The Filipino word kakanin comes from kanin (rice), it also means to eat, hence kakanin. Kakanin are typically made of various forms (whole grain, powdered, soaked in water then ground) of regular rice and glutinous or sticky rice usually combined with coconut milk and sugar, some with salt. They are baked, boiled, and steamed, almost always using banana leaves to line pans and to wrap small bundles called suman. There is a variety of suman names and preparations depending on the region but the nationally known and eaten all over the Philippines is the suman sa lihiya (with lye). It is wrapped in banana leaves and boiled in pairs for 40 minutes and served with muscovado sugar and coconut milk sauce/syrup. A very versatile rice dish is the champorado, it is sweet simmered in water, sugar, a pinch of salt and cocoa powder. It is a breakfast food for most Filipinos but I eat it any time of the day. Champorado is eaten just like any cereals, with milk. There is a restaurant in Manila that serves a tweaked champorado using white chocolate instead of cocoa powder. I made both and served it in one bowl, eliminating the need to add milk to the dark chocolate champorado, they go well together. I call it champorado yin yang.

I also made both white and ube (purple yam) puto - sweet steamed rice muffins, and the Visayan moron (what a strange name), first photo, chocolate and white twists made with both regular and glutinous rice, half has cocoa powder, the other half has chopped roasted peanuts. I never had moron before and read about it in several Filipino blogs. I got the recipe from the The Little Kakanin Book by Gene Gonzalez of Cafe Ysabel in Manila. The preparation was simple and I had all the ingredients, let's just say it will never be a favorite, I still prefer the ones I ate all my life, the one with lye, although I don't put lye in my suman. Hot white and purple yam puto with lots of butter, I'll have them everyday, if possible, yummy.

Bibingka, a baked rice flour cake is a national favorite during Christmas season but is now consumed any day and anytime of the year in restaurants. My favorite is topped with salted eggs and sliced white cheese.
For puto recipes click here

There are many more kakanin that I still have to make and will post them soon if I am able to make them successfully: palitaw, pichi-pichi, piaya, guinatan halo-halo, sapin-sapin, cuchinta, mache (similar to mochi)...I'm getting a little ambitious here.

Recipes
Suman sa Moron
Puto
Bibingka
Kuchinta
Sapin-Sapin
Palitaw

Thai Green Curry

Thai cuisine has been a favorite since I tasted my first Pad Thai and Tod Mun Pla (fish cakes) at Flavours and Spices restaurant at Mile Long Shopping center when the place was just a tiny hole in the wall, where you can watch the cook prepare the food you ordered. This was 20 years ago, before they moved to that big place at Greenbelt. (I wonder if they are still in business with Thai restaurants mushrooming in Manila like crazy). My office mates and I would go to Makati from the old Asian Development Bank Headquarters at Roxas Blvd in Pasay City, ignoring the traffic and the mild reprimand of our bosses for getting back late from lunch. In my opinion nothing can match Flavours and Spices (in the Philippines and US) in authenticity and taste except of course, in Thailand where the best Thai food I had was in a very small restaurant in Patpong, yes the red light district Patpong in Bangkok. Last night I made beef and tofu green curry, I think I overcooked the tiny eggplants and my sauce always comes out green/brown because I use the Thai ready made green curry paste which is a little brownish. It does not matter, the curry tastes excellent. I usually prepare Thai curry with lots of sauce to pour over rice. I'll never get tired of this food.

Thai Beef Green Curry
½ pound sliced thin very lean beef
1 brick cubed firm tofu
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
2 tablespoons fish extract
3 makrut lime leaves, fresh or dried
10 halved Thai tiny green eggplants
1 cup fresh Thai basil (no substitutes)
1 large can coconut milk.

• If using tougher cut of beef, boil in ½ cup of thin coconut milk for 30 minutes. While boiling, saute curry paste in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 1 minute, add coconut milk, lime leaves, tofu and fish sauce or extract, simmer for 15 minutes, then add the beef, eggplants and half of the basil, simmer for 5 minutes, add the rest of the basil, turn off heat. Dish up and serve with hot steamed jasmine rice.