Tahoooo!

I miss the voice of magtataho summoning kids and adults alike to his taho, the custard-like shaven silken tofu with brown sugar syrup and chewy sago pearls. In the Philippines taho is eaten as breakfast, snack, or dessert. I remember my son, armed with a large glass tumbler, used to wait for the lilting voice of the magtataho yelling tahooo, tahooo!

Here in the US we usually have taho as a dessert in Chinese dimsum restaurants where it is served with warm ginger flavored white syrup. Very yummy too.

It is easy to prepare taho at home. Get the softest silken tofu available, I prefer the ones in tubes from the Korean grocery. Cook large-size Philippine tapioca pearls (sago), then boil equal amounts of brown sugar and water for 10 minutes. Shave the tofu using a spoon into a tumbler, add sago, pour the still warm syrup and enjoy taho any time of the day.

To cook sago: In a medium saucepan, heat 4 cups of water, bring to a rapid boil. Add ½ cup uncooked sago pearls, lower heat to medium-high and boil uncovered until the middle portion of the sago is almost clear. Drain and transfer into a bowl with cool water. The sago will turn transparent all throughout in a few minutes, they will be chewy just the way I like them.

To cook ginger-flavored syrup: Boil uncovered for 15 minutes equal amounts of water and white sugar with a quarter-inch thick slice of peeled fresh ginger.

Anthony Bourdain And Kulinarya

What did you think of Anthony Bourdain's drool worthy No Reservations last night? The fat crabs, the beer, giant prawns, spicy dishes with coconut milk, the beer, fiddle fern salad, sinigang, the beer. A few minutes into the show both the husband and daughter opened bottles of beer.:)

We thoroughly enjoyed watching him eat sisig, bone marrow, and goat head in Pampanga. He really seemed to love most of the food specially the crispy lechon and we appreciate his keen understanding of the diverse Filipino cuisine having only tried the food in Manila, Pampanga, and Cebu. I was also touched by his genuine concern for Augusto, the young man who convinced him take a look at the Philippines. I hope he goes back to try the specialties in the North.

I read in Claude Tayag's (his host in Pampanga) homepage that he gave Anthony a copy of KULINARYA: A Guidebook To Philippine Cuisine which Claude contributed to as the stylist and has a few of his recipes, one is the Fiddlehead Fern Salad with boiled quail eggs that Anthony had. Click here to read the full article he wrote for The Philippine Star on Anthony's visit to his home.

I like this guidebook very much. The photos are beautiful and the recipes are easy for a new cook or someone who has never cooked Filipino food before. The recipes are unpretentious in their simplicity, no fusion or anything fancy here, the Leche Flan has canned condensed and evaporated milks, NOT fresh milk, as majority of Filipinos cook leche flan using these. The book does not have all the recipes, it is just impossible to include everything because Filipino food, as Anthony has found out, is very much diverse and varied. There are few minor mistakes but I am glad that dishes that are unappetizing to look at like dinuguan (pork blood stew) are not included in the book. KULINARYA is a good start to introduce our food to the world.

Glenda Barretto writes in the Introduction:

The principal problem in branding and defining standards for Filipino cuisine is that Filipinos are by nature highly individualistic and diverse. Standards in our culture seem to exist not so much to be followed strictlty, as to serve as a basis of personalition. In fact, variation and diversity are the standard. The preparation and presentation of Filipino food is tremendously varied, even within the same province, town, or neighborhood, in the same way, for example, that villages separated by less than an hour's walk in the Cordillera mountains speak completely different languages and regard each other as foreigners.

Go get a copy and help KULINARYA's mission to inspire world-class preparation and presentation of Filipino food!:)

Cara Cara Oranges

My daughter and I can't seem to get enough of these Cara Cara oranges also called pink navels. They look like smaller grapefruits but without the acidity. These salmon-colored oranges with bright orange rinds are so sweet, flavorful, and very very juicy, we sometimes eat them over the sink. I have never heard of them before until I saw them at Costco last week. I'm going to get these oranges until the season is over which I think is end of February.

A few have been turned into orange and Meyer lemon marmalade and I candied the rinds including the white stuff. I just couldn't throw them away, they look pretty and because they are not too bitter they make excellent candied rinds. Of course I had to dip some of the candied rinds in dark chocolate. Double yum!

Candied Spaghetti Squash

candied with light-colored honey

candied with darker-hued chestnut honey

The giant Mallorcan ensaimada featured on the PBS show SPAIN On The Road Again with Mario Batali is filled with candied spaghetti squash which in Spanish is called cabello de angel (angel's hair). The baker says he cooks the squash with sugar, honey, and lemon zest into a paste. He stretches the ensaimada dough really thin just like strudel, spreads lard all over, places the squash on one long end before rolling tightly into a log, coils into a snail shape, and lets the coil rise for 12 hours. When Mario took a bite of the ensaimada and proclaimed it was the best pastry he has ever eaten I just had to make this sweetened squash.

I've cooked spaghetti squash before and I like that it does not get mushy, retains its vermicelli shape, and it stays a little bit crunchy even after it's cooked. Candied, it has a slight chestnutty flavor that is milder than kabocha. I used the light-colored candied squash as topping for Danish pastry and the second to fill the Mallorcan-style ensaimada I made a few days ago. I stretched the dough as much as I could which is not difficult to achieve resulting in an ensaimada that has a very flaky crunchy crust and the softest crumb. I agree with Mario, this ensaimada is delicious, so heavenly delicious. I love them more than the egg and butter loaded Filipino ensaimada which is closer to brioche than to Mallorcan ensaimada.

small size ensaimada

Danish pastry topped with a scoop of candied squash

Ensaimada adapted from THE CUISINES OF SPAIN by Teresa Barrenechea

Makes three 8-inch diameter coils

2½ teaspoons instant yeast
2/3 cup whole milk, heated to lukewarm
3½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
6 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for oiling rolling pin, work surface, and baking sheets
½ cup lard (do not use butter)
½ cup confectioner's sugar for dusting

• In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/3 cup of the warm milk and let stand for 5 minutes. In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the remaining milk, eggs, olive oil, and the yeast mixture and mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Replace paddle with dough hook and knead on medium for 4 to 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic film, and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Oil a work surface, a rolling pin and 3 baking sheets. Roll out 1 portion into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle. Spread lard and fold in half lengthwise. Spread lard and fold again in half lengthwise. Roll again into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle and starting from a long side roll up into a tight 12-inch cylinder. Shape it into a snail-like coil. Repeat with the 2 remaining dough portions.
• Place the coils on the oiled sheets, cover with plastic film and let rise at room temperature overnight or at least 12 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the coils for 30 minutes, or until they are airy and golden. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks. Dust with confectioner's sugar and cut into segments just before serving.

Previous ensaimada entries are here and here.