Almond Milk

delicious almond milk flavored with rose water

The almond milk macarons in Midge's blog inspired me to make this drink. I have a recipe for Almond Milk in my cookbook THE FOOD OF MOROCCO but have never made it. The process is similar to making soymilk but I like that I don't have to soak the almonds overnight and was able to enjoy it a few hours after reading about it. I chilled it for an hour, cut a few rose flowers from my garden, and voila! Almond Milk With Rose Water drink that is so sweet and refreshing. It's like drinking rose flavored marzipan candy.:-)

Almond Milk Drink
1½ cups blanched whole almonds
¼ cup sugar, or to taste
water
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon rose water
1 cup cold milk (or water)

• Put the almonds and sugar in a blender with 1 cup water and blend until almond is pulverized.
• Line a fine sieve with a layer of muslin, place over a bowl and pour the almond mixture into the strainer. Add 3 tablespoons water into the blender and blend briefly to clean the blender of any almond residue. Pour into the strainer. Gather the edges of the muslin, twist, and press to extract all the liquids. Open the muslin and place it over the sieve again, add another 4 tablespoons of water on the almond pulp, stir and repeat the extraction process. Discard the almond pulp.
• Remove the sieve and stir in the almond extract, rosewater, and milk into the almond liquid, taste and adjust sugar. Chill for at least one hour and serve (with a petal or two of unsprayed pink rose floating on top of each drink).

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: Succulent Pinakbet

my favorite Filipino vegetable dish

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a weekly food photography meme, Filipino style, is hosted by SpiCes.


Pinakbet is my favorite Filipino vegetable dish. I never get tired of it. Once in a while I cook it without the usual prawns and bagnet (pork belly confit). This time I added just a little bit of cured pork skins and I also used squash blossoms from my garden's acorn squash plant. I planted the squash so I can have fresh blossoms all summer long for my pinakbet. Those tiny green rounds are 2 day old fruits; they are incredibly crunchy and yes, the whole dish is moist and flavorful.

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

delicious bread but not as light as described in the book

I love the flavor of the 9th bread in The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread. However, I was not too happy with the texture because the bread did not rise as high as I wanted. *It's a good thing I only made half a recipe.* After the 2-hour first rising the dough did not double its volume, it grew larger by about 70%, maybe the raisins and walnuts had something to do with the slow rise, I don't know, but I went ahead, shaped, and baked it. The bread didn't have an oven spring either, not one millimeter, none, nada. I was scratching my head and couldn't think of the reasons why the bread did not rise properly. I followed the recipe exactly as written and I believe my SAF instant yeast is still good; it's just one of those days I guess. The bread is very yummy, though, specially with the swirly cinnamon sugar but it is not a light bread as described in the book, it is slightly dense and chewy which is not so bad really but I prefer a lighter texture. And the finished bread is somewhat ugly with bumps all over and one or two warty-looking thingies.:-)

bumpy warty loaf

The next day I made another half recipe minus ¼ cup of raisins. I let the dough relax for 1 hour before kneading in the raisins and walnuts, omitted the cinnamon sugar swirl, and let it rise for 2 hours before shaping into a loaf. The second rising took 90 minutes and the bread had an oven spring of about an inch resulting in a much lighter loaf although I miss the flavor burst of the cinnamon sugar. I will bake this bread again, perhaps with some whole wheat flour, and of course, the cinnamon sugar filling.

still a little bumpy but much smoother, taller, and lighter

the second batch is over an inch taller and has a lighter tight crumb

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 3
visual appeal 2.5
ease of preparation 4
performance 3
worth 4
Total: 21.5
Average: 3.58

Millet Suman

budbud kabog (millet and coconut milk rolls)

Suman, a Filipino snack wrapped in banana leaves is usually made of either raw or precooked glutinous rice. The bundles are boiled in plain water for about an hour and they are best eaten with ripe mangoes, with coconut milk sauce, or simply dipped in sugar. About three years ago I read about the millet seed suman which is a favorite in the Visayan region of the Philippines. The seeds are precooked in coconut milk before rolling into fat cigar shape and wrapping in banana leaves.

I've never had millet suman before which has a rather funny name, Budbud Kabog, and I have no idea what it means. And I always thought millet seeds are for making birdseed and suet cakes. I found millet seeds at the health food aisle of the Asian grocery. Koreans cook them in rice together with red and black beans. I bought 2 kinds [because I don't know what kind they use in the Philippines], glutinous, from India, which are green in color like green mungbeans, and the yellow-colored non-glutinous from Korea.

I mixed the 2 millets, about ¾ cup of each, washed them thoroughly, then cooked them in a large wok in coconut milk and added water (as needed) until the seeds are soft, then added 3 tablespoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon sea salt. The suman is good, not better than glutinous rice suman, but I like it because I'm a sucker for anything cooked in coconut milk and wrapped in fragrant banana leaves. I actually like the soft grains which are almost like corn grits or tiny quinoa. It was worth the time making them and I love it with ripe mangoes of course. *Now, why do I suddenly have the urge to chirp?*

the suman is pale yellow, almost white, maybe because of the green seeds

Here is the recipe which I modified using canned coconut milk.

left: glutinous rice suman with coconut milk and raw sugar sauce

right: glutinous and non-glutinous rice suman with chocolate and peanuts