Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: Seafood

LaPis Sundays, a gallery of food photography, Pinoy style, is hosted by SpiCes and Feisty Cook

I prepared the salmon a la Bistek Tagalog (beefsteak) seasoned with calamansi or lemon juice and soy sauce, and served on a bed of sauteed sweet onions

Fried Salmon Steaks and Onions
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, sliced into rings
a large pinch of sea salt
2 pounds salmon steaks
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons calamansi or lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
ground black pepper, to taste

• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a nonstick skillet, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and cook the onion over medium heat until soft and slightly browned. Transfer into a serving plate, cover to keep warm, and set aside.
• Pat dry the salmon and coat both sides of the steaks with a mixture of 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, ¼ teaspoon each salt and ground black pepper. In the same skillet, heat the remaining oil and fry the salmon over medium-high heat until cooked. Spread the onion on the platter. Lay the cooked fish on top of the onion. Heat the remaining soy sauce and lemon juice in the same skillet and pour all over the fish. Serve immediately.

Triple Malt Chocolate Cupcakes

I love thick and yummy chocolate malted milkshake. This cupcake is as delicious and has lots of malted milk flavor but won't give you brain freeze. I baked these as gift to a neighbor who last month twice, maybe three times, plowed 2 feet of snow on our cul-de-sac without any compensation. He even helped shovel our driveway once. He does it every year when it snows heavily because he is a nice person. He and his brother-in-law own a snow clearing business and he knows that cul-de-sacs are the last to be plowed, if at all. I gave him and his wife this cake and also baked for them a large loaf of Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedo.

Triple Malt Chocolate Cupcakes

makes about 30 cupcakes
2 cups malted milk powder
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups whole milk
1 recipe Vanilla Malt Frosting
coarsely chopped malted milk balls

• Heat the oven to 350°F. Line three 12-muffin pans with paper liners. Set aside.
• Combine malted milk powder, flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
• Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a separate large bowl, and whisk until combined and smooth. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and whisk until just incorporated. Add ½ of the milk, and whisk until smooth. Continue with remaining flour mixture and milk, alternating between each and whisking until all ingredients are just incorporated and smooth.
• Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
• Remove pans from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pans and let cool completely on the wire rack. Frost tops of cupcakes with Vanilla Malt Frosting and sprinkle with chopped malted milk balls.

Vanilla Malt Frosting

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups powdered sugar
¾ cup malted milk powder
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

• Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated. Increase speed to medium high and beat until mixture is light and whipped, about 3 minutes.
• Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. Add remaining ingredients and return to low speed until ingredients are incorporated. Increase speed to medium high and continue whipping until frosting is evenly combined and light, about 3 minutes.

Recipe adapted from here.

I made this as the original layer cake one and a half years ago. If you are making layer cake, click on the recipe source for baking time. Here is the photo of the layer cake.

a treat that both children and adults will love

I got the malted milk powder from here. You can use either Carnation or Horlicks which are available from the grocery stores but the cake won't be as malty.

Movies I Love

It's been almost one year since I wrote about movies on DVD that I have seen. The movies I watched the past eight months were mostly foreign language and indies. I am not boycotting Hollywood-produced movies but there are only a handful that are worth watching and The Hurt Locker is the only one that I love and think is Oscar worthy. You can bet I am not rooting tonight for the recent blockbuster that has been retitled SMURFAHONTAS by smart alecky types. Not that I will be watching the Oscars anyway; I do not enjoy any award shows because they look like episodes of the Lifestyles of the Vain and Vapid.^__^

The foreign-language movies that I have watched over and over on DVD and streaming from Netflix are Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese. Korean and Thai movies are my latest addiction.

A partial list of Oggi's Movie Awards winners :

Ink USA, independent filmmakers. This is a wonderful good versus evil Sci-fi/fantasy movie about a man and his estranged little daughter who was abducted in her sleep by an incubus-in-training, Ink. In the real world the girl is on a hospital bed in a coma but in another dimension she is traveling with Ink. The incubi who give nightmares are the evil and the good are the storytellers who give nice pleasant dreams to people while they are asleep at night. The storytellers try to save the girl from dying helped by a blind pathfinder who can change a series of events. Of course, the good wins in the end that will lead to Ink's ultimate redemption. This impressive indie movie was made with a tiny budget of $250,000.00. It was downloaded for free 400,000 times and I just wish those people give at least a dollar to the producers so they can make another excellent movie outside the influence of Hollywood. Here is a video of my favorite scene in the movie:

Death Trance Japan. Sci-fi/fantasy set in a post apocalyptic world with warriors, ninjas, zombie ninjas and vampires, a cute but creepy little girl, ginormous weapons, plenty of weird characters, and lots of fight scenes. The warrior, played by my fave Tak Sakaguchi, stole a coffin from a monastery in order to release the goddess of destruction trapped inside it. His main reason is to fight the mother of all fights. Other people want the coffin for different reasons. Some think it has treasures and one lone guy hopes it will grant his wishes. This guy is played by the half Japanese son of Steven Seagal. I love his character, he carries a large bazooka and a raggedy doll attached to his belt and he has thick, think Angelina, pink-glossed lips. There is a not-so-subtle, in fact it's in your face sexual tones in the form of the katana that belonged to the monastery. It has a phallus-shaped handle that throbs when it 'feels' the deserving one is ready for the ultimate fight.The fight between the warrior and the goddess is so weird it's really awesome.

Tak Sakaguchi and his katana Kentaro Seagal and his bazooka

Thirst Korea. A Catholic priest turned into a vampire through blood transfusion.

Chocolate Thailand. Martial arts, drama, action, little bit of comedy
.

Tom Yum Goong Thailand. Martial arts, drama, action, a little bit of comedy

These Thai movies have food as their titles but they are not anywhere in the movies except for the brief appearance of M&Ms in Chocolate. They have several things in common, most notably the Thai crime bosses, the yakuza, and the transgenders called the third sex in Thailand and in the Philippines. They are very much a part of society and embraced by both countries. Check out Sidney's photo essay on Gay Boxing in the Philippines.

The Hurt Locker USA. Deserves to win the Oscars in all the categories it is nominated in

Creamy White Bread

pain de mie, soft fine-crumbed thin-crust sandwich loaf

I was very disappointed with the 100% whole wheat sandwich loaf in the recently finished The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. Earlier this week I baked one loaf of 100% WW bread which is a lot more moist, soft, and most important, edible. However, I am a white bread lover and I can't eat WW bread every day, I just can't. 100% whole wheat bread is not for me. There, I said it. *I hope the food police doesn't come and arrest me* ^_^

And so I'm back to baking my favorite creamy white bread; it is very soft and yummy. I used my new 9 x 4-inch Pullman bread pan with lid which is made here in the USA of recycled steel and has non-stick ridged surface for easy release of bread. I have two similar pans that were made in China. They were very cheap but also cheaply made. The non-stick is fake and I had to line the pans with parchment paper EACH AND EVERY TIME I use them. The surface has now developed some rust, I can't use them anymore, not even as planters. When the USA-made pans in the smaller size became available, I immediately got one and am very happy with it. If you are interested in the pan, check out my amazon store by clicking on the myStore tab. I highly recommend it specially for fine-crumbed pain de mie. The following white bread recipe can also be baked in a regular 9 x 4-inch loaf pan and it will still be delicious.

Creamy White Bread
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons heavy cream, room temperature
2 tablespoons light olive oil
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3¼ cups bread flour
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder

• In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, put the ingredients in the order listed. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, continue mixing on medium-low for 1 more minute. Knead by hand for 3 to 4 minutes until smooth.
• Transfer dough into an oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic film and leave to rise for 1 hour.
• Lightly grease the pan and lid. Remove the risen dough from bowl and knead lightly to remove air bubbles. Flatten into an oval, roll tightly, and ease into the pan. Cover tightly with plastic film and let rise for 45 minutes or until the dough has risen to half inch below the lip of the pan. Slide the lid on and bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 20 minutes. With gloved hands, remove the lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove immediately from the pan and let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before slicing.

the whitest creamiest yummiest white bread