Chocolate and Mint Mousse Pie

People will celebrate anything and today it's π day. I wonder when did people start baking a pi pie to sort of celebrate the day. I was really thinking of making a pie or cake so I can use the Andes® baking chips that I picked up from the grocery store last week. I can't remember the last time I had this mint chocolate candy, probably more than 10 years ago. It used to be a favorite but somehow I have been ignoring it until I saw the chips. And so to join all the geeks in honoring Pi Day and also the coming St. Patrick's Day (March 17), I made a chocolate and mint mousse pie. This light heavenly pie is easy to put together if you use a ready-to-bake pie shell. This recipe is adapted from Hershey's Chocolate Mint Mousse Pie. I added white chocolate chips to the mint topping.

Chocolate and Mint Mousse Pie
dark cocoa mousse
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
2 tablespoons boiling water
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 baked 9-inch pie crust, cooled

white chocolate mint mousse
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
2 tablespoons boiling water
3 tablespoons icing sugar
½ cup white chocolate morsels, melted and cooled
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon mint extract
few drops of green food dye

garnish
Andes® baking chips

• Dark chocolate mousse: Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a shallow container and let stand for 2 minutes to soften. Add boiling water, stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool for 5 minutes. Stir together sugar and cocoa in the bowl of standing mixer with paddle attachment[ add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until stiff, scraping bottom of bowl occasionally. Add gelatin mixture; beat just until well blended. [Optional: Fold in half a cup of Andes Baking chips.] Pour into prepared pie crust.
  
• White chocolate mint mousse: Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a shallow container and let stand for 2 minutes to soften. Add boiling water, stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool for 5 minutes. In the bowl of standing mixer with paddle attachment, beat together sugar, cream, melted white chocolate, green food dye, and mint extract to soft peaks. Add gelatin mixture and beat on low until well blended. Pour on top of chocolate mousse. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  
• Finish pie: Garnish edges of pie with Andes® baking chips.

Kuchinta

One of the most requested recipes by my readers is Kuchinta. These cakes are a combination of finely ground regular and a small amount of glutinous rice then steamed in small plastic cups. They are best eaten with freshly grated coconut. Food grade lye water is added to the mixture although I'm not sure if it adds to the flavor or texture. If you are concerned about using lye water, clear pandan extract would be a good substitute but the flavor won't be the same.

The lye water (lihia) Filipinos use is watered-down potassium hydroxide made from wood ash. It is not the same as sodium hydroxide which is caustic and thus called caustic soda. In case you're curious or want to make your own lye water, the process is here. Actually, I've seen how it's made. When I was about 10 or 12 years old, I used to watch a neighbor's grandma make lye water with the burnt wood she used for cooking. She gathered the ashes into a gallon jar and added water. Of course, at the time I didn't know it was lye water and what it was used for.
Kuchinta
1¼ cups regular rice
2 tablespoons glutinous rice
2½ cups water
¾ cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons cooked regular rice
1½ tablespoons lye water
2 tablespoons achuete/achiote water

• Soak both rice in water overnight. Blend with the soaking water together with the cooked rice in a blender until very smooth. Transfer into a measuring cup and add sugar, achuete, and lye water. Stir until well blended. Fill lightly greased puto/kuchinta cups ¾ full. Place in a steamer, cover, and cook over rapidly boiling water for 15 minutes. Let cool before removing from molds. Serve with grated coconut.

Buttermilk Yeast Waffles

I had homemade buttermilk that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a week and I was not too sure how long it will keep before it gets bad. I didn't want it to get spoiled so I used it in place of regular milk to make yeast waffles. Wow, these buttermilk yeast waffles are very fluffy, airy, and crispy and have a slight very nice tang that I really love. They are simply delicious and way better in flavor and texture than baking powder waffles. And I prefer them without butter and syrup. They are so good just with a dusting of powdered sugar along with some fresh fruits. The recipe has to be mixed the day before baking and needs to rest and rise in the refrigerator overnight, but the wait is worth it. If you don't have a waffle maker, this dough also makes very good griddle cakes or pancakes.

Buttermilk Yeast Waffles

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ tablespoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup water

6 tablespoons light olive or grapeseed oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Mix in all the wet ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days. Preheat waffle maker and bake according to manufacturer's directions.

Food Friday: Chicken Binakol

chicken soup cooked in young coconut water

Chicken Binakol
adapted from KULINARYA guidebook

2 tablespoons light olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 pound whole chicken breast, bone-in
2 stalks lemon grass, white parts only, pounded
4 whole black peppercorns
¼ cup fish extract
2 cups buco (young coconut) water
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup buco meat, cut into 2 x 1-inch strips
4 scallions, chopped
pepper leaves for garnish, optional

• In a large pot, heat the oil and add garlic, ginger, and onion. Add the chicken breast, lemon grass, and peppercorns. Add the fish extract, buco water, and chicken broth. When it begins to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
• Remove chicken from bone and slice into strips.
• Strain broth and remove fat with a fat separator if desired. Return broth to the pot and bring back to a boil. Add the chicken strips and buco meat and simmer until heated through. Serve topped with chopped scallions and pepper leaves.

For those who reside outside the Philippines, you can order KULINARYA guidebook from http://www.philippineexpressionsbookshop.com/ or send email to linda_nietes@sbcglobal.net