Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil

I make this super delicious dish at least twice a year since I first saw it featured in Robert Rodriguez's 2003 movie ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO with Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi, Salma Hayek, and Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp's character loves this dish, orders it all the time. He deems the pork dish is so good that he has to shoot the cook, and after eating he went to the kitchen and shot the cook. Yeah, it's crazy, but it's Johnny Depp, how can I not like the movie, which is really really good, IMHO. Robert shows how to prepare his recipe in one of the extra features in the DVD, watch it at the bottom of the post.

Puerco Pibil is very versatile. You can have it with plain white rice, or shredded in tortillas with some salsa and avocado, or as taco filling. Good to have while watching Eli kick Tom's butt this coming Sunday, just kidding. I'm not a sports fan and I don't care who wins the super bowl.

Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil
5 pounds pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
banana leaves
½ cup orange juice
½ cup vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
juice of 5 lemons
8 cloves garlic
2 habanero peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon tequila
annatto paste: in a coffee grinder finely grind 5 T annatto seeds, 2 tsp cumin, 1 T black peppercorns, 8 pieces allspice, and ½ tsp cloves

• In a blender, blend annatto paste and the rest of the ingredients except banana leaves and pork. In a large bowl mix pork and annatto mixture until pork is evenly coated. Line a deep roasting pan with banana leaves, put the pork mixture and cover with another layer of banana leaves. Cover tightly with tin foil and bake in a 325° F oven for 4 hours.

Here is the video of Robert Rodriguez making Puerco Pibil

How To Cook Adobong Muh-Knock

A friend emailed me this video of a white guy cooking chicken adobo. I wonder if he had a script or he really knows how to speak Tagalog. It's fun to hear a white guy say "sangkuchahin". Adobong muhknock - ang suhrap suhrap. Enjoy!

Pata Tim

 pata tim and steamed baby bokchoy

Pata (pork hocks) Tim and Pato (duck) Tim are Filipino dishes that are similar in taste but cooked in different ways. Pata Tim is stewed in a pot and Pato Tim is steamed. I have never eaten both outside of the Philippines, not in Hong Kong and not here in the US. Filipinos know these are Chinese in origin but from which region is not clear. Some say it's from Guangzhou (Canton), others from Fujian (Fukien). I consulted my cookbook CHINESE REGIONAL COOKING by Deh-Ta Hsiung and the closest and the only entry is from Sichuan, a duck dish called SOY BRAISED DUCK which is first deep fried then steamed for over 2 hours. The ingredients and cooking method are very very similar to Pato Tim. The cooked duck is then served on a bed of blanched seasonal greens much like the Tims I remember eating back in Manila. The following recipe which is my entry to Lasang Pinoy 23: Crock Pot Cooking has all the seasonings from this cookbook. I stewed the pork hocks until the meat is coming off from the bones. Dining on a plateful of the fatty meaty gelatinous pork, baby bokchoy, and steamed rice was like being transported back home. Delicious!

Pata Tim
2 ½ pounds pork hocks
2 T chopped scallions
1 T chopped ginger
¼ C hoi sin sauce
¼ C soy sauce
¼ C dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 C rice wine or sherry
1 C water plus more if needed
baby bokchoy, well cleaned and dried

1. Place all ingredients except bokchoy in a pot and bring to a boil, skim off top.
2. Turn heat to very low, cover and simmer for 3 - 4 hours or until meat is very tender. Once in a while check and add water or sherry if needed. There should be about a cup and half of sauce.
   
3. Steam bokchoy for 3 minutes, set aside, keep warm.
4. Turn heat off and transfer cooked meat into a serving platter.
5. Remove bones and discard. Arrange cooked bokchoy around the meat. Pour the sauce all over the meat.
   
6. Serve with steamed rice.

7 Things Weird About Me

This is a 'weird' meme that I got from Dhanggit. I was not sure if there are enough weird things about me because I view myself as rather blah and dorkish. I have an obsessive personality, yes, but that's about it. Examining myself closely I found out I am kinda weird after all, or maybe not.

1. I have a medicine phobia, particularly for aches and pains and for the last 21 years have not taken any. I seldom get headaches but when I do I refuse to take them and just wait for bedtime to sleep it off. The mild headache usually disappears by the next morning.
2. I like quirky, foreign language, and slasher movies specially the Japanese ones; the bloodier, the better. I can't stand sappy love stories and girlie flicks.
   
3. I love doing assorted crossword puzzles, play Nintendo DS (favorites: Animal Crossing, Phoenix Wright Series) and Wii games. This may be an indication that I'm approaching my second childhood, not actually weird, but because of my age it may be weird.:)
4. I am addicted to two things: reading and watching movies. I don't know if this is considered weird but I read an average of 3 books and watch 3 movies on DVD per week. The books I read are mostly fantasies, fantastical, mysteries with real life people in it, already dead or still alive, British mysteries, paranormal. I particularly dislike self-help books and romance novels.
   
5. I have an obsessive compulsive personality with regard to washing hands most specially when cooking. A Filipino couple who came for dinner observed that I constantly wash my hands in between chopping/preparing the ingredients, they actually counted the times I washed my hands. I thought this is the norm but they told me it is not.
6. My clothes have the same color/shade (brown skirt/pants and off white, blue, light pink, or purplish tops for winter) and linen material with similar color combination during summer. When I was still working at the Asian Development Bank (25 years ago) a co-worker commented and asked why I wear linen everyday.
   
7. I have an aversion to diamonds. The reason is a long story and I will not bore you with the details. Let's just say I don't want to look like a Christmas tree, heheh. The few tiny ones I own have been buried in a drawer for the past 18 years. Occasionally I would wear my mikimoto choker at weddings and anniversaries but for everyday I use the jewelry (natural stones, leather, crystals, rice pearls, etc.) that I make myself.

I'm also not tagging anyone but feel free to examine yourself and do this weird meme. You might surprise yourself.

Crêpes

crêpe with sweetened cream, sliced bananas, and chocolate sauce

2 weeks ago I watched the Japanese movie Linda Linda Linda about a High School all-girls rock or J-pop band. The movie is about a tradition in Japanese schools' fall or holly festival where they have a number of food and souvenir booths and the highlight is the performance of several rock bands towards the end of the festival. The drummer of the group is working in a booth that sells crêpes, the most popular are the banana with chocolate sauce on a bed of sweetened whipped cream. It made me crave for the banana chocolate combo which I used to have in Hong Kong in one of the Japanese coffee shops where the coffee machines look like they belong in a laboratory, see photo below. Those machines make really good coffee, btw. That was nearly 20 years ago when I developed a taste for anything Japanese. Our apartment was a few minutes from the Causeway Bay area where there were (I'm not sure if they are still there) 4 Japanese department stores: Sogo, Matsuzakaya, Mitsukoshi, and Daimaru, and several coffee shops. Daimaru was the one I went to regularly because of their bake shop which is located at the entryway on the ground floor. When I was done with the grocery and household shopping (my first santuko knife which I still use, a pair of leather gloves which I still use, and a 3-fold umbrella that, you guessed it, I still use after almost 20 years!), I stopped by the bakeshop watching and waiting for the still warm milk loaves being sliced by a machine and for the buns (kashi-pan) filled with chocolate or vanilla cream and sweet azuki bean paste. In my honest opinion the Japanese bakeries make the creamiest, softest, most delicious breads and buns. I miss those breads, but at least I had my fill of choco-banana crêpes today. Mmmmm.

Photo: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Crêpes
7/8 cup flour
¼ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons cognac
2 tablespoons melted butter
1½ cups milk

• Sift flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl. Add eggs, one at a time and mix until free of lumps. Mix in lemon zest, cognac, and melted butter. Slowly add milk and mix until batter is consistency of thin cream. Let it stand an hour or two before making crêpes. Heat a crêpe pan or a 10-inch non-stick skillet and rub with a little butter. Pour some batter on the pan and tilting about to let it run over the bottom in a fairly thin layer. When lightly browned at the bottom, turn carefully and brown on the other side. As each crêpe is cooked, remove to a hot platter and keep warm. Re-butter pan as needed.

Filling suggestions:
- sweetened whipped heavy cream, sliced bananas, chocolate sauce
- sweetened cream (or pastry cream), sliced strawberries and Nutella

Bulalo (Beef Shank In Onion Broth)

bulalo in onion broth with cabbage, corn, and baby bokchoy

I went out late this morning to buy a few staples from the store, I was there for less than half an hour and when I came out it was snowing heavily. I knew it was going to snow later in the day but did not expect it to fall before 12 noon and THIS heavy. The meteorologists or weather people are sometimes, if not always off the mark in their forecast. I hurried home but can't really drive fast because the roads are already very very slippery and the falling thick snow is diminishing my visibility. I love snow, it's beautiful to look at and it's fun playing with it but not when you are driving, and when it's been plowed to the curb they become muddy and yucky.

Anyway, as I was driving (very slowly like a little old lady that I am) I was already dreaming of the bulalo soup I was going to have for lunch. I had this dish just once in a restaurant, about 20 years ago or so, have never cooked, seen, or ate it since, can't explain why. My mother also never cooked it because I can't remember eating it at home growing up. Maybe my father didn't like it, I should ask her one of these days.

Making this dish was brought on by a Filipino instant noodle soup with bulalo flavoring that I had recently. The instant soup is flavorful and has the bulalo taste but the chewy fake meat thingies, which I think are vegemeat bits, floating on the soup are quite disgusting. So I bought beef shanks and made my very first Bulalo In Onion Broth, the recipe adapted from my cookbook FLAVORS OF THE PHILIPPINES by Glenda Rosales-Barretto of Via Mare restaurants. I love this dish which is almost a complete meal in itself with meat, vegetables, and carbs. But of course I ate it with steamed rice and patis with calamansi dipping sauce. I am so full I think I'll take a nap.:D

Bulalo
3 pounds beef shank, bone in, pre-cut with marrow
½ pound onions, quartered
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoon sea salt, or to taste
4 pieces corn on the cob, cut into 4 - 5 pieces
½ pound baby bokchoy, well cleaned
½ head cabbage, cut into chunks

• Place the beef shank, onions, peppercorns, and salt in a large pot. Add enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, skim off top, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 5 hours. Add the corn and cook for 10 minutes, then add the cabbage and continue to cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the bokchoy and cook for another 3 minutes. Transfer to a large dish and serve with a mixture of fish extract and calamansi juice.

A rather blurry photo I took this morning from inside the car

Mulligatawny Soup

mulligatawny soup with buttered pumpernickel toast, yum yum

Our area had an unseasonably warm temperature which went as high as 65 degrees. Winter is back after a 2-week vacation and I'm glad I can finally make soups. Winter in my house means oceans of soup for dinner. First in my soup repertoire is mulligatawny. I haven't made this soup with a funny name in a while. It is supposed to be Indian in origin, it has curry powder as flavoring so I believe it is. The recipe I always use is from Betty Crocker cookbook because it is the simplest and I like simple. Other recipes I found online have lentils, rice, heavy cream, or coconut milk which in my opinion will make the soup heavy. Some puree the soup which makes it look like baby food and unappetizing. I don't really care if my soup is not authentic, I love it and with a slice or two of buttered pumpernickel toast it makes a delicious satisfying dinner.

Mulligatawny Soup
2 pounds skinless chicken breasts with bones, cut up
4 cups water
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon lemon or tamarind juice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground mace
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon light olive oil or grapeseed oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 large apple, cored and coarsely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, diced

• Heat chicken, water, salt, curry powder, lemon juice, cloves, and mace to boiling in a Dutch oven, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove chicken from broth, leave until cool enough to handle.
• Remove chicken from bones and cut into bite-size pieces, set aside. Skim fat from broth and add water, if necessary to measure 4 cups.
• In a skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat and cook onions until soft, remove from heat. Stir in flour, gradually stir in some broth. Add the flour mixture into the Dutch oven and mix well. Add the chicken pieces, tomatoes, apple, carrot, and green pepper. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer until carrot is tender, about 10 minutes.

Ghosts, Ghouls, Zombies, And A Succubus

What a way to start the new year: a book and a movie with ghosts, ghouls, zombies and a she-demon.

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Mike Carey A
Mike Carey is the creator of the character Constantine in his graphic novel Hellblazer which was made into a movie with Keanu Reeves as Constantine. The Devil You Know is his first novel published in 2006. The hero, Felix Cantor, a semi-retired freelance exorcist, after a botched job exorcising a demon from his best buddy, is working as a magician in birthday parties to pay his bills. That was until the day he was asked to banish a female ghost in the Bonnington Archive. He could not resist accepting it because he needs the money and gets curious when the ghost would not show herself to him. He wants to know who the ghost was and why she is haunting the archive. The story becomes a murder mystery with Eastern European mafia in the middle of it. Our hero employs a Hawaiian-shirt clad computer expert zombie, gets help from his Catholic Wiccan landlady, falls in love (lust, actually) with a succubus named Juliet (who in the movie version should be played by Angelina Jolie), and almost gets killed by the mafia. Very entertaining, excellent story and writing style. Highly recommended. I can't wait to read the sequel VICIOUS CIRCLE.

RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION B
Milla with machetes in both hands fighting superzombies! Not an intellectual film, just entertaining. I liked it!

3 Pizzas

duck confit and roasted cherry tomatoes

I don't own and have never read any of Donna Hay's books but have been enjoying reading the HHDD events in several food blogs. It's the perfect time to check out her books and join because I love making and eating pizzas, both savory and sweet, and because Joey of 80 breakfasts is hosting this HHDD #17 edition.

Pizza dough from Modern Classics I by Donna Hay
1 teaspoon yeast
pinch sugar
2/3 cup warm water
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

• Place the yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl. Set aside until bubbles form. Add the flour, salt and oil and mix to form a smooth dough. Knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Place in a clean, oiled bowl, cover and allow to stand in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 20 minutes (mine took 40). Makes one pizza dough.

This dough is very small and should be done by hand. I can't remember the last time I kneaded by hand, I normally use either the food processor or stand mixer and it was nice to handle, knead and slap the dough on the counter for a change, good stress reliever.:)

I halved the dough and halved the other half, 3 doughs in all. The half dough I formed into a 12-inch round and topped with duck confit and roasted cherry tomatoes which is my entry to the HHDD #17, and the quarter doughs I made into two 7-inch dessert pizzas, one I topped with PB & J which I really really love, and the other with cream cheese and sliced apricots.

Duck Confit and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Pizza
half a pizza dough
2 duck legs confit, sliced thin and cut into 1 inch pieces (duck confit recipe below)
fresh mozzarella balls marinated in olive oil, Italian parsley, and spices
cherry tomatoes, halved and roasted in olive oil, garlic and salt
1 tablespoon crumbled goat cheese, optional
Place pan or stone on the lowest rack in the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Form the dough into a 12 inch round. Transfer to a piece of parchment. Arrange mozzarella balls with some olive oil, herb, and spices evenly on the dough. Add the roasted tomatoes, duck pieces, and goat cheese if using. Slide the pizza onto the stone or pan and bake for 20 minutes or until edges are medium brown.

PB & J Dessert Pizza

1 quarter pizza dough
about ¼ cup grape jelly mixed with 1 tsp cornstarch
2 tablespoons reduced sugar creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped peanut brittle

• Form the dough into a 7-inch round. Prick all over with a fork. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and spread with the grape jelly leaving ½ inch off the edges. Place the peanut butter in a small freezer bag and snip off one corner. Starting from the center, pipe a thin spiral strip of peanut butter on top of the jelly up to near the edges. Return the pizza in the oven and continue baking for 10 -12 more minutes. Let cool until set. Sprinkle the chopped peanut brittle all over.

Apricot And Cream Cheese Dessert Pizza

1 quarter pizza dough
half a can apricots in syrup, well drained and sliced
3 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature and mixed with 1 T sugar
1 tablespoon raw coarse sugar
Form the dough into a 7-inch round. Prick all over with a fork and bake for 8 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven. Remove from oven. Spread the cream cheese on the baked dough, leaving ½ inch off the edges. Arrange the sliced apricots on top of the cream cheese. Return the pizza in the oven and continue baking for 10 - 12 more minutes.
Sprinkle raw sugar all over.

Duck Confit

¼ cup kosher salt
½ tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon white peppercorns
1 bay leaves
6 whole duck legs (leg and thigh)
8 garlic cloves, peeled
21 ounces rendered duck fat (may substitute half with olive oil)
½ cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• Finely grind first 4 ingredients. Rub salt mixture all over duck legs. Layer legs and garlic in a large freezer bag. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Thoroughly rinse legs and discard garlic, pat dry. Place duck legs in a deep roasting pan.
• In a large saucepan, heat the duck fat and pour into the roasting pan, the duck should be covered completely with fat. Roast for 4 - 5 hours. Let cool slightly. Refrigerate overnight.
• Before using duck confit, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove duck from fat and scrape some fat into a skillet, add the vegetable oil. Heat over high heat and fry duck, skin side down, for 1 minute. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Roast until skin is crisp, about 15 minutes.

Kumquats And Star Anise Rum

Kumquats, one of my favorite citrus fruits, are now in season. I candied some last year and paired them with gingerbread cake. This time I used them to make flavored rum which can be enjoyed right after preparing. I like the combination of the slight citrus, anise, and vanilla flavors.

Kumquats And Star Anise Rum
1 cup water
2¼ cups sugar
1 pint kumquats, well scrubbed and well pricked with a fork
½ vanilla bean, cut in half and scraped
4 star anise pods
750 ml white rum
375 ml dark rum

• In a medium saucepan, boil the water, sugar, vanilla bean, and kumquats. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Add anise and leave to cool to room temperature. When completely cool, transfer to a clean glass gallon measuring cup and mix in the rum. Divide the kumquats and spices and put in two 750 ml bottles. Fill the bottles with the rum mixture. Enjoy! I really love the star anise which is used to flavor Pernod and anisette wine. I am making star anise liqueur as my next alcohol project.:)

BTW, kumquats and calamansi taste almost identical with a slight difference, the kumquat rind is sweet. I eat cold kumquats like candies. Rub them between your palms to soften and to release the oil, then pop them in your mouth. It's sweet and tart and absolutely wonderful.

New Year's Eve 2008 Recipes

A few recipes from our New Year's Eve 2008 dinner menu.
Deep Fried Adobado Cornish Hens

2 Cornish hens, about 1 pound each

½ cup white or coconut vinegar
½ cup dry sherry
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small onion, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns, cracked
1½ tablespoons sea salt
2 bay leaves, crumbled
¼ cups extra virgin olive oil
peanut or light olive oil for deep frying

1. Rinse and pat dry the hens, set aside.
2. In a gallon freezer bag, combine all the ingredients except hens and oil for frying. Mix until salt is completely dissolved.
3. Put the hens in the bag making sure they are equally coated with the marinade, refrigerate for 24 hours, turning once.
4. The next day, remove hens from marinade, pat dry. Tie legs with kitchen twine.
5. In a deep pot, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add the hens, cover the pot, and fry for 30 minutes, turning once. Increase the heat to medium-high and fry until hens are golden brown.

Embutido

2 lbs lean ground pork, or combination pork and chicken
1 Spanish chorizo, finely minced
1 cup Vienna sausage, finely minced
2 slices white bread, finely cubed and mixed with 1 C milk
½ cup sweet pickle relish
½ C finely minced raisins or sultanas
1 cup grated aged edam or aged cheddar cheese
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons sea salt or to taste

1. Mix all ingredients gently in a large bowl. Fry a small portion, taste, and adjust salt seasoning.
2. Divide meat mixture into 3 portions.
3. Spoon each portion on a piece of non-stick aluminum foil and form into a 2½-inch thick log. Close the foil tightly making sure there is enough foil all around. Twist ends.
4. Bake in a 350 degree oven or steam for 1 hour.
5. Let cool completely, cut into ½ inch thick slices, fry in lightly oiled non-stick skillet until brown.

Pão De Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Puffs)
These rolls are so delicious and quite addicting. I can't stop eating them!

500 gms tapioca flour (manioc)
250 ml skim milk
125 ml vegetable oil
12 gms sea or kosher salt
2 large eggs
50 ml skim milk
350 grams cheese, finely grated

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Put the flour in a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
3. In a small pan, boil the 250 ml milk, oil, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, drizzle the milk mixture slowly into the flour and stir until all the flour is moistened.
4. Add the eggs and mix well. Mix in the 50 ml milk, beat well. Stir in the cheese, making sure it is well distributed.
5. With oiled hands, form into walnut-size balls and place on a cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes or until light brown.

Note: This is half a recipe I got online and I did not bother to convert from grams to U.S. cups. I used my kitchen scale to be able to make the recipe as accurate as possible. Conversion table is here.

Ube Kalamay With Latik

8 oz frozen grated ube, thawed
8 oz glutinous rice flour
1 large can coconut milk
2 cups sugar
banana leaves
1 can coconut milk for latik

1. Line a 9-inch cake pan with wilted banana leaves, set aside.
2. In a medium non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat, mix ube, glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, and sugar.Bring to a boil , lower heat to medium, cook, stirring constantly to prevent the bottom from burning until the mixture becomes sticky, about 15 minutes.
3. Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and bake in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes. Serve with latik.
4. To make latik, cook 1 can coconut milk over low heat in a non-stick skillet.
5. Let the milk simmer for around 30 minutes until very thick. Increase the heat to medium and continue cooking, turning the coconut as it gets brown. Cook until slightly dark brown and crumbly.

New Year's Eve 2008

cherry tomatoes, embutido, deep fried adobado Cornish hens

Brazilian cheese rolls, ube kalamay with latik, kuchinta
fried bilo-bilo with coconut sauce, queso de bola and grapes, silvanas

I have decided to continue making round shaped food for this year's New Year's Eve dinner. It's not because I came into loads of cash last year preparing and eating round shaped food, I just think it's fun to make them, and the 2 rounds of number 8 inspired me. Have a Prosperous 2008 to all!

2008 New Year's Eve menu:

• Tomato Salad With Vinaigrette Dressing
• Pork And Chicken Embutido
• Braised Scallops
• Deep Fried Adobado Cornish Game Hens
• Brazilian Cheese Puffed Rolls
• Kuchinta
• Fried Mungbean-filled Bilo-Bilo In Coconut Cream Sauce
• Sliced Queso de Bola and Red Seedless Grapes
• Ube Kalamay

I'll post the photos and recipes of some of the recipes another day.

Hang A Shining Star...

This is one of the Filipino Parol (Farol or lantern) made of multi-colored capiz shells that I hang at the windows inside the house. They are very colorful and pretty when lit.

I will be back blogging before or after New Year's day. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas
Maligayang Pasko
Feliz Navidad
Joyeux Noël
Maupay nga Pasko
Fröliche Weihnachten
Mele Kalikimaka
God Jul
Buon Natale
Shinnen omedeto
Vrolijk Kerstfeest
Malipayong Pasko

Glædelig Jul
nga Pascua

Buco-Pandan Chiffon Cake And Kaya

kaya on a slice of Buco-Pandan Chiffon Cake

I was going to make a round pandan chiffon layer cake with coconut milk-egg filling (kaya) but I and my Fil-grocer both ran out of pandan essence. I made a buco-pandan chiffon cake that I baked in a loaf pan, sliced the cake like bread, and smothered the slices with kaya. I have read about kaya at Anton of Our Awesome Planet and Lori of Dessert Comes First blogs. I looked for it online but couldn't find anyone that sells it. Our Asian groceries also don't have many Malaysian or Singaporean stuff. Come to think of it, I have not seen any Malaysian or Singaporean in my area, not that I am an expert in recognizing them. What I'm saying is there are few Asians where I live. I have one Vietnamese and one Indian neighbors but not one Filipino or any other Asian. *I wonder where they're at* That could be a reason why there are very few Malaysian/Singaporean food products available here, or maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

homemade kaya

I made the kaya last night which I thought at first was a total waste of time. The mixture curdled regardless of cooking on very low heat and with constant stirring, the result is a yellowish ugly lump, not the caramel colored jam. I advise you NOT to follow the recipe on the link, it's meant for professional kaya makers or people who have the patience to stir it for maybe 5 hours in a double boiler. Anyway, I saved the curdled jam by blending it with a little pandan water. I caramelized 2 T of sugar until it's really brown, added that to the mixture and voila! kaya that's so smooth and caramel colored and so delicious. Now I understand the appeal of this jam, it is practically a spreadable leche flan (eggs, coconut milk, caramelized sugar). And it is the perfect spread to go with the buco-pandan slices. I also had it on toast this morning for breakfast, with a sunny side up egg to complete the Malaysian/Singaporean treat, so yummy and may be addicting. The next time I make kaya I will temper the eggs first. If successful I'll post the complete recipe.

I love the light mint green color and subtle flavor of this Buco-Pandan Chiffon Cake

Buco-Pandan Chiffon Loaf Cake
1 cup flour
¾ cup sugar
1½ teaspoon baking powder
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup pandan water*
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon buco-pandan essence
4 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt

• Sift dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the next 4 ingredients and mix very well, set aside.
• In a large clean bowl beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until stiff but not dry. Mix ¼ of the egg whites into the flour mixture to lighten. Add the flour mixture into the rest of the egg whites and fold gently. Spoon into a bottom-lined 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Smooth top. Tap gently on the counter to remove large air bubbles.
• Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until cake test done. Cool for 30 minutes before removing from pan.

*To make pandan water, blend 12 well washed and dried pandan leaves with 2 cups water. Strain using coffee filter on a sieve. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Tikoy

dark brown tikoy

Tikoy is a Chinese New Year's staple in the Philippines but in my mother's hometown of Sariaya, Quezon the very dark brown and very sticky tikoy has always been part of the Christmas season spread. Although I also like the white tikoy I prefer the Quezon Province brown tikoy. I like it for breakfast either with coffee, Chai, or jasmine tea.

Dark Brown Tikoy
16 ounces sweet rice flour
1½ cups muscovado or panocha
1/8 tsp salt
2¾ C water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 well beaten egg, optional
butter for frying

• Mix sweet rice flour, sugar, and salt. Add 2 cups water, mix well. Slowly add the remaining water and vanilla extract. Spray a round baking glass with oil spray. Pour the sweet rice mixture and place on a steamer. Steam on medium heat for 1 - 2 hours. Refrigerate until firm. Slice thinly then fry in hot butter until soft, or dip in beaten egg before frying.

The steaming time is rather long at 2 hours but I did not mind the wait because I was busy putting up the Christmas tree and the lights on the front of my house yesterday while the tikoy was cooking. It was very cold and windy the past 5 days and as of yesterday there was still 3 inches of snow on the ground. It's hard to walk back and forth to drape the light netting on the bushes and small trees, the hem of my jeans getting cold and damp but I got it done. We are ready for Christmas.:-)

Update: 01/17/2008
White Tikoy
2 ½ cups sweet rice flour
1 ¾ cups water
1 cup sugar

• Mix all ingredients until smooth. Line a bamboo steamer with cloth. Pour mixture into the lined steamer and steam for 1 - 2 hours, or until set. Cool completely. Wrap in plastic film and refrigerate overnight. Slice thinly, then fry in a non-stick skillet with a little butter, or dip in beaten egg before frying.

Cooking With Pandan

Reading Ruy's blog got me drooling for chicken wrapped in pandan. This is a very popular appetizer which I had countless of times in Thai restaurants but have never cooked it because it seems tedious to prepare. It takes time to wrap the chicken pieces and I am not a deep-fry enthusiast but the finished dish is rewarding in its yumminess. Unbelievably, my 2 Thai cookbooks both don't have a recipe for this dish and searching on the web is frustrating because there are several versions of it. I used the ingredients that I like from 2 recipes and made my own marinade. It is so finger lickin' (and pandan-licking) good and does not need any dipping sauce. All you need is plenty of steamed rice.

Chicken Wrapped In Pandan
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, thinly sliced and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons finely minced cilantro with roots
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
1½ tablespoons fish extract
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon palm or regular sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine
pandan leaves, thawed and well cleaned
peanut or grapeseed oil

• Mix all ingredients except pandan and oil. Marinate for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator. Form pandan into little pockets and fill with 1 tablespoon of the marinated chicken, or simply wrap a few pieces of chicken with pandan. Fry in medium hot oil until pandan has turned brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain well and serve immediately.

finger and pandan-licking good

Pandan is used extensively in Asia: Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and I think, India. They all use pandan to flavor sweets and savory dishes. In the Philippines it is used to flavor rice cakes, chiffon cakes, ice cream, gelatin, hopia, polvoron, barquillos, and any sweets you can think of. My mother used to add a leaf in boiling rice for its fragrance and flavor. It also makes the house smell good that you want to dig in as soon as you get inside.

2007 Best in Fiction and Non-Fiction Books, Movies, And Music

Most came out in 2007, a few in the 90s and 80s.

Books
Fiction
ANGELICA Arthur Phillips
THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION Michael Chabon
AFTER DARK Haruki Murakami
THE WATER'S LOVELY Ruth Rendell
MAKING MONEY Terry Pratchett
THE OTHER SIDE OF YOU Salley Vickers
LOVING FRANK Nancy Horan
BANGKOK HAUNTS John Burdett
THE PRESTIGE Christopher Priest

Non-Fiction
THE WILD TREES Richard Preston
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE Barbara Kingsolver
TRAIL OF FEATHERS Tahir Shah
THE PERFECT SCOOP David Lebovitz
THE ELEMENTS OF COOKING Michael Ruhlman


Movies
THE FOUNTAIN
THE PRESTIGE
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED
DIVA
FULLTIME KILLER
STRANGER THAN FICTION
KNOCKED UP
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS

Music
PROG (jazz) The Bad Plus
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE (jazz) Jason Moran
THE DEAFENING TWILIGHT (metal) Zebulon Pike
OCEANA (classical) Osvaldo Golijov -composer
THE FOUNTAIN FILM SOUNDTRACK Clint Mansell - composer
TALK TO LA BOMB (electronica) Brazilian Girls
ONE MORE DRIFTER IN THE SNOW (Christmas songs) Aimee Mann

Christmas Movies on DVDs

3 must-see Christmas movies on DVDs:

• Raymond Brigg's THE SNOWMAN, a 1982 half hour no dialog animation from the UK about a boy who built a snowman who comes to life. The boy, James, invites the snowman inside the house, shows him around. They go back outside on the yard, ride a motorbike, then they go flying up in the air while the beautiful song WALKING IN THE AIR plays, and join other snowmen at Father Christmas' party. Play the You Tube video of Walking In The Air and you'll fall in love too.

• A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

>

• A CHRISTMAS STORY

The Top 10 Hilarious Lines and Scenes

1. You'll shoot your eye out, kid!
2. Flick's tongue stuck on the frozen flagpole
3. Ralphie uttering Oh, fuuuuu** in front of his Dad
4. I triple-dog dare you!
5. Randy paralyzed by his snowsuit: aurnnm aurnnm (I can't put my arms down)
6. The yellow-eyed Scotty Farkus affair
7. You used up all the glue on purpose
8. Be sure to drink your Ovaltine
9. Ralphie in the pink bunny suit
10. Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra

Fruitcakes

Chocolate-Cherry Fruitcake sans nuts
David Lebovitz is always and inspiration to bake something including the most ridiculed and reviled (at least here in the US) of all Christmas season staples: the fruitcake. The on-going joke that somewhere there's a fruitcake being endlessly passed on from one person to another from generation to generation since the first fruitcake was baked could be true because people don't want to throw food away and "re-gift" the dreaded fruitcake. I remember getting one such cake many years ago, it came in a Christmas gift basket with all those beer sausages and cheeses. I felt so guilty when I threw the fruitcake away. Every year there is a fruitcake tossing contest because these people either really hate fruitcakes, have nothing better to do, or just love using their catapults. I can understand why they don't like fruitcake. The first US-made fruitcake we had was in my parents-in-law's house in Texas (the cake was probably a gift). We all hated it. It was bone dry, studded with tasteless hard fruits and nuts, with no cake (flour) visible, cloyingly sweet, and no hint of liquor either. My MIL used to make the darkest, moistest, most delicious will-make-you-tipsy fruitcakes in Manila and the US fruitcakes were a big disappointment.

Anyway, I made the traditional fruitcakes which I will inject regularly with brandy for the next 3 weeks and half a recipe of David's Chocolate-Cherry Fruitcake which was a semi-disaster because I did not add the nuts. I had the recipe in front of me but forgot the nuts were still in the toaster oven when I started mixing and spooned the batter into the pans without realizing the nuts were missing. Oh well, the cake is still very good and will bake another batch a week before Christmas. I sprinkled some of the toasted nuts on top of the sliced cake for the crunch and flavor.

Fruitcake

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ tsp allspice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups snipped whole dates
1 cup dried currants or sultanas
½ cup chopped red candied cherries
½ cup chopped green candied cherries
½ cup candied pineapple
¾ cup candied citron
¼ cup candied lemon peels
¼ cup candied orange peels
¼ cup chopped candied ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
1 cup soft butter
1½ cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs
¾ cup orange juice
¼ cup brandy plus more for brushing
zest of 1 large orange

• Pre-heat oven to 300°F.
• Grease three 8 x 4 x 2-inch loaf pans, line with parchment paper, grease paper, set aside.
• In a medium bowl, mix fruits and nuts with ¼ cup flour, set aside. Sift the rest of the flour with the spices, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, eggs, juice, brandy and zest. Mix for 2 to 3 minutes. With a large spatula mix in the fruits and nuts. Spoon into the prepared pans, smooth top. Bake for 2 hours or until cake test done (I use a small wooden skewer). Place on wire racks and let cool in pans thoroughly. Remove from pans and peel off paper. Brush all over with brandy and wrap in plastic film. Keep in a freezer gallon bag in the refrigerator. Moisten loaves with brandy every 4 days for 3 weeks before serving.

Tortellini And Grapes Salad

We have tons of leftover roast turkey because we eat like birds and it takes a looong time for us to finish a whole turkey. I kept about a quarter in the freezer and made some into quesadillas the day after Thanksgiving but there is still plenty of white meat in the fridge. The leftover seems to be growing instead of getting smaller. Of course we can't have turkey everyday but today I am forcing everyone to eat at least a slice with the salad I made today, Tortellini and Grapes. This salad reminds me of the Waldorf Astoria salad that has apples and walnuts and usually served with roasted chicken breast, the difference is the addition of pasta with cheese filling. I changed the dressing a little by adding 2 tablespoons of honey mustard and used roasted pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts. At first I thought it would be unusual to combine cheese and sweetish dressing but to my surprise I liked it a lot. It's very good with the roast turkey or just by itself as a vegetarian fare.

Tortellini And Grapes Salad
8 ounces tortellini with cheese or spinach, prepared according to package directions and chilled
2 cups red seedless grapes
¾ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoonss honey mustard
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup toasted walnuts
1 teaspoon minced shallot, optional

• Mix mayonnaise, honey, honey mustard, salt, and shallot. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss gently. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Movies on DVD Review

My review of a 1981 French art-pop and 2 animated movies on DVD

RATATOUILLE C
Once again I find myself in the minority who did not like this much-loved animated movie about a rat who loves to cook gourmet food. My question to Disney: WHY A RAT? The symbol of all things foul and putrid: bubonic plague, sewers, garbage, and all sorts of diseases associated with it being dirty. AND WHY A MOVIE ABOUT COOKING WITH A RAT? Unlike cute cartoon drawn mice Mickey and Minnie the rats in this movie are so life-like with their gray fur and pink noses, paws and tails. Eww, eww, eww, yuck! The characters and script did not appeal to me at all. I did not laugh the entire time I was watching because all the characters are repulsive to me specially the young man, Alfredo Linguini, who is so painfully irritating and repetitive. Not a single character is adorable but rather it's full of cliched and overused personalities: the angry strong chick, arrogant critic voiced by a British actor, and the dwarf sinister dark skinned thin mustachioed villain again voiced by a British actor. And I really hated the first 10 - 15 minutes with the crazy woman shooting and destroying her own house. Not. Funny. I was wishing she would accidentally shoot herself or the chandelier would fall on her. There was very little cooking shown so what is the point. The ending was so disgusting with the rats having their own dining room at a mezzanine floor overlooking the main dining room. I do not like to see RATS that look like real rats and not cartoon rats in the same restaurant in a cartoon, ick!

SHREK THE THIRD B+
I have enjoyed the first 2 Shrek movies and I was not totally disappointed with this installment. It is far from flawless, some of the jokes are a little too gross a la Austin Powers but I still liked the movie. Who can resist Puss, he's so cute. The High School scene is a little bit corny, I must admit, but tolerable. Although the movie is a little bit crowded with so many new characters, I love the addition of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Belle. What can I say, the animation and soundtrack are superb. Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die during the king's pond funeral and the women charging to rescue Shrek with Heart's Barracuda as background music are excellent choices and made me smile. Highly recommended if you don't mind a few flatulence gags.

DIVA A++
I am wondering why I have never heard of this 1981 French movie before it appeared in our Netflix recommendation corner. It is such a gem, I love love love it. It has everything I like: comedy, action, suspense, fantasy, romance, bad guys, weird people, fantastic chase scene, and operatic aria.
This is not your average boy meets girl in the romantic city of Paris. It's much more than that. The male lead, a 19-year old postal courier Jules, is in love with an American soprano, the Diva of the title, who in her entire career refuses to be recorded. During her latest recital he recorded her with his expensive recording equipment so he can listen to her whenever he likes which is every time he is home. He managed to steal the dress the Diva wore at the recital, brought it home where there is a large poster of her, and holding the dress while listening to the illegal recording. I know, it seems creepy but I didn't see it in that sense, I can't explain why. Now come the bad guys, 2 sets of them: the hired thugs working for the corrupt Police Chief, and the Taiwanese businessmen who also want to have a bootleg recording of the Diva. One of the thugs is an awl wielding psycho, called Le curé, played by rubber-faced (or to Filipinos mukhasim) Dominic Pinon of Amelie, The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, A Very Long Engagement, etc. He has very few lines which always start with I DON'T LIKE...cars, car garages, Beethoven, elevators, etc. Jules also befriended the oddest couple in Paris. He is a 30-something male (who is also a master criminal or thief) and his female companion, a young girl, Alba, whose preoccupation is thievery, she stole a music record using photos of herself naked or in sexy poses to distract the store clerk. They live in a very large unfurnished loft apartment with just cushions to sit on, hammocks for beds, and a bathtub on one side of the apartment. But the guy is a gourmet of sorts, teaching Jules the art of making a baguette sandwich, i.e., using a knife that has the precise thinness, how much butter to spread, and so on. This weird couple helped Jules get rid of the 2 sets of villains all at once. All the characters, except the Diva who only has interaction with Jules, crossed paths when the mistress of the police chief placed an incriminating recording she made in Jules' delivery bag. I like the chase sequence which IMHO is second only to Bullitt's. Jules was riding a friend's motorbike going up and down stairs, in and out of the Metro, in and out of the train, the poor policeman chasing him was no match. Spoiler Alert: To make the story short, all the bad guys perished, he became friends with the diva (she sang Bach/Gounoud's Ave Maria and an aria from an Italian opera called The Wally) who forgave him for the recording agreeing to listen to it. I so love this very stylish plot driven movie that I watched it again the very next day.

French Toast Bites

french toast bites with maple caramel sauce

There's always leftover bread in my house after the holidays and the perfect way to use them is making them into French toast (pain perdu) for breakfast or brunch. Old baguette, brioche, or challah is my bread of choice because not only are they delicious they also don't become soggy. This time I made them into small bites with maple caramel sauce and different toppings.
BTW, the Japanese duo Cibo Matto has a song Le Pain Perdu, about getting out (of a relationship) before it gets stale, check out the lyrics. I actually got the idea of making pain perdu when this song came on while I was preparing the turkey stuffing.:-)


Le Pain Perdu Lyrics

French Toast Squares
1 egg, well beaten
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoon flour
½ cup whole milk
2 cups 1-inch cubed day old baguette or brioche
butter
powdered sugar, optional

• Mix egg, sugar, flour, and milk. Soak bread for 10 minutes. Heat a skillet, add 2 T butter and fry bread until golden brown and crisp. Serve with syrup and fruits of your choice or top with Nutella, fruit preserves, or sweetened heavy cream. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Apple, Sausage, and Chestnuts Stuffing
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 medium onion, chopped
3 apples, chopped
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
10 cups cubed day old baguette
2 cups coarsely chopped roasted chestnuts
2 cups pre-cooked crumbled Italian sweet sausage
2 teaspoons salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups hot chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter

• Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven, add celery and onion and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add apples, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, bread, chestnuts, sausage, salt and pepper, cook for 3 minutes. Pour broth all over. Spoon into a large baking dish. Dot with butter. Bake, covered with foil at 350°F for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until top is brown.

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

1 16-ounce bag cranberries
¾ cup sugar
juice and zest of 1 large orange
1 cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 small piece thinly sliced ginger

• Heat all ingredients in a medium stainless steel saucepan, bring to a boil, mix gently. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and ginger before serving.

Pumpkin Pie

1 pie crust for 10 -inch pie, homemade or store bought
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons heavy cream
14 ounces pumpkin puree
¾ C sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
1 can evaporated milk

• In a small bowl, mix sugar, salt, and spices. Line a pie plate with pie crust, crimp edges, refrigerate while preparing filling. In a large bowl, beat eggs well and stir in the heavy cream. Add puree and sugar mixture, mix thoroughly. Slowly add milk and stir well. Pour into the pie crust. Bake in a pre-heated 450° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and continue baking for 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve with maple syrup sweetened whipped heavy cream, if desired.

Via Mare's Pavo Embuchado (Stuffed Roast Turkey)

I am posting this recipe adapted from Via Mare's Pavo Embuchado for a few Filipinos who are looking and asking for this particular recipe either for Thanksgiving Day or Christmas. I don't have a photo as I have not cooked our Thanksgiving turkey yet. I'm not using this recipe's stuffing because I plan to prepare it for Christmas, therefore I cannot give a review but with the amount of good stuff (mostly meat) in it, you can just imagine it will be scrumptious. For Thanksgiving I always make a simple bread, apples (or quinces), and chestnuts stuffing that I bake outside the turkey in a separate casserole.

Via Mare Stuffed Roast Turkey
turkey
1 15-lb turkey
3 carrots, washed, scrubbed, and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 onions, cut into chunks,
3 celery sticks with tops, cut into 2-inch pieces

stuffing
1 pound ground pork
1 pound lean ground beef
½ cup grated Edam cheese
½ cup stuffed green olives, chopped
1½ cup Chinese or Virginia ham, chopped
2 pieces chorizo, chopped
1 cup chopped Vienna sausage
4 eggs
1 cup raisins, optional

• Prepare the turkey: Wash and dry the turkey thoroughly. Rub generous amounts of salt and pepper inside and out. Leave in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
• Stuff the turkey: Mix all the ingredients, fill turkey, then rub all over with olive oil. Arrange the vegetables in the middle of the roasting pan and place the turkey on top of the vegetables. Carefully add the broth along the side of the pan. Roast turkey in 325° F oven for 4 to 4½ hours. Transfer turkey to a slicing board. Add more broth to the roast pan, if necessary, to deglaze. Strain and use for gravy.

Note: I prefer to brine (water, salt, pepper, sugar, 1 torn bay leaf, and 2 cloves of smashed garlic) the turkey overnight or at least 4 hours. The result is a moist and well seasoned bird.

Laing

laing stewed in coconut milk, prawns, and pork

Recently, I have been reading about laing as pizza topping in many Filipino blogs. Laing is a Filipino dish made with taro leaves stewed in coconut milk. I have never cooked it before and neither did my mother. She used to buy from an ambulant suki (a favorite purveyor of anything from food to house ware) who cooked her delicious laing wrapped in whole taro leaves. My mother preferred to buy rather than cook laing to help the hawker make money and because she did not want to do all the tedious work.

Occasionally, I would buy the canned laing but on my recent trip to the Filipino grocer I saw a package of dried taro leaves which has a recipe card attached to it, the laing served on a young coconut shell. What a great idea! I don't have a young coconut and put the laing in an empty mature coconut shell. It surely would have been better if you get bits of young coconut with every bite of the laing. I tweaked the recipe a bit by reducing the amount of dried leaves by half and came up with a tasty laing, not as delicious as those of my mother's suki but hey, it's good enough for me.:D

Laing
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
¼ cup minced prawns
¼ cup minced pork
2 tablespoons fish extract (patis)
1 14-oz can coconut milk
2 ounces dry taro leaves
¼ cup water, if needed
2 bird's eye chili, sliced
salt, to taste, if needed

1. In a wok or large skillet, heat the oil and saute garlic, onion, and ginger for 3 minutes. Add the prawns and pork, stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the fish extract and stir fry for 1 minute.
2. Pour the coconut milk, mix very well then mix in the leaves.
3. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, checking if it needs water.
4. Add sliced chili, taste and adjust seasoning, and dish up. Serve with steamed rice or as a side dish.

Shepherd's Pie

I was watching last Wednesday's Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay who every week tries to diagnose and treat an ailing restaurant. The restaurant featured serves Irish food and is owned and operated by a father, his 2 sons, and a daughter-in-law. The chef is the younger son with a sous chef from hell. He picked up a chicken wing that fell on the floor and promptly put it in the fryer right in front of Ramsay and the camera saying all the germs it picked up from the floor will die from deep frying anyway, eww. The dishes they serve are less than below average. The clients complained of cold, dry, and simply tasteless dishes most specially the Shepherd's Pie, a very typical British dish. During the make-over period, Ramsay prepared a pie that he says is his own mother's recipe and after tasting his pie the restaurant owners and crew oohed and aahed. He then made them taste the son's pie and they all made faces indicating it is yucky. That hurt the chef, you could see it from his face and he did not show up in the restaurant for 5 days.

The reject pie brought me back to the day my son came home from school with a plate of shepherd's pie he made in school as a project when he was a student in a British School in Hong Kong. He proudly presented us the pie saying he made it all by himself, of course with the teacher's recipe and guidance. One bite of the pie and we nearly gagged, it was the most horrible food I have ever tasted in my life. The onions were raw and crunchy, the meat was dry and under seasoned with just salt, pepper, and nothing else. And the mashed potatoes was equally forgettable. But we couldn't tell him because we didn't want to hurt his feelings. We took a few more bites of the dreadful pie and I threw the rest while he was at school the next day. I can't remember if we ever told him that the pie was awful.

Well, anyway, back to the reality show. Ramsay was able to "save" the restaurant and the Shepherd's pie became its signature dish that everybody seems to love. I looked for his recipe online and prepared it today using beef in place of lamb. I don't know if this is the same recipe he gave to the restaurant but I don't really care because this pie is very very good.

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Shepherd's Pie
2 pounds lamb or very lean ground beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, grated
1 large carrot, grated
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 cup red wine
1 cup chicken broth
2 tsp salt, or to taste
3 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese for mashed potato

• Prepare the mashed potato, recipe here. Add 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese. Cover, set aside, keep warm while preparing beef.
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil, stir fry beef until no longer pink. Drain off excess grease. Add onion, garlic, and carrot and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add wooster sauce, tomato paste, thyme and rosemary, cook for 1 minute. Add wine and simmer until wine has almost evaporated. Add the broth and simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Transfer beef to a deep dish. Spoon mashed potato on top of beef. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese. Fluff with a fork to create peaks. Bake in a 400° F oven for 20 minutes or broil until top is golden brown.

Click here for Gordon Ramsay's recipe.

Polvorones

One of the many many sweets and snacks that Filipinos inherited (and made a better version of) from the Spanish is polvorones. The Spanish polvorones are baked after shaping by hand, they're not quite cookies nor shortbread, somewhere in between. The candy-like Filipino polvoron is never baked but the flour is also toasted before mixing with sugar, powdered milk and butter, then shaped using either a round or oval mold that are made in the Philippines and nowhere else (they can be purchased from Filipino groceries or eBay). I grew up eating plain polvorones and sometimes the ones with crushed peanuts or toasted sesame seeds but recently various flavors and add-ins have been popping up in the Filipino grocery: the ubiquitous buco-pandan, ube, langka, crispy rice or pinipig, crushed oreo cookies, and the latest, graham crackers. Well, why not join the crowd and here is my contribution: raw cacao nibs. They are so addicting! What's not to love: sugar, butter, milk, and raw crunchy bitter chocolate. Mmmmmm.

Peruvian raw organic cacao nibs

The package says they are nutritious and I think these are highly recommended by vegans who advocate eating raw food. I bought the cacao nibs to add to candies, baked goods, and to eat with cereals but I also love munching on them like peanuts. They are a teeny bit bitter, they are pure chocolate after all, but I love extremely dark chocolate anyway. Cacao nibs, a guilt-free and healthy super yummy snack.

Polvorones

4 cups flour

3/4 cup powdered milk

1½ cups super-fine sugar

1 cup very soft butter

• Toast flour in a skillet or in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes until light brown.
• Into a bowl, sift toasted flour, milk, and sugar. Add the butter and mix thoroughly.
• Fill mold and press lightly, unmold onto individual pieces of rectangular or square (depending on the mold) multi-colored or white tissue paper, twist ends of paper.
• Tip: To prevent crumbling, refrigerate unwrapped molded polvoron for a few minutes or until set.

"
with cacao nibs, graham crackers, buco-pandan, and toasted sesame seeds