It's Easy Being Square

glazed fudge brownies

There are so many choices of baking pans with all sorts of shapes and designs in the baking aisles at chain stores and discount kitchen shops. Last year I got a coated metal with 2-inch squares and a silicone with 1-inch squares. I use them for single serve brownies and cakes. Baking the brownies in these pans eliminates the step of cutting it into squares. They are easier to store and serve, and I like it for portion control. Isn't that cool? The flexible silicone is more versatile as it can be used for the cutest mini-cakes and to freeze embedded liquids to decorate drinks, or for freezing lemon juice or stock.

glazed fudge brownies, calamansi cupcake squares

Strawberry Blondies

Hip To Be Square is this week's Lasang Pinoy Sundays, a weekly food photography meme, hosted by SpiCes.

Biryani

seitan biryani

I'm new to Indian food. It's only recently that I started liking this highly seasoned cuisine. I finally got an Indian cookbook after making and loving Chicken Kerala a few months ago. The Lamb Biryani in the book appealed to me right away but I substituted seitan for the lamb because I wanted a meatless dish. I made seitan by mixing vital wheat gluten with water, then cooking the cubed/sliced seitan in water seasoned with soy sauce and chopped onion. For the vegetables I steamed green beans, carrots (purple and regular orange), and skinned baby lima beans. This dish is very yummy and healthy too.

Lamb Biryani
2 pounds boneless lamb leg or shoulder, cut into 1½ inch cubes
3-inch piece of ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons garam masala*
½ teaspoon chilli powder
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
4 green chillis, finely chopped
2/3 cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped mint leaves
2 teaspoons salt
2½ cups basmati rice
4 onions, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup light olive oil
2 ounces melted butter or ghee
1 cup plain thick yogurt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon saffron strands, soaked in ½ cup hot milk
steamed vegetables for topping: sliced carrots, green beans cut into half inch pieces, green peas, cauliflower

• Mix the lamb cubes in a bowl with the ginger, garlic, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric, green chilli, coriander, mint, and salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Wash the rice in a sieve under cold, running water until the water runs clear. Set aside.
• Put the sliced onion in a sieve, sprinkle with the salt and leave for 10 minutes to drain of any liquid that oozes out. Rinse and pat dry.
• Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and fry for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Drain onions, reserve the oil and butter.
• Transfer the lamb and marinade into a casserole and add the browned onion, 2 tablespoons of the reserved oil and butter, and the yogurt, and cook on low heat, covered, for 40 minutes, or until lamb is tender.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a separate saucepan, boil enough water to cover rice. Add the rice to the pan. Return the water to the boil, cook the rice for 5 minutes, then drain well and transfer into a bowl. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the oil and butter, the lemon juice, and a little salt and gently mix. Spread the rice evenly over the meat. Spoon the saffron milk over the rice.
• Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Serve topped with salted steamed vegetables.

*Garam Masala
from my cookbook THE FOOD OF INDIA a journey for food lovers:

Garam Masala means "warming spice mix". It can be a mixture of whole or ground spices. Recipes are numerous but they are all aromatic, rather than "hot" mixes.

makes 3 tablespoons
8 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves, torn into small pieces
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 two-inch cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
1 teaspoon cloves

• Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods. Put all the ingredients in a spice grinder or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder. Store into a small airtight container until needed.

saffron milk and garam masala, ghee

uncooked seitan, steamed vegetables

very colorful and delicious meatless biryani

Seriously Citrusy

Meyer lemon curd and lime curd

There's an abundance of assorted citrus fruits at Costco and I couldn't resist their bright sunny spring colors. I haven't stopped buying Cara Cara oranges, got a large bag each of limes and Meyer lemons, and one humongous bag of Jaffa Sweeties, a cross of pomelo and white grapefruit. They are soooo deliciously sweet I want to eat them all day long everyday, the whole year round if possible. These citrus fruits are developed in Israel and just like Cara Cara this is the first time I heard of them. To my dismay when I went back to get another bag they were all gone after only a week in the store.

Jaffa Sweetie, Cara Cara Orange, Calamansi

Jaffa Sweeties, I love you so

Meyer lemons

I have so much limes and lemons there isn't space in the refrigerator to store them. I froze some of the juice in a Wilton silicone baking mold with 1-inch squares for tiny cakes or brownies. Each square holds exactly 1 tablespoon of liquid, perfect for freezing citrus juices for later use. I made some into lime curd and lemon curd, both are utterly yummy, sweet and slightly tart. Next week, I will be busy baking lemon, lime, or calamansi pound cakes.

Lime or Lemon Curd
½ cup butter, diced
1 cup sugar
½ cup lime juice (or Meyer lemon juice)
grated zest of two limes (or Meyer lemons)
4 extra large eggs or 5 large eggs, lightly beaten

• Put butter, sugar, juice, and zest into a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Let butter melt, then gradually whisk in the beaten eggs. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened to the consistency of instant pudding, about 15 minutes.
• Remove from heat, wipe bottom of bowl, and cool for a few minutes. Transfer the curd into a clean jar, cool completely, cover jar, and store in the refrigerator.
• Spread on buttery biscuits, crumpets, English muffins, crisp Belgian wafers, fruits...

great on chewy crunchy toasted English muffins

Soymilk

warm freshly made soymilk: so good

We have been buying soymilk since forever and only recently noticed that most brands have additives such as sugar to mask the "beany" flavor and xanthan gum or carageenan for a creamier texture. Making soymilk was never in my must-make list until I saw and clicked on an ad for soymilk maker. I didn't know these makers are available for soymilk enthusiasts. Searching online for making soy milk without a machine, I found a lot of websites including Martha Stewart teaching how to make soymilk at home.

I happen to have a 32-ounce bag of soy beans sitting in the pantry, I can't remember why I bought it. Maybe it was waiting to be made into milk. After one sip of the still warm delicious plain no-sugar milk, I am convinced homemade soymilk tastes superior to the ones in cartons. The milk has the slight beany taste of silken tofu which is why I love it. I noticed that unlike the store-bought there are no grits at the bottom of my cup and in the jar. The thickness can also be adjusted to individual preference.

Here's a a how-to video

For a little more than a liter of soymilk you will need:
1 cup dried soy beans
water
blender
a large piece of washed and dried muslin or fine cheesecloth
tall stock pot
sieve
2 large bowls
heat-proof spatula
pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon raw sugar, if desired

• Rinse soybeans, drain, and add water to cover 2 inches over the beans. Soak beans overnight at room temperature. The next day, drain the water, rinse twice, and drain very well. Hull the beans, if preferred. Place half of the beans with double the amount of water in the blender and blend on high for 2 minutes. Transfer into a large bowl. Remove all the foam on top with a small sieve. Repeat with the rest of the beans.
• Place a sieve on top of another bowl, line with the muslin. Pour the liquid through the muslin and let drip into the bowl. Gather the corners of the muslin and twist the top. Press to extract as much liquid as possible.
• Boil 1 cup of water in the stockpot, add the extracted liquid, add salt and sugar if using, and over high heat let the mixture come to a boil, constantly stirring and scraping the bottom. Turn down the heat to medium and simmer the milk for 25 minutes. Stir down the foam as it rises until it dies down. Transfer into a clean jar, cover, and refrigerate.

dry soy beans, soaked and hulled beans, simmering soymilk, okara, toasted okara

In making soymilk at home I also learned about okara, the pulp left in the cheesecloth after straining the liquid, which I will use for baking breads; and accidentally soybean skin (yuba). I removed the skin that formed on top of the cooking milk, ate it when it had dried a little, and it tasted exactly like the vegetarian dish we always have at our favorite Chinese restaurant. By boiling the milk and collecting the skin until all the milk is used up, I might be able to recreate my favorite Chinese dish at home. That will be my next project.:-)

Mangga, Suman, At Tsokolate

a yummy Filipino breakfast: suman with chocolate, ripe mango, and frothy hot chocolate

There's nothing gloomier than waking up to a sunless rainy Sunday morning. Remembering the store-bought Suman Con Tsokolate in the refrigerator and seeing the bright yellow ripe mangoes on the kitchen counter thankfully brightened up the day. And having frothy hot chocolate with this delicious pair perked me up and made me more cheerful.^__^

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: BREAD-y Or Not

I love breads specially sweet ensaimada, brioche, and challah, all very yummy, crusty rustic bread simply dipped in olive oil, and of course my favorite of all, hot pan de sal with lots of butter or filled with cheese pimiento and pancit guisado. I know I shouldn't be eating too much bread because the calories go straight to my arms and hips but I could care less, I can't live without bread.:-)

Sweet Potato Challah Bread Pudding3 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
6 tablespoons sugar or to taste
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups cubed sweet potato challah, recipe here (or plain challah, pan de sal, brioche, French bread)
1 cup coarsely chopped candied ginger, golden raisins, or dried fruit of your choice
powdered sugar for dusting

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• In a medium bowl, beat eggs with sugar until light yellow in color. Add milk, butter, and vanilla extract, mix well.
• Place half of the bread cubes into a baking dish or individual ramekins. Sprinkle with half of the candied ginger, repeat with the remaining bread cubes and candied ginger. Pour the milk mixture all over, press down so that the custard covers the bread completely. Place the baking dish or ramekins in a large pan. Carefully fill the large pan with hot tap water halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
• Bake ramekins for 45 minutes, baking dish for 1 hour or until tops is golden brown. Gently press down the middle to check if the custard is fully cooked. Remove from oven, cool slightly before dusting with powdered sugar. The pudding is also good cold.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays hosted by SpiCes is a weekly photography meme. Click on the yellow button to view more BREAD-y Or Not entries.

Upcoming Concerts In Washington, D.C.

Keiko Matsui: March 22, 2009 at 3 PM as a guest performer at the US Air Force Band concert series. Free admission, details here if you live around here or will be in this area that week.


TURANDOT: The Kennedy Center, May 19 - June 4, 2009. My daughter and I have been waiting for this show for almost a year now. We heard that one of the sopranos sharing the role is younger than previous performers who IMHO were too old and scary-looking rather than the beautiful ice princess that a long list of men lost their heads (literally) for.

THE BAD PLUS: March 26, 2009 at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately for us, they will be accompanied by Yoko.....I mean Wendy, so no, we're not going. They are also scheduled to perform without her on March 29, 2009 at Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis, MD but somehow I have lost my enthusiasm for TBP. I also have a bad feeling she will appear there as well. I shudder at the thought of seeing and hearing her. Meh.

Kare-Kare

oxtail kare-kare
The beautiful bright uncluttered photographs in the KULINARYA cookbook are so inspiring I want to prepare our everyday Filipino dishes looking as clean and appealing. Many delicious Filipino dishes specially the stews are usually not photogenic with their dark sauce. One such dish is Kare-Kare, a meat stew with peanut based sauce, served with an assortment of vegetables and eaten with bagoong alamang (shrimp paste). In restaurants this very flavorful and colorful dish is served in a native terracotta pot but the presentation is somewhat ugly with the meat and vegetables all smothered in sauce. There is nothing wrong with that but I would like to see an easier on the eyes Kare-Kare dished up in a more appetizing way where you can see the contrast of greens, purples, and whites against the orange sauce. I'm glad to learn that a few notable restaurants in the Philippines are now plating better looking and appetizing Filipino dishes.

Read more »

Chocolate Pudding

creamy yummy chocolate pudding
People love to "Frenchify" everything to sound sophisticated, for example, haricots verts when they can simply say green beans. Recently the word cremeux has been popping up in restaurant menus and blogs. One recipe I saw was Chocolat Cremeux and when I read the recipe it is simply chocolate pudding and nothing else, extra creamy perhaps, but it is just good old pudding. Reading the recipe made me crave for chocolate crem...er..pudding.

The chocolate pudding I prepared does not have egg yolks and is sort of healthier because it has cactus honey powder which is supposed to have less calories and carbs, and low glycemic index, but I am not 100 percent sure about its healthy claim. This pudding also has plain soymilk which does not alter its deep chocolate flavor nor its creamy consistency. Preparing the pudding is very easy and the snack is ready to enjoy in less than 2 hours.

Chocolate Pudding
½ cup cactus honey powder (or raw sugar)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1½ cups whole milk
1½ cups plain soymilk
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
shaved or chopped bittersweet chocolate for garnish

• In a medium saucepan, mix the cactus powder, cocoa powder, salt, and cornstarch with a wire whisk. Gradually add ½ cup of the milk, whisking constantly until smooth and lump-free. Add the rest of the milk and the soymilk and mix well.
• Turn heat on to medium high, bring mixture to a boil while whisking. Lower heat to medium and cook until the mixture has thickened, about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Turn heat off and stir in vanilla extract.
• Divide pudding into 4 glass or clear plastic containers and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Garnish each with ½ teaspoon shaved chocolate before serving.

no one will ever guess these have soymilk

Alamid Coffee

a most expensive coffee, AKA civet poop

One of the stuff I asked the husband to bring from his recent visit to the Philippines is coffee beans that have been eaten and excreted whole by civets called alamid. I have read about these coffee beans in many blogs and have wanted to try them.

The jar describes the brewed coffee:

• Macchiato: smooth, sweet, and lingering dark chocolate flavor with a fruity aroma
• Espresso: bold, rich, fully developed flavors swirling around your upper and lower tongue, no negative aftertaste.

I ground the coffee beans in a clean unused grinder and brewed it in my stovetop espresso maker, drank it black with no sugar. I agree to the sweet rich flavor and non-acidic clean aftertaste but can't really say it has chocolate flavor. I didn't add milk macchiato-style which might explain the non-chocolate taste. The whole bean itself has a very fragrant chocolate aroma. What I like is the lingering cool mouth feel around and under my tongue similar to the essence of mint but without the minty flavor, I'm sorry if I can't explain it very well, you'll just have to try it. It will cost you though as the coffee is expensive at $110 per pound (P1100 for a 100-gram jar) and if I were a billionaire and have lots of cash to burn I will drink this coffee everyday for the rest of my days.

I never thought that someday I'll be drinking coffee that a wild pesky animal has eaten and pooped out but now I have and I can assure you, this coffee doesn't taste like sh*t.:-)

Here is the Coffee Alamid website.

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.

The Bad Plus One Awful Vocalist

FOR ALL I CARE The Bad Plus (with Wendy Lewis)

D- and A For Awful








I never thought I will ever write a negative review of a music cd by my favorite jazz band the bad plus. I own almost all of their albums and I love them all. Not this new release of covers of songs by Nirvana, Stravinsky, The Flaming Lips, Heart, etc. which I absolutely hate! The songs lack imagination and they sound lifeless, uninspired, and utterly boring. It is so puzzling to me that they allowed this crap to be published, as if they have a career death wish or something.

I was skeptical when I heard they will be joined by a vocalist but I am a die hard fan and bought the cd anyway. HUGE.DISAPPOINTMENT. She is awful, awful, awful. She can't sing, period!! I don't care if she is a friend of David King, the drummer, but they should have chosen someone with good pipes and style if they really want to add vocals. The reason I love them is because of the absence of vocals and I would probably have forgiven them if she has a decent voice and a singing style that suits their wild, unpredictable, and sometimes passionate interpretations of covers.

Out of 12 songs only 4 tracks are okay because I get a headache when she comes on and recites, yes, she doesn't sing, she mouths or mumbles lazily the lyrics. Her emo-wannabe style doesn't fit her age and the music of The Bad Plus at all. She single-handedly ruined the whole CD but hopefully not TBP's future.

Tracks with Wendy Lewis
1. Lithium - has the opposite effect, she drives me into depression
2. Comfortably Numb - uncomfortably numbing
4. Radio Cure - iPod curse
5. Long Distance Runaround - give her the runaround
7. How Deep Is Your Love - how mediocre is her voice
8. Barracuda - more like a fry or pupfish
9. Lock, Stock And Teardrops - I can cry a river
10. Feeling Yourself Disintegrate - feeling myself break down and pull my hair out

I am mad as hell for all I care. Oh, well.

Burnt Milk Fudge

leche quemada: burnt milk fudge with fruits and nuts

One of the sweets I cooked for New Year's Eve was a Mexican-style fudge called leche quemada which means burnt milk. The mixture of fresh milk and sugar is cooked for more than half an hour while constantly stirring to avoid burning the bottom. I actually burnt mine a little bit which made the candies all the more yummy. Butter, candied fruits and chopped nuts are added after cooking and the candy block is chilled for 8 hours or air-dried overnight on the kitchen counter before cutting into 1-inch squares. I combined the recipes from the December 2008 issue of Saveur magazine called Jamoncillos and from gourmetsleuth using hazelnuts in place of pecans. Making the candies is labor intensive but it was well worth all the time I spent making them. These tiny candies are so delicious and super addictive. I love the hint of cinnamon and the combination of hazelnuts and pine nuts is perfect.

Leche Quemada

3 cups sugar

2 cups whole milk

1 cinnamon stick

½ cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup candied fruits, cut into ¼ inch pieces

1 cup chopped skinned and toasted hazelnuts (or pecans)

½ cup chopped toasted pine nuts

• Butter bottom and all sides of an 8-inch square baking pan, line with parchment paper, butter paper. Set aside.
• In a large saucepan, stir together sugar, milk, corn syrup, and salt. Add the cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer on medium heat until the mixture thickens and a candy thermometer registers 240 degrees, stirring bottom to prevent burning. This will take about 40 to 45 minutes.
• Remove pan from heat. Remove and discard cinnamon stick. Add butter and vanilla, do not stir. Let mixture cool to 180 degrees.
• Stir mixture with wooden spoon until no longer glossy. Add fruits and nuts, stir to combine. Transfer into the prepared baking pan, smooth surface with a rubber spatula. Chill until set, about 8 hours, or leave on the counter overnight.
• Turn fudge out onto a cutting board and cut into sixty-four 1 inch squares.

For a little bit of useless information. The word leche (milk) in the Spanish speaking world and in the Philippines is used as a mild oath or an insult, depending on context or inflection. In the Philippines people say the word leche when they are angry, frustrated, surprised, and sometimes as a greeting. If someone says with an angry intonation "ah leche ka", he/she is annoyed and dismissive, "naku, na-leche na" could mean something went wrong and he'll be in deep s**t. My mother-in-law told us a "leche" story involving my husband when he was a toddler. She was at home chatting with someone when he started saying mama leche, mama leche, mama leche. The woman she was chatting with asked my MIL why she was allowing her son to disrespect her. My MIL explained that he just got hungry and was simply asking for milk. Both my husband and I have no idea how the benign word leche became a cuss word in the Philippines, Spain, and South America. Anyone knows?:-)

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: Steamed

One of my dad's and now my own family's favorite dishes is steamed fish seasoned with fermented black beans (salted soy beans called tausi), sliced ginger, scallions, sesame seed oil, and salty Chinese ham. This is one Chinese dish we never get tired of and always regard as something special. I love tausi whole when adding to dishes to savor its salty goodness.

Lasang Pinoy, Sunday Edition is a weekly photography meme hosted by SpiCes. Enjoy other "steamy" entries here.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

hot sauce: hot peppers, sweet pepper, vinegar, and salt

It's actually cold cold cold. The 2 inches of snow that fell Monday night and all day Tuesday is gone but thick patches of slippery ice still have to thaw. And there is a 20% chance of more snow showers tomorrow.

During very cold days we turn to Filipino comfort food like siopao and noodle soup. We had 2 pieces of store-bought siopao labeled Pork Asado filling (more like Mystery Meat Plus Loads Of Flour Filler filling). I made siopao but was disappointed with the hot sauces we have in the house. For siopao I prefer Tabasco style made with only three ingredients: hot peppers, vinegar, and salt. In addition to Tabasco we have numerous tiny and large bottles of hot sauce from Thai sriracha to Malaysian Sos Cili to Mexican styles. The Tabasco is just too vinegary for me and the rest too garlicky. I know, I'm very picky. I nearly gagged when I smelled the Mexican Cholula brand because of the added spices, I think one of them is cumin. I love cumin in most cuisines that use it but not in hot sauce to drizzle on my siopao. They just don't go very well together IMHO.

I was not going to drive through the snow to look for a good bottle of hot sauce, I made my own with cayenne peppers, sweet bell pepper, brown coconut vinegar, and salt. Aaah, much better...reminds me of the hot sauce and siopao back in the Philippines. And the sauce is really hot!

Hot Sauce
5 cayenne peppers, more if you prefer it hotter
1 small red bell pepper
¼ cup brown coconut vinegar or cider vinegar + more to taste
1 teaspoon salt

• Blanch, or sear peppers on stove until skin is charred. With gloved hands, remove skin and seeds from peppers. Put in a blender, add vinegar and puree. Transfer into a stainless steel pan. Add salt and cook on low heat until just heated through, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust vinegar and salt. Transfer into a sterilized bottle or jar. Let cool before storing in the refrigerator. May be used right away but tastes better after a few days.

yummy together: bola-bola (seasoned minced pork) siopao and hot sauce

Hopia

sweet yellow mungbean paste in flaky pastry shell

I mentioned in my Chinese New Year's post the Vietnamese flaky pastry filled with sweet yellow mungbean paste. In the Philippines this small pastry is called hopia. Two recipes for hopia have been bookmarked for over a year already but I never had the energy or motivation to make them. Simply reading the procedure exhausts me and because these snacks are available from the Filipino grocery, I always thought it would be a waste of time to make them. I finally baked some yesterday since I was also baking a loaf of purple yam (ube) bread to save on gas. I am so glad I decided to make them. They came out very flaky and not greasy, the mungbean filling is very smooth [but could have been sweeter]. The hopias are closer in color (whiter) and texture to the Vietnamese hopia than to the Filipino hopia which has a thinner more tender and delicate pastry. I think using a combination of pork lard and solid shortening is the key to the most tender flaky crust but I don't like to use lard except for ensaimada.

The shell is surprisingly very easy to prepare, roll, and shape. The dough has lots of vegetable oil and therefore very pliable and does not stick on the counter or rolling pin. I made really big ones, almost double the size suggested in the recipe, and piled the filling up high because I love sweet mungbeans. It was not a waste of time after all and will make them again perhaps with other flavors like pandan and matcha and other fillings such as sweet azuki beans. Or maybe I'll try making mooncakes if I find the plastic molds/presses with Chinese characters and designs.

Hopia
filling
16 ounces dried peeled split yellow mungbean
water
1½ cups sugar or to taste
½ teaspoon salt

Dough 1
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon grapeseed or extra light olive oil

Dough 2
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon grapeseed or extra light olive oil
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon water

Egg wash
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

• Prepare the filling: Place mungbeans in a bowl. Rinse with cold water, drain, and transfer into a medium nonstick saucepan. Add enough water to top about 1 inch of the beans, bring to a boil. Skim off top, reduce heat to medium, and continue cooking into a paste, stirring often with a silicone spatula to prevent burning. Use a wooden spoon to mash down the beans in the saucepan. Sprinkle the salt and add 1 cup sugar, adding more to taste. Spread paste into an even layer on a shallow rectangular dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes to dry it out. Set aside to cool. When cooled, form 3 tablespoons into a ball and flatten into 2-inch rounds. While paste is cooling, prepare the doughs.
• Dough 1: Mix flour and oil with a fork in a small bowl until crumbly. Divide into 4 parts. Set aside.
• Dough 2: In another bowl, mix flour, oil, and water with a fork. Knead lightly on the counter until it forms into a ball. Divide into 4 equal pieces.
• Flatten one Dough 2 into a 1/8 inch thin square. Crumble a quarter of Dough 1 all over the flattened Dough 2. Roll as jelly roll, pinch both ends and roll gently back and forth to form into a 1 inch thick log. Set on a small sheet pan lined with paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the doughs. Refrigerate for no more and no less than 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide the chilled logs into 5 pieces. Roll out one piece into a 1/16 inch thin square or round. Place a mungbean round on top of dough and bring the edges together. Pinch edges and turn upside down so that the seam is at the bottom. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Brush tops with egg wash and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

for the square shaped ones, I used a scalloped square cookie cutter as mold

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: Eye Candy

Although super tiny at 2 inches and filled with only half a teaspoon of liqueur, a few "bottles" will satisfy your craving for both chocolate and alcohol. My favorites are the Danzka cranberry/raspberry vodka and Galliano. These treats come in a box that looks like an alcohol cabinet with small shelves. Very cute. And yummy.

For more Lasang Pinoy Sundays Eye Candy delights go visit SpiCes or click on the yellow button.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

photo source here

The year of the Ox in Chinese New Year starts on January 26. Although we don't celebrate this festive Chinese holiday (maybe we should as I have a little Chinese in me, my dad is a quarter Chinese and my mom probably also has some Chinese ancestry), we have become much more aware of it when we lived in Hong Kong. We remember the tiny bonsai kumquat trees bursting with full-size orange fruits and hanging on the tiny trees were small red money envelopes. In the Philippines we associate the Chinese New Year with tikoy. Searching online for articles on tikoy I found this and this video from Penang, Malaysia. The Malaysians call their brown tikoy Tee Kuih, also pronounced tikoy. Many Asians celebrate Chinese New Year incuding the Vietnamese. At the Eden Vietnamese shopping center (featured last night in Anthony Bourdain's show) a lot of shops sell sweets and cakes for Chinese New Year where I bought a container, labeled New Year Candies, of candied winter melons that are exactly the same as our candied kondol which I haven't eaten in over 20 years. The candy is so very good and reminds me of my childhood. I also bought a piece of a very yummy cake stamped with Chinese Happy New Year characters, filled with sweetened yellow mungbean paste flavored with durian, and in the middle is a salted duck egg yolk, sort of a combination of hopia and mooncake. I forgot to take a photo of it...I will try to bake some today and if successful will post the photo and recipe, wish me luck.:D

Vietnamese candied winter melon and Filipino pandan tikoy