Dumpling Soup

One of the food items I don't bother to make are dumplings, pot stickers, gyoza, wonton, etc because they are readily available at the grocery stores with a large variety of fillings. The ones I regularly buy are the Korean vegetable gyoza that have soy protein (TVP) included with the veggies. I love them because they can be steamed, fried or added to chicken broth for soup. I added some shredded baby bokchoy for color and more vegetables.

I also got these very tiny, about ½ inch Chinese pearl rice balls that look like the Filipino bilo-bilo (sweet rice balls) but are filled with ground black sesame seeds and sugar, very similar to our mache or buchi (mochi?). They are also boiled in water like the palitaw, you know they are done when they start floating on the surface. They are so good.

Baked Rice With Chickpeas and Potatoes

Last week I was going to make paella but made fideuá instead. Today I made baked rice with some unusual ingredients: chickpeas and potatoes. Once again, I adapted this recipe Arroz al Forno from The Cuisines of Spain by Teresa Barrenechea. I did not use morcilla because I don't have them (I don't like them!). This baked rice is garlicky and delicious, with different textures and flavors, I love it!

Arroz Al Forno
½ pound chickpeas, washed, soaked in water overnight, and drained
4 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon sea salt
pinch of saffron threads
½ cup olive oil
1 head garlic, unpeeled, halved crosswise
2 small potatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 3-oz chorizo, cut into ½ inch slices
1 3-oz morcilla, cut into ½ inch slices
1 green bell pepper, seeded and halved
1½ cups rice

• In a saucepan, bring the stock to a boil, add chickpeas and boil for 1 hour in medium-low heat. Strain, set chickpeas aside, reserve 3 cups of liquid and add the salt and saffron.
• In a large pan or paella pan, heat ¼ cup olive oil, add the garlic, fry for 5 minutes until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Add the potatoes to the pan and fry until golden brown, set aside. Fry the chorizo and morcilla for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 500°F.
• Discard all the oil and add another ¼ cup oil to the pan, fry the green pepper just to flavor the oil, remove and save for another dish. Saute the tomato for 1 minute, add the potatoes, chickpeas, and sausages, stir fry for 2 minutes. On high heat, add the 3 cups liquid 1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition. When all the liquid has been added and the mixture begins to boil, add the rice and mix well. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the rice begins to absorb the liquid.Put the reserved garlic in the center of the pan and transfer the pan to the oven.
• Bake for about 15 minutes . Remove from oven, cover with a lid and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Kouign Amann

I love breads, specially sweet and buttery breads, who doesn't? When I read this French sweet yeast bread with a strange name from David Lebovitz' blog I just have to make it. If you follow David's recipe you will be rewarded with this oh so very delicious, rich cake/bread. I assure you, after one bite you will want to make a second batch.:D

Pinasugbo

I have been craving this Southern Philippines snack/sweet but couldn't find a recipe for the syrup. It is thinly sliced saba banana crisply fried and dipped in brown sugar syrup and encased in a piece of white paper cone. You eat the slices one at a time, sometimes struggling to separate the slices and when you are almost at the bottom, you end up eating a portion of the paper because it is super sticky and you don't want to waste good bananas and sugar coating :D

I used semi ripe Thai bananas which somewhat resemble the saba variety although smaller, at 3 x 1 inches, and the taste is not as good. For the paper I used the edible potato wafers for wrapping turrones. The paper is incredibly perfect with the brown sugar syrup. Maybe I'll just brush the wafers with syrup and eat that, heheh, mmm potato and sugar.
The syrup hardened which is not how I remember the pinasugbo. I have to adjust something in the cooking process which is frying and dipping, how complicated could it be? If somebody knows, please, please let me know.