January 2, 2008

New Year's Eve 2008 Recipes

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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.

December 31, 2007

New Year's Eve 2008

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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.

December 18, 2007

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


December 10, 2007

Buco-Pandan Chiffon Cake And Kaya

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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.

 
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