PANDESAL

MINI BIBINGKA

Bibingka is one of the various rice cakes in the Philippines. This is made with rice which has been finely grounded into flour. Mixed with a few ingredients, the batter is poured into clay or tin pans lined with banana leaves. These are then baked on top small clay/tin stoves filled with live coal. Tins with more live coals will also be placed to cover the batter-filled pans cooking the rice cake simultaneously from top and bottom. In a few minutes the batter will magically transform into a fluffy, soft, steamy hot bibingka. Slices of white cheese and salted duck eggs are sometimes placed on top of the batter halfway in the baking time for a savory contrast to the bibingka. Some like their bibingka with freshly shaved coconut meat....for me, just load it with butter please.

What's it made of:
1 c rice flour (not the sweet/ glutinous kind)
1 tblsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 c sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
6 tbsp melted butter

Topping:
thin slices of white cheese or any mild cheese
slices of salted duck egg

How it's done:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients until well blended.
3. Line muffin pan with banana leaves.
4. Pour batter into muffin pan half-full.
5. Bake for 10-15 mins. Halfway through the baking time put on the toppings.
6. Serve warm smeared with butter.

Crispy Anchovy Ukoy

Ukoy or Okoy are fried fritters consisting of a batter, vegetables, shrimp or anchovies. Often great as appetizers or even as snack. It is best eaten right away after cooking to fully appreciate the crisp ukoy.

What's In It:
1 lb. anchovies
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 onion sliced into strips
1 carrot sliced into strips
green onion cut diagonally into strips
1/2 c. flour
1 c. cornstarch
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 c. water



How It's Done:
Mix all ingredients to form a batter. Heat oil in pan. Spoon or ladle the batter into the pan and shallow fry until bottom turns brown. Flip and fry to a golden brown. Drain in paper towels. Serve immediately.

Puto Pao

Isa munang buntong hininga

This is another one of those semi-home made food that makes your friends think you've slaved in the kitchen for hours. Hmmm..where have I heard that line before?

What Went Into It:
puto mix, from the friendly neighborhood pinoy store
salted egg, (itlog na maalat or itlog na pula, which came first?)
leftover pork asado, shredded
cupcake pan/mold, (I used those those stand-by-themselves foil cups with paper lining inside)

Buchi

What to do with a half a pack of glutinous rice flour and some mung beans? Make buchi of course.

Buchi-buchi

I soaked the beans overnight. Rinsed them twice , rubbing the beans to remove some skin. I then boiled it in water until soft. Drained out the water. Process (well, I actually used the blender) to make a paste. Add some sugar and condensed milk (proportions according to taste). Place back in pan. Continually stir while cooking until it forms a soft dough like consistency. Set aside to cool.
Season rice flour with a pinch of salt and sugar. Mix in water. Form into soft dough.
Form the bean filling into balls. Make the same number of balls with the rice dough. Flatten dough and place filling in center .Pinch and roll to seal.
Roll in a plateful of sesame seeds to cover the whole "ball". Deep fry until golden brown. Place in paper towels to remove excess oil.

Kakanin

This is actually my mom's recipe. I know the whole process of making this but I'm not too confident with the exact measurements of the ingredients. And while my mom cooked the malagkit in the stove top the one I made was cooked in the microwave. I find using the microwave more convenient since I don't have to stir the malagkit while cooking just to prevent the bottom from scorching. Plus it only takes 15-18 min. to cook.
Baking at home was done in the turbo broiler/convection oven so I had to make some minor adjustments with the gas oven in our apartment. Same with some of the ingredients like the gata , malagkit and panucha.

Bibingkang Malagkit

2 c. sweet/glutinous rice, pre-soaked overnight
3 c. coconut milk
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

Topping:
3-4 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. condensed milk

Drain out water from the rice. Place in microwaveable rice cooker . Mix in 2 c. coconut milk, salt and sugar. Set for 8 min. high heat. After which add the remaining 1 c. of coconut milk and make a quick stir. set for another 8-9 min.

For the topping simmer the coconut milk in a pot/pan until thick. When it's thick enough to cover the back of a spoon, add the sugar and condensed milk. Simmer until it's almost like a thick syrup (doing this cuts the time of baking and prevents the rice from drying up)

To assemble: place the cooked rice in a baking pan/dish. Level and smooth it out with a spatula . Pour in the topping . Bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 min.

Monte Cristo for Breakfast

Back in college I had this type of sandwich for brunch whenever I didn't have time to eat breakfast at home. I grew fond of the mixed taste of the sweet jam, salty ham and sour mayo. The thing about this is that you can actually make so many variations. May it be the filling (
leftover slices of ham, luncheon meat ,corned beef, chicken fillets or hotdogs), or the bread (white bread, whole grain bread, rye, burger buns, pandesal etc.) or the jam (jellies, marmalade and even whipped cream).
With this one here I used slices of spam and strawberry jam.

Monte Cristo Sandwich

Ingredients:

slices of white bread
slices of spam, pan fried
slices of cheese
2 eggs, scrambled
2 tbsp. evaporated milk
mayonnaise
butter
strawberry jam

Mix the milk and beaten eggs. Spread mayo on one side of two bread slices. Place a slice of cheese on top of the bread. Then spam and another cheese. Top with another slice of bread to make a sandwich. Dip ( no, not soak) all sides of the sandwich in the egg mixture. Fry in butter until sides turn brownish in color . Serve hot with a dullop of jam on top.

Lugaw At Iba Pa...

I have been planning to make lugaw (rice porridge) since the day before, just on a whim . So I had the rice pre-soaked overnight to shorten the cooking time. But surprise surprise we had guests coming for dinner . Had to make a few adjustments in a dash.

Lugaw Toppings

I had some pre-boiled pork belly in the fridge which I intended for lechon kawali. But what the heck, hate to serve a bit lame lugaw. In the end I had a few toppings/side dishes for a presentable meal: hard boiled eggs, crispy ukoy and tokwa't baboy. Had time to make baked tahong too.

For the Lugaw, I had 1 1/2 cup glutinous rice and 1/2 cup long grain rice which I soaked in water overnight. Saute 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 chopped onion and a piece of sliced ginger. Chicken necks and wings may be added but I had the stock from the pork belly I boiled this morning. Put in the rice and stir a bit. Scorching the rice, as I've learned, helps it to absorb more flavor from the savory liquid it's cooking in (same with making paella, bringhe etc). Pour in the stock , water may be added if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. If you have no available meat stock on hand, water and a buillon cube would be acceptable.

The pork belly for the tokwa't baboy was boiled with garlic, onion, peppercorns and bay leaf. Seasoned with salt. And cooked until fork tender ( I prefer it when the skin has an almost hard gelatin-like appearance) . Cool and cut into strips.

Rinse the tokwa thoroughly ( it would be best to soak it in water overnight, covered and placed inside the fridge to lessen the sort of starchy taste) Cut into 1/2 inch cubes . Deep fry and drain in paper towels.

For the tokwa't baboy sauce combine: minced garlic, chopped onions, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and a little water. Proportions are according to taste .

To make the crispy ukoy I used 1 cup shrimp fry ( the ones used for alamang but unsalted) mixed with 2 tbsp. flour, 2 tbsp. cornstarch, 1/4 c. water, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Fry in oil forming it into crepe like (in thickness) circles. Brown both sides. Drain in paper towels.