adobongblog

Graham Cake

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000+08:00

If you can't bake (or like to try out something different), why not try making a Graham Cake? So called because it uses Graham crackers, this refrigerator cake requires no cooking. Easy to make with a yummy result!

This cake uses fruits as part of the filling. A popular choice is mangoes. In the Philippines, we have some of the tastiest mangoes in the world so the Graham cake is an excellent choice there. Mangoes are not as abundant (and not as affordable) here unfortunately, so I have to make use of canned fruits. In this case I chose mangoes and peaches.

Ingredients:

1 pack (around 30 pieces) Graham crackers. On second thought, buy another pack to make sure you have enough.
Crushed grahams (you may also buy extra Graham crackers and crush these)
1 can mango pieces, drained and sliced thinly
1 can peach pieces, drained and sliced thinly
3 x 250ml all-purpose cream, chilled. Make sure this is chilled (half hour or more in the ref) or you'll have a watery mixture. We used reduced cream because that's what we had but all-purpose cream is better.
1 x 250ml condensed milk. The ratio between cream and condensed milk is 1:1/3
rectangular dish to build the cake

Procedure:
Thoroughly mix the cream and condensed milk.

Cover the bottom of the rectangular dish with a layer of Graham crackers. You may cut smaller portions to fit. As you can see, I simply used the crushed grahams to cover the sides because I had lots of these. My wife told me later on that it's better to have cut smaller pieces instead because the crushed graham will be all over the place when you cut the cake. Use this only to fill-in gaps. She was right. So don't use crushed grahams as I did and cut up cracker portions as needed.

Spread a layer of cream-milk mixture, followed by fruit pieces.

I learned my lesson on the second layer of crackers. Yay!

Repeat the cream-sliced fruit-crackers layers until you reach the top of the dish, or you run out of ingredients, whichever comes first.

The top can simply have a layer of cream on it along with some fruit, or you can also sprinkle a thin layer of crushed Graham.

Chill for about half an hour before serving. Easy peasy!

Pinakbet (Ilocano song)

2012-01-21T07:00:00.000+08:00

Here's another interesting video. An Ilocano folk song about the Pinakbet, which is a vegetable dish with fish sauce and some pork bits mixed in. It's really good, and is one of my favourite dishes.

I am not a fluent Ilocano speaker, incidentally, so this song tested my knowledge of the dialect. I am able to understand the parts that describe Pinakbet as a mixture of vegetables and that you cannot get tired of this dish. So true! I acquired a taste for bittermelon (ampalaya) though pinakbet, and this dish will not be complete without it.

Want to cook up some pinakbet? I have a recipe here for you!

Street food: more fun in the Philippines!

2012-01-18T17:43:00.000+08:00

I stumbled across this video segment of a popular gag show in the Philippines featuring street food served fast food style. Hilarious!

Tita Rem's Sunset Surprise

2012-01-14T17:39:00.002+08:00

This was served to us when we visited my wife's good friend Tita Rem in La Union. I thought it was a very clever way of serving gelatin, which is a fun desert but with a nutritious twist. Who would have thought that carrots and gelatin can be so good? They called it Sunset Surprise. Not sure why they named it such but it has a fun ring to it!

We made some of this last Christmas break. We just loved to scoop some out while watching TV, and was gone in no time at all.

Ingredients:
1 box orange-flavoured gelatin
1 medium carrot

Procedure:
Cook gelatin as per instructions.

Pour in a decorative / serving bowl. You may also use a mould, though you can serve this in the bowl where it has set, and this is what we did.

Remove the skin and grate the carrot over the gelatin. Not too fine, we need to have some carrot bits visible in there.

Cool, then refrigerate. Serve chilled.

My take on Fishballs

2012-01-09T15:51:00.001+08:00

Last weekend, I thought of trying to make my own fishballs. I reasoned with myself: how difficult can it be? Fishballs are - as far as I can see - just flour and there must be some fish in there too! So instead of running off to the Filipino store I decided to head for the supermarket's fish section.

The end result, as judged by my wife: fish nuggets! This version definitely has more yummy fish power! Sure, these can pass off as fishball (I can even imagine having this with beer too!) but taste-wise it's different from the street version. I wonder what else they have in there... and then I realized it's not just the fishballs that complete the experience, it's also the dipping sauce! Three sauces in fact. I love the sweet sauce. The spicy sauce comes a close second, followed by the sour sauce. Sometimes I combine sauces.

Unfortunately I do not know how to make any of the dipping sauce so we settled for bottled sweet chilli sauce. This is still a nice recipe to try out. Who knows, you might be able to stumble across the perfect combination to make something that resembles more closely the street version. But be sure to let us know how!

Ingredients:
1/4kg fish fillet, deboned (I used Tarahiki)
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 cloves garlic
1 medium white onion
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
Steam the fish for 15 minutes over medium heat. Too lazy to prep the bamboo steamer, I simply wrapped the fillets in aluminum foil, placed a metal pot stand in a pan with some water, and let the fish steam in there.

While the fish is steaming away happily, grate the onion and garlic. Be careful with your fingers! I finely chopped the parts which I can no longer grate.

Afterwards I mashed the fish in a bowl (with some of the juice in it) then added the flour, garlic and onion, then seasoned with salt and pepper. Then mix it all up thoroughly until a flexible dough is formed.

Now, while these are called fishballs, they're not really spherical in shape. More like discs. So I thought of forming balls then squishing them flat. But I realized a faster way of doing this is to roll the dough thin and use a pattern cutter. I found these teddy bear cutters so I used this instead.

Make a couple, then heat up enough cooking oil for the fishballs to float about over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low when the oil is hot enough, then cook the fishballs. This is the test batch. Check if you need to add more salt and pepper. Adjust the taste for the remaining dough if needed then continue frying.

Let it rest on some paper towels to drain off excess oil then serve with sweet-chilli sauce.

CNNGo's 50 Foods That Define The Philippines

2012-01-06T13:48:00.001+08:00

Maida Pineda, whose Filipino food article appears at CNNGo, successfully listed down an appetizingly comprehensive list of culinary delight which we simply love to much on! And of course adobo is at the top of the list!

Visit the CNNGo website to read more

It is rather unavoidable (and I know you are expecting it, as I am sure you have your own preferences too) that I have dishes in mind that I feel should be included as well. So let's make it a top 60, shall we? :-D

1. Atchara (pickeld papaya) - perfect for cleansing the palette
2. Bicol Express - I'm not fond of very spicy food, but sometimes I am able to find a mild version of Bicol Express and I just love it.
3. While Bibingka (and puto as paired off with dinuguan) made it to the list, I would have included our other kakanin, for we have loads of them: sapin-sapin, patupat, kutsinta, bico, suman, puto bumbong, and loads more yummy treats.
4. Paksiw!
5. Dinengdeng - veggies in fish paste. Yummy!
6. Nilaga - homey, comfort food. Especially good on rainy days
7. Guinataan - happy childhood summers spent making guinataan with my siblings
8. Bopis - my parents would cook this whenever I visit because I love this dish so much. The preparation is time-consuming as one has to finely chop all ingredients but the end result is all worth it.
9. Embutido - Filipino-style steamed meatloaf with a Spanish influence. I can't get enough of this dish. I must simply learn how to make this.
10. Not really food per se but an integral part of our culinary heritage nonetheless. Our local alcoholic beverage! Tuba from sugar cane and lambanog from coconut!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000+08:00

It's a wrap!

2011-12-30T10:59:00.001+08:00

Have you ever been caught unawares in this festive season when you find yourself suddenly at a loss on what to have for lunch, expecting that the ref can produce something from yesterday's feast but you yearn for something different?

That's exactly what we felt a couple of lunches ago. We did not feel like cooking or reheating. So we decided on a quick fix: a lunch wrap! Good thing we had some tortilla wraps ready to go, which we then heated up on the frying pan.

We had some bacon left over from breakfast, and we love bacon so we took those out along with some shaved ham. And then we chopped some carrots and cucumber (tomatoes would have been lovely too!), grabbed some lettuce and armed with ketchup and mayo, we set off to "work".

My son Jo-Lo loves cheese so that went into his wrap too.

I added a bit of fried rice in mine!

And that's lunch sorted. Oh, this is also perfect for your office lunch. Just make sure that you pack separately your veggies, tortilla wrap, and also the sauces. This is to avoid having a soggy wrap. I just love the sweetness of fresh produce (cucumber, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes) in wraps. Make sure you have those.

Only barely two days left to go before 2012 arrives. It makes the title of this post rather fitting, doesn't it?

Chicken Lollipop

2011-12-27T10:27:00.001+08:00

This is a fun way to serve up chicken wings. The presentation makes it look like it's a lot of work to do but turning the chicken pieces into lollipops are deceivingly easy. It's popular with the kids, and a great conversation topic with the grown-ups (while they munch away too!)

The gist of the process in making the lollipop is to have a look at the chicken wing and you will notice that there are three joints on it. Break the chicken wing in these joints; this will make it easier to chop.

The smallest part (the right one at the photo above) is the wingtip. We could not make a lollipop out of it but you can still use it for other purposes, such as chicken stock. The middle section actually has two bones in it. You need to remove one of the bones. And the leftmost part is the easiest to transform because it has only one bone in it.

You need to do a combination of scraping and cutting to detach the meat from the bone at one end, and then you can do a bit of cutting and pushing down to move the meat to the edge. Then turn the meat inside-out to form the lollipop, with the bone as the handle. So essentially you have to chicken lollipops in one chicken wing.

I took a video of my wife making some of the lollipops. There was a glitch in the first YouTube upload though. The radio was playing in the background, and as such I inadvertently uploaded a video with copyrighted material in it. YouTube notified me of such. So I decided to mute the video and add subtitles instead. So here's a simple video of how to make the lollipops from the chicken wing.

Ingredients:
1/2 kg chicken wings, shaped into lollipops
2 eggs, scrambled
1/4 cup flour
breadcrumbs
cooking oil
salt and pepper
ketchup or sweet and sour sauce for the dip

Procedure
Season the chicken lollipop pieces with salt and pepper.
In a bowl, mix the scrambled eggs with the flour. Place the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl.
Dip the lollipop onto the egg-flour mix...

... followed by a roll on the breadcrumbs

Deep fry over medium heat until pieces are golden brown.

Place on paper towels or on a strainer to remove extra oil.

Roll a bit of aluminum foil around the handle if you want to be fancy with your presentation. Otherwise, it's good to go with ketchup or sweet and sour dip.

Bogart the Explorer samples some street food

2011-12-22T06:53:00.000+08:00

Let's have a short break from the Christmas rush! Bogart the Explorer from Davao is a parody of sorts of a certain adventure TV show (more like two - do you know which these are?) but instead of taking on the challenges of nature, he takes on the Philippine urban jungle!

Bogart visits the University of the Philippines, one of the oldest, respected, and leading institutions of learning in the country. Amongst its sprawling campus one can find street food. Bogart tries the taho (tofu), 'dirty' ice cream, and off he goes for some isaw!

Mini Puto

2011-12-19T09:55:00.001+08:00

We have been requested to "bring a plate" (a local phrase which means 'bring food to share') at the end of Simbang Gabi (Night Mass customary during Christmas), so I thought of cooking some mini puto which is quite appropriate, I should note, because rice cakes are quite popular at this time of the year.

I already have another version of mini puto in this blog, but that one has some eggs in it which makes the rice cake a bit dense. I want something light this time around, and this recipe hits the mark.

Just like the previous recipe, I used macaroon moulds, perfect for finger-food serving size. But you can definitely go for bigger moulds if you want to (and adjust the cooking time perhaps to half an hour). Also if you would like to serve this with Dinuguan, just skip the cheese and you're good to go. You will need a steamer for this recipe.

Ingredients:
500 ml coconut cream (or coconut milk)
2 cups rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup white sugar
cheddar cheese

Procedure:
Cut the cheddar cheese into strips, in a size fit enough to comfortably fit on top of the puto. In my case, I used the pre-sliced cheese, which made it easy to just cut these into small rectangles.

Sift the dry ingredients together (rice flour, salt, baking powder, sugar).

Next, add the coconut cream. I suspect coconut milk will do just fine too if you do not have coconut cream.

Mix thoroughly until smooth.

Pour into the moulds. I used a tablespoonful for each.

Steam for 20-25 minutes then remove from heat. Don't forget your gloves! (I have other tips on how to use a bamboo steamer if you have these). To make sure the puto is cooked, insert a toothpick into one of these goodies. If the toothpick pulls out clean, then it's cooked. Then use the same timing for the rest of the batch.

While the puto is still hot, lay the cheese strip on top of each, which will make the cheese melt slightly. Let the puto cool down before attempting to remove from the moulds.

This recipe yields 64 pieces mini-puto. Yum!

Grilled pork on a beautiful weekend

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000+08:00

What better way to spend a sunny weekend than a fun afternoon with friends and food from the barbie? And that's exactly where we found ourselves, basking in the sun and having a jolly good time!

My compadre Ricky generously shared his recipe for the marinade used for his yummy grilled pork for the blog. And here it is for your outdoor enjoyment!

Ingredients:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup banana ketchup (the sweet variety of ketchup works best.)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 head garlic, bulbs crushed
dash of salt and pepper
This is good for a kilo of pork liempo
Sprigs of rosemary (optional)

Procedure:
Mix all ingredients (except rosemary) and let pork marinate. It is best to leave this overnight but if you do not have the time, a couple of hours will do.

Incidentally Ricky has a rosemary bush thriving quietly in a corner. We broke a few sprigs and occasionally threw these into the fire. It released a rather delicious aroma which also flavoured the pork!

Here's to more sunny weekends!

The Manila Machine in LA

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000+08:00

In case you noticed, I'm on a YouTube viewing spree. It's really amazing to see the amount and variety of content in there. Well, this fascination with YouTube is not just coincidence actually. I have been trying to learn how to play the ukulele these past few weeks and the online videos are really helping out a lot. There is one interesting fact I noticed while in this ukulele adventure: there are indeed lots of Filipinos in Hawaii!

While on a ukulele break, I came across this video of a food truck in Los Angeles (USA), and I felt it was so appropriate to share it with you after my commentary in my previous post (the music video) on why our yummy food is not as popular as our other Asian counterparts.
Looks like a "food revolution" is in the works after all. I posted about Tapa Boy some time back and thought it's the only one in existence in the Land of the Free. And yet here's another Filipino food truck: The Manila Machine! LA is one lucky city to have two Filipino food trucks!

Bring on the adobo! And the lumpia! And the lechon!

For the love of tuyo

2011-12-02T14:13:00.001+08:00

Ah, the lowly and yet so yummy tuyo! The perfect companion to ginisang monggo on a Friday evening. And the lengths we have to go through to have some tuyo at the dinner table! For this dried, salted fish has a notorious reputation of being so aromatic it pervades and lingers in the house that visitors the next day can guess what you had for dinner!

We bought a portable stove as part of our emergency stash. But we have found another clever use for it: cook tuyo in the great outdoors! And my mother-in-law thinks it's genious.

Happy weekend everyone!

Filipino Food music video

2011-11-30T16:44:00.001+08:00

This music video was released October of last year, but still gets airtime. Over 967,000 views the last time I checked. It's a parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls.

Nothing comes close to adobo... nothing comes close to eating halo-halo. So why is Filipino food not as popular as our Asian counterparts'? The general theory is that Filipinos do not really patronize Filipino restaurants because these cater to tourists, and recipes are tweaked slightly to such a purpose. In a sense this is true. You would never see me in Kamayan, for example, unless we are entertaining somebody from abroad. Or if there's a birthday party, although you can count with one hand the number of times I have been to a Filipino restaurant for a birthday party. The other reasoning behind this is, why eat in a Filipino restaurant when you can cook up a much better version at home? So Filipino food is like our own little delightful secret, which others get an occasional taste of. In school fairs here in Wellington for example, where spring rolls, pancit, and barbecue are always popular. This video celebrates our love of fun, and our love of food! Not happy about the Aji-no-moto though...

Happy Thanksgiving! Roasted Turkey recipe for today!

2011-11-25T05:08:00.001+08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends at the other side of the world! I'd like to share with you this roasted turkey recipe from the Original Naked Chef to commemorate this season. (It's a Christmas turkey really, but works great for Thanksgiving too!)

PS. I know the title 'Naked Chef" is synonymous to Jamie Oliver, but I am not sure if it is him in this video. Your guess is as good as mine.

Bibingka shortcut

2011-11-22T17:21:00.001+08:00

Whenever we visit the Filipino store, I always take a box of easy-to-make Champorado, which is great for the occasional weekend afternoon snack. Very easy to make. It was in one of these visits that I became curious with the Bibingka mix. Bibingka, to the uninitiated, is a form of Filipino rice cake. Back in the Philippines, this is customarily cooked over hot coals, which imparts a flavour one cannot duplicate in an oven. But I found out that one can at least have the aroma when banana leaves are used! Bibingka is usually available during the Christmas season, making it a festive comfort food.

I call this "Bibingka shortcut" because I used ready-made bibingka mix. There's nothing shortcut about the procedure, however, as I have added more steps to its original 3. Believe me, the additions are worth it. Without these, the bibingka would be like, well, puto. The box (this one's made by White King) has 2 packets with 250g each. You only need one packet for this recipe.

Ingredients:

250g bibingka mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar (this is a deviation from the recipe in the box, which calls for 1/2 cup sugar)
4 tbsp melted butter
3 pcs eggs
2 salted eggs
cheddar cheese
banana leaves
baking paper
2 baking pans

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 232 degrees Celsius / 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Trace the bottom of your pan onto the banana leaves and cut into a circle to form the base of your bibingka.
Place baking paper on the bottom and sides of the pan, then place the circular banana leaf over it.

As you can see in the photo above, I used aluminum foil for the other pan. I was just testing it. And my finding: do not use aluminum foil as the bibingka will stick to it.

Beat eggs until frothy. Add the bibingka mix, water, sugar, and butter and mix well.

You will notice that lumps will begin to form. Don't bother using the back of the spoon to mash these up against the side of the bowl. Just continue mixing and the batter will smoothen itself out eventually.

Pour the batter on the pans.

Slice up the salted eggs and arrange on top.

Bake for 12 minutes or until done. It is good to go if the surface is lightly browned (see photo below for comparison). You may also stick a toothpick onto the bibingka and the stick should come out clean (meaning the inside part has cooked too).

Sprinkle with grated cheese on top while hot so the cheese can melt.

Slice into wedges and serve. This bibingka is really good. Fluffier than the "real thing" but it's yummy just the same. The salted egg, cheese, and banana leaves impart flavour to this favourite dish that reminds me of home. Try it!

Sponge cake and cream

2011-11-16T07:00:00.000+08:00

Not a very imaginative title I know, but this one's a real simple way to jazz up a light dessert consisting of ... surprise! sponge cake and cream. This recipe makes 4 glasses of the dessert.

Ingredients:

zest of 2 medium lemons
300 ml fresh cream (you may also use whipped cream)
sponge cake
1 tbsp white sugar

Procedure:
Whip the cream, and before it starts to form peaks add 3/4 of the lemon zest and white sugar. You may also squeeze in about half a lemon's worth of juice onto the cream. Mix thoroughly. Have a taste and add some more sugar or juice if desired.

Cut up the sponge cake into small squares.

Take your glass, then jam some of the sponge cake squares at the bottom. Spoon some cream on it, then add more sponge cake squares, followed by more cream.

Top it off with some zest for colour.

Chill before serving. Enjoy.

Another variation can be with the use of jam and fresh fruit, and with the lemon removed from the recipe. Spread some jam on top of the sponge cake before cutting it up. Then layer sponge cake with cream in the glass, and top with fresh berries or sliced fruit.

YouTube Next Chef

2011-11-12T15:54:00.000+08:00

From the YouTube Channel:

YouTube Next Chef is a global partner development program designed to supercharge the careers of the world’s next big chefs who are starting their careers on YouTube today. Partners from around the world participate in the 12-week program that includes virtual training powered by Google+ Hangouts, collaboration projects, and mentoring by industry experts.
Visit the YouTube Next Chef Channel to follow their journeys every week or read more about the program.

New British Kitchen features Filipino Food (part 2 of 2)

2011-11-09T10:52:00.002+08:00

New British Kitchen features Filipino food (Part 1 of 2)

2011-11-05T10:50:00.000+08:00

I just found this while browsing the web. Interesting stuff... Filipino food getting its 15 minutes of fame.

From the video description:

The New British Kitchen is a UKTV show which takes us on a culinary exploration of the UK, discovering how settling migrants have brought their homeland's cuisine with them to the area. In this episode, they featured Filipino flavours and cooking (Lumpia and Sinigang) along with Mae Williams from Philippine Generations, showing the master chefs how its done!

Egg sandwich

2011-11-02T17:16:00.000+08:00

Tired of your regular sandwich? Give this one a go. The onion gives the egg-mayo combo a yummy twist. This recipe is just enough for a pack of loaf bread, so it's great for picnics too.

Ingredients:
2 size 7 eggs, hard boiled
1 medium white onion
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 pack of loaf bread
1 tsp white sugar (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
Finely chop the white onion.

Roughly chop the eggs.

Mix the white onion, eggs, and mayonnaise.

Season with salt and pepper. Taste and add the sugar for a hint of sweetness.

Spread on a piece of bread, then top with another piece. Voila, an egg sandwich!

We were bringing this to a gathering so my wife removed the crusty edges of the sandwiches. You can then slice these into triangles. In our case, my wife quartered these and speared with a slice of hotdog for nice little servings. But really, you do not have to be fancy or add anything else with this, as the sandwiches taste great!

Cheese sticks

2011-10-29T19:05:00.001+08:00

Cheese sticks is a fun party food that can be enjoyed by both kids and grown-ups alike. The crunchy wrapper makes it irresistible to bite, and the cheese inside softened just so makes it a yummy treat. Interestingly, this is also served as beer food!

We tried to make some just recently, and we discovered some peculiarities which might be of help to you in case you want to make a batch and your cheese is a bit 'strong'. In the Philippines, the cheddar cheese is somewhat 'flavoured' to our taste; it's a bit mild, sweet even. It is also more tolerant of cooking.

The cheese which we found here becomes slightly bitter when fried and it also melts easily, leaving a hollow roll of crunchy wrapper. My wife and I were actually joking about putting a warning label on this dish: Cheese sticks: may or may not contain cheese!

We found simple workarounds to these, as discussed in the procedure.

Ingredients:
Cheddar cheese
Sugar (we used brown)
Lumpia wrapper
water on a bowl to seal the wrapper
Cooking oil

Procedure:
I recommend cooking a couple of sticks to test whether or not you need to add sugar.

Cut each sheet of lumpia wrapper into 4 squares. We prefer using the lumpia wrapper (available from your friendly Asian store) than the siomai wrapper because the latter is too thick.

Cut the cheese into sticks, proportionate to the wrapper (see photos below). Seal with water dabbed to the end of the wrapper.

Heat up the cooking oil (just enough to submerge the cheese sticks) then fry a couple over medium heat for the testr.

One of the challenges here is avoiding the cheese from melting and oozing out of the wrapper. I experienced this problem when I tried to brown both sides of the cheese sticks. When one side has lightly browned, I turned it to submerge the floating side. That's when the cheese would start to ooze. So the simple solution is, don't brown both sides. One side is sufficient. Cooking time is 3-4 minutes. You will know from the sound of the cooking oil if the cheese has started to ooze. Adjust your time accordingly for the rest of the batch.

If your samples reveal that the cheese's flavour is accentuated too strongly by the cooking process, then it's time to add sugar. The extra step is to simply roll the cheese into sugar before wrapping.

Fry in batches, then transfer to strainer or table napkins to drain while cooling off.

Serve and enjoy!

Ensaladang Talong (Eggplant salad)

2011-10-23T09:51:00.000+08:00

Ensaladang Talong is an appetizing side dish that goes well with fried fish and meat. When you eat something fried, there is that greasy after-taste which this salad helps cleanse. It is a bit sour (due to the vinegar) but works really well if you are able to get a harmonious mix of the flavours of the tomato, eggplant, and onion.

The bagoong (fish paste) is optional; I just love bagoong with eggplant so I decided to add some in this recipe. So I also have an element of saltiness in it. Also, this recipe can fill a 340 g bottle so this might be too much if you are preparing for a small meal only. You can use smaller sizes and portions if needed.

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (just because this is the only eggplant we currently have. However you can also use around 3-4 of the thinner variety, which is actually preferred because grilling is more uniform).
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 large tomato, deseeded and chopped
1 medium / 2 small chilli pepper (siling pang-sigang), deseeded and chopped - skip it if you're not fond of spicy food
1/2 tbsp bagoong (shrimp paste) - I used the canned, ginisang bagoong
1/4 cup vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Grill the eggplant. In my case, since the eggplant is quite big I decided to quarter it and enclose it in an aluminum foil packet so it gets cooked through.

Allow it to cool and then remove the skin and roughly chop up the flesh.

Next, combine all the ingredients (except the last item) and mix thoroughly. Then season with salt and pepper.

You can add more vinegar if you wish, for as long as the salad does not get too watery. Allow to settle for half an hour before serving a small portion. Refrigerate remaining ensalada and use within 3-4 days.

PS Thanks Archie de Lara for this recipe inspiration!

Yema

2011-10-17T14:30:00.001+08:00

Yema is a custard-type candy, usually wrapped in coloured cellophane. I like it when yema forms a thin crust which you crunch into, and the inside is still soft and chewy. Another way of presenting yema is by forming this into balls and coated with a sweet caramel.

I had a craving for yema one weekend and decided to make some. Fortunately, I had the recipe handy, thanks to a food magazine I brought with me from the Philippines. However, the recipe called for an unusual amount of egg yolks (over 20! alarm bells went off in my head). I then decided to search the internet for a more suitable recipe. I did find one, but it was a disaster. Inspite of asking for only 10 egg yolks, the result looked like scrambled egg! Disappointing. And I know I followed the instructions to the letter.

I have shelved this craving for the moment, but will attempt again at a later time. I found this YouTube video of a yema recipe which does not involve egg yolks. I am curious to try this one, because it looks like it's a segment from a TV show in the 80s which my Nanay loved watching, with pen and paper on hand. I am posting this here for future reference.