Almond Caramel Tarts (Boat Tarts if you have boat molds)

The boat tarts in Goldilocks is one of their best sellers.  The sweetness of the filling and the crunchiness of the cashew makes them really yummy.  When I was still single, I would always make them in our house in Sagrada and everyone loved the tarts.  I had this Maya Baking Book that I was using then but unfortunately someone borrowed it and had forgotten to return the book to me.

I have been trying to look for its recipe on the internet even at the aussie cookbooks I have here at home but there was not a single one that would really make the tarts taste like the one in the Maya cookbook.  What I did then is to just select and pick and revise all the recipes.  The tarts recipe I am sharing with you is the result.  I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did last night.

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 C of all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c butter
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water

Filling:
1/2 C condensed milk
1/2 C almond, chopped or almond flakes
2 egg yolks
1/2 sugar
1 stick butter

Meringue
2 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 C sugar

Procedure:

Crust
Sift sugar, salt and flour in a bowl.  Cut in the butter into the mixture.  Add eggs and water.  Knead a little just make sure that the dough is well blended.  Roll out the dough into a lightly floured surface.  Make it 1/4 - 1/8 " thick.  Cut with a cookie cutter in a size enough to cover your greased boat tart molds or small muffin pans.  Place cut doughs into the molds.  Set aside.

Filling
Use a whisk or electric in creaming the butter.  Put in all the other ingredients and mix.
Pour 1 tbsp of the mixture into the tart pastry.

Meringue
Beat the white eggs with the cream of tartar using an electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Add sugar little by little while mixing continuously.

Baking
Bake the caramel tarts in 175C preheated oven for 25 minutes.  Take them out at 20 minutes, put the meringue on top using a piping bag or spoon.

Note:  To cut in the butter, use fork or your hands if you don't have a pastry cutter.  You can also use any jar lid to cut the pastry.

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Nilagang Baka (Pinoy Beef Stew)

Who would not know how to cook nilaga in the Philippines?  Apart from the popular adobo and sinigang, nilagang baka is a popular dish that Filipinos cook for their loved ones.  It is especially a favourite when the weather is cool. but for some or most of the Filipinos, nilaga is cooked only on special days --- Sundays, Christmas or New Year.

 Beef is quite expensive in the Philippines. (I could not believe that beef is cheaper than pork here in Australia)  Beef rump per kilo is Php260-290 as of  December 2011.  There are cuts that are even more expensive that this. Comparing this price to the minimum wage that an ordinary Filipino receives if he works in the province, it is indeed expensive.   As of  January 2012, the National Capital Region's minimum wage is Php426 while in Region III of which Bulacan belongs to, the minimum wage is Php330.  This would even depend on which sector you belong to.  Agricultural and retail workers receive lesser salary.   A kilo of beef is almost Php300 and the minimum wage is just Php330 so everyday won't be a beef day for all Filipinos.  Based from experience, when I was a child, Sunday was the only beef day for us and some other special occasions.  I still remember my older cousins (Estong especially) going to our house upon hearing that we would be having nilagang baka for lunch. I remember that there were also some people , that would exclaim in a loud voice that they have baka (beef) for their meal  so it could be heard by the whole neighborhood (such funny memories).

Now that I am married I still cook the same dish and  I'm happy that my Aussie husband and our daughters love to eat nilaga.  They never get tired of it.  I think that's really good!

Ingredients:
1 K beef chuck or buto-buto
1 medium onions
green chilli peppers
1 medium cabbage
1 bunch of bok choi (pechay)
2 sweet potatoes or potatoes
4 pcs plantain bananas (saging na saba)
spring onions
salt and pepper (freshly crushed)

Procedure:
Tenderise the beef by using a pressure cooker.  If it is not available just boil it until the beef is tender to your liking.
Put in  the onions, spring onions and the veggies.  Add salt and pepper.  Simmer.

Note:  Sometimes I would also add corns.

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Know your pork cuts

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Sushi Rolls

I suddenly craved for sushi rolls or califonia maki when I saw the Nori Seaweed and wasabi at IGA.  When we got home I told my husband maybe I'll make some sushi rolls.  That would mean he had to go back and buy arborio rice and mangoes! 

I still have my crab meat in the freezer and rice wine vinegar in my pantry so that wouldn't be a problem anymore.  Making sushi rolls is not really that difficult.  I think it's the easiest dish I made so far.  Compared to the ready to eat ones that you can buy, I still prefer to make my own.  Here in Australia, there are a few of  fast food/resto that got fined because of contaminated sushi rolls.  So I would really opt to cook sushi rolls myself.

Makizushi are sushi rolls. Sushi rice and various ingredients are rolled in nori (dried seaweed) as maki means rolling in Japanese. Since makizushi are wrapped by nori, they are also called nori-maki. There are many kinds of sushi rolls. Popular sushi rolls in Japan are tekka-maki (tuna sashimi rolls), kappa-maki (cucumber rolls), and more. Makizushi are good finger food.

Ingredients:1 C arborio rice
1 1/2 C water
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C crab meat (sticks)
1/2 C mango, sliced lengthwise
1/4 C soy sauce
1 tsp wasabi
3 pcs nori seaweed

Procedure:

1. Use the rice cooker for the rice.
2. Add a little of salt to the beaten egg and fry.  Shred after.
3. Mix rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl.  Make sure that sugar is completely dissolved.
4. Mix the rice vinegar mixture with the rice thoroughly.
5. Put the nori seaweed in the preheated oven (150C) for 2 minutes.
6. Make sure that your hands are wet when you place the nori seaweed in the bamboo roller (shiny side facing the roller). 
7. Divide rice into 3.  Place each 1/3 amount of rice into the seaweed making sure that the rice sticks together.  Pat the rice.  Arrange the crab meat, egg and mangoes in the middle of the rice.
8. Roll the sushi making sure that it's tight and compact. 
9. Slice the rolls into 6. 
10. Mix the soy sauce and wasabi for the dip.
11. Serve.

Note:  If you do not have sushi bamboo roller, you can use foil and follow what you usually do with embutido.  You can replace the meat and fruits....be adventurous.  It would be best to eat the sushi rolls within 2 days. 

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Selling Hopia atbp

I love eating hopyang munggo when I was a kid.  I still love them.  When we visited the Philippines last year, I made sure I got a pack of hopiang baboy at the Hagonoy Market (at the old palengke or market).
I don't know why it was a bit difficult to find them then.  Do people still eat them?  Well anyway, my husband was wondering why there's this sense of urgency for me to buy hopia.  Hmmm maybe he forgot that the woman with her who had this huge tummy was pregnant at that time?  He ended up eating a couple of hopias and he seemed to like them but I did not share the rest of the hopias with him anymore...haha!

There had been this bakeshop in Malolos, just along the way going into Malolos town proper which use to sell yummy hopia -- munggo, baboy, hapon and ube.  If you're coming from Hagonoy, Bulacan, it's used to be on the right side of the road.  Sadly, it's not there anymore.  Maybe it has moved to another place? or closed?  I guess the kids now prefers eating Jollibee and Mcdo's burgers etc.  =(

Going back to the bakeshop in Malolos...it holds a special memory for me.  That's where I used to go to to buy hopia which I would sell to my classmates in High School and this continued even when I was in College.  I did earn a bit from them.  I did find enjoyment in selling goodies.  Maybe, that's my past calling? =)
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Seafood Marinara Spaghetti

My husband bought a mixed seafood packet in a box the other day.  I was wondering what am I going to do with it because the prawns and squids in the mix were quite small.  I would not buy them if we have fresh ones here.  How I miss the fresh seafood in Hagonoy! 

Because of their sizes, I can only use them as panghalo or just a flavouring for my dishes.  Then I remember the seafood spaghetti that I have had before in the Philippines.  I've looked for recipes on the internet and I did  find some but most are complicated.  I did not have much time to cook yesterday since I felt so tired...not much sleep because of my 8 month old baby girl, and my 21 month old toddler.  So, anyway, after reading those recipes, I'd decided to make my own recipe of Seafood Marinara Spaghetti.  Marinara sauce is actually tomato based sauce so don't be surprised if the taste has a bit strong tomato taste.

Ingredients:
500 g spaghetti (cooked to package instruction)
500 g seafood marinara mix (or fresh seafood, get adventurous)
1 275 g tin of peeled, crushed tomatoes
3 medium size, fresh tomatoes (boiled and crushed)
1 C tomato sauce  (or 1/4 C tomato paste dissolved in 3/4 c water + 1 tsp sugar)
2 tbsp, garlic, minced
1 medium size, onion, minced
1/4 C olive oil or 50 g butter
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley (or fresh ones, minced)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp flaked chillis (or fresh ones)
1/3 C heavy cream
1/2 C parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Sautee onions, garlic.  Add fresh tomatoes, tin tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Cook until a bit thick.  Put in all the herbs including the cheese.
2. Put in the marinara mix. Cook for 2 minutes.
3. Pour the cream and add salt and pepper.  Simmer.
4. Serve hot.

Note:  See the ingredients for the other tips.  You can play with the amount of herbs that you would like to add.  Sometimes I would add more depending on the amount of sauce I am making.  If the sauce is a bit strong for you because of the tomatoes, just add sugar.

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Sinulog 2012

Sinulog Festival, Cebu (Photos contributed by Lilia Visande)
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Pinoy BBQ Kids

My niece and nephew enjoying grilling the pork bbq.

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Selling Mussels, Paros etc

My barrio, Sagrada, is one of the coastal areas of Hagonoy where most people would have jobs related to the sea or fishponds -- building boats (like norways, a big fishing vessel), building fishponds like doing pagtatambak (workers would be called mananambak of whose job would be building the fishpond enclosure called pilapil in Tagalog) or pamamanti (fishing using fishnet...leaving it in the waters where fish would be trap, mamamanti would go back after awhile to check if the trap worked).  When I was a child, some of the young people I knew would sometimes end up fishing instead of going to school.  That was the time when the sea was still rich and when people thought it would end.  My cousins would go out fishing with their fathers.  They would usually leave at night and come home early in the morning with fish, prawns, mussels, oysters etc. 

Some would go to the "pakapa" . This is done after the fishpond owners harvested their bangus (milkfish) or prawns.  They would usually allow people to go to their property to clear the fishpond.  This is quite a big feast for the fisherfolks since they would be able to get mud crabs which are quite pricey when you sell them in the fish market or just around the street.  My cousins would sometimes use salakab (a fish trap made from bamboo) to catch fish.  Oysters are usually harvested though. Speaking of oysters, my cousin bought us a sack of this yummy aphrodisiac for Php200.  Goodness, here in Australia, you buy oysters by piece, $20++/dozen!!!  I will definitely eat a lot of oysters when I go back and visit the Philippines late this year.  This time I can eat as many as I want since I am not pregnant (LOL).

One thing that I am proud of, is that, I was able to experience to sell oysters, mussels, paros, and fish on the street with my cousins, Baby and Nora. I remember the buyers haggling the price with us and we would always say "tapat na po" (last price).  We would get the seafoods that we were selling from our uncle and male cousins and in the end they would give us a percentage of the amount we sold.  I could not remember though how much they gave us.  But to me it did not matter...what I love was the enjoyment I got from selling on the street.  The fun of doing it was really the best part!


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Beef Siomai (repost)

I have always loved eating siomai with all gusto!  It can be served as an appetizer or entree and even the main course and it will still be lovely.  When I was still working at Miriam College in the Philippines, I would always order siomai at the cafetorium.  You have the option to buy the ordinary pork siomai or get the one with the quail egg on it. 

The soy sauce with chilli dip is just so nice to go with the siomai.  I remember ordering 1 whole packet of uncooked siomai from the canteen and bringing it home.  I also love the ones you can eat at Hen Lin's, Chowking, Causeway, Ma Mon Luk, and of course the siomai sold at the Hagonoy town center.
Most of the countries in Asia have their own versions of siomai but this dish originated in China.  Shumai or Shaomai is made from mixture of mince meat and mince carrots and spring onions.  But then again, it would depend on which version are you eating.  The most well known is the Cantonese siomai or pork and mushroom dumpling of which the  standard filling consists of minced pork and small whole or chopped shrimp primarily.

Preparing siomai is not not difficult since you would only need to mix all the ingredients and wrap in the dimsum wrap.  You can even get adventurous with what you add to the main ingredients and the kind of dip that you want to use with siomai.

Ingredients:

500 g ground beef

1 c water chestnuts or singkamas,  minced

4  tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp ground black pepper

2/3 cup onion, minced

1 c carrots, minced

1 c  white mushroom, minced

1 pack won ton wrapper

1/4 c spring onions, minced

2 tsp salt

1 piece raw egg

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients except the wrapper in a big bowl.

Put  a tbsp of mixture to the wrapper.

Place the siomai in the traditional Chinese steamer and cover.

Steam for 20 - 25 minutes.

Note:  You can add minced shrimp, or replace the beef with pork and chicken.

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Samalamig

If there is one drink that I would always remember drinking as a young kid, that would be "samalamig."  I guess every kid in the province would remember this one better than the juice from the grocery stores.  The word samalamig or palamig comes from the word lamig (cold).  It is usually very saleable during summer time in the Philippines.

The usual palamig would have sweetened or caramelised sago (tapioca) and gulaman (gelatin, jelly) with vanilla flavour.  I used to sell this type of samalamig  in front of our house.  Sometimes, my brother and I would go to the church patio or wherever they're having senakulo (The Passion of Christ Play which is done thru singing) in our barrio to sell them.  We would usually do this (going to the venue of the senakulo) without my father knowing it.  Protective as he was, he would always warn usabout the dangers of being in the middle of the crowd.  Well anyway, going back, I would buy the pre-packed vanilla in a small ice candy plastic tube, the cooked gelatin in an ice cream cup (you can choose whatever color you like) and the plastic bag of sago in a small store at the town center in the lumang palengke (old market).  I think they also had the straws and plastic bags.
I would caramelise the sago with sugar at home.  My brother and my father would help me mix everything --- water, sugar, milk, vanilla, gelatin and sago.  My father would put this big piece of ice (half a block) to make the samalamig cold.  For the taste test? Of course, that would be all of us!  Funny, sometimes I will end up selling half of the container though because of the non - paying buyers.  Del Monte pineapple juice was also a good drink to sell back then...as well as buco juice (young coconut juice with its shredded meat), and melon (rock melon variety).
Samalamig used to be  b, c and d crown favorite but since it has evolved, even the a crowd now is buying it.  They are not just sold on the street or at the small pondahan (small table with some goodies sold) but now they are served even at big restaurants!!!  Now the used to be "poor" samalamig is famous!   Oh when I go back to the Philippines, I will make samalamig again...maybe sell again? I've heard it's being sold now in our place for Php2 - 5?  Hmmm not bad...

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Simple Bacon and Cheese Quiche

The first time I had a quiche, it was a vegetable quiche ( I can not remember though what veggies were present in the quiche. All I know is that that quiche was really yummy) at a house of our family friends.  From then on my husband would always buy the ready made quiche from the shop.  To probably not make it a boring dish, he would buy different kinds of quiche. 

A quiche is an open pastry type of dish similar to a pie.  Well I think, I even told my husband that it's a pie but a different sort of pie.  The word quiche is a French word borrowed from the German word Küeche which means cake.  Usually the ingredients would be meat, veggies and cheese.

Ingredients:

Crust
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, diced
3 tablespoons ice-cold water

Filling

1/2 c bacon, fried a little and cut into small pieces
4 large eggs
1 1/2 milk
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp pepper
1 c cheese, grated

Toppings

1/3 c cheese
1/4 c bacon

Procedure:

Crust
Mix flour and salt. Add butter using a pastry blender. Continue doing this until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Add water (a little at a time). Knead a little and form a ball.  Shape into a disk and wrap with a cling wrap and cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough in a floured surface. Shape into a circle and fit into a quiche or pie pan.  Trim the edges and prick with fork.  To prevent it from rising too much, line it with a foil and put a pie weight or anything that would hold it down. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 F

Filling

Whisk the all the filling ingredients.  Pour on top of the baked quiche crust and top with additional bacon and cheese. Bake for 375 F for 30 minutes until it is set and light brown in color.

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Oven Temperature Conversion

C	F	GAS
110	225	1/4
120/130	250	1/2
140	275	1
150	300	2
160/170	325	3
180	350	4
190	375	5
200	400	6
220	425	7
230	450	8
240	475	9

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The Chocolate Kiss Cafe

I  can not remember how many times have I gone to "The Chocolate Kiss Cafe" in UP Diliman when I was still working in Quezon City. Just the thought of going to this lovely cafe cum restaurant would always make me smile.  I can still imagine how lucious Classic Chocolate Cake they offer...the richness of the taste of the Chicken Quesadillas...

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Sweet and Spicy Hoisin Chicken Wings

This is one of my family's favourite.  The spiciness and the sweetness brought by the honey makes this dish really yummy.  Most of the recipes I see online or in my cookbooks would not include honey in its ingredients.

But I want to try something different so I added pure honey to it and the result was really good.  Hoisin sauce is also called Haxian sauce is a Chinese dipping sauce.   Traditionally, it is made from sweet potatoes.  Water, sugar, soy beans, white vinegar, salt, garlic, chilli peppers, and coloring agents.  Although the word Hoisin means seafood, there are no seafood in its ingredients.

Ingredients:  1/2 K chicken wings (cut into two, remove tips)
1/2 c hoisin sauce
1/4 c pure honey
1 tsp ginger, grated or 1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

Procedure:

1. Combine all the ingredients by whisking.
2. Marinade chicken wings for half an hour or more.
3. Preheat oven to 250 C
4. Place a foil (big enough to cover the chicken) in a big baking pan.
5. Place the chicken in the foil. Make sure that they are not overcrowded.
6. Pour the marinade and seal with foil.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cooked through and the glaze is brown

Note:  If you want the chicken a bit crispy, open the foil 10 minutes before baking ends.  Turn the chicken after 5 minutes.  I usually use lee kum kee for the hoisin sauce.

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