Suman (Sticky rice) and Mango

Posted by gmirage1 on Nov 4, 2010 in food friday | 16 comments

Last Friday I gave a friend a slab of salmon carefully packed in a container. Today I received the same container full of suman (sticky rice) which to some is also known as budbud. (Thanks Rose!) I was so grateful (but I didn’t show it much lol) because I haven’t had this kind of rice cake for the longest time. Albeit being home last summer, I didn’t get to taste any of the many variations of suman…

As a kid I was more familiar having matamis na bao (coconut jam), sometimes plain sugar and occasionally latik (fried coconut milk solids) with suman. It’s still clear to me how latik is made since I would watch my mom do it (if I’m still awake at night that is). The smell, the solids formed, the oil left behind and finally how the browned solids are extracted…Just one of the many we can make out of the tree of life’s fruit. Unfortunately, I’ve never learned how to make latik or suman by myself (bummer…).

In the middle of Europe and 16 hours away from home, it is quite impossible to make latik at 6 in the evening nor is it advisable to run to the Asia shop for coconut jam. And as mentioned, I haven’t done latik myself so forget it…Thank goodness I really don’t need to…one bite and you get all the sweetness a suman should have! They’re sweet as is but not the sweetness that you’d get tired of but rather the opposite…

Now, about the mangoes. Well, I was supposed to cook tuna with mango-tomato salsa tonight for hubby’s dinner. I set aside a few slices for this craving. I have always enjoyed mango with sticky rice after trying it once. My dear friend Jean who ofts Bangkok introduced me to this yummy treat…I won’t tell how many wraps I opened today.

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Eis

Posted by gmirage1 on Jun 17, 2010 in Dessert, food friday | 8 comments

Caramel…one of my favorite confections…whether as candy, syrup over ice cream, pudding or custard or as chocolate filling. The kids share this likeness with me but not the hubby….he hates (yes, that strong) Twix and caramel flavored ice cream because of the gooey feel after each bite…he prefer the usual selection lol.

We had a taste of summer last week…the weather was up at 32° and I really thought it would stay like that but no, it was just to tease us! Some of the Gelaterias in town have opened their patios so you can’t miss the excitement from the people who were enjoying their ice cream.

My kids can’t help but be teased, little boy had chocolate, dawty had vanilla and older son (who looks disappointed here) got lemon, each got their favorite flavors….

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Foie Gras dreaming

Posted by gmirage1 on May 28, 2010 in food friday | 8 comments

It would be far from near before I treat myself to such a delicacy, aside from being expensive, a friend has influenced me on how she doesn’t approve the way foie gras are obtained…that of forcefully fattening the ducks. So here,I settled for second best…ordinary duck liver cooked the chinese way. This dish takes half an hour or less to finish.

Ingredients:
3 pieces dried wood ears
7 oz./ 200 g duck liver, cut into small sections
1 tbsp. chopped scallion
3 slices ginger root
1 tbsp. chicken essence
1 tbsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp. rice wine, or dry sherry
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
1 tbsp. cornstarch, mixed with 4 tbsps. water in a bowl
2 tbsps. vegetable oil for stir-frying
carrot strips (optional)
Directions:

1. Soak the dried wood ears in warm water for about 15 minutes, then cut into pieces before use.

2. Bring a large pot of water on to a boil, cook the pork liver over medium high heat until half way cooked, about 1 minute. Drain well.

3. Place a wok over high heat, add 2 tbsps. vegetable oil and drizzle to coat both the sides and the bottom of the wok, saute scallion, ginger until aromatic, about 20 seconds, do not brown, then add back pork liver and wood ears, stirring and tossing, sprinkle 1 tbsp. rice wine over them while cooking, pour into 1/2 cup water and keep on a steady simmer over medium heat.

4. Stir into 1 tbsp. chicken essence and 1 tbsp. ground black pepper when the pork liver are almost cooked, taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

5. Give the cornstarch and water mixture a quick stir, then swirl into the wok in which it was cooked, stir to thicken.

6. Remove from the wok to a plate, serve hot.

You probably remember I cook liver once a week…all because my older son has iron-deficiency and liver is one of the best source of it. Aside from liver steak and adobo, this dish is a very good alternative.

Recipe lifted from http://homechineserecipes.com/poultry/pork-liver-stir-fry.htm

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Blueberry cheesecake

Posted by gmirage1 on Apr 9, 2010 in Dessert, food friday | 5 comments

I’m running out of memories to write about…it’s time to make new ones. What’s best but making memories of good food along with photographs to make them last. Then again, I remember that blueberry cheesecake is one I often ask a friend to bring me whenever she comes over. Then again, shaking my head, it was a plain blueberry graham sandwich at the least.

There are still a lot of stuff I need to familiarize around the city, on top of this would be the grocery store. I get lost in the cheese section a lot! I can’t remember when did I start looking for cream cheese in many stores but don’t recall recognizing them. Sure there’s Philadelphia but I’ve used them always on our sandwiches. I then stumbled on a recipe of cheesecake using Philadelphia and that got me excited. So a day and some more hours of waiting comes this masterpiece ….my blueberry cheesecake on graham crust!

Ingredients:

* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

* 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 graham crackers)

* 2 ( 8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

* 3/4 cup sugar

* 2 large eggs

* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* 1 teaspoon lemon juice

* 1 (10 ounce) jar blueberry jam

* 1 cup blueberries

* 1 tsp sugar

* pinch of cinnamon

How to:

Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until graham crackers are finely ground. Add butter and vanilla; process until moist crumbs form. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Bake crust until deep golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool.

filling: In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium high until creamy. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat until creamy and well blended.

Pour filling onto prepared crust. Bake for 30 minutes, until set and slightly puffed. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. When cooled, garnish with blueberries

Make sauce by placing blueberry jam, sugar and cinnamon in a small pan. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce is lightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Cool. Cover blueberries with jam then place the cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill completely.

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Basil and tomato on pasta

Posted by gmirage1 on Mar 11, 2010 in food friday, pasta | 4 comments

I find fresh and meatless spaghetti more rewarding to cook. It adds some more minutes into your cooking, yes, but it’s worth the wait. Oh, since this is meatless, then there’s some “minus” minutes too…..Pardon that I forgot to take a photo of the finished product…lol. I remember posting tuna and crabstick on pasta previously and that  that one was as easy as this and that the kids loved it well…

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Ingredients

* 1  pasta (original recipe calls for angel hair but you can substitute your favorite pasta)
* 2 pounds tomatoes
* water
* 4 cloves crushed garlic
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Place water and tomatoes and water in a pot.  Bring to the boil. Pour off water, then replace with water to cover tomatoes. Peel the tomatoes then cut into small pieces.
2. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
3. In a large skillet or saute pan, saute the garlic in enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Do not brown. Stir in the tomato paste. Immediately stir in the tomatoes, and salt and pepper. Reduce heat and add basil.
4. Drain pasta, but do not rinse in cold water. Toss with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and then mix into the sauce (I usually add some salt and dried basil at this point. Reduce the heat as low as possible. Keep warm, uncovered, for about 10 minutes when it is ready to serve. Garnish generously with fresh Parmesan cheese.

*For those who doesn’t want it meatless, you can of course add ground beef, if you’re a vegan; carrot, zucchini or mushroom is perfect for this dish too.

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