[kapaMEALya] “Kakanin” – Rice Desserts and Noche Buena Event

[Originally posted on the kapaMEALya site]

This evening I had dinner at Gyro King, a Turkish restaurant in SF's Civic Center Area with Keaton. One of our favorite things to order there is the Sütlaç, or Turkish rice pudding.

It goes from this:



To this in no time!



Then all of a sudden, all of my rice-based desserts came to mind. I love rice. While I try not to eat it ALL the time, I do feel a sense of comfort when I eat it. Take a look at the awesome Filipino desserts I had in the Philippines.



I have grown up eating rice desserts also known as kakanin. So many Filipino desserts are made with rice from polvoron with pinipig (toasted rice), suman (glutinous sweet rice steamed in banana leaves), biko (above - sweet rice cooked in coconut milk and topped with coconut milk crumbs called latik. BTW: Inang and my friend Jun Belen make AWESOME biko). Here are just a few of my favorites...



THEN I thought of champorado. It is a Filipino chocolate rice porridge often served at breakfast with dried salted fish.  I know, it sounds incredibly weird, but it works.  I love topping it with sweetened condensed milk.  The one pictured above was made by my friend Mr. Arroz Caldo at Off the Grid.



THEN I thought of the champorado cake that Chef Lisal Moran at Attic Restaurant made. It is now on the restaurant's dessert menu and it is absolutely awesome. It wasn't too sweet, but the vanilla foam on top lent the perfect amount of sugar. I love how the flavors of this Filipino favorite are still present, but the look of it is so modern and gorgeous. Here is a peak at the rest of Attic Restaurant's dessert menu on SF Station's YUM Blog.



THEN I thought of bibingka. It is a cake made with rice flour and is typically eaten during the Christmas season. Honestly, I like eating it all-year. It's buttery and I enjoy the char it has on the bottom from it (traditionally) cooking over a fire.



This one was from Alido's in SSF. The texture is spongy and tender. I adore the addition of white cheese. You can find bibingka even topped with coconut and salted egg. I know it sounds weird (again), but it totally works! The last two times Keat and I went to Alido's, we have left with a bibingka (or two) and ate them in car. Total baboy status.


Photo Provided by Mike Carrion
THEN I thought of bibingka souffle at Intramuros Restaurant. Like Lisal's chaporado cake at Attic, this is a modern take on Filipino flavors. I adore eating the airy, eggy, souffle with the queso puti (white cheese) and salted egg. Ohhh, the coconut creme anglais is awesome when poured right in the center of it. YUM!



THEN I thought of kutsinta (orange circles) and puto (white cupcake-looking things). I can eat to many of these in one sitting. You can find these at almost ALL Filipino parties. They are not too sweet, but they have lovely textures. The puto are made by steaming them, so they have a light feeling in the mouth. The kutsinta are sticky and fun. Roll them in grated coconut and you are set!

Want to sample some rice cakes? It's perfect because it's almost Christmas! Now you have a chance! Join me on December 16th at Intramuros Restaurant for a special Noche Buena dinner prepared by Chef Cocoy Ventura. I looked at the menu and while he is keeping dessert a little vague, it did mention "Native Sweets and Rice Cakes." Yup, like I said, here is your chance!


http://nochebuena2011.eventbrite.com/

I love rice cakes. I hope this post made you hungry and I hope you all can make it to my dinner!

xoxo,
Jo

Thanksgiving Day 2011

Hey everyone!

How was everyone's Turkey Day? I'm usually anti-Turkey, but it being my first Thanksgiving as a married lady, Keat and I thought this would be the perfect time to make our first turkey together. This would also be the first time we would be hosting Thanksgiving for our friends and family as a married couple. Talk about pressure!

I started on Tuesday by making sweet red bean (mungo) ice cream. I haven't had any myself, so I can't really say how it was haha. No, I didn't serve it on Thanksgiving, but it's in the freezer for whoever wants to try it.

On Wednesday night, I started making my lech flan cake:

TALK ABOUT A FAIL!

Wednesday night, everything was going right. The burnt caramel was gorgeous. The leche flan mix was perfect. Even the meringue I made was gorgeous...complete with perky Madonna boobies. When I went to invert it yesterday, I got leche flan soup. I guess I did something wrong and the leche flan didn't set up right. IDK, I was quite disappointed.

My family was so kind to at least taste the cake...which they said was pretty good. Oh well, there is always next time to try to perfect it.

Then...before I knew it...it was Thanksgiving Day...I woke up around 9am to prepare.

Everyone should always have a game plan!
I found some post-its and figured it was a good way to organize the menu and cooking schedule. For sure, I knew that the turkey would take the longest, so I scheduled for it to go into the oven at around Noon. We got a smallish bird - at around 11 pounds. We were going to also stuff it, so we planned for 4 hours.

Before sticking the turkey in the oven, I made some easy banana cinnamon cupcakes with Scharffen Berger chocolate chunks since my first dessert failed:

I simply couldn't wait to see all the food on the table!
After the cupcakes were done, we tackled the turkey. We had been brining it since Tuesday night in a sugar, kosher salt, and apple cider vinegar solution. I took it out of the brine and dried it with paper towels. Keat and I then took turns giving it a butter massage. Earlier in the morning, I prepared some stuffing which I let cool. Keat had the honor of stuffing the bird. Sorry no pictures. My hands were covered in turkey juice. Cross contamination is a no-no!

The color isn't the best in this picture because I took it with my camera phone, but we were thrilled with the carmelization of the skin. We took it out of the oven and let it rest under a foil tent while we were finishing up preparing the table.

View #1

View #2

View #3
You will notice that it was a very eclectic menu. We had everything from the traditional things that go with turkey, like Keat's mom's cranberry sauce and his gravy made with the turkey drippings, to Chinese roasted duck brought by Cousin Star, my "Pinoy na Pinoy" sweet spaghetti, Chip and Lara's Mexican Corn with Lime, Chile Powder, and Cotija cheese, my sister's friends' Chinese salt and pepper chicken wings, my bread and cheese plate complete with bruschetta tomatoes, black pepper'ed fresh mozzarella medallions, and TRUFFLE brie, and Manang Gem's homemade rice cakes called "puto" seen below:

This tray of puto reminds me of the Philippine flag! Here are more goodies:

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Creamy Onion Salmon and Mussels
These are a tradition in our family. We HAVE to have these or else Thanksgiving would not be complete. Seriously the easiest buffet items you can possibly make!

Our First Turkey!
I admit, due to a misunderstanding of how to tell when it was done (*stupid turkey popper*), this COULD have been taken out a good 15 minutes before we actually did. I feared it would have been too dry by the time it got to the table, but it wasn't bad at all! I was told the drumsticks were tender and the white meat was moist! Keat and I were pleased with it! Doesn't the skin look amazing?

I was a proud momma.

On my "game plan" wall, my guests wrote down what they were thankful for. It was really great to see what was said. Here is one of the interesting ones:

I would have to say our first time hosting Thanksgiving was a success! The good food, three bottles of Chandon, friends, and family sure made for a wonderful get-together. I can't wait for the next holiday party at my place! I confess, I was so tired from all the cooking yesterday that I woke up at 10am this morning. I failed at the Black Friday shopping.

So what about the leftovers?

This morning, I made balatong/mungo with leftover turkey meat and turkey drippings I reserved, tomatoes, and spinach. Yes, Keat is going to be so happy when he gets home this afternoon.

I surely hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate yourself silly! I was so grateful to have my loved ones with me last night. Happy holidays, my loves!

xoxo,
Jo

[kapaMEALya] - Memories from the Pantry

[Originally posted on kapaMEALya's site - In response to Chip's blog]

On Saturday morning, I felt the urge to cook. This feeling usually doesn't come over me during the workweek, so I knew I had to take advantage of this motivation before it went away.

Jayla wanted a can of Vienna sausages, but I was THRILLED to see the canned sardines. They must be the dirtiest little fish on the face of this planet, but boy do I love them...especially when smashed into scrambled eggs.

I know a bunch of you are "ew"-ing me in your minds. It's completely fine. I grew up on canned goods and instant noodles for breakfast: sardines, Vienna sausages, SPAM (!!!), corned beef, Hormel beef stew, packaged pancit canton:

Inang was the best at making sure we had everything we needed for breakfast including condiments like vinegar, soy sauce fish sauce or little side dishes like salted egg with diced tomatoes. For me any canned food would be perfect with said accoutrements. I suppose I got the condiment wh*re gene from her. She was also the best at taking what we had already in the pantry and making masterpieces with them.

One thing I learned from her is "corned beef picadillo" with potato and onion:

Anywho!

Uhhh yes, I totally digressed, but the cooking method was the same as how I prepared my little canned sardines. I took the sardines, deboned them, and threw them in a pan where I was sauteing chopped garlic, onions, and tomatoes.

I also fried up some lumpiang Shanghai. Scooped up some steamed rice, took out from spiced vinegar for dipping, color me happy. Sorry, no picture. I got excited.

These breakfasts from the pantry reminds me of my childhood and the times I spent in PI. I nearly orgasm'ed when I saw this wall of deliciousness at the supermarket in my province the Phils. Yup, that's a whole wall of LUNCHEON MEAT! Amazeballs.

I swear SPAM gets a bad rap. Sure no one knows what the hell is in it, but sometimes I get a thrill from the unknown. The unknown tastes pretty damn good when fried up and coated in sugar. Uh-huh. If you don't know, now you know.

Speaking more about the unknown: does anyone know why Filipino hot dogs are this strange tint of RED? They are so bright! I have seen hot dogs put in dishes and for some reason if there is hot dog in it, it's automatically "Filipino:" Sweet Pinoy Spaghetti, Pork Menudo, Sopas aka macaroni milk soup...

I remember when I was 8, my Uncle Freddie and I made a pizza by topping a Boboli premade crust with ketchup, sliced American cheese, and sliced hot dogs then microwaving it. It wasn't very good.

While I do want to eat healthier, I have a special place in my heart for these things - the corned beef, SPAM, atomic red hot dogs. I also remember my grandparents packing these into their balikbayan boxes when they traveled back to the Philippines. It's all very nostalgic to me and I remember so much from my childhood when I eat these pantry favorites breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Jo

Alido's Island Flavor - I [Heart] Mung Bean Soup / Mungo / Balatong

It was at my friend (and fellow Filipino food advocate) Aileen of Kitchen Kwento who asked the question, "what is your FAVORITE food?" at her farm to table gathering in Santa Cruz last month. I was in the middle in the string of people to answer so I had a little bit of time to think of it.

Then it hit me.

Balatong.

Actually it was more of a "duh..."

Balatong is a soup made with mung beans. Depending on where you go in the Philippines dictates what it is called. My mom is from the Pangasinan province and they call it balatong while Tagalog speakers called it mungo.

Balatong is my ultimate comfort food. I remember waiting for it to be cooked by my Inang and mom. There is a process to it and I learned to be patient. When it finished cooking, I was welcomed by the biggest feeling of home and love as I watched it served to me in a bowl with steamed rice. Mom would sometimes cook something along with it, such as tapa (soy-marinated beef) or fried chicken - as seen here:


Then it was my turn to answer. I had to face the crowd and tell them I was having an awful week, so I had it three times that week. I said it felt like having your life meter re-energized like in Super Mario Brothers or in a video game. I can honestly say balatong is my FAVORITE food ever. Whenever I feel down, balatong makes me feel so much better.

Even when I am not having a not-so-good day, I fiend for it. While my mom taught me how to make it, I've only cooked in a handful of times...plus when I want it, I want it right then and there. Admittedly, I have resorted to going to steam-table restaurants (known in Filipino as turo-turo restaurants) to satisfy my cravings:


from Irma's Pampangan Cuisine in SF


from Manila Bay Cuisine at Serramonte Mall in Daly City

Yes, I went to the MALL to get it! And before you go off on me saying it's not very pretty...well, it isn't. It's just a dish of stewed down mung beans. It's not fancy. It was never meant to be. It's humble and simple. As with every other Filipino family recipe, the recipes will vary. For example, Irma's adds spinach and bittermelon while the Manila Bay Cuisine's version has fried pork and shrimp. I actually like putting in tomatoes and fish sauce in mine. I also like mine on the thicker side. Like rice, the more you cook it, the thicker in consistency it gets.

While it was cool to get the balatong from the turo-turo spots and I guess I could wait for my mom to make it again, there just HAD to be a sit-down restaurant where I can go buckwild on my love for it. Enter Alido's.

Alido's Island Flavor
Address: 3560 Callan Boulevard at Westborough, SSF, CA
Phone Number: (650) 869-4457
Cuisine: Traditional Filipino

Alido's is a family-run restaurant situated on Callan Boulevard in South San Francisco. I confess. I like less than 5 (driving) minutes away and I have only been there twice before the visit I am about to recap. The first time was for Chloe's party and the second visit was for kapaMEALya's Family Style dinner. I came back not only because the food was yummy, the Alido Family is so warm and welcoming, but because they have a $5 menu and BALATONG WAS ON THAT MENU. Victory! $5 a dish?! Cool! I thought the soups, stews, and other entrees would come out in individual/personal-sized bowls, but NO.

Behold:


The bowl of misua noodle soup above could easily feed 2-3 people. Seriously. It was a cold day so this concoction of Asian angel hair in a silky broth was perfect...but you know what I came for:


Ernesto Alido, who was both our server and chef, told me that they used petchay/bok choy. Perfect. I ate the first spoonful so quickly that it gave me a second-degree on the roof of my mouth. I'm not kidding. But the pain was so worth it! You can tell here that the balatong is truly a "soup" because of the visible broth. I suppose since the balatong sits for a bit on the steam table at the turo-turo joints that the broth/cooking liquid simply evaporates creating a thicker stew. You know what though? This was awesome. It hit the spot in more places than one. I told Mr. Alido that I was so happy that I found a place that served it. Bonus that it is so close to home. Why I haven't come here more often? Idk. I'm stupid. I mean, the portions are waaaaaaaaaaay generous.

Let me show you the other dishes we got:


Keaton's Loco Moco
sorry, not on the $5 menu
but still really really good!

Fried Chicken and Veggies
I like having a little extra protein on the side when I eat balatong. The fried chicken here was a perfect choice. When I am at Irma's I eat it with Filipino bbq chicken on a stick. Sometimes mom fries up some salmon or buys a whole fried tilapia from the supermarket.

I will reiterate that balatong is my favorite food. Ever. Yes, ever. It just conjures up so many memories of my family and home in the Philippines and it's great that Keaton loves it as well. Side note: I think the balatong Keaton had in the Phils that had marungay/malungay in it changed his life.

While it's not as appreciated as say, adobo or kare kare or sinigang, it is truly something everyone should try at least once. I am lucky to have friends who have recipes for this great dish. I think you should visit their sites:



Jun Belen's Recipe for
Monggo Guisado and Fried Dried Fish

Btw, Jun's story brought me to tears. I am in love with his writing and how each food tells a story. While everyone has a story, he tells it like no other.

Malou's Recipe
for Mongo with Ham and Bacon Soup

I remember I was drawn to Malou's blog BECAUSE of the mongo recipe. Since then, I've read her blog and met her in LA. All thanks to mongo!






Annapet's Recipe for
Braised Mung Beans and Pea Shoots

Annapet lives across the Golden Gate Bridge and is the sweetest thing ever. I met her seredipitously at SF Chefs 2011 at Union Square and I need to make a date with her soon. =)






So for you who have always wanted to make balatong - mongo - monggo, you have no excuse not to make it now OR head over to Aldio's for a huge bowl! The weather has been rather chilly, ahhh November, so there is no better time than now. Take care everyone and stay warm!

xoxo,
Jo

PS: all photos and recipes are the property of their owners - especially those of Jun, Malou, and Annapet. Please visit their sites to see much more of there delicious recipes and breathtaking photographs.

PPS: Here is a piece I wrote for my family blog at myinang.blogspot.com about me, my Tatay, and balatong.

RIP Tatay.

I love you.

Missing you always.