Cuchinta or Kutsinta

Cuchinta is a popular Filipino delicacy. It always teamed up with "Puto" and can be served on any occasion. It is an orange or brown rice cake and it is good with freshly grated coconut.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups water
1 teaspoon lihia (lye)
few drops of yellow food color (optional)
grated coconut

Boil water for the steamer. In a bowl, blend all the ingredients except grated coconut. Mix until smooth and free from lumps. Strain. Half-fill muffin pans. Steam for 10-20 minutes. Cool for 5 mintues then remove from the pans. Serve with grated coconut.

* Lihia or Lye is a liquid concentrate from the ashes of a wood stove. It is used in making kakanin (rice cakes) like cuchinta, suman and pichi-pichi to improve their texture. Its addition also enhances the color of food.

Courtesy of The Maya Kitchen

Pinakbet (Mixed Vegetables)

Pinakbet or Pakbet is a popular Filipino dish. The basic vegetables used in this dish includes native bitter melon (ampalaya), eggplant, okra, tomato, string beans and squash. It is usually cooked until almost dry and shriveled; the flavors are accentuated with bagoong or shrimp paste. And it is never stirred while cooking instead the pot is shaken to toss the vegetables without making the ampalaya bitter. It is considered as a very healthy dish.

1 cup cubed pork liempo
oil
2-3 tablespoons bagoong or shrimp paste
1 cup water
1 medium-size ampalaya, quartered
3 pieces round eggplant, quartered
5 pieces okra, halved
4 pieces tomato, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 small ginger, sliced

Brown the pork in a little oil. Set aside. Boil the bagoong and water. Put the pork and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until vegetables are done.

Fried Lumpia / Lumpiang Prito

Lumpiang Prito literally means fried spring roll. It consists of a briskly fried pancake filled with bean sprouts and various other vegetables such as string beans and carrots. Small morsels of meat or seafood may also be added. Though it is the least expensive of the variants, the preparation – the cutting of vegetables and meats into appropriately small pieces and subsequent pre-cooking – may prove taxing and labor-intensive. This variant may come in sizes as little as that of lumpiang shanghai or as big as that of lumpiang sariwà. It is usually eaten with vinegar and chili peppers, or a soy sauce-and-calamondin juice mixture known as toyo-mansi.  But I prefer eating friend lumpia with vinegar and lots of garlic.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 cup sliced onions

1/4 kilo lean pork or chicken, chopped

1/4 kilo shrimps, chopped

1 cup carrots, cut into julienne strips

2 cups bean or mongo sprouts (optional)

2 cups singkamas, cut into julienne strips

1 cup cabbage, shredded

salt and pepper to taste

lumpa wrappers or spring roll wrappers

Vinegar Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup white vinegar

3 garlic cloves, crushed

salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in skillet and saute garlic and onions until tender. Add pork and saute until browned. Add vegetables and cook until tender, yet crisp, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Season with soy sauce. When mixture is cool, add bean sprouts. Salt to taste.

2. To assemble lumpia: Carefully separate wrappers. To prevent them from drying out, cover unused wrappers with moist paper towel. Lay one wrapper on clean surface. Place about 2-3 tablespoons of the filling near the edge closest to you. Roll edge towards the middle. Fold in both sides and continue rolling. Moisten opposite edge with water to seal. Repeat with other wrappers. Lumpia can be frozen until ready to use.

3. Deep fry at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet sour or vinegar and garlic dipping sauce.

4. Vinegar Dipping Sauce: Mix together all ingredients and let sit for 1/2 hour. Makes 1/2 cup.

Guinataan or Binignit

Binignit or Guinataan is a warm root crop and fruit stew  from the Visayas region in the Philippines.The dish is traditionally made by Cebuanos with slices of saba, taro, sweet potato. The people in the neighboring island Leyte, usually include landang (palm flour jelly balls), langka (jackfruit), anise and thickened with milled glutinous rice in cooking binignit. The vegetables along with pearl sago is cooked in a mixture of water, coconut milk and the local landang and sweetened by muscovado or brown sugar.

It is a Filipino sweet dish which is usually served as snacks and usually prepared during the Holy Week especially Good Friday.  The soup is best served when hot.


 Ingredients:

2 pieces yellow camote or sweet potatoes (cubed)
1 piece white gabi or taro root (cubed)
1 piece ube or purple yam (cubed)
4 pieces ripe saba banana (sliced)
6 pcs ripe langka or jackfruit
4 tbsps landang or tapioca
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup coconut milk, diluted with water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Procedure:

 

1. Place the diluted milk in a large pot and add the bananas, ube, camote and gabi. You can also save a lot of time by boiling the hard ingredients first before adding to the diluted coconut milk. 

 

2.Add the landang or tapioca, salt and sugar.

 

3.Add the langka strips and simmer until the mixture is thick and all the ingredients are tender.

 

4. Pour in 2 cups of coconut milk and adjust the heat to medium.

 

.5. Do not bring to a boil to prevent curdling of the cooking liquid.

 

6.Place in small serving bowls and serve.

Fresh Lumpia

Fresh Lumpia or Lumpiang Sariwa is a traditional Filipino dish. It consist of minced ubod (heart of palm), flaked chicken, crushed peanuts, and turnips as an extender in a double wrapping of lettuce leaf and a yellowish egg crepe. The accompanying sauce is made from chicken or pork stock, a starch mixture, and fresh garlic. This variety is not fried and is usually around 2 inches in diameter and 6 inches in length; it is also the most popular among the Filipino variants. It is derived from the original Chinese popiah.

We always prepare and serve Fresh Lumpia in our family reunions, birthday parties and other special occasions.


3/4 kilo ubod ( heart of palm )
1 cup ground pork
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 kilo Baguio beans
1/2 cup shrimps, shelled
salt and vetsin to taste
1 medium size onions, chopped
2 cups water with shrimp juice added
carrots and lettuce

Extract juice from shrimp head.  Set aside.  Saute in garlic, onions, pork and shrimps.  Add water and shrimp juice mixture.  Let it boil.  Add ubod and beans.  Cover and cook until done.  Season to taste.  Drain.  Set aside to cool. 

Cut lettuce in half lengthwise. For each lumpia, place a piece of lettuce on wrapper. Spoon about 1/3 cup filling into center of wrapper. Fold bottom third of wrapper over filling, then fold in sides.
Serve with garlic dipping sauce or a mixture of hoisin sauce and soy sauce.


 Lumpia sauce:

1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
garlic, crushed as desired
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups broth
2 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup water

Mix all the ingredients and heat in low fire.


Homemade Lumpia Wrapper:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 egg
salt and vetsin to taste

Mix all ingredients.  Brush on Teflon pan.  Yield: 10-15 pieces

Minatamis na Saging (Sweetened Banana)

6 medium ripe saba or cardaba banana

2 cups sugar

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1.  Pour water in a saucepan.  Stir in sugar and salt to dissolve.  Heat over medium heat.  Bring syrup to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

2.  Peel banana.  Add to simmering syrup and continue cooking for another 10 minutes more or until saba bananas are tender and syrup is slightly thickens and lightly golden brown.

3.  Remove from heat.  Transfer to a dessert plate and serve.

Oh my SIOMAI!

Siomai (Cebuano/Tagalog: siyomay) in the Philippines is often ground pork, beef, shrimp, among others, combined with extenders like green peas, carrots and the like which is then wrapped in wonton wrappers. It is either steamed or fried resulting in a crispy exterior. It is normally dipped in soy sauce and squeezed calamondin, and for some, with an oily, spicy garlic mix.

It's one of my mom's specialty..... try it!

SIOMAI

1 cup shrimps, chopped
1/4 cup ground pork
1 cup singkamas, chopped
1/4 cup spring onions, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Aji-no-moto
1 teaspoon salt

Siomai wrapper
salad or cooking oil
calamansi or lemon juice and soy sauce

Combine first 10 ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Wrap about 1 tablespoon of mixture in a siomai wrapper.  Shape each in a bonnet-like poach.  Brush with salad oil.  Arrange in a steamer and steam for 30 minutes.  Serve with soy sauce and calamansi or lemon juice.

Suwam na Mais

"Suwan na Mais" is one of my brother's favorite dish. My mom usually prepare this dish on weekends. This is her own version of one of the Filipino's favorite food.

Ingredients:

oil
1 ginger, chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
2-3 pieces corn, removed from the cob
1 piece carrot, sliced
1 piece patola, sliced
1 small squash or kalabasa, sliced
boiled pork, sliced
1 can corn kernels
salt and pepper to taste
sili leaves or alugbati (spinach vine)
bagoong (fish sauce)

Heat the oil in a sauce pan the saute the ginger, onion, bagoong and pork.  Add the pork stock. Let it boil for a few minutes. Add the fresh corn, corn kernels in can, carrot, kalabasa, and alugbati leaves. Let it simmer. Then add the patola. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Banana Turon

Turon or deep-fried banana rolls is a typical Filipino merienda and dessert. This can usually be seen on the streets being peddled along with banana-que.

This delicious and healthy dessert is an all time Filipino favorite.  Have I mentioned that Turon is so affordable and also easy-to-prepare.

BANANA TURON

Ingredients:
6 pcs Cavendish banana (saba), cut in half (lenghtwise)
1 cup ripe Jackfruit
1 ½ cup brown sugar
12 pcs spring roll wrapper
2 cups cooking oil




Watch the cooking video:

Suman sa Ibus

(Photo by: Elmer Nocheseda)

Suman sa Ibus is a rice cake originating from the Philippines.  It is  made from glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and often steamed in banana leaves.  It is served wrapped in buli or buri palm leaves and usually eaten sprinkled with sugar. 

Ingredients:

3 cups Sticky Rice (Glutinous Rice)

2 cups coconut milk

1 tbsp. salt

young Coconut Leaves (Wrapping)


Procedure:



1.  Wash rice and place it is a bowl and soak the rice in coconut milk and salt. Leave it for 2o minutes or until the rice absorb the coconut milk.

2.  Wrap the mixture (do not fill then up completely)

3.  Place the Suman in a large bowl. Fill them with water until the Suman is completely immersed.
4.  Boil it for 25 minutes until the Suman is cooked.

5.  Serve it with sugar and mango.



Wrapping Option: You can use banana leaves but you need to cook the rice first (3 cups of rice to 3 cups of water combined with coconut milk) wrap it using banana leaves and steam for a while. The leaves will give a natural aroma to the rice. Desperately enough, you can use aluminum foil instead.

Guinataang Bilo Bilo ( Rice Balls with Coconut Milk )

Ginataan, alternatively spelled guinataan, is a Filipino term which refers to food cooked with "gata" - the Filipino word for coconut milk. Literally translated , ginataan means "done with coconut milk".  Due to general nature of the term, it can refer to a number of different dishes, each called ginataan, but distinct from one another. If gummy balls made of pounded  glutinous rice are added, it becomes a dish called bilo-bilo.

1 cup malagkit ( glutinous rice flour )

1 cup sugar

3 cups coconut milk. diluted with 1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

2 cups large pearl tapioca (sago)

1 1/2 cups coconut cream

langka (jackfruit), cut in strips (optional)

1.  Blend flour and water and blend them into dough.  Shape into balls measuring 1/4 diameter. 

2.  In a large pot, bring coconut milk, sugar, and tapioca to a boil.  When tapioca turns transparent in color, add the rice balls.

3.  Add remaining pure coconut milk when the rice balls are soft and firm.  Boil for 5 more minutes.

4.  Serve hot.

Won Ton Cheese Sticks

It's perfect for snack! :)

1 package won ton wrappers (100 pieces)

1 large bar Cheddar cheese (500 grams)

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon cornstarch, plus additional for dusting

1/2 cup cooking oil

Sugar for dusting (optional )

1.  Put won ton wrappers on a clean plate or cutting board.  Slice cheese lengthwise into sticks and set aside on a clean plate.

2.  Pour water into a small bowl and add the cornstarch.  Mix water and cornstarch until smooth.

3.  Put a cheese stick diagonally on the center of two (stuck together) won ton wrappers.  Fold the opposite ends of the wrappers onto the cheese.  Fold pointed end of wrappers over then under the cheese.  Roll wrappers just until the tip.

4.  Mix together water and cornstarch.  Dip a tablespoon lightly into the water/cornstarch mixture and use this to moisten the tip of the wrapper.  This acts as a "paste" to seal the wrappers.  Fold the wrapper completely and press to seal tightly. 

     Repeat with remaining wrappers and cheese sticks.

5.  Put all the wrapped cheese sticks into a large tray or plate and wipe surfaces with clean paper towel.  Or dust lightly with cornstarch.

     Put frying pan on stove and turn on the burner.  Let heat one minute then pour in cooking oil.  Let cooking oil heat about one minute.  Put 4 to 5 pieces cheese sticks into the hot oil.  Let cook until bottom side turns brown.

     Turn cheese sticks over to brown other side evenly.

     Remove cheese sticks from pan and drain on paper towels.  Repeat with remaining cheese sticks.

     If desired, dust with sugar before serving.

Courtesy: Food Magazine

Champorado........ Chocolicious :)

Champorado or Tsamporado is a sweet chocolate rice porridge.  It is usually made by boiling sticky rice with cocoa powder, giving it distinctly brown color and usually with milk and sugar to make it taste sweeter .  You can use evaporated milk or powdered milk.... but I prefer powdered milk for myself.  It can be served hot or cold and it is mostly eaten during breakfast... but it can also be served during mid-afternoon snacks ( merienda ).  It is one of the favorite dish here in the Philippines. 

Ingredients:
8 tbsp cocoa powder (or about 4 pieces tableya)
1 cup glutinous rice (malagkit)  or you can use plain rice
1/2 cup sugar
3  1/2 cups water
evaporated milk or powdered milk
condensed milk (optional )

Cooking procedure:
1. Pour 2 1/2 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil
2. Put-in the glutinous rice and allow water to re-boil for a few minutes
3. Dilute the cocoa powder in 1 cup warm water then pour-in the pot. Stir continuously
4. Once the glutinous rice is cooked (about 12 to 18 minutes of cooking with constant stirring), add the sugar and cook for another 5 minutes or until the texture becomes thick.
5. Remove from the pot and place in a serving bowl.
6. Serve hot with a swirl of condensed milk, evaporated milk or powdered milk on top.

Ginanggang . . . . Grilled Banana

Ginanggang is a grilled banana (saba or cardava) on a skewer brushed with margarine and rolled in sugar.  It is way better than maruya or fried saba and it is costs for only 5 pesos.  I always buy 2 sticks of ginanggang for my snack.... : ) 

photo by pinaylighterside