Buko Pandan

Note: I know it's not the yummiest picture you've ever seen but I just snapped that as we were preparing our Christmas feast, so please bear with it.



Ingredients:

• buko (young coconut), cut into strips
  
• all-purpose cream
• condensed milk
• tiny tapioca balls (optional)

*** for the gelatin:

• gelatin powder (if you can find a green-colored one, better)
  
• pandan leaves
• water
• green food color
• sugar (optional)

Procedures:

• Ratio of ingredients - In a mixture of 6 young coconuts and 1 big tray of green gelatin, I used 2 tetra packs of all-purpose cream and 2 cans of condensed milk, the quantity of tapioca balls depends on you, you can put as much or as little as you want.

*** for the gelatin:

• In a cooking pot, mix 7 cups of water and gelatin powder, when it completely dissolves, add a few pandan leaves (be sure to clean the leaves thoroughly) and then cook in medium heat. Add the green food color if you happen to buy a clear gelatin but if you have it in green, just let it be. If you want to add some sugar, you can do so. Simmer for a few minutes and then bring it to a boil, remember to stir from time to time as it might stick in the pot if you don't.
• Pour the gelatin mixture in a shallow tray or baking dish and let it cool. Cut into cubes and set aside.

*** for the actual buko pandan:

• Mix all the ingredients (preferably in a big plastic canister with cover so you can freeze it), buko strips, gelatin cubes, tapioca balls, all-purpose cream, condensed milk.
  
• Taste test and do the necessary alterations if there's any.
• Chill and serve cold.
  

Tip: If you're going to serve your buko pandan frozen, I suggest you leave the tapioca balls out, it is fun to eat when it's gummy but when it's hard, it's kinda unappetizing.


An entry to:

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Lechon Kawali (Pan-Fry Roasted Pork)

One of my favorite dish in the whole wide world *lol*, I've been eating and requesting for this dish to be in our Noche Buena table since I was a kid, but this year it was my turn to try it. I remember bugging my lola almost every week to cook some Lechon Kawali for me, I saw her do it more than a hundred times but I never got interested in cooking it on my own, hello ayoko kaya matilamsikan ng mantika noh but now that I did, I think I'll get used to making some, and I know that my granny is super proud of me up there in heaven.


Ingredients:

• liempo/pork belly
• water
• salt and peppercorn
• oil
• garlic and laurel leaf (optional)
  

Procedures:

• Boil the pork belly in a mixture of water, salt and peppercorn until the meat (and skin) is tender. You can also add some garlic and laurel leaf if you like.
• Drain, cool and air dry. If you can do it under the sun, that's better.
• Deep fry the slabs of pork belly until crisp or until blisters pop in the skin meat, be sure to submerge the whole thing. And be very careful, blasts of oil missiles are sure to come your way, be prepare grab a shield, a pot cover will do *lol*.
• Drain in a paper towel and cut to serving pieces.
• Serve with a lechon sauce, atchara or any other dip you may prefer.
  

Happy eating!


An entry to:

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Chicken Pesto Penne

My version of Pizza Hut's Chicken Pesto Penne, I cooked this for our New Year's Eve feast, it was my first time to try it without a concrete recipe to boot but to my amazement it was an instant favorite amongst my family, either luck was on my side or I'm really getting good at this craft *grins*.

And as I am super proud of my work, though I'm sure it won't compare to the recipes of other foodies, I am joining Presto Pasta Nights which is hosted this week by Gay of A Scientist in the Kitchen.


Ingredients:

• penne pasta (500g, San Remo)
• 1 chicken breast (or as much as you like)
  
• 1 big can of evaporated milk
• 1 tetra pack of all-purpose cream
• 1/2 bar of cheddar cheese, cubed or grated
  
• 3-4 tablespoon of Barilla Pesto alla Genovese
• olive oil
• butter
• fish sauce or salt
  
• pepper
• sugar (optional)
  

Procedures:

• Boil the chicken until tender. Cut the meat into cubes (as I did) or you can just shred it. Set aside.
• Cook the penne as instructed on the packaging. Put the chicken bones on the water that you'll use to cook the pasta to add flavor.
• Heat a pan or wok and pour an adequate amount of olive oil for sauteing, add a little amount of butter to enhance its taste.
• Saute 3-4 tablespoons (or as much as you prefer) of pesto.
  
• Add the chicken meat, some salt or fish sauce (I prefer the fish sauce as it adds a little tang to the dish) and a little of ground pepper, and saute some more.
• Add the all purpose cream and the evaporated milk while constantly stirring.
  
• Before it reach its boiling point, drop the cheese, stir and let it simmer for a few minutes or until the cheese have melted, be sure to keep on stirring from time to time.
• Taste the sauce, if the milk didn't give enough sweetness to counter the taste of pesto, you can add a little sugar, just be sure not to over-indulge, you don't want a penne pesto dessert *grins*. If you want it a little spicy add some more pepper, if you want it more salty add some more salt, you know the drill.
• When you're satisfied and all, bring it to a boil and you're done.
• Toss it with the penne pasta and serve.

My first (hopefully not the last) entry for:

Gelatin

Another Noche Buena treat...


Ingredients:

• gelatin powder
  
• condensed milk
• sugar
• egg, beaten
• water

Procedures:

• Ratio of ingredients - 1 sachet of gelatin powder, 7 cups of water, 1 beaten egg, 1 can of condensed milk and as much sugar as you prefer.
• In a cooking pot, mix the gelatin powder, water and beaten egg. Put it on medium heat to cook but remember to stir constantly until it reach to a boil.
  
• Add the condensed milk and sugar, mix until the sugar dissolves completely and the milk is completely part of the liquid gelatin.
  
• Change to low heat as you transfer the gelatin to your preferred container.
• Garnish it with cheese or any toppings that you like. On the second photo, you'll notice that I add some green jelly cubes, I had that handy as I was making some buco pandan, too.
  
• Let it cool and then refrigerate for an hour or so. Serve cold (or not *grins*).

I doubled the ingredient ratio that I had mentioned above and I was able to make 12 small ones and the big one that I served at our Noche Buena. The small ones I gave to aunts and uncles who visited us last Christmas aside from their gifts, of course *chuckles*.

Chocolate Float

I confess, I invented the name, my brother and I experimented and deliberately stayed away from the usual Graham crackers dessert and, fortunately, we struck jackpot. Chocolate Float = chocolate, obviously, is the flavor and float was taken from the Mango Float, Fiesta Float, etc., all of which are names of Graham cracker desserts. If you think, it's unoriginal, you are welcome to baptize it with a new name, just give me a head's up so I may follow suit *grins*.

Note: The photo doesn't give justice to its taste, if you're willing, I suggest you try it and have a photo op (a better one) on your own. I wasn't able to take another pic as we were obsessed on lighting and watching the New Year's fireworks, when were done the Chocolate Float was gone *lol*.


Ingredients:

• Graham Crackers (if you can find the chocolate flavor, the better)
• all purpose cream
• condensed milk
• chocolate (we used Hershey's Kisses), chopped
  
• chocolate toppings (we used mini Nips)
• butter
  

Procedures:

• *** In a 13 x 9 x 2 in. Pyrex baking dish, we used 2 200g packs of Graham crackers, 1 tetra pack of Nestle all purpose cream, half a can of a 300ml Alaska condensed milk and a pack of Hershey's Kisses. Four kisses and 5 small sachets of mini-Nips for the toppings. That's basically the ratio of ingredients, now, you do the math *grins*.
• In a deep bowl, whip the all purpose cream and the condensed milk until it gets thick and produce a little body (if you have a hand mixer, the less strain on your arms). Set aside.
• In a small pan, melt a little amount of butter over low heat, drop the chopped chocolate Kisses and continuously stir until it melts. Spare a little of that chopped chocolate for the in-between toppings.
  
• Combine the melted chocolate to the cream and milk mixture and whip some more until you get you're desired consistency. Set aside.
• Layer the Graham crackers on the baking dish, pour some of the whipped chocolate cream mixture, spread it with a bread knife until it covers the whole set of Graham crackers and then top it with chocolate bits. The chocolate bits will add crunch and texture to the dessert.
  
• Just repeat the process until you used up all the Graham crackers and the chocolate-cream spread or up until you reach your desired volume or thickness.
• On the last layer, you can forgo the chocolate bits and topped it with Nips minis and whole Hershey's kisses instead. You can choose other topping variants and design it as you like. Do your thing and enjoy.
• Chill and serve.

A kinda late post for:

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Creamy Carbonara

I haven't been posting for a while now, sorry. I was just caught up in the Yuletide rush thus I forgot to do my responsibility to this blog, but I'll make it up and I'll start with the dishes I cooked up last Christmas (Noche Buena) and New Year (Media Noche) celebration. Shall we begin?

Note: Pardon the kinda dry photo of the Carbonara, it took me a little while before I made the shot and the electric fan was switched on high, but I swear it is a Creamy Carbonara *grins*.


Ingredients:

• spaghetti noodles (1k)
• all-purpose cream (2 tetra packs)
• evaporated milk (1 big can)
• condensed milk (1 regular can)
• cheese (1 pack), sliced, cubed or grated
  
• ham, cubed
  
• bacon, slice thinly
  
• mushrooms (1 big can), sliced
  
• pepper
• fish sauce
• butter (1/2-3/4 of a bar)
  
• oil
• water
  

Procedures:

• Cook the spaghetti noodles as instructed on the packaging. Set aside.
• Heat the pan and pour a little oil, just so the butter won't burn. Put the butter and let it melt and heat up a little.
• Put the sliced bacon and fry it on low heat, let the oil and juices of the bacon mix with the butter.
  
• Add the small ham cubes, fry on medium heat until it's cooked (if you want the bacon and ham crispy, you can go ahead and fry those on high heat).
• Add some fish sauce and ground pepper (as many or as little as you want). Saute, until you smell that salty and bacon-y aroma.
• Add the all-purpose cream, the evaporated milk and the condensed milk, one after the other while continuously stirring. Add a little water and then simmer it on low heat.
• Before the sauce reach its boiling point, drop the cheese and stir continuously to prevent the cheese from sticking at the bottom of the pan and to make the melting process faster.
• Put the sliced button mushrooms, incorporate it with the sauce and bring it to a boil.
  
• Taste test the sauce and make the necessary adjustments, also, check its consistency, if you want it thicker, you can dissolve a little amount of flour in water and add it on the sauce, be sure to mix it evenly.
• If everything's to you're liking, then you're ready to serve.
• You can put the spaghetti noodles in one big bowl or cauldron, pour the carbonara sauce and make do with one tossing, this will work well if you don't have any extra sauce or if you're in a hurry. If you wanna make it more gourmet, I suggest, you plate the spaghetti noodles and pour the carbonara sauce on top, garnish with some grated cheese and fresh basil and you're good to go.
  

Happy cooking! Happy eating! Happy New Year!