Crema de Fruta

Crema de Fruta

(Fruity Refrigerator Cake)

Ingredients:

500 grams all-purpose cream

168 grams sweet condensed milk

Graham crackers

fruit cocktail, drained

unflavored gelatin powder

  

Cooking Instructions:

Pour the all-purpose cream and sweet condensed milk in a bowl at room temperature.  Mix well.  Feel free to adjust the amount of condensed milk.  Make sure that the amount of cream is always greater than the amount of condensed milk.  Chill the mixture for at least six hours.

Layer Graham crackers on a square or rectangular container.  Pour in the chilled cream mixture on top.  Set another layer of Graham crackers on top of the cream and top it off with another layer of the cream.  Repeat this procedure until you have your desired height.  This is where your personal style comes in.  If you want a more compact cake, apply the cream mixture thinly and stack more layers; if you want a creamy cake, stack less layers and apply more cream.  Once you are satisfied with everything, top the cake with drained fruit cocktail.

Dissolve the gelatin powder in boiling water.  Make sure to follow the instructions on the sachet.  Cool the mixture slightly while making sure that it is still fluid.  Scoop small volumes of the gelatin mixture and pour over the fruits.  The purpose of adding gelatin is to ‘cement’ the fruits together so they don’t fall apart when you take a slice of the cake.  Once the gelatin cools to room temperature and solidifies, chill the cake for at least six hours.

In the photo:  I tried using a trapezoid-like container for the cake.  Though I ended up with a delicious slice, take note that some of the gelatin ran off on the sides and soaked some parts of the cake.  I also used more layers of Graham crackers and less cream in between.  Notice that the cake is compact and you can’t easily distinguish each layer.  There are actually ten layers of Graham crackers on this cake!

Pinatisang Baboy

Pinatisang Baboy

(Pork Cooked in Fish Sauce)

Ingredients:

½ kilo pork, cut into cubes

10 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium bulb onion, chopped

6 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 table spoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon black pepper, ground

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 dried blades of bay leaf

Cooking Instructions:

Mix the following in a pot: pork, white vinegar, soy sauce, ground black pepper, half of the minced garlic, and four tablespoons fish sauce.  Marinate for 30 minutes.  Cook in low flame and stir occasionally.  If the mixture dries up and the pork is still not tender, add water.  Continue cooking in low flame until the liquid is reduced and the pork is tender.  Remove from the stove.

In a pre-heated pan, pour in the cooking oil and sauté the remaining garlic until medium brown.  Toss in the onion.  When the onion is tender, add the remaining fish sauce (approximately two tablespoons).  Stir in the cooked pork mixture from the pot.  Put the bay leaf.  Stir and let it simmer in a covered pan for not more than five minutes. 

This recipe will serve up to four people.

Additional Notes:  You may reduce the amount of fish sauce that you will be using.  Every fish sauce sold in the market has its own characteristic saltiness.  Jufran Thai fish sauce was used in this recipe.

Turon na may Keso

Turon na may Keso

(Cheesy Banana Spring Roll)

Ingredients:

4 medium Saba banana, peeled

4 tablespoons brown sugar

8 pieces spring roll (lumpia) wrapper

cheddar cheese

cooking oil

Cooking Instructions:

Slice the banana into two lengthwise.  Cut the cheddar cheese such that its width is almost half of the sliced banana.  Sprinkle brown sugar on both sides of the banana before placing on a piece of spring roll wrapper.  Place the cheddar cheese next to it and roll them together (see Additional Notes).  Fry in cooking oil until golden brown.

This recipe will serve up to four people.

Additional Notes:  These are additional instructions on making the spring roll.  Lay the wrapper on a clean plate.  Place the banana and cheese on one side of the wrapper, usually the side closest to you.  Cover the banana and cheese using the edge of the wrapper, then roll them together.  Halfway through, fold the left and right edges towards the center then roll all the way through.  Moisten the final edge with water to seal the contents in.  

Ginisang Gulay sa Oyster Sauce

Ginisang Gulay sa Oyster Sauce

(Sautéed Vegetables in Oyster Sauce)

Ingredients:

300 g eggplant, sliced

300 g string beans, cut to pieces

¼ kg ground pork or beef

5 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon fish sauce

6 to 10 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium bulb onion, chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, cut to strips

60 g oyster sauce

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:

On a heated frying pan, brown the sliced eggplants.  Do not put oil.  Remove eggplants from the pan.  Put oil in the pan and throw in the string beans.  Stir fry until slightly tender.  Remove the string beans while draining the oil back into the pan.  Put the ground pork or beef and fry until brown and crispy.  Put the meat on one side of the frying pan to make room for the spices.  Toss in the garlic and sauté until medium brown.  Add the onions and stir until slightly tender.  Add fish sauce and mix in the meat.  Stir for a few minutes.  Add the eggplant, string beans, red bell pepper, and ground black pepper.  Stir in the oyster sauce.  Mix well for not more than three minutes.

This recipe will serve up to three people.

Additional Notes:  Do not fry the eggplants in oil.  Eggplants absorb oil and you may end up adding more oil just to fry the eggplants properly.  Once the eggplants are cooked, the oil is released and you will end up with a very oily dish.  Do take note that you may add more oyster sauce than what was indicated here.  However, too much oyster sauce may make your dish very salty.

Adobong Manok sa Pinya

Adobong Manok sa Pinya

(Chicken Adobo in Pineapple)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons cooking oil

1 thumb-size ginger, cut to strips

10 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons fish sauce

½ kilo chicken breast fillet

3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce

240 mL unsweetened pineapple juice

2 tablespoons black pepper, freshly ground

432 g pineapple chunks, drained

Cooking Instructions:

Heat the cooking oil in the pan.  Toss in the ginger.  When the ginger turns light brown, add garlic and sauté until medium brown.  Put fish sauce.  Mix until the fish sauce is reduced.  Stir in the chicken.  Cover the pan and allow the chicken to be boiled in its own juice.  Since this recipe used chicken breast fillet, boiling the chicken for five minutes is enough.  Add the pineapple juice and soy sauce.  Stir occasionally until the sauce thickens.  Add ground black pepper and pineapple chunks.

This recipe will serve up to four people.

Adobong Sitaw

Adobong Sitaw

(Stringbean Adobo)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons cooking oil

10 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium bulb onion, chopped

3 tablespoons fish sauce

½ kilo stringbeans

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup vinegar

1 tablespoon black pepper, freshly ground

Cooking Instructions:

Heat the cooking oil in the pan.  Add garlic and sauté until medium brown.  Add the onion and stir until slightly tender.  Put fish sauce.  Mix until the fish sauce is reduced.  Add the stringbeans and soy sauce.  Cover and simmer in low to medium heat with occasional stirring.  Once the stringbeans are tender, add vinegar.  Do not stir.  Cover and just allow the mixture to simmer for at least three minutes.  Add more vinegar if necessary to balance with the saltiness of the soy sauce.  Add the freshly ground black pepper.  Cover and simmer for another minute. 

This recipe will serve up to four people.

Menudo

Menudo

(Pork and Tomato Stew)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons cooking oil

10 to 15 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium bulb onion, minced

10 tablespoons fish sauce

10 tablespoons soy sauce

30 medium red tomatoes, seeds removed

1½ kilo pork, cut into cubes

½ kilo pork liver, cut into cubes

3 medium carrots, sliced

3 medium potatoes, cut into cubes

2 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
10 blades dried bay laurel leaves

1 tablespoon annatto seeds (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

Mix the pork, pork liver, tomatoes, garlic, onion, soy sauce and laurel leaves in a large bowl.  Marinate for at least 30 minutes. 

Heat the cooking oil in a pan.  Fry the carrots and potatoes separately for five minutes each.  Set aside the fried vegetables.  Turn the heat to low setting.  Toss in the annatto seeds and stir for not more than a minute.  Remove the annatto seeds and toss in the garlic.  You may turn up the heat at this point.  When the garlic turns medium brown, add the onion and stir until slightly tender.  Put fish sauce.  Mix until the fish sauce is reduced.  Put the marinated mixture and cover.  Stir occasionally until the pork meat is tender.  Add water if necessary.  Once the pork meat is tender, reduce the water until the sauce slightly thickens.  Add fish sauce or soy sauce if necessary.  Put the carrots, potatoes and bell pepper.  Cover and simmer for a few minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.    

This recipe will serve up to eight people.

Additional Notes:  The annatto seeds are used to add color to the sauce.  Be careful when heating the seeds in oil, prolonged heating and high temperature will infuse a bitter taste to the food.  Some people use hot water to extract the colorant from the seeds.  Tomato paste may be used as a substitute for fresh tomatoes.