Luto Ni Nanay

sincere confessions of a hearty eater and collection of recipes inspired by Mom's Cuisine

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Showing posts with label Foods We Miss. Show all posts

One of many things I missed back home is the availability of good food any time. When I said anytime, I mean even on 12 midnight. Oh yeah, small restaurants that we called carinderia (eatery) are open 24 hours a day. They can really make my tummy happy always.

These eateries normally serve foods like congee (lugaw) and rice combos such as ToSiLog, LongSiLog, CornSiLog, TapSiLog and the menu continues. The rice combo meals compose of meat of your choice, fried rice (sinangag) and fried egg (itlog). That is where the names came from.

I am a big fan of these dishes so imagine my dismay waking up late and wanting to have them but no eatery around to serve me those. Well, I'm far away from home but I can keep some in my fridge for rainy days. There is a solution for every craving.

Beef Tapa

Easy

Serves: 2

Prep: 12 - 24 hours

Ingredient List:

½ kilograms sirloin beef (thinly sliced)

4 tbsp soy sauce

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

4 tbsp white sugar

1 whole lemon (squeezed)

Preparation Method:

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, salt, ground black pepper, white sugar and lemon juice.
Slice the beef thinly and put in a container with lid.
Pour the pre-mixed seasonings and mix thoroughly.
Put in refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.
After marinating for the 24 hours, the tapa is now ready for frying.

Recipe by : Luto ni Nanay (Mom’s Cuisine)

I simply miss the warm afternoon back home. That's the perfect time to grab something for snacks or street foods. Although, I can find something like fishball, siopao and dumplings here in North-West part of the world, still they're not good enough or let's say, I just truly miss what we have in Philippines.

But these will do for now. "Kain tayo!!!"

My hometown take pride on its famous and delicious sticky rice cake or locally known as kutsinta. To be honest, I have no idea on how to cook this dessert until a good friend of mine share her recipe with me. Although I adjust the sugar content base on how sweet I want it to be. Other than that, I find this recipe very good and you'll definitely ask for more.

Making kutsinta is very easy. Just be careful in putting the lye water, too much and too little can ruin the chewiness of this great dessert. This is a tested recipe and 1 teaspoon of lye water is perfect for amount of the rest of my ingredients.

Naturally, kutsinta is kind of orange in color and that is because of the brown sugar reacting well with the rest of the ingredients. Some use annato seeds to make the orange color more deep. Some use food grade colorant to play with the colors of kutsinta just like I had below. But of course, that is all up to you. Though next time around, I would prefer making it without any food colors.

Kutsinta

Ingredients:

1 cup tapioca flour

1 cup self-raising flour

1 3/4 cup brown sugar

3 cups water

1 teaspoon lye water (lihiya)
grated coconut

Procedures:

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients starting with the self-raising flour and tapioca flour. Then gradually add the rest of the ingredients.
Strain the mixture using fine mesh strainer. This is to eliminate lumps in your mixture.
Whatever container you will use in steaming, make sure to fill it halfway to avoid spilling during the process. I use muffin moulds or deep chutney pots.
Stream the mixture for 45 minutes or until the mixture is firm enough for you.
Let it cool and topped it with grated coconut if you wish.

Our friends came back from Philippines and I am so thankful for the Hopia and Pinipig Polvoron pasalubong they gave us. These are my favorites. I am going to enjoy these so much...yummy.

" Thank you Mr. and Mrs. G."

Hopia and Polvoron

Note to my non-Filipino readers, pasalubong is a gift usually given by one arriving from trip.

When I was a child I always request my mom to buy me Magnolia Chocolait. And if she does, my grin was like a Cheshire cat. During our recent visit to a local shop that sells Filipino foods, I was surprised to see a box of this delicious drink. I was even more surprised that it tasted the same.

This is definitely included in my list of foods we miss so much.

Magnolia Chocolait

Sisig is very popular in the Philippines. Most Filipino restaurants have this in their menu. It is commonly made of pig's ear, pig's face and pork liver. In this particular recipe I used loin steak (pork chops) and pork liver. It was my first time to cook this dish, but I'm so glad that it turned out well. Hubby enjoyed it a lot and so did I.

Sizzling Sisig

Back when I was a child, my favorite chocolate was called "adong". I used to buy them in retail, about 4 small pieces for 25 cents. With the introduction of Hershey's, Cadbury, Ferrero and other brands, I'm glad that "Lala" can still found in the market. But you must buy a whole pack for Php 6 or 7, if I'm not mistaken. I think it comes in different flavor now like ube (purple yum) which can be really good.

I call this ADONG.

Here's my list of top chocolate brands that I tasted and will definitely recommend.

Lala (Adong - Only in the Philippines)
Toblerone White
Ferrero Rocher
Lindt
Thorthons
Guylian
Hershey's Kisses
Cadbury
Snickers
M & M's
Malteser's
Butlers
M & S Swiss White Chocolate

This list will be updated every now and then because I know there's a lot to try. What is your favorite chocolate brand?

Back in the Philippines, halo-halo is one dessert that most Filipinos love. Some foreign friends of ours find it weird because it has fruits and vegetables mixed together. Some of them like it but some doesn't.

Obviously, I love this so much and I miss it very often. I also miss the fact that you just need to go to Chowking and you'll have it any season of the year. Well, we're fortunate still because we have great Filipino friends here who frequently invite us in their home to have Filipino meals. And just days ago, we had very good halo-halo that comprised of 10 or more ingredients in it. Truly yummy.

Halo-Halo

I can also do this at home but the preparation of each ingredients is too much for one person. Knowing that halo-halo is better if has more ingredients as possible, I think it will be hard for me to do it. Plus I don't have a good device to shave the ice.

Halo-halo Ingredients

In the Filipino shop here, you can buy a ready-made ingredients. It has 4 or 5 ingredients in a bottle. It's okay but it's not very good. You can literally count how many pieces of beans, jackfruit or nata de coco in there. Yes, it is pretty much limited.

For the two big glasses of halo-halo below, we used frozen milk in a carton and shaved it with knife. DIY here is very common especially when you can't find the right tool to do things.

Easy Version of Halo-halo

Summer here is nearly over but as we always say, here's to "huling hirit sa tag-init".

Let me make myself clear, I don't eat the whole balut or balot. I just drink the juice and eat the yolk part or as we said it "pula" (red part - I know it's not red). The other parts will be for whoever I'm with which is usually my husband.

I remember when I was a child, a balut vendor shouts "Balut, Penoy" and all of a sudden you'll see people coming out of their houses to buy this most awaited street-food. I often have 'penoy' or the one similar to hard-boiled egg. Most likely I will also buy a bag of pork crackling hanging at the side of vendor's basket. That is one classic scenario and I don't want to forget it.

Balut

I know not all people can eat this type of food. That's why some reality TV show challenge their guests to eat balut. Old people who loves balut says, "eat it with your eyes close".

Now, do I miss this? I certainly do, I just need to close my eyes. Oh wait, I still see it even if I close my eyes.

Even though I cook a lot, there's a point where I can't do anything to prepare or cook a certain recipe. Like for example this Lechon or roast pig. I'm certain that I can't do it here.

Lechon

I wish a picture can satisfy our craving for the foods we miss. But that will never happen. Still, here's a new category you will find in this blog to help you with your desire for more Filipino foods. I call it "Foods We Miss".

Happy craving :)

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Cooking with love, eating with joy, and keeping family memories alive one recipe at a time. Sharing homemade goodness, food discoveries, and little stories along the way. You're always welcome in my little kitchen!

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