Pork Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew)

One of the Filipino dishes that I think foreigners find exotic is dinuguan. If you tell them that the dish has pork blood on it, they will probably be mortified. Who wouldn't? Lol. The first time I served it to my daughter, I told her it is 'chocolate meat'. She loved it and would request for it once in a while. But since I stay away from pork, I only cook it during parties, when friends would request for my dinuguan.

Some countries also uses blood in their dish. Dinuguan is somewhat similar to blood sausage in Europe, blood pudding in UK, fritada in Guam or the zcernina in Poland.

The origin of dinuguan is dated back in ancient Greece, where Spartans eat melas zomos, or black soup. It is made of pork, pork blood and vinegar. Philippine dinuguan, however has innards included in the dish. I would prefer adding pork ear instead. It adds exture to the dish.

Here is the recipe for my version of dinuguan, which I have come up with after years of cooking it.

Ingredients


5     lbs                   pork, cut in cubes
3     containers     frozen pork blood
3     medium         onion, chopped
3     pcs                  bell pepper (green or red), chopped
1     cup                 apple cider vinegar
2     tbsp                ginger, chopped
2     tbsp                garlic, minced
2     pcs                  tomatoes, chopped
1     pc                    onion stalk
3     pcs                  jalapeño pepper, chopped
2     tbsp                salt
2     tbsp                pepper
1/4  cup                 vegetable oil

Procedure

1.  In a big pot, heat oil. Sauté ginger, garlic, half of onion. And tomatoes.

2.  Add the pork. Cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add the apple cider vinegar. Cook for 40 minutes.

4. Add bell pepper and the rest of the onion. Cook for another 20 or until pork is tender.

5. Add onion stalk, jalapeño pepper, salt, pepper and thawed pork blood. Simmer for at least 5 minutes.

6. Serve with rice or puto

Skinless Chicken Longanisa (Chicken Sausage)

Aside from tocino, we Filipinos love longanisa. Either pork or chicken longanisa. With or without casing (skinless). We eat it especially with fried garlic rice and sunny side up egg (longsilog). Best eaten at breakfast, but nothing stops us from eating it for lunch or dinner. Spicy vinegar for dipping sauce, but some prefer to eat it with diced tomatoes. Either one works for me.

Longanisa or longaniza is a Spanish sausage. It is similar to chorizo. Best known longanisa in the Philippines are in Lucban, Quezon and northern provinces like Pampanga and Ilocos region. In fact, Vigan, a city in Ilocos Sur, holds a yearly Longanisa Festival. It is celebrated during The Vigan City Fiesta which is held starting January 25th every year and lasts for several days. The festival or fiesta is done to promote tourism in Ilocos provinces.

Longanisa tastes different from each region. For example, Vigan longanisa has garlic but yellow in color and the taste is similar to Mexican salami. It is sour and salty. While Lucban longanisa also has lots of garlic but is red in color due to spices added to it (achuete). Longanisa from Pampanga is sweeter in flavor.

This is my first attempt to make home made chicken longanisa. I didn't put preservatives or extenders because I want it to be as healthy as possible. When I was done wrapping it all, I thought of making it healthier by adding jicama (singkamas) or carrots. I plan to do that on my second batch of skinless chicken longanisa.

Here is the recipe for skinless chicken longanisa

Ingredients

1       lb              ground chicken
4       cloves      garlic, minced
2       tbsp          ketchup
1/4    cup           soy sauce
1/2    cup           brown sugar
2       tbsp          vinegar
1       tsp             salt
2       tsp             pepper
1       pc              whole egg
1/2    cup           all purpose flour

Plastic wrap or wax paper

Procedure

1. Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

2. Cut plastic wrap ( 3 inches by 4 inches)

3. Place 2 tbsp of the chicken mixture near the end of the wrap. Fold the wrap over the chicken. Fold on the sides.

4. Refigerate overnight.

5. To cook, heat 1/4 cup oil on a pan. Fry the longanisa until golden brown.

6. Serve with fried rice and sunny side up egg.

Spanish Bread

I remember during my high school days, I would always buy Spanish bread and orange soda. Same snack almost every day (there are days when I would buy ensaymada). I never get tired of it.  It is one of the Filipino bread I love. I love it especially when freshly baked (like pandesal). It smells so good and tastes divine!

There is no known origin for Spanish bread. Spain doesn't have a bread like it. I have searched many times and I can't find anything about the origin of Spanish bread.

Here in Chicagoland, not a lot of Filipino stores have Spanish bread. It's a little bit frustrating. I would sometimes order from a friend who ships the bread from California just to be able to eat it. Yes, that is how much I love Spanish bread.

But then knowing me, you would ask, 'Didn't you try experimenting on Spanish bread?'. As a matter of fact, I did. A few times already. But there is one thing I discovered in myself. I don't like making dough! I don't really enjoy it, but then I had to do it if I want to be able to eat Spanish bread. A little bit of sacrifies for the love of the bread. Lol.

Here is the recipe for Spanish bread

Ingredients

Dough

3           cups      bread flour
1           cup        all purpose flour
3           pcs         egg yolk
1/2        cup        water
1/2        cup        2% milk
1           pouch    active yeast
1           tsp         salt
1/2        cup        butter
1/2        cup        sugar

Filling

1/2        cup        breadcrumbs
1/2        cup        brown sugar
1/2        cup        butter


Breadcrumbs

Procedure

Making the dough - mix the yeast with water.  Wait 5 minutes until its bubbly. Set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add eggyolk, butter and milk. Then add the yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly. Let rise for at least 2 hours.

When dough is ready, cut into small pieces. Flatten the dough ( 2 x 4 inches). Add the filling. Roll it up.  Sprinkle with breacrumbs.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350°F.

Palitaw (Boiled Rice Cake)

Back home, one of the rice cakes (kakanin) that I like to eat is palitaw. Palitaw literally means 'to float'. It is called as such because of the way it is cooked. Usually 'kakanins' are either steamed or baked. But palitaw is different because it is boiled. The dough is cooked in a boiling water until it rises to the surface or 'litaw' hence it is called palitaw. The 'cakes are then coated with coconut flakes, sugar and toasted sesame seeds to give texture and flavor.

Palitaw originally came from Pangasinan, a province on the northern part of the Philippines. Original recipe uses 'galapong'. It is the washed, soaked and ground sticky rice. Nowadays, to make the recipe simplier, glutinous rice flour is used.

I have always wanted to experiment on palitaw and never seem to have time to do it. Until today. I didn't know how easy it was to make it. It only takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. And cooking time is only 10 minutes or less.

Here is the recipe for palitaw.

Ingredients

2     cups         glutinous rice flour
2     cups         water
1     cup           toasted sesame seeds
1     cup           white sugar
1     pack         coconut flakes

Procedure

Mix the glutinous rice flour and water until you form a dough. Then shape them into dough balls. Flatten using your palm. Set aside.

Mix toasted sesame seeds with white sugar. Set aside.

In a pot, boil water. Once it is boiling, add the flattened dough in the pot until the cakes rises to the surface. Let it cool for a minute.

Coat the cake with coconut flakes on both sides. Then coat it also on both sides with sesame seeds and sugar mix.

Enjoy your palitaw!!!

Home-made Chicken Tocino

Even since I stopped eating pork and beef, I have missed certain dishes that are so delicious and yet I have to tell myself it is part of my sacrifies for eating healthy. I would eat chicken dishes occasionally, but I still miss pork and beef dishes. But then I thought, wait, it is the flavor that I miss, and not the meat. And so that is one of the reasons why I experiment on food. For example, I love embotido (meatloaf) and lumpiang shanghai, so I used ground turkey instead of ground pork. That way, I don't have to 'sacrifies' as much. Healthy eating and healthy lifestyle should be fun and enjoyable.

One dish that we Filipinos can't live without is tocino. Tocino is  'bacon' in Spanish. Pork belly is typically used. We eat tocino for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We combine it with sunny side up egg and fried rice (tocilog). And of course don't forget the spicy vinegar as dipping sauce. Some prefers sliced tomatoes instead of vinegar. So yummy!! But to tell the truth,.I haven't eaten tocino in years! Imagine! I really miss the sweet taste of tocino in contrast to the spicy and sour taste of vinegar. This is when I thought of making chicken tocino.

Chicken tocino is not readily available in Asian and Filipino market. So I thought of making one myself. Making your own tocino is ideal because you won't be using preservatives and other chemicals they use in tocino. It is very easy to do, only takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.

First you would need skinless and boneless chicken legs (drumsticks). Sometimes stores don't have skinless and boneless one, and if they do, the price is doubled. Unless you prefer chicken breast so you wouldn't have to skin and de-bone. But in my opinion, drumsticks or thigh is better for tocino making.

So I bought 2 lbs of chicken legs. Now the challenge is how to skin and de-bone it. After a few tries, I was able to do it. Happy that I learned something new today. First, you need to cut the skin lengthwise towards the tip of the drumstick. This way, you could easily peel off the skin. Next find the area where the muscles (meat) are seperated. Cut through it to totally separate the meat. Using scissors, detach it from the bone. So easy to do. We now have skinless and boneless chicken legs.

But wait.... don't throw the skin and bone! You could make a chicken stock out of it by boiling it with 2 cups water!

After a few research and a few trials, I came up with my own version of chicken tocino. Below is my recipe which I'm happy to share with you.

Ingredients

2      lbs        chicken legs, skinless and deboned
1      cup       pineapple juice
1.      tbsp.    achuete oil
1/2   cup       brown sugar
1      tbsp      salt
1/2    tbsp      pepper
4      cloves  garlic, minced
2      pcs        star anise
2      pcs        bayleaf

Mix all.the ingredients. Marinate overnight.

Fry in pan with vegetable oil. Enjoy your tocino!!

Maja Blanca con maiz (Coconut milk pudding with corn)

It was several years ago when I started experimenting on maja blanca. I wanted to make a different dessert, aside from leche flan, for my daughter's birthday party. I like maja blanca because it is one of the desserts that doesn't have to be sweet. Although the original recipe doesn't include condensed milk, I added it to make my version creamier and different from others. Gelatin can also be used instead of corntarch. Original recipe uses coconut curd or 'latik' as topping. But I opted to use toasted coconut flakes for added texture, and again, to be different.

Maja blanca is Spanish in origin (obviously). It literaly means 'white beauty'. It is a traditional holiday dessert in Spain that is called manjar blanco.

Below is the recipe for my version of maja blanca con maiz.

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes


Ingredients

2      cans       coconut milk
1/2   can         condensed milk
1      can         cream-style corn
1/2   cup         cornstarch
1/2   cup         2% milk
1/2   cup         sugar
1/2   cup         toasted coconut flakes

Procedure

Usually, sweetend coconut flakes are available in the store. Just slighly toast it in a pan until its golden brown, set aside.

In a pot, pour in coconut milk and bring to a boil.

Add sugar, condensed milk and cream style corn. Simmer for at least 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, dissolve corntarch in 2% milk. Add to the pot. Stir continuously until desired thickness is reached.

Transfer to a tray, sprinkle toasted coconut flakes on top. Let cool.

Hope you guys can also try this delicious dessert!