Puto Cake

I've been doing a lot of Puto variants but only now that I learned about this variant. I have made Puto, Puto Flan, and Puto Pao, and I may say that I can do them confidently (praise God) with less hassle. But I want to prepare something else, the whiter and softer one and so when my cousin taught me about this, it made me want to do it over and over again.

By the way, I learned about this during the quarantine period, tried and sold them when there are orders. So should I read about this blog a year after, I would be reminded that once, this recipe made a way for me to earn.

Ingredients:   

Batter:

- 3 cups Cake flour

- 3 tsp baking powder

- 3/4 cups white sugar

- 1 1/2 cups water

Meringue:

- 8 egg whites

- 3/4 cups white sugar

- 1 cup grated cheese

- 2 crushed salted eggs

You will need: 

- electric hand or stand mixer

- spatula

- steamer

- large size Puto Molder

- two mixing bowls

Procedure: 

Preparing the Batter:

- in a mixing bowl, sift all the dry ingredients of the batter 

- add water

- mix well to avoid lumps

- set aside

Doing the Meringue: 

- in another mixing bowl, put the egg whites

- using a mixer, mix the egg whites on the maximum speed

- when the egg whites start to become foamy, gradually add the sugar 

- continue mixing until all the sugar has been added and the texture has reached its soft peak stage

Combining the Batter and Meringue:

- start with adding 3 cups of Meringue into the Batter, patiently mix well so their colors turns one

- combine the remaining Meringue into the Batter making sure majority of the lumps are eliminated

- pour into the container

- steam for 5-6 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted

- remove from heat, cool down, enjoy :) 

Tips: 

- you may add more sugar depending on your preferred sweetness

- reaching the soft peak of the Meringue takes about some time, so patiently wait

- the number of minutes in steaming depends on the molder you use; if you are using a cake pan, steam it for 25minutes; if you are using small puto molder, steam for 5-6minutes instead

Chocolate Banana Mini Cake

I bought some pieces of fresh banana but it got ripen so easily that I could not enjoy eating it anymore. I don’t want to waste food as much as possible, so I brought out some ingredients and tried making a Chocolate Banana Mini Cake. 

 

Chocolate Banana Mini Cake

Ingredients

- 2 pcs ripe banana, mashed

- ¾ cups all purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- ½ cup cocoa powder

- ½ cup sugar

Procedure

- preheat oven for 10 minutes

- combine rice banana and flour in a mixing bowl, mix well

- add sugar and baking powder, mix well

- add cocoa and mix until evenly distributed

- grease mini cup cake molds

- bake for 10 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

Duldol

Back in Cavite, my late Auntie Rosie used to cook this type of snack for us. I’ve been searching for the recipe of this on the net but could not find the taste that I used to enjoy. I learned from some blogs that this is a southern Philippines version of Maha Blanca. Tastes are different as Maha is sweeter than the Duldol I used to eat.

I reduced the sugar for this recipe so I came up with the taste I’ve wanted to eat.

Duldol

Ingredients:

- 1 cup cornstarch

- 12 tbsp coconut powder

- 4 ½ cups water

- ½ cup sugar

- 1 cup toasted desiccated coconut

Procedure:

- in a bowl, dissolve coconut powder in 4 cups of water, set aside

- in a separate bowl, dissolve cornstarch in ½ cup of water, set aside

- in a pan, boil coconut mixture and sugar to blend

- add the cornstarch mixture, stir continuously until thick

- place in a serving container and top with toasted desiccated coconut

- serve and enjoy

Mini Palabok

Whenever I want to eat Palabok, I just buy Palabok Mix and follow the procedures written at the back of the sachet. I’ve been interested in preparing it without the mix so I searched the net and found some recipes from different sources and tried to combine them. Although the ingredients of this one are not as complete as the others’, I still would want to recommend this for those (like me) who want to eat even other ingredients are not available.

Ingredients:

- 2 500gms Super Q Special Palabok cornstarch sticks

Sauce:

- 2 tbsp cooking oil

- 1 medium sized onion

- 2 shrimp cubes

- 1 can Tuna

- ¼ cup Atsuete dissolved in ¼ cup water

- 5 cups water

- 4 tbsp fish salt

- 4 tbsp all purpose flour dissolved in ¼ cup water

Toppings:

- garlic

- 3 eggs

- 1 pack prawn crackers

- 1 pack cooking shrimps

 

Procedure:

Cooking the toppings:

- deep fry the minced garlic until medium brown

- boil the eggs for 20 minutes, and slice

- fry the prawn crackers, then grind

- boil the shrimps until cooked

Cooking the noodles:

- soak the rice noodles in boiling water for about 15minutes or until cooked

- stir gradually

- remove from heat, do not drain yet, and let stay in hot water for about 20minutes

- drain and transfer to service plate

Cooking the sauce:

- heat oil in a pan

- sauté onion

- add the tuna and shrimp cubes, mix well

- add fish sauce and water

- use a strainer and add the atsuete

- add the flour mixture, stir continuously until thick

- remove from heat

Combining them altogether:

- mix the rice noodles with the sauce

- sprinkle fried garlic, and crushed prawn crackers over the mixture

- add shrimp and arrange the sliced eggs

- enjoy!

Microwave-baked Apple Cake

The absence of conventional ovens (gas range) or electric oven limits me from baking cookies, cupcakes, and other fruit cakes. But upon searching the net, I found out that Microwave Oven can be an alternative baking equipment. Simply called Microwave, it is a kitchen appliance that heats foods by dielectric heating accomplished with microwave type electromagnetic radiation that is used to rotate and heat polarized molecules in food (wikipedia). Further information can be read in wikipedia. 

Apple Cake

This is my second time to use Microwave Oven instead of the conventional ovens in preparing a food. First trial was macaroons and since it is only cooked for very few minutes, there was just a little risk with it. Baking in microwave can be a little risky especially if you are not sure whether the container that you’re using is microwaveable or not. In my case, I am not sure about the rectangular container so I divided my baking time with 2 minutes out of the entire required time, so to check every now and then the container itself. But I made sure that the interval will only be a matter of five seconds or less to reach the desired leavening stage without interruption. 

Ingredients:

- 2 pcs apple, shredded (preferably pink lady)

- butter for greasing

- 1 cup sugar

- 2/3 cup oil

- ½ tsp vanilla

- 2 beaten eggs

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- ½ tsp salt

- confectioners sugar (optional)

Procedure:

- get a microwaveable container and grease with butter

- put in the sugar, oil, and vanilla, mix well

- add the beaten egg, mix well

- gradually add the flour, combine well with the mixture

- add baking soda and salt, combine well

- put inside the microwave oven and on medium heat, set the timer to 10minutes

- let stand inside the microwave for 5 minutes

- set the microwave on high heat, and set the timer for 8 minutes

- dust with confectioners sugar if desired

Fried Cheesy Potato Balls

Craving for salty and cheesy food, I thought of preparing something to suit my taste bud again :). I researched for some recipes and found mashed potato interesting. The recipe that I became interested at requires bread crumbs but my stock is already expired so I did not use it, instead I made a little change. I’m afraid I might get sick (again) if I still use the expired product.

Fried Cheesy Potato Balls

Ingredients

- 2 cups mashed potato

- 2 eggs

- 125g of cheddar cheese

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp cornstarch

Procedure

- boil potato for 30 minutes or until soft

- in a bowl, mash potato

- add egg and mix well

- add onion and salt

- add cornstarch

- shape into balls and deep fry over medium heat until color turns light brown

- top with grated cheese or your favorite cheesewiz

- serve and enjoy!

Notes

* alternatively, cornstarch may no longer needed if you only add 1 egg instead of two

* first frying attempt wasn’t successful so make sure you deep fry it over medium heat

* never over fry so you won't end up having a dark colored potato balls like the two pieces behind

I enjoyed eating it with iced tea :)

Pancake

Another condiment leftover is in line so I got to think again for something I can do with it. I searched the net and found out that pancake can be made using rice flour too. So I grabbed all the other needed ingredients and tried it :)

Pancake rice flour version

Ingredients:
- 1cup rice flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tsp oil

Since the only available is powdered milk, I made use of this combination to have a cup of liquid milk: 6 tbsp dry/powdered milk dissolved in ½ cup of water

Procedure:
- In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients
- gradually add milk
- add egg and oil
- Use a non stick pan to fry for 2-3mins or until the top part is completely dry
- serve with honey

Macaroons using Flour

I’ve been thinking about how to use some condiments left over before going home next month. It will be wasted if I won’t do anything with those. I still have paper cups, brown sugar, and small amount of sweetened coconut flakes which I still don’t know what to do with, until I thought of combining them to make some macaroons – once more. I became interested in knowing if it is possible to make macaroons using a microwave oven (the only thing we have) so I read some forums explaining such. Very timely that a colleague’s wife was able to bake banana cake using a microwave so I thought of doing mine as well. Since I just had to consume what is in the kitchen without buying other ingredients (saving money, time, and energy as well), in this version, I made use of flour as an extender. Here is another macaroon recipe which fits microwave cooking.

Flour Version of Macaroon cooked in Microwave Oven

Ingredients:
- one egg
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/3 of 198gms of sweetened coconut flakes (left over)
- 1 tbsp butter

Directions:
- place the butter into a bowl and cream using a fork
- add all purpose flour, sugar and mix well
- add egg and mix well
- add the sweetened coconut flakes
- scoop 1 ½ teaspoon of the mixture and place in a paper cup (repeat until all the mixture is placed)
- get a microwavable plate and place the macaroons
- microwave in medium heat for 1 ½ minute
- cool down and enjoy!

Siopao Asado

Ate Gie, one of my cousins, and her husband used to make and sell delicious Siopao. May it be Asado or Bola Bola, from the filling, to the dough, to the sauce, their siopao is really tasty and delicious. There were times that I watch them prepare but never imagined I would do the same soon, so I never ask for any of its ingredients. But the moment I craved for it, Internet will always be available to help me :)

This is my version of Mini Siopao Asado

Ingredients
Filling
- 2 lbs pork, chopped
- Garlic, onion
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce

Dough
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 ½ tbsp sugar (for the yeast)
- ½ cup sugar (for the flour)
- 2 tsp yeast
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ tbsp baking powder
- 6 tbsp shortening (alternatively, you can use butter)

Sauce
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 4 tbspwater
- Garlic, onion
- Pepper and salt to taste
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

What you need
- Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Steamer

Procedure
Cook the Filling
- Heat oil, sauté onions and garlic
- Put in the pork until color turns golden brown
- Add soy sauce, oyster, brown sugar then mix well
- Simmer for 15minutes
- Put in the cornstarch (diluted in water) until thick

Make the Dough
- Place warm water in a bowl; add yeast, and sugar and mix, leave the mixture for 10minutes
- In a mixing bowl, combine all purpose flour, baking powder, butter, and the yeast mixture then mix well
- Knead the mixture until the texture becomes fine
- Set aside for at least an hour to let it rise
- Knead and cut into individual slices
- Flatten using a rolling pin
- Put filling on the middle, wrap, and put over 1/8 piece of paper
- Steam for 15 minutes


Cook the sauce
- heat a saucepan and pour in the beef broth, bring to boil
- add onions, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ground black pepper, and simmer for 10minutes
- turn off and strain
- heat a clean saucepan and pour in the filtered mixture, bring to boil
- add the cornstarch diluted in water and stir until thick
- turn off heat and cool down

Enjoy!

Makes 30pcs of mini Siopao

Lumpiang Sariwa

Lumpiang Sariwa is my favorite in Goldilocks and whenever I got the chance, I make sure to order that for snacks. One of my cousins knows how to cook it but the version at Goldilocks is tastier of course. It may not be because it is commercialized but because they may have secret ingredients that my cousin doesn’t know about. :)

Wikipedia explains Lumpia as pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh Popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Southeast Asia. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia, which is an alternate term for popiah. The recipe, both fried and fresh versions, was brought by the Chinese immigrants to Southeast Asia and became popular in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Sariwa is a Filipino term for Fresh. It is not fried unlike the common spring rolls. In the Philippines, Lumpiang Sariwa is known for minced ubod (heart of palm) as its main vegetable ingredients; and the sweet sauce with garlic and peanut garnishing.

For most of the foods that I cook, I depend on panlasangpinoy. But this time, I made use of recipes from two different sources – filling from them while the wrapper and sauce from Ms Alice – my boss’ wife who is also my colleague here in Oman. I like the combination of vegetables, pork, and tofu from the recipe of panlasangpinoy, while I find it easier for me to prepare the wrapper and sauce courtesy of Ms Alice.

Ingredients:

Filling:
-½ lb pork, thinly sliced
-2 cups sweet potato, cubed
-2 tbsp fish sauce (patis)1 pack extra firm tofu, sliced in strips
-1 ½ cup carrots, julienned
-1 cup string beans
-1 lb cabbage, shredded
-½ cup water
-6 pieces Lettuce leaves
-garlic, onion

Wrapper:
-1 c all purpose flour
-1/3 c cornstarch
-1 egg
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 c water
Sauce:
-1/4 c soy sauce
-1/8 c vinegar (optional)
-1 1/2 c water
-3 tbsp cornstarch
-4 tbsp sugar
Garnish:

- minced garlic
- ½ cup crushed peanuts

You will need:







- a non stick panProcedure:
Filling
- heat cooking oil in a pan, sauté onions and garlic until color turns light brown
- add the pork until color turns light brown
- add the fish sauce
- add the potato, cook until it is soft
- add the tofu and cook for 2-3mins
- add the carrots and string beans and cook for another 2-3mins
- add the cabbage and cook for a minute
- set aside

Wrapper
- combine all the ingredients for the wrapper
- mix well until fully blended
- heat a non-stick pan on a low to medium heat
- grease with butter (optional)
- scoop about half a cup of wrapper mixture and pour in the pan
- cook for about 2mins or until the top part of the mixture is completely dry
- remove and set aside

Sauce
- combine all the ingredients for the sauce
- mix well until fully blended

- heat on a low fire until thickened
- remove from heat and set aside

Combining them all together:
- place a wrapper in a plate and then place a lettuce leaf on the top part
- scoop the filling and place over the lettuce, in the middle of the wrapper
- close the wrapper by folding the lower part first then the two sides
- pour in the sauce over the wrapped Lumpiang Sariwa
- garnish with crushed peanuts and minced garlic
- serve and enjoy!

Cooking Tips:
- Since I got no cornstarch, I just added another half cup of all purpose flour. It is an alternative that I read from some other cooking websites. The result was pretty well too :)
- When making the wrapper, distribute the liquid evenly making it occupy the entire size of the pan giving enough bigger space for the filling

Best with Iced Tea!

Credits: Goldilocks, PanlasangPinoy, Ms Alice Lontok