STARBAR by Cadbury

I saw this chocolate bar this afternoon while buying some ingredients for my butter cream icing. It's by Cadbury. The taste reminded me of Hershey's 5th Avenue, which I love. It's a cross between 5th Avenue and Snickers. Slightly chewy due to the caramel. I prefer it compared to other Cadbury bars available in the market. Try it!

Calamansi Meringue Pie

When someone gives you calamansi, turn it into Calamansi Meringue Pie...

Exactly what I did few weeks ago. My cousin, Yvonne, gave me a bagful of calamansi. Aside from daily dose of calamansi juice, I decided to make  a pie. Calamansi is is a cross between lemon and lime. It is very acidic or sour but the size is small. It is our native lemon as we don't grow lemons in the Philippines. 

Here's my version of Calamansi Meringue Pie, for those who don't have calamansi, replace it with lemons.

Hope you'll love the contrast of flavours, tartness of calamansi and sweetness of meringue. Not everyone loves this dessert but I like it, because it is refreshing especially after a big meal.

The recipe has three components.

A. Pie Crust:

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c icing or powdered sugar
1/2 c  butter, cut into pieces
2 to 4 Tbsps. water

Procedure.
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a  mixing bowl. Using a fork or two butter knives, cut and mix the butter until the size of peas.A manual pastry cutter or food processor can be used.
2. Gradually add water (a tablespoon at a time) until mixture can be formed into a ball.
3. Rest the pie dough and chill for 30 mins to an hour.
4. After resting, roll the dough by using a rolling pin and fit into your pie plate.(I use aluminium pie plate for convenience). Dock the pie with a fork to prevent having bubbles during par-baking.

5. Bake at 350deg F or 170degC for few minutes until slightly brown.
6. Cool and set aside.

B. Calamansi Curd:

3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c water
1/2 c custard powder
3 egg yolks
1/2 c freshly squeezed calamansi or lemon juice

Procedure:
1. In a sauce pot, mix sugar, water, calamansi juice, yolks and custard powder by using a whisk.
2. Cook in medium heat until thick.
3. Lastly, add butter.
4. Set aside and slightly cool down.

(The curd can be prepared while the crust is baking. )

C. Meringue:
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 c sugar
pinch of cream of tartar

1. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar at medium high speed.
2. Gradually add sugar until stiff but not dry.

To assemble:
1. Pour the curd on the baked pie crust. Make sure that the curd has cooled down otherwise,
the crust will be soggy. The moisture will soften your crust. Spread evenly by using a spatula or the back of the spoon.
2. Top with meringue. You can use a piping bag and create rosettes or use the back of the spoon and create peaks.
3. Put the pie inside the oven for few minutes at 120 deg C or 250 deg F until slightly brown in color.
If dry meringue is desired, after the oven has been turned off, leave the pie inside.

Via Mare

Via Mare is one of the good Filipino restaurants in the Philippines. On our recent holiday, I made sure that my children had a chance to dine there. This is a late post, guys :(. Anyway, should you visit the country one day soon, make sure to visit Via Mare and try the adobo flakes, similar to pork floss, and other popular dishes such as Kare Kare (Ox Tail in Peanut Sauce), Pork Binagoongan (Deep Fried Pork in Sauteed Shrimp Paste) or Halo Halo for dessert. For the basic recipe of Adobo, please refer to my previous post.

The adobo flakes is the dehydrated version of pork adobo. I think the pork is shredded and deep fried or  I reckon dried in the oven. Best eaten with sunny side up egg, garlic fried rice and vinegar as dipping sauce. Guinumis, on the other hand, is a dessert drink made with coconut milk, sweetened with sugar syrup, tapioca pearls (sago) , flavored gelatin (gulaman) and toasted rice crispies (pinipig). Makes me wanna go home and eat!

Adobo Flakes 

Chicken Inasal (grilled chicken marinated in special blend of spices with annatto oil)

Guinumis

This is how I do it! My Adobo.

Adobo is a common dish in every Filipino household because the ingredients are basic and easy to prepare. The meat (either pork, chicken or combination of both) is stewed in vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaf, black peppercorn and garlic. Extenders such as potatoes and boiled eggs can be added.

In other parts of the Philippines, Adobo is prepared differently. In Bicol, coconut milk is added; in Cebu, their version is dry;   Recently, I read about Yellow Adobo in Batangas.When I'm lazy, I cook it the traditional way. Mix everything together and once it boils, I lower down the fire and simmer until meat is tender and the sauce is slightly reduced. When I have the luxury of time, I do it extra special. 

And oh! Adobo is always best eaten the next day.

Here is my version:

PORK & CHICKEN ADOBO
Ingredients:

I      Basic Adobo
500 g pork belly, sliced in pieces
chicken, cut in small portions (3-4 pcs).
1 c vinegar
3/4 c soy sauce
4-5 pcs. garlic cloves, slightly crushed
black whole pepper corn
2 pcs. dried bay leaf (also known as laurel)

Procedure:
Put everything together in a pot. Boil and simmer until tender.
Set Aside. ( I,normally, finish it the next day).

II
2 T oil (Extra virgin olive oil is better, but canola is fine)
2 T chopped garlic
1/4 c chopped onion
1/2 c red wine (I use left over red wine)
Cooked Adobo
Salt, pepper & sugar (if desired), to season


Procedure:
1. Saute onion in oil.
2. When transparent, add garlic.
3. Add the cooked meat only. Set aside the liquid.
4. When the sides of the meat are slightly brown, pour red wine.Scrape the brown bits at the bottom using your wooden spoon. The liquid will evaporate and reduce in amount.
5. Pour the liquid that you have set aside awhile ago. Simmer until sauce is slightly thick.
6. Adjust taste (salt, pepper and I add a tsp. of sugar).
7. Extenders such as boiled eggs and potatoes can be added.

Ashfield Cafe for Malaysian Curry Puff

Ashfield Cafe is a typical eatery that you will find in a hawker centre in South East Asia. I love their Malaysian Curry Puff that it has become a ritual to buy few pieces every time I would go to Ashfield, which is about 30 mins. travel time by train from our place. It is conveniently located near the train station.

The pastry is flaky and the curry filling taste so good. It  reminded me of our empanadas in the Philippines.

I tried having lunch there also and the serving is big. Coconut rice, beef rendang, squid curry and fried chicken all in one plate. Yum and cheap, too.

Bacon & Egg Muffin Toast

I'm back! It's been two weeks since I updated my blog. Last month was the busiest since January this year. More work transactions to finish, school and a whole shebang of family activities to deal with. Oh well, enough of that. Here's  my daughter's breakfast of the month, she calls it bacon and egg muffin toast.

I saw it being demonstrated on TV by an English lady who lives in Paris. This version is a quicker because hers had bechamel sauce. I skipped that part because I don't have the luxury of time to make a bechamel sauce in the morning.

It is so easy that photos (I think) are enough ha.ha. If you have questions, feel free to ask and leave a comment. Bon appetit!

BACON & EGG MUFFIN TOAST


Ingredients:
Butter spread (for brushing toast)
Slices of bread (with edges removed)
Pieces of bacon
Eggs
Grated cheddar or tasty cheese
Freshly cracked pepper

Pre-heat oven at 170deg C or 350degF.
Cooking time: 10 minutes (if you want eggs further cooked, extend to few more minutes)

Homemade Pizza Roll

It's been a busy month of May for me. I needed to do a lot of catching up with work, chores and school since I came back from a half month holiday to Singapore and home.

Anyway, I hope you'll like this recipe. Pizza roll  is getting popular in the Philippines lately. I think I first tried it in 2007 or 2008 at C Italian Restaurant, which was managed by Chef Chris. It is actually a thin square or rectangular pizza sliced diagonally. Then, it is filled with rocket, pesto and alfalfa. Lastly, rolled and eaten like a sandwich wrap.

My husband loves it so much that he requested it for dinner last Sunday. 

Quite reluctant for I'm not a savoury person, he is though. I tried and luckily, it was a success ha.ha.
So here's my version of the pizza roll.

Pizza Crust
Yield: 3 small rectangular pizza

2 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 T dry instant yeast

220-250 ml lukewarm water*

1 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

*I used lukewarm water because it's autumn here. When I'm in the Philippines, room temp water or sometimes slightly cold is used. The warm weather is enough to have a dough temperature of 27-30degC after mixing.

Procedure:

1. Place all dry ingredients together in a  bowl. Start mixing at slow speed to incorporate them.

2. Add oil and gradually pour the water. Do not put all the water at once. Leave approx 15% of the total amount of water.

(Not all flour have the same level of absorption. It is always safe not to put everything).

3. When the dough starts to form together, check if the dough is dry, if it is, add water little by little until it  forms into a ball. The sides of the bowl will appear cleaner.

4. Mix until the dough is developed and appears finer in appearance. If manual kneading is done, this may take 12-15 minutes. Using my kitchen aid, it took me approximately 8-10 minutes. To check if the dough has developed, try getting a small piece of dough and slowly stretch. If it appears opaque, also known as the windowpane test, then it is ready. If it easily tears apart, more kneading is needed.

5. Rest the dough for 20 to 30 mins. Cover with plastic or cling wrap. It will somehow double in volume.

6. After resting, punch the dough to remove the gas. Divide the dough into three pieces.

Using a rolling pin, roll each dough thinly, slightly less than 1/4 inch. Transfer in slightly greased flat tray and dock the crust using a fork.

7. Put desired topping.

8. Bake at 350 deg F or 175 deg F for about 15 mins. or until done. (I didn't bake it at very high temperature because I don't want it to become crispy; Pizza are normally baked at 200 or 220 deg F.)

9. Slice diagonally and serve with rockets/arugula, pesto and alfalfa sprouts.