We have a big bottle of ube haleya in the fridge which has an expiration date of one month so I don’t know how we would finish it. Of course I don’t want to waste it as it’s not cheap and it’s made by nuns in Baguio. Have you tried it? It’s really good and made with no preservatives hence the short expiration date. So I thought about baking ube bread. Wow it’s been a long while since I last baked something. Hmmmn… let me think when’s the last time… I really can’t remember so I guess it’s been almost a year.
Another factor why I baked? It’s because of the weather! It’s so hot outside it will be perfect for dough rising. And I was right.
Ube Bread
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. lukewarm water
1 small egg + 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 1/4 cup bread flour (additional for dusting)
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup ube halaya
6 inch diameter round baking pan
So I had ideas about shaping them. I don’t want to make a loaf because in my experience before in baking monggo bread, the filling inside didn’t distribute well. It didn’t have that nice design even though I rolled it well. I thought about making it cinnamon rolls style too. Also individual buns where I’d use my muffin pan. But I ended up making knots and baking them close together in a round baking pan and it turned out really pretty. I haven’t made knots before so I’m just glad it turned out well.
Lumpiang Sariwa with veggies as filling is what I want so bad. With sweet potato, turnip, carrots, tofu, and more veggies wrapped in a soft crepe like wrapper with sweet and salty sauce. Before if I want to eat and if how I want it is not available then I’d just buy the ingredients and cook it myself. But given my current state (pregnant) I am still not myself yet. I just want to eat but I can’t cook. So how? I tried to trace the old vendor in our village who prepared my sought after lumpiang sariwa just like how I want it. Actually, I didn’t like lumpiang sariwa before I tasted one prepared by her. She used to sell in our village beside the Admin office but she’s not there anymore. Oohh I will not stop. She used to sell it at only 20php or 25php only. How I miss cheap and good food.
While I was torturing myself with this craving, another fire related news came on tv. The fire trucks wasn’t able to go in the street in front of the burning house because there’s a big hole in the middle of the street. Some renovations has been started but it was left unfinished for two weeks and then the fire happened. Only one fire hose was able to reach the house. Whew! Again, I couldn’t believe myself. My dear Philippines.
I am a person passionate over food, even more for simple foods like eggs and eggplant. I love eggplant! Whether it’s fried or grilled, I’d take it anytime over fried chicken and pizza.
So it’s no wonder I also like other variations of it.
Ensaladang talong is one of those dishes that excites me.
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The past 3 months has all been about shawarma for me. Before that I know what shawarma is, that it consists if minced meat (can be beef, lamb, chicken, fish) and veggies but I never paid attention to it. Early November I was really busy and I resorted to fast food to eat but is totally sick and tired of the usual fare you would find in the malls, always fried chicken and pizza. So a shawarma stall caught my eye. I bought a large one to taste it and my initial reaction was, hmmmn ok.. that’s new.
Then I started feeling this crazy urge to try different shawarmas. I had a fancy shawarma from a fancy restaurant delivered in Mommy’s office once (again to try it) and was disappointed. I don’t like the more authentic tasting shawarma but prefers the localized version which only costs a fraction. I’d take that anytime.
So I have tasted Turk’s Shawarma, Babba Shawarma which can be found in any SM Supermarket food stalls, Chummie Shawarma in Festival Mall, Uncle Moe’s and two in SM Pampanga, Passport foods (which isn’t my type) and Jetnor’s Shawarma in SM food court. I like Jetnor’s the best and it has that something that makes you addicted to it! Too bad it’s too far from Cavite huhuhuhu I can’t have it anytime I want. This seriously makes me a bit sad. Oh and I have to try Jacob’s Shawarma which they say (over the net) is the most authentic shawarma in the Philippines but I’m not really that interested as I like the localized version better. But let’s see, it doesn’t hurt to try.
Small is worth Php40 and large is Php50. It’s beef with cucumber, tomatoes and onions with garlic sauce, cheese sauce and the chili. And the guy preparing your shawarma si kind of nice too. I’ll try to take more pictures of it once I get my hands on it again. Whew just thinking about it makes me salivate. Haha I am officially crazy over Jetnor’s and I can tell everyone around me is getting tired of hearing me talk about it all the time!
During the holidays with all the food available to us to munch on, it’s only shawarma I wanted. Constant craving so bad I’ve always invented reasons to drop by there. One time I brought my niece Mae and had her taste it. Guess what, she liked it so much she’s as crazy fro it now as I am! She even bought two for herself. Am I a proud aunt or what? Hahaha too much influencing going on then.
Now that Bee is here and because he’s a Kapampangan, we’re always going there to spend time with his folks and I have to be honest here, first thing we’ll do right after we pass through San Fernando exit of NLEX in to get myself two large shawarmas! When is this phase going to end? I’m tired of thinking of it when I am too far away and other shawarmas just won’t do it for me.
I really am interested in making shawarma myself. I need a good recipe that taste like it. Where on earth?!
By the way, Happy New Year to everyone!
My healthy but very filling plate of pan grilled chicken, steamed buttered veggies and pancit with lots of veggies. Yum.
Been craving for nasi lemak real bad. One day I saw a local food stall franchise in SM offering the rice of nasi lemak (I tried making it myself but it’s not the same hmmmn) so I bought it and bought a fried chicken wing and good thing I still have the chili of nasi lemak in the fridge and with cucumber pa! So here it is. Nowhere near as good as the real nasi lemak but I have to give it to myself for at least trying haha.
Once upon a time I got somewhat addicted/obsessed to some kind of Halo-Halo. (Well I just realized, I’m always addicted to something, obsessed with something.) So yes, macapuno.
See I always want to make things myself, this is usually with food, to make them better than if I just buy them. (I want to learn how to sew now.) But I also get lazy hehe. So What I do is I compromise with myself. Like in this case, instead of having an all star cast of Halo-Halo The Movie with sweetened munggo, beans, bananas, jackfruit (langka) and gulaman and tapioca pearls (gelatin and sago), I just pick my some from my favorites or whatever is available in the market. So sometimes my halo-halo will just consist of sweetened saba (plantain) bananas and sweetened macapuno. It taste as good. For me, together with the effort (effort counts like 60% of everything) nothing beats homemade.
So buying macapuno is a hit and miss as you won’t know the quality of it until it’s cracked open but somehow the vendors know which is good and not. So I just want to share this photo. These gorgeous gooey macapuno. This should act as basis for future macapuno purchases. It shouldn’t look like simple coconut. It flesh should be thick and gooey, water thick as well. Hmmmn… temptation temptation!!!!
This I have made months ago. Haha so late. But I think this is too pretty and yummy not to post here. But honestly I have forgotten what I put in here to write a decent recipe. But hmmn let’s try. Perfectly boiled eggs (do you know that there’s a right way of boiling eggs?) mayonnaise, celery, salt and pepper and a bit of carrots and a dash of curry powder. Here’s a rough guide. Boil the eggs then cool down to room temperature. While the eggs are cooling down, wash and chop your celery and carrots and onions. Once the eggs have cooled down, mash it with a fork, don’t dice it too fine, better to have some bigger chunks in it. Then add the mayonnaise and celery, onions and carrots and salt and pepper to taste. Can add a bit of mustard but we don’t have that then. This is a nice snack for someone to show them you care or you can give them New Asus Tablet Canada, whichever you feel like.
I have also fried some crinkle cut fries with this. Oh and I like this with coffee. Yum.
I love eggs. Good thing it’s in my list of foods I can still eat now.
Two weeks ago was Bee’s mom’s birthday and I went there to celebrate with the family. I can’t decide which to bring, a chocolate cake that I will bake or a kakanin which is more appealing to me at that time. I always ended up with reasons not to choose the chocolate cake like it will dry up and so on and I realized I just really wanted to try and bake a cassava cake.
I realized why I don’t usually use kamoteng kahoy (cassava root) even though it’s cheap. It’s because it’s a pain to shred! I should know because 10 years ago when I was still in high school, I experimented with another kakanin which is pichi pichi my friend Abee and her mom taught me how to prepare. Yes it took me 10 long years to try again but this time it is way much easier.
I love markets. I get to discover so many new things, observe life yes boring stuff for most people. A week before I had to go to Pampanga, I noticed the cassava root on sale. While chatting with the vendors, they said that they can peel the cassava root for me and they can shred it for me too well I have to pay a few pesos and I gladly bought a kilo and a half and tried to bake cassava cake immediately.
It was so yum! Taste test good. So I baked another batch which I brought there. Let’s just say that I had to stop myself eating what I brought there haha. It’s not too sweet which is perfect for me and it’s so soft! They said they like it too. Ok I have to look for the recipe now.
Mommy brought home some marinated deer meat (tapang usa) and one day when we were both too lazy to cook anything that takes long to prepare, we just look for what’s quick to cook from the fridge.
I also prepared some homemade atchara (which I still haven’t posted here!) and the family favorite, garlic sinangag and we are happy peeps.
I can just stare at this photo for an hour. Looks good, tastes even better.
I like ice cream very much. But I know it is sugar laden and high in bad fats, I try to only have it once in a while. Over the years, even before Frozen Yogurts aka Froyo became this big of a hit now, I became so into it but it is also pricey to have as often as I want. So when learned how to make yogurt at home, it is but natural that frozen yogurt is next. I searched the net for what seems like reliable enough and simple enough recipe. Found one but since this is a very late post, I have forgotten which website I got the base recipe from. Sorry. Edit: Based this recipe from 101cookbooks.com
