Puto Pao

From my previous post I share with you the puto recipe but this one is kinda different because this puto recipe has a filling and we Filipinos call it Puto Pao.
This is the best PUTO PAO ever.... I discovered that the quality of the dough will depend on the quality of milk you use... You can add softened butter as you mix the dry ingredients but the dough will not be perfect white anymore.Anyway, I could say that the best part for the cook is watching people enjoying the food that she cooked... and that's me!! I like watching my family enjoying the food at the table and most of all, I love eating with them... lol

Ingredients:
Batter

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 cup powdered milk
4 tablespoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups water
3 pieces whole eggs

Topping

2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/4 kilo ground pork or beef or chicken
2 tablespoons minced celery (optional)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon seasoning
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
pinch of pepper
pinch of MSG

Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour, cake flour, milk, baking powder, water and eggs. Mix until well-blended. Set aside for one hour.

2. Prepare the topping: In a skillet, heat oil and cook ground meat until brown. Add the celery, soy sauce, seasoning, salt, sugar, pepper and MSG. Stir mixture occasionally until ground meat is cooked.

3. Pour puto batter in greased small muffin cups about half full. Add a tablespoon of topping in each cup. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

Note: also you can put dinuguan as your filling.

Arroz Valenciana

One of the food that I like is the popular Spanish dish called paella. But I prepare it using the local ingredients.I am sharing here the recipe.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 k pork kasim, cut into cubes
2 pcs chicken legs, cut-up
1 tbsp atchuete seeds
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 pcs Chicken Broth Cube dissolved in
5 cups water
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 cup malagkit rice, uncooked
1 medium carrot, cut to wedges
2 medium potatoes, cut to wedges
1 tsp paprika
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into cubes
1 pc hardboiled egg, peeled
Procedure
1. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry pork and chicken until brown.
2. Remove from pan then fry atchuete seeds until color comes out. Remove seeds from pan and saute garlic and onions, and tomato paste.
3. Add broth and rice.Cover and let simmer until rice is half-cooked.
4. Add in fried pork, chicken, carrots, potatoes and paprika.
5. Simmer until rice is cooked then toss in peas and bell pepper. Serve garnished with sliced egg.

Barbeque Chicken In Oyster Sauce

One of my favorite chicken recipe is barbeque. I've tried using many kinds of barbeque with different kinds of spices on it like using ketchup, marinated in soy sauce & vinegar, soy sauce with kalamansi or soy sauce kalamansi with sprite. Now I tried this new one in oyster sauce. It come out good. So I am sharing the recipe with you.



Ingredients:

1/2 kg chicken thighs
Marinade:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp chopped spring onions
1 tbsp ginger strips
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil

Procedure:

1. Marinate chicken thighs in the remaining ingredients for about 4 hours.
2. Grill in charcoal or on an electric grill. Brush chicken with marinade every once in a while to prevent drying. Serve with favorite pickle and hot rice.

Meeting New Friends

I forgot to post my blog about last Sunday when hubby invited new friends living at the 2^nd floor of his workplace. Since the pictures are not downloaded yet at my computer. I just save the post in my documents. Anyway they are Filipinos renting at his boss building. They’ve been planning to meet me several times but their schedules are preventing then to do so. At last both were able to get a time to visit us bringing another friend. I prepare some Filipino food for us to eat. The pictures are just the left over which I put on the container after we eat and ready to go to the refrigerator. We are so much delighted that we forgot to take pictures while doing the table settings. When they arrive we eat at once because food is ready and having chit chat while eating.Telling where they came from and me where I came from. Where we live. Although we came from one country we live in different places in the Philippines.I made the famous Filipino dish named Escabeche- I fry a medium size snapper and set aside. In another fan I heat oil, then add pounded garlic and sliced onions, stir fry. When the onion has become transparent and the garlic pieces become brown, add the strips of ginger and the green and red peppers. Stir fry.Add sugar and add vinegar with little water and salt . The taste is sweet and sour.
this was a famous dish too, sinigang na baboy (sour pork soup) here bring the pork to boil so it become tender then when its meat is tender already I put fresh tomatoes, onions, green bell pepper, ginger, potatoes, and my vegetable is spinach then I put sinigang mix. I simmer it for 10 minutes.
pancit(rice noodles) this is easy: you just have to heat oil then add pounded garlic, sliced onions, shredded chicken breast, shrimps, chinese longaniza, sliced carrots, cabbage and add water and soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste then simmer it. Add the rice noodles and cook it for 5 minutes. this one is Shanghai rolls.In making this stuff. You just have to prepare ground pork, finely chopped onions, carrots, garlic, and shrimps. Mixed all together. Add salt and peppers taste and egg. At one end of lumpia wrapper, spoon about 2 tablespoonsful of the pork mixture and roll tightly. Brush one end of wrapper with water to seal. Deep fry until golden brown.Cut roll into 2 pieces. Serve with hot sweet and sour sauce.
baked yummy empanadas

the favorite biko which is made with glutinous rice. Filipinos love this stuff. Also easy to make you just cook 3 cups of glutinous rice. Set aside then heat 2 cans of coconut milk put half brown kilo sugar let it boil with constant stirring until sticky then add the rice mixed altogether. Let it stand for 5 mins and stir again, then turn off the fire. Good dessert.

My favorite Filipino dessert called Yema here I had condensed milk, ground peanut and jackfruit then I mix everything in a sauce pan. Cook mixture under medium heat. Stir until the mixture coagulates. Let it cool. Shape into desired shape (usually pyramids) and wrap in cellophane. Since I couldn't find the colored cellophane I just use the wax paper by cutting it into square.
and the fruit cake that our friends bring. After our delicious meal we eat this dessert together with my glutinous rice over a cup of coffee.

After the meal we sat at our living room to take some pics as our souviner from our get together

The male friend is a physical therapist and the other one is a nanny. Both are working so hard to give their relatives and siblings in the Philippines a good life, seldom meet each other. Life here is boring because you’ve been busy working all day and in the evening when you get home you’ll just throw you bag on the couch, put shoes under your bed, change your clothes, hurry to eat because all you want is put yourself on the bed. Tired already, gush poor guys.

PUTO WITH CHEESE

I learned how to cook puto from my Tita when I was in the high school We uses glutinous rice and the ordinary rice soaked in water until soft. Then we will grind it in the old puto grinder. Since then I have been making puto for my friends and whenever there are parties in the Philippines. When I am busy at work and don’t have time to prepare all I had to do is order it. That’s easy and hassle free. Not time consuming and ready to put on the table once the visitors are there. But now that I am here in a far away land whenever I miss the food I make it and some part I would give to friends for them to taste it. It's easy to make and anybody can do it. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
sliced cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all the ingredients except the cheese and beat it well. Grease a small muffin pan and pour the mixture up to 3/4 full. Steam it for about 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted on it will come out clean. Put the sliced cheese 30 seconds before it's done. This recipe will yield 2 dozen puto using small muffin pans.

Sans Rival Recipe

What I love from Goldilocks product in the Philippines is their Sans Rival. Now that I am in the US I don't know where to buy it so I tried my best to look for a recipe of this. While writing this on my blog, I could not help it thinking how sweet and yummy it is. Mouth watery. Sharing here the recipe. Enjoy.....

Ingredients

• Frosting
  
• 1 1/2 c ground cashew nuts
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/3 c water
  
• 1 c confectioners' sugar
  
• 3/4 c granulated sugar
  
• Meringue
  
• 2 tbsps rum
  
• 6 egg yolks
  
• 1/2 lb butter
  
• 6 egg whites

Directions

• Grease & flour three inverted 18" x 15" cookie sheets & set aside.
• To make the meringue, beat egg whites until soft peaks are formed.
• Gradually add the sugar, beating well after each addition.
• Continue beating until egg whites are very stiff.
• Fold in cashew nuts & vanilla.
• Spread thinly in prepared pans.
• Bake at 300F degrees Fahrenheit for 20 mins or until golden brown.
• Cut wafers down the center if desired.
• Loosen & slide wafers to a flat surface & cool.
• To make the frosting, boil sugar & water until it spins a thread.
• Meanwhile, beat egg yolks until thick.
• Pour syrup into eggyolks in thin streams while beating.
• Cool the eggyolk mixture.
• Cream in the butter.
• Blend in the rum.
• To assemble the Sans Rival, layer the wafers on top of eachother with frosting in between each layer.
• Cover up the top & sides with frosting & sprinkle the top this with cashew nuts is desired.
• Served chilled.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I get this recipe from my hubby's cousin. She always make and serve this food whenever we have gatherings. I am a Filipino and I love my favorite food. Since I married Italian I had to adopt a little of their culture, and learn to eat the food that they love to eat, although "I must admit that I am not a pasta eater, lol but I am trying my best to eat some of their food. Anyways I will share this recipe to those who love cooking and and would try to learn cooking Italian dish.

Here's how:

24 white or cremini mushrooms with caps about 1 1/2 inches in diameter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the tops of the mushrooms if you like
½ cup finely chopped scallion
½ cup of finely chopped red bell peppers
½ cup coarse breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmigiano‑Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
½ cup Chicken Stock or low-sodium canned chicken broth
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup of dry white wine, optional

Preheat oven to 425 F. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them fine.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in the red peppers and chopped mushroom stems and cook, stirring, until tender, about 3 minutes. Remove and cool.
Toss the bread crumbs, grated cheese, 2 tablespoons of the parsley and the sauteed vegetables until thoroughly blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity of each mushroom with the filling, pressing it in with a teaspoon until even with the sides of the mushrooms.
Using 2 tablespoons of the butter, grease a 12 x 18-inch low-sided baking pan. Arrange the mushrooms side by side in the pan and, using the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, dot the top of each mushroom with about 1/4 teaspoon butter. Add the wine, stock and remaining 2 tablespoons parsley to the pan. If you like, drizzle the tops of the mushrooms with olive oil. Bake until the mushrooms are cooked through and the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Serve the mushrooms on a warmed platter or divide them among warmed plates. Pour the pan juices into a small saucepan and bring to a boil on top of the stove. Boil until lightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon the juices over the mushrooms and serve immediately.

Serve these nice and hot, or let them cool to room temp. If you’d like to make this a little more contemporary, you can add a dash of balsamic vinegar to the red peppers and scallions as they cook. In true Italian-American style, these are topped with butter, if we made them in Italy, we would use olive oil. Best yet, maybe is to top them with butter, then ‘bless’ them all with a little olive oil.
This wonderful stuffing is delicious in celery stalks- bake them with a light tomato sauce. You can also line up blanched asparagus on a baking sheet, sprinkle the bread crumbs over them and bake them until the crumbs are crispy. I’m sure you can come up with a lot of uses for the bread crumbs. Remember, I give you the basics, but I want you to go play.

Bon Appétit