Arroz Caldo

We had some leftover roast chicken one weekend dinner, and the following day I was thinking about what to do with it. From lunchtime all through the afternoon, I thought it will be great to have arroz caldo with it, that rice porridge with chicken that's considered by many a Filipino as comfort food, especially on rainy afternoons. I love mine with patis (fish sauce) and calamansi. And while there's no calamansi here (and lemon just won't cut it), I'll still have my arroz caldo.

So after having dinner that night, I proceeded to make Arroz Caldo from a recipe book I found in the library. One of the mysteries of this dish is how much water to put in. My Nanay always seemed to know how much to put in without measurements! This recipe solved that dilemma. Strangely enough, it calls for stir-frying the uncooked rice before pouring the water in. That's not how we did it at home. It worked out all fine, though.

I miss Halo-Halo!

I miss that Filipino heat buster and popular merienda fare: the halo-halo, found in restaurants and in roadside stalls alike. The halo-halo I like most is one with sweetened beans, coconut meat, ube, leche flan, nata de coco, sago, gulaman... I'm not fond of ice cream on my halo-halo but I sometimes indulge on it.

Back in the good old days when the end of school signals the start of a lucrative halo-halo business for many roadside entrepreneurs, we would bring our own bowls which our suking kapitbahay would graciously fill with an assortment of goodies before manually crushing ice from the ice box with an ice shaver then piling it on top and then pouring evaporated milk over everything. When I would have my summer vacation in the province, the hot afternoons would make us beg the elders no end til they give up and buy halo-halo for us. There was also a time when my mother also sold halo-halo, and us kids would eagerly await the end of the day, as our Nanay would shave up the leftover ice for the day and make us these cold treats.

These days, one no longer needs to wait for summer to have halo-halo. Chow King (a fast food chain) serves this the whole year round, although the delight of having one from the nearby friendly road vendor and either enjoying it outside or having it inside the house with friends is still the more enjoyable way of having it.

This photo was taken during our trip to Puerto Galera a couple of years ago. Was it already that long ago when my friends and I would plan weekend outings? Time flies indeed. And I look forward to that time when I can have my halo-halo again.

Technorati tags: food trip

Food trip: Fried Apples

I was watching this TV show of a Kiwi who went to the Scottish countryside for a culinary adventure in the wild outdoors. In one segment, he hunted some wild birds and as he proceeded to roast the lot on open fire, he took out a pan, placed oil on it, and started frying some apple slices! Intrigued, I did a little research and found that apples can indeed be cooked and is also great with ice cream. Well, we had ice cream sitting in the freezer and so it was time for an experiment!


So I peeled and sliced some apples, melted some butter over medium heat, and proceeded to fry the slices for some 10 minutes or so. And then I added a bit of brown sugar and waited for it to caramelize, mixing occasionally.


I let it cool off for about 5 minutes. It was still warm when I placed ice cream on it. Can't wait!

The verdict? The cooking process didn't change the taste of the apple at all! It was the same!

On the other hand, I saw another recipe which called for regular bananas cooked the same way and served with ice cream. Might try that one next...


Technorati tags: food trip

Laing

Laing is a simple yet delicious veggie dish that comes from Bicol where coconut and spices take a starring role in cooking. Laing is made from gabi (taro) leaves and coconut milk as primary ingredients. Laing is also inherently spicy, but in our case my wife did not crush nor chop the pepper so they can also enjoy this dish. We are also accustomed with having bits of pork with our laing but you can skip this and go directly to sauteing the onion and garlic. Laing is served with rice (couldn't imagine having this by itself!)

Laing is a bit tricky to make because a certain preparation is made with the taro leaves. Done the wrong way and you get a batch that's itchy on the tongue. However, we learned from the book "Memories of Philippine Kitchens" that dried leaves actually do not possess the crystals coating the leaves that cause the itchiness, and dried leaves do not disintegrate during cooking the way fresh leaves do. Isn't that handy? We found a pack of dried gabi leaves in the Asian store so Laing it is for dinner!

Memories of Philippine Kitchens

Whenever I visit the Cooking section of the Wellington City Library, I would wish that I will see something about Filipino cooking. One of my more recent visits awarded me with this book: Memories of Philippine Kitchens by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan. The authors had a restaurant in New York called Cendrillon (which is currently experiencing a metamorphosis of sorts) which served various Filipino favourites. In 2003 the couple made a trip back to the Philippines for a project close to their hearts: a cookbook which featured specialties from various regions of the Philippines.