Dinuguan (Blood Stew)

I am a bit selective about eating Dinuguan. It's because one of the primary ingredient involves blood, and I want to be sure it was handled and cooked properly. Which is why I go for the home-cooked meal. There were instances, however, when I get my Dinuguan fix from the Red Ribbon Bakeshop in Manila. Strange that a bakeshop actually sells Dinuguan, but it's really good. So they're the exception. I like having their Dinuguan, which they serve with a piece of fresh siling pangsigang (green finger pepper). I cut the pepper open, scrape off the seeds, then cut the flesh into small pieces to go with my rice and Dinuguan.

Meringue

Meringue is the stuff childhood fun is made of.  Sweet and in various colours, I appreciated meringue as a sari-sari store-bought treat.

I had some egg whites to spare one time (from a botched yema experiment) so I decided to give meringue a try.  Yum.  It worked out great!  And that's not just me speaking.  Oh. in case you think the meringue in the photo is burned, it's not.  I used brown sugar because we've run out of caster sugar (which is white).

Pichi-pichi

I love pichi-pichi.  It is part of my "happy food" category, because whenever there is a birthday celebration in my previous job in Manila we'd have pork barbecue, spaghetti, palabok, and pichi-pichi.  Only one bilao of pichi-pichi is usually served, and runs out really fast!  Can't get enough of the sweet, soft cassava encased in shredded coconut.

Latik

My good friend Marissa Acain commented on Facebook about my Sinukmani / Biko blog post and included a procedure for making latik, that traditional topping whose name escaped me when I was writing the article.

Here is her comment:

Sinukmani (Bico)

My wife was saying how her Inay makes the most wonderful sinukmani during All Soul's Day (much like my Nanay makes her famous suman on this special occasion too).  Luckily, Inay is here with us currently and so we requested her to make Sinukmani!

While she was busy preparing the glutinous rice, I asked what the procedure will be.  And when she had done so, I remarked "oh, it's similar to Bico (also spelled Biko)."  "It is called Biko in the northern region of the Philippines," she said.  "We call it Sinukmani in the Southern Tagalog regions."  I learned something new!

And since I said so many posts ago that I was going to share a recipe for Biko (which I know now is also called Sinukmani), here it is!

The Free Range Cook

There are loads of cooking shows on TV.  A lot are competitions, which, make no mistake, are very interesting to watch.  But sometimes watching these shows take the fun out of cooking because the contestants cook under pressure and, with too much exposure, you'd think cooking was such a chore and you have to be perfect at it!

This is where the fun cooking shows come in, those which actually teach you how to cook!

Donuts

Have you ever had those mini donuts being sold in Glorietta in carts? The cutesy donuts would start as dough dumped on one end of a conveyor belt-like device with hot cooking oil. When they get to the end, they're cooked and good to go (with a dusting of flavour - your choice).

I remembered having those mini donuts while we were dunking the donuts into the oil. The one's we're having are regular-sized, though.  This is a recipe by a friend's Mum. She brought along some of these donuts in one of our picnics and we loved it. We asked her to make some more. Then they visited us for dinner one night, and what else is there to do than to ask her how to make the donuts!

Wellington on a Plate's Top Nosh for Less Dosh challenge

Can you get a meal for two for only $10.00 in Wellington?  On an ordinary day, don't count on it.  Why, even a Happy Meal from McDonald's costs a little under $6!  But we are in Wellington on a Plate mode now, and that changes things a bit.  One challenge from this event is to cook a meal for 2 for less than $10.  Doable?  Four chefs think so and have stepped up to the task: Mark Limacher from Ortega Fish Shack, David Thurlow from Cafe Polo, John Allred from Osteria del Toro, and Andy Potts from The General Practitioner.  Top Nosh for Less Dosh!

Read more about this story at The Dominion Post and get the free recipe, Babas Spicy Chicken Drums as a treat!

Lechon Paksiw

Paksiw is essentially cooking food with vinegar and is closely associated with fish. Having a hot and humid weather like we have in the Philippines, I guess it was just natural to find ways and means to preserve food. And vinegar was just the right thing. Fish can keep for an extended length of time when cooked by paksiw.

Incidentally, this method also goes well with roasted meat, be it chicken or pork. Lechon, or roast pig, is especially popular in celebrations. In the event that there are leftovers, this can be transformed to yummy lechon paksiw. But you do not need to wait for leftovers. Cook up some pork and convert it to paksiw!