At home at "A Taste of Home"

My family attended "A Taste of Home" at the Filipino Community Centre in Petone last weekend.  It's an event showcasing Filipino food and culture.  But to be honest, we were actually more interested in seeing MasterChef runner up Leo Fernandez in action!

There were of course, a wide assortment of Filipino food for sale.  What would a Filipino event be without food?!

Sisig - crispy, spicy bits of pork meat, ears, skin, usually served on a hot plate with a raw egg on top.  I love this dish, though I do need to ease up on the pork dishes...

Chia Seeds in drinking water

Chia Seeds are a new thing to me.  I first saw this in my colleague's drinking bottle.  He's from Colombia so I guess this is something that's common in their region.  It actually reminds me of tadpoles swirling about as he gives the bottle a good shake before taking a couple of gulps.  When I inquired from him what it was about, that was when I learned they were Chia Seeds and that he's taking it to help control his weight.

Chia Seeds are touted as a superfood, with a host of benefits and nutrients:

According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, one ounce of chia seeds (approximately 28 grams) contains 138 calories, 8 grams of fat, 12 grams of carbohydrate, 10 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. Eating one ounce of chia seeds per day would provide 18% of daily calcium needs, 27% of phosphorus, 30% of manganese and smaller amounts of potassium, zinc and copper. When compared to flaxseed, chia seeds provide more omega-3s, calcium, phosphorus and fiber - all essential nutrients that most people are not getting enough of. (source: medicalnewstoday.com)

Another interesting article can be found at draxe.com.

How to make crispy and juicy fruit pudding

Macaroni salad

Macaroni salad always reminds me of happy days.  My Nanay would make this on special occasions, especially at Christmas time.  She would always make a big batch and there would always be some left for me to snack on all throughout Christmas eve, Christmas Day, and a couple of days thereafter.

Last Christmas, I decided to start this tradition of making Macaroni Salad in our home.  This recipe is easy to make, and is sure to please.  One tip: make this a day in advance for the flavours to develop.

Leo Fernandez makes it to Masterchef NZ Top 3

Let's zoom along, shall we?  In this 2-part episode in Dubai, the 4 contestants duke it out in the open dessert (that's part 1) where the boys won the round.

Oh no! We've got a man down! #MasterChefNZ pic.twitter.com/ag7OYJlkYs

— MasterChef NZ (@MasterChefNZ) September 20, 2015

Seriously, I cannot imagine how it is like to cook out in the dessert with the grill and frying pan on high.  Especially for Kiwis, who are accustomed to the cool climate.

On part 2, they headed off to the Dubai Marina to replicate a three-course dish at chef Gary Rhodes' restaurant.

Whisked away by boat to a Dubai market with nothing but a list... No worries! #MasterChefNZ pic.twitter.com/SIdIkfZzRN

— MasterChef NZ (@MasterChefNZ) September 21, 2015

It was a pretty tight contest, with each contestant getting at least one great review with their dish.  I have listed the ones for Leo below, complete with screenshots! (literally, I took shots of the show from the TV with my camera)

Entree: Smoked Haddock with Welsh Rarebit & Tomato Salad

"It's a stunner, isn't it?"
"It looks beautiful"
"I thought it was a more complete dish, certainly with the oil, pepper and the salt, and the seasoning"
Get the recipe on TV3.co.nz

Filipino makes it to MasterChef NZ Top 4

If you haven't been watching the latest edition of MasterChef NZ, you still have time to catch up with the Top 5 competition.  And there is good reason to watch, for we have our own 32 year old Leo Fernandez who made it to top 5!

 We weren't actually able to catch the early episodes ourselves.  A friend alerted us about this and we have been tuning in ever since.  We would have loved the episode where he showcased maja blanca and adobo!

If your region allows it, you can still watch the more recent episodes on 3 Now.  On TV, MasterChef is on Sundays at 7pm and on Mondays at 7.30pm.

In the meantime, here is one of Leo's recipes.  The judges found the lettuce spring roll very flavoursome so I would like to try that!

Photos and recipe from the TV3 website (no copyright infringement intended, such TV-related articles disappear over time so I would like to keep a copy here for archiving purposes).

To grow a tree, you first need to plant a seed

A friend gave us some avocadoes November of last year, and as is usual practice we would throw away the inedible parts (ie skin and seeds). However in this instance I had a flash of inspiration and decided to try and give the 3 seeds (or, in this case, pits) a second chance.  So I googled for the best way to get the plant going and pierced the pit with three toothpicks to suspend it on glass with its pointy end submerged in water.

Boodle fight

'We're going to have a boodle fight,' my friends said as a matter of factly while they busied themselves with covering the dining table with banana leaves.  There was also a lot of activity in the kitchen, so I knew food was involved.  Was there going to be a food fight?  Close, but not quite.

Philadelphia mini cheesecakes

Just saw this on my Facebook wall, and it looks easy to make.


More cheesecake recipes at the Kraft website.
(this is not a paid endorsement!)

Crispy Pork Belly

I came across this recipe from Annabel Langbein's website and I can just imagine how mouth-watering this recipe can be!  And to top it all, it just needs seasoning, pork, and milk!  I tried this recipe one Saturday night when we had friends over.  I was only able to get a morsel for my taste test and placed the rest on the table.  I never got to have a bite again - they made short work of it!

Beef Empanada

The empanada is a hearty snack that's sure to please. With the beef-veggie filling encased in lightly browned pastry, this dish looks time-consuming to make, but my version is, well, easy as pie!

I find making the dough from scratch daunting, so I'm using pre-made pastry sheets instead. That said, the shape of the empanada are not the traditional half-circle, but rather triangles or rectangles as I do not want wasteage.  Also, the veggie filling comes from the pre-cut, frozen pack. That's a substantial part of preparation time cut down, and the best part is, the result tastes just as amazing (tested on friends and kids!).

One comment made by a friend was that we can add some hard boiled eggs too, but I'm keeping to the recipe I used below.  You can add hard boiled eggs to the filling if you wish.

The yield is 18-20 pieces empanada easily.  But we just used 4 pieces pastry sheets so we came up with 16 (4 per sheet) - we ate the leftover filling with rice :-).

Fishballs in sweet and sour sauce

This is a different take on the simple street food we know as fishballs.  It is usually fried, and then dipped in sauce as it is eaten.  In this instance we cook the fishballs with the sauce.  This results in a more flavourful dish.  Best of all, you avoid double-dipping!

Breakfast Pizza

I got this idea from the Food in a Minute book I borrowed from the Library.  The ingredients are readily available from the supermarket, but you can also substitute for variety!

I made this for our two breakfasts over Easter Sunday and Monday and it's a certified hit.  Even my baby daughter loves it!  One pizza is good for 2 adults; make 2 to share (and maximize use of oven)!  The ingredients listed below are for 2 pizzas.

Embutido (Filipino-style Meatloaf)

The Filipino version of the meatloaf - the embutido - usually makes an appearance during celebrations only.  Perhaps it's because making this dish is a bit labour intensive.  It takes time to make a batch.  But that's not to say it's difficult to do.  Check out the procedure below and you'll see what I mean!

Since it is steamed, embutido is already cooked as is and can be served cold.  However it tastes best when sliced then fried, paired with ketchup or your favourite dip with meat.

Note that you will need a steamer (or a similar device) to make embutido.

Ginisang kamatis (sauteed tomatoes)

My wife casually mentioned that my Nanay shared this recipe with her in one of their more recent phone conversations.  I love it, and friends do too!  It's like a thick sauce for that perfect side dish to fried fish (and I did not mean to rhyme!).  The above photo is the second batch my wife has cooked in a week.

Champorado (chocolate rice porridge)

I was having a quiet lunch at the office while browsing through the Dominion Post when I spotted a familiar face smiling up at me.  It was one of our friends giving an interview about his favourite childhood food, the Champorado (chocolate rice pudding)!  I excitedly shared the news with friends and they were obviously elated to see someone they know in the papers, and in a good way too!

Of course news like this has to lead somewhere, and so a couple of weeks later we were treated to Dave's famous Champorado at their home!

The Champorado was awesome.  Now, I'm sure you are itching to have a copy of the recipe, in which case I am happy to point you to the news article at Dominion Post.  You're welcome!

Chicken Macaroni Salad

I like this Chicken Macaroni salad - which is a recipe of my wife's - because it is not too sweet.  I like having it any time of the day (or night!).  This festive dish is also a favourite amongst friends, and is one of our go-to recipes whenever there's a celebration.

Palitaw

Palitaw is a native Filipino rice cake, whose name literally means "to float".  And it is exactly the way this is cooked; the dough is ready when it floats.  We had visitors over the weekend who prepared palitaw for merienda, and it was a nice treat as we haven't had palitaw for some time now.

Seafood Chop Suey

Back when I worked in the bustling city of Makati in the Philippines, there was this fast food shop that served rice meals which I loved going to because it was the next best thing to a proper dinner without putting a dent in my wallet.  Their Chop suey was my favourite.  Aside from the crunchy veggies, the pork crackling and squid made it special.  The squid is the best part of the meal, and we usually saved it for last.

I experienced deja vu when we recently had chop suey and had a craving for some squid with my veggies. But why have squid only, when we can add more seafood?  And seafood mix it is.  This dish turned out great!  A bit of pork crackling would have made this complete, but that can wait for another time.

Chicken Katsu

I had a sudden craving for Pork Tonkatsu, one of my favourite Japanese dishes.  I thought about making some at home, but did not know the first thing about making this dish.  Good thing Just One Cookbook came to the rescue!  However, in this case I tried Chicken Katsu instead and it was great.