Turon with mango

We spent a couple of afternoons looking for canned langka (jackfruit) which we were going to use for turon, as the banana plantains I have placed in the heater cabinet has turned a bright yellow, perfect timing for the weekend.  Unfortunately we could not find any, and the bananas were rearing to go.  Another week and we'll be looking at overripe stuff.  So from out of the blue I picked up canned mango instead.  The result: mushy sweetness within the crunchy pastry!  It's quite good, although I still think nothing beats langka with turon.  Still, this is a good alternative if you want to jazz up your turon and langka is not available.

Kwek-Kwek time!

Kwek-kwek... there's something uniquely Filipino about that term. Who else would come up with such a comical word for this popular street food? It just shows how much fun we are! The alternative name for it - Tukneneng - is just as memorable!

Banoffee Pie

This recipe is memorable for two reasons:
1. It's my first time to cook milk ... in the can!
2. Jo-Lo would ask for "buttery". I kept correcting him that it's butter, until I saw the label on the butter we used for this recipe

That said, banoffee pie is yummy yet surprisingly easy to make. It actually reminds me of that mango and cream dessert with Graham crackers for the base we used to make back in the Philippines.  For this recipe I simple used a fixed quantity of each.  I only used one pack of malt cookies, for example, and 1 small bottle of cream, and 1 can of condensed milk, etc.

I recently discovered that you can actually buy caramelized milk in can, so this will save you time and energy if you buy this and therefore skip the boiled condensed milk part.

How NOT to use a Bamboo Steamer

My wife gave me a wonderful birthday surprise: a two-tier bamboo steamer! The one with specially-cut bamboo base. I have been asking her if we can buy some bamboo steamers whenever I spot some at the Asian stores but she'd say they're quite expensive. So I was truly delighted to have this!

Nigella's Dessert

Nigella Kitchen, one of our favourite cooking shows back in Manila, is in FreeView! We watched the first episode a couple of nights back, and the first recipe she did was a light and fruity dessert that's so easy to make I did not have to write it down to recall how it was made. The only concern I had with this recipe was that the bread she used looked extra special, not the type we usually buy. When Nigella sliced the loaf, it looked a lot like cake!

But in a curious twist of the day, I found myself having breakfast the next day with the yummiest loaf bread I've had so far. My wife bought some good quality bread! Nigella's recipe immediately came to mind and so right after work, I bought cream and frozen berries.

Some friends came over and I shared this dessert with them. Asking how it was done, I explained the recipe and that it was from Nigella's show. Unfortunately, I could not recall the name of the dish. In-between mouthfuls, a friend said, "Nigella's Dessert". And so that's the name I've used. I tweaked the recipe a bit by adding sugar to the cream for a hint of sweetness.