Recipes

          During the first year living in my first apartment, I craved Filipino food like mad.  Living on $500 a month, away from anybody who had a garden, my grocery shopping (and thus menu) choices were limited, making do with what I could make out of flour, sugar, ground beef, rice, corn meal, masa (corn tortilla mix), milk, eggs, oil, vegetable spread, Ramen noodles, tomato sauce, frozen mixed vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, bread, cheap store-brand cereal, chicken parts, and an occasional cheese brick.  Living in Texas, I absorbed quick Tex-Mex recipes that were cheap and filling.  I also made lots of noodle or rice casseroles, lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and way too many Ramen noodle soups.  The only Filipino recipe that I knew by heart was adobo chicken, and it didn’t taste right to me because my mother’s adobo chicken tasted better.  I once saved up so that I could make kare kare, but, again, it didn’t taste quite right – my mother’s tasted better.  I realized that my craving for Filipino food wasn’t just in the food itself – it was also craving for home and the special touches that my parents gave to standard Filipino recipes.  These recipes below serve as a generic guide for a few Filipino dishes, but my parents don’t follow written recipes when they cook; they follow their hearts.  If you are Filipino and you love your nanay’s or tatay’s cooking, you know what I mean.

          It was during that first year, as I craved my parents’ cooking, when I wrote “Chocolate Meat” and made my professor hungry for Filipino food.  And the power of my parents’ food is still strong:  When my mother calls me to visit, she always adds something like, “and your pa’s making kare kare and barbecue.”  When my brother calls from overseas, he always asks, “What are you eating?”  When my sisters or my parents tell him, he always replies, “Aww, man, I gotta leave the Navy.  I miss Mom and Pa’s cooking!”

Adobo Chicken

Serves 6

Bring to boil the chicken with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, pepper, and simmer for ½ hour till sauce is reduced by half.

Arroz Caldo con Pollo (Chicken and Rice Soup)

Serves 6 –8

In large covered pot, saute garlic, onion, and ginger until garlic is brown and onions are transparent.  Add the chicken and the soy sauce.  Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Add water and rice.  Stir often to prevent sticking.  Simmer for 25 minutes over low heat or until chicken and rice are tender.  Add chopped scallion and pepper before serving.

Bibingka (Sweet Coconut Rice in Banana Leaves)

Yields 45 pieces

Cook the rice and set aside in a large bowl. In a saucepan, combine coconut milk and 1 ¼  C  brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Wilt banana leaves over a steaming pan of water. Line a 13x9x2” baking pan with the leaves.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Reserving ½ C of the coconut milk mixture, stir remainder and remaining brown sugar evenly into the hot rice. Put the rice mixture into prepared pan. Top with the reserved ½ C coconut milk mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for five minutes to set topping. Cut into small squares.

Dinuguan, or Chocolate Meat (Pork in Pork Blood Soup)

Serves 4

1.  Cover pork with water and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove pork from broth and  dice.  Save 1 ½ C of broth.

2.  In a 2-quart stainless steel or porcelain saucepan, saute garlic and onions in hot oil until onion is clear (a few minutes). Add pork, liver, patis, and salt. Saute for 5 minutes more.

3.  Add vinegar and bring to a boil without stirring.  Lower heat and simmer uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated.

 4.  Add broth.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in blood and sugar.  Cook until the soup is thick but smooth, stirring occasionally to avoid curdling.

5.     Add hot banana peppers and oregano and cook 5 minutes more.

6. Serve over hot rice.

Flan

Serves 6

Scald milk in a double boiler for 15 min.  Blend the egg yolks with the sugar, milk, and vanilla extract.  Pour into mold lined with caramelized sugar.  Place this in a bigger pan half-filled with water and bake until mixture becomes firm.  Cool before removing from mold.

Kare Kare (Oxtails in Peanut Soup)

Serves 6-8

*Anatto Water: 1 T anatto seeds, 4 T warm water

Place seeds in water.  With a pestle, crush seeds to release the color.  Let stand 30 min.  Strain water and discard the seeds.

Boil oxtails in the water for 2 hours or until tender.  Remove oxtails and set the resulting oxtail stock aside.  In a large saucepan, saute garlic and onion in hot oil.  Add anatto water and oxtail, and bring to boil.  Stir in peanut butter.  Add 4 C of oxtail stock and vegetables.  Again, bring to boil and simmer for 10 min.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Karioka (my mother’s own, special recipe)

Serves 8-10

In a large bowl, mix rice flour, coconut flakes, egg, and milk until crumbly.  Sprinkle just enough water so that you can easily mold the mixture in your hand into little bite-size nuggets.  Make sure the mixture is not too wet, or else it will not fry right.  Set aside the nuggets.  In a deep saucepan or wok, deep-fry the nuggets till golden brown and then set aside.  In another saucepan, combine brown sugar and water on low to medium-low heat, just to melt the brown sugar, forming a thick, brown sugar sauce.  Remove from heat.  While still warm, pour the sugar sauce over the nuggets, and quickly stir the sauce around so that it coats the karioka nuggets.  Let the karioka cool for the coating to set, and then serve.

Lumpia (Egg Rolls)

Makes 6-8 pieces

Brown meat; remove from pan.  Saute onion and garlic in the same pan as the meat.  Add shrimp, salt, and pepper.  When shrimp is pink, add the meat and combine well.  Add the beans.  When beans are soft, add the carrots and soy sauce.  Cook till carrots are tender, about five minutes.  Drain the resulting lumpia filling, making sure excess water and grease are out.  With wrapper corner toward you, place 2 to 3 T of cooked filling in wrapper.  Roll into a tight roll and seal the end with a water-flour paste.  Fry lumpia rolls in oil till brown over medium to medium-high heat.  Drain on paper towels.

Lechon (Roast Pork) – at Home Version

Serves 8

Season meat with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 F for about 2 hours or until skin is

brown and crisp. Serve with Lechon Sauce.

Lechon Sauce or Liver Sauce

Serves 8

Saute the liver till relatively dry and then cut into small bits.  In a medium saucepan, combine the liver and the remaining ingredients, and bring the sauce to a long simmer (about 20 minutes) over moderate heat.  Stir well.

Mungo Guisado (Mung Bean Soup)

Serves 4

Boil mung beans in 3 C water till tender.  In another pan, brown garlic and onion.  Add tomatoes, and cook till soft.  Add pork, and cook till tender.  Add shrimps and cook for an additional 5 min.  Add boiled mung beans and 2 C water to sauteed mixture.  Bring to a boil again.  Season with salt, pepper, and bagoong.  Add spinach immediately after mixture comes to boil.  Serve hot over rice.

Pancit Luglug (Rice Noodles in Shrimp Sauce)

Serves 6-8

Prepare shrimp juice by pureeing shrimp shells in a food processor.  Add ½ C water to the puree; mix, mash, and strain.  Set aside the shrimp juice. Cook pork in enough water to cover till tender.  Remove pork. Cut into 1x1” cubes and set aside.  Saute garlic and onion till transparent.  Add pork and shrimp.  Stir gently.  Add shrimp juice, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste.  Add anatto water and bring to boil, stirring constantly.  Set aside the resulting Shrimp Sauce.  In a large saucepan or wok with a little oil, combine soaked noodles and the shrimp sauce and quickly stir-fry soaked noodles in little oil till somewhat tender. You can add julienned carrots, green beans, and cabbage as you stir-fry the pancit.  Serve, garnished with lemon wedges.

Puto (Steamed Rice Muffins)

Makes 2 dozen

Combine rice flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Add coconut milk to the dry ingredients and blend well to make a smooth mixture. Add anise seeds. Mix and blend thoroughly and fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full. Cook in a steamer for 30 minutes. Test for doneness: Muffins are done when toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Serve hot topped with grated coconut or butter.

Rice (Steamed without a Rice Cooker)

Serves 4

2 C raw white rice; 4 C water; dash salt

Wash rice 3 times and drain.  Add water.  Bring to boil and simmer 15 min. or until rice is cooked.

Siopao (Steamed Meat-Filled Buns)

Makes 24-30 buns

Filling:

Saute garlic, onion in sesame oil.  Add pork or chicken, and cook till lightly brown.  Add water, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar, ground pepper, (MSG), and corn starch.  Stir until sauce boils.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 2 minutes.  Remove pan from heat.  Add hard boiled eggs.  Let cool for 5 minutes.

The Dough:

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and shortening till the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs.  Add water, vinegar, and salt, and stir until mixture is a soft, pliable dough.  Turn dough onto a floured board and knead lightly into a ball.  Cover the dough with plastic for 20 min.  Knead lightly again on a floured board, and then cut ball into 12 pieces.  Roll each piece into a little ball.

Filling The Dough: (You will need waxpaper)

Take each ball of dough and lightly roll out on a floured surface.  Place one flattened dough ball in the palm of your hand.  Put one tablespoon of filling in center of the dough.  Press edges of dough together.  Take the 2 ends of the bun, bring them up over the pinched edge and twist together firmly  Cut 12 pieces of wax paper into 2 inches square.  Brush one side lightly with oil.  Place a bun upside down, so the smooth rounded side is uppermost, on each oiled piece of paper.  Steam siopao  for 20 minutes, making sure the buns don’t touch each other.

© 2000 Rufel F. Ramos

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