Arepas

I love all Latin dishes,  especially Mexican food. So when I went to Florida last March I was excited to have more Cuban food, but what really surprised me was Venezuelan food.  It was our last day in Orlando and we just made a quick stop at a strip mall when I found this wonderful restaurant.  One of the dishes they had was arepas (its been a while and I'm not sure that that's what it was called, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong :D).  It was a sweet masa pancake filled with a lovely melted cheese.  How can you go wrong with cheese?  I have been craving that since we came back and then I remembered seeing my cousin making homemade quesadilla.  It was interesting to watch since he used masa and not the already made corn or flour tortilla.  It motivated me to try it myself.  So I got instant masa flour and went to work.  

Masa

*I went with the ratio method since it depends on how much you want to make. 

1 part to 1 part instant masa to water *This may vary on how dry or wet you want the masa.

1 part sugar to 4 parts masa *to make it a little sweet.  

Corn (optional, but it would be great to add if you have it. I wish I did.)

Directions

1. 
   
   Mix the flour and sugar together. *Corn if you have it. 
2. 
   
    Slowly add the water.  I would add it in parts so you are able to judge if it needs more or less. 
3. 
   
   Create little pancakes
4. 
   
   Grill it on a non-stick skillet on medium heat.  You could add a little butter but it is not really necessary.
5. 
   
   Once it starts to dry up a little, flip them over. 
6. 
   
   Once cooked, let it cool a little. 
7. 
   
   Make a small incision in the middle of the cake and insert the cheese so the heat from the arepas can make it nice and gooey.
8. 
   
   Top however you like and enjoy.

 

 

When it is finish, it looks like this.

Carnitas recipe

1 Lb of Pork Butt

1 Cup of Brown Sugar 

1 Cup of Molasses

A little water to dilute the mixture

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. 
   
   Chop the pork into small pieces and season it to your preference. 
2. 
   
   Let it brown in a deep skillet until it is cooked.
3. 
   
   In a separate bowl mix the brown sugar, molasses, and enough water so it will be runny but still thick.
4. 
   
   Add it to the pork and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, mixing constantly. 

 

I topped it with some romaine lettuce, tomatoes, Mexican sour cream and carnitas.  

Week 3 Pantry Clean out Challenge and A Misadventure at the same time.

 

 

Another week, another week to attempt to reduce the amount of stuff I stored in my pantry.  This week I actually got a chance to cook everything....I WIN!  I was good and actually planned out what I was going to make instead of just winging it (like normal :D).  Thank you for the kind words from my last failed attempt.  It got me motivated to try to clean out the pantry.  I even was able to use a few other stuff I had stored away :D.  I also used one of the ingredients twice.  Good for me :D 

 

Here is my working ingredients

Dried Apricots - Cookies (Misadventure)

Corn Flour - Cake and Cookies (Misadventure)

Ginger Bread Cookie mix - Cookies for The Daughter

Chickpea - Mexican Stew

White Chocolate Chips - I actually didn't have any in the house so I used semisweet - Cookies (Misadventure)

At the start of the week -4

Dried Apricots, Corn Flour, Chocolate Chips - + 5

Corn Flour - +1 (I added another point since I used it twice)

Ginger Bread - +1

Chickpea - + 1

End of the week +4

 

Week 4 Ingredients

Dried Figs

Semolina Flour

Whole wheat spaghetti (I have 4 packages.....4!)

Coconut (I believe I have a whole tree my pantry.  I have no idea where all of them came from either)

Imitation cream cheese (Let's just say, I was making a lot of cheesecake and for some reason I got the wrong one, OK like 24 boxes of the wrong kind.  Did you know groceries won't let you return them after you bought them 10 minutes prior)

 

These are my ingredients and hopefully I'm sticking to it. 

 

 

Here are some pics and maybe a recipe on what I make :D

The Daughter Making Ginger Bread cookies with The Husband

 

 I actually made homemade Marshmallow Fondant that I got from Cake Journal.  You will never go back to regular fondant! 

 

I made a Victoria Sponge cake created by Nigella Lawson that was shared by Tomayto Tomaaahto.

Could you figure out what I'm trying to make? 

 

It is Rocket from Little Einstein.  I totally have to improve on my free hand work.  The Husband even helped me put it on the cake (That was not a pretty sight).  But it was a great attempt for my first time carving :D.

 

Here is my Misadventure!  Cookies are not my Enemy!  I can't get it right no matter what I do.  I don't get it.  Any suggestions?

 

I just stuck it in here because I thought it was a cute picture :D 

Daring Bakers #1 - Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

This is my very first Daring Baker's Challenge.  I was so excited I couldn't wait to make this.  I was wanted to join but I wanted to improve my baking and cooking skills first.  I also meant to participate in the Daring cooks but I didn't have a chance this month.  For this month, the theme was Chocolate Pavlovas with a Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse thanks to Dawn from Doable and Delicious.  I have always seen Pavlovas but I have never tried to make them before.  As for the chocolate mousse, I have always viewed mousse as an advance type of dessert to make.  I don't know why but it seemed one of those techniques I didn't think I had.  So when this challenge was stated, I was excited because it forced me to try this instead of delaying making mousse.  Here is the recipes I used.

 

For the Chocolate Pavlova

(Adapted from Daring Bakers)

Ingredients

3 Large Eggs Whites

1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp of Sugar

1/4 Cup of Confectioner's Sugar

1/3 Cup of Cocoa Powder

Cream of Tarter * I added this

 

Directions

1. Start to whip the egg whites with a little cream of tarter.
2. When the egg whites get to a stiff peaks, slowly add the sugar.  
3. Once it it is fully incorporated, sift in the cocoa powder and confectionery sugar.
4. Slowly fold in the dry ingredients until it is fully incorporated.  
5. Fill a pastry bag and pipe out the meringue on a prepared baking sheet.  I think I made mine a little thin so I would make sure it is thicker or just one big circle.  
6. Bake at 200F for 2-3 hours.  
7. Let it cool.
    

For the mousse I opted with the first mousse recipe that was offered.

 

Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

(Adapted from Daring Bakers)

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups of Heavy Cream

Grated Zest of 1 Lemon * I didn't use this because I actually did not get one. 

9 Ounces of 72% Chocolate Chopped *I actually used semisweet since I have a large amount in my house.

1 2/3 Cups of Mascarpone Cheese

A little Nutmeg

1 Tbsp of Grand Marnier *I used orange juice

 

Directions

1.  Pour about 1/2 cup of the cream into a sauce pan on a medium to a medium high heat.
2. Once the cream is warmed up remove it from the heat than add the chocolate and whip until it is fully melted. 
3. Transfer the ganache into a another bowl and let it sit until it reaches room temperature.
4. Take the mascarpone cheese, cream, and the nutmeg and whip it at a low speed until it starts to fluff up to soft peaks. 
5. Fold in the chocolate ganache. 

 

Assembly

1. Take the Pavlova and top it with the chocolate mousse. 

 

I have realized that I need to work in my plating skills :D 

 

Fresh Lumpia

Most people are familiar with lumpia shanghai which is fried egg rolls.  I actually grew up on the fresh version just because The Grandmother and Mother used to make them vegetarian.  I made them only once before but I used the store bought wrapping it is best when you use fresh wrapping.  Unluckily the wrapping is actually a crepe, I used to be able to make crepes when I was a teenager but since than I have not been successful.  For The Brother's birthday, I decided I was going to try it again.  Well, I almost wasted 1/2 the batch before I got the crepes coming out the way it should.  So I ended up making two batches to use all the filling.  The only part I messed up on was the sauce which I can't seem to remember the recipe.  I knew I should have called The Mother to verify the recipe. 

 

Fresh Lumpia

Ingredients

1 Sweet Potato

1/2 Of a Jimaca

1 Can of Chick Pea

3 Carrots

4 Cups of Bean Sprouts

1 Package of Soft Tofu

1 Can of Bamboo Shoots

1/2 a Head of Cabbage

1 Clove of Minced Garlic

1 Sliced Onion

Roman Lettuce

Salt and pepper

 

Directions

1. Julian all the vegetables. 
2. Preheat a wok with your choice of oil.  I would have use sesame oil or peanut but The Daughter is allergic.  Than saute the garlic and onions.
3. Saute the jicama, carrots, and sweet potatoes first.
4. Than add the bean sprouts, tofu, chickpeas, and bamboo shoots.  The tofu should break up and fully mix into the vegetables.
5. Add salt and pepper.
6. The filling is ready to be wrapped.

 

This is The Mother and Sisters cutting up the veggies when I was in California

Crepes

(adapted from Allrecipe)

1 Cup or All-Purpose Flour

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup of Milk

1/2 Cup or Water

1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

2 Tablespoons of Melted Butter

 

Directions

1. Add all the ingredients into a blender and mix well.
2. Take a small skillet, make sure it is well greased, and place it over a medium heat to heat the pan.
3. Pour a light layer of the mixture into the skillet while rotating the pan to make sure it forms a circle.
4. Let it cook until it starts to come away from the pan and flip it. This is where I failed for a while.  I tried to flip it too soon and I ended up using my fingers instead of a spatula. 
5. Let it cool

Assembly

1.  Take the roman lettuce and put it on the bottom 1/3 of the crepe. 
2. Add the cooked filling and start rolling. 

 

If you know a good sauce recipe, please let me know.  I can't seem to remember it :D

 

 

 

Pantry Clean Out Challenge Week 2 - FAILED

I totally failed for this week.  I was even trying to go to the last minute and use all the ingredients on Monday.  I didn't get to it.  So this is the tally

Week 2 Challenge Items

Dried Apricots - Failed -1

Corn Flour - Failed -1

Ginger Bread Cookie mix - Failed -1

Chickpea - Failed -1

White Chocolate Chips - Failed -1

So right now I'm -4.  So I'm carrying over all the ingredients into week 3.  I already started to work on this weeks ingredients.  Last night I made my version of a Mexican stew.  The only reason I consider it a Mexican stew because of the frozen vegetables I used.  It stated Mexican mix.  It also incorporated Mexican sour cream too. 

Mexican Stew

Ingredients

1 Lb of Beef Stew Meat Cubed

1 Can of Chickpea

1 Package of Mexican Frozen Vegetable

1 Tomato Diced

2 Onions Sliced

2 Cloves of Garlic Minced

4 Cups of Water *you may want more soup. 

* The rest of the ingredients, I just went by taste. 

Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Paprika

Cayenne Pepper 

Nutmeg

Garlic Salt

Garnish

Jasmin Rice

Mexican Sour Cream

Directions

1. 
   
   Heat a large pot,  a dutch oven would be ideal and pour a light coating of oil.
2. 
   
   Add the meat to brown a little bit.  Do not over cook.
3. 
   
   Remove the meat as it browns and than add the onion and garlic.  Stir around the onion and garlic to pick up the flavor of the meat.
4. 
   
   Once the onion is fully cooked, add the meat back in and season with salt and pepper.
5. 
   
   Add the water and bring it to a boil. 
6. 
   
   Add the frozen vegetables.
7. 
   
   Once they are cooked, add the tomatoes and the chickpea.
8. 
   
   Than add your seasonings.  The measurements is up to you.  You may want more heat, less heat, more nutmeg.  I went with even parts of each thing except for the garlic salt.  I doubled that.
9. 
   
   Reduce to a simmer. 
10. 
    
    Once it is to your taste, serve with a side of rice and sour cream. 

Mellow Bakers - Beer Barley Bread

As my second challenge I made Beer Barley Bread.  The process itself was very similar to the other breads we have made but I got a chance to incorporate other grains.  I liked feel of the bread and the texture.  Mine also didn't come out the way I was hoping because I didn't exactly follow the cooking instructions.  I was kinda running out of the door and I didn't get a chance to perform the steaming technique instead I just baked it in dry heat.  I hope to try this again and actually follow the directions better :D.  The Daughter attacked the bread, it was pretty funny since it had a tough crust.  I also believe the since I made smaller rolls, it wasn't thick enough to be soft interior.  I would probably use a better beer.  I just used what was in the house which equaled MGD.  The taste was pretty good.  I'm still trying to get used to not putting sugar in bread.  I am so used to that. 

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My Aunties Stir-fry Tofu Recipe

I must admit, I didn't cook this.  I actually stalked my aunt with the camera when she was making this.  I'm not the best person to cook tofu so I asked her how she did it.  She found it humorous when I took out my camera.  Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe.   It was mainly the technique I was look for.  I always break up the tofu every time. 

 

She used firm tofu and she barely messed with the pan.  She let it sit there until it started to brown a bit

Than she added tomatoes and onions.  She slowly mixed the tomatoes and onions into the tofu

This is where it gets a bit hazy, I forgot what she added.  I know she did add vegetarian oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, and pepper.

The tomato's juiced created a sauce and than she added can glutton.

I have yet to try this on my own and hopefully I won't break the tofu. 

June's Kulinarya Cooking Club - BBQ

I love living in Chicago.  The culture, the diversity, and especially the food.  Through one thing that drives me crazy about Chicago is the weather.  The winters are horrible and during fall and spring, the weather is so unstable.  Summer is a welcome friend that we look forward in seeing the whole year.  During summer, I love the variety in produce and the opportunity to use our grill.  When I heard the challenge was BBQ, I was quite excited.  If I had the choice, we would be using the grill all the time.  It just screams summer and my childhood of playing outside all day than having dinner on our patio as we watch the sun go down.  Filipino BBQ is different in ways that our BBQ is sweeter than American BBQ and we do not use tomatoes as a base sauce.  In my experience, we actually don't use sauce.  This recipe, I made up when I was challenge to make a healthier alternative to BBQ.

Chicken Tocino on a Stick

Ingredients

1LB Skinless and Boneless Chicken Thighs

1 Cup of Pineapple Juice

1/4 Cup of Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Bamboo Sticks

Directions

1. 
   
   

   Soak the bamboo sticks in water for at least 10 minutes
2. 
   
   Slice the chicken thighs into thick strips
3. 
   
   Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
4. 
   
   Take the chicken thighs and insert the stick through them.
5. 
   
   Place the skewers in a large casserole dish large enough for it to lay flat
6. 
   
   Pour the marinate over the chicken and make sure it is fully covered.
7. 
   
   Marinate overnight.
8. 
   
   Grill for 10-15 minutes until it is fully cooked.

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino bloggers living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its cuisines. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to stop by our food blog and leave a comment - we would love to hear from you. 

The current members are:
Trish - Sugarlace
Kath - A Cup Cake or Two
Trissa - Trissalicious
Olive - Home Cooking and Baking
Caroline - When Adobo Met Feijoada
Ninette - Big Bold Beautiful Food
Peach - The Peach Kitchen
Althea - Busog Sarap
Asha – Fork-Spoon -Knife
Malou - Skip to Malou
Cherrie – Sweet Cherrie Pie
Acdee - Confession Nook
Valerie – A Canadian Foodie
Sheryl – Crispy Waffle
Divina – Sense and Serendipity
Anna - Second Helpings
Dahlia - Energetic Chef
Dahlia - Energetic Chef
Maribel – foodgeek's diary
Tressa
Jen - Jen at Work
Pia – Inato Lang Filipino Cuisine and More
Malaka – The Grand International
Mimi – La Pinche Cocinera
Erika – The Ivory Hut
Kat – Table Talk

Misadventure #9 - Homemade Pasta

So I have been dying to try homemade pasta.  I always found fresh pasta was the best but it was always intimidating to me.  So I have been reading Ratios by Michael Ruhlman.  I enjoy trying to figure out the mathematics equation in cooking.  If I find that if I know the basic recipe, I could grow from there.  According to the book, the ratio is 3 parts flour to 2 parts egg.  So that is what I did. 

Ingredients

3 Cups of Semolina Flour

2 Eggs

 

I mixed the beat the eggs first than poured it into the flour.

I like mixing things by hand so that is what I did :D

Make sure it is in a ball and chill it for 30 minutes, about  :D

So this is where it starts to fail, I rolled it out with a rolling pin and I made it too thick.  Keep in mind, I do have a pasta maker but I was way to lazy to take it out

I even filled them with portabella mushrooms and ricotta cheese..it looks good right?

 

It looks good....i don't see why i failed..oh yeah. it was really thick

 

I also failed with the sauce, I have no idea what I was making.  All i know we had ricotta and tomatoes

 

Any hints I'm totally open to them.  I want to make vegetable based pasta so I could get The Daughter to eat all of her veggies and not the few chosen one.

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Blackberries

 

 

I finally had the opportunity to have panna cotta when I had a girls night with two of my friends.  Since I was with one of my foodie friends Anna, we had to try different dishes and desserts.  Panna cotta was one of the three desserts we tried.  I instantly enjoyed the dish and I wanted to replicate a version of it at home.  I went on the hunt for a recipe and I found a fairly simple one on Epicurious.  I was also able to find blackberries on sale so I figured I'll pair them together. 

 

Chocolate Panna Cotta

(adapted from Epicurious)

Canola Oil

1 Cup of Whole Milk

2 1/4 Teaspoon unflavored gelatin

2 Cups of Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup of Sugar

5 Ounces of Semisweet Chocolate chopped or morsels

1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

 

Directions 

1.  Brush the mold or custard cups with canola oil.  I used I tin cake pan since I didn't have any glass.  Glass would have been better
2. Pour the milk into a bowl and than add the gelatin to soften.
3. Pour the cream and sugar into a saucepan and cook over a medium-high heat while whisking until the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil
4. Remove the pot from the heat and than add the chocolate.  Mix well until it is fully melted.
5. Slowly add the mixture to the milk with the gelatin and stir continually.  
6. Add the vanilla.
7. Pour the mixture into a blender to fully incorporate but do not over mix.  You may have to do this in batches.  It took me about 3 batches.
8. Pour into the prepared pans and chill for 24 hours.
9. Top with Fresh Blackberries and serve.

 

Turon (Banana Egg rolls)

This is always a favorite in my house.  The Daughter generally would eat two at a time.  It is so simple but just time consuming.  Turon is generally made with brown sugar, Saba banana and jack fruit but here in Chicago, I can't seem to find Saba banana so I have to settle with plantains.  I call it banana egg rolls for my non-Filipino friends :D  It is essentially an egg roll made with bananas.  The nice thing you could actually freeze (I love freezing everything I could) this and make it any time you want. 

 

Ingredients

3-4 Really ripe Saba Banana (or Plantains)

1 Jar of Jack Fruit

1 Package of egg roll wrapper (The Filipino one is better for this than the Chinese version)

2-3 Cups of Brown Sugar

 

Directions

1. Separate the egg roll wrappers since they are probably in one large stack (this was my normal job when The Mother was making this)
2. Slice the bananas into 1/2 inch thick slices.  I could probably get 6-8 pieces out of a banana depending on the length.
3. Dip one of the slices into the brown sugar and make sure it is fully coated.
4. Place it on the bottom 1/3 of the egg roll wrapper and place a piece of jack fruit on top.
5. Fold over the bottom and sides to make a rectangle and start rolling.  If i have confused you, please refer to the pictures below :D
6. Use a little water to dampen the end of the wrapper to get it to stick to the roll. 
7. Deep fry and drain the oil

*Option if you would like, add some brown sugar and butter in a skillet and drip the turon into to make a nice sugar coating  :D

 

 

 

These are Saba Banana...cute huh?

Here is the wrapper we used

Dipping the banana in the brown sugar

1.  2.  3.

And it is rolled :D

This is The Brother's handy work....let just say, he was trying to avoid cleaning and decided to do this.