A spoonful of mango

I cannot believe that I am reaching my second year of blogging and I have not yet featured Mangoes on their own.

When I was in Macau and has jumped off the high tower for the bungee jump, I remember sharing small talk with the person removing my harness. The exchange went like:

Him: Where are you from?
Me: From the Philippines. You should go there some time.
Him: I know! You’re famous for…
Me: Beaches? We have tons of that!
Him: Mangoes! You’re mangoes are supposed to great.
Me: Yes they are!

Mango "pisngi" = Mango cheek

Of course, having never tasted “foreign” mangoes, I have nothing to compare it to.  All I know is that some of the mangoes that I see on TV, which are either Mexican mangoes, which I think are the red skinned ones, or some local mango (if not featuring the Manila Mango), have really huge pits, and not that juicy, I think.

But here, on an off-season month of January, we have mangoes. What used to be a summer fruit has become an all season fruit. I do love it, though I miss the deluge of mangoes  in every corner during the summer season And yes, this is how we eat mangoes: slice away from pits to get the cheeks off, scoop from the cheeks and suck the pit!

A wedge of guyabano

I still remember how I reacted when my mom told me to try the bukayong guyabano. I repeatedly asked around 5 times, “Bukayong guyabano?”

Guyabano, as I have mentioned, but not featured, is one of my favorites fruits or shakes. The sweet pulp is yummy to eat when picked and grown just right. When an off season fruit is brought to our table and is too sour, we throw it in the blender, whiz along with some ice and additional sugar and comes out a thick shake Yum!

Guyabano or soursop is in the same family of jackfruits. Based on the fruit structure and skin, you would actually know they are related. But look at the fruit itself, and the juiciness and softness of soursop is totally different. This one is juice, while jackfruits are more meaty. But they are all good fruits.

I am used to eating the guyabano juicy and ripe and I found it such a rad idea to have it cooked in sugar from it’s raw state.

Sweet and chewy

Bukayo, in the general sense, actually refers to cooked buko (young coconut) in sugar. There is a certain age of the coconut. It cannot be the really young ones that is suggested more for drinking and slurping. It should be the kind of coconut, young still, but nearing its maturity. Like a teenage coconut? This is then scraped off the shell in long strips and cooked in caramelized brown sugar. Some like their bukayo wet and saucy, others like it dry and chewy. All up to taste, of course.

So in the same way, I think my mom cooked it like this. I was not even home whey they did it and was only offered the cook product after dinner. And the final product? I actually like it better than the regular coconut bukayo. Since this guyabano was cut into wedges, it was heartier, and not so sweet. It was also very “makunat” or chewy, which I like. Surprise recipes from my moms and aunts are the best, since these are goodies they ate when they were younger J

Menu

In a heavily populated mall, it is nice to find some quiet breather when we can actually hear each other with out too much noise. The restaurant wasn’t our first choice, but it was 1pm, we were hungry, and the restaurant of choice closes at 2, so headed to this place. They only serve charcoal grilled food that you grill on your own, but I was eating meat so I was game.

There were differences in restaurant size and ambiance, buffet style compared to per plate ordering and the assortment of food. Another main difference is the cooking. Both restaurants highly advertise their selection of thinly sliced meat, akin to Korean barbecue, but for Yakimix, you cook on top of a steel plate fired by a gas stove underneath. For Tajiyama, a pail full of charcoal is placed in the hole in the middle of the table and topped with a steel grate, which is more barbecue style, direct heat cooking. I think simply because the steel grate is already hot once placed in the table. The meat has no tendency to stick Which is good. But I like some of the sauces soaking into the meat, which only works when the sauce is not dripping all over the charcoal and killing the fire. You can’t have em all.

The service was not that fast, they were nice, but our orders had to be placed a couple of times before arriving on our table, and our glasses were not refilled as fast as needed. But over-all, it’s all good. And the ambiance was much better. Situated along the more expensive area in Mall of Asia, Tajiyama was quieter and more intimate. Though I think it’s the free-for-all buffet that’s causing Yakimix to be crazy. Will come back again

Salad

I started my love affair with salad only recently. And up to now, I still continuously discover salads, thought not new, that I end up really liking. My sister brought home an order of Chicken Caesar Salad from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and I fell in love with the salad. I never knew consciously how the caesar salad dressing is supposed to taste like, having been raised on a thousand island dressing. But this, with one bite, was heaven. Of course, this dressing is one of the most calorie laden dressing available, if I remember correctly. But if it will help me eat my salads, why not?

I looked up my favorite chef’s salad dressing, and since it involved raw eggs, I had no plans on working with that. I got some idea but of course, this is all suited to taste. I read a handful of recipes before I embarked on my own.

First, I boiled some chicken in some salted water, to serve as the protein (I copied the style of CBTL). Cooled and sliced.

Anchovy, mustard, garlic, vinegar mixture

It ended up more with taste and adjust kind of recipe, which I guess is the best kind when cooking for the family So here goes.

I first started with the strong flavored things. In the blender, I pureed 3 garlic cloves, a bit of vinegar, a bit of mustard. Then threw in 4 fillets of anchovies. Whiz until liquid. I put that in a bowl and slowly added some mayo, mixing and adjusting as I go. I ended up adding almost the whole can of filleted anchovies (but since I really like anchovies, you can just imagine me putting the whole can in). Then I added the grated parmesan. The dressing was a little too thick for my taste. I added milk to thin out, and adjusted the salt again since it watered down. I allowed the flavors to mellow in the fridge for a couple of days. Super yummy.

Then on my 3 kinds of salad greens, I added the croutons, chicken and the dressing is drizzled on top. A healthier living

Stored in the fridge

Caesar Salad Dressing

3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tin of anchovies
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt

Puree first 4 ingredients. MIx everything

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Cooked croutons

This is obviously not an end of a recipe. I like croutons but not enough that I’ll make them for eating At first, I thought that this was too simple to blog about on its own. But there’s more steps than just the usual that I make, which is to dice, toss and bake the bread. A little bit more complicated than that.

Sliced bread

So procedure begins like any other. Bread is diced. Then this is baked, sans salt or oil until the dry out a bit. And while in the oven, we do other stuff!

Macerate 3 cloves of garlic with 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I did this in a mortar and pestle. I then strained the oil in a cool pan and squished the garlic so that more of the flavors and actual garlic will come out. I took the baked bread from the oven and dumped them into the pan, and turned the pan on low. I added more salt in the end. Crunchy, flavorful, and perfect for the next recipe

Garlic Croutons from Alton Brown

1 loaf day old bread
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut 1/2 to 3/4-inch croutons from the loaf of bread and place on a baking sheet and put into the oven until dry but not browned.

Use a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic with 4 tablespoons of oil and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Strain the oil into a skillet over medium heat. Add the dried croutons and fry, tossing constantly until all of the oil is absorbed and the croutons turn gold. Set aside.

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Box of tikoy!

Being a very culturally friendly country, the Philippines observes a lot of holidays that aren’t originally its own, or at least those not inherent to the majority (and I think that’s why we are a favorite of all foreigners). One of these practices is to observe the Chinese New Year. Though everyone for sure knows someone who is of the Chinese race, this practice has only been recently that celebrated. We all welcomed the Chinese New Year with our own readings of our horoscopes and what not, wearing red as the Chinese practice does, but having it declared a holiday was only recent.

Tikoy in the supermarket

One of my favorite features of this holiday is the tikoy, or sticky rice cake. It’s sold vacuum packed in round tablets, and then sliced, coated with egg and fried. The tikoy symbolizes togetherness, among other things. Having a handful of Chinese friends, I always look forward to eating some of these every year. I have yet to see a dragon dance though my cousins ate at a Chinese restaurant and watched a great performance. To more tikoy! Kung Heif Fat Choi!

Fried Tikoy

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My plate

A restaurant adapts in so many ways and this includes adding new items that sometimes makes a non-selling store sell. I have never been fond of Joey Pepperoni having eaten here before and finding their pasta abysmal. I’m not the best cook, but I know what I like, and their pasta taste cheap.

Ceasar Salad

A slice of pizza number 2!

Pork with Rice3

We were in Calamba and hungry for anything, I wasn’t feeling fussy and merely looking for sustenance. Pizza and pasta won and in we step at Joey Pepperoni’s. I wanted to have the salad but I was too hungry to just have that and ordered instead one of their new items, simply called Pork with Rice. There’s another name for it but I forgot

My friends ordered the pizza which was 2 for P199, plus the salad that I initially wanted. The ordered arrived a few minutes later, and mine, at least the rice, was a bit begger than expected, which is very good. The sauce, as promised, was a bit spicy and also a bit sour. I am sure it had cumin in it since it had that flavor, but I don’t know what else.

I also wanted the cheese sticks but they only offered the platter at P170. I asked if I can order a smaller serving and they said I can, with each piece at P20. I asked how many pieces there were on the one order and surprised to know that there was only 7! Uhhh, so obviously, we only ordered a few. But seriously, the per piece order is cheaper?

I ended up the meal on a happy note. A request for more sauce is acquired  without having to suffer additional charges. The service was also friendly and very fast. Kudos. And with the new rice meals, I now

Yellow corn and white corn

I always knew there was white corn and yellow corn available here in the country, or at least in Manila. It wasn’t until I started researching for this blog that I realize that maize, which I find repeatedly  mentioned whenever I watch TV as an African or South American corn, is the same white corn that I have been eating all my life. Though the different varieties give it different looking kernels, like purple colored ones. Or the white and purple combination. They are all thick and starchy as opposed to the sweet yellow ones.

I came home a couple of days ago with both kinds of corn, sweet and starchy, cooked and ready for eating.Loving corn, I was ecstatic to find the option (or to just have the assortment, not an option, since I had both) available for me.

The usual suam

I started my dinner with the white corn soup, which I have already talked about here. The consistency is so thick, that it should be called corn chowder instead (it varies according to how starchy the corn is at that time). This batch is absolutely thick, which is so good. I finished the soup immediately.

I had rice afterwards and finished it with some of the yellow corn for “dessert”. I obviously overloaded in carbohydrates during the meal. But it’s corn!!! This was sweet, and it was sweet without cheating (meaning it was steamed with just water, not water with sugar and a touch of salt) and it was delicious. Time of the season again to fill our tummies with great corn. Since the rest of the year, it’s too expensive to have two kinds on the table (Well not really, but just more expensive)

Yellow corn

About 2% of my relatives Great aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings of my moms

I just have to explain a bit of the Filipino practices, knowing that a lot of the people who follow my blog are not Filipinos.

Filipinos both celebrate the eve before Christmas and New Year with a huge feast. It’s  a tradition that we eat ham and queso de bola, among other things, once the clock strikes 12. This means that besides the usual Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve dinner, plus the feasting of the next day (since it is after all, Christmas and New Year), we eat another huge meal. But since I slept through the noche buena (Christmas’ midnight meal), I am only talking about this after New Years.

Noche Buena, as googled, means good night. Well, you can actually just google Noche Buena and it will show how Philippine practices are with regards to this. But to every Filipino, it refers to the get together that we do. This is also the same for media noche. This one literally means midnight, still refers to the get together. (And we wonder why we all gain weight during the holidays.)

These feasts usually are celebrated surrounded by family and friends, which is what most Filipino feasts are about. And this “family” automatically extends to relatives on the second degree, and sometimes involving up to our third cousins It’s a whole lot of noise, and a whole lot of fun.

Though I’m never going to run out of food to talk about, I would love to explain more about the local practices and feasts soon A good new year to all of us!