Bakwan (Pinoy Style)

Bakwan is an Indonesian recipe which is basically shrimp and beansprout fritters or croquettes.  The recipe we have here however is given a Filipino twist by adding Malunggay and pork.

Ingredients:
500 grams shrimp
1 kg togue or beansprout
1 cup malunggay
5 stems kinchay, minced
1/2 kg cornstarch
1/4 kg flour
2 tbsp atsuete
3 medium sized carrots, diced
1 tbsp iodized salt
1 L cooking oil
1/2 kilo ground pork

Procedure:

Mix shrimp, togue, malunggay, kinchay and carrots in a bowl and then set aside.

Using a separate bowl, mix flour, cornstarch, and iodized salt and pour 2 cups water of water.  Add in the color extracted from atsuete and mix until the mixture becomes sticky and smooth.  Add in the rest of the ingredients that had been set aside.

Heat enough oil in a saucepan.

Spoon ample amount of the batter and form into a ball or patty (whichever shape you want) and deep fry until brown.

Serve as is or with any sauce to your liking.  My personal preference is sweet and sour sauce.

Cavendish and Harvey Milk Candies

We got a taste of these wonderful candies packed in a cute tin can yesterday evening.  The taste is much like that of the more commonly known White Rabbit, only better because the milky goodness explodes in your mouth once you get to the filling.  

Cavendish and Harvey is made in Germany.

To the sweet donor of this Cavendish and Harvey can, thanks so much!

Tupig ng Mudrah ni Mudrah

Tupig is the Ilokano equivalent of puto bumbong for Christmas I should say.  I remember my childhood days when we would get to eat this special delicacy everytime someone from the province comes over to visit us.  There are days too when we would visit Tarlac or Camiling and come home with this delicious snack.  The smokey sweet aroma of tupig would fill the air and it would certainly signal a festive atmosphere in any family gathering.

Last Sunday, January 8 we were privileged to have Mudrah's Mudrah cook tupig for Matthew who would be bringing them back to the Netherlands as pasalubong for his mom.  Who's Matthew?  Hahaba lang ang kwento so hindi ko na sasagutin yun okay?!


Anyway, here is recipe for Tupig as per Mudrah's Mudrah:


1 kilo glutinous rice (Thai glutinous rice is preferred)
250 grams margarine
2-1/2 cup sugar(brown and white mixed)
2 shredded young coconuts
4 cups coconut milk
Banana leaves for wrapping the tupig

Procedure:
1.  Before anything else.  The fresh banana leaves have to be immersed in hot water to wilt or soften it so it would not break in the process of wrapping or rolling.

2.  Cut the wilted banana leaves to the desired size approximately 4-1/2 x 8 inches and arrange them on a plate or tray.  The size of your banana leaves can vary depending on the size you want of course.

3.  Then, melt the margarine.

4.  Mix the glutinous rice, shredded coconut, margarine, and sugar first.

5.  Slowly add in the coconut milk so as to avoid the mixture to be runny making it difficult to wrap.  The mixture has to be mixed very well.  The use of your hands in mixing would definitely be better, just be sure to wash your hands before doing so.

The tupig mixture has to appear like this, sticky and not runny.
It kinda' looks yucky here :)

6.  As soon as the mixture is ready, you can start wrapping them in banana leaves.  An ample amount of the mixture depending on the size you want can be placed and start rolling the leaves.

7.  Cook over coal on a grill covered with aluminum foil.  Cooking takes about 15 to 20 minutes.  The tupig is cooked when it turns golden brown already.  Have extra banana leaves ready in cases when the  wrapping becomes burnt.

The ice chest seen here is filled with already cooked tupig
most of which will be flown to the Netherlands.

The yummy tupig in all its glorious yumminess!!!

Halayang Ube na Green

Shhhhh!!!  My sister-in-law and I invaded Mudrah's kitchen to make some halayang ube or purple yam jam.  This is a funny experience because in our attempt to make the purple yam more violet...well, it turned green :)

Ingredients:
1 kilo purple yams
2 cans condensed milk (12 ounces)
1 can evaporated milk (14 ounces)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Instructions:

1.  Boil the Ube in water until cooked.  Drain and cool.
2.  Peel and grate the ube yam, mashing can be okay too.

3.  On a big pan melt butter and add condensed milk.  Add vanilla too (optional)  Blend or mix well.  Lower the heat and add in the grated ube.  Mix continuously until the mixture becomes sticky.  Slowly add in the beaten egg yolks and evaporated milk to the mixture and mix again.  I do not suggest doing what we did as seen in the following pictures which led to our ube turning green.  Ha! Ha!

This is the purple yam mixture with the slight tinge of violet.

My sister-in-law and I wanted to know if adding blue food coloring
would make the color darker.  This is what it turned out to be - mukhang cemento. 

Then my sister-in-law decided to just make the mixture green kasi yun daw ang color ng 2012.
Ha! Ha!  I don't suggest you do what we just did but as it turns out, the jam was delicious!!!
Masarap siya, mukha lang avocado :)

6.  Pour the mixture on buttered pans or serving platters.

Our green ube ready to be served.

7.  Let cool and refrigerate before serving.

Hey!  Don't judge the ube by its color...it actually tastes great!!!