Biko

There are different versions of Biko. A friend of mine cooks Biko without coconut milk while I grew up with coconut milk and cream in it. When my parents were here a few months ago, I was craving for the biko that I used to eat when I was young so I asked Mum to cook it for me. While watching her cook, I found out it was actually pretty simple. 

"Mum puts anise seeds around 1/4 tsp in the heated pan. Once you can smell the aroma of the seeds add coconut milk (I can't remember how much) and let it boil. Add brown sugar until you get the sweetness you want and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the cooked glutinous rice (we cooked it an hour ago). Keep stirring until the rice absorbs the liquid and it becomes very sticky."

Mum and Dad's visit

My parents came over from the Philippines to witness the birth of my second child. Everyone were busy including Mum who helped me with the household chores and Dad in cooking the food that I have missed back in the Philippines. When Dad finished cooking all I could think of is to try the food he cooked. He doesn't use a lot of ingredients but boy it is so delicious... he sure is one amazing cook! I wasn't able to take photo of all the food he cooked because I was in a hurry to eat them hehehe... Fortunately, I was able to stop myself from dishing up and instead got my camera so I can keep some souveniers.

This is called "Sarciadong Manok" cooked with chicken, green peas, carrots, potato etc...

Above is a fish dish called " Eskabetche ".

The dish above is "Adobong Manok, Bistek style". It is cooked in vinegar, pepper, bay leaf, onion and a little bit of soy sauce.

A few hours before Mum and Dad left to catch their flight going back to the Philippines, my Dad promised to cook something for me. He got up early morning so he can cook me a fried rice with some burger patty. It was heaven! I miss his cooking and hopefully Mum and Dad can come back soon because I miss them both.

Coconut Macaroons

My sister gave me this recipe a few nights ago. I was in the mood to bake this one this afternoon and realised the recipe she gave me didn't have the exact measurement of the flour and butter. I was trying to reach her via yahoo messenger but she was obviously not online so I had to make my own version of macaroons hehehe.. The recipe my sister gave me makes 100 macaroons using the tiny muffin paper cups and I didn't want 100 macaroons. So I then made my own measurements. I had 2 cups of dessicated coconut, almost a cup of spelt wholewheat flour, 3 eggs, 1 cup of skim condensed milk, 1 teaspoonful of baking powder, more or less 100 grams of butter, a pinch of salt. I baked it until brown in a preheated oven (160 degrees).

Daughter and hubby love it! It's not too sweet and it is really nice to eat while hot and with a cup of tea! 

"My first attempt of Puto Ube"

A good friend of mine made halo-halo when she had a dinner with us a few months ago. She brought ube jam with her to add in the halo-halo and left the rest of the jam to me yay! So when my sister asked me if I am interested in the Puto Ube recipe last night, I said yes! As I was searching for the banana cake recipe, I realised I had written down a puto recipe (without ube) in my journal a few years back. I didn't even get a chance to try cooking it. It calls for 4 egg whites.

While preparing and mixing the banana cake my husband asked what was the liquid thingy in the bowl inside the fridge (I used the egg yolks for the carbonara sauce 2 nights ago). I said it's 4 egg whites and there you go, I told myself to cook the puto after my banana cake. It taste good but I wish it had risen more as I mistakenly used baking soda instead of baking powder. I also added 1/4 cup of ube jam. I will try this again perhaps using my sister's recipe. For the meantime I am not going to share you the recipe for now until I get the right texture of puto hehehe...

(Halo-halo from Tagalog word halò, "mix") is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served in a tall glass or bowl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo-halo .

Banana Cake

Yesterday I was in the supermarket and was tempted to buy a banana cake, I am glad I didn't. I prefer to bake my own when I have time and the energy so I know what's in my cake. Well today I was in the mood to cook! My husband likes spelt wholemeal flour for his breads and cakes if he can. This flour is produced by removing the firm outer husk then roller-milling the inner kernel of grain. The end product makes for an easy digestible food when baked. It retains a substantial proportion of wheat's nutrients and full dietary fibre and high in nutrition and has a nutty flavour. I also like to use honey instead of sugar and some organic stuff for my other ingredients. Below is the recipe that I have been following, I have substituted some of the ingredients according to our liking so please feel free to do the same.

1/2 cup Plain flour

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1 cup mashed Banana or 2 medium size banana

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Sour Cream

Mix everything well and bake in a preheated oven (180 degrees). Bake for about 45 minutes or until it is cooked.

Carbonara Pasta served with Scotch Egg

We had a bacon in the fridge for 4 days now. My husband wants to have bacon and egg for breakfast one morning and then that's it. I only realised he bought a kilo of bacon when I checked the fridge last night and we only cooked a few pieces of it. So then I thought of a carbonara pasta. I served it with scotch egg because I always want to try this one. Hubby and daughter loves it!

Once again, I didn't measure my ingredients but here's what I did.

CARBONARA PASTA

- I heated the pan with the olive oil and cooked 3 cloves of garlic and probably 150 to 200 grams of rindless bacon

- I whisked 2 egg yolks, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of thickened cream and added it in the pan for 3 minutes in low heat

- I added the cooked spaghetti pasta and combined everything

- Season with salt and pepper IF necessary

- Turn off the heat and add parmesan cheese. Toss everything again until well combined.

SIMPLE SCOTCH EGG

- Cover a boiled egg (without the shell of course) with a barbeque rissole. You can also use sausage minced.

-Spray with canola oil on top, cover with foil; and bake in a preheated oven (180 degrees) until brown

Minced Beef Pie

We have been having chicken after my taste for chicken came back. To those of you who haven't read my last few entries, I stopped eating chicken during my first trimester of pregnancy. The taste of the chicken meat leaves a taste in my mouth and it makes me feel sick. So when we found out I can now enjoy a chicken dish, we have been having it everyday. There is a saying that says "too much of everything is not good" and it is quite true ;) . I decided to have meat for dinner yesterday and I thought of this personalised minced beef pie. My husband and daughter loves this very much!

These days though I don't bother measuring my ingredients and I go by whatever right taste I can get. But I can tell you what I did.

-I heated my pan and cooked the beef in the pan with olive oil until brown.

-I added 4 or 5 tablespoons of Napoletana Pasta sauce. I made sure though that it was just enough, not too dry. You can use other pasta sauce if you like.

-I also added Worchestire sauce, Soy sauce and salt (the pasta sauce I used wasn't very tasty). You only have to add the these sauces and seasoning if you are not satisfied with the pasta sauce you are using.

-Spray the muffin pans with canola oil.

- Cut the defrosted shortcrust pastry into 4 pieces and put it in the muffin pans. I only made 6 pies as I made sure I don't overcrowd my pastry in the pan.

- Get 3 teaspoons of minced beef and fill in the shortcrust pasty.

- Cut defrosted puff pastry just enough to cover the top of the pie.

- Prick 2 holes over the puff pastry and brush with egg.

- Bake in a preheated oven (180 degrees) until pastry is golden brown.

-Serve hot.