Orange Raisin Muffins

I adapted this recipe from the Orange Date Muffin recipe from the The Joy of Baking website. I made a few changes to fit the ingredients I had at home. For example, instead of using 1 cup of whole wheat flour, I just added another cup of all purpose flour. (Though I do wish we had whole wheat flour on hand) I also used muscovado sugar instead of regular brown sugar and substituted buttermilk for a mixture of milk and vinegar.  Plus, I did not add any nuts. But the biggest change I made was using raisins instead of dates.

The result was amazing. My family polished off the muffins in record time. The best part was that the scent of oranges and freshly baked muffins just seemed to waft around the house. Super delicious. Next time, I plan on following the recipe exactly as it was written, but for now, I'm glad I made some substitutions.

Orange Raisin Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup muscovado sugar (sifted)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon orange zest

1/3 cup fresh orange juice

2/3 cup milk + 1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

4 tablespoon butter, melted

2/3 cup raisins

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and orange zest. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and the vinegar mixture. Add the orange juice, vanilla extract, egg and melted butter to this and whisk until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir until just combined. Fold in the raisins. Remember not to over mix. 

Pour the batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C (400F) for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Serve warm, not hot.

Tuna Pasta with Malunggay

A while back, I wrote about malunggay. What I forgot to mention was that malunggay has such a neutral taste that you add it to almost anything. This is great when all you need if just some green to brighten your dish. This was exactly what I needed with my tuna pasta. It also one of the many ways one can add a bit more vegetable to your pasta.

Tuna Pasta with Malunggay

500g spaghetti, cooked according to package direction and drained

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1 180g can of tuna (in either vegetable oil or water), drained

1 cup heavy cream

50ml evaporated milk 

1 chicken bouillon cube (optional)

1/2 cup malunggay leaves

salt and pepper, to taste

In a saute pan, saute the garlic until golden brown then add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Add the tuna and mix until the tuna has broken down into smaller pieces. Add the cream and the evaporated milk. You may add the bouillon cube at this point. If the sauce gets too thick, you may add some water. Add the malunggay leaves and bring to a gentle boil. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes before adding the pasta. Stir until the pasta is thoroughly coated with the sauce. Serve and enjoy.

Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa. It's probably my favorite salad. Normally we'd only use green mangoes, but this time, though, we decided to add ripe mangoes to the mix as well. The result was a slightly sour salad with a dash of refreshingly sweet and juicy mangoes. It's a perfect side dish for many things, including creamy tuna pasta. But my ultimate favorite is when it is served with crispy fried milk fish and rice. 

Mango Salsa

1 unripe green mango, diced

1 ripe mango, cubed

1 small red onion, diced

1 tomato, diced

1 tablespoon sugar

salt, to taste

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Allow it to sit in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Green Mango Smoothies

It's summer time again! Or at least it is in South East Asia, where there's only 2 seasons and 2 types of weather: rainy and sunny. Anyway, summertime always signaled the start of mango season. Mango is the ultimate summer fruit, and it's also the ingredient of my favorite summer cooler: Mango smoothie.

Now, there's several ways to go about it. You can use ripe mangoes, but I've always found that unripe green mangoes resulted in a far more refreshing drink. Maybe it's got something to do with it being sour. Anyway, I've got two versions of the Green Mango Smoothie. One is our regular smoothie and the other was an unexpected discovery.

Green Mango Smoothie (regular)

Ice (usually one ice tray)

Green Mangoes (2-3 mangoes are ideal, but 1 will also do)

1 cup water plus more if needed

Sugar to taste

Peel the green mangoes and cut it up into smaller pieces. Place ice in the blender. Pulse until the ice looks like shaved ice. Add the green mangoes and pulse until pureed. Add the water and the sugar. I usually add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sour the mangoes are. Pulse again until everything has a smoothie texture. Pour into glasses and serve.

The second recipe was discovered purely by accident. My mom had made green mango salsa a week ago. Green mango salsa is basically a mixture of diced green mangoes, onions and tomatoes with a little salt. Unfortunately my mom's green mango back then was really really sour. We could take a bit of it without making the funny sour face. When I told my mom that I'd like to try making green mango smoothies one day, she suddenly had the idea of turning our inedible sour salsa into a smoothie. Yes, we gave her our best reluctant look, but as it turned out, with a little sugar, it tasted quite fine. So, here's our recipe for it:

Green Mango Salsa Smoothie

Ice (one tray)

Green Mangoes (2-3 mangoes are ideal)

1 tomato, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1 cup water plus more

Sugar to taste

Peel and slice the green mangoes into small pieces. In a blender, add the ice and pulse until it becomes shaved ice. Add the green mangoes, tomato and onion. Blend until pureed. Add water (add more if needed) and the sugar (again, 2-3 tablespoons, depending on taste). Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

My best tip for making green mango smoothies is to taste and taste again until you think it tastes great. Also, I understand some people prefer smoothies where you can still feel the bits and pieces of mangoes. Remember, it's all up to you how smooth you want it. Finally, you can use simple syrup instead of sugar, if you want. Enjoy!

Pinakbet

Pinakbet is what I like to call as a “vegetarian dish in disguise”. The main attraction in pinakbet is the vegetables. The meat is almost an afterthought and the shrimp paste is added for a better kick. It’s quick and easy dish to make, making it perfect for the weekdays. I’ll admit that as a child it wasn’t my favorite dish, but with so many vegetables to choose from in this dish, I didn’t find hard to eat.

A note on the ingredients: I know there are several varieties of squash, especially in North America. If you can, try to use calabaza squash (known locally as kalabasa). On the other hand, bitter gourd (also known as bitter melon) is my least favorite vegetable. Why? Because it is extremely bitter. Technically it's a fruit but it's often used as a vegetable when cooking, like tomatoes and squash. In the Philippines, we call it ampalaya, a name that still send shivers down my spine. If cooked well though, it loses some of it's bitterness and can actually taste good. The shrimp paste also helps a lot.

Bitter gourd

That brings me to shrimp paste. Shrimp paste is found all over Southeast Asia. There are several different varieties. In the Philippines, it's call bagoong. If cooked, it goes quite well with unripe mangoes, balancing the mangoes' sour taste with its saltiness. It is made by fermenting ground up shrimp or tiny little shrimp.

Shrimp paste

A bottle of shrimp paste

Pinakbet

3 teaspoons vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/8 kg chicken breast, sliced into cubes

1/8 of squash sliced into cube (if your squash is smaller, use more)

1/4 cup water

1 eggplant, sliced diagonally

2 small bitter gourds, seeds removed and sliced thinly

4 okras, sliced diagonally

½ tablespoon shrimp paste

1 chicken bouillon cube (optional)

salt and pepper (to taste)

Heat a saute pan (or wok) over medium low heat. Add the oil. Once the oil is hot enough, saute the onion until it becomes translucent. Then add the garlic and cook until golden brown. Add the tomato. Cook until it is tender. Add the chicken breast, squash and bitter gourds. Add water as needed. Try not to add too much water. When the chicken looks cooked, add the egg plant and the okra. When all the vegetables are cooked and the squash is tender, add the shrimp paste and the bouillon cube. If it still requires some salt, add some at this stage, though based on my experience, it usually doesn't require salt any more. Serve with freshly cooked rice.

Grilling

Grilling is one of my favorite methods of cooking. There always seems to be a ritual that accompanies it, especially when we don’t use the electric grill. One of the things that I love best about it is that the food is usually so good that it practically signals you to eat with your hands, the polite way, of course. Yes, there’s a polite way and a barbarian way of eating with your hands. It depends on which country you’re in, of course, but the general rule is not to stuff your face and not to play with your food. Another thing I love about grilling is that the food tastes really simple, at least most of the time. It’s usually not smothered in sauce and its natural flavors just seem more enhanced.

All the grilled things

The grilling process is pretty straight forward. I guess the hardest bit would be lighting the charcoal (if you’re using a charcoal grill). In the US, I’ve usually used charcoal that’s been pre-soaked in lighter fluid. When I told my mom about this, she gasped and said there was no way something so flammable would enter her house. And, they are quite combustible. Whenever I light one of these up I immediately feel like a little pyromaniac. The only thing I would add to this is that you should the charcoal burn a bit first before putting anything on the grill. If you don’t, your dish is going to taste like kerosene, and trust me, that does not taste good. In the Philippines, though, my family does it differently. The charcoals we use are not soaked in lighter fluid, so we usually hold one piece over the stove fire. Once a little flame has started on that piece, we add it to the pile of charcoal on the grill. Then the hard part begins. We have to fan the flame until most of the charcoal pieces have caught fire. On the plus side, your food won’t taste like kerosene. On the downside, your arm will feel like it’s falling off.

The trick to any great seafood dish is fresh fish. You can tell if the fish is fresh by looking at how clear its eyes are. Also, it shouldn't smell fishy. It should smell like the sea.

Here are some examples of what we love to grill. Fish is my mom’s absolute favorite. The fish here is locally called samaral. It’s a good grilling fish. You can grill all kinds of fish and even shellfish, but it’s important to remember that not all fish will taste their best when grilled. There are some fish that are just more appropriate for other uses. Oh, don’t forget to season your fish very well when grilling. Rub the salt all over the fish. If you’re cooking a large fish, don’t forget to do the insides too. Unseasoned fish tastes bleh…unless it was still alive 15 minutes before you placed it on the grill. Also, try not to turn your fish too often. You’ll know when one side is cooked if the fish’s skin does not stick to the grill. Do not force it to turnover or your fish will fall apart.

Don't forget to rub salt inside the cavity!

Grilled eggplant is another favorite. It’s easy to tell if it’s cook too. Basically, it’s cooked if it’s soft and its skin practically falls from it. If you’ve got the bigger and fatter variety, you may want to slice it thinly and then rub some extra virgin olive oil on it first. You may also want to season it. If you’re using the smaller ones, like these, all you need to do is throw it on the grill. My two favorite grilled eggplant dishes are Tortang Talong and Eggplant Salsa. You can access the tortang talong recipe here. Here's the recipe for Eggplant salsa:

Eggplant Salsa

1 (or 2) grilled eggplant, peeled and mashed, with the head removed

1 small red onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tomato, diced

3 tablespoons vinegar (preferably coconut vinegar, but any other type except balsamic vinegar would do)

salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, combine the eggplant, onion, garlic and tomato. Add the vinegar and season to taste. Mix well, then serve.

Once the eggplant is cooked, its skin will peel away easily.

I honestly did not know you could grill bananas. It was my mom’s idea, and boy, was it a good one. You have to use saba bananas, of course, mostly because it’s the cooking banana. The banana formed a nice little crust once it was done, so there was a slightly crispy layer with a soft inside. The banana retained its natural sweetness. It may seem right to add sugar to it, but I wouldn’t suggest it. The banana was great by itself.

Grilling bananas

Forming a nice crust on the bananas

Mangoes

Mangoes!!!! I love mangoes! I know there's many different types of mangoes, but my favorite by far are Philippine mangoes. So sweet and juicy. They usually come out during the summer months in the Philippines (meaning April, May and June). This year, though, the mangoes seem to have decided to make an early appearance. 

In the Philippines, there two commonly sold mangoes in the market: ripe mangoes and unripe mangoes. The third type sold in the market are called Indian mangoes and are generally eaten the same way an unripe Philippines mango is eaten. The biggest difference between these two mangoes is that Indian mangoes are smaller and can 

Ripe mango. Notice how beautifully yellow it is.

To eat the ripe Philippine mango, one need only to slice it correctly and scoop the flesh of the fruit out. Sounds easy? It certainly is! To find out where to slice, lay the fruit on a flat surface, like a table or a counter top. Your knife must be parallel to the side on which the mango lies. This means that your knife will be parallel to the flat side of the seed of the mango. Start with a small incision at the top of the mango, near where the mango would have been attached to a branch. Then gently slice down the mango. Don't worry and let the seed of the mango will be your guide. Repeat this step on the other side of the seed. You'll end up with something that looks like this: (The one of the left is the fleshy side and the one on the right is the seed)

Fleshy portion

Seed portion

Now, sometimes people want their mangoes to come in cubes, so they will make lengthwise and crosswise cuts on the fleshy portion of the mango. This way, you can simply invert the skin of the mango and little mango cubes will pop out. What about the mango seed? What should you do with it? Personally, I love sucking the flesh out of it. 

Unripe mango

Now, onto the unripe mango. The first step to eating it, is peeling it. Use a small paring knife or a vegetable peeler. Then, cut it the same way you would a ripe mango, so that you separate the fleshy from the seed. At this point, you can either cut the flesh into sticks, like crudites or dice it up for mango salsa. The important thing to remember about unripe mangoes is that they are very sour. So, if you plan on eating them like crudites, pair them some Filipino shrimp paste or bagoong. The saltiness of the bagoong will balance out the extreme tang of the mango. If bagoong is not for you (oh no!), you can pair your mangoes with an equal mixture of salt and sugar. Enjoy your mangoes!

Mango Salsa

1 unripe mango, peeled and diced

1 small red onion, diced

1 tomato, diced

1 teaspoon sugar (if needed)

salt to taste

In a bowl, mix the mango, onion and the tomato. If the mango is too sour, add the sugarSeason to taste and serve cold. 

Tikoy

One thing I always look forward to during the Chinese New Year is Tikoy, also known as Nian gao. I absolutely love this sweet glutinous rice cake. It is said that eating it will bring good luck. I don't know about that, but it is so delicious that I almost feel lucky when I eat it.

It came in a nice little red box

Look how sticky it is!

There are many different varieties of tikoy, but the one usually sold in the Philippines is usually prepared as a dessert or a sweet snack instead of being savory. To prepare this, we usually just beat an egg in a bowl, then cut the tikoy up into little rectangular pieces. Then we did the tikoy into the egg and pan fry it. The only thing left to do is to enjoy it.

Of Macaroni Soup

There are time when all you really want is something warm. That's where macaroni soup comes in. It's definitely my go to winter soup. The funny part is that in my family, we always serve this with rice. (Ok, we serve everything with rice, even spaghetti. Weird, I know.) It was one of the first things I learned to cook when I was younger. 

This particular soup, though, is slightly different from the macaroni soup of my childhood days. Just slightly different. In the macaroni soup of the past, I would normally saute the onions and the garlic first then add the cooked chicken meat, the vegetables, the macaroni, chicken broth and finally the milk. In this one, I cooked everything in one pot. And, let me tell you, it still tastes great!

Macaroni Soup 

1/4 chicken, skin and bones one and cut into pieces

2 cups water

1/4 cup elbow macaroni

1 small onion or 1/4 large onion

1 small carrot, cubed

5 crimini mushrooms, halved

1/2 cup milk (evaporated or fresh)

1 chicken bouillon cube

1 handful of frozen peas

1 handful of frozen sweet corn

1/2 dried parsley

salt and pepper

In a pot, add the chicken pieces and pour water over it. Place the pot over medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Lower the heat and allow the chicken to cook. Fish the chicken pieces out of the pot and set aside.  Keep the pot with water on the heat and add the macaroni to the water. Once the macaroni is just about to be cooked, add the onion, the carrot and the mushroom. Cover the pot and allow them to cook. 

Meanwhile, shred the chicken with a fork. Then add the shredded chicken to the macaroni. Add the milk and the bouillon cube. Stir until the cube has dissolved. Add the peas and the corn. Simmer for 2 minutes and add the parsley. Season to taste and remove from the heat. Transfer to a serving dish.

Note:

• You can leave out the bouillon cube if you want, but I find that it enhances the flavor of the dish. Alternatively, you can substitute water with chicken stock and leave out the bouillon cube.
• You can also make this dish by first sauteing 3 cloves of garlic and the onion, then adding the shredded chicken. Pour the cooking water, milk, macaroni and vegetables in. Season to taste.
• Oh, and this serves two people. 

Of Failures

First attempt at orange muffins

Even the best of us can fail sometimes. In fact there's tons of scientific literature on human error and how to avoid it. Engineers design systems specifically to minimize these errors. Sometimes the solution is as simple as getting enough sleep, but sometimes it's as complicated as designing a new system. I guess it's the same thing in baking and cooking. There a loads of ways one can make mistakes in baking and cooking. And though I've never burnt the kitchen down, I've had my moments of failures. Here are two examples.

I've wanted for some time to make orange muffins and since we had the most beautiful supply of oranges this year, I thought it would be the perfect time to make them. My first recipe came from: The Domestic Goddess blog. From the very start, I thought it was weird that the recipe did not include any leavening agent like baking powder or even baking soda. Still, I desperately wanted to make these, so I followed the recipe, despite my doubts. My second mistake here was simply changing the lemons to oranges, without remembering that the oranges were very sweet on their own. The result was a sickly sweet muffin that felt more like rubber than a muffin.

My second attempt turned out better, but I still managed to make a mistake. The good part was, it's not really my own fault. Has anyone told you that sometimes you cannot trust your senses? Well that's definitely true here. When I made the second batch, I picked up a jar filled with what I thought was flour. Yes, looked, felt and smelled like flour, and in my head I thought ", It must be flour." How totally wrong I was. Once the muffins baked, they looked a lot better than my first attempt despite not having a muffin top. Unfortunately, they had an odd flour-like smell to them. I was about to chalk all these up to me using old flour, but when I told my mom about it, her face fell. It turns out I might have used rice flour instead. Since my mom's kitchen did not really have labels, I must have picked up the wrong jar. See what I mean about changing the system?

Anyway, I would still use this recipe from Pinch of Yum again. Hopefully the next time I make muffins, I'll actually have the right flour. The muffins actually taste good despite the floury smell.

Orange Muffin
1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons corn syrup
juice of 1 large orange (I used naval oranges)
1 cup flour
1/3 cup muscovado sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For glaze (optional, I opted out)
1 cup powdered or icing or confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice

orange zest plus white sugar (1:2 ratio)

Start by preheating the oven to 350F or 180C. Whisk milk, oil, egg, corn syrup and orange juice together. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir until just combined. Pour into a prepared muffin pan and bake for 10-15minutes.

For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar and the orange juice. Drizzle this over the muffins and sprinkle a mixture of orange zest and white sugar on top.

Edit: I finally found out what sort of "flour" I added to the muffins. My dad says it's semolina. Trust me to mistake semolina for all purpose flour.

Of Champorado

Hmmm...champorado. It's definitely the one dish that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. What is it? Filipino chocolate rice. Ok, ok...technically, it comes from Mexico, brought to the Philippines by galleon trade. In case you were wondering what the galleon trade is, it's trade route between Acapulco, Mexico and Manila, Philippines back when both countries were Spanish colonies. People back then traded spices, silk, porcelain, and, most importantly, recipes. 

Yummy Champorado

Make no mistake though, that Mexican champurrado is very different from Filipino champorado (also spelled as tsamporado, since the Tagalog language doesn't actually have the leter 'c' in it). Mexican champurrado, according to Wikipedia, is actually Mexican hot chocolate. Filipino tsamporado, on the other hand, is warm, chocolatey rice porridge. Traditionally, it's cooked with glutinous rice (short grained, sticky rice) but you can also use left over white rice (that's what I used). It gets its chocolate flavor from Filipino chocolate tablets or tablea, which has a more intense chocolate flavor since it is made from pure cacao nibs which were roasted and grounded into a paste and hardened into tablets. The chocolately rice is then sweetened with brown sugar, preferably muscovado and served with a dash of evaporated milk. 

Tablea

Tsamporado is perfect for cold weather or whenever you're down. Chocolate can wash any the blues, right? Champorado can also be eaten for breakfast. If you plan on doing this, don't forget the tuyo! That's salty dried fish. You can also (and I love doing this) refrigerate it until it's cold and eat it like chocolate rice pudding. Yum!

Champorado

2 cups left over white rice

5 cups plus more if needed, water

3 tablepoon muscovado sugar

2 tableas

evaporated milk to serve

In a dutch oven or a large pot, add the rice and 4 cups water. Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, add the tableas. Stir until the tableas have broken down and combined with the rice and water mixture. Cook until the rice and the water mixture have formed a thick soup that is slightly smooth. If there's too little water, add more as needed. Stir in the sugar. Pour into bowls and drizzle evaporated milk on the top.

Note:

• If you plan on using glutinous rice, use more water. I suggest a 1:5 rice-water ratio. 
• You can also use cocoa powder instead of tablea. It'll have a slightly different flavor, but it'll still be good. Beware though, if you use dark chocolate powder, you will have an extremely dark champorado, and not the traditional lighter brown color. I know, coz I've tried this.

Of Cocoa Brownie

My mom had always insisted that using cocoa was better for making brownies than my usual melted chocolate. When my mom insists on something, you follow. So I looked up a brownie recipe that used cocoa powder instead of chocolate. I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I tweaked it a little by using muscovado sugar instead of white sugar and reducing the amount to one cup only instead of 1 1/4 cups. The result? A more adult and less sugary brownie. It still retained its fudginess, but its chocolate flavor seemed to intensify.

Cocoa Brownie

10 tablespoons butter

1 cup muscovado sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2/3 cup nuts, like pecans or walnut or cashews (optional, I didn't put any)

Preheat the oven to 325F or 160C. In a heat-proof bowl, add the butter, sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Stir until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot enough such that you instinctively remove your finger after testing it (I thought that was a funny way of putting it, but yes, it's in the recipe). 

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool a bit. The mixture should be warm and not hot. Stir in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. Once it's well-blended, shift in the flour. Stir until well-blended. At this point, you can add the nuts if you want. Stir again, if you do. 

Finally, pour the batter into a prepared 8x8 inch pan. Make sure to use parchment paper or foil as this will help in removing the brownies from the pan. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Once done, let the brownie cool completely before cutting. I suggest refrigerating for about an hour first before cutting. Finally cut into tiny squares and serve!