Latik Sauce (Coconut milk sauce)

My family grew up with suman sa lihiya and latik sauce. My mother never fails to cook the thick sweet sauce every time we have suman given by our relatives every Undas (All Souls Day). Suman sa lihiya is only complete with coconut milk sauce and grated coconut.

Coconut sauce Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 

Procedure:

1.     In a pan mix all the ingredients.

2.     Bring to boil. 

3.     Bring down to medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Suman sa lihiya recipe

Suman sa Lihiya

I grew up in Cavite, my mother's hometown and one of the Filipino delicacies I remember being prepared during All Saints Day or "undas" is suman sa lihiya. The townspeople are preparing suman sa lihiya the day before the much-awaited holiday. It takes many hours to prepare the suman but it is worth it.

When I was 6 years old we moved to the big city but we still visit our grandmother every undas and summer vacation. Every time we go back home, we have a bag full of suman given by my mother's relatives. My mother serves it with sweetened coconut milk syrup. I used to watch my mother preparing the suman and the sauce. I even helped to wrap and tie. Sometimes I got to do the scorching of the banana leaves before wrapping.

So here it is my first try and my eldest son loves it with coconut milk sauce.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups glutinous rice (malagkit na bigas)
• 2 tablespoons lye
• banana leaves
• thin cotton strings

Procedure: Banana Leaves Preparation

1. Prepare the banana leaves by scorching on a hot burner or open flame until it changed color. Scorching makes the leaves more flexible. 
2. Wipe the leaves with clean clothe. Cut off the central ribs. 
3. Cut banana leaves into two sizes, the bigger leaf should measure approximately 12 x 10 inches while the smaller is 5 x 5-inches.

Rice preparation:

1. Soak the glutinous rice for about 1-2 hours.
2. Drain and stir in lye water. Mix well until the glutinous rice turns yellowish, if not add more lye water a little at a time until it turns yellowish.

3. Put the big-sized leaf on a working surface, then put the smaller one on top of it.

4. Place about 3 tablespoons of the glutinous rice mixture on the smaller piece of leaf. Wrap three tablespoons of the malagkit mixture in two layers of banana leaf.

5. Bring them together two long sides of the bigger piece. Fold together to enclose the rice.
6. Fold two long ends together towards the center. You should have wrapped sweet rice about 4 x 2-inches in size.
7. Make another one of roughly the same size.



8. Pair these two with the folded sides together.
9. Tie the two ends tightly using cotton strings.



10. When done, arrange in a big pot and add enough water to cover the suman.
11. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.



12. Serve warm or cold with grated coconut and sugar or sweet coconut sauce.

How to make sweet coconut milk sauce

Chicken Fajitas

Mexican food has rich or spicy dishes that is easy to make. One of my favorite is the chicken fajitas. I have my own way of cooking it according to my kids preference. They don't want to see big chunks of vegetables, so I cut them as small as possible and not too spicy. Here is  my version of chicken fajita.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2  cloves  garlic, minced
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup shredded cheddar Cheese
• 1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 5 flour tortillas, warmed
• sour cream

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet and cook the garlic, chili, onion, salt and pepper for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Spray skillet with cooking oil. Saute garlic  and onion on medium-high heat, add the chicken. Cook for 5 minutes. Stirring constantly.
3. Add the salsa and peppers. Cook until chicken is done and vegetables are crisp-tender.
4. Heat the tortillas.
5. Spoon 1/4 cup each chicken mixture and cheese center of each tortilla. Fold in  to enclose filling. Arrange in the baking dish, sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake until the cheese just melts.
6. Serve with the sour cream. chopped cilantro and lemon.

Baked Chicken

Baked or roasted whole chicken is an easy recipe. For many years, my baked chicken always comes out juicy and tasty. Baked chicken can be a substitute for turkey on Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• butter for basting

Spicy Chicken Feet

It is also a main dish best eaten with rice for lunch or dinner.

Spicy Chicken Feet Recipe

Biko Recipe

This is not the usual biko recipe that my mother cooks. I added a little twist on my recipe by adding a custard topping. You can try it with or without the topping though.

Ingredients :

• 2 cups malagkit (glutinous) rice
• 3 cups coconut milk or 1 1/2 can (400 ml) coconut milk
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup condensed milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp. butter, for greasing pan

Topping

• 1 cup condensed milk
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp. flour, for quick thickening
• 1 egg yolk

Cooking Procedure:

1. In a sauce pan, combine sweet rice (malagkit), condensed milk, coconut milk, brown sugar. Mix well. (use 2  can coconut milk, save 1/2 cup for the topping. Use 1 can condensed milk, save 1 cup for the topping)
2. Cover, let boil, stirring constantly to keep bottom from scorching. 
3. Lower the heat and continue stirring until the rice is almost dry. Stir in sugar and 1/4 cup butter.
4. Beat egg, add 1 tbsp of cooked rice and mix well. Then add to the rest of the rice. Mix well
5. Spread the rice mixture in a well buttered 9″ x 13″ pan.
6. Pour topping over rice mixture. 
7. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 minutes or until the topping turns golden brown.

Prepare the topping while the rice is cooking.

1. Combine all topping ingredients in a heavy saucepan.
2. Cook over low heat stirring constantly until thick, about 15-30 minutes.
3. Pour over rice mixture.

Radish Salad (Ensaladang Labanos)

My mother used to cook this when we were small. I think this is one of the best salad I have ever tasted. She serves it with fried galunggong (round scad) fish and rice. It is one of my mothers recipe that I first learned. I always watch her prepare the ingredients  and even volunteer to help.

Every time I see radishes in the market, I make sure to some for the salad. The salad is best eaten right away. Or if you want to keep it for a while, make sure to warn everybody beside you when you open a container full of radish salad, or else they will think that  somebody just  released the most unwelcome gas from inside the body. Here is my version of ensaladang labanos.

Radish salad ingredients:

1 1/2 cups radish peeled and finely sliced

1-3 tomatoes cut into chunks

1 small onion thinly sliced

1/3 cup vinegar (or less, depends on your taste)

salt and pepper to taste

fresh cilantro (optional)

Preparation:

1. Peel and slice the radish thinly.

2. In a bowl, put the radish and sprinkle with 2 tbsp salt. Mix well, set aside for about 20 to 30 minutes.

3. After 30 minutes, squeezed the salted radish. Wash with water and drain.

4. Squeezed again, making sure to remove all the excess salt and water.

5. In a bowl, combine all the other ingredients. Add the radish.

6. Add more salt and pepper according to your taste.

7. Serve with as a side dish. Best with any fried fish or pork.

Note: Can keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Kutsinta (Filipino Cuchinta) - Sticky Rice Cake

Kutchinta or kutsinta is a Filipino delicacy  that are popular in the Philippines. Brown sugar and orange food color or annatto powder  for a reddish or brown color. You can also use white sugar for a colorless one. Kutsinta can be made by all purpose or glutinous flour or any flour of your choice.

For this recipe I used both the rice flour and glutinous flour.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour or all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp lye water
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 3/4 cup water
• 1 drop red liquid food color (optional)
• melted butter or cooking oil for brushing the molders
• grated coconut for toppings

Cooking Procedure:

1.     Sift all the dry ingredients. Mix well.

2.     Mix water, sugar and  lye water together, dissolve sugar thoroughly. Add liquid food color (optional). 

3.     Add the sugar mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

4.     Brush the molder with butter.

5.     Pour into molders about 3/4 full and steam for 40 minutes or until done.

6.     Allow few minutes to cool before removing from the molders.

7.     Best served with grated coconut.

Tom Yum Soup

Tom Yum is one of Thailand most popular soup. The soup is characterised by its distinct spicy hot and sour flavour that defines Thai flavor. Basically the broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients but because of the availability, There is a ready-made tom yum paste or tom yum cubes sold around the world but I never tried one.