Humba

I did not grow up with humba.  I discovered it on one of my Filipino recipe research binges and kind of wonder where it's been all my life.  I'm still working on perfecting a recipe.  But with each attempt I get closer to something I can call my own.

Humba is a braised pork belly dish originating from somewhere in the southern Philippines, the Visayas or Mindanao.  It shares a striking resemblance to Chinese braised pork belly, so I wouldn't be surprised that that's its origin.  It also shares similarities with Filipino adobo which is a more prominent dish in the northern Philippines.  What sets humba apart from the these dishes are two things - sugar and fermented black beans.

Traditionally, palm sugar is used.  A common sweetener in south east asian cuisine, it's extracted from the sap of palm trees, date palms, sago or coconut generally.  You'll find it sold as little disks or blocks in asian markets.  But you can also find it granulated (and pricier) at specialty grocery stores or food sections.  It's a brown sugar, so you'll find it light or dark brown in color.  Your regular brown sugar from your everyday market is a fine substitute, however, for any recipe calling for palm sugar.

Fermented black beans are known as tausi in Tagalog or douchi in Chinese.  They are soy beans which have been fermented and salted.  They are not to be confused with the black bean commonly used in South and Central American cuisines.  Used as a seasoning, they are very strong in flavor.  Generally found dried, they need to be soaked in water before using to wash off alot of the salt and soften them back up.  There are, however, moistened ones you can find vacuum packed.  And you can also find black bean paste.


The bean paste is much easier to find than the dried beans.  And so at the moment, that's what I use.  I do hope to be able to find the actual dried beans one day, but no such luck as of yet.  I might have to make a trip to Chinatown for it if I can't find it on my next trip to the Filipino store.  Bean paste is plentiful at the nearby Korean market, but no dried beans, which somewhat boggled me.  But, oh well.  The bean paste is a fine substitute for now.

Though pork belly is the traditional meat, this is the first time I've used it for humba.  And I've made it a few times.  The first time I used belly, it didn't turn out so well.  So I avoided it and simply used other cuts of meat while I perfected the sauce.  Doing this was helpful actually.  I realized what the problem was with the first belly.  Not enough meat.

Pork belly is a fatty cut of meat.  It's the cut used to make bacon.  Everyone's seen a package of bacon.  Those strips are just layers of meat and fat, and depending on the package, some have more fat than meat.  So that's what I had to fix.  I had to find a piece of belly that was simply just meatier.  You'll find pork belly sold skin on or skin off.  If you use the skin on, you'll want to score the skin to allow the fat to flow out while you brown it.  When I make this again, and I will make it again because I need to do it with the dried beans, I'll remember to show how I prep the belly to cook.

This is another easy one pot meal.  I season my pork belly on all sides, then on a low to medium low heat, set the piece skin side down and let it slowly brown and crisp up the surface.  It also allows some of the fat to render out as well.  Once crisp, I'll turn it over and brown the other side.  Then I'll remove it from the pot, drain out the fat, return the pork to the pot and pour the braising liquid over it.  In the braising liquid is the soy bean paste, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, star anise, bay leaf and pepper and enough water to cover the piece of pork three quarters of the way.  Putting the cover over the pot, I then let it simmer for a couple hours until the meat is pull apart tender.  Once there, the pork is removed from the pot.  It's size will have reduced considerably because alot of fat has slowly oozed out during the long braising time.  Then we let the braising liquid continue to reduce until it reaches a desired consistancy of thickness.  This sauce ends up being very pungeunt and rich, caramel sweet and tart.

Slice the pork, lay it on the plate and pour some of the sauce over it.  Serve it with rice and a side of green vegetable.  We used broccoli this time around.  But a braised bok choy or green beans would work great as well. Balance the dish out with a nice veggie crunch.  You could maybe even season the veg with a little garlic and sesame oil.  Though with the rich sauce and equally rich and flavorful piece of pork, I think a simple pure clean veg side is ideal.

Chicken Thighs and Asparagus

Chicken thighs.  I have noticed over the past few years how chicken thighs have become more prolific in grocery stores. They're selling more consistantly in 'family packs' now, including boneless/skinless, and not just during the summer BBQ season.  I don't know about anyone else, but I love me a good chicken thigh.

Chicken breasts have their place.  They have 'less flavor' and so lend themselves more to a variety of cooking methods.  For example, they're far better in chicken salads then a thigh is.  And yes, technically, chicken breasts are less fatty and therefore 'healthier'.  But everything in moderation, as they say.  If you want a reduced fat chicken thigh, take off the skin and trim off the fat.  Voila.  Chicken thighs have a few advantages, in my opinion.  One, they're more flavorful.  Two, they don't dry out as easily.  Juicy chicken, yum.  Yes, partly due to the fat content.  And three, they're cheaper.

Asparagus.  Not cheap.  Cheaper when they're in season, of course.  That season might take place in Mexico in the middle of winter.  But hey, sometimes I really just need to forego my growing locavore principals and take advantage of a really good sale for something that adds healthy variety to my diet.  I am not a saint.

So what to do with a family pack of boneless/skinless chicken thighs and a bunch of asparagus?  First, you look in your fridge and see you have two slices of swiss cheese that need to be used.  So then you take those two pieces of swiss cheese, cut them in half then lay those with some cut asparagus spears in an open chicken thigh.  Wrap that thigh around the cheese and asparagus then tie with butcher's twine into a neat little bundle.  Brown them in a little oil in a saute pan then toss them in the oven at 375 for about 20-25 minutes. 

When finished roasting, serve with rice.  I eat pretty simple at home really.  At least, I think I do.  And most meals get served with steamed rice.  It's my Asian heritage.  Rice goes with anything.  Except maybe pizza.  And I suppose sandwiches.  This little bundle of joy could probably look better with a sauce.  That's my restaurant teaching kicking in.  Everything could always use a sauce to make it look better and be richer.  But for a simple meal at home the thigh is, as I said, a nice, juicy piece of meat and a sauce unnecessary.

What else can you do with chicken thighs and asparagus?  Adobo!  Well, at least with the chicken thighs.  The asparagus just makes a very nice veggie side to balance out the meal.

Adobo, in the Philippines, is basically any meat simmered in a vinegar based marinade.  You'll get arguments from various Filipinos what exactly goes in the marinade.  But that's no different really than asking people what they put in their BBQ sauce.  The primary flavoring ingredient is vinegar.  It provides sour and tart, something which is a key flavor in many Filipino dishes.  If it isn't vinegar that adds that flavor to a dish it may be citrus juice or tamarind or fermentation.

But as I said, vinegar is what makes a Filipino adobo a Filipino adobo.  The marinade for the adobo I grew up with is mostly vinegar with a bit of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, bay leaf and peppercorn.  You can have the meat sit in the marinade overnight or a few hours.  Or you can cook it right away if your needing a last minute meal.  It's a really flexible dish.  And easy to cook.  Toss all your marinade and chicken in a stew pot and turn on some medium heat.  Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the marinade has reduced into a dark coating sauce.

I admit, I take a little bit of my training into concern when I cook this now.  I usually heat up the pot and then brown the marinaded chicken on both sides first, then pour the marinade over it to finish off stewing.  Adds a bit of a prettier color to the finished product.  If I do it with chicken that has it's skin on, I'll usually drain off the extra fat that renders off when browning before I add the marinade to the pot.  I've read where some will do the opposite.  Stew it in the marinade and then take the chicken pieces and brown them afterwards.

Whichever way, whether you just toss it all in the pot or take that extra step for a little extra color, what you end up with is what is considered by many the quintessential Filipino dish.  And a dish which plays on all the different flavors a tongue can experience, sour, salty, sweet, spicy and umami.  Oh yeah! Umami!

Siopao Verse

Simple and delicious.

Siopao.

Steamed buns.

Slightly sweet.

Filled with meat.

A taste of home

Like no other.

A recipe I cannot share

Because of my mother.

It may just be flour.

It may just be sugar.

It may just be fat and milk and yeast.

But there is nothing to perfect

Except maybe the asado inside.

As for my mother's dough

Nothing compares in the least.

The 'Kids'

A little break from the recipe spree.  I thought I'd show off my current 'kids'.  They're adopted.  They're my cats.

Yes, I won't deny it.  I do call them my kids.  After all I do raise, feed, and shelter them.  I teach them, play with them, and love them.  I have no illusions that they are really my children.  They're much easier to care for than real children.  Ha.  And I try not to spoil them.  Limits on toy purchases.  They're quite happy with a ball made of paper or a milk ring.  Though we do have a few toy mice and a tunnel.  Don't think they need their own special bed or need to have canned food everyday.  We do let them catch a taste of people food once in awhile, little beggers.  And technically, they're not allowed on tables and countertops.  Though I swear these latest group seem more defiant about it.

Alright, if I'm not careful, I'll just keep talking about them.  We'll try to be brief!

This is Gandalf.  She is 'Dan's cat'.  Moved in with Dan when he moved here to live with me.  That's a very rare picture of her.  Hard to get.  I was only able to get three shots off before she got paranoid about me being in her personal space and left.  She's not sociable at all.  It took her nearly four years before she'd allow me pet her.  And even now, it's only for a short time.  She likes things on her own terms.  Most times she wants to be left alone.  She only wants attention when she asks for it.  So most of the time she's hiding under the bed or in the closet and only comes out to sit in her corner like she is now at night.  And only comes out for attention when the other cats are zonked out asleep.  She has no love for any other cat.  Though I have seen her sneak a play swat at Fiver from time to time only to hiss at her a second later when Fiver tries to respond playfully in kind.  Unfortunately for her, because she runs away from the younger cats when they bother her, they love to chase her.  These days, she's the grumpy old lady of the house.

This is the handsome man.  This is Genghis Khan Noonian Singh.  Khan, for short, and yes, we're total nerds.  Too smart for his own good, we had to buy him toys.  Never had to buy a cat toys before because I never had a cat this smart before.  If he didn't have toys he'd easily get bored and start ripping and knocking things.  Actually, he still does.  Like a dog.  Yep, I call him my puppy too.  And like a dog, he likes to play fetch.  He likes to play games.  Makes games up.  He gets extremely playful though into his adulthood he's calmed down a good bit, thank goodness.  He's a killer and a lover.  He doesn't hold back when he plays, claws and teeth ready to shred and kill.  But then rubs you to death and loves hanging on the couch with us.  He's also a carboholic.  Yes, he loves crunchy things and sugary things.  Better than meat.  He'll snub a piece of steak for the french fry instead.  And his favorite nut is the pistachio.  Really.  Pistachio.  He doesn't like cashews.

I love him to death, but he wasn't my first choice when we got him.  Had just lost my favorite cat, Ailim, to cancer just over a month before and still wasn't ready to accept a new cat into my life.  Or so I thought.  And he was a grey and he was male.  Those were two things I wasn't looking for at all.  But who says what you're looking for is what you need?

Someone had abandoned him.  Still too young to even eat solid foods, he was clean and he was healthy.  Someone had been cruel and tossed him into a dumspter to die.  But he was lucky.  Found by my coworker who was walking down the alley he heard him mewling.  He brought him to work hoping someone would know what to do with him.  I couldn't say no even though he wasn't physically the perfect cat I was looking for.

How can you say no to this face?  How can you not help a little soul in need?  And how can you deny fate?  He turned out to be the perfect cat to fill the hole in my life that Ailim had left behind.  A hole that wouldn't have been there at all had she not passed.  And there's still that little part of me that believes she might have made room for his coming.  Because I wouldn't have taken him if Ailim had been alive and healthy.  Sometimes I get this notion, he's a reinacarnation.  He does alot of things that remind me of her.  But he's still his own special self.

And then there's the newest member of the family.  That's her saying hello to Khan the first day they met.  We got her after my other old lady cat passed, Mickey.  I actually didn't wait too long before thinking of finding another cat.  Her death was easier to handle, for one thing.  Maybe I was just better prepared after losing Ailim.  But also, Khan was driving everyone crazy.  Without Mickey to help keep him occupied, he started creating havoc.  Like I said, he's smart and needs mental stimulation.  Mickey, though an old grump, helped provide some.  And so came an adoption street fair hosted by PAWS Chicago.  And from it came a little kitten they named Nicola.  She was just the right kind of active and alert when we met her.  And seeing as we were looking for a play partner for Khan, she seemed the best choice.  Our instincts were not incorrect.

Adoption agencies and guides give you all these rules about how to introduce new cats to each other.   Keep them seperate for at least a week, let them get used to each others scent, cats are very territorial, etc etc etc.  In general, they aren't wrong.  And I've heard the schpeal many times.  Most of my cats were shelter adoptions.  And I followed those rules in the past.  But with these two, I threw all that out the window.  I have a pretty good handle on how my cats think.  So the first day, they met each other.  And within 24 hours they were like this.

 

Khan instantly became a caring big brother. And now the two of them are the best of friends tearing the house apart with their playful antics. When she was little, he would be gentle with her when they played.  Now that she's grown, neither holds back.  They are equally matched. One does not rule the other.   And I can't keep anything breakable out. Ha.

We renamed her Fiver, after the skittish, prophetic rabbit in Watership Down.  She's aptly named.  She pounces and hops around the house like a bunny.  And she's a spaz.  She'll go tearing through the house at the slightest provocation of surprise.  She can't always land on her feet perfectly and she tumbles alot because she doesn't know how to stop herself.  She's clumsy.  It's adorable.  She loves drinking out of the bathroom tap.  It's routine for her to run to the bathroom everytime we get up because she wants to drink out of the tap.  She's playful.  She's expressive.  And did I mention she's adorable?  And this is her wondering if I'm going to yell at her for staring at the plant below her.

Those are my kids.  They remind me to keep things simple and to keep loving.  I don't know what I'd do without them.  Probably make babies of my own.  Heh.

Lumpia Shanghai

Above are the components for a popular Filipino bite.  Minus the canned soy milk. That's just there because I wanted to drink it.  Other than that, we have a meat mixture, spring roll wrappers and some egg wash.

There are two dishes that most non-Filipinos know when it comes to Filipino food.  One is adobo.  It's hailed as the national dish of the Philippines.  The other is lumpia shanghai.  The name tells you straight off that it is an imported food.  Very common item among asian cuisines, fried eggrolls, so not surprising it's a known favorite among Filipino food as well.  Lumpia shanghai is a long, cigar-sized egg roll, its skin tightly layered, thin and crispy.  It's fried.  And as we all know, everything fried tends towards tasty good.

The meat mixture is pretty simple.  You've got finely chopped onions, carrots, and garlic.  Season it with salt and pepper.  Mix that all up with the ground meat which can vary.  Ideally, I like to put a combination of ground pork and shrimp.  I love it with shrimp and may just go ahead and use it next time.  Several reasons prevented me from using it this time around, one of those being expense.  So this verion is just pork.  But pork alone works just fine.  My advice though, if you are using only pork, is to make sure you purchase some pork with a decent amount of fat in the mix.  The pork I used this time around was actually not very fatty at all, so the texture was a little drier than I had hoped.  Not bad, just not as juicy and textural as I like my lumpia filling.

Wrapping into a roll is pretty simple too.  The one thing that perhaps is the most difficult is deciding how much meat to actually put in each roll.  Somewhere around 3-4 tablespoons is what I put.  I've decided it's actually a little too much.  A little meat goes a long way in these little cigar shaped rolls so once again, next time I'll use a little less.  And I'm not even going ot bother telling you how to wrap it, I'm just going to show you.

The wrapper itself, you can find at most asian grocery stores.  Take note that not all spring roll wrappers are alike.  Each one, after frying will be different.  Some end up smooth, some with a more bubbly texture.  Thicker, thinner.  Some brown very dark, others not so much.  They all work.  Just experiment and find the one with the texture you like.  The Spring Home brand I used this time around ends up smooth, thin and golden when fried.

Rellenong Talong

Rellenong talong is stuffed eggplant.  My other pride and joy of the week.  The first time I attempted to make this a few years back, I really screwed it up and I haven't made it again until now.  I'm kind of embarassed that I couldn't figure out how to get the eggplant and meat to stick together at the time.  I even asked my mother how she makes it and from what she told me, I swear I followed her instructions.  Now a few years later and on my recipe perfection kick, a little bit of research has produced me perfect results.  Why I didn't think of this before, I have no idea.

It starts off by broiling an eggplant.  Cut in half, it's laid skin side up, then put under the broiler just long enough to allow the skin to peel off and soften the meat a little.  About ten minutes.  Once it's peeled, it can be set aside to cool while you cook the meat filling.

The meat filling is very simple with four ingredients.  Onion and garlic are sauteed in a frying pan.  The ground beef is then added and browned, followed by diced tomatoes.  Salt and pepper to taste, drain off the excess fat and then set aside to cool.

Heat up a little oil in a clean frying pan using medium low heat.  Grab a couple eggs and beat them in a bowl.

Take an eggplant half and carefully press it flat.  You can lay a paper towel over it to soak up any extra juice it seeps.

Holding it by the stem, dip the flattened eggplant into the egg, then lay it into the frying pan "skin side" down. While that side cooks to a golden brown, cover the top of it with the meat mixture.

When the first side is browned, pour a little bit of the beaten egg over the meat, then carefully but quickly flip the eggplant over and let it brown and cook through on the other side.  Slide it onto a plate.

It's great for any time of the day, breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Serve it with rice and ketchup.  I think if I were to serve this in a restaurant, I'd forgo the ketchup and actually serve it with something like a sweet and sour tomato relish or sofrito. 

Ensaymada!

Oh yeah, those are some sexy empanadas if I do say so myself.  Yes, I'm proud of these little buggers.  I get all giddy when I feel like I've made something to truly be proud of.  And these ensaymadas are one of two things in recent days I've created that literally made me dance with glee when they were done.  Also, I'm just enjoying saying the word sexy right now.

Sexy.

I adjusted the recipe one more time.  Party because I did take my sister's comments to heart and so tried shortening the dough a little by adding a touch more fat to soften it up.  I also did it because I like round cooking numbers like 4 ounces of butter versus 3 ounces.  And, yes, if you were ever wondering why fats, particularly solid ones, are call shortenings that's why.  They shorten gluten chains in doughs for crumbier baked goods.

Here's the dough after its final knead, wrapped up and ready for its last rise.  I love bread dough.  I love being able to hold it.  Unlike cake batter.  I love just watching bread develop as all the ingredients are kneaded, left to rise, cut, shaped and baked.  I 'cheat' by the way.  Well, not really.  But honestly, I probably wouldn't bake bread if not for my Kitchenaid mixer.  I love that thing and its dough hook.  Anyway, a dough like this, where you add a bunch of fat towards the end, starts out a gooey mess.  But after ten minutes of kneading, it slowly comes together to form this stretchy, satiny, smooth ball.  It's magical.

Once it's risen, the dough is then punched down and divided into 3oz portions.  Each one is then rolled out to a long sheet and cheese is sprinkled along it's length.  I'm using cheddar cheese.  Another commonly used cheese is edam.  I may try it next time.  Or maybe a sharper white cheddar.  That's right, certain parts of the recipe are never set in stone.  Heh.  Not everyone puts cheese in the middle.  But I like the idea of having that extra flavor actually in the dough, not just on top.

The dough is then rolled lengthwise, enclosing the cheese and forming a rope.  Pinching the ends closed the rope is then twirled into a spiral and the end is tucked under the roll.

Now, you can place this little spiralled roll into muffin tins or cups.  This time, though, I chose to be more 'rustic' and fell back on its Spanish roots as a free standing roll.

There they are, waiting for their final proof before baking.  The finished roll looks kind of like a little turban, which compels me to mention a little bit more about the history of ensaimada.  It's believed that the pastry was originally an early medieval arabic or jewish baked good and came to the Iberian peninsula through their culture.  And originally it was made with butter.  Then the Spanish Inquisition occurred and the Catholic Church forced the conversion of many Jews and Muslims.  And to insure they were truly converted required that all  their pastry be made with pork lard, since pork was a forbidden meat among those religions.  That is why the ensaimada and a number of other Spanish pastries call for lard.  Thus ends the history lesson.

And here's what they ended up looking like on the inside.  A beautiful, soft crumb with swirly holes of cheese.  Sexy.

Attempt Two

So the second attempt at ensaymada was much better.  Not perfect, but better.  Tried a few different things to correct the recipe.  First, I added a little more yeast, a half teaspoon.  I went with 100% all-purpose flour.  And I tried one other thing and that was to make bigger portions.  Bigger portions was a slight mistake, but not something that can't be easily fixed.  In fact, keeping the bigger portions for the third attempt.  Yes, we need one more.

Dough rose like a champ.

Look at those beauties.  All poofy and smooth.  In the oven they turned into these.



That's before they were buttered and sugared and cheesed, of course.  Problem was, those were the only two that stood up.  All the others fell over.  Too big for the cups they were put it.  So most of them were buns cascading down out of their cups or they just fell over.  Easy enough to fix though.  Just need to use a pan that won't allow them to slide down or maybe just don't use cups at all.

Other than that, they turned out really well.  Well enough, I had my sister taste test this batch.  Her remarks were that the flavor was there but she felt they were a touch stringy and not fluffy enough.  Not like the ones you get from certain commercial bakeries.  To which I balked.  I admit, I called her crazy.  I thought the texture was beautiful but I've taken her remarks into consideration.

Recipe Failures

I've delved into the world of pastry in search of a good ensaymada recipe.  Looked online, looked in books.  Found online recipes that I later found in books.  It's pretty funny, the internet.  Someone says "This is the real homemade recipe from my grandmother." And then you find it in on the back of a box or somewhere on the net where someone else swears it's their aunt's recipe and no one else makes it like her.  What's also amazing, is the variety for one small sweet bun recipe.  Some take two days to make, some take three hours.  Some were a two step method, others were twelve.  I went for something in between.  Found myself an old recipe (because I like old recipes) out of a book with which to play.



Cute, but wrong



So what is ensaymada?  Derived from the Spanish ensaimada, it's a fluffy (though some will argue) twisted bun, topped with cheese, sugar and butter.  The bun is basically a brioche, enriched with eggs and butter.  It has a marked difference from it's Spanish predecessor which are traditionally made with pork lard.  It's eaten for breakfast or merienda (snacks in between meals), and is also popular for special occasions and gatherings like Christmas.

As for the recipe I found.  It was a failure.  I could actually see it right away.  Certain things didn't ring true to me.  But I liked the method so I thought I'd try it out.  The method for making the dough turned out really well.  Was happy with the results.  To make the dough, it's done in three parts.  First is the making of a sponge, giving that time for the yeast to develop.  Then there's adding half the dry ingredients and eggs and letting that rise.  And then there's adding the other hald of dry ingredients and eggs and butter, kneading that until you get a smooth, elastic dough and then letting that rise.  Once that's risen, you punch it down, portion it out, roll them, twist them and get them ready to bake.

The big problem with the recipe.  The ingredients.  Two things looked funny.  One was the yeast amount.  I've made doughs in the past, so when I saw 1 teaspoon of yeast for 5 cups of flour, it made me wonder if that was enough yeast.  And it wasn't just that amount that made me wonder, it was the flour itself.  Recipe called for bread flour.

Now if you don't know the difference between flours, here's the brief.  Flour has a protein in it called gluten.  Gluten is the thing which gives doughs their elasticity, allows them to hold their shape, and helps create a product's chewy texture.  It's ability to hold the shape of a dough is strengthened when you knead and work the dough.  That develops the gluten into longer strings.  So if you want 'tougher' bread that will hold it's shape, you knead or mix doughs and batters longer.  If you don't want it to be tough, then you do less kneading.  All-purpose flour has what we'll call an average amount of gluten.  It's called all-pupose because it can be used to make all sorts of bread, pastries, pie doughs, cakes, etc.  'Harder' breads, like the more rustic kind with the nice crust on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, are made with bread flour which has more gluten than all-purpose.  And then on the other side, cakes and soft pastries can be made with cake or pastry flour which has the least amount of gluten and so you get fluffy, soft cakes.

So, here I am, wanting to make a fluffy, sweet bun and the recipe is asking for bread flour.  Alarm bells.  I chose to go half and half and see what happens.  Half bread flour and half all-purpose.   It wasn't working out.  The dough didn't rise as quickly as the recipe said it would.  It gave everything about 4 hours to go from start to finish.  But it took almost 16 hours before I could put it in the oven.

This is after 2 hours waiting for them to double in size.
They didn't.  But once again, still looks cute.

After the first rise I knew it wasn't going to work.  But you know what?  I'd put the ingredients together.  The dough wasn't disgusting.  It wasn't like I couldn't make bread out of it.  It just wouldn't be what I wanted.  So I finished them off.  Portioned, shaped and set them to bake.  Ended up with some cute little buns that were just way too firm and compact for what I wanted.  Tasted fine.  Texture, oh so very wrong.  Oh, and also, I didn't have enough cheese to put into the buns.  Shame on me!

On to round 2!

Recipe creation

So I have this dream of one day having my own little restaurant.  A little Filipino-American cafe.  Of course, in order to do that I need to have recipes.  That's the plan anyway.

Some recipes I do have from her.  Like her recipe for siapao dough or chicken salad or kare kare.  There are recipes galore for each.  But for some things I haven't found any like hers with just that particular taste.  I actually try to 'invent' some recipes with the help of my own memory and learned skills first.  And I say 'invent' because I don't really invent them.  There are enough recipes in existance.  I use them as reference, leafing through books and scanning the internet,comparing recipes and then adjusting them to what I want them to really be.  And what I want them to be is a dish that reflects what my mother would make.  It's all about my mother.  And her mother and who else knows beyond that.   I wish to honor them in the Filipino recipes I create.  When all else fails, then I turn to my mother.  But even then, sometimes I have to adjust.

That's the thing about recipes.  They're only references, only guides.  Sometimes recipes I reference need very little adjustment.  Sometimes they need alot.  When I receive a recipe from my mother, I try to adjust it very little.  But I've noticed over the years that different people even though they're following the exact same recipe will create slightly different versions if left to their own devices.  The difference being two things- the knowledge of technique and love.  Oh, yeah.  Love.  Love and attention.  People who care less, make careless food.  Simple enough.

And then most times I also have to consider how they will translate into a recipe for commercial use.  Because there can be a difference between how something is prepared in a professional and a home kitchen because of the volume, speed and plating size.  For example, the recipe for pancit from my mother is designed more for family gatherings, banquet style.  Make alot and let it sit for hours and have everyone partake when they want.  I would need to adjust it for made to order individual plates or small groups.

These are the trials and tribulations that every recipe goes through in order to become mine.  And why am I mentioning all this?  Because lately I've been on this kick to work some more on those recipes.  I've kind of worked on them on and off.  Whenever I make a Filipino dish at home, it's always with the notion that I'm trying to perfect it for my future dream.  But recently, I've been focused.  We blame it on too much free time, heh.  Which is a good thing!  So I figure I'd share some of the trial and tribulations of what I've been doing.

Gyro Brats

I didn't make these.  I bought these.  Had them for dinner with a little lemon dill rice pilaf and a cooked spinach, tomato and feta salad.  I know.  It's just a sausage.  But it's not just a sausage!  What makes an excellent sausage isn't what it looks like, but what's inside.  And I love these sausages.  Having that perfectly spiced, gamey lamb flavor packed into a sausage casing is just phenomenal.  And I just had to show them off for three reasons.

One, a friend said, "Blog about it!"  So I figured, why not.  Heh.

Two, so that I can mention that these gyro brats come from an excellent (thought slightly pricey but worth it) butcher called Paulina Market.  I was first introduced to Paulina so many years ago by a coworker who brought in this slab of beef jerky to share at work.  It was some of the best beef jerky I'd ever had.  And what I loved about it most was that it wasn't a thinly cut dried piece of meat, but a whole muscle, a full steak, smoked and dried.  So I started going to Paulina myself for that beef jerky.

Over the years, my purchases have expanded.  They make excellent sausages.  And that would be the other reason I go there.  It's what helps define a butcher for me.  Not so much what they carry in their raw meat cases, but what kind of prepared meats they make themselves.  And the variety of sausages, smoked meats and other charcuterie that Paulina delves into keeps me coming back.  Gyro bratwurst would be one of our favorites.

They do have an excellent selection of raw meats too, by the way.  And the staff has always been some of the friendliest and most helpful I've known.  If their price point wasn't more than I could afford, I'd be giving them my money for a ribeye steak or lamb shank much more often than I do.  It's rare.

And three!  I mention these brats and Paulina Market because I have some excellent friends.  For Christmas, some of them got together and purchased a gift card to Paulina for us.  And it was for an amount that put me into shock when I saw how much it was.  Their generosity is amazing, and I don't know how else to thank them for what they gave us.  Beyond what I've done already, which is thank you thank you thank you over and over and telling them I hate them for making me want to cry.  It was one more gift they've given us that has helped alleviate some of the stress associated with my unemployment.  And it means alot to me.

The brats, some beef jerky and, believe it or not, scrapple were our first purchases with the card.  They make great scrapple!  I couldn't buy beyond that because, like I said, I was in shock that day when I saw the amount.  And I think we're going to stretch and save most of what's left to use for some excellent grilling opportunities when the warm weather comes back.  Though I'm already giving consideration to what I might buy sometime in the next week to make something meaty and delicious.

A most blessed and gracious thanks to them once again.

Falafels

I make my own falafels.  Ever since I made my first homemade batch, I can't go back to the boxed stuff.  It's so easy and tastes way better.  Not to say there aren't boxed versions that aren't good.  In some though, sometimes the flavors are too strong.  And there's always too much salt.  And I've had some where you can taste the baking soda.  But when you make it fresh, you get to flavor them the way you want, they fry up beautifully and are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and you learn there's no reason for that baking soda.

First things first.  You need a food processor.  If you don't have one, it's harder to do.  Because blenders aren't built to do it and grinding by hand. . . grandma may have had the time and energy to do that, but I'm a modern gal.  Not too modern though.  Here's my food processor.  It's over 20 years old and still ticking.  If you don't have one, get one.  And find yourself a good hearty food processor that'll last you as long as mine has.

Next, you'll need beans.  Dry ones, and more specifically, garbanzo beans.  Of course, you can also use dried fava beans, which I did try once.  And they were tasty, but I like the garbanzo beans better.  Chalk it up to flavor familiarity.  Which ever bean you choose the first step is the same.  Add your dried beans to a container filled with four times more water than beans and let them soak overnight.  Don't cook them.  Just soak them.  Once they've rehydrated, drain them when you are ready to use them.  Just for kicks, I'm showing you what they both look like.

  

Garbanzo beans are the more familiar one.  Also known as chick peas, most people, I think, know them as a condiment in a salad bar.  They're also the main ingredient, after being boiled and cooked, in hummus.  We usually make some alongside the falafels as one of the condiments.



Soaked Fava, skin on



Favas beans are less familiar to the general public, I think.  I know I didn't know what they were until I started working professionally at finer restaurants where we got them fresh and served them with proteins such as lamb.  And until someone mentioned them to me as a possible alternative bean for falafels, I never thought too much more about them.



Fava beans, peeled



The dried ones, when soaked look like strange alien pods.  They have a skin on them that must be removed after they have softened from soaking.  Much friendlier looking once they've been peeled.  The skin can be discarded.  They don't get used in the falafel mix.



  

So, you've got all your beans all rehydrated.  And when you're ready to use them, you've strained from the water.  Next!

Onions and garlic.  If your using a one pound package of dried beans, one medium onion will be enough.  A few cloves of garlic.  Peel the onions and the garlic.  Cut the onions into chunks.  Toss it into the food processor with the garlic and grind it all up until finely chopped.

  
Once that's done, add everything else.  Your drained soaked beans, flour, and your herbs and spices.  I use coriander, cumin, a little dried red pepper, parsley (fresh or dried), salt and pepper.  That's it. 

All that gets tossed into the food processor and blended together until it becomes a moist, grainy dough.  It almost looks like it won't stick together, and when you shape it, you'll have little grains of bean meal stick to your fingers.  But the dough will form into the shape you want and stick together quite well.

Take up enough in your hand to make about a two inch piece, round or flattened, the choice is yours.  I usually flatten them a little so they fit better into things like pita for sandwiches.

Next, heat up your frying oil and when hot enough, carefully slip your falafel patties into the oil and cook them until they're a deep, golden brown.  They like to float to the top when they're done.

And here's what's on the plate of our typical falafel dinner.  Pita, made locally at Sanabel's Bakery.  An israeli salad made of chopped cucumber, tomato and onion, drizzled with olive oil and lemon.  Hummus, homemade, also very easy to make thanks to the food processor and something I have a hard time buying prepackaged from the store because of how simple it is.  And a sauce with a little chopped garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and sometimes dill mixed into yogurt.

Good stuff, vegetarian and healthy, well-balanced eating.  You won't miss the meat.  Falafels are hardy.  And it's fried!  You can't go wrong!