siopao ( char siu bao )

Started thinking about this steamed Chinese roll or bun when my cousin from Chicago told me about Wow Bao, Chicago's dimsum place selling these hot Asian buns, which they tried sometime ago. We both got inspired and tried to make them at home. Improvements have to be made to the dough with my initial trial but I think I must have undercooked the first batch I steamed. For the filling, I have leftover pork and chicken adobo which turned out a bit bland, so I shredded the meat and simmered it in a hoisin sauce based sauce. I got the recipe for the filling as well as the dough from the local paper's food section which I clipped and saved. Back in Manila, my sister in law used to make siopao using a recipe shared by a cousin who learned it from one of Manila's well known cooking show tv personality Sylvia Reynoso-Gala. She has a cooking school in Manila where my cousin took the class. There's another good siopao store and brand in Manila, Kowloon. I remember their siopao with the whitest dough I've ever seen and with a very fine fluffy texture. Sometime ago when I was experimenting on a puto or steamed rice cake recipe, I tried folding in or adding beaten eggwhites to the rice cake batter before steaming and the result was very similar to the Kowloon siopao dough. I thought that must be the recipe and technique they use. They must use rice flour instead of all purpose flour. No wonder the texture is quite different. I need to research more about it though. Siopao, has long been a favorite in the Philippines. It's best paired with hot mami or Asian style noodle soup made with chicken or beef.

ready to be steamed siopao

braised pork with fennel

This is another simple but great tasting recipe I got from Everyday Italian celebrity tv chef, Giada. So far she seems to be true to her promise and goal to bring easy everyday Italian cooking to her viewers. Fennel is something new for me to try. We went to this newly-opened Fresh Market store in our area to check it out and found some ingredients that are not always available in regular grocery stores we frequently buy from. I wanted to cook this fennel as soon as possible to ensure we get to taste its maximum fresh flavor. The fennel didn't disappoint. It was perfect for the pork because of its mildly sweet licorice flavor. Prepare the pork loin cutlets by seasoning them with salt and pepper. They were then pan-fried and browned in olive oil, set aside and kept warm in a plate covered with aluminum foil. Saute the sliced fennel in the same pan, deglaze with some good white wine. Add the chopped tomatoes and put the pork cutlets back into the pan. Braise until tender then finish the sauce with some fresh lemon juice and capers. Garnish the dish with the wispy fennel fronds.

the fennel bulb sliced ( above )

fennel fronds used to garnish the dish

tonkatsu and miso soup

panko breaded tonkatsu or pork loin cutlets ( above )

homemade miso soup

Now I have some dried wakame or seaweed, I finally made the homemade miso soup that I wanted to make since that day I bought some miso paste from the Korean/Japanese market we visited. The light miso soup set the mood for our Japanese-inspired meal of tonkatsu. Thinly sliced pork loin cutlets were sprinkled with some lemon juice then seasoned with salt and pepper and breaded with panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead of the regular kind, then pan-fried. The panko makes a crispier coating for the pork. For the dip, I just mixed some hot chili sauce with a little soy sauce.

a light shrimp pasta version

Holy Week has always been observed in the Philippines where I grew up Catholic. When I was young, we were not allowed to play or be noisy especially during Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Every Friday of the Lenten season, more fish, seafood and vegetables are consumed due to the required fasting and abstinence from meat. During this time, my mother cooked traditional food which I grew up associating with Holy Week. One was a clear soup with fried dried fish and sliced gourd for the vegetables and the other was a sweet porridge with coconut milk, toasted and cracked mung beans and sticky rice served as a mid-day snack. Even with the food restrictions, the Lenten season has always been a good time to be creative in the kitchen and to come up with tasty meatless dishes, like this light shrimp version. The idea for this dish was actually inspired by one of my favorite pasta dishes from Macaroni Grill. If I remember right, the name of the dish is Gemberetti Noci E De Pino. Quite similar but this is much simpler and faster to make with a just a few key ingredients, minced garlic, fresh lemon juice, chopped tomatoes, peeled jumbo shrimps, capers and spinach leaves. I actually run out of pine nuts, which could have been a great addition. For the shrimps, nothing can beat the convenience of using frozen EZ peel kind which you get from the grocery. Saute the garlic and tomatoes in olive oil with one tablespoon butter and add the shrimps. It only takes a few minutes to cook the shrimps, so at this point, the lemon juice, capers and spinach may be added. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until shrimps are done and spinach has wilted. Serve over hot fettucine or angel hair pasta. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese just before serving. A very light and lemony pasta dish.

tapsilog ( beef, rice & egg dinner )

Marinated thinly sliced beef sirloin, poached eggs and steamed brown rice was a version I made for dinner of what we call "tapsilog" in Manila. Quite a favorite there for breakfast, lunch or dinner, it's served in many local restaurants around Manila. The term tapsilog is actually the combined syllables of three food-related words, tapa ( pan-fried marinated beef like jerky ), sinangag ( fried rice ) and itlog (egg). It may also be ordered "tapsi" without the egg. I must admit this is not a very healthy meal, the original meal version has everything fried. I made an effort to lighten it up a bit, by choosing to have poached egg instead of fried and switching to steamed brown rice instead of fried white rice. Although the meat was fried, I made sure I drained it well. The first eatery in Manila which comes to my mind when I think of this meal, is GoodAh. This restaurant most probably started out as a small outdoor type cafe or what we call "carinderia". The diners sit in wood benches placed around a circular counter facing the main food source, where simmering casseroles of local rice porridge and other specials, are served from. Yes, I remember Goodah well, it was one of our favorite hang-outs back then. Fast, filling and very affordable. Some prefer it served with sliced tomatoes but I always like my tapa with a vinegar and garlic dip. An over consumption of rice isn't surprising for flavorful dishes like this and most Filipinos will agree to this. Not sure if GoodAh is still existing with the many new restaurants competing in Manila these days, after all, it wasn't the only restaurant serving this kind of food, there was also another successful one, Tapsi ni Vivian. But as long as they're out there, they will always have a solid market, catering to all lovers of simple Filipino comfort food.

spring travel & food highlights

a perfect sunny day in Magic Kingdom

crabcake sandwich at Margaritaville
at Universal Studios' Citywalk

creamy penne pasta with brocolli

seafood pasta salad

crisp & savory sweet potato

souvenir store

these churros easily became a favorite snack

Universal Studios view

a rare quiet scene at the Italian village

showcase in Epcot

souvenir Mickey lollipops

Emeril's at Citywalk Universal Studios

bahn bo ( steamed vietnamese rice cakes )

Another attempt to make the elusive puto or Philippine-style steamed rice cakes. Haven't given up yet and thanks to Playing With My Food foodblog, I found inspiration to try once again. Good thing it's not as often, but when failure in the kitchen occurs, I need sometime to recover from the frustration and lack of inspiration which follows. The Filipino steamed rice cakes is one fine example of such a failure. In Manila, there's no need to make rice cakes since they're available all year round everywhere. I have an occasional craving for these rice cakes and I doubt if I ever will forget about them. I think about them steaming hot and buttered, the pat of butter instantly melting into the rice cake. I used to watch my mother make this so the procedure is somehow still in my memory but the exact recipe proportions remain a mystery. These Vietnamese ( Bahn Bo ) rice cakes used rice flour with yeast to speed up the fermentation process. I was able to achieve the "honeycomb" texture as described. The rice cakes my mother used to make, I'm quite sure, didn't use yeast but relied on just the tricky overnight fermentation process. It must take years of experience to determine the right timing when the batter is ready for steaming. Sometime soon, there's another recipe I'm planning to try, a Chinese steamed rice cake version without yeast. I'm hopeful but I've learned not to expect too much. For now, I'm happy with this bahn bo.

the "honeycomb" texture of the rice cakes was the result of the fermentation process