‘Saluyot pancit canton’, crab baked in salt

By Reggie Aspiras

Philippine Daily Inquirer

’TIS THE season to be jolly! Here are some of the funkiest holiday entertaining ideas I’ve stumbled upon, plus other treats that will surely make the holidays even more special.

Isabelle Dee turned 18 in Winter Wonderland.

Her mom Nellia, perhaps, feeling even more like a debutante than her daughter, worked wonders with the venue which she surrounded with ice sculptures.

The lighting was fantastic, a nice ice blue, lending a touch of softness to the white drapes that hung from everywhere.

The bar was filled with white day beds where the young ones and young once, all dressed in white, comfortably lounged.

Dancing heads

Have you ever had yourself videotaped grinding to the tune of “I Will Survive,” “Achy Breaky Heart” and “Lady Marmalade”?

If not, it’s time to call Confetti Effects and have them set up their dancing booth heads for the Christmas party.

See yourself garbed in leather or skimpy skirt and sexy top, with a 20-inch waistline to match.

If you’re a man, chances are, you’ve never seen yourself dressed as a cowboy, so rugged, so buffed.

All you must do is pick a song, sit on a stool, put on a green cape, while the booth operators synchronize your head movements with a video of a dancing body.

Then, voila! You have your own comical MTV disc to take home as souvenir. Freddie Martelino (tel. 0920-9005601) also has mini video stalls for those interested to put up a dancing head booth in the malls.

Club Fishbone was present to provide the music, cocktails and shooters – another attractive destination, I observed, for the teeners, who in their minds are now legally able to do as they please. Club Fishbone (Call Val Magallanes at 0917-8829011) makes hosting parties a whole lot easier.

Egg flan

For the debut, Representative Lorna Silverio brought egg flans she ordered from Eya Cabanos all the way from Ilocos Norte. They are real eggs drained off their content, filled with flan mixture and steamed. A novelty!

Cabanos also makes saluyot pancit canton noodles and the famous Ilocos garlic longganisa.

She sends them fresh from San Nicolas as you order (tel. 0918-5299085). The eggs make perfect Christmas tokens.

One of the most divine palatal experiences I have come across are Sokak (soft-shell crabs) Baked in Salt which I order from Tao Yuan Restaurant (tel. 0917-5308988, 5227010).

It is so delicious. The crab fat oozes from the inside. It is everything you want in a crab and more. Truly worth the trip.

I suggest you call to reserve. Though they have it every day, the demand for these export-quality crustaceans i high and the restaurant is always packed.

If they don’t have Sokak, go for their Hainanese Chicken Rice. For me, it is simply the best in the country. Try their fried lapu-lapu with mango, delectable, too.

My son loves the Yangchow fried rice at Super Bowl. However, it is not always practical to go to the restaurant whenever he craves for this delicious rice concoction. Can you provide me a recipe that would somehow taste near the Super Bowl version?

Gloria Say

Hello Gloria! I have asked chef Henry Cheung of the famed Good Earth Restaurant, and now of the newly opened Henry’s Place at the Forbes Town Center (tel. 3935915) to help you out.

Yang Chow Fried Rice

50 g chicken breast

50 g shrimp

10 g Chinese sausage

2 tbsp oil

1 pc egg

1½ c cooked, day old rice

2 tbsp chicken broth

2 tsp light soy sauce

White pepper, to taste

2 tsp spring onions, chopped

Mince the first three ingredients.

Scramble the eggs and set aside.

Saute the chicken, shrimp and sausage in oil.

Add eggs and scramble.

Add cold rice and mix well.

Add broth, soy, pepper, seasoning to taste.

Add spring onions.

Longganisa chorizo, favorite Filipino breakfast

Longganisa is widely available in most supermarkets and wet markets. Even the skinless variety is not difficult to find. Longganisa is native sausage. The seasonings vary depending on the regional origin. Lucban and Vigan longganisa are garlicky, for instance. Then there is the sweet longganisacalled hamonado. Longganisa comes in various sizes as well. Some are made with beef or chicken instead of pork. Sweet or spicy, small or large, longganisa is a popular Filipino breakfast item. If there is a tapsilog for the combo of tapa(fried beef strips), sinangag (fried rice) and itlog (egg), there islongsilog for longganisa, sinangag and itlog.

To make longganisa, you will need:

1 kilo ground pork, 10% fat

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon rock salt (or 1 1/2 teaspoon fine salt)

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon black peper, ground.

Instructions:

Blend all the above ingredients.

Roll a small amount of the pork mixture in a 4 1/2 inches x 3 inches wax paper

Store in the freezer for 3 hours or until ready to cook.

When ready to cook, heat oil in a wok or frying-pan.

Unwrap the sausages and fry in batches in hot oil until fully cooked.

Drain on paper towels.

Garnish with spring onion, if desired, and served with rice and tomatoes or Garlic-Vinegar Dip.

These sausages can also be frozen until needed.

Makes 18-20 sausages

Preparation time: 30 mins + 3 hours chilling

Cooking time: 30 mins

Fried tempura ice cream

By Vangie Baga-Reyes/Philippine Daily Inquirer
Ever wondered how fried tempura ice cream is made?
Tempura is a Japanese specialty that means batter-dipped. For this recipe, instead of using typical pieces of seafood or vegetables dipped in soy sauce and wasabi, delightful scoops of ice cream are used, drizzled with chocolate syrup, cherries and slivers of almonds—quite a dessert to impress family and friends.
“Batter-dipped ice cream is usually deep-fried,” says Boyet Llamador, head chef of Tempura Japanese Grill (tel. 3747460) on Thompson Square, Tomas Morato St., Quezon City. “This recipe, however, requires timing and a good deep-fryer to fry the tempura ice cream. The warm crunchy tempura perfectly pairs with the cold creaminess of the underlying ice cream.”
If you heed some tips, this fried dessert, one of the bestsellers at Tempura in Quezon City, is not so hard to make at home. All its ingredients are in grocery stores. The batter is basic pancake batter with a pinch of salt.
Make sure to serve the tempura ice cream immediately after frying. It is best that, while the tempura ice cream is frozen, you pour the oil into a deep-fat fryer or a heavy-bottomed stockpot. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
You can either use slices of loaf bread or taisan to bind the ice cream. And as optional toppings, wafer cookie, whipped cream, strawberry sauce, fresh fruit and powdered sugar are also ideal.
You can also try different flavors of ice cream.

Ingredients:
Slices of bread
Ice cream, any flavor
Cooking oil
Chocolate syrup
Cherry
Cornstarch for dusting

For batter mix:

150 g cake flour
1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt
8 oz cold water

1. IN A MIXING bowl, combine flour, egg and ice-cold water. Whisk well. Set aside.
2. REMOVE the outer layer of the bread. Place bread on a flat surface with aluminum foil. Press bread firmly using your fingers.
3. PLACE three scoops of ice cream in the middle of the bread.
4. ROLL bread tightly. Then place in freezer, and let sit until completely frozen.
5. REMOVE wrap and roll frozen tempura in cornstarch.
6. DIP TEMPURA into the batter mixture. Cover tempura with the batter evenly.
7. MEANWHILE, heat oil in deep-fryer to 375°F. If you do not have a deep-fryer, you can use a hot pot of oil. Carefully drop the battered ice cream into the hot oil by using kitchen tongs or a slotted spoon.
8. QUICKLY fry tempura for approximately 5 to 10 seconds, until the tempura batter has turned golden.
9. LET COOL for a few seconds. Cut into four pieces. Transfer in a platter. Drizzle with chocolate syrup. Add cherry.
Enjoy!

Sorbetes, the Filipino ice cream

Sorbetes is a Filipino version of ice cream usually peddled from street carts in the Philippines. It is distinct from the similarly-named sorbet. It is usually served with small wafer or sugar cones and recently, bread buns.

Ice cream was introduced in the Philippines during the time of the American invasion when refrigerators and other cooling devices were introduced. While American ice cream was made with cow's milk, using the milk of the carabao, a kind of water buffalo, resulted in a cheaper product which became known as "sorbetes." Both kinds of milk are widely used today. Coconut milk and cassava flour are two other ingredients used that make sorbetes unique from ice cream made in other countries. Flavors also varied from the usual natural fruits such as mango, avocado, coconut to flavors imitating commercial ice cream such as chocolate, cookies and cream, cheese, mocha, etc.
The sorbetes industry competes with commercially available ice cream from giant companies operating in the Philippines such as Magnolia and Selecta, which also started peddling their product in the streets in more sanitized carts.

Sorbetes is peddled by sorbeteros using colorfully painted wooden carts which usually can accommodate three flavors, each in a large metal canister. Peddlers get their carts from makers scattered around the cities of the Philippines in the morning and walk the streets the whole day, calling consumers from their houses by ringing a small handheld bell.
The wooden cart has two large wooden wheels at the front part to easily push the cart though latest carts are already attached to bicycles.
The cart is stuffed with shaved ice sprinkled with salt to produce a lower temperature around the metal canisters and keep the sorbetes frozen longer.
The whole sorbetes cart is also available for private gatherings when negotiated with the sorbetero. It is usually cheaper that buying gallons of ice cream to be served to guests.

Peddlers of sorbetes provide several serving options. It may be served in a small plastic cup, a wafer cone, a sugar cone or a bread bun, at varying prices. A serving can include one flavor or, for no extra charge, a mixture of available flavors.
Sorbetes is usually consumed as a snack while travelling. It can also be served as dessert.

Wikipedia.org

World's top chefs gather at gourmet festival in Bangkok

The 10th Annual World Gourmet Festival, to be held Oct. 5-11 at Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok, will feature some of the world's best master chefs.

All award winners, with some heading Michelin-starred restaurants, the chefs will lead a week-long celebration of outstanding food and wines. They'll also share tips and information on how to create award-winning cuisine.

The lineup includes Christine Manfield of Universal Cafe, Sydney, Australia; David Kinch of the two-Michelin star Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos, California; David Thompson of Nahm Thai Restaurant (one Michelin star), London, UK; Francois Payard of Payard New York City; Fulvio Siccardi, Ristorante Conti Roero ( one Michelin star), Monticello d' Alba, Italy; Luke Dale-Roberts of La Colombe, Cape Town, South Africa; Mohammed Fedal of Dar Moha, Marrakesh, Morroco; Kazumi Sawada of Banrekiryukodo (one Michelin star), Tokyo, Japan; Michael Ginor of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, USA; Graham Elliot Bowles of Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, USA; and Paola Carosella of Arturito, Sao Poalo, Brazil.

Each chef will host two evenings in one of Four Seasons' restaurant and a cooking demonstration for lunch or dinner. They'll also be present at the seven-course gala dinner Oct. 9.

Coordinating the event are Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok executive chef Nicolas Schneller, Shintaro Chef Satoshi Sawada and Biscotti Chef, Danilo Aiassa.