Lemon Coconut squares

This month was really so hectic. I couldn't really cook much of anything new. I had some lemons in the fridge that needed attention so I decided to try this lemon square recipe and add to this coconut flakes coz really, my husband just loves coconut.

Some people love that tartness of lemons. Some don't - I'll tell you my friend's verdict later.

you'll need:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
3/4 cup cold butter or margarine
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan with foil or parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a bowl, combine flour and confectioners’ sugar; cut in the butter until crumbly (I used a pastry cutter (see pic).. but some people use their hands or two forks.)

3. Press into the bottom of a lightly greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (180C) for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and baking powder until well mixed. Pour over crust; sprinkle coconut evenly over the top.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Judgement: some people , depending on their taste buds said it was tart, some of them said it was sweet, some said it was juts right while another said it was both tart AND sweet.

So, it really depends on how you want your bars. If you want it more tart.. you should lessen the sugar. If you want it less tart, you should lessen the lemon. Better try the recipe and adjust afterwards. Hope you enjoy this!! I'll be out of the country for awhile. Hope I can do at least one resto review while on vacation.

Happy eating. if you try this, don't forget to leave a comment.

Easy Macaroni and cheese

When I was an exchange student in the US, I got introduced to ALL food that symbolizes America. One of the ones that got me hooked was MAC AND CHEESE. (oooh... heaven!!!). I even loved the boxed mac and cheese.


Once I got home, of course we didn't cook those anymore... until I tried it using this recipe from YUMMY magazine.

You'll need:

500 grams elbow or penne pasta
1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup quickmelt cheese, shredded
8 slices cooked ham, diced

1  Preheat oven to 375ºF. 

2  Cook 500 grams elbow or penne pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside. 

3  In a pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Whisk in flour. Gradually whisk in 4 cups milk until smooth. Cook, stirring continuously, until mixture is thick and bubbly, about 6 to 8 minutes. 

4  Stir in cheddar cheese and quickmelt cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Toss pasta with cheese mixture; fold in cooked ham.

5  Transfer to ramekins. Top with cheddar and quick-melt cheeses. Bake until golden, about 30 minutes. 

I actually did not bake it in the oven anymore... the kids just dived into it. We made a lot and it was even better the next day! (nom nom nom.....) My daughter was singing she wanted it for her lunch to school. (aah... the pleasures of having your cooking appreciated!!)

Wish I could say I ate this... but still sticking to NO CARBS meal plan. I hope you enjoy cooking this though. It has no special (and expensive) cheeses so you can actually follow the recipe pretty well.


happy eating!!!

BIKO (sticky rice pudding)

Biko is a traditional filipino snack usually served during special occasions or Fiestas. Mostly, we eat it like an afternoon snack or dessert.


I was curious at how to make it and when I finally did, I realized it was pretty easy!

My one mistake on my first try was not soaking the rice in water. I  just washed it and started cooking. It resulted in an unevenly cooked biko. (there were some rice granules that were not fully cooked) ~ apologies to my taste testers!


So for this you'll need:


coconut milk from two coconuts (first press) or
2 cans of coconut cream ( note: we need 3/4 cup of cream for the topping. reserve 3/4 cup and then dilute the rest with water to make 3 1/2 cups)


2 cups malagkit rice (sticky rice variety)
3 1/2 cup diluted coconut cream
3/4 cup sugar
50 grams of butter ( about 1/4 of 1 225gram butter stick)
1 egg


TOPPING:
1 225 gram can condensed milk
3/4 cup coconut cream
2 tbsp flour or cornstarch


wash rice. soak the malagkit rice in water for 30 mins. drain.


pour the 3 1/2 cup coconut cream, rice and sugar into a pan and heat. Keep mixing till it becomes almost dry.  About 10-15 minutes.  (at this point, you'll see the coconut cream releasing oils in the bottom of the pan)- lower heat and mix in beaten egg and butter.


spread into a prepared baking dish. (a brownie pan works best). preheat oven to 350C or 175F


make topping.


combine topping ingredients in a saucepan in low heat and mix until thickened. Pour over biko in pan. Bake in the oven until browned about 15 minutes.


let cool and cut into squares.

To those who do not like very sweet desserts, the topping is pretty decadent. The only effort you need to make is to keep stirring the pot when cooking the rice. (it might stick to the bottom of the pan if you don't stir). After awhile, the aroma of the coconut just wafts through the kitchen like nothing else. YUMMO!!!!


if you don't want a caramel topping, and want to be adventurous, you can try making LATIK
 to top your biko. 


Maybe on my next try, I might do a pandan biko! 

Pandan Chicken - low carb

As I have indicated a few posts back, I am on Cohen. I tell you, sometimes it IS so challenging to come up with recipes that would satisfy my taste buds as well as adhere to the principles of the diet.

Thankfully, I found this recipe for pandan chicken which requires no soy sauce and oil for the marinade.

You'll need:

1/2 kg chicken breast
1-2 tsp tumeric
1 small shallot
salt and pepper
1 tsp splenda (or sugar)

pandan leaves (screw pine)

Cut the chicken breast into bite sized peices, put into a bowl and mix with all the spices and shallot. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes or ovenight.

When you are ready to cook, Wash the pandan leaves and roll 1 pc of chicken in the leaf and secure with a toothpick.

At this point, in a regular world, you would deep fry the pandan chicken in oil. However, I recently purchased an Philips Air Fryer (it fries your food without using oil) and tried this for my pandan chicken.

I lightly coated the chicken pandan with a spray of olive oil and put nin the basket. I let it cook at 180C for 15 minutes (checking at 10 minutes)

It turned out pretty good!

I paired this with curried cauliflower and it was so yummy and satisfying. *note, i was informed pandan is NOT allowed on Cohen... so if you on it, just pan fry the chicken without the pandan wrap.

Fish head claypot

My husband really like hotpots. One sunday he bought a really big grouper at the wet market and got a bright idea to make a fish head claypot dish out of the head...

so here is what we made:

He even bought 1 kilo of LECHON (roast pig) to put in this. Although you can do this with just lean pork.

You'll need:
1/2 kg fish head
50g lean pork
4 chinese dried mushroom (reconstituted in hot water)
1 large firm bean curd
2 slices ginger root
2 scallions
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp rice wine or sherry
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cup stock
oil for deep frying

Clean fish head and chop. Rub some salt inside and out. Coat with flour and deep fry in oil. Set aside

Cut the pork, mushrooms,bean curd and ginger into small slices. Heat a little oil in the pot and stir fry ginger and scallions till fragrant. put in the pork, mushrooms and bean curd. Sitr for awhile and add the rice wine, soy sauce, stock and fish head.

bring to a boil. add a little salt (taste it first) and reduce heat. Simmer for about 7 minutes.

Garnish with fresh coriander. Serve while hot.

NOTES:

My husband said it really came close to the restaurant version. Personally, I would have fried the bean curd before putting it in. I was reluctant to stir the pot because I might "break" the soft bean curd and it would crumble on me. The pork really adds flavor to this. I think you can use lechon kawali (deep fried prok belly) or come other crispy pork as the pork element.

I bought the claypot in ONGPIN (chinatown) and depending on the size, it would cost around 400-600 pesos (I gotta tell you, you have to haggle with the store owner.)- The good thing about this is you can go straight from the stove to the table using this pot.

I hope you try this and tell me what you think. Happy Eating!

Beef with Cabbage in oyster sauce

Ok, so this is not a Cohen accredited dish. I am still trying to figure how to present the dishes so they would be more appetizing. So I guess, I'll have to get back to you on that.

One of the ancient chinese cookbooks I "inherited" from my mom is Weichuan's chinese Cuisine. Its a bit battered and the binding is kind of loose, but the dishes inside are worth trying. One of them is this one.

you'll need:
1/2 lb beef tenderloin
1/2 tbsp cooking wine
3/4 tbsp. soy sauce
3/4 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup oil for frying
2/3 lb cabbage cut into pcs
1 green onion
6 slices ginger

sauce: (mix together in bowl)
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp cooking wine
2 tbsp water
dash of sugar, sesame oil, black pepper
1 tsp cornstarch

slice the beef and add cooking wine, soy sauce and cornstarch. set aside. (10 mins). before frying, add 1 tsp oil to the beef so that the slices of beef will not stick.

Heat the wok and add 3 tbsp oil, stir fry the cabbage with a little salt until it becaome limp. Remove and drain, Arrange slices in a serving dish.

Heat wok and add oil. stir fry the meat slices until almost cooked. remove. Remove the oil and reheat wok. Add 2 tbsp oil, stir fry the green oinion, ginger until fragrant. Add beef and sauce ingredients. Turn the heat up and stir to mix. Remove and place on top of cabbage. Serve.

Hubby enjoyed this dish. It was not too salty at all and it really went well with rice. Added bonus, you can reheat leftovers for "baon" the next day!

Baked chicken with pineapple and peaches

For those of us who are tired of cooking fried chicken all the time... here is something to try!!

I have made this dish a few times already and the kids really love it. It looks hard but actually, it's very easy to make.

You'll need:

4 chicken legs (you can use other parts)

1/4 tsp thyme 

Salt and pepper

Glaze:

1 small can of pineapple tidbits (about 1 cup)

1 cup sliced (canned peaches)

1/2 cup pineapple syrup ( from can)

1/4 cup peach syrup (from can)

1/2 tsp salt

1 bayleaf

2 tbsp ginger juice

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. vinegar

black pepper

2 cloves garlic minced

preheat oven to 380C (190F)

Rub the chicken with salt pepper and thyme. let stand 10 minutes. Combine the ingredients of the glaze in a pan and simmer until it thickens (about 10-15 mins). Remove from heat.

Heat a pan till smoking, add oil and sear both sides of the chicken well. Transfer to a baking dish and pour glaze over.

Bake for 30 mins. Serve.

I have to tell you. this is finger licking good! If you don't like it too sweet, you can omit the brown sugar and just stick with the canned juices. 

It works best over rice.. HMMM (this is when I was STILL eating rice...) now, I only get to cook this for my family. =(

Dinner in the Dark

What is dining in the dark? This idea originally came from a restaurant in Cologne, Germany named Unsicht-Bar where people literally dine in complete darkness. What is also unique about the bar is that other than the place being pitch-dark, the waiters are either visually impaired or completely blind.

The concept of the restaurant is not only to let people experience what it is like to be blind, like the waiters; but also for you to experience the heightening of your other senses if you don't use your sense of vision. Ordinary food like carrots can taste so much more when you don't see it, and you use the rest of your senses to feel the texture. You may also need your hearing to place where your companions are in the room, where the voices are coming from; slowly feel where your utensils and glasses are while eating. It is a whole different kind of experience.

Since this bar opened, many has opened restaurants with similar concept. Instead of having blind servers they rely on technology to hire seeing people to guide people to their seat and serve their food to them.

This year JCI Manila partnered up with Best Western F1 Hotel in cooperation with Enderun Colleges organized an event called Dinner in the Dark last February 10, 2012. This event was a fund raising event for the Parents Advocates for Visually Impaired Children and for the Blind Olympics.

Since this is just an event and isn't an actual restaurant, they did not invest in pricey night vision goggles and instead we were given blind folds before we entered the function room. We were asked to line up, like kids in kindergarten, and hold the shoulder of the one in front of you and the guide lead us all to our table and respective seats.

The event actually started late, since the dinner was a 3-course meal and could not start if not everyone was around. It was not until 8:30PM before we actually had our dinner.

The first thing we had was bread with butter. It was such a challenge because you wouldn't think eating bread would require a good amount of vision to actually do it right. haha. I was spreading butter on my finger instead of on the roll. Of course putting food into the mouth isn't any problem since we have Kinesthetic sense, provides the parietal cortex of the brain with information on the relative positions of the parts of the body.  So we will always know where our mouth (or other body part) is.

First course was the soup, we were asked to put our hands on our lap whenever they were gonna serve the food.  Even though the place was not completely out of light, it is still a challenge for the servers to make sure that we won't bump into them while they are putting the hot soup on the table.  It was mushroom soup, it smelled really good an delicious and I could bite the bits of diced mushrooms in it.

What's funny about dinner in the dark is that you don't need to worry much about etiquette! haha whether or not you're using the right spoon or should or should you not hold up the cup of soup.  I just put the cup close to my mouth and slowly scooped a few spoonful at a time.

The main course was very interesting.  This is really the first time to eat something I have never seen before.  I guess my (bad) habit of smelling the food before I eat came in really handy that night.  I randomly stabbed my fork onto the plate and just ate whatever was skewered.  Our table concluded that there were definitely 2 kinds of fish on the plate which were salmon and dory fish.  There was also a hearty serving of mashed potatoes; some sort of enchilada that had bell pepper in it, was definitely sweetened by mango bits, and also had super delicious cilantro on it.  I really loved it.  The plate made us all VERY full since the serving size was a big one.  This was also served with a glass of red wine.

On the third plate, the dessert, when the plate was served, the host asked us count down with them from 10.  3,2,1.... we were asked to remove our blindfolds while the they simultaneously turned on the light and colored poppers were released into the air and everyone clapped and appreciated the chocolate mousse in front of us, beautifully arranged on a plate with strawberry sauce and drizzles of chocolate.

The event definitely gave you a sort of slice-of-life experience of being blind.  Of course they wouldn't be as clumsy as we were, as they are accustomed to darkness, but how the rest of your senses work better if you don't rely solely on your eyes to function.  It is actually ironic how being "blind" is an eye-opening experience.