Asian-Style Mango Nata

Asian-Style Mango Nata

Welcome back to my blog! Previously, I made Turon which is a Filipino dessert. For my fifth and last blog post I am making another dessert, it is the Asian-Style Mango Nata. Compared to the dishes I previously made, Asian-Style Mango Nata is easier to do. I decided to make this dessert to finish off my blog for this project, because I believe that it embodies the Filipino culture the most. The dessert itself exhibits the simplicity of the Filipino way of living. The mangoes represent the sweet personality of Filipinos. As a matter of fact, the Philippine mango is the national fruit of the Philippines. 

Let's start cooking!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
• 2 pieces whole mango, meat cubed
• 4 cups mango juice
• 1/2 cup all-purpose cream
• 1 bottle nata de coco, drained and wash
• 1 cup crushed ice

Procedure:
1. Boil water and sugar until sugar has dissolved.
2. Pour the cornstarch water mixture into the syrup.
3. Stir over low heat until the mixture is smooth. Let cool.
4. Add cubed mango, mango juice and all-purpose cream into the syrup mixture then stir.
5. Mix in nata de coco, and stir.
6. Chill before serving.
7. Scoop some crushed ice into each glass before topping with the mango nata cream.

(Ozaeta 122)

Timpla Tip:

"Using cream gives you a thicker consistency when serving this dessert. Be sure to chill the dessert for at least an hour to give it time to set" (Ozaeta 122). Through this Timpla tip, it didn't just help me in making this dessert, it also taught me a lesson that I would be able to use for future dishes that involve using cream.

Even though making it isn't as complicated as the other dishes I made, I was still able to learn some quite significant things. One of it is that the ingredients being used are important, the mangoes should neither be too ripe or unripe. The components should be properly proportioned too, so that one won't overpower the other.

This dessert is indeed refreshing, it reminds me of the hot climate in the Philippines. It is something that is recommendable to serve during the summer. The Asian-Style Mango Nata I made was sweet and it was actually tasty. I enjoyed creating it, especially the last part where I get to put on the glass and make it even more appetizing.

My blog may have come to and end, but I will continue my cooking journey to venture and taste more kinds of flavors from different cuisines. Throughout this cooking journey of mine, I was able to learn many different types of cooking techniques, especially the Filipino way of it. It also made me conquer my fear of cooking and taught me to become more patient. I enjoyed this experience so much, and I hope you did too. Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope through it you were able to know more about the Filipino cuisine. If you were to pick a dish that embodies your culture, what would it be and why?

Works Cited:

Fontanilla, Marilen, and Anne Marie Ozaeta, eds. Timpla. First Edition ed. Makati City: Hinge Inquirer Publications, 2010. Print.

Turon

Turon

Have you ever tasted fried bananas? If you haven't, then you should. This is just the right place for you to begin, because today I'm going to create Turon. Turon is a Filipino dessert that is found in almost every corner of the Philippines, from local street vendors to high-end restaurants. The traditional Turon is a banana with brown sugar wrapped in lumpia style. But for today, I am going to create a different variant of Turon, which makes use of Filipino sweet preserves. Some of the ingredients I'm going to use maybe new to you, but you can easily buy them in any Filipino or Asian grocery stores.

Let's start cooking!

Ingredients:
20 pieces lumpia wrappers
5 pieces bananas, peeled and cut into halves
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup nata de coco
1/2 cup kaong
1/2 cup macapuno
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooking oil


Procedure:
1. Lay down lumpia wrapper and put one banana strip in the middle. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 teaspoon each of nata de coco, kaong, and macapuno over the banana strip.
2. Gently wrap the banana with the lumpia wrapper into a narrow roll, making sure to close all sides.
3. To seal the lumpia wrapper, moisten the edges with egg wash.
4. To ensure turon is securely sealed, wrap it in another piece of lumpia wrapper and seal with egg wash.
5. Heat cooking oil in a deep frying pan, and fry the turon until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes.

(Ozaeta 118)

Timpla Tip:
"While wrapping the Turon in lumpia, keep the remaining lumpia wrappers covered with a clean damp cloth to prevent the wrappers from drying" (Ozaeta 119). This Timpla tip is helpful, because throughout the years I've been making Turon with my mom, the drying of the wrapper is a common problem of ours.

Making Turon isn't new to me. Ever since I was a child I would always help my mom in preparing it. Though, this experience is different, as I made a different kind of Turon all by myself. The entire process was easy for me and I believe that it won't be difficult for you too, as long as you follow the procedures correctly.

The Turon I made was crispy and sweet, just as it should be. Just like the Turon I made, Filipinos are known for our sweet tooth, as well as our sweet nature of interacting with people, especially to those within our family. While eating the Turon I made, with my relatives, it made me reminisce my days when I was still living in the Philippines. The afternoons where my cousins and I eat Turon for merienda (snack time), while telling stories. Through this another cooking experience, it made me realize the significance of food, not just for survival, but also on how it connects people together. Turon is one of my most favorite Filipino desserts, and this new recipe that I learned made me love it even more. How about you, do you have any favorite food when you were a child that is still your favorite until now? What is it?

Works Cited:

Fontanilla, Marilen, and Anne Marie Ozaeta, eds. Timpla. First Edition ed. Makati City: Hinge Inquirer Publications, 2010. Print. 

Orange Chicken

Orange Chicken

Welcome to my third blog post! Last time, I made Gising-Gising, an original Filipino dish that makes use of ingredients that are native to the Philippines. Today, I'm going to share to you how to make Orange Chicken. Even though Orange Chicken is a Chinese dish, it has long been served in restaurants in the Philippines. I chose to do Orange Chicken for this blog post to show the diversity of the Filipino cuisine. It showcases the Filipino ability of recreating a dish and adding a Filipino twist to it that is as equally tasty as the original dish.

Let's start cooking!

Ingredients:


Orange Chicken Sauce

• 3/4 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
• 2 tablespoons banana catsup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch diluted in 1 tablespoon water 

Chicken

• 250 grams chicken breast fillet
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 cup cold water with 4 pieces ice cubes
• 1 cup flour
• 3 cups cooking oil

Procedure:
1. Prepare Orange Chicken sauce by combining water, orange juice concentrate, banana catsup and brown sugar in a saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, then thicken with cornstarch mixture. Set aside.
3. Cut chicken into 1" strips and roughly score each piece. Season the chicken with fish sauce.
4. Dip chicken in ice water and flour. Repeat twice.
5. Heat cooking oil in a deep-frying pan, then deep-fry chicken. Set aside.
6. Toss fried chicken into the Orange Chicken sauce, until evenly coated.

(Ozaeta 71)

The procedure wasn't that hard to follow. Though, I had a hard time making the sauce thicker. I had to deviate from what was instructed in the cookbook. I added more cornstarch to increase its viscosity. In the cookbook, it describes the Orange Chicken as: "A variation of the Chinese Lemon Chicken, this dish has become a family favorite with its sweet yet tart bite that coats each crispy bite of chicken" (Ozaeta 71).The sauce and the chicken are equally important to the whole dish, which means I had to make sure that both components are cooked perfectly. The chicken needs to be crispy and the sauce has to have just the right flavor or blend, or what we, Filipinos refer to as "tamang timpla." Through Ozaeta's words, it made me realize that in cooking, you have to pay attention to all of the aspects of the dish, making sure that both the sauce and the chicken are given an equal amount of attention.

My Orange Chicken was unexpectedly delicious. The sweetness and sourness of the sauce were properly balanced. It complemented the chicken very well. The chicken was crispy and chewy too, except that I overcooked it slightly. This cooking experience showed me that there would be times in cooking wherein every thing won't go as it is written on the cookbook. There are times where you need to rely on your instincts, disregarding what is on the instructions.  How about you? Have you ever experience a time wherein you didn't follow a cooking instruction because it didn't seem right?

Works Cited:

Fontanilla, Marilen, and Anne Marie Ozaeta, eds. Timpla. First Edition ed. Makati City: Hinge Inquirer Publications, 2010. Print.

Gising-Gising

Gising- Gising

Welcome back to my blog! In my previous blog post, I made Fresh Lumpia which showcases the Filipino cooking style of harmonizing various flavors into one. For this blog post, I chose to make Gising-Gising. As described by the editor-in-chief of Timpla: "For Gising-Gising, the dominant flavor that everyone look for is the coconut milk, subtly accentuated by the ginger and the seasonings. These serve as the backdrop for your vegetables that can be enjoyed any time of the week" (Ozaeta 58). Meat cooked with coconut milk may seem weird, though this isn't unusual in the Philippines. There, coconut milk is used in numerous ways, be it for an appetizer, a main course dish, or a dessert. This is my first time to cook a meat dish, and I think this is a nice dish to begin with.

Let's start cooking!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon of garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 piece of red onion, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon of ginger, sliced
• 100 grams of ground pork
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 400 grams of string beans, sliced into thin rounds
• 1/2 piece of finger chili, sliced
• 1 cup of coconut milk

Procedure:
1. Heat cooking oil in a sauté pan, and sauté the garlic, onion, and ginger.
2. Add ground pork, and season with the soy sauce.
3. Cover and let meat simmer until done, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the string beans, finger chili, and the coconut milk.
5. Let the coconut milk boil for about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

(Ozaeta 58)

     

When I first read the procedure, I thought it was easy to cook it. I was wrong, it was difficult. Proper timing is critical when cooking it. One should make sure that the ground pork was thoroughly cook, without overcooking the vegetables and the coconut milk. Ozaeta's description of the Gising-Gising made me pay attention to the coconut milk, because of that I kind of neglected the vegetables which resulted to them being overcooked. I may have overcooked the vegetables slightly, but it still tasted good. The different flavors complemented each other. The flavor of the coconut milk was highlighted without overpowering the flavors of the other ingredients. This is my first time cooking this dish and I could say that it isn't a bad start at all.

   

If fresh lumpia embodies the Filipino value of patience, gising-gising exhibits the creativity of Filipinos. This dish demonstrates that not even a set of weird ingredients can hinder you to create a delicious dish. It just shows how limitless the world of flavors can be, and I hope to continue to explore newer kinds of flavors in my next blog post!

How about you? Have you ever eaten something that you didn't expect to taste good?

Works Cited:

Fontanilla, Marilen, and Anne Marie Ozaeta, eds. Timpla. First Edition ed. Makati City: Hinge Inquirer Publications, 2010. Print.

Timpla, A Beginner's Guide to Great Cooking (1) - Elijah Arenas

My Cooking Journey

Filipino cuisine has always been a part of my life, but even so, I never actually learned to cook any Filipino dishes. I chose Timpla because it doesn't only teach me how to cook, it also helps me connect back to my roots, the Philippines.

"Cooking is a journey. The process takes us through a multi-sensory experience of mixed flavors from the moment we find the perfect ingredients to the moment we plate our masterpiece" (Ozaeta 6). 

These words said by the editor-in-chief of Timpla, encouraged me to try and learn cooking, as I want to embark on a cooking journey to experience all those different kinds of flavors. For my first dish, I decided to do Fresh Lumpia because it embodies the Filipino style of using various ingredients that incorporates different flavors into one. It also reflects the Filipino value of patience, from the preparation of the ingredients to the actual cooking itself.

Let's now start cooking!

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 piece onion, chopped
• 1 piece carrot, peeled and cut into strips 
• 250 grams bean sprouts
• 1 head small cabbage, shredded
• 250 grams tofu, cooked and cut into cubes
• 200 grams shrimps, boiled and peeled
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce

Lumpia Wrapper:

• 1 1/2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil

Procedure:

1. To make the lumpia filling, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in pan and saute garlic and onions.

2. Add carrots, bean sprouts, cabbage, and tofu. Cook for 3 minutes.

3. Season with soy sauce. Set aside.

4.To make the batter for the wrapper, combine eggs, water, all-purpose flour, salt, and cooking oil.

5. Heat a small non-stick pan and ladle out 1/3 cup measure of the lumpia wrapper batter.

6. Cook one side and then slide out the pan. Set aside and continue with rest of the batter.

(Ozaeta 56-57)

The entire process of cooking Fresh Lumpia is hard. It truly does require patience to do it. In the end, I did not achieve the perfect Fresh Lumpia, but I'm quite proud to say that I managed to make one that is good enough, as it was my first time cooking it. As I ate it, it brought me back to the time when my mom would arrive from work during the summer with Fresh Lumpias from Goldilocks. Every thing inside it complements each other, the wrapper is soft and moist while the filling is full of different kinds of flavors that blends into one.

Cooking is truly a journey, a journey composed of different flavors to achieve that perfect "timpla" - a Tagalog word that directly translates to "blend" in English. As I continue on my cooking journey with Timpla, I look forward to making other dishes that would not only satisfy my palate, but also polish my cooking skills.

How about you? Do you agree with Ozaeta that cooking is a journey?

Works Cited:

Fontanilla, Marilen, and Anne Marie Ozaeta, eds. Timpla. First Edition ed. Makati City: Hinge Inquirer Publications, 2010. Print.