This Summer in the West, one very Filipino dessert I am very proud to recommend that you try is Halo-halo. I promise that it's like nothing you have ever eaten before. Instantly eye-pleasing, the name Halo-halo alone, literally suggest a mix of various ingredients. One has to, with a long handled spoon, mix everything; ice cream and all, into the ice ( without spilling! ), including the milk and sugar before taking an entire spoonful. This is one dessert every Kadayawan tourist should try after enduring sun exposure on account of the parades and festivities.
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| Halo-halo |
Kadayawan Festival is commemorated with a city-wide sale on almost everything; from common dry goods like clothes, toys, souvenir items to big ticket items like furniture, construction materials, house and lot packages, condominiums and life plans. So much so, that locals buy their Christmas goods on Kadayawan Sale.
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| commercial version Halo-halo by Chowking restaurant |
Halo-Halo is so easy to put together, the only drawback might be the sourcing of the ingredients. Hopefully, you have a local Filipino or Asian Store in your locality.
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| Halo-halo with wafer sticks |
Halo-halo is widely known nationwide as the go-to refreshment, whenever the weather is too hot. Following, and a close second is the Maiz Con Hielo ( Corn with Ice ).
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| Maiz con Hielo |
It's distant relative is the Japanese desert "Kakigori" which is basically boiled red mung beans served with shaved ice, milk and sugar popular during the Pre-war era and known as Mongo-ya.
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| Kakigori |
To get the best tasting Halo-halo, go for finely shaved ice instead of crushed ice. To make these, you may choose to buy store-bought ingredients. I will include a recipe for Leche Flan, a stand-alone dessert that always crowns a Halo-halo mound.
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| serve it on young coconuts as Buko Halo-halo |
Let's make Halo-Halo!
INGREDIENTS:
Ube or Purple Yam jam
Candied or sweetened Jackfruit strips
Sweetened Macapuno strings ( Coconut sport )
Red Kaong
Sweetened Red Mung beans
Sweetened Saba bananas
Canned Sweet corn kernels
Nata de Coco cubes (green)
Leche Flan slices
Ube Flavored Ice Cream
Pinipig Flakes or Corn flakes
Milk
Sugar to taste
Shaved ice
Procedure:
1. When using either a dessert boat or a bowl, smear a spoonful of Ube jam on the bottom and sides of the bowl. Heap about a cup of finely crushed ice on top. Arrange a spoonful each of all the other ingredients around the sides of the ice heap, except for the ice cream and Pinipig Flakes. When using tall dessert glasses, all the ingredients except for the ice cream and Pinipig go under the ice. See pictures.
2. Pour enough milk on the ice, add a teaspoon of sugar. Place a generous scoop of Ube Ice Cream on top, and sprinkle with Pinipig Flakes. Serve immediately.
3. To eat; carefully mix all the ingredients with the ice and milk. Adding sugar only if necessary. Halo-Halo is best eaten with your dessert spoon, but when you are about to finish up, it's quite acceptable to drink up the remaining globs.
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| delicious Halo-halo |
NOTE: The best thing about this dessert is that, it is as exciting as the main dishes in a Filipino celebration. You can always have seconds or thirds. Some people intentionally, eat little during the mealtime, to make up for the Halo-halo at the end of the meal.
My children and I have a favorite buffet restaurant " Probinsiya" located at the back of Victoria Plaza in Bajada. Aside from their usual buffet of Filipino dishes of grilled seafoods and meats, ceviches, salads, veggies and main dishes, all the desserts are also served buffet style. This is Halo-halo heaven for the entire family. We can have as much Ube jam and Leche Flan on our Halo-Halo and there's pretty much nothing that the waiters can do as it is a buffet service. Oh! I almost forgot; here's the recipe for Leche Flan:
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| Probinsiya restaurant |
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| dessert buffet with buko pandan on the foreground |
Leche Flan Recipe:
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| leche flan |
Ingredients:
12 egg yolks ( Large )
1 big can sweetened, condensed milk (430 g.)
1 big can evaporated milk (320 ml.)
1 tsp. vanilla
Procedure:
1. With a hand whisk, combine evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, break the egg yolks with a fork and pour into the milk mixture, stiring until well-combined. Let stand awhile to diffuse the air bubbles that may have formed. Straining with a fine sieve also gives a smoother texture.
2. Prepare ramekins or leche flan aluminum tin llaneras, by placing 1/8 cup white sugar in each. Grabbing one end of a llanera with a tong, place over stove to melt the sugar into a golden syrup, do not let it burn or turn dark brown. Set aside. ( When using ramekins, make the caramel on a stovetop pan and pour into the ramekins) Do the same to 2 or more llaneras ( depending on the size of your llanera or mould). The syrup could turn solid like a toffee topping, that's ok. If it stays liquid, that's still ok.
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| llanera or use aluminum molds |
3. Pour egg-milk mixture into caramel-lined llaneras up to within a centimeter from the top, cover with llanera cover or foil, folding over to seal. Steam for 1 hour and 15 minutes over steady boil ( not rolling boil ). Set aside until cool enough to handle.
4. Remove cover or foil, run a table knife around the edges of the flan. Place a plate over the llanera, and grabbing both plate and llanera rim, flip over to release the flan. Cool completely. Slice into cubes, serve cold. Leftovers, if any can be stored in a covered container in the fridge.
Note: the unused egg whites can be made into Coconut Macaroons or Brazo De Mercedes or meringues.
All the pictures I used are courtesy of Google images. Halo-halo cannot sit long enough on my table, for me to take pictures of them.
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