Maruya ( Fried Battered Bananas) two ways

        I just found out I have the hives. This means I cannot go out into the sun to watch the Kadayawan festival without expecting to scratch my skin off my entire body. But, I will still go to the malls and cover what I can among the many activities lined up, so you can "see" them with me.

        I am still waiting for the results for the Sayaw Mindanao last night. But here's the Kadayawan official schedule of activities:

        Saba bananas are the most popular cooking bananas in my country. It is used as dessert, sweet, snack and as vegetable. I also happen to have tasted it as jam. If you're wondering what it looks like, here it is:

Saba bananas

        Today, we will be making the ubiquitous Maruya snack. It's a common sight in the afternoon in any neighborhood. Freshly fried, hot and delicious.

Maruya

Let's make Maruya!

INGREDIENTS:
7 pieces Saba Bananas siced lengthwise into haves or into fans ( two ways )
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
cooking oil for frying
brown or white sugar for sprinkling

PROCEDURE:

Bananas sliced into fans, you can slice them into 5 or 6, too

1. Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the ingredients except the bananas. Blend  until the batter is smooth.

2 Heat oil in a deep pan. Dip each banana half or fans into the batter, coating thoroughly.

3. Deep fry until golden. Drain and sprinkle granulated sugar before serving. Serve hot.

A big batch of Maruya for snacks

NOTE: This is a common street snack and usually available at your friendly neighborhood stalls. some people prefer to sweeten the batter as well, you may opt to do so.

Maja Blanca ( Coconut custard dessert )

        Happy to post the lineup of contestants for the Hiyas ng Kadayawan or "Bya'Neng". Tomorrow, August 15, 2013 will be the coronation night. Yesterday, they showcased their know how of their own cultures through dances, songs, playing their native instruments and making fire from two stones, and cooking dishes using the bamboo as cooking receptacle! Talk about indigenous talent! These girls were handpicked by their tribes to represent them in the contest. Here they are in their native costumes:

Official candidates to the Hiyas ng Kadayawan

        Another thing that caught my eye via Facebook is a pretty Russian girl singing a Visayan song with David DeMuzio, who is keen on promoting Visayan Songs. I must say that they are both fluent in Visayan as they flawlessly interpreted the song in unmistakable Visayan dialect. Watch their beautiful rendition here.

        I wanted to include the translation to the song so you guys can understand why they felt so much emotion while singing this song even though its foreign to them. Here are the lyrics:
English Translation by Sophia Lorene: 
I.
Forgetting you is not easy.
Until now I'm still waiting
For our yesterday to come back
Even if you've already forgotten me.

Chorus:
Even if you have someone else now
You're still the one I love
Even if I'll only get hurt
As long as you're happy, I'll accept everything

II.
I see your situation now
It's really different when you were with me
In his side you're so happy
And here I am hoping for you to come back

Bridge:
Until now I'm still hoping
That time will come that you'll come back

        The third thing I wanted to share with you guys is the fact that Davao City ranked Fourth safest among 349 cities with Abu Dhabi ranking first. This is huge relief even as the threat to terrorist attacks are being monitored by the Authorities. Mayor Duterte also said in a statement yesterday, that despite cancellations of bookings by tourists attending the Kadayawan Festival due to safety reasons, he says the Festival will be held with or without tourists as the festival was created to showcase and honor the 10 Tribes in Davao City and not for anything else. I will do my very best to capture some of the action this weekend despite my allergies. ( crossing my fingers, now)

The local daily headline yesterday, August 13, 2013

   
Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Today we will be making a dessert which is best served cold. Maja Blanca. Its a coconut custard with sweet corn kernels, cooked in a pan and allowed to cool into solid form in a mold, sliced and served as is.

Let's make Maja Blanca!

Maja Blanca with toasted coconut, pics courtesy of  Google

INGREDIENTS:

4 c. coconut milk
3/4 c cornstarch
1 14 oz Condensed milk
3/4 c. fresh milk
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 15 oz. can sweet corn kernels
5 T. toasted, grated coconut or chopped peanuts ( topping )

Ingredients

PROCEDURE:

1. Pour coconut milk into a pot and bring to a boil.

2. Add sugar, condensed milk and sweet corn and simmer 8 minutes.

simmering

3. Combine fresh milk and cornstarch. Pour into the pot and stir to mix. Cook until thickened and the mixture heavily coats the spoon or laddle and separates from the pan. Quickly tansfer to a buttered metal or glass mould and level the top. Sprinkle with toasted coconut or chopped peanuts and allow to set. Refrigerate for faster setting.

Setting the Maja

4. Slice and serve on individual plates. Here are two pics using different toppings:

Maja topped with chopped peanuts over banana leaf

Maja topped with toasted coconut served on banana leaf

Note: Refrigerate leftovers in a covered plastic container.

Durian Jam

        Durian Season has begun! And with it comes the great opportunity to stock up on this prized king of Fruits via jams, preserves, candies, etc. In time for the Kadayawan Festival, we expect the prices to go down even further.

        I am particularly not a big fan of eating Durian Fruit fresh from the pod, unlike most Davaoenos. But am a big fan of Durian pie, Durian cake, Durian candies and Durian jam. 

        Now that the prices have gone down from a regular high of PhP 70 -80/kilogram, each kilo now sells for PhP 35/kilogram. That means abundant feasting for every Juan. ( Juan is a common John Doe name for every Filipino ).

Durian

Creamy, yummy, thick meat

        So, I am sharing to you the simplest, most authentic tasting, no-fuss, easy to make Durian Jam to take you to Durian heaven, fast. But before that, allow me to share a few facts about Durian:

        Durian can cause weight gain. Why? because one seed contains as much as 68 calories, so if an individual finishes one whole fruit, which is about 1 kilogram, that would be around 1,680 calories. Though rich in nutrients, Durian has high caloric value and may be damaging to your waistline.

        Durian also has a heating effect. Eating Durian commonly causes the body to heat up. Some people react after just one seed, others after 3 or more. Some even sweat profusely as a result. So this is not recommended for Diabetics and those with high blood pressure. So, just for the heck of it, one seed should suffice to kill the urge. Please have the discipline to not go overboard. Your heart and health will thank you for it.

        Davao City's alter-ego is Durian City. There was a time in history when people wanted to rename the city of Davao into Durian City. The name became popular but now, it is considered a nickname.

         In Davao City, three premium varieties are Puyat, Arancillo and Chanee. The rest are second class and third class varieties. The premium varieties have really thick meat and almost yellow-orange in color, while the rest have off-white to cream colored meat. For this recipe, any variety will do. But you will still prefer to get the premium meaty kind simply because they are creamier.

         So, now onto our Durian Jam!

My Durian jam, didn't last one day!

INGREDIENTS:

Meat of all the seeds in one Kilogram of durian
8 Tablespoons white sugar
1/2 tsp salt.

PROCEDURE:

1. Place the Durian meat in a non-stick pot or pan. Add the sugar and salt and stir to mix.

2. Turn heat on to medium-low and stir constantly, making sure you don't scorch the Durian meat.  Durian jam is done when the consistency becomes thick and no longer spreads to the sides of the pan. Another test would be to cool a small amount and stick your finger into the jam, if it doesn't stick to the finger, it is done.

3. Durian jam maybe stored in glass or plastic containers and will  last up to one month. But I doubt if it will last one day in your kitchen. Those who abhor Durian smell will easily love this as a spread on toast, crackers or directly from a spoon.

Store-bought  Durian jam sells for PhP 120 and above

Note: Durian has a very pervasive smell and might stay in your kitchen for longer than you want. Simply boil lemons in a cup of water and allow the lemon scent to neutralize the strong odor.  This recipe allows you to enjoy the abundant fruit without needing to eat everything in one go. And you get to enjoy humongous savings because store-bought Durian jam sells for at least PhP 120 and up, while this entire recipe is less than PhP 50 or a little over a dollar.  Enjoy!

Halo-Halo ( All-Filipino Icy Cooler )

        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. 

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. 

        Lately, Halo-halo ( literally, mix-mix ) has received much attention, specially when Chef Anthony Bourdain of TLC Channel's No Reservations, recently listed it as one of the top 10 things to try this Summer.

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.

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 ). 

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.

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.

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.

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:

Probinsiya restaurant

dessert buffet with buko pandan on the foreground

Leche Flan Recipe:

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.

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.

Homemade Mango Ice Cream ( No-cook, no eggs and no machine!)

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't dig ice cream. Have you? I mean, from the very first time our moms introduced them to us as kids, we're hooked for life! Whatever they put into those creamy, luscious, cool stuff feels like heaven on earth, that no kid's birthday will ever be complete without it.

Fast forward to many years later, we have tasted so many different flavors, international and local. I could still remember when I was in elementary, mom and I went through a grocery isle and there were pouches of various flavors of instant ice cream mixes. The names excited me though I never figured out what they were. But I could not remember how they tasted, after we made them and soon enough, they were no longer available in groceries.

        When I was in high school, a lone Coney Island Ice Cream Scooping station opened in Davao City. I always went for Pistachio and Bubblegum flavors. But then, it closed shop in just two years.

       The original ice cream brand available locally then, was Magnolia, and flavors came in Ube ( Purple Yam), Vanilla, Mango, Macapuno, Halo-halo, Buko Salad and Chocolate.

        A few years later, Nestle launched its ice cream line and aside from the above flavors; Nestle introduced Cookies and Cream, Butterscotch, Rocky Road, Ube-Macapuno ( Purple Yam and Coconut Sport), Ube-Langka ( Purple Yam and Jackfruit), Double Dutch and Buko-Pandan ( Young Coconut and Screwpine).

        After these was a slew of new and more commercial brands like Sorbetero Pilipino Ice Cream, Arce Dairy, Magnolia Sorbetes and Selecta. 

      About 4 years ago, more affordable ice creams flooded the markets with two or more flavors combined in one small tub. When I tried them though, I had only one reaction: "what??? Noooo! this is not real ice cream!" Those taste like soft-serve ice cream and the flavors are chemical-tasting.

        So, as I was beginning to be more conscious of my family's health and the food I was serving, I avoided ice cream altogether. I thought if I could find a recipe for making them myself, I would certainly love that. Because I would know what they're made of.

        One day my mom handed me a note; someone gave it to her, an ice cream recipe that did not include eggs or cooking. Immediately, I went out to buy the ingredients and tried the recipe. It took me almost two days, simply because my freezer wasn't freezing food efficiently. I used mangoes because they were in abundance. When it was time to put the ice cream to the taste test; O.M.G! No more fake ice cream for me!

        Today we're making real ice cream with real ingredients, and real fruit. The recipe is very basic, you can change up the fruit anytime. I have made Cookies and Cream, Ube ( Purple Yam), Mango Float Ice Cream and Fruit Salad. 

        If your freezer is super efficient, the entire process will be done in 6 hours more or less. The actual prep time is only 45 minutes, tops. Its the freezing and defrosting and refreezing that will take up the most time.

Mango Ice Cream

So let's make the creamiest, freshest, silkiest homemade mango ice cream without an ice cream maker. The most equipment you will need would be a blender or food processor and if you have, a Kitchen Aid or hand mixer.

INGREDIENTS:

ice cream ingredients with mango on foreground

1 pound fresh fruit ( I used Samal variety mangoes ) half a kilo

2 250 ml. All Purpose Cream

2 cans 250 ml. Evaporated or Fresh milk

1-2 cans 350ml condensed milk 

PROCEDURE:

1. In a glass, stainless metal or plastic bowl, combine cream, milk and condensed milk. If using sweet/sour fruit like strawberries, use up both cans of condensed milk. As always, adjust the sweetness according to your taste. Stir to mix well. Freeze. ( You can do this at night before going to bed ). I used the Kitchen Aid bowl to freeze it fast.

icy mixture

2. Wash, peel, cut up your freshest fruits and puree using a blender or food processor. You may also slice more fruit into huge chunks for mixing in later. Set aside.

3. Remove the bowl from the freezer and let the bowl sit out on the table. Wait until the cream mixture is soft enough for the Kitchen Aid or hand mixer to whip. You will notice that the frozen mixture is icy and thick and dense. Beat at slow speed for a few minutes, and increase to high speed until the mixture has doubled in bulk. We are incorporating a lot of air to make the cream fluffy, airy and fine-textured. 

From less than half the bowl,

 to almost full, hooray for Kitchen Aid!

4. After about 10-15 minutes of high speed mixing, the mixture shall have taken a thick but fluffy texture. You will see that the tiny amount I scooped held its shape. Taste it to test if the texture is fine enough.

holding its shape

5. Divide the mixture into two tubs, add about 2 cups of fruit puree to each tub and fold. You may add food color if you wish. Cover the tubs and freeze. If adding chunks of fruit, let freeze an hour, and then take out to mix them in, and refreeze.

adding the puree

Done folding the mango puree and yellow food color

Freezing them into two tubs

6. Serve straight out of the freezer, any which manner you want, with  more fresh fruit, drizzles of ice cream topping or as is.

Luscious, fruity, fresh, silky homemade Mango Ice Cream

NOTE: For Cookies and Cream, I used a big pack of Oreos. I processed all, but three individual packs. These I broke off into large pieces. After folding in the powdered Oreos, stir in the huge chunks and freeze.

         For an ALL-FILIPINO parade of Ice Cream Flavors: 

        For Mango Float flavor, I broke chunks of Graham Crackers and plopped them into the tubs. Then added thin mango slices ( mango balls sink to the bottom ). After Freezing one hour, added more mango puree in a thin stream in a circling motion on the surface and then slightly, with a stroke or two, cut across the cream to swirl that in. Then froze the whole thing.

        For Buko Salad Ice Cream, a cup of young coconut strings and a cup of chopped, drained, canned fruit cocktail is mixed in, after re-freezing the whipped mixture. Vanilla flavoring and a little pink food color is added.

Buko Salad Ice cream

        For Buko Pandan Ice Cream, add 2 cups young coconut strings and a few drops of Pandan (Screwpine) Flavoring until you get the desired taste. Add a few drops of green food color until it has a mint tint.

Buko Pandan

           For Ube, Ube-Macapuno or Ube-Langka Ice Cream, add 2 cups boiled, pureed purple yam and a cup of either Macapuno (Coconut Sport) or sweetened jackfruit strings. For Ube-langka divide ice cream into two portions. Tint one yellow, and the other one violet food color, freeze slightly until it maybe scooped into a third large container alternately to create that swirl of color.

Ube-Macapuno Ice Cream

Ube-Langka

 If on your first attempt, the solid items settle at the bottom, cut your pieces smaller and add them in when the ice cream has some resistance to your mixing spoon.

        The flavors here are All-Filipino save for Cookies and Cream.

         My ice cream gets requested every time someone can think of an excuse. After you have tried homemade ice cream with real fruits, you will never look at grocery ice cream the same way again. You have come home to real, good, Filipino food. After trying our ice cream flavors, you might just become a Filipino food junkie too.

         Thank you for visiting and have a great summer everyone in the western world! 

NOTE: Before I forget! Although mangoes are much celebrated in my country, we avoid them when our throats are scratchy or feel that a cough is coming on. Mangoes, bless them, can aggravate these conditions. Otherwise, eat as much as you can!

Mango Float ( Refrigerator Cake )

Happy Fathers Day to all! How about a tropical flavor to present to Dad's? Mango Float is superb in taste and decadent, but easy to make. 

I'm showing off my display of Samal Mangoes on display in front of the house now. And the previous pics when we had just harvested them on June 12th, and when I was packing them in large baskets, for ripening.

newly arrived harvest, 9 large basketfuls

yep, that's my knees!

me, being camera -shy

Large sized Samal Mangoes

Medium Sized Samal Mangoes

Today we're making Mango Float, a very popular dessert for special occasions here in the country. I'm using our harvest of super sweet Mangoes.

Mango Float

Most Filipino housewives and teenagers know how to make these as they're easy to put together. The amount of condensed milk to be used should vary depending on the sweetness of the mango used. In my case, I used half of a big can of condensed milk as I prefer our Mango Float to taste just like Ice Cream.

Let's make Mango Float!

Mango Float 

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 large, ripe mangoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick or formed into balls
1-2 packs Graham Crackers biscuits
2 cartons All Purpose Cream 250 ml. each or 2 cups
1 big can Condensed milk

Mango Float Ingredients

PROCEDURE:

1. Line a glass dish with graham cracker biscuits. I used Pyrex large rectangular dish. Cut some biscuits to cover entire surface. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, combine cream and condensed milk. Adjust the sweetness if your mango variety is very sweet. ( You wouldn't want a sugar overload! )Pour half of this mixture on the graham crackers.

3. Arrange the mango slices closely together. It would be a good idea to use the off-cuts from the seeds, Leave little if any space in between.

4. Repeat layering the graham crackers and the rest of the cream. This time, arrange the more uniform-sized mango slices on top. Optional steps would be to drizzle with chocolate syrup or sprinkle powdered grahams to cover. Refrigerate to set, 1-2 hours.

Mango float

5. To serve: slice into squares and serve.

Is that decadent, or what?

 Happy Eating!