SARAP! (good • delicious • tasty) A Collection of Filipino Comfort Food for the Soul JILLIAN VILLAREAL SARAP! (good • delicious • tasty) SARAP! (good • delicious • tasty) A Collection of Filipino Comfort Food for the Soul BY JILLIAN VILLAREAL Copyright © 2017 by Jillian Villareal All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, or photos, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by section 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Printed in the United States of America. First Edition, 2017 ISBN 134982734984 Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NYC, NY 10020 www.simonandschuster.com This cookbook is dedicated to: My parents and grandparents—for raising me the way you did and have, immersing me in our Filipino culture. And while I appreciate it so much more than I did and showed you when I was younger, I was always very grateful for it because it has shaped me into the person I am today—someone I’m proud to be. Being in the kitchen with each of you as you cooked all of these delicious meals, just having that time together as a family, did more for me in the longrun than just fueling my body and satisfying my taste buds. I love you and I thank you. 1 BIBINGKA (bi • bing • kah) Coconut rice cake typically eaten during the Christmas season. 2 table of contents sinigang 4 adobo 6 pancit 8 halo halo 10 turon 12 cassava cake 14 PAN DE SAL ~ cover page (pahn • de • sahl) Filipino salt bread typically eaten toasted, then topped with butter and a sprinkling of sugar. 3 SINIGANG NA BAKA ( si • ni • gahng • na • bah • kah ) beef soup 4 inigang, a sour tasting soup originating from the Philippines, is usually served as a main dish with rice. Many people make this dish for special occasions such as a birthday or a baptism, but its not Sfor any special purpose, just a common dish of the Filipino culture. Sinigang is often composed of a type of meat or fish, vegetables, tomatoes, and tamarind flavoring. Vegetables can be bok choy, string beans, broccoli, okra, daikon radish, taro, or eggplant. My family has made sinigang using pork or beef short ribs and taro, using the tamarind fruit powder flavoring to add the sour taste to the soup because that is how it was made in my mother’s hometown of Manila. ingredients instructions 2 pounds beef short ribs Prep Time: 15 mins 10 cups water Cook Time: 2 hrs 20 mins 1 onion, peeled and quartered Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins 1 tablespoon fish sauce Yield: 4 Servings 5-6 gabi (taro), peeled and halved 1-2 finger chilies 1. In a pot over medium heat, combine beef ribs 1 6 in. radish (labanos), peeled and cut and water. Bring to a boil, skimming scum that into ½-inch thick half rounds floats to top. When broth has cleared, add onions 15 large tamarind pieces or 1-1/2 (1.41 and fish sauce. Lower heat, cover and cook for oz each) packages tamarind base about 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is fork tender. powder 2. Add gabi and cook for about 6 to 8 minutes 1 bunch spinach or until soft. Add chili and radish. Continue to salt and pepper to taste simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes. 3. Trim about 2 inches from the kangkong stalks and discard. Cut kangkong into 3-inch lengths, separating the sturdier stalks from the leaves. 4. If using packaged tamarind base, add into pot and stir until completely dissolved. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add kangkong and continue to cook for about 1 minute. Serve hot. 5 hicken adobo and its cooking process in Filipino cuisine and the general description of adobo in Spanish cuisine share similar characteristics, yet they refer to different things with different Ccultural roots. While the Philippine adobo can be considered adobo in the Spanish sense, a marinated dish, the Philippine usage is much more specific to a cooking process (rather than a specific recipe) and is not restricted to meat. Typically, pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in vinegar, crushed garlic, radish, bay leaves, black peppercorns, and soy sauce, and is served with white rice. It was traditionally cooked in small clay pots, but nowdays are used in metal pots or woks instead. My family takes it up a notch and adds hard boiled eggs to the dish. It’s delicious! ingredients instructions 4 to 5 pounds chicken thighs Prep Time: 20 mins 1/2 cup white vinegar Cook Time: 1 hr 1/2 cup soy sauce Total Time: 2 hrs 4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced Yield: 6-8 Servings 1 teaspoon black peppercorns 2 cups daikon radish, chopped 1. Combine the chicken thighs, vinegar, soy sauce, 3 bay leaves garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves in a large pot. 4 hard boiled eggs Cover and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator Steamed rice, for serving for 1 to 3 hours. 2. Bring the chicken to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, add chopped daikon, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 3. Remove the lid and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened and the chicken is tender, about 20 more minutes. Serve with steamed rice. 6 CHICKEN ADOBO ( ah • doh • boh ) marinade or sauce 7 PANCIT ( pahn • sit ) noodles 8 oodles were introduced into the Philippines by the Chinese and have since been adopted into local cuisine. The term pancit is derived from the Chinese Hokkien pian i sit which literally Nmeans “convenient food.” Different kinds of noodles can be found in Filipino supermarkets and are also standard fare in local restaurants. According to food lore handed down from the Chinese, noodles should be eaten on one’s birthday. My family is very superstitious about this custom as noodles represent long life and good health —it must not be cut short so it doesn’t corrupt the symbolism. Pancit is a derivative of a type of noodle(s) that originated in China but pancit which is different in its own aspect originated in the Philippines. The fact that pancit is eaten and part of Filipino culture means that it was most likely brought over from settlers originating in China or East Asia. ingredients instructions 2 pounds uncooked vermicello noodles Prep Time: 15 min 4 cups sliced mixed veggies: cabbage, Cook Time: 25 min carrots, bell peppers, and green onions Total Time: 40 min 1 pound lap ceung (chinese sausage) Yield: 12-16 Servings 1/2 cup oil 1 onion, minced 1. Soak the vermicelli in water for about 5 minutes 1 tablespoon soy sauce or until soft. 6 cloves garlic, crushed 2. Brown the lap ceung in the oil with the soy 1 pork bouillon cube sauce, garlic, and onion. 2 limes 3. Add the water and bouillon cube to the pork 6 cups water and bring to a low simmer. 4. Add the vegetables and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the uncooked pancit noodles and soaked vermicelli. 5. Simmer over low heat until the noodles soak up all the broth. Serve with a squeeze of lime over it. 9 alo-Halo is a popular Filipino dessert with mixtures of shaved ice and evaporated milk. Added ingredients can vary widely, but they usually include boiled sweetened kidney beans, H sweetened chickpeas, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), plantains sweetened with sugar, jackfruit (langkâ), gulaman, tapioca, nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), cheese, pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). Most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, purple yam (ubeng pula), or ice cream. Evaporated milk is poured into the mixture upon serving. My family keeps it a little more simple with the recipe below. This dessert is oddly beautiful and trust me when I say it’s unlike anything you’ve ever tasted before! ingredients instructions 2 cups Ice (shaved, not crushed) Prep Time: 1 hr 1 can Kremdensada (sweetened Cook Time: 5 min condensed milk + all purpose cream) Total Time: 1 hr 5 min 1 can evaporated filled milk Yield: 4 Servings mix-ins 1. Freeze a can of Kremdensada 1 cup macapuno (coconut) preserves 2. Place a portion of each mix-in in a bowl 2 slices of leche flan 3. Top with shaved ice 2 cups ube jam (purple yam) or ice cream 4. Pour in Evaporated Filled Milk 4 pastillas (milk-based confectionery) 5. Top with frozen Kremdensada 6. Mix-mix! 10 HALO-HALO ( ha • lo • ha • lo ) mix-mix, mixed together 11 TURON ( too • ron ) deep-fried banana rolls 12 uron, also known as lumpiyang saging (Filipino for banana lumpia), and a popular street food, is a Philippine snack made of thinly sliced bananas (preferably saba or Cardaba bananas) and Ta slice of jackfruit, dusted with brown sugar, rolled in a spring roll wrapper and fried. It is then sprinkled with powdered sugar. Other fillings can also be used, including sweet potato, mango, cheddar cheese and coconut. In my case, my family always serves it plain and simple: bananas and sugar. Growing up, and especially during the summer, my mother would always make these for my brother and I as a snack and we would usually pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream—absolutely delicious! ingredients 3.