Pritong Bangús Steak (Fried Milkfish Steak)

June 19, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmen7 Comments

Hello Everyone and sorry for a very late post tonight (or more like just past midnight by the time I am done with the post)! I spent the day bringing my family around to Bondi Beach and Maroubra Beach despite the gloomy weather. We managed to visit the beaches and take some photographs before it started to pour. After that, we chilled around at my friend’s place before finally heading off to the airport; I said my goodbyes to my Mom and my two younger sisters. Safe travels! They’ll be in Kuala Lumpur for about 7-hours, and then finally arriving in Brunei the next day in the afternoon. I just finished editing and uploading my graduation photos on Facebook, and now I am writing this post. I thought of just going to bed since I am quite tired, but I felt bad for not even attempting to write a post for tonight/today. Anyway, I’ll make it quick if I can; I’ll probably end up taking the long route and explaining some components of the dish that may be unfamiliar to some people.

Bangús (or Milkfish) is the national fish of the Philippines. They are notorious for being much bonier than other fish, which is why deboned milkfish, called “boneless bangús” in the Philippines, has become popular in stores and markets. There are many ways in which you can use this fish to create many loved home-cooked Filipino dishes, and I will show you two/three easy ways to prepare the milkfish for a tasteful lunch or dinner. Pritong Bangús (fried milkfish) is a simple dish that is packed with flavours. The milkfish alone has its deliciously rich taste, especially the belly, but the marinade enhances its flavour with a hint of sourness and spiciness. The bangús belly is my favourite part of the fish, especially when it is fried. I would always fight for the bigger piece of belly, or I would always make sure that I get the bigger share of the belly. In an ideal world, the belly would be ALL mine.

PREP TIME 8 HOURS* | COOKING TIME 12 MINS | SERVES 2-3

*Minimum. Up to 12 or even better, overnight in the fridge for marination time.

INGREDIENTS

1 large boneless bangus (milkfish); scales removed, cleaned and butterflied
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 red bird’s eye chillies, cut in half
1 large red spanish onion, cut into rings
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
Juice of 2-3 calamansi

METHOD

Combine chillies, vinegar, garlic, whole peppercorns, and salt in a large container. Give it a good stir to combine the ingredients before laying down the fish skin side up. Cover the container and place in the fridge to marinate for about 8 to 12 hours, or even better, overnight to soak up all the flavours.
Heat about 1 cup of oil in a large frying pan (preferably with a lid)** over medium-high. Fry both sides of the bangús until each side turns medium brown in colour. Once cooked, place on a serving plate. You can enjoy the fried bangús just like this with some steamed rice and atchara*** on the side, or you can add a few more ingredients to further heighten the flavour of the dish.
Tip the oil out into an empty jar (you can reuse for your next frying adventure) from the same frying pan, leaving about a tablespoon or two. Fry the onions until soft and then turn the heat off. Add in the soy sauce and give it a good stir, about 1-2 minutes, and the pour the mixture over the fried bangús. Squeeze the juice from the calamansi over the fish and serve!

**Caution: take care when frying as the oil has a tendency to splatter because of the liquid from the marinade. Make sure to cover the frying pan while leaving open a small space for the steam to escape.

***Atchara or Atcharang Papaya is basically pickled julienned or grated green papaya and soaked for a week in cooked vinegar and sugar mixture with onions, garlic, ginger, pepper corn, and red bell pepper.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Graduation Day Lemon Curd Cupcakes

June 17, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Today is the day! Today is the day that certifies that I am no longer a student, and I am officially unemployed! Today is the day that I receive a piece of paper worth AUD$110,000 of tuition fees to say that I have completed my 4-year Bachelor of Design degree! Today is Graduation Day!

It’s supposed to rain today – great. I have the last time slot which means that instead of a nice sunny graduation day, it’s gonna be dark and cold, if the rain decides to dawn upon my ceremony. Yesterday I kept sneezing, and I know that when that starts to happen, a fever, and eventually a cough and sore throat will follow. Not much luck today as far as I can see, and it’s only 8:45 in the morning as I am writing this paragraph. The good news is, I feel fine so at least I can stop worrying about getting sick – I just hope that the sun pops out for a while, while it’s still bright out in the afternoon before my ceremony at 6:30pm.

So anyway, it actually stopped raining when I arrived on campus at around 4:15pm – praise the Lord! The cloud didn’t clear up so it was still grey and gloomy. Oh well, at least we weren’t wet from the rain. It got dark really quick though and therefore photos were not as great 😦 All in all, a fun evening seeing friends, and graduating with fellow design mates; a little nerve-wrecking as I kept thinking that I was going to be THAT ONE student who would trip and fall flat on my face. Thank God I didn’t, and neither did anyone else who graduated tonight.

I picked to bake tonight’s recipe mainly because of the colours that represent the University of New South Wales, which is Black and Yellow/Gold. Enjoy!

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 18-20 MINS | MAKES 12 CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

1 & 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup lemon curd
1/2 cup milk
110g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 large free range eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Icing sugar for dusting
Zest of one large lemon

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4). Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases and set aside.
Whisk the plain flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl, and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Rub together with your fingers until fragrant.
Using a hand-held electrical mixer, beat the butter and sugar mixture together until light and fluffy, and lightened in colour (about 8 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula in between mixing.
Add the eggs one at at time, beating after each addition. Then add in the vanilla extract.
Add the flour mixture and milk alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until the flour is just incorporated and be careful as to not over mix the batter. Mix in the lemon juice.
Divide batter evenly in prepared cupcake liners, filling each case 2/3 of the way full. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
Once the cupcakes have completely cooled down, using a knife, cut out a small hole in the centre of the cupcake, about the size of a dime. Carefully remove the centre piece and set aside.
Fill each hole with about 1 teaspoon of lemon curd and dust with a bit of icing sugar.
Share with family and friends, and enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelette)

June 11, 2015January 14, 2019 amcarmen8 Comments

Hello Everyone! I’m now back in Cedar Vale, QLD after spending two nights in the city. I must say that it’s very quiet in comparison to Sydney. Quiet is nice, but it’s almost just too quiet to what I am used too, for a city that is! Anyway, I caught up with some high school friends over a heck load of food last night, two of the three of them which I hadn’t seen since graduating IB five years ago. Good company over good food(s) makes for a great night out in the quiet city.

Tomorrow we commemorate 117 years of the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. In honour for tomorrow, I will be making a loved Filipino dessert for a BBQ we have happening here in the countryside – Leche Flan! And tonight I am posting a very simple, yet very tasteful dish that you can have for either lunch or dinner; Tortang Talong, or in English, Eggplant Omelette.

Tortang Talong are grilled eggplants are soaked in a beaten egg mixture and then fried; as simple as that. It’s the grilled flavour of the eggplant that really hits the spot right there. I usually don’t season it with any salt or pepper as I accompany the omelette with some sautéd shrimp fry which is already very salty on its own. Otherwise, feel free to season it if you don’t fancy a side of shrimp fry!

Definitely good for those who are in a hurry or on a tight budget; you can grill several eggplants in advance and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in a freezer for several months. Easy peasy. I definitely think that its best served with some steamed rice, shrimp fry, or ketchup should do the trick! My mom usually makes these eggplant omelettes to accompany a pork belly stir-fried in the shrimp fry dish or a dish of kare-kare. For this particular time, we had them with steamed blue swimmer crabs because we bought them fresh from the market that day and we were in the process of cleaning out the fridge since we were about to travel here in Australia; at the time we had eggplant in the fridge!

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 20 MINS | SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

For the eggplant omelette

4 medium-sized lebanese eggplans
4 large free range eggs
Ground salt and pepper (optional)

For the sautéed shrimp paste

345g bagoong alamang (shrimp paste)
3 garlic cloves, crushed then minced
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 red bird’s eye chillies, halved
1 large onion, halved and then sliced
1 tbsp sugar

METHOD

Sautéd shrimp paste: Heat oil in a medium-sized frying pan and sauté garlic and onions until fragrant. Add the tomatoes in together with the chillies and sauté until they have softened. Add the shrimp paste in and give it a good mix. Add in the sugar and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and set aside. You may need to heat it up again before serving.
Eggplant omelette: Grill the eggplants until the colour of skin turns almost black. Let the eggplants cool for a while before peeling off the skin. Set aside.
Crack one egg per grilled eggplant into a deep dish and beat. Add the eggplant to the beaten egg mixture and flatten using a fork.
Heat oil in a medium-sized fry pan over medium-high. Pour the egg mixture together with the eggplant into the pan and fry for about 4-5 minutes per side.
Serve with steamed rice and the sautéd shrimp fry. Enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Chicken Sopas

June 9, 2015January 12, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! I am now in the Sunshine State of Queensland where I spent the weekend at a family friend’s farm in the countryside of Cedar Vale, near Jimboomba. They have a lovely country home with about 4 acres of land, and an alpaca(!), a donkey, three goats, and six chickens. Today, my family and I caught the bus to the city of Brisbane where we will be staying for 2 nights before heading back to the country and then to the Gold Coast for a day. Anyway, it’s actually already late here, I mean past 11pm isn’t late, but I need to go to bed and start early tomorrow as we are spending the day at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary! Finally after 5 years in Australia, I get to cuddle a koala and feed kangaroos! So I’ll keep tonight’s post short so I can get as much z’s as I can.

Tonight’s recipe is a Filipino classic; a soup dish made of shredded boneless chicken, macaroni noodles, a bit of milk, and some vegetables to flavour the dish. This dish is actually common for breakfast or a snack time treat during cold and rainy seasons. The difference between a regular chicken soup and a chicken sopas is the use of milk, either fresh or evaporated for a richer flavour. Other meats besides chicken can be added to the dish, such as diced hotdogs or luncheon meat in some recipes, and also chicken liver. I think my Mom has made a sopas dish with chicken liver before; didn’t fancy it. Play with the ingredients if you wish – the pasta and vegetables may also vary so feel free to use the appropriate ingredients in which you desire!

Note: If anywhere you see ‘soaps’ instead of ‘sopas’, it’s not a typo, it’s autocorrect and I’m a bit tired to go through and change them if you see any beyond this point – it’s happened to the first two above and I managed to go back and change those; but otherwise Chicken Soaps sounds like an intriguing dish! Also, on the ingredients photograph, you will notice the chicken wings. We actually used chicken spare ribs in this recipe but my Mom was insistent on photographing the wings because it looked ‘prettier’ than the ribs.

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 20 MINS | SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

500g chicken spare ribs, washed and cleaned
250g tri-colour shells
2 cups water
1 cup fresh milk
3 small red onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 small carrot, julienned
Half head cabbage, roughly chopped
Ground salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Heat oil in a large pot and sauté the garlic until golden brown. Add in the onions and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Add in the chicken ribs, seasoning with salt and pepper. Give it a good mix and then let it cook for about 10 minutes, checking and mixing regularly to avoid the chicken meat sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Add in the water and bring it back to a boil. Once boiling, add in the shells and cook according to packet instructions, mine took about 10 minutes.
About 5-6 minutes into the 10, add the carrots and cabbage. Continue cooking until pasta is tender. Add in the milk and turn the heat off.
Serve hot and enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Goong Ob Woon Sen (กุ้งอบวุ้นเส้น)

June 4, 2015January 12, 2019 amcarmen5 Comments

Hello Everyone! Tonight’s recipe is actually quite different from a traditional Goong Ob Woon Sen (Prawns and Glass Noodles in Claypot), only because my Auntie taught my Mom how to cook it very differently. I only knew that it was different when I looked up the Thai name for this dish before I started to write this post and saw other recipes that used bacon, and other ingredients to make up the broth/sauce.

Oh well. Also, you would whip up this recipe in a claypot, but since we didn’t have one, we cooked it in a regular frying pan. Actually, we remembered that my Auntie had one, and so we borrowed it and transferred the prawns and glass noodles to the claypot for the presentation. Anyway, the dish was nevertheless still delicious, but I bet would taste even better with the bacon in it – because who doesn’t love bacon?

PREP TIME 20 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

750g tiger prawns, washed, cleaned, and deveined
500g glass noodles
2 cups chicken broth, hot
2 inch ginger, thinly sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 heaped tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp annatto powder
1 tsp chicken stock powder
Fish sauce to taste, optional
Fresh coriander, cut into 1-inch lengths

METHOD

Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan and fry the garlic, ginger, black peppercorn until fragrant. Add in the prawns together with the chicken stock powder; mix and let to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the prawns pan, leaving the garlic, ginger slices, and peppercorns in the pan. Set the prawns aside.
Dissolve the annatto powder in the hot chicken broth and pour into the same frying pan. Bring to a boil before adding in the glass noodles. Cook the noodles in the broth until they start to soften.
Place the prawns back into the frying pan, together with the coriander and fish sauce (if you need to season it a bit more) and cook until the noodles have absorbed the gravy, about 5 minutes.
Once done, turn the heat off an transfer to a claypot. Garnish with some more coriander and serve hot. Enjoy!

PS: On the train home from Melbourne City to Cranbourne, I was going through my Instagram feed and saw that Thanis Lim also made Ob Woon Sen with a twist, adding clams instead of prawns. Maybe I will give this recipe a try, using bacon and cooking it the traditional way for next time!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Tom Yum Gài Tôt (ต้มยำ ไก่ทอด)

June 2, 2015January 12, 2019 amcarmen1 Comment

Hello Everyone! So, if you have been following my blog recently over the past few weeks, you will have noticed some changes to the theme of blog. If you head on over to the About section of my blog, you can read about the reasons for the changes there.

Back when we were still in Brunei, before we set off to travel Australia, I wanted to make fried chicken wingettes for the family. I used the basic fried chicken batter that I always used, and before I added in the dried chilli flakes to give it a little kick, I remembered that I had made my own tom yum paste the day before. So I decided to experiment and added just about a teaspoon and a half of the paste to the batter. Marinated it for at least an hour or two, and then got my mom to fry the wingettes. It tasted really, really good! It had just the right amount of spice, and we even had some sweet chilli sauce on the side for the wingettes.

It was so good that I even made a second batch before we flew off, and the even more batches from my friends in Sydney (with store-bought paste since I was not really bothered to make my own paste at that time). The taste of the tom yum didn’t quite shine through and I’m guessing it’s because it didn’t have much of a kick of heat in the paste, and I couldn’t really taste the freshness of the galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves, etc. Nonetheless, the wingettes were still succulent and juicy.

PREP TIME 1 HOUR* | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | SERVES 4

*Includes marination time

INGREDIENTS

500g chicken wingettes, wash and cleaned
8 tbsp water
6 tbsp cornflour
6 tbsp plain flour
3 tsp sesame oil
1 & 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp Homemade Tom Yum Paste
Dash of ground black pepper

METHOD

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl and mix the chicken around until well coated. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave to marinade for 1 hour (I usually leave it for about 4 hours minimum to let the flavour of the tom yum infuse into the chicken. Do not refrigerate it to bring the meat down to room temperature before cooking.
Preheat oven to 180C (350F or gas mark 4). Heat up oil in a large frying pan an working in batches, shallow fry the chicken until skin is crispy and golden (about 5-6 minutes per side).
Remove from the heat and place on a baking tray lined with aluminium foil. Place the wings in the oven for a further 8-10 minutes to finish off in the oven.
Serve the wings with thai sweet chilli sauce on the side. Enjoy!

I think you can try and experiment with other pastes if you wish. When I get around to, I will attempt to make my own green curry paste and try some green curry friend chicken wings!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Tom Yum Gài (ต้มยำไก่)

May 29, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hey Everyone! Just letting you guys know that I’m currently in Victoria with my family for 9 days; staying in Cranbourne with a family friend. Anyway, yes, besides that, today’s recipe is based on what I uploaded on Tuesday; using the homemade tom yum paste to make a (yes) chicken feet tom yum soup. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Chicken feet, really? And gizzards as well? Ew!” – actually not ew, well in my opinion that is! When I first learnt this dish from my Auntie, she cooked this with these cuts of chicken. My mom even gives the chicken feet a little pedicure; scrubbing them clean and cutting off their nails on each toe – so much work that I myself wouldn’t even be bothered to do! If you’re not into chicken feet, this spicy and sour soup can be made with other meats varying from mixed seafood such as prawns, squid, and clams, or other cuts of chicken, pork, and fish.

Also, I didn’t know this until I did a bit of research, but tom yum is actually a Lao and Thai dish; all along I thought it was just Thai. Anyway, for those of you who don’t know what tom yum is, it is a clear, spicy, and sour soup served widely in many neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore, but has also been popularised around the world. “Tom” actually refers to the boiling process while “yum” refers to a spicy and sour salad; and therefore “tom yum” is a hot and sour soup characterised by the fragrant herbs used to flavour the broth. The basic broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, and crushed fresh chillies. When I first learnt to cook this dish, I added coconut milk to the broth. Over time, we eliminated the coconut milk because my mom can’t eat, or more like, isn’t allowed to have anything with coconut in her diet.

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 5-6

INGREDIENTS

1kg chicken feet, wash, cleaned, and nails cut off
250g chicken gizzards, washed and cleaned
2.5L boiling water
1 heaped tbsp Homemade Tom Yum Paste (or more if you’ve deseeded your chillies before making it into a paste), likewise, you may use store-bought paste
1 tsp chicken stock powder
4 pcs kaffir lime leaves
3 inch galangal, sliced
2 large tomatoes, quartered
2 pcs red bird’s eye chillies
2 red onions, quartered
2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 2-inch lengths
Juice of 2 limes
Fish sauce to taste

METHOD

Add the all the ingredients, except for the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, lime juice, and tom yum paste, into a large pot. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Then add in the kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, and tom yum paste. Give it a good mix and then add in the fish sauce about a tablespoon at a time; taste until the seasoning and taste is to your liking. At this point, you may also add in straw mushrooms or oyster mushroom if you wish. Let it cook for a further 45 minutes, or until chicken feet and gizzards are tender.
Serve with steamed rice and enjoy! Quite a nice dish actually for a cold winter night.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Homemade Tom Yum Paste

May 27, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmen10 Comments

Hello Everyone! Today’s post will be a simple one – well at first before even tackling the recipe, I thought it’d be a complicated and labour-intensive process. Actually, it took a while to finely chop up the garlic, onions, galangal, and ginger as I did not have a food processor to do it all for me in a jiffy; nonetheless, it helped me improve on my chopping skills (probably not really).

Tom Yum is one of the first Thai dishes that I learned to love, and it was probably from this dish that I slowly started to love chillies and the kick of spice it gave to my palette. In fact, Chicken Tom Yum was the very first Thai dishes that I learnt to cook from my auntie, who is Thai; but at that time I still used pre-packed tom yum paste from the supermarkets. It wasn’t until recently that I decided that I wanted to learn how to make my own tom yum paste – and quite a success I might add! The flavours were obviously tastier and had more kick than store-bought paste, and very easy to make as well! The opportunities are endless with this paste; you can use it to make a tom yum broth to accompany various meats such as chicken, pork, prawns, fish, and mixed seafood’s including clams and squid, or you can use it as a seasoning to various dishes. The original recipe can be found at Pickyin.

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOKING TIME 45 MINS | MAKES 40 TBSP (approx.)*

*What I normally do is place about a tablespoon of the paste in small plastic bags and place them into the freezer. Each time I make a dish that requires Tom Yum Paste, I defrost a bag (or two) depending on how many I need. This is how I keep my batch on Tom Yum Paste without the need for additives or preservatives to keep them on the shelf/fridge.

INGREDIENTS

250g chili paste (from soaked, deseeded and blended dry chilies)**
20g shrimp paste (or more to taste)
1 cup tamarind pulp water
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 pieces kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
3 inches ginger, finely chopped
2 inches galangal, finely chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, white parts only, finely chopped
1 large red onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp ground coriander

**I couldn’t be bothered to deseed each and every dried chilli, so I ended up adding the seeds in. I’m not sure if you can buy already deseeded dried chillies in stores, but I could not find any myself. I mean, if you want the heat then by all means leave the seeds in – caution though, very hot!

METHOD

Heat vegetable oil over high heat in a medium-sized frying pan, and then add in the onions, garlic, galangal, and ginger. Sauté until softened and slightly browned. Remove from the pan and set aside, leaving the remaining oils in the pan.
In the same pan, add the chilli paste, kaffir lime leaves, lemonsgrass, coriander, shrimp paste, fish sauce, tamarind water, and brown sugar. Cook until the mixture slightly thickens before adding the other fried ingredients into the chilli mixture.
Continue frying until the paste is thick and the oil starts to separate from chilli and surfaces. Set aside to cool down before sealing them in jars/cans. The paste can keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for a few months.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Jam)

May 21, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmen4 Comments

Hello Everyone! Today’s recipe is a dessert that is made from grated and boiled purple yam which is locally known as ‘Ube’ in the Philippines. Besides the purple yam jam (Ube Halaya), many different desserts such and pastries such as ice cream, tarts, and cakes make use of this root crop. Halaya (en español: jalea), directly translates to jelly or jam, but it is hardly a traditional jelly or jam.

I know I basically say this is every post that I upload, but let’s face it, if it not one of my favourites then I wouldn’t be posting the recipe online! Anyway, this is also one of my favourite Filipino desserts besides Leche Flan. Here in Brunei, you can find this root crop in the local markets known as ubi belayar ranging from $3.00 to $5.00, and sometimes even $7.00 per kilo especially if it has been newly harvested (you just have to shop around to find the stall that sells for much cheaper). We managed to buy some from an old man selling them for $3.00/kg and the root still looked fresh.

I am not sure of how readily available the purple yam is in various countries, but I am aware that you can buy ready-made boiled and grated purple yam in Asian stores. Having a prepared product such as this definitely saves time in the kitchen, but if it’s definitely available raw from the markets, I definitely recommend making it from scratch and burn some calories in the kitchen with this dish! In the past, I have found that by just grating and pounding the flesh, you still get lumps of the yam in your end result, and therefore not as smooth. We therefore pass the flesh through a sieve as well to get rid of any remaining lumps. A lot of work, but a stellar end result; smooth and creamy lump-free halaya!

PREP TIME 1 HOUR | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR 10 MINS | SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

2.5kg purple yam, skin on, thoroughly washed and scrubbed
1 can (395g) condensed milk
125g unsalted butter, chilled

METHOD

Submerge the purple yam in a very large pot (the largest you have!) of hot water. Bring the water to a boil and cook the purple yam for 30-45 minutes or until the yam is soft and tender. If you don’t have a pot big enough to fit the yam, you may cut it on half (or quarters if needed).
Once tender, remove from the pot and set aside to cool down before peeling the skin off.
Working it batches, finely grate the purple yam. Once you’ve done that, get out your mortar and pestle and get pounding! Once you’re done with the pounding, get you sieve out and press the mashed purple yam through the sieve. This ensures that your ‘jam’ is smooth and there are no lumps in your mixture. This is probably the most labour-intensive part of the recipe!
Next, heat a large cooking pot on low and add in the butter to melt.
Once the butter has completely melted, add in the condensed milk and stir well. Add the purple yam in and stir occasionally so that the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook until the texture or the mixture becomes really thick (about 20-25 minutes). When cooked, turn the heat off and let it sit in the cooking pot for another half hour before transferring them into moulds/containers.
Refrigerate for at least two hours, then serve and enjoy with family and/or friends!

PS: It was very hard as to not resist the temptation to wrap this yam jam in spring roll wrappers as an experiment to see if they would work just as well as wrapping leche flan. Guess what? It was successful! There’s this phrase in Tagalog that you would use when you have too much of something that you get fed up, but it’s quite the opposite when you have it wrapped in spring roll pastry; it becomes “hindi nakakasuya”. Anyway, basically add about a teaspoon or two of purple yam jam on top of a spring roll wrapper together with a few strips of fresh coconut; then fold, locking the wrapper on each side. Freeze it overnight before frying and viola! Crispy Fried Ube Halaya. You’re welcome.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Crispy Fried Leche Flan

May 19, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmen7 Comments

Hello Everyone! Firstly, I would just like to say to you all that I am back in Sydney! Currently staying at a friends place while waiting for my Mom and two younger sisters to arrive in Sydney on Saturday morning before we start our Australian tour!I’ll be showing them around Sydney, and then we will be off to Melbourne, Brisbane, and then back again for my graduation ceremony in mid-June! Now because of all our travels, I will momentarily cease Review Sundays, only because I don’t have any places in my folders to write about, and also because there is a possibility that I won’t have the time (or most likely won’t be bothered) to write reviews on places I’ve visited on this trip, during the trip. Once I’ve settled back down from my 1-month vacation, then I will get back into Review Sundays; but don’t fret, I will still be uploading recipes twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays as I’ve cooked up a whole lot of dishes while I was in Brunei to prepare for this vacation period of mine.

Anyway, today’s recipe is a little twist on what I have been making for a while now – mainly for lunch/dinner parties, or during Christmas and New Year celebrations. Or sometimes, I make it upon the request of my friends for their birthdays (Jialing especially) or just whenever they want me to make it for them when I invite them over to my place. During my recent trip to the Philippines, I encountered ‘Crispy Fried Leche Flan’ on two different menus. I thought long and hard about the possibility and HOW they are able to deep-fry a soft, smooth, and silky custard – at one point I thought, battered flan? Anyway, weird techniques were going through my mind and it killed me not knowing how it was possible – until I ordered it that is. I did not expect it to be wrapped spring roll style; such a clever idea! The first time I had these babies was at Catalino’s Restaurant (Villa Javierto) in Lucena City. I was so amazed by the lovely golden brown, crispy spring roll pastry complimented by an oozy, smooth flan filling with a side of soft caramel dip. It was like love at first bite with these I tell you. Never have a ever heard of crispy fried flan until this very day at Catalino’s; and I was even more excited to see it on Mesa’s menu in the city! However, as I probably mentioned in that blog review, Mesa’s crispy flans did not live up to the hype of my first experience. To quote my blog review, I said that theirs were “small, not so crispy rolls of flan that didn’t quite taste like flan in my opinion and more like steamed egg”.

Ever since my trip to the Philippines and encountering these beautiful rolls of delight, I knew I had to take it to my kitchen and whip up a batch of these. At first I was unsure of how it was they managed to handle and wrap soft flan; I thought that they needed to go into the freezer first and once frozen you could handle them easily. My mother showed me otherwise; she handled the slices of flan with great care, and was very gentle with them when wrapping them. The trick to get them nice and crispy is basically the same with the plantain rolls I posted roughly a month back; by freezing them overnight and frying them straight away with no defrosting required.

PS: Before I start with the recipe, I just want to point out that I showed these images to one of my friends prior to writing this post because I told her about how I made crispy leche flan. She wanted to know how it was possible and so I showed her how it was done. Her first reaction to the side of caramel dip – “IS THAT FISH SAUCE?” I seriously could not stop laughing.

INGREDIENTS

1 recipe Leche Flan (Crème Caramel)
- 6 egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 can (395g) condensed milk, at room temperature
- 1 cup milk, at room temperature
- 6 tsp caster sugar
- 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Large springroll wrappers

METHOD

Make a batch of leche flan prior to starting this recipe. Make sure that you refrigerate them for at least 6 hours before working with them. You can find the recipe linked above in the ingredient list. Instead of using small round moulds, I suggest you use square moulds (or in my case I used oval because that’s what I had) and cut them into thick rectangular strips. Do not discard the caramel sauce, instead pour it into a sauce dish and serve alongside the crispy fried leche flan rolls.
Place the slice of flan on top of a spring roll wrapper and fold, locking the wrapper on each side. then place in a container and repeat until all the slices of flan have been wrapped. Freeze overnight.
In a small (or medium, depending on how many you’re going to fry) pan, heat the oil over medium-high. Make sure it is quite hot before adding the wrapped flans in. Fry until the wrapper turns golden brown.
Serve hot during dessert or meryenda, with ice cream on the side if you wish. Enjoy!