Ube Champorado

November 25, 2020 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Everything is about ube these days; ube ice cream, cakes, and desserts and all that. ‘New’ recipes are being developed all the time – new meaning adding an ube twist to already classic favourites. The latest ube trend/craze to come out of this quarantine is of course none other than the overrated Ube Cheese Pandesal.

Like this Ube Champorado, it is as good as our favourite original chocolate version. Almost two years ago (just shy of a few days actually), I made the classic version of this champorado using tablea chocolate. In that post, I talked about pairing a sweet rice pudding with dried, salted fish. I remember getting messages from friends when I posted a photo of the dish on IG; all with the same “wow, that’s interesting!” reaction. There are a lot of desserts out there that embrace the salty-sweet combination; salted caramel and salted chocolate being the top two favourite bases to endless dessert options!

This Ube Champorado with dried salted fish is no exception. It adds pops of salty surprises to each spoonful of the sweet ube rice porridge that you take. If the combination is off putting for you, then you could get away with adding a pinch of rock salt into your champorado – but it won’t be the same. For all the ube lovers out there, this is an ideal breakfast, snack, or dessert for any occasion!

PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOKING TIME 25 MINS | SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS

4 cups filtered water
1 cup (250g) white glutinous rice, rinsed
1 cup ube jam/halaya
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp ube extract
Pinch of salt

Coconut milk, to taste
Fried boneless dilis (optional)
Ube condensada, to taste

METHOD

Add the rinsed glutinous rice together with the water in a medium-sized stockpot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat down to a simmer. Cook until the rice is almost tender, about 15 minutes. Stir regularly to avoid scorching and sticking. Add more water if necessary to achieve your desired consistency.
Stir in the ube jam/halaya, ube extract, coconut milk, and season with a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust if needed. Cook, still continuously stirring, until tender and the ube is mixed in well with the rice, a further 10 minutes or so.
Once done, ladle the champorado into individual serving bowls and top with a swirl each of the ube condensada and coconut milk. You may also top them with fried boneless dilis if you’re feeling adventurous.
Enjoy immediately while steaming hot on a chilly and crisp morning!

You may use fresh/raw ube for this recipe, however, so using store-bought ube jam/halaya, ube extract, or ube powder is just as good; quick and hassle free as how champorado should be. Having to work with fresh Ube will totally ruin that aspect of a no-fuss champorado for me.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Ube Biscoff Cheesecake

November 11, 2020November 14, 2020 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone and a Happy belated Birthday to me! I was supposed to get this recipe up on the day of my birthday, but only having baked this Ube Biscoff Cheesecake the night before, I didn’t have time to edit the photos and videos for uploading and for my Instagram posts. Nevertheless, to make up for that, I have a special announcement to make, which you can read at the end of this post!

If you had asked me where or how I would be spending my birthday this year at the start of our country-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine due to the on-going pandemic, I would’ve never guessed that 8 months later, we’d still be celebrating birthdays in quarantine. Nevertheless, I’m still super thankful that even with the virus still spreading, my family, friends, and myself included, are all safe and healthy.

So to be perfectly honest, this wasn’t the cake I had intended to make for my birthday. I only made the last minute decision (as in the morning before my actual birthday) to make an Ube Biscoff Cheesecake, inspired by an Instagram post I saw about a week or two ago. Well okay, the plan was to still push through with the cake I originally had in mind, and then bake mini Ube Biscoff Cheesecakes to share with my workmates, but baking two cakes in one day sounded daunting. I could already foresee the countless mishaps that are bound to happen juggling two recipes at the same time.

This Ube Biscoff Cheesecake is the perfect recipe for all the ube, biscoff, and cheesecake lovers. If you’ve never tried biscoff before, you should definitely try this dessert! This is utterly delicious and different to my other cheesecakes I’ve made in the past – the biscoff spread on top gives a nice rich addition to the cheesecake and creates a delicious spiced cookie flavour. The biscoff crust is buttery and sweet, and the cheesecake filling is thick and rich with ube that just melts-in-your-mouth with every bite. Honestly, it’s everything a cheesecake should be, and you may opt to do a no-bake or baked cheesecake with this recipe.

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 1 HOUR | SERVES 6-8

INGREDIENTS

For the ube cheesecake mixture

450g cream cheese
250ml all purpose cream
2 large free-range egg
1 cup ube halaya (or ube jam)
1/4 cup white or brown sugar
1 tsp ube extract

For the biscoff crumb base

200g Lotus biscoff cookies, crushed
75g unsalted margarine, melted
Pinch of salt

For the biscoff spread

50g Lotus biscoff cookies, crushed
1/4 cup water
1/8 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp unsalted margarine, melted
Dash of vanilla extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon

METHOD

Preheat oven to 130C (250F or gas mark 1).
Biscoff Crumb Base: Add the crushed biscoff cookies, salt, and melted butter together in a small mixing bowl. Mix together until well combined.
Grease an 8” spring-form pan with a bit of margarine and line the bottom and sides it with parchment paper. Cover the outside of the pan with tin foil. Press the crumb into the base of the cake pan and set aside in the fridge for about 15 minutes to set.
Ube Cheesecake Mixture: Using an electric handheld mixer, beat, on medium speed, the cream cheese and sugar together in a medium-sized bowl until smooth.
With the mixer running, add in the eggs, all purpose cream cream, ube halaya, and ube extract, mixing for a further 2 minutes.
Pour the mixture into the prepared spring-form cake pan, evenly covering the biscuit base.
Place the cake pan in a water bath and bake for 1 hour, or until just set.
Allow to cool down to room temperature and then chill in the fridge for about half an hour before serving.
Biscoff Spread: While the cake is chilling in the fridge, add the crushed biscoff cookies, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, coconut oil, and butter into an immersion blender cup. Blend until the ingredients are well incorporated.
Add the water and blend further until you have a nice, smooth, and creamy spread. Set aside until ready to use.
Assemble: Carefully remove the cheesecake from the spring-form pan. Top the cheesecake with the biscoff spread and a biscoff cookie. Serve a slice or two… maybe three, immediately! *cheeky grin* Enjoy!

And now, here’s the announcement that I promised to share with you guys. One of my Auguesters, known as Karina Pineda a.k.a. @wanderlittlegirl, partnered up for my birthday to launch our very first Instagram Giveaway! The giveaway was launched on Monday and will run through until November 20. Further details of the giveaway are specified on my Instagram post which you can find here on @amcarmenskitchen. The giveaway is only open to residents in Metro Manila, but if you have family or friends living in the area, feel free to share the giveaway with them. My goal is to help my lovely friend promote her smol home-grown business (@madebywanderlittlegirl) and also in return, treat two (2) lucky winners with some home-baked goodies!

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx

Ube-glazed Doughnuts

August 27, 2020 amcarmenLeave a comment

“I’m a homecook and food photography enthusiast.
For me, it’s not just food, it’s my love language for family. I also believe that even if life isn’t perfect, having great food brings magic and creates good memories that makes life colorful.” — Olive

As I crave having sweet and indulgent doughnuts with my favorite flavor Ube, I thought, why not make them at home instead? Making homemade glazed doughnuts is easier than you think – with practice that is. I’m taking a deep dive into homemade doughnuts that taste like the ones you get from your favorite bakery – incredibly delicious and comforting.

Being able to make them from scratch without leaving the comforts of home is so much more fun. For my first attempt ever at making homemade doughnuts, they definitely aren’t the prettiest, but definitely delicious! Fried, sugary, old-fashioned, and comforting!

PREP TIME 45-50 MINS | COOKING TIME 15 MINS | MAKES approx. 15 DOUGHNUTS

INGREDIENTS

For the doughnut batter

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup full-fat greek yoghurt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large free-range eggs
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the ube-glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
Ube flavouring
Water

Vegetable oil, for frying

METHOD

Doughnuts: Combine all the ingredients for the doughnut batter in a large mixing bowl. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it by hand for about 2 minutes.
Lightly grease a large bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a relatively warm environment to let the dough rise/rest for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air.Remove dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out and using a doughnut cutter, cut out about 15 doughnuts. If you can’t quite fit 15, re-roll the scraps and cut more out.
Place the doughnuts and doughnut holes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Loosely cover and allow to rest as you heat the oil. They will rise a bit as they rest.
Prepare and heat the vegetable oil for frying in a large heavy-duty pot set over medium heat.
Fry the doughnuts for 1 minute each side. Once done, carefully place the fried doughnuts over a cooling rack.
Ube-glaze: Combine all the ingredients needed for the glaze in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk together thoroughly.
Dip each warm doughnut into the glaze. After 15 minutes the glaze will set and you can add any topping of your choice. A few examples to get you started are lemon zest, cocoa powder, choice of nuts, sprinkles, and so much more!
Serve and enjoy!

BON APPÉTIT

– Olive

Sapin-Sapin

December 12, 2018 amcarmenLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! Only 13 more days to Christmas!

Before I start, I’m going to make this post short a sweet. I’ve had a busy day of designing to meet a 9-hour deadline so I’m pretty much mentally drained at this point – apologies in advance.

Anyway, in my previous post that I shared last week, I talked about how a much-loved part of the Simbang Gabi tradition during the Christmas season amongst Filipinos is the various local delicacies served just outside of the churches. Last week I shared all about Suman, and tonight I will be sharing a favourite with you, Sapin-Sapin.

Sapin-Sapin is a Filipino sticky rice cake that is made from glutinous rice and coconut milk that is traditionally composed of layers with different colours and flavour profiles that compliment each other. Sapin-Sapin can be made of 4, 3 or 2 layers, or even enjoyed just on its own single slab. The most common flavours are coconut, ube, and jackfruit. It is then topped with a toasted residue of coconut milk known as latik.

PREP TIME 15 MINS | COOKING TIME 45 MINS | SERVES 10

INGREDIENTS

For the sapin-sapin

4 cups coconut milk (fresh, canned, or frozen)
2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup ube (purple yam), cooked and mashed
1/2 cup ripe jackfruit
1/4 cup latik*
30ml condensed milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ube extract
Violet food colouring
Yellow food colouring

*For the latik

1 cup coconut milk

METHOD

Latik: Pour the coconut milk into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continuously stir until most of the liquid evaporates. This will take about 12 to 15 minutes per cup of coconut milk.
When the texture of the milk turns gelatinous, lower the heat and continue to stir. By this time the oils should start separating from the milk. Keep stirring until brownish residues are formed.
Turn the heat off and place the latik on a small plate lined with a paper towl to soak up the excess oil. Set aside. At this point you can store the latik in a container and in the fridge for up to a week or use it immediately to top various rice cakes.
Sapin-Sapin: Combine the glutinous rice flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Then, pour in the condensed milk, coconut milk, and vanilla extract, mixing well until the texture of the mixture is smooth.
Divide the mixture into 3 equal parts into smaller mixing bowls.
Add the mashed purple yam, ube extract, and violet food colouring into one of the mixtures. Stir thoroughly and then set aside.
Shred the jackfruit (without the seeds) in a food processor. Add the shredded jackfruit into another mixture along with the yellow food colouring. Set aside.
Leave the last mixture as it is.
Grease a 9in round baking pan by brushing a bit of coconut oil and pour in the plain coconut mixture into the pan. Make sure that the mixture settles. Cover the baking pan with cheesecloth and then steam for about 12 to 16 minutes.
Once done, remove the baking pan and then pour over the ube mixture. Use a spatula to spread it evenly on top of the coconut mixture. Remove excess water from the cheesecloth by squeezing it. Place it back on top of the baking pan, and into the steamer to steam for another 12 to 16 minutes.
Repeat step 10 again for the jackfruit mixture and then steam for a further 15 to 20 minutes. If you think your mixture is still a tad bit runny, steam for a further 5 minutes. Remove of the steamer and set aside.
Serve: Place a clean banana leaf over a wide serving plate and brush a bit of coconut oil over the leaf.
Gently run the side of the baking pan using a spatula brushed with coconut oil. Turn the baking pan over onto the banana leaf and let the cooked sapin-sapin fall out of the pan on its own. Therefore make sure that the colour that you want on top is the bottom layer in the pan when being cooked.
Brush some coconut oil on top of the sapin-sapin and sprinkle generously with latik.
Serve for breakfast, merienda, or dessert with a hot cup of coffee. Share and enjoy!

Unfortunately, most commercial sapin-sapin delights that you find in large supermarket chains omit the use of natural flavours such as the ube and jackfruit to reduce costs. In fact, if you see, red is also often used in the making of sapin-sapin. When I was researching the flavours, I found out that the red layer actually has no flavouring to it, just the plain coconut from the initial mixture.

Before I end tonight’s post, what are some of your favourite traditional Christmas treats? I’d love to hear about the different food traditions from around the world! Comment down below!

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

Ube Cake with Mango Cream Cheese Frosting

May 1, 2015January 8, 2019 amcarmen2 Comments

Hello Everyone! As I already mentioned in yesterday’s post, I have a very special recipe for all of you today as today is my Mother’s 55th Birthday! Not only that, it is also my Cousin’s 35th Birthday! A very Happy Birthday to the both of them! Not only do they share the same birthday, but they also share the same-ish name. My mom’s name is Josephine, while my cousin’s name is Joseph; and my mother is also his godmother in both his baptismal and wedding. So yes, these two people are very important to me.

Happy Birthday to my mom Josephine & my cousin Joseph Russell! This is the latest photo that I could find of the two of them. This photograph dates back to December 2012 when my cousin JR got married. Kuya J, payat mo oh! Anyare? Hehehe.

To be completely honest, this cake has given me a lot of headaches to the point where I just had to redo everything again. The plan was to bake it the day before so that it would be in the fridge overnight; that obviously didn’t happened. Something went wrong in the batter; it was very pale and it looked like the batter and the eggs whites separated because when I took them out of the oven, the top half was very airy white the bottom half was cake-y. Since I had quite a tiring day yesterday, I gave up on baking the cake and decided to bake it early the next morning (today). The cake this time went well, I just mixed the batter very well and added some food colouring to bring out the purple a bit more.

However, today my frosting decided that it wanted to wreck havoc. The frosting was actually an experiment, because I wanted to incorporate mango into the cream cheese frosting somehow. The big mistake that I did was that I mixed the mango purée together with the cream cheese and and butter instead of smoothening out the cream cheese and butter first. I ended up with a mess of what looked like really bad scrambled eggs. I tried so hard to save it, but in the end I started all over again. At one point I kind of just had about enough with this cake… But I told myself to carry on because it’s a special cake for my Mom’s Birthday! The flavours were all there, form the cake in the beginning, and even the frosting, but it would’ve ended up looking like a shit cake if I hadn’t redone the whole thing.

Anyway, all mishaps aside, the cake turned out to be pretty good! But what decided to ruin everything yet once again was the weather. It was pitch black and raining when I was about to do the final touches on the cake and I have no natural light to photograph my cake. I am so devastated. It was as if everything was trying to ruin this cake for me… Thank goodness that it was still a little bit bright outside, but I really had to put my ISO up and decrease my shutter speed to get some light!

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOKING TIME 30-35 MINS | SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

For the cake batter

2 & 1/2 cups cake flour*
1 cup ube (purple yam), cooked and finely grated**
1 cup white sugar
7 egg yolks, lightly beaten
7 egg whites
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup corn syrup***
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Blue & red food colouring (optional)

For the frosting

1 very ripe mangoes, puréed
1 package (250g) cream cheese, softened
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

*I barely use cake flour, and if you so happen as to not have cake flour in your pantry, you can substitute 1 cup of cake flour with 2 tablespoons of corn flour place into a measuring cup and then filling it with plain flour all the way to the 1 cup mark.

**Place the ube (leaving its skin on) in a pot of boiling water and boil for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how big it is, or until tender. Peel off its skin and then grate.

***If you’re like me and you don’t have corn syrup sitting in your pantry because you barely use it anyway, you can substitute corn syrup by dissolving 3/4 cup of granulated sugar in 1/4 cup of boiling water.

METHOD

Preheat oven to 165C (325F or gas mark 3). Grease three 8.5-inch cake pans with a little butter and set aside.
Ube Cake: In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Place the grated ube into a large bowl and mix together with the milk and vanilla extract; gradually mix into the ube until it is smooth. Then add in the corn syrup, egg yolks, and oil. Mix together and then add in the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Set aside.
In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in the sugar, then red and blue food colouring (optional), while continuing to beat until stiff peaks form.
Fold in a third of the egg white mixture into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to wire racks to cool down completely.
Mango Cream Cheese Frosting: Using an electric handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter, and maple syrup in a small bowl until smooth. Then beat in the confectioners’ sugar, and then fold in the mango purée.
Assembly: Place one cake layer on a serving plate and trim the tops so that they are level. spread with about 1/4 cup of frosting. Top with the second layer of cake and spread another 1/4 cup of and frosting. Finally, top with the last layer of cake and frost the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with the cake trimmings and store in the fridge before serving. Enjoy!