Leche Flan or Creme Caramel or Caramel Custard - Kulinarya Challenge for June

One of the most highly-sought family dishes that I have not yet shared here is the Filipino egg custard called “leche flan”. On the scale of 1-10 the “leche flan” that our family, the Villanueva’s of Padre Garcia, Batangas, usually prepare is 11. I will repeat that in word just in case you did not get it clear - eleven. I know it’s logically wrong, but it’s hyperbolically true. I kid you not! For me and all of my friends and guests who tasted it, our egg custard is way better than those you can order or eat in any of the 5-star hotels or popular restaurants (at least from all of those that I and my friends have tried), be it in Manila or in any other key cities in the country.

Okay, I may be quite biased here but it is really that good. Wait, make that …… really that exceptional (objectively supplied)! :) Since it’s not very convincing to praise your own trait or sell your own merit, I guess, you’ve got to actually taste it to believe what I’m saying. :-)

The recipe is not really a strictly guarded secret. Nope! Many people knew it. I once talked to someone who uses the exact ingredients but nonetheless produces a much inferior dish. Maybe the recipe or at least a similar or very close recipe is already even published in the internet as we speak. But the meticulous cooking method, involving the careful preparation of the caramel syrup and the slow and controlled steaming process, which knowledge the family developed over a long period of time, makes the difference I believe.

I consider it as an acquired special skill learnt through practice and eventually shared or passed on from generation to generation ……… from parents to children, from mothers to daughters and daughters-in-law, from older sisters to younger sisters and sisters-in-law and in my case, from wife to husband …… although I’ve seen my mother (who diligently and painstakingly taught my better half) and aunties prepared it a countless times during significant family occasions. :-)

But it isn’t the recipe that I will be sharing here now ……… not just yet. Sorry! :-) For this post, I would like to feature my own concoction of the popular dessert dish. Hear me out first. You see the family recipe calls for several cans of condensed and evaporated milk which happened to be too pricy around here. So I developed my own recipe which uses fresh whole milk which is rather abundant and of course very reasonably priced (a.k.a cheap), about 1/8 of the canned milk price compared per unit volume. Besides, fresh milk is what they use in the Portuguese crème caramel recipe which is very similar to the Filipino “leche flan”.

Chicken and Pork Empanada

Folded pastry around meat and veggie stuffing is probably the most accurate definition of my true Filipino comfort food. It is among the simple gastronomic treat that immediately reconnects me with home ……… family, relatives, childhood friends and everything in between. It is an ordinary snack which every bite for me is capable of educing flashes of happy thoughts, retrieving golden memories and subsequent feeling of divine-like contentment. It could somehow serve as a mother’s tender touch or spouse’s caress that provides warmth, consolation, sense of security and peaceful refuge even when you are actually so far away from home. I am referring to the tasty stuffed bread called “empanada”. :-)

Popular in many countries of Latin America, southern part of Europe and South East Asia particularly the Philippines, empanada refers to the stuffed bread or pastry, either baked or fried, made by folding a rich buttery dough or bread patty around the stuffing. The fillings usually composed of varieties of meats, seafood, vegetables or even sweetened fruits. It can be served as a small meal, a starter before a meal, finger foods in parties, dessert after a meal in case of sweet fruits fillings, morsel while watching TV or movies or sporting events and snack at any time of the day.

There are many international variations. In Argentina, their empanadas are often served at parties and festivals. The fillings are mainly chicken or beef spiced with cumin and paprika. In Brazil, they have fried turnovers filled with seasoned ground meat, shredded chicken, cheese, seasoned ground shrimp, hearts of palm and various other fillings. In Jamaica, they have their Jamaican patty that contains various fillings and spices baked inside a flaky shell, often tinted golden yellow with an egg yolk mixture or turmeric. Puerto Rico’s “empanadilla” is a small empanada that uses flour or cassava flour dough and lard. In Spain, empanadas are often made from thin, flexible, but resilient wheat pastry. The variable filling includes tuna, sardines and chorizo in a tomato puree, garlic and onion sauce.

However, the type I will be preparing here is of course the Filipino empanada. It usually contains ground pork or beef or chicken meat or chopped shrimps, diced potato, green peas, chopped onion and raisins in sweetish-buttery dough made from wheat flour or all-purpose flour. The dough can either be doughy or flaky and plain or covered in bread crumbs. The empanada can either be baked or deep fried with the former being my preferred method as it does not involve a degree of oil accumulation to the finish product. The golden brown tasty crust without the hint of fat (from frying) complemented with the sweetish meaty fillings is such a delightful delicacy to me. :-)

Bopis or Bopiz Version 2 (Lights and Heart Sauteed in Onions, Tomatoes and Chilies)

We already have a post about the earthy Filipino dish called “bopis or bopiz” which could be regarded as quite unusual because it is made from the lungs of a swine or sometimes bovine. Such internal organ of a livestock when used in cooking is called lights. For this preparation though, and as always done in the Philippines, I included the heart as well. Having said this, please consider yourself as have been warned about the bizarre or to some extent disturbing nature of the dish we are about to cook. You are advised to leave freely now if you think you are squeamish or faint-hearted and have a feeling that this post will somehow touch your sensitivities.

Please understand that like in many Asian countries and surprisingly Scotland and other European nations, lights or lungs are a common food item in the Philippines along with the heart, liver and even spleen of a livestock or game. There are unique dishes which the common people of our country have successfully developed for the main purpose of using such peculiar meat parts, which other find no or very limited usage in the kitchen, into acceptable daily meals. These I believe are normal occurrences in a country where the population is continuously exploding and shortage of food remains a perennial problem.

As explained before, “bopis” or “bopiz” in Spain is a spicy Filipino-Spanish dish made from finely diced pork or beef lights (lungs) and heart sautéed in garlic, onions, tomatoes, chilies and flavored with natural vinegar. While in the first version I used a parboiled and finely diced lungs, this version 2 will totally omit the parboiling process and directly sauté the finely minced or ground raw lungs and heart instead. As the meat is finer, we could expect the dish to be richer in taste and smoother in texture.

Bopis or Bopiz (Lights Sauteed in Onions, Tomatoes and Chilies)

As a sign of respect I need to forewarn that if you are squeamish or faint-hearted, this post might not be for you. It deals on a subject matter others might find somewhat bizarre and alarming especially by non-Filipinos. But if you have interest in discovering amazing exotic dishes made from pork or beef internal organs and the likes, then by all means continue reading. You are in for a wonderful culinary experience, creating sumptuous dish out of unusually unique meat parts. A bit peculiar or to some extent disturbing as it may, but some surprisingly delicious dishes like “Bopis” are made from extraordinary ingredients and rather simple methods of preparation.

As I have mentioned before I love offal. My wife and children might be giving me a frown look but I have been exposed to such food and have learned to like them, really like them. I have shown this special affection by posting some odd Filipino dishes made from pork and beef entrails, innards, gonad, phallus and even blood like in the following dishes: “Dinuguan” or Pork Blood Stew, “Goto” or Beef Tripe Congee, “Callos” or Beef Tripe Stew and Soup Number 5 or Bull/Ox Gonad Soup.

Lights are the lungs of livestock or game as used in cooking and butchery. Apart from the Philippine’s “Bopis”, lights are also use in other dishes of other countries like in the Scottish national dish called “haggis”. A sausage dish made from sheep's “pluck” or heart, liver and lungs and traditionally simmered in the casing of the animal’s intestine. Pretty much like the Filipino “longanisa”.

“Bopis” on the other hand, is a spicy Filipino dish made from finely diced pork or beef lights (or lungs) and heart sautéed in garlic, onions, tomatoes, chilies and infused and flavored with vinegar. The unique dish, called “Bopiz” in Spanish, was probably introduced to the Philippines or influenced by the Spaniard colonizers. But I don’t know this for sure. While “bopis” is traditionally cooked using pork lights and heart I will be using only beef lights to prepare the dish. :-)

For the more than 2 kilos beef lights our cook purchased for less than 5 USD, some fresh vegetables are necessary to re-create the sumptuous Filipino dish. About 2 large plum tomatoes, 1 head garlic, 3 medium onions, 1 large red bell pepper, 2 green chili peppers, 2 finger chilies, 1 medium carrot and 1 medium white radish or mooli.

To cook, thoroughly wash the beef lights, drain and place in a large pot, cover with enough water and boil for about 30 to 45 minutes or until the meat is just tender. Take out the lungs from the pot and let it cool a bit before dicing. Discard the liquid.

While the boiled lungs are cooling down, finely dice all the vegetable ingredients shown above. In addition, prepare about ¼ cup vegetable oil, 2 tbs annatto oil (1/4 cup annatto seeds or "atsuete" steeped in 2 tbsp hot oil then strained to discard the seeds), 3 pcs bay leaves (“laurel”), 2 tsp salt or to taste, 2 tsp ground pepper, ½ tsp dried oregano, 2 tsp fish sauce (“patis”) and 1 cup natural vinegar. The complete other ingredients are as shown here except for the about 3 cups beef or chicken stock or just water:

Finely dice the boiled lungs as well. Since more than 2 kilos beef lights is quite a lot of meat, dicing it is not an easy job. :-)

In a large thick pan heat about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and fry the garlic followed by onions and tomatoes. While sizzling, add in the fish sauce followed by salt and ground pepper. Then add the diced lungs and continue sautéing until the meat is sizzling in fat and aromatic. Add the annatto oil and then the vinegar. Let the vinegar boil without stirring.

When the liquid is already boiling, stir the meat to evenly mix the flavor. Then add all the remaining ingredients. Continue stirring to mix all ingredients evenly. Add the stock and simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings and level of vinegar. Continue simmering for some more minutes. When the liquid is reduced and has slightly thickened, it’s done.

Transfer in a large serving plate and serve with lots of rice. In the Philippines, the dish is usually served to Filipino men as bites or “pulutan” while drinking their favorite alcoholic beverages, like “Sisig Pampanga” and “Imbaligtad”. But eating it as viand for steamed rice is now very common even for the ladies and young ones. After all, the level of kick can be adjusted so that it can be handled by everyone. This recipe, for one, is not really hot as I have group mates not really into chilies.

Enjoy this distinctly delicious dish. Try and see it for yourself. Once you taste the dish, you might change the way you look at animal lungs or lights as culinary ingredients. c“,)

Fresh Fruits for Dessert

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food such as cakes like banana cake and chocolate cake, cookies, pastries, ice cream, candies, puddings, chocolate bars, sweetened fruits like “banana que” and sweetened banana, sweet delicacies and my favorite, fresh fruits. Dessert is an important part of a meal as it enlivens the eating satisfaction to a higher level. Sort of completing the food intake to a point where taste buds will attain a state of pure pleasure and will temporarily shutdown in craving for foods or anything. :-)

Fresh fruit is my preferred dessert for every meal. With so many good things being attributed to fruits I guess no elaboration is really needed. However, it is worth mentioning that fruit provides energy in the form of natural sugars which our body can extract without even feeling fulfilled. Said sugars are digested in a short period in a chemical process with no toxic waste byproduct. Fruit also contains substantial amount of the important fibers and high percentage of water which is almost the same water percentage of the human body at 80%.

Being in a tropical country like the Philippines, we are blessed with many varieties of fruits available to everyone at a relatively low cost here in Sri Lanka. I have featured before some of the local harvests of fresh fruits in season as well as the remarkable king coconut and banana which we enjoy all year round. There are many more which I hope to post one by one or in groups in the future.

For dessert we usually have, as shown above, pineapple. It is the crunchy-sweet variety which is also a favorite of our Japanese friends.

For very good source of natural sugars + water, we have water melon and melon which provide a refreshing dessert at the end of a satisfying full Filipino meal during weekends. :-)

Imported fruits also make a good dessert although not quite cheap here. Grapes, apple, oranges and seedless water melon are perfect at the end of a sumptuous meal during special occasions.

As we get old, our interest in nutrition increases and we are getting more conscious about what we eat. Consequently, our interest in fruit and its contents grows. As expected, more and more people are now eating fruits for dessert. c“,)

Callos, Spanish-Filipino Tripe Dish

It’s has been five days since my last post so I want to feature an extraordinary dish not only in the sense that it uses many special ingredients and requires a laborious preparation and cooking but primarily because it is uniquely rich, tasty comforting and deeply satisfying. It is simply known as “Callos” in the Philippines and called “Callos a la Madrilena” in Spain. This is probably among the original Spanish dishes introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniard colonizers. Filipino “Callos” is not an everyday dish. Even the affluent Filipino families only have entree during special occasions like Christmas and important family gatherings.

To find a really good “callos” though is not difficult when in the Philippines. A short visit to the many Spanish restaurants is all that is needed to enjoy the wonderful tripe dish flavored by Spanish chorizo (“chorizo de bilbao”) chickpeas (garbanzos), paprika and tomato sauce. Since vegetables like potato, carrots, green peas and bell pepper are usually added, the dish is considered a complete stew that can be eaten with rice as the main meal or with crusty bread as snack. Yes, it goes very well too with the Garlic Bread posted recently and among the popular “tapas” of Spain like “Gambas Al Ajillo” which I also posted earlier.

A good “callos” starts with fine beef tripe. I already provided some important information about tripe in my post about “Goto” or “Arroz Caldo con Goto”. The same method of cleaning and boiling the tripe with crushed ginger until tender is necessary to be assured of good-smelling and succulent tripe. :-)

For the dish, I bought around 2 kilos of beef tripe which I meticulously washed and cleaned and slowly simmered with the aromatic ginger until fork tender. I ended up with about 1½ kilos of thoroughly drained and already tendered meat, cut up to small pieces, about ¼ x ½ inches rectangle or 1 x 1 cm square.

In addition to beef tripe, some meat and processed meats are necessary to create a delicious “callos”. So, I added about 250 grams (8 strip/slices) streaky bacon (can be substituted by ham), chopped, 350 grams boiled pork knuckle (skin & tendon parts, you can also use pork cheeks or beef tendon) and 2 pcs “chorizo de bilbao” (garlic sausage of Spain), sliced thinly.

The first set of other ingredients are 2 tbsp vegetable oil (olive oil if you have), 2 tbsp butter or margarine, 1 head garlic, peeled and minced, 2 pcs. chili peppers, 2 large onion, peeled and chopped, 3 pcs tomatoes, chopped (but I ran out of supply so I compensated with extra tomato sauce), 2 pcs bay leaves, 1 tsp whole peppercorn, cracked, 1 pc green bell pepper, 2 sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley, ½ tsp dried basil, 1 tsp paprika, ½ cup grated cheese and 1 tsp salt or to taste. If you have green olives, add about 10 pieces. I don’t. :-(

The other vegetable ingredients which will complete the rich stew dish are 1½ cups cooked chickpeas or garbanzos, ¾ cup cooked green peas, 1 pc large carrot, peeled and cut up to 1 cm cube and 2 pcs potatoes cut up to 1 cm cube. Of course, another key ingredient but not photographed is tomato sauce, about 2 cups. Around 4 cups of good chicken or pork broth is also required.

In a large pan or wok, heat the oil and fry the bacon followed by the "chorizo" until slightly browned and bacon has rendered some of its fat. Remove the cooked bacon and chorizo pieces and set aside.

Heat the same pan with remaining oil + bacon extract oil and add the margarine. Sauté the garlic followed by chili and onion. Add the bay leaves, tripe and pork meat and continue sautéing until it slightly sizzles and aromatic.

At this point, I figured out my wok can hardly contain all the other ingredients so I transferred everything in a large deep pan. Continue by pouring the broth and simmering on low heat. Add the cracked pepper and salt when liquid is boiling. Then, add in the chickpeas, green peas, carrots and potatoes and continue simmering. When the liquid is again boiling add the tomato sauce and further simmer until the veggies are just tender.

Add the remaining ingredients – basil, fresh parsley and cheese. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings. Since I don’t have and did not use the required fresh tomatoes, I added some more tomato sauce, about ¼ cup, and about 2 tbsp of white vinegar. All together they made the taste wonderful to me. Please adjust accordingly as tomato sauce differs in level of acidity. Sri Lankan tomato sauce is sweet and not quite acidic unlike the Del Monte brand common in the Philippines. So if you’re using the acidic type of tomato sauce, you might need a slightly lesser quantity than above.

Continue simmering for some more minute and it’s done. Transfer in a shallow bowl and serve immediately. Enjoy! c“,)

The dish is should be served with either hot steamed rice or garlic fried rice as main meal or with some bread for snack. Tripe dish at its best. :-)

Gambas Al Ajillo (Shrimp in Garlic)

Among the many “tapas” or Spanish savory dishes typically served with drinks at a bar, “gambas al ajillo” (shrimp in garlic) is one of the most common. It is very quick and easy to prepare and yet luscious and truly satisfying. The dish consists of shrimps that are sautéed quickly in olive oil that has been laced with lots of garlic and some red chilies. It is usually offered as an appetizer or served as a "tapa" in many restaurants in Spain. In the Philippines, probably because of the Spanish influence, the dish, simply called “gambas”, is also a favorite and priced appetizer (“pulutan”) usually served with drinks be in a bar, roadside eateries, fancy restaurants or even at home.

The dish is not limited to being just an appetizer or cocktail food however. It also goes very well with rice or pasta along with green salad to make a full meal. It is also perfect to be eaten with plenty of crusty bread which when dip, will suck up all the delicious pan juices full of wonderful garlicky flavor. When served to visitors, be prepared to explain on how it is cooked as they will surely ask right after the first bite. The delectable taste is really difficult to ignore. Perhaps, there is really something magical in the combination of shrimp and garlic in food as what I also attained in my Shrimp Garlic Pizza which I recently posted.

Considering that the preparation is almost fool proof, this is the right dish to cook for a beginner who wants to impress special guests. It does not require long time of preparation and only needs a few very common ingredients. For as long as really fresh shrimps are used, it can’t go wrong. A sure hit even for the most discriminating taste.

To prepare, the main ingredient of course is about half a kilo (500 grams) of shelled and deveined (if you require) shrimps. Take note, the weighing is done after all the shells and heads are removed. Should be thoroughly washed and drained. Prawns can be used as well but I believe medium sized shrimps are best for the dish.

The other ingredients are: 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 head garlic, peeled and minced, 1 pc mild chili pepper, minced, 1 tsp dried chili flakes, 1 tsp paprika hot or 2 tsp sweet Spanish paprika, ½ tsp salt or to taste and ¼ cup flat leaf parsley, minced. I used extra virgin olive oil for authenticity of the dish, but if you don’t have a readily available EVOO in your kitchen as most families in the Philippines, butter, should be a good substitute. :-)

This is a straight forward sautéing process. In a wok, sauté pan or heavy frying pan, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Put in the garlic and sauté for about one minute or until it begin to brown. Be watchful not to burn it. You wouldn’t like it. :) Add the mild chili pepper and continue sautéing. Add the dried chili pepper flakes and paprika and continue stirring.

Immediately after, raise the heat to high and add the shrimps. Stir briskly and continue sautéing. Add the salt and continue stirring until the shrimps turn pink and cooked through. Probably about 3 minutes. Add the parsley and stir once more.

Remove from heat and transfer the shrimps with oil and sauce to a warm plate. I once used warm sizzling plate and it’s great. Serve immediately with your favorite drinks or rice or pasta or just bread. Any of which will come out superb.

It is truly delicious. The moment the shrimp reaches your mouth, you are bound to experience a magnificent taste. The flavor of garlic, olive oil, chili pepper and paprika is, as I said, magical. Enjoy! c“,)