The Filipino-American Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Contemporary Flavors

Containing over 100 traditional and modern adaptations of Filipino recipes, this cookbook is perfect for Americans with little to no experience with Filipino cuisine, and for Filipino-Americans interested in learning new adaptations of traditional dishes. A comprehensive guide, The Filipino-American Kitchen includes a brief culinary history of the Philippines, a list of Filipino ingredients used in the recipes, and a guide to navigating Asian grocery stores. There is also a resource section for ordering ingredients online or directly from stores, followed by 10 chapters of recipes organized by course, with main courses organized by food type. Anyone interested in Filipino cooking will find this book an invaluable resource.

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Filipino Recipes - Traditional Food, Worldwide Influences

The roots of Filipino food are not your typical Asian fare, for instead of heavily spiced and aromatic food, instead we have traditional east Asian cuisine but combined with contemporary influences from the west, including America and Hispanic countries. Often with Filipino food the recipes feature bold combinations which accentuate each other.

Here's a recipe that emphasises the worldwide influences on the traditional cuisine of the Filipino regions. Originally from Spain, these "Mallorca Pastries" are a common foodstuff eaten across many of the islands across the country, and a delicious treat to feed your family.

Ingredients

2 pounds of flour
8 ounces of butter
5 eggs
200ml milk
1.5 ounces of bakers' yeast
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar

Start off by shredding the bakers' yeast in a bowl or pan of milk, then crack open the eggs and whisk them, adding them to the yeast with a little salt.

Take another bowl and beat the butter until it's nice and spongy. Spread the softened butter over the dough. Now, form the flour so that it resembles a shallow cone with a hole at the top, then pour the mix into the centre. You can choose which size to make them, from smaller individual bites to larger concoctions. I find that around 60grams (2 ounces) is fine for each one.

Now, use your hands to knead the combination and form a ball, covering them up for around 24 hours in the fridge. After this, let the yeast rise for up to four hours at room temperature, until they roughly double in size and bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade until they take on a lovely golden colouring. Let them cool and sprinkle with your icing sugar. Done! Now you just have to be quick and eat them before everyone else does...

 

With So Many Filipino Recipes, Here's One to Get You Started!

Philippine food is a unique cuisine owing to their diverse mix of cultures and heritages, with the traditional Asian diet mixed with Western influences. Add in a dash of Polynesian flare and the food becomes an indulgent way of eating, with up to five meals per day. Whereas you might expect heavily spiced food or aromatic seasonings from other Asian cuisine, the emphasis with Filipino food is firmly on bolder combinations of sweet, sour and salty combos, usually accompanied be a contrasting pairing. This includes such dishes as champorado - a sweet cocoa rice porridge - paired with puto - sweet, steamed rice cakes; or perhaps cheeses - usually salty - in sweetcakes.

With a dazzling array of potential combinations, it's hard to know where to start with a Filipino dish. Here a simple one that you can try, and from there the possibilities are endless!

First up we have a beef stew recipe:

3 pounds of stewing beef 3 garlic cloves Onion 3 tomatoes 1 bay leaf 3 tbsp spy sauce 6-8 potatoes Oil

This meal will serve at least four people if they have big appetites, with enough to reheat later on for the next day!

For this stew, take some big chunks of beef, and cook it with the garlic, onions, some nice ripe tomatoes and soy sauce plus the bay leaf in a pan or wok until the beef is nice and tender, which should take no more than an hour.

After 30 minutes, peel and dice the potatoes before frying them in oil until they change colour. Pour off most of the oil and add some more garlic, frying the lot for a couple more minutes to absorb the flavour.

Once the beef is finished, take it from the pan add the fried garlic. Keep browning the beef and add the potatoes and sauce. Heat it for a couple of minutes to warm it back up, and serve up. Delicious! Traditionally this meal would be made with veal, but regular stewing beef provides a tasty and affordable alternative.

 

Pinoy Food - Chicken Adobo - Filipino Recipes

Filipino Cookbook: 85 Homestyle Recipes to Delight Your Family and FriendsChicken adobo is one of the several varieties of adobo recipes. It is a very good option for someone who loves to eat chicken. The potatoes in this recipe can be substituted with hard boiled quail or chicken eggs. The eggs will be able to absorb the flavor of the adobo by adding them just a few minutes before cooking is done. This is a recipe that can be served both during ordinary days and special occasions.
Ingredients:
1 kilo dressed chicken (cut into serving slices) 3 medium-sized potatoes, quartered (optional) 1 onion (diced) 6 peppercorns 1 bay leaf 1?head of garlic (peeled and crushed) 1/4 cup dark soy sauce 1/8 cup vinegar
Cooking Instructions:
1. In a large pan, place the chicken slices. Pour the vinegar and add the peppercorns, garlic and bay leaf.
2. Cook over medium-high heat until the vinegar comes to a boil. Turn over the chicken pieces.
3. Leave uncovered while cooking. Wait until all the vinegar has been absorbed.
4. Adjust heat to medium when the chicken is quite dry. Stir until chicken fat starts to come out.
5. Set heat back to medium-high then fry until the chicken turns golden brown.
6. Take out the excess oil then add the potatoes and soy sauce. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Every once in a while, check the liquid. If the chicken seems dried up before fully cooked, you can add about ? cup f water. At the end of the cooking time, your chicken adobo should be quite dry.
8. Serve with plain rice.The Filipino-American Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Contemporary Flavors