Pinoy Food for Tapioca's Birthday

I know it sounds weird to be cooking Pinoy food on Chinese New Year but I did. Chinese cooking is not really my forte (as if I have any forte in cooking, LOLZ!!!). Anyway, this is about Tapioca's favorite Pinoy food and I found an easy to follow recipe courtesy of Mama Sita. I thought I'm gonna cook all three dishes by myself but my brother came up to our house, much to our surprise. Good thing cause he became my assistant the whole time I was cooking.

This post is an account of my cooking experience. I'm making a blog post on this to help me remember. Let me tell you one thing. It was the first time I tried cooking all three dishes. The cookbook was a HUGE help. But before I followed everything on the cookbook, I tried to cross-reference the recipes from other reliable cooking blogs to check if there's something I can tweak on the recipe like add an ingredient or two or try a different approach or techniques.

First dish - Caldereta.

I cooked the Caldereta first. It was super easy. I followed everything in the book from the ingredients to the procedures. The recipe uses the Mama Sita Caldereta mix therefore it did not require you to add any garlic, onions or tomatoes. However, Connie from Casa Veneracion mentioned that a good Caldereta uses a good amount of these stuff and I believe her. Also, Tapioca loves onions. So I saute a whole bunch of garlic and half a kilo of onions together with the browned  beef. As I was simmering the meat and waiting for it to become tender, I worried about the onions. There's just too much. It's like I'm making French Onion Soup. When the meat was tender, I put the sauce mix in, the potatoes, carrots, bell pepper and olives. While mixing everything up, I realized the onions suddenly vanished - like magic! Tapioca tried it and said it was perfect. He loved it! The sauce tasted like authentic Caldereta. We hardly noticed it came from an instant mix.

Second dish - Fresh Lumpia.

For the recipe, it only requires Mama Sita ginisa mix for the veggies. The grocery sold ginisa mix for a whole pack and we never use those in our kitchen. Since I'm out of onions (I used them all for the Caldereta) I went to the nearby sari-sari store and bought the Ajinomoto ginisa mix (they didn't have the Mama Sita brand). Anyway, when I sauteed all the veggies, they turned out all right. I added some fish sauce for more flavor and it came out fine. The sauce was very simple and easy to make. The recipe asked for 6 tablespoons of cornstarch. I thought it was too much and also I'm out of cornstarch. I still needed them for the wrapper. While I was boiling the sauce I thought it was not thick enough and that I should have followed the recipe. When the sauce cooled down, it turned into a really thick paste. Tapioca did not like it. I made a second batch using 2 tablespoon of cornstarch and the consistency was much better.

The wrapper was quite a challenge for me. Making the batter was easy-peasy. Cooking them was not. We only have 2 pans. Big and small. First I used the big one and I couldn't make a round wrapper. Until I had no choice I asked Tapioca to help out. He used the small pan and it worked out right. The problem was it's hard to wrap the veggies in a smaller wrapper. It breaks easily. Tapioca found a solution. He cooked the wrapper a little longer and it helped that he made it a little more thick, too. Sort of like a crepe kind of thickness. The wrapper didn't break but I was still having such a hard time wrapping it. The filling spills out from the lettuce leaf. When we're out of lettuce, it becomes easier to wrap them. Though having a lettuce leaf makes the lumpia more presentable.

Third dish - Pancit Palabok.

This was the last dish I've prepared. The Palabok I would say was easy, too. Except it requires a lot of ingredients that needs to be prepared separately such as:

- Cook the noodles.
- Boil the pork.
- Boil the shrimp.
- Boil some eggs for the toppings.
- Use the pork stock to make the sauce.
- Grind the chicharon (good thing I already bought a ready made tinapa toppings or else it would eat up my time picking up the bones.)

Yes the procedure was really easy. Just boil everything. But prep was such a hassle. Sobrang busisi! And it did not help that we only have 2 pots and pans (big and small). So what to do? No choice but wait until one of them is done cooking so I can use the pots.

Now I understand why on every fiesta or celebrations where there's a big handaan they require so many pots and pans because it's necessary to cook things faster. Did I also mention, time is key? Yes it is. Because people are waiting so they can eat because hello they are hungry and lunch time is lunch time. Because I'm being a Martha Stewart wanna be, nastress out ako ng bongga! Hahaha!

Here I am trying the best that I can to wrap the veggies as neat as possible. Promise ang hirap pala lalo na with the lettuce. My kitchen was a mess. Told ya, I was stressed!

Here's the spread . . .

That's the best I can with those lumpia. Then there's the brown sauce for the lumpia. the palabok sauce and the bowl with cover, that's the Caldereta.

In fairness, konti na lang natira. Or because ang tagal kong nagluto nagutom na mga bisita. Lol!!!

This was the cake I bought from Goldilocks . . .

. . .  and the cake innards

This one was given by Dirk . . .

Super moist chocolate cake with caramel! This cake was super yum! We always pass by Cake 2 Go on our way to work but I can't believe we never tried their products until now.

The birthday boy with his cake and the leaning brown-out candle. Hahaha!

It was a simple fare with a few friends who came to celebrate with us. Though, it was not what I would like it to be, what's important is we were together on his special day and he is recovering well.

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Christmas with the Apat na Sikat

It was a pleasant surprise when we got a message from Vanj saying she'll be in town for the holidays. This is one of those rare occasions when the four of us see one another and catch up with each other's lives. No matter how crazy the schedules are, we're able to squeeze in an impromptu gathering. We all met up at Ivy's place. She whipped up a simple meal and I brought a cake. It's like celebrating my birthday all over again!

 

They were requesting for Banapple's cheesecake, however the store was closed. This was the next best thing.

Tapioca once bought this cake for my nephew's birthday (yeah, a pink cake for a guy). The cake was yummy. It was not overly sweet and the sponge cake was not dry. No umay factor, too.

I love that Goldilocks is improving it's cake lineup unlike Red Ribbon. I recently discovered that Red Ribbon has taken out the blueberry cheesecake from the menu. Sigh. First, it was the New York cheesecake. Now the blueberry. What's next Red Ribbon?!?!

. . . Ivy's special carbonara

 buttered toast . . .

Simple yet delish meal prepared by Ivy.

the apat na sikat with Rhian . . .

We got bitin with all the chikahan so after 3 days, we continued the session at home. Unfortunately, Anjee couldn't make it as she had to leave for Ilocos. This time we had an inuman session.

. . . with tanduay ice

Tapioca prepared the pulutan :-)

  chicken with leeks . . .

 pan-seared pork chop with dry rub . . .

 . . . baked potatoes with butter and herbs

 

buttered mushroom . . .

Vanjee commented that the dishes reminded her of China. She said it was exactly the same way Chinese made their dishes. Well, what can I say? Tapioca's cooking is mostly influenced by Chinese.

We drank merrily while eating and watching No Other Woman. The three of us haven't watched it yet.  So glad I got to see it with my girlfriends. I rarely (make that never ever!) watch Pinoy movies especially with Tapioca. He abhors Pinoy films. But with my girlfriends around, he's left with no choice but to make nasty comments about Anne Curtis hahaha!

We really missed each other so much we continued the bonding session the following day. We went to Eastwood and attended the Sunday mass. For lunch, we headed to Food Junction. Vanjee missed Filipino food and I missed my favorite bulalo. Sorry but no more food photos. We were hungry and busy with the kwentuhan and finding out the latest chismax. We did get a souvenir photo at the Eastwood CityWalk with these fake Christmas trees and snow.

. . . vanj and yours truly

Ivy the photographer not included. The girls and I spent lots of time together but I think it still wasn't enough. I was kinda sad when we bid each other farewell. I know they're just an email/sms away but it's never the same when you're with each other's company. 

I can't wait till we see each other again. I miss you already! 

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The Best Dinuguan

I was in Cubao on my way home when I passed by Goto King. I saw a poster of puto and dinuguan outside the store. Without thinking twice, I went inside and ordered away. 

It was late and they've only got 2 pieces of puto left. I thought that wouldn't be enough for me and Tapioca. Mabibitin kami ng bongga. I racked my brain really hard. Where else can I find more puto? Hmmm, where else but another place that sells dinuguan, right? 

So I went to the next store that sells dinuguan, none other than - Goldilocks.

Luck was not on my side that night. Goldilocks' puto were all sold out for the day. I went to two Goldilocks's stores. One in Farmers and the other one was all the way in Ali Mall. Silly me decided to buy yet another dinuguan. 

While waiting in line to pay for my food, I thought of Shopwise and all the kakanin vendors from that place. Ya know, when I want something so bad I would not stop until I got it to the extent that I'd become crabby and unreasonable. Who in their right mind would look for puto/kakanin late at night when these goods are made fresh early in the morning. 

So yeah, I'm being impossible, hunting down for puto when most of the stores were about to close. When I got to Shopwise and found not a single kakanin vendor, I came to realize how foolish I was for letting this delusion take over me.

After all the walking, I felt tired and miserable. Then, I spotted a happy place - Red Ribbon. Would you believe what happened next? I snubbed all the cakes and bought another dinuguan. My craving craze sent me on an adventure which made me buy all the dinuguan I could. Time for some taste test session!

When I got home Tapioca was surprised to see my loot. I told him what I had in mind. Let the test begin!

. . . Goto King's puto't dinuguan 

We tried Goto King's version first. It was a bit oily and some blood coagulation was noticeable though not in the photo above. It was flavorful but the one thing that bothered us the most was the meat. I'd say the meat used was questionable. I can't tell if it's pork or innards or worse something else. I didn't want to think anymore. I was glad I bought two more dinuguan from other stores.

Goldilocks's dinuguan . . . 

Second was Goldilocks version. Very oily but it was because they included the meat's fat. Despite the oil, it was very yummy. I think the fat added more flavor to the dinuguan. It's true what some or most chefs/cooks said that fat can improve a dish taste.

. . . Red Ribbon's dinuguan 

Last but not the least, Red Ribbon's version. First thing we noticed was the velvety smooth texture of the sauce. I liked it because it wasn't oily as they used mostly lean meat. However, I couldn't help but point out the missing flavor from the meat's fat.


The Winner. 

Both Red Ribbon and Goldilocks had it's hits and misses (I'm leaving out Goto King. Sorry!) but there has to be one winner. And the best tasting dinuguan (based on this taste test) is - Goldilocks!!! Yeah, it was very oily but it made me realize all the differences taste wise. If Red Ribbon would add more fat on their dinuguan I'm sure they'd accomplish the same taste. But the same texture and no oil? I don't think so.

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