Typhoon Season

The typhoon season is upon us. The winds are pretty strong and it looks like it will be strong typhoons this year. Most people stayed in town for the weekend as typoons already started in some provinces. Here in the city its been raining and last night the winds were howling but no typhoon yet. Well, looks like my tomato plants will have an early retirement. Time to start planting water hungry vegetables and fruits. Although typhoons do hit the city pretty badly, my farm in Antipolo will be safe from them. Or thats what its geograhic climate suggests, I hope global warming hasn't changed that.

The Spice Is Right 2: Sweet & Savory: Chili Pepper

Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries has come up with another great theme for the second round of the Spice Is Right. It didn’t take me long to think of a spice for this event - Chili Peppers! As bizaare as this may sound chilis can be used in a dessert, something I found out a year ago when I tried the Chili Chocolate Crème Brulee at M Café (I’m quite adventurous when it comes to food). To my surprise, the combination of chili and chocolate went really well together. It’s now one of my favorite desserts.

Chilis or Sili, as we call it in the Pilippines, is used sparingly in some native savory dishes especially in the provinces of Bicol and Mindanao. Bicol is in the northern part of the Philippines and Mindanao in the southern part. Although, most Philippine dishes do not use sili, many of our condiments do and usually come in either plain, sweet or spicy flavors. For example vinegar is either plain or spicy. Spicy vinegar is made by infusing vinegar with whole chilis and leaving it in the bottle giving it a decorative look. Bagoong (fermented shrimp paste) comes in plain, sweet and spicy flavors. Soy sauce is mixed with chopped chilis or chili oil and served on the side. The amount of heat depends more on the variety of chili being used. The spiciest being sili labuyo and the milder one just plain sili. Siling labuyo which was in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the hottest chili in the world with a heat scale rating of up to 100,000 Scoville Units, but that was corrected and Mexican habanero chilis are found to be the hottest with a heat scale range of 100,000 to 500,000 Scoville Units. Whatever the case, this gives you an idea of how hot silis are! The other variety, called sili, is a mild chili and is usually used in cooking spicy dishes. One thing I found out is that the longer you leave a dish that has chili in it the spicier it gets so don’t leave leftovers for too long.

My first experience with siling labuyo was not a pleasant one. When I was a child I was playing at a neighbors house and happened to see a chili pepper plant. Thinking my yaya (thats nanny in plain English) said “cherries” I quickly grabbed one and popped it in my mouth. The resulting explosion, and that’s what it felt like, left me in pain for a couple of hours. That’s one experience I will never forget. But, the past being the past I now enjoy spicy food to the extent of adding it to sweets. So here I bring you Chili Chocolate Truffles. Trust me, it really is good.



Chili-Chocolate Truffles
These are delicious, but the recipe can be improved. I will change the use of cayenne the next time around. The flavor of chili peppers just didn’t come through. It had a hint of spiciness but lacked flavor. The next time I make these truffles I’m infusing the cream with fresh whole chilis. I also added 2 teaspoons of powdered sugar to the cocoa powder, I find covering the chocolate balls with pure cocoa too bitter.

Makes 18 to 20 small truffles

10 oz (280 g) bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup (50 mL) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (125 mL) whipping cream
1 tbsp (15 mL) liquid honey or maple syrup
1/2 tsp (2 mL) cayenne pepper
1/4 cup (50 mL) cocoa powder + 2 tsp. powdered sugar

1. Finely chop chocolate with a knife or in a food processor. Place in a large bowl with butter. Pour cream into a small saucepan and set over medium heat. As soon as cream boils, remove from heat. Then pour over chocolate and butter. Stir until melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in honey and cayenne. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.

2. To make truffles, scoop out a small amount of mixture with a melon baller. Use your hands to shape chocolate into 1- to 2-inch (2.5- to 5-cm) balls. Set each ball on plate or in a container. If your in a warm climate like I am, you will have to return the bowl of chocolate and the balls of chocolate to the fridge and continue when chocolate has hardened, about 15-20 minutes. I had to do this about 4 times.

3. Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar into a small bowl, whisk well to combine. Place one truffle in bowl. Gently roll to completely coat. Shake off excess. Return to container. Repeat with remaining truffles. Separate truffles by layering between sheets of wax paper. Refrigerate. Truffles keep well up to 5 days.

Gentle Rains

Its a welcome respite from the intense heat we've been experiencing this summer, the gentle rain. All night thru this morning it continues to drizzle. The air is still warm though. The plants are loving it and so am I.

Recipe: Tomato Parmesan Bread Pudding

I used french bread that was a couple of days old for this recipe. The bread was devoid of moisture, hard and crusty. The pudding turned out nice and chewy, the way I like it. I didn't measure anything so I'm guessing at the amounts I used.

1 cup chopped tomato
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
days-old demi-baguette, cubed
1/2 cup AP cream
1 egg
1/4 cup water
4 heaping tsp. Parmesan cheese

Beat cream, water and egg with a fork. Add bread cubes and leave it to soak. Mixing it several times to make sure all the cubes are evenly soaking up the liquid.

Briefly cook tomato and garlic in a pan with oil,season with salt (not to much because cheese is already salty). Sauce should be wet. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, then add to soaking bread. Add 3 tsp. cheese. Mix well. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake in 350 degree F oven until golden brown and puffy, about 20 minutes.

Fruits of the Farm

I spent the afternoon with my friend J at the farm yesterday. Had some drinks and music playing while I checked out the veggies.

Mangoes Galore!

It's the season of mangoes and I was given a kaong (a large basket) of green mangoes! Aside from eating it with bagoong, which I will surely do, I will try some new recipes using this sour fruit. Already I have found some Indian pickles and Indonesian salad recipes on the net. Looks like mangoes are in season all around SEA.


Some of them are turning yellow. Mango jam is next on the list.

Recipe: Steamed Fish Filet with Scallions & Ginger

4 tilapia filet
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine, dry white wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil + 1 tbsp
5 scallions, chopped, including green part

Mix ginger, soy sauce, rice wine and 1 tsp sesame oil in a small bowl. Place filets in a plate and pour sauce over. Top with scallions. Steam for 10 - 15 minutes.

Before serving drizzle 1 tbsp of remaining sesame oil over fish.

Recipe: Bamboo Shoot & Mushroom Stir-Fry

bamboo shoot, drained
garlic, chopped
oyster mushroom
camote tops (or any greens such as spinach)
Bragg's amino acid or soy sauce
vegetable oil (I use virgin coconut oil)

Cook garlic in hot oil, do not brown. Add mushroom, cook until most of the liquid evaporates. Add bamboo shoot, season with Bragg's, cover for 2 minutes on medium low heat. Add greens and remove from heat.

Recipe: Arugula Salad

arugula leaves, washed and dried
cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
extra-virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
parmesan cheese

Toss arugula with oil until leaves are lightly coated. Add tomatoes and drizzle with vinegar (oil to vinegar ratio 3:1), toss to combine. Top with shavings of parmesan cheese or toss in several teaspoons of grated parmesan cheese.

* To make parmesan shavings: Use a vegetable peeler and "shave" cheese like you would peel a vegetable.

Recipe: Mussel & Arugula Brown Rice Salad

I purchased a bottle of cooked mussels in oil from my supplier of natural and organic processed products. The mussels come in 3 flavors - garlic, hot & spicy, and plain. All the mussels have a sweetish flavor due to the sugar used in cooking it. I thought it went perfectly with the arugula and Kalinga rice mix which I had in hand to make a quick lunch. I've used brown rice and the rice mix in making this salad and they're both delicious. The nutty rice, sweet mussels and spicy arugula turned out to be a good combination of flavors.

Take equal amounts of torn arugula and cooked brown rice or Kalinga rice (or you may make your own combination of 3 different kinds of rice varieties to make a rice mix). Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and toss. Top with mussels.

A good substitute for the mussels would be a sweet chili or sweet garlic shrimp saute. Hmmm, I'll try that next time...