Substitution of Ingredients

Although recommended ingredients is still best for any recipe, circumstances dictate you need to substitute some ingredients.  I often resort to this when ingredients are not available in the market or need very little when I have ready substitute on hand.  Here's a helpful guide:

For 1c butter, substitute with:
1c margarine
7/8c lard plus 1/2 tsp salt
7/8 to 1c hydrogenated shortening plus 1/2 tsp salt

For 1 square oz of unsweetened chocolate, substitute with:
3Tbsp cocoa plus 1 Tbsp fat

For 3 native eggs, substitute with:
2 regular sized eggs

For 1c cake flour, substitute with:
7/8 c all purpose flour (sift it several times)

For 1c buttermilk or sour milk, substitute with:
1Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar plus enough fresh whole milk to make 1 cup
or 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar plus half cup evaporated milk and half cup hot water.

For 1c fresh whole milk, substitute with:
1/2c evaporated milk plus 1/2c water

For 2 1/2tsp or 1pkg active dry yeast, substitute with:
1 cake compressed fresh yeast

Ngohiong

Ngohiong has been a staple food in school.  Later did I realize that ngohiong is only available in Cebu.  Ngohiong is like a vegetable spring roll with a wrapper that has a unique texture dipped in five-spiced chili sauce.

Popular ngohiong stands in Cebu are:

Cebu Lumpia House

• DELIVERY 254.4675 / 256.1055; CATERING 416-8481; MABOLO 422.4768 / 512.4797
• http://www.lumpiahouse.tk/
• Manalili Street

 Doming's Ngohiong

• Fairlane Village, Guadalupe

Cheaverz Fried and Grill

• Cheaverz AS Fortuna St, Mandaue +63.32.345-6860
• Cheaverz Labangon: +63.32.262-8907
• Cheaverz Talamban: +63.32.345-8182
• Cheaverz M. Velez: +63.32.255-5661

If you want to make one, here's a recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 kl singkamas (jicama), stripped
3 tbsp ngohiong powder
2 tbsp 5 spice powder
1/2 kl ground pork
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
season to taste with salt, pepper, honey and soy sauce
lumpia wrapper

batter after wrapping with lumpia wrapper:
* Mixed 2 cups cornstarch, 5 tbsp paprika/white pepper and 700 grms water
* Stir with fork to remove lumps

Cooking Procedure:
1. Put a little bit of oil then saute garlic and onion. Put  the pork and cook until slightly brown.
2. Put singkamas, ngohiong powder, spice powder and season with salt, pepper, honey and soy sauce. Cook for a minute.
3. Let it cool.
4. After cooling, put 2 tbsp of the mixture in a lumpia wrapper, then roll.
5. Do the same procedure in all lumpia wrapper.
6. Deep in the batter mixture.
7. Deep-fry in lard (pork fat) until golden brown.
8. Then serve with lorbak sauce (as follows)

Lorbak Sauce:
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp castor sugar
1/8 tsp Chinese five spice powder (ng heong fun)/ Ngo hiong hun
1/8 tsp salt
4-5 tbsp water
1/2 tsp corn flour or tapioca flour
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Cooking Procedure:
1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepot.
2. Boil then turn the fire low and simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Stirring occasionally until sauce turns smooth. Add in egg white and stir with a fork to form fine strands.
4. Set aside to cool then use.

Tip:  five spiced powder is available in groceries (if you don't find it in your local grocery, check it out in a chinese grocery downtown)

Sans Rival (and Sylvanas in Cebu)

I started baking in my elementary years, when I read the recipe book as a kid, it went, "Sans Rival (without rival)" I thought how could Sans Rival be like without "Rival" in it? ;)

I've long wanted to try baking Sans Rival, but had been too lazy to make the meringue.  It has been too convenient to just order.  The best tasting sans rival in Cebu is available at Cebu Country Club for a cheap price of less than P500 for a large pan.  However, it's exclusively available for members and their guests.  Alternatively, you can orderly directly through one of their chefs, Pilpa. (I lost her number, I'll update this as soon as I can get hold of it).

Can you try baking this for me and let me know if it tastes good?

Ingredients for Meringue:
6 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup unsalted cashew nuts, coarsely chopped

Ingredients for Buttercream:
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup butter
2 tbsp rum or other flavoring
green food coloring, optional

1. Make meringue by eating whites with cream of tartar until stiff, gradually adding sugar.
2. Add flavoring and one half of the nuts.
3. Prepare cookie sheets; use 2 regular-sized sheets lined with white bond paper.  Overlap if bond paper is too small.
4. Spread meringue evenly over bond paper and bake at 350F, for 1 hour.
5. When quite brown, remove from oven and cool completely before removing bond paper.  (If meringue has not dried out, it will get sticky later).
6. For buttercream, combine sugar and water and heat over fire until syrup almost reaches thread stage.
7. Meanwhile, beat egg yolk, then add hot syrup in a stream.
8. Beat yolks continuously as you add syrup.
9. Cool very well.
10. In another bowl, beat chilled butter until creamy and whitish; add cooled syrup-egg-yolk mixture to butter and beat continuously.
11. Remove bond paper from meringue and spread one layer of it with the buttercream; sprinkle with some nuts.
12. Top with second layer and spread with rest of cream and sprinkle with nuts.
13. Freeze immediately and, when ready to serve, use a heavy sharp knife and cut with a quick downward motion.
14. A tiny amount of green food coloring may be added to the buttercream to give a nice pleasant green color and the yellow color of butter is comouflaged.

-0-

Cebu Country Club 
Banilad, Cebu City 
(032) 231-0345/ (032) 231-1802

Alternatively, sylvanas are likewise popular in Cebu, it's price rising as its popularity.  Home baked Montenegro's sylvanas is the most popular; it's round, thin and crisp (purchased one recently, the meringue is thicker) while that of Mrs. Unchuan is growing popularity; it's oblong and thicker.  My personal choice still goes for Montenegro's.


Mrs. Maria Luisa "Nena" Montenegro
(032) 2322902
# 20 Dr. Tojong St. Lahug, Cebu City
(near Ayala Center Cebu, located one street before Golden Prince Hotel, next to Islands Stay Hotel & the new Metrobank/Asia United Bank Lahug)

Mrs. Marissa Unchuan "Mrs. U"
(032) 2334348

Yemas

A Cook's Treasure by Gloria Parinas Duterte, from Cebu City, Philippines has always been a reliable source of recipes for home cooked meals and goodies.  It was published in 1984, and with a sigh of relief, I still have the book.  It was lost, borrowed, misplaced so many times, and I always go frantic whenever it went missing.  I've already posted some of her recipes here, as a back up.

Since myfriendsunjun asked for this, I'm posting two versions of the Yemas, I as a kid loved.  I can't remember anymore which I preferred, it's your choice between more milk or more yolk.  I suppose, more yolk will turn out creamier in the inside, crisp on the outside.

Yemas

I.
1 can condensed milk
8 large egg yolk or 12 native egg yolk
1 tsp orange rind, minced or any flavoring
2 cups sugar for caramel
Cellophane cut in squares 4"x4", plain or colored

II.
10 egg yolks
2 cans condensed milk
1 tsp lemon rind or other flavoring
2 cups sugar for caramel
Cellophane cut in squares 4"x4", plain or colored

Beat yolks slightly and mix with milk.  Cook over low fire until mixture is thick.  Add flavor.  When mixture is difficult to stir, remove from fire and form into balls (or as you please).

Heat sugar in low heat to make caramelized sugar.  Once caramel is ready, coat balls quickly, using toothpick to dip yemas into it.  Let balls stand for a few minutes to dry coating on greased pan before wrapping.  Use caramel quickly, if it hardens, place over fire again on low heat.  Cool yemas thoroughly before wrapping in cellophane.

Note:  I like yemas minus the caramel coating. :)

Other than the yemas, my childhood favorite includes Duterte's recipes on Lenguas de Gato and Polvoron and I've been wanting to try her sans rival, and I've been saying that for the past twenty years. haha

Mushroom Bruschetta

Some friends are crazy over mushroom bruschetta. Indulgent as they are, aside from the pizza, they finished two orders of it at Tinder box. That's 6 servings for about P300 per order. So they decided to ask a common friend to cook for us. The latter unselfishly is willing to show his culinary skills but is never generous to share those techniques. So he asked us to prepare the following ingredients:

• dried Porcini mushroom
• white button mushroom
• shallots
• garlic
• fresh basil
• salt and pepper
• parmegiano

This evening, I tried to figure out how to cook it with the ingredients I have on hand at home, it tastes good enough; I finished about 6 pandesal bread from french baker with it.

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• shallots (substitute with garlic and onion)
• 15 grams of dried porcini
• chopped fresh basil
• 1  tbsp  virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 slices french bread/baguette
• 2 tbsp dry white wine
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tbsp grated pamesan cheese
• 1 chopped tomato (optional)
• truffle oil (optional)
• parsley (optional)

Mushroom mixture:

1. Soak dried mushroom in hot water for about 15 minutes, then slice.
2. In a sauce pan, saute garlic and shallots in olive oil and butter.
3. Add white wine and reduce.
4. Add the sliced mushroom, saute for about 5-8 minutes until cooked.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Toss in chopped fresh basil*, tomato and cheese while hot.
7. Remove from fire.

* in the absence of fresh basil, i substituted it with pesto sauce.

Variation: instead of wine, add a dash of steak seasoning and worcestershire sauce when the mushrooms are almost cooked.

Prepare the bread:

1. Slice and toast french bread.
2. Remove from toaster, while hot: rub fresh garlic and brush with extra virgin olive oil.
3. Spoon the mushroom mixture on the bread, drizzle a few drops of truffle oil and garnish with basil/parsley and cheese when ready to serve.

Porcini mushroom are available in:

Santy's for P146 per 20 grams
Werdenberg Intl for P2888 per 500 grams.

Roka Salata ala Cyma

I'm definitely not the only one crazy over the Roka Salata in Cyma. I'm not a salad lover but with this one, I'm fine having it as my main dish. The explosion of various flavors all in one salad is amazing - the sweetness of the candied walnuts, the sourness of the Greek vinaigrette, the salty taste of the cheese, and the peppery-mustard flavor of arugula.

After feasting over the holidays, I ought to go on a diet and eat more green. Not only the weighing scale is mocking me, the measuring tape too! So I decided to hit the grocery on New Year's Day and yes, I found fresh roka or otherwise known as aragula. I got a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette off the shelf too, it's good enough but I proceeded to do my own version:

Greek Vinaigrette:

serves 1 -2

2 tsp red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoon fresh chopped basil (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
1 tsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp honey

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in oil until blended or better yet, mix in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Cyma's version is quite creamy (consistency). Adding dijon mustard and honey should do the trick.

Alternatively, you might want to try Natural Directions' Balsamic Vinaigrette.  I've tried too many kinds, this comes closest to cyma's version although lighter.  Found them at Rustan's Supermarket, but they don't have it on the shelf for some time now.


Preparing the salad:

fresh roka (arugula)
lettuce (baguio/romaine/ice berg, etc)
sun-dried tomatoes or dates (or slice apples or pears)
candied walnuts**
parmesan cheese (and blue cheese)

Roka Salata with honeyed almonds, parmesan and blue cheese

Wash the veggies with cold running water, cut into bite size, soak it in cold water and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. When ready to serve, remove excess water using a salad spinner.

**To make candied walnuts, buy shelled walnuts. On low fire, heat honey for about 10-15 minutes, then dip in the shelled walnuts. Viola, you have your own version of candied walnuts. Walnuts can be substituted with honeyed pili nuts.  But I normally make a short cut, by simply coating the walnuts with honey (you will only need a little honey to coat it).

Simply toss the veggies, sun-dried tomatoes, candied walnuts with the vinaigrette, top with paper thin parmesan cheese. You may add sliced apples or pears for variety.

Buying tips on aragula:

Look for dark greens leaves of a uniform color. Avoid yellowing leaves, damages leaves, wilted leaves, or excessively moist-looking leaves. A bit of dirt is fine - it is likely the result of recent rain or watering.

Smaller arugula leaves tend to be milder, while larger leaves tend to have a more aggressive, peppery kick. Similarly, wild arugula - sometimes available from foragers in the late spring and again in the fall in temperate regions - is much more peppery than most cultivated leaves.

Godfather Chops

Happy New Year! Finally cooked something new today after my younger brother's insistent demand to replicate the godfather chops served in a local restaurant. He has been complaining how bland our cook's version of simply frying pork chop. He wanted something grilled served with herbs in olive oil.

Today we head to the grocery to buy some herbs.

Ingredients:

slices of pork chop
worcestershire sauce
fresh oregano leaves (dried will do)
pesto sauce
minced garlic
salt and pepper

Marinate slices of pork chops with worcestershire sauce, hand mashed garlic and fresh oregano leaves. Add salt and pepper when almost ready to cook.

It's my first time to handle fresh oregano leaves, oh boy, it does smells good! :D

Heat cast iron griller. Brush griller with olive oil. When the griller is hot enough, put in the pork chop, cook about 3 minutes on each side. Remove from fire.

Prepare the sauce. While the griller is still hot, put in the remaining marinade, add pesto sauce, olive oil, chopped garlic, chopped oregano and add salt and pepper to taste. Then quickly remove them and garnish it on the cooked pork chop and place the rest on a saucer.