Banananananana Cake

 

El Boaman is not fond of eating the bananas for snack but oh he loves Banana Cake. He have been asking me to bake this for him for ages and after searching the net for a doable recipe, I finally made him one as one of anniversary gifts for him last month.

The recipe that I used was from this site. I was unable to find molasses to my chagrin and it’s suppose to ‘give it an aromatic smell and nice golden color.’ I substituted it with 1/4 cup of packaged brown sugar instead. Next time, I will experiment and probably add ingredients such as chopped walnuts or chocolate chips. El Boaman enjoyed and I hope that you too!

—

Recipe by Ernest Reynoso Gala:

Moist Banana Cake

Ingredients:

4 whole eggs (about 1 cup eggs)
1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup fresh milk
1 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups overripe banana (bongolan, lacatan or latundan)

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F or 175°C.
2. Line a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with wax paper.
3. Beat in a bowl with a hand mixer at high speed or heavy-duty mixer for two minutes the eggs, granulated and brown sugar, molasses, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Turn the mixer to low, and add milk and cooking oil. Mix for a few seconds to blend. Add flour and oatmeal, and mix until there is no more visible trace of flour. Add the mashed bananas. Increase the speed to high, and mix for another 30 seconds.
4. Pour the batter and spread on the lined pan. Bake for 70 minutes or until a cake tester or barbecue stick inserted in the cake center comes out clean. Cool in a pan, then loosen out and invert. Remove the wax paper.
5. You can also bake the batter in 24 paper-lined 2-1/2-inch muffin pans for 20 to 25 minutes.

 

Chicken Shawarma with Garlic Sauce

Just happy to be back and blogging.The last few weeks were real busy: my mother-in-law’s birthday, the French Film Festival, the French Music Festival. Plus we’ve had some amazing breakthroughs at work so I had been real tied up on that end. Wolf started school and it had been a pain trying to work out a schedule with me working in the night shift. Thank heavens, he was transferred to the afternoon schedule when classes began regularly. I get more sleep now! Hallelujah!

So now that things have settled down for a bit, I plan to blog on a regular basis (that’s the plan. Following through is the hardest part :)). I know I kinda promised a cupcake post the last time, but it’s still a work in progress. I think I have managed to perfect the actual cupcake but I still have to find the perfect frosting recipe and have lots to learn when it comes to decorating. I want to do a perfect swirl! I really do.

Anyway, I came across a shawarma recipe on one of my cookbooks (“Daily Delights” by Nestle) and it seemed easy enough and it was! I prepared it yesterday for our mid-afternoon snack and it was a hit. I still have half a bowl of garlic sauce left because the batch that I made was too garlicky for their taste. Feel free to adjust the seasoning according to your liking. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Cucumber, Tomatoes, White Onions, sliced thinly
• Pita or Tortilla Bread

Marinade:

• 1/2 Kilo, Chicken breast fill
• 1-2 tablespoon of BBQ-flavored liquid seasoning
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• Juice of 1-2 calamansi or half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• And because it was a Nestle cookbook, they included their product: 1 packet of Maggi Magic Sarap.

Garlic Sauce

• 250 ml plain yogurt
• All purpose cream (This is optional. I had to use this because I put too much garlic and I ran out of yogurt and this was the next best thing on the fridge.) El Boaman hated the after-taste of yogurt and he commented that the addition of cream improved it somehow.
• Juice of 1-2 calamansi or half a lemon
• 3-4 garlic (depends on how strong you want the sauce to be)
• Again, Maggi Magic Sarap for additional flavoring

Make it:

1. Mix the ingredients for the marinade and marinade the chicken. Minimum of 30 minutes but best to marinade it overnight to infuse the meat with the flavors.
2. Grill the chicken and slice or chop into small strips.
3. Set aside. I kept it warm on the electric griller while preparing the other ingredients.
4. Blend or process the ingredients for the garlic sauce. Adjust to your liking.
5. Assemble it the way you like it. Whatever floats your boat.
6. The easiest part: Enjoy with loved ones!

 

Pigs in a Puffed Blanket

I got real excited when I spotted a package of frozen puff pastry at the Puregold Grocery.

It’s hard to find and we don’t often go to S&R, where they boast of premium imported items. Which reminds me, they’re having their annual sale until April 1. Should probably have that membership card renewed. 🙂

The brand of the puff pastry is called Kawan and I got it in block form instead of sheets so I had to do some guesswork on how much will I use per serving.

So, I haven’t baked in awhile and I’m not used to dealing with pastry. I’m more of a batter-type of girl but puff pastry seems like an exciting venture! I tried it with the easiest recipe that I can think of: Pigs in a Blanker or cocktail hotdogs to be more precise. Hotdogs are pretty easy to deal with and they’re inexpensive than Italian Sausage so If I mess up, it’s okay.

The first batch I did was okay, nothing was burned but I wasn’t able to wrap the pastry around the dog and did not secure it so when the pastry expanded, it kinda opened up. Lesson learned.The subsequent batch turned out okay and I even tried experimenting with other filling such as ham and cheese and bacon, but that’s another post. :). I’m confident that I’ll get better in time. Puff pastry are also fuzz-free. Makes for a good merienda.

And the taste? So light and crunchy and buttery even after the puffs had cooled down.

Ingredients:

• Frozen Puff Pastry, thawed
  • I would think that sheets are easier to deal with. With the block form, I had to do a lot of guesswork and I wound up with more pastry than I needed for one batch. I also had to use a rolling pin to get the desired thickness (around 1/8 inch)
• Cocktail hotdogs
• Eggwash (lightly beaten egg, plus one tablespoon of water)
• Sesame seeds (optional)
• Flour (for rolling the dough)

Make it:

• Preheat oven at 400ºF and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• On a floured work surface, roll the sheets to the desired thickness
• Cut the pastry into strips wide enough to cover the hotdog and long enough to covered the hotdog.
• Wrapped the pastry around the hotdog, making sure to start with the narrow end and fully enclosing the hotdog.
• Put on the baking sheet with seam down and press down gently. Make sure that the puffs are secure. Please. 🙂
• Brush with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
• Chill on the ref for about 10-15 minutes.
• Bake until golden and puff (about 20-25 minutes)
• Serve and enjoy with the condiments of your choice!

A Whole Lotta Dimsum and Dumplings at David’s Tea House

We were at Puregold Valenzuela Branch last week because we had to buy some Fan for the PC and we thought that CD-R King had already opened but it’s not. So as not to waste time, we decided to order Dimsum from the nearby David’s Tea House.

Bro3 was raving about their frozen dimsum but when we got there, we were informed that one could only buy them at the main branch at T. MAPUA-ONGPIN.

So we settled for their Dimsum Platter and Bola-bola Siopao.

Bola-Bola Siopao  (80Php for two pieces)

Dimsum Platter (225 Php)

Siopao

My take: We ordered Bola-Bola as we prefer it over Asado but when I checked the receipt, it said ‘Vegetable Meat Pao.’

Were we shortchanged? I think so. I have nothing against Veggie Meat. In fact, I used to love eating at Bodhi though some people I know balk at the thought of eating there. It’s just that when we ordered Bola-Bola we thought that we were getting pure meat. Not even expecting100% because restaurants use extenders to cut cost but at least we should’ve gotten real meat inside the bun.

Ling Nam is way better.

El Boaman says: It’s ok but I would not buy this again.

Beef Balls

My take: The beef balls were very tasty. But my perception is now clouded by the fact that they used veggie meat in their siopao so I was wondering how much beef is it really in there.

El Boaman says: Nice little beef balls

Four Season Scallop Dumpling

My take: My least favorite in the platter. The presentation was nice though, resembling a lotus, but the taste was really bland.

El Boaman says: I really cant taste this. I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like.

Hakaw

My take: This is not bad. I’m inclined to believe that it is 90% shrimp as they indicate on their menu. This is a lot better than the frozen hakaw that we buy at South Supermarket if we need a quickfix.

El Boaman says:  Shrimp shrimp shrimp .. wonderful shrimp

Pork and Shrimp Wonton

My take: I was too full to eat my share of wonton. Seriously.

El Boaman says: Tastes the same as the Siomai

Pork and Shrimp Siomai

My take: Yum-my. I like it when my siomai has meat fat and not carrots as extender. I don’t need to dip this in soy sauce and kalamansi.

El Boaman says: Tastes the same as the Wonton

Fried Spring Rolls

My take: Majority of the household didn’t like it. I can tell that it had been fried using old oil. Aside from that, it was so-so for me. Nothing really exciting but I’ll eat anything that has bean sprout in it.

El Boaman says: Yuck! Doesn’t taste good! The batch we got was old and not worth the money.

The Verdict:

Moi: I’ll go back to try out their main dishes but now I know what to order and what NOT to when it comes to their dimsum.

El Boaman: Try to buy and eat somewhere else

—

David’s Tea House (Puregold Valenzuela Branch)
419 Mc. Arthur Hi-way, Brgy. Dalandanan, McArthur Hinghway, Valenzuela City
Tel. No: (02) 376-9181

New Food Addiction: Hansel Premium Crackers

I love crackers especially Ritz Bits and Combos. But Ritz Bits is expensive and quite hard to find and Combos is really expensive (170Php per bag).

So imagine my excitement when I saw Hansel Premium Cheese Sandwich on the shelves while grocery shopping. This is not exactly a new discovery as other bloggers have been raving about this since last year: (Sheenah Tan, Funny Sexy, Meiyah).

Hansel is a local brand and have been selling Mocha Crackers since I was kid. Wasn’t too fond of it but their Cheese Sandwich is a hit with me.  It’s 31Php for a box that has around 15-18 crackers (I keep forgetting to count. I eat them ASAP. :)). Cheaper than the imported brands and most of all, it satisfies my cheese crackers craving and I get to support Filipino products.

Stackers Burger (or my brother’s personal Man Vs Food Challenge)

Bro1 and his family rents an apartment at Taguig during their workweek and last Friday, they asked us to mind my nephew for a few hours because they were doing overtime and the nanny was on her rest day.

It was at least a 2 hour drive as we came from Valenzuela so we were hankering for a ‘merienda‘ (snack) by the time we got to Taguig.

We’ve always passed by McKinley Hill on the way there and I’ve seen signs of regular places such as Yellowcab and Starbucks from the road so I thought it was just a run of the mill hang out place. When we got there, I found out that it is actually a wonderful place that offers more than hanging out and dining and that is called the Venice Piazza.

Venice Piazza has a big circular courtyard with playground on the side where Wolfie and his Kuya Louis spent a good time playing around. We were there on a Friday afternoon and there are not a lot of people there, just the way we like it.

El Boaman commented that Venice Piazza looked a lot like Eastwood City and I agree. I later found out that the developer is the same: Megaworld.

Stackers is one of the first restaurant that we saw and since we haven’t eaten there yet (except for El Boaman) we decided to have our merienda there.

For appetizer, we ordered Mozzarella Sticks. My Dad commented that the cardamom spice was very evident and it was good.

Mozzarella Sticks is your definitive comfort food. The crunchy outer layer and strong herbs releases your pent up frustrations of the day which slowly melts away as soon as you get to smooth and velvety (yet gooey) mozzarella cheese.

Louis ordered Caesar Salad for his appetizer. I’m not a salad person (except for that time when I was pregnant and I became a voracious leaf eater) so this is just ‘meh’ for me. Good points: The lettuce was real crunchy and fresh  and the bacon bits were real bacon and not the processed kind.Let me establish that we love fries (or chips) and we love them in any way. We try to avoid camote (sweet potato) that are masquerading as french fries so the only way to really enjoy them as making them homemade with REAL potatoes.

Stackers has it and we like these Flavored Chips so much (except for Wolfie who likes his chip just plain salted). They are served in a bag where you put the flavoring (we ordered sour cream)  and give it a hard shake.

I ordered the Strawberry Milkshake which is my usual when we’re doing the burgers and fries thing. I  love it because it is not sickeningly sweet (some strawberry milkshake tends to taste like medicine) and the tartness is just the right amount. There were lots of real bits of strawberry so I’m happy. El Boaman was hungry as he came from his shift so he ordered this Two-Piece Fried Chicken with Gravy. He commented that it’s a tad too salty than the one he had previously at the Eastwood branch. Since I’m very much partial to salty food it was fine for me and oh my, was the skin super crunchy! He shared this with Wolfie. The rest of us wimps ordered the Stackers Cheesburger. I don’t know why we didn’t vary our burgers but we were so hungry that picking out from their burger list seemed so tedious.

The burger hits the spot. The patty is cooked just right but I’m not sure if it’s 100% pure beef. The lettuce is fresh and the cheese is just the right amount of gooey. :).

The real winner here is their secret sauce whose ingredients I can’t put my finger on but it makes the burger stand out from the other burger joints I’ve tried so far.

It is just a regular sized burger, but for Bro3 who cannot consume large quantities of food due to ulcer, this is his personal Man Vs Food challenge. Lol.

The total bill amounted to 1500Php (without service charge so we left a 70Php tip) and the total number of satisfied customers: 6Louis, Bro3, My DadMoi, Wolfie, El Boaman

(If we’re not mistaken the guy in the checkered shirt at the back is Jao Mapa. A local celebrity who used to be such a heartthrob when I was in high school. :))

We are definitely going back to try out their other fares.

El Boaman Speaks:

I have always been a fan of Stackers Burger. They may not be a biggie on their burger patty but their secret sauce makes the difference.  The thick rich blend of their secret sauces makes the burger experience wonderful.  I would recommend the Philly Cheese Burger! (my favorite) and Fried Mozzarella Stick.  The Extra Massive would also satisfy your hunger needs.  Awesome fries also (‘di kamote).  Budget would depend on your appetite for me it would be for 300-400 pesos para busog na busog.  But well worth the money. Their Iced Tea is not also bad (hindi to nestea ha! .. wala lang silang bottomless).  I would recommend to visit Stackers Once a week or every other week you can visit the joint para di nakakasawa.

Rating:
Food Quality:   4.5/5 stars
Serving  Size:  4/5 stars
Drinks:   4/5 stars
Service:  4/5 stars
Overall Experience:    4.4/5 stars

Budget:
Normal Budget:   200 – 250
El Boaman Budget: 300 – 400

—

Stackers Burger Café, The Venice Piazza
G/F The Venice Piazza, McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio Global City
Taguig City, Metro Manila
Philippines
(02) 403-6572

Homemade Salsa

We discovered a surplus shop near our areas that sells assorted household items from Australia and boy, do they sell them cheap.

They sell power tools, cookware, toys, and electronics (mostly brand new but without boxes) at unbelievably low, low prices.

We go to this store at least once every two weeks to check on new items or to go back for stuff that we put on our lists during our previous visits and so far, what we have purchased includes:

• turbo broiler (brand new and with box for only 1000Php)
• flour sifter (those metal cups with the clickable handles for only 100 Php)
• an Ice Crusher (a replacement for returned alarmed clock worth 600 Php)
• iPod Dock (bought by Bro2 for 1800Php)
• 3 units of toaster in various models (for my mom, Bro3 and Bro2)

My favorite purchase of all is the Chief food processor that I bought for only 300Php! A definite steal and a very good investment since slicing and dicing is not my favorite part of cooking. It’s not a popular food processing brand but the size is just right for me and there are no confusing attachments to deal with and clean up is a breeze.

We used it the first time to chop walnuts for my Banana and Walnut Pancake and it was wonderful!

The second time that we tried is when I did a Homemade Salsa and it was a huge hit!

This recipe was based on Pioneer Woman’s recipe with omission of some ingredients due to availability issues (like the Rotel Diced Chiles).

However, when I recently checked Pioneer Supermarket, I found a different brand of Diced Chiles which I will try the next time I make this.

—

Ingredients*:

• 2 Cans of Whole Peeled Tomato (I prefer the Dona Elena brand but it wasn’t available at SM Hypermarket)
• Jalapeno Pepper (If you will not use Jalapeno in making salsa then forget about it. Jalapeno is what makes the Salsa like it’s supposed to be. We thought of possible alternatives for this but there’s nothing remotely similar that can be found here.)
• Cilantro Leaves, chopped (Locally this is called Wansuy. Commonly mistaken for Kinchay)
• Lime or Dayap juice (I used the juice of half a lime per batch but please feel free to adjust)
• Onion (I used half an onion per batch)
• 2 Cloves of garlic (One clove per batch)
• Cumin powder
• Salt
• Sugar (to neutralize the acidity of the tomatoes for those with hyper acidity issues like me and Bro3)

*These ingredient is good for two batches because of the size of my processor. Adjustments can be made to suit your taste preference.

Make It:

Put the Tomatoes in the processor (drained because it’s gonna get juicy after processing)

Slice and dice the jalapeno peppers. Seeds may be removed if you want them not as hot. When I make salsa, I make two different batches: one with less jalapeno and a bit sweeter because of the aforementioned hyper acidity issues with some members of the family. The hotness of the salsa will depend on the amount of jalapeno so again, it’s up to you.

Dump all the other ingredients on the processor (jalapeno, lime juice, onion, garlic, just a dash of cumin, salt and sugar to taste) and start pulsing away!The consistency, again, depends on your preference. You can make it as chunky or as smooth as you want. The above consistency took about 9-10 pulses on the processor. Place on a bowl, serve with Tortilla Chips (we prefer the Tostitos Brand-Restaurant Style) and enjoy with gusto!