WHB# 344 Sinantolan

 When our family transferred to Pila, Laguna, I tasted new dishes.
There's sinampalukan (tamarind based dish) and kinamatisan
(tomato-based dish). There is also Sinantolan(Santol dish),
a great side dish to fried and grilled foods.

Santol

Santol

Santol (Sandoricum koetiape), also known as wild mangosteen,
is usually eaten ripe. The fruit is sour-sweet with a pleasant tart
taste. There are varieties that are very sour even when ripe.
These varieties are good with sinantolan dish.

Sinantolan

Sinantolan

Ingredients

• 15 pcs Santol
• 1 Cup coconut cream
• 2 Cups coconut milk
• 3 pcs Siling Haba (finger Chillies)
• 3 to 4 TBSP Alamang (fermented tiny shrimps or krill)
• 4 cloves Garlic (crushed)
• 1 medium onion (sliced)

Cooking Directions

1. Cut Santol in half and remove seeds. Prepare a bowl with water
2. and grate santol pulp on it using a kudkuran (a bench coconut grater).
3. If you don't have a kudkuran, you can peel off the skin of the santol,
4. remove the seeds and grate in a food processor adding a little amount
5. of water. Squeze grated pulp to remove the juice. This is done to 
6. remove the "tart" taste.
8. Place all ingredients in a pan except the coconut cream. Bring to a boil,
9. stirring occasionally. When the mixture is almost dry, add the coconut
10. cream and simmer until oil appears on the side of the pan.
11. Remove from heat and serve.

I am submitting this entry to
Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB) 
hosted by dear Marta of  
Miangare e un po come viaggare. 
WHB is a weekly event featuring
specific herb or plant ingredient 
in your recipe. Halo of 
Cook Almost Anything oversees
the event.

Paho

When summer approaches, I am always on the lookout for Paho.
It's a small variety mango about 2 inches long with a very short season
(a few weeks to a month about March to April).

 Paho can be eaten raw, pickled or made into salsa. It has the pungent
aroma of concentrated dill with a taste of unripe green mango.
.

Paho with tomatoes and salted eggs. A perfect appetizer for
any fried or grilled dish.

This is my entry to Weekend Herb Blogging
event hosted by Simona of Briciole.

WHB# 320 Nilagang Saging (Boiled Banana)

Come harvest time for bananas, we would have plenty of
unripe bananas at home. Dad would choose the large ones
to sell and the smaller ones are left for our consumption.

This is another way of boiling banana that I learned here in Pila.

Instead of boiling ripe bananas, unripe banana is used. Washed
it thoroughly, and with you palm, press each banana to crack it.
Place in a large pot with water and add salt. Boil bananas until
cooked. The sap of the fruit will mix with the water adding flavor

and will turn the fruit brownish. Served with grated coconut and 

sprinkle sugar.

Sharing this snack to all
Weekend Herb Blogging lovers.
This week's roundup #320
is hosted by Astrid of
Paulchens Foodblog?!

A Real Fruit Salad

I spent New Year with my sister in Phisanulok, Thailand. It was my

first time abroad. I had a wonderful time visiting tourist spots and

trying out new dishes. One of my memorable time was making the

fruit salad for New Year's eve. It was my first time to make the salad

without using canned fruit cocktail!

I mixed persimmon (my first time to eat), some kiwi, dragon

fruits, strawberries, apples, grapes with all purpose cream and

condensed milk. I also added cream cheese (I saw it on tv) and

it turned out great.

As a final touch, I sprinkled granada seeds on top!

Powdered Ube

I always associate Christmas with Haleyang Ube
[ha-leh-yang ooh-beh], a sweetened dessert of purple yam
(Dioscorea alata). We always make it from scratch.
Mashing the boiled ube, adding milk and sugar and stirring,
stirring, stirring over low heat. This could take an hour
so be sure to have a partner in stirring.

Ube is used in most Filipino desserts. Halo halo,
ube ice cream, ube silvanas, hopiang ube and ube cake.

In a recent trip to Bohol with friends, our host family
served us a delicious ube cake. I was not able to get
the cake recipe but I was able to watch the process
of making powdered ube which they supply in stores
around Tagbiliran City.

Ube is steamed, grinded and dried

Ube Cake

Mango, Pomelo and Orange Salad

This is a Thai-inspired salad I learned from my sister.
She served it to some friends who surprised her with
an overnight stay at Lemlunay Resort in General Santos
City. Her friends sponsored the beach trip (read:
snorkeling and diving which I get to tag along!) as her
despedida before she goes to Thailand for work.

Mango, Pomelo and Orange Salad

large green mangoes
chopped fresh cilantro
dried salted fish
orange slices
pomelo slices
togue (mung bean sprouts)
torn leaf lettuce
crushed or chopped peanuts

1 pc siling labuyo (bird's eye chili )
patis (fish sauce )
brown sugar
dayap juice (local lemon)

Mix patis, brown sugar, siling labuyo and dayap juice. Set Aside.

Shred the mango by holding it firmly in one hand and with a
chopping motion, make slices into the cheek. Slice the fruit
thinly to create shreds. Repeat until all mangoes are used.

Place in a bowl and mix with remaining ingredients except
lettuce. Use small size salted fish like Dulong. If you got
big fish, slice into smaller pieces. Season with fish sauce
mixture. Toss well.

Arrange lettuce in a plate and add mango mixture on top.
Place the salad in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.

Minatamis na Langka (sweetened jackfruit)

Jackfruit (langka) season is here again. We got 1 tree that supplies us plenty.

Often Dad would divide the fruits and distribute to our relatives.

I love the smell of jack fruit. The fruit is sweet and crunchy.

My favorite is to freeze the fruits before eating to make it more crispy.
The seeds can be boiled which makes a good snack.
Dip it in sugar to make it more appetizing.

With jackfruit, I always think of turon and halo-halo. Often we would make

minatamis na langka (sweetened jackfruit) to preserve it.

minatamis na langka

To make sweetened jackfruit, remove the seeds from the fruits.
Cut the fruit into strips. I also cut it in half so it won't get stuck in
my throat( it tends to be slippery when cooked). Boil 1 cup of sugar
and 1 cup of water. When the sugar is dissolve add jackfruit strips
about 2-3 cups. Cook until no liquid is left.

For a crispier sweetened jackfruit, no need to add water. Cook
the jackfruit with sugar until the sugar is dissolve.


Sharing this to all Weekend Herb Blogging lovers.
WHB#275 roundup is hosted by Chris of Melle Cotte,
the little blog that feeds a huge appetite for cooking.

Turon

Turon is a Filipino delicacy usually served as a merienda or snack.
It is also sold on the streets, near schools and offices since it is a
food-on-the-go and budget friendly.


Turon is actually a spring roll of ripe banana. Some would include
slices of jackfruit, chopped peanuts, cheese, peanut butter or cinnamon.

This afternoon I made some Turon with sliced jack fruit, chopped peanuts
and a sprinkle of sugar. To tweak the taste I added some mint. All
wrapped in a spring roll and fried into golden brown. Sarap!


Here's another banana recipe:




Ginang-gang





Hey, how about an appetizer?





Salted Eggs/ Itlog na Maalat





September Harvest:

Sinigang sa Bayabas

Today, cooking sinigang is very easy. Souring ingredients are
already available in powdered form (Mama Sita's, Knorr
Sinigang Mix, etc) Still nothing beats preparing your souring
ingredients from scratch. Boiling and mashing the tamarind
or Kalamyas or in this case guava fruit adds to the excitement
of cooking sinigang.


We get to cook Sinigang sa Bayabas when Typhoon Santi
(Internation name: Mirinae) hit our place last Oct 31.
One of our guava tree was partially uprooted and we were
forced to harvest the fruits.

Sinigang Sa Bayabas

You will need:

1 medium size fish sliced (Bangus or Tilapia)
4-5 pcs ripe guava (quartered)
1 medium tomato (quartered)
1 medium onion (quartered)
sili leaves or camote tops
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
3-4 cups water
salt

In a pot, boil tomato, onion and guava in water. Simmer
until guava is softened. Take out the guava (leave some
if you like to eat them) and place in a bowl. Mashed and
set aside. Add fish into the pot and simmer until fish is
tender. Strain juice from mashed guava into the pot.
Seasoned with fish sauce. Add the leaves, sprinkle
salt on top and simmer for a few more minutes. Serve hot.