LP: Paskong Pinoy: Our Filipino Christmas Party 2009

I modified this post to participate in this week's LP theme: Paskong Pinoy. I have a related post in my tahanan blog here.

What are the major differences between the Filipino Christmas Party and a typical American Christmas Dinner? These are the differences in the two parties I hosted and will be hosting.

Pinoy - you will find a lot of main entrees (needless to say, some of which may be repulsive to some Americans
American - One main entree

Pinoy - buffet type table, with people in line waiting to dig in
American - Serve formally on the table

Pinoy - everyone can pitch in
American - I am expected to be able to make everything since I am hosting.

However, since I will have to include traditional desserts that I cannot make from bought groceries, my MIL and SIL offered to make them, especially that those are not my specialties. I will, however, make desserts that they truly find interesting and to die for (at least, in my MIL's opinion -- SANS RIVAL). And though they would be forgiving as to have bread from a bread maker due to time constraints and the stress of prep, I am inclined (still!) to make rolls (espcially that hubby requests it)...something that my in-laws are in awe of me for. To them I am the yeast roll/bread master.

Anyway, this post is about our recent Filipino Christmas Party. My close circle of friends always look forward to it now, especially with my penchant for preparing truly Filipino traditional favorites and my perseverance to find ingredients for it.

Hubby had to ask me which foods he had to avoid...not surprisingly, 3 out of 4 meaty dishes I prepped were not American-friendly. Good thing my friends brought some foods that our kids and hubbies would eat. Even among the desserts, many of our hubbies did not care for the consistency of rice- or cassava- or custard-based desserts, nor did they care for the coconuts. They liked the puto I made using white cake mix, though.

We would have had monito monita exchange gifts, but I myself forgot to get one, so Thess announced that instead of that, they would just give me the gifts since it was my birthday the past day. Nobody contradicted! It was done on a Sunday and some had to go to church, so we only had afternoon to be together and have some chitchat. They had to leave as early as 4pm (there was a snow storm beginning), no karaoke this time. But we had fun, especially with the buko salad!

I admit it was a stressful event, with lots of hard work from me and my kids who helped me prepare, but it was all worth it. Once a year indulgence in exotic ingredients...once a year reveling in each other's friendship...actually, twice a year now...if you count summer get-togethers for cookout. Filipino gathering just somehow brings me back home, and it is all worth the effort...

Pumpkin Cake Roll

I first tasted this when I visited my friend Fe, and I never thought I'd like pumpkin cakes of any sort, but I loved this, so I asked for the recipe. It was actually the recipe on which I based my ube cake roll.

Ingredients:

Cake
3 eggs
1 cup sugar (white)
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon

Filling
1 cup confectioner's sugar
4 tsp butter
8-oz cream cheese (softened at room temp)
1/2 tsp vanilla


Instructions:

(If you like a slideshow to visualize this, please refer to ube cake roll post.)

Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

Mix all ingredients and beat well. Spread onto a parchment paper on a pan 11x17x1 inches.

Bake at 375 degree for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place paper towels (or flour sack) on the countertop and sprinkle confectioner's sugar. When done, flip the cake over onto the paper towels and peel off parchment paper. Roll up like jelly roll both the cake and the towel and cool off completely.

Prepare the cream cheese filling by blending all ingredients well. Chill until ready to spread.

Unroll and spread filling then roll up again. Wrap with foil and refrigerate. Slice when ready to serve.

Biko with Custard Topping

Prepared by my friend Anna's mom...

Maple-Garlic Chicken

From maple glazed chicken

This recipe was shared to me by my Pinay friend who is also married to an American. They also make their own maple syrup, and I might have asked her one time what to cook when maple syrup is just so abundant. This is one that she suggested, which at one point, she brought to one of our Pinay gatherings near a river (tabing-ilog in Ana's property). I loved it, and I asked for the recipe, which she gladly shared, and now I am sharing with you. The only tweaking I made was to thicken the sauce to make it stick more, then brush onto the chickens while grilling during the last 5 minutes; this way they appear "glazed."

From maple chicken

Ingredients:
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup soy sauce
1-1/2 lb chicken pieces

Instructions:
Place chicken pieces in the saucepan. Mix well the rest of the ingredients and pour onto the chickens. Boil then lower heat to medium low (#4) and cook for 15 minutes. During the last 5 minutes, start heating up your oven, broil method. Arrange your chicken pieces on a pan, and place the sauce in a small saucepan. Broil chicken for 5 minutes to dry the surfaces. Meanwhile, thicken the sauce with cornstarch+water mix to the desired consistency, and adjust the taste as needed with salt and pepper. Baste the chicken pieces to give them a glaze, and repeat after 2 minutes, then cook further about 2 minutes. turn over the chicken pieces and do the same. When serving, pour some more sauce onto the pieces. Goes very well with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. The leftover sauce, if any, will be perfect to flavor your fried rice.

Filipino Christmas Party

I miss the kind of Filipino Christmas Celebration...no matter how little money we had then, we would always have something special on the table for Christmas. I remember my usual role was to prep the leche flan and lumpiang shanghai. My Nanay would prepare the buko salad (or macaroni or fruit), and my younger sister would cook pancit. The men are usually busy with the bakery giveaways and distribution then. My older sister was not living with us anymore since she was in college, and would just visit us during holidays, often not really to join in the cooking. This preparation time I missed most because of the "stress" of preparing food in time for Noche Buena. Then we would always have some party-ing involving karaoke and some dancing, whether or not we actually knew how to. In the small subdivision where we lived then, we had a brief Christmas party with exchange gifts and some singing/dancing program and eating the potluck foods. Then we would come back home and have our own Noche Buena, followed by the most awaited moment by the kids: giving our gifts to them. They were always excited to receive theirs, no matter how cheap they were. The adults get gifts and had to be content with what the others could afford (don't we all?). Very little did we have in money terms, and it was with heavy heart that we indulge in this once-a-year important event...a time to forget about our worries no matter how short, and just bask in the presence and love of one another in the family.


Now here in the US, as I try to recreate the same atmosphere, I only have several established friends that I do these things with, although some are still quite shy to dance or sing, and most of the kids do not feel like joining in with the adults. They have their computer games to enjoy, in the company of other kids. I don't mind, really. As long as we are having fun, that's all that matters. However, I wish I had my family of origin to share this moment with as well. The photos below show the foods we prepared. They were all lined up on my countertops. We used the dining table mainly for eating.

In trying to recreate the hustle and bustle, I prepped quite a lot of foods, although it really got tiring to prep all I wanted singlehandedly. Of course my sons could pitch in some, but it is never the same preparing foods while chatting with the other females in the family. I created and sent out 20++ invitations to Filipinos here, both known to me personally or not. Only 4 were able to make it, one declined (out of state) and the rest did not even care to respond/leave a message on my phone. Would I dare do the same thing next year? Probably not. I will just call my closest friends and plan for the party, just like we did in the previous years.
My visitors all had some food to share. We had monito-monita both for us adults and exchange gifts for the kids. I made it a point to emphasize that the gifts be less than $15, only so we get into the spirit of gift-giving. While the kids did DDR, we adults just contented ourselves chatting with one another.

We had fun enough to somewhat satisfy our craving for Filipino companionship during this season.

I do not have any religious allusions to this season. Please do not attack me for being an agnostic Christian.

A More Special,Easy and Quick Pichi-Pichi Espesyal Using Microwave

I posted before a recipe for

From pichi-pichi

pichi-pichi espesyal using the traditional method of steaming. My long-time blogger friend JMom made a post using microwave (isn't that kewl?). So, with my hosting of Filipino Christmas party yesterday, I prepared pichi-pichi using the microwave. Basing on some comments at JMom's post, I tried adding pandan essence (actually, it was McCormick Buco Pandan Essence; thanks to Deb for sending me several bottles). What makes it more special? I used buko water instead of plain water.

From buko

I bought several young coconuts from hannaford to use for cassava cake. Out of the 4 I bought, 3 had the right chewy consistency of young coconut perfect for salads or buko pie or cassava cake. One was too young it had the mala-uhog consistency. The boys are in love with buko water and they asked if they could have some; of course I allowed them to. But as I was reading JMom's post and the idea of using buko water crossed by mind, I immediately stopped them and measured out 2 cups (my earlier steamed pichi recipe called for 2 cups water to 1 cup cassava and 1 cup sugar; JMom's recipe called for 1:1:1 ratio). So I used 2 cups buko water, 1 cup grated cassava, and 1 cup sugar. I knew the result would be very wobbly and quite soft, but that's how I really want it so it will still be soft even after chilling.

From pichi-pichi

Ingredients:
1 cup grated cassava
2 cups coconut water
1 cup sugar
several drops of buco pandan essence (McCormick)

Instructions:
Blend everything well in an 8x8 or 9x9 microwavable dish. Microwave for 1 minute on high, stir with a wire whisk, microwave and stir repeatedly every 30 seconds until it becomes like soft paste (remember, this will continue to thicken as it cools down). I probably did this repeatedly 4-5 times, adding more buco pandan

essence until I reached my desired color. I left it for a while to cool down before I took the hot dish out and let it cool completely. Meanwhile, I asked my older son to open the coconut (the mature one,as opposed to young coconut), then my younger son to grate it. (See my primitive coconut grater here.)

Using a

From pichi-pichi

cookie scoop, I then rolled in grated coconut to coat each piece. I did buy sesame seeds upon seeing some suggestions from JMom's post, but opted to just serve it the traditional way. Only 3 pieces were left at the end of the day. My kids were leery of the greenish color, but I explained to them that the same color reminds us Filipinos of special buko-pandan salad (I tasted this in PI prepared by one of the midwives where she used the buco water boiled with pandan leaves to make runny green-colored gelatin and mixed with strips of soft buco, blocks of unflavored
green gelatin and condensed milk. It was so good!)

Now you wonder what I did with the buko flesh/young meat? I cut them in pieces and froze, then used for special cassava cake once I was ready to make it. (I had to restrain myself and the kids from eating them all!)

Spinach and Feta Cheese Chicken Rolls

I have a co-worker who is a foodie as well, although not a foodblogger.

From Spinach & Feta Cheese Chicken Rolls

She shared with me this spinach and feta cheese chicken rolls recipe that was a hit with her husband (who seems to be the non-adventurous type as well). I tried it, and it was a hit with my family as well. Quite laborious and time-consuming, but definitely easy to make. And the taste? Cheesy-heavenly! Definitely good for a special family weekend dinner.

A note for newbies: "butterflied" only means that you make slices on the thick meat to make it have flaps on the sides (imagine yourself with your arms hugging your body, then open your right arm, and then the left, that is the kind of "movement" you want to observe in making the slices here) so that you end up with thinner meat and wider surface area, making layering and stuffing easier.

Ingredients:
5-6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
baby spinach (fresh)
1 pkg (8-oz) cream cheese
6-8 oz feta cheese (crumbled)
1/2 tsp dried basil
Deli Ham slices
egg+milk mixture
bread crumbs*

*Instead of bread crumbs, I had this unopened plastic pack of Club crackers flavored buttery garlic (a box contains about 3 plastic packs of them) which had been sitting on the bar countertop for probably a month now (I was in a temporary addiction to them until we got tired of eating them), so I thought that would add flavor. I placed them in the chopper, and added Italian seasoning. My husband particularly said the crumbs coating tasted good.

Directions:
Pound chicken to 1/4 inch thick. Mix cream cheese, feta cheese, and dried basil together spread over chicken. Put one layer of spinach on top of cheese followed by 1 slice of ham. Roll chicken and secure with a toothpick. Dip in egg+milk mixture, roll in breadcrumbs, and put in greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 375 deg F for 30-35 minutes or until done.

I happened to have just 4 big breasts and there were 5 of us. Although I was sure my husband, stepdaughter, and I could not eat a whole breast, I cooked shrimps in addition just as a backup.

I served these with the remaining baby spinach and scalloped potatoes.

Florida Citrus Cake

One of my co-workers, Michelle, once brought

From Florida Citrus Cake

this at a night when it seemed like we were all in a party mood. I brought leche flan (as requested by one of our ED techs, Gloria), and Michelle brought this so I could have a taste. I loved it! It's perfect for coffee! Best of all, it is so easy to make.

Michelle made sure I had at least one slice left to take home to have my husband taste it. I could not help but eat the last piece, and I even scraped the plate clean.

So I baked this last night, finally...after I stressed out having my TNCC training and getting my certificate by passing the practical and written tests (yehey!). Baking (and cooking) has become a therapeutic activity for me. As I was waiting for the last minutes, I made coffee...then I frosted, sliced a piece although it was still too warm (couldn't wait!) and had my husband taste it...Approved!

The next day, my older son was telling me, "Ma, you should make this more often. It's so good, I already had probably 8 slices."

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 small pkg lemon instant pudding and pie filling mix (4 servings)

Glaze:
1/6 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

PROCEDURE:
Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Pour all ingredients into a well-greased and floured tube pan (I borked here...looks like I failed to grease and flour well enough that some of the cake stuck to the pan. I covered with frosting.). Bake for 50 minutes or until done. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze by blending well. Glaze the cake while still hot.

Pan de Coco

Yesterday my Filipina friends and I were scheduled (or so I thought) to have a lunchdate at the house of another Filipina, but we decided to meet here at my home before going there. I was the first person called by that hostess, and I was tasked to inform the others about it.

So we went...and our hostess Vengie (in blue shirt, sandwiched by me in yellow and Fe in red) was pleasantly surprised to see us because we were supposed to meet NEXT WEDNESDAY...Ooops! Sorry! (blush!) Though surprised, since she was not able to attend our picnic last August at Ana's (in blue tank top) tabing-ilog, she was pleased nonetheless, although apologetic that she did not cook anything. No problem, because I bought a pan (last batch) of savory chicken feet, some palitaw (which she missed that day I made them the first time), and some pan de coco (one for each of us). Fe brought Alaskan salmon (caught by her husband), and Daisy (the one who holds a baby) brought veggies, rice and fried fish, which we ate with tomato-soy sauce dip. Ana was exempted because of her two babies to take care of.

Anyway, I was not planning to make pan de coco. The night before, I was debating on which one to prepare: palitaw or pan de coco. I thought palitaw was easier to make, so I made those, about 15 pieces, but had excess coconut (about 7 heaping tablespoons), so I ended up planning to bake them the next morning (Wednesday). I used the Parker House Rolls recipe (same dough I use for siopao) was able to make only 9 pieces, and I left the rest of the dough plain. Fe came to my house first, so I offered it, with a warning to have only one ("Tig-iisa lang kayo!"). When she finished it, she was looking longingly at the rest. "Bitin ba?" (Do you want more?) "Bakit kasi konti lang ginawa mo?" (Why did you make only a few?) You know the story...Hehe...

Here's how:

INGREDIENTS:
Prepared dough (any sweet bread recipe; I used same dough as in siopao, but I have also tried Buttery Sweet Bread recipe using bread machine)
grated coconut (either bought frozen, or grate your own; see my palitaw post in old kusina)
white or light brown sugar (Note: I had about 2-1/2 cups of mixed coconut-sugar, proportion of 1 part coconut:2 parts sugar)

Buttery Sweet Bread recipe (dough cycle only; I used 1-1/2lb loaf to make 21 pcs)-

1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut up
1 tsp salt
3-1/3 cup bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp BM yeast

To prepare Buttery Sweet Bread dough:
Warm all liquid ingredients to room temp (80-100 deg F) and place in BM pan. Then place all dry ingredients. Run on dough cycle (about 1.5 hrs)

INSTRUCTIONS:
The night before you serve, mix grated coconut with granulated sugar (white or light brown), 1:2 ratio (i.e., I had 7 heaping tbsp of grated coconut which I mixed with 14 exact tbsp (not heaping) of sugar (you may want to taste first then adjust; really , it is up to you). Let this sit in a covered container in the fridge, so that it draws out moisture from the coconut and creates a wonderful caramel-y coconut-y taste. If you plan to bake right away, at least prepare this before your dough so it will sit for sometime before baking. Also, prepare the dough (you may want to use Parker House Rolls; see my beef asado siopao post) and leave it in the fridge overnight. You may also use the Buttery Sweet Bread recipe as above on the day you are going to bake.

Pinch off dough about size of pingpong balls and place on greased baking sheet to let rise for about 10 minutes, covered with greased plastic.

Proceed with filling the buns the same way you would the siopao. Place on parchment paper-lined baking pan. FLATTEN a bit. See slide show.

Allow the filled buns to rise for 30 minutes, in a warm place free of draft (on top of a flat stove covered with damp flour sack or greased cling wrap, or inside a warm oven).

Bake in 400 deg F for 12-15 minutes (it browns quickly). Brush with softened butter as soon as they come out. Let cool about 1-2 minutes before eating, or about 10 minutes those you will not consume right away, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before storing in ziploc bags.

When I removed these from the oven, some of the coco-caramel oozed out of the buns and made a somewhat chewy caramel film on the paper, which I detached and savored. Yum!

Vengie, the hostess, asked me to bring pan de coco next week (the real schedule), as she has some Filipino friends who will be coming over from NY. Oh, and she requested to have some yeast rolls baking session with me in the near future (I feel flattered and honored!). She loves baking muffins and cakes, but does not know how to deal with yeast rolls. I love yeast rolls, because I grew up with such (typical ordinary) bakery goodies in PI. Back then, cakes and muffins were more expensive and bought only from SM or some specialty bakeshops, and what I had for ordinary snacks were mostly yeast rolls and breads, in the likes of pan de sal, pan de coco, monay, patigas, "tasty" (American pan bread), spanish bread, ensaymada, pan de regla (we at my father's bakery called them "pula"), etc., and I was lucky to have had any of these fresh and hot out of the oven before they even made it to the display area of our store. Now, I am getting more and more comfortable baking them, and loving the nostalgic trip as I knead and shape the dough. My husband happens to love yeast rolls as well, so although it is quite laborious and more time-consuming than muffins and cakes, I do enjoy making them.

UPDATE: 11-24-08
A very inspiring email was sent to me:

Hi Manang,
Hafa Adai from the island of Guam U.S.A!

Isa ako sa mga taga-hanga mo,mahilig din akong magluto pero di sing galing mo.
Marami na ko na-try na recipes online pero most of them ay palpak.I tried your pan de coco recipe at ako ay humanga pati asawa ko kasi perfect talaga.Mula ngayon site mo na lang pagtitiwalaan ko at gusto ko try lahat nga recpes mo.

Hanga ako sa blog mo ,sa slide show ,recipes at sipag mo.Superwoman ka yata ah!Pano mo nmn nagagawa lahat yan!!!Hanga ako talaga.You're the best.

People like you give me the motivation...Thanks a bunch for the kind words!

Pinakbet

Pinakbet is allegedly an Ilocano original. My parents are both Ilocanos, but I admit that this pinakbet by my friend Ana from Davao is the best one I have ever tasted, so that I asked that she share her recipe so I can post it here. With her generosity, here is the recipe:

Ana's Pinakbet from Digos Davao Del Sur
Ingredients:

· 4 tsp oil (Sesame oil is best)
· 1 Large onion diced
· 4 medium tomatoes diced
· 2 tsp garlic minced
· ½ cup diced pork meat
· 1 cup peeled small shrimp
· 1 cup sliced eggplant
· 1 cup cubed squash
· 1 cup sliced okra
· 1 bunch prepared green beans (B A L A T O N G)
· Generous amount of sautéed A L A M A N G N A H I P O N
Procedure:

1. Sauté onion & garlic until aroma is released and slightly brown
2. Add minced pork until slightly browned
3. Add tomatoes and let simmer for about ten minutes or until mush
4. Add eggplant and squash and simmer for ten minutes or until tender
5. Add A L A M A N G N A H I P O N (K A M A Y A N)
6. Add shrimp, okra and green beans until tender
Serve with white rice and vinegar on the side.