Entries Tagged 'Recipes' ↓

Also known as sticky rice cake or pudding, cooking ‘tikoy‘ has been deeply embedded in the Chinese-Filipino culture in the Philippines, especially in the season of Chinese New Year.

Serving ‘tikoy‘ represents prosperity in Chinese belief that is why it is associated with the Chinese New Year. It serves good hope and a better life for the upcoming new year.

It is also said to enhance family bonding for the whole year hence the ”stickiness” of the rice cake. Therefore , whether you are Chinese or otherwise, receiving a ‘tikoy‘ as gift is said to be ‘good luck.’ The Chinese New Year this year will be on February 3, 2011. If you haven’t received one yet, you can buy one for yourself at Polland like how I featured their heart-shaped tikoy last year. Or you can simply cook one for yourself and your family. 🙂

Cooking & Preparing Your Tikoy for the Chinese New Year

How to Cook Tikoy

1. Crack and beat egg yolks in a bowl.  A whole large-sized tikoy needs about 20 beaten egg yolks with albumen. For creamier preparations, use only the egg yolks, do not include the albumen (egg white); but you have to double the number of eggyolks.

2. Heat your pan with 1/4 cup cooking oil.

3. preferably beforehand, slice the tikoy into small 1 inch by 2 inches rectangles at about 1 centimeter thick. While doing this, start to heat your pan.

4. Dip the tikoy slices into your preparation of beaten egg yolks.

5. Place the tikoy one slice at a time in the pan if the oil temparature is already hot enough. Do not put a tikoy slice on top of another.

6. Cook each batch by about 2 minutes each side or until the egg coating has turned golden brown.

7. Take the tikoy from the pan.

Tip: My personal style is placing the tikoy in a plate with table napkin or clean, tough tissue paper where I could initially place the tikoy for some oil to settle and transfer. This makes your tikoy serving less sinful.

Now you know how to cook your tikoy in case you receive or buy one. Enjoy the upcoming Chinese New Year NomNom Club! 🙂

I would like to share a ‘cheesy‘ experience last month. Literally, there was an overload of cheese at the California Butter and Cheese Training Seminar with Chef Robert Jorin (CMB) from the Culinary Institute of America‘s Baking & Pastry Arts Certificate Program.

Monterey Jack and Jalapeno Jack

In line of promoting California Milk Advisory Board‘s marks “Real California Cheese” and “Real Califonia Milk,” we had a crash-course in butter and cheese appreciation at the Edsa Shangri-la Hotel in Makati together with other lifestyle and food-related media personnel.

Chef Robert Jorin (CMB) of Culinary Institute of America

Explained one by one, we had mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Jalapeno Jack, sour cream, mascarpone, ricotta cheese, and unsalted butter, among others.

Following the ingredients in their bare form are its by-products sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, buttermilk, manufacturing cream, homogenized milk and the sinfully-sweet milk caramel dulce leche. I realized that I never knew how Dulce de leche are made, until that day, and how simple but delicately complicated it can be. 🙂

Unsalted Butter

Participating California brands include Mozzarella Fresca, Crystal unsalted butter, California Farms, Berkeley Farms, and California Sunshine. All “Real California Milk” certified.

Of course, we had to try out some creations by Chef Robert Jorin whom he himself prepared. These include Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Raspberry mirror glaze, Pepper Jack & Olive Rolls, Cream Scones with Cheddar Cheese & Green Onions, Mascarpone Chocolate Swirl Cheese cake and Cheese cake with sour cream topping and strawberry on top.

California Butter and Cheese Training Seminar

I had to refrain from eating any food or dish with any form of cheese for two days after this event. (lol)! It was a great and educational experience nonetheless.

Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping and Mascarpone Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Tiramisu on Glass w/ cream on top

Hats-off to the California Milk Advisory Board and cheese & milk expert Chef Robert Jorin of the Culinary Institute of America. Check their recipes at http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/. For more information, you may contact Ms. Reji Retugal-Onal at 534-8534 or email rronal@synergyasia.biz.

With the plethora of cooking oil in the market nowadays, regular consumers can get confused just with the number of options alone.

I’ve always highly regarded the use of olive oil. But if you’re a little tight on the budget, Golden Fiesta Palm Oil can be an affordable alternative.

Similarly for actress and wife Dawn Zulueta, cooking for her family is one of the things she loves to do. This was after her husband, Davao del Norte Rep. Anton Lagdameo, actually taught her how to cook. 🙂

“When I was still single I didn’t really know how to cook. I didn’t have time to learn because I would just sleep or relax after work,” says Dawn, who used to lead a busy life as a TV and movie actress.

Golden Fiesta Palm Oil & Actress Dawn Zulueta

In her latest TV commercial (TVC), Dawn can be seen using Golden Fiesta Palm Oil in cooking, saying that she gets “less worry, more healthy”.

“I love Golden Fiesta Palm Oil because it’s definitely a healthier alternative to other cooking oil. We Filipinos love fried food so it’s best to choose a product that is safe and healthy,” adds Dawn.

So what’s in it?

Golden Fiesta Palm Oil is made from 100 percent premium quality refined palm oil and contains Omega9.

This is surely good news specially to those who love fried foods or to mothers who fry foods for their children; be it French fries, fried chicken, burgers, or cooking healthy stir-fried vegetables.

Moreover, it was made more affordable a few months ago. Golden Fiesta Palm Oil one-liter packs and two-liter packs are now at P15* and P30* (*suggested) less than their original suggested retail price, respectively.

The house-helper left the house quite late today for her Sunday grocery. The rest of the relatives were somewhere else and I was left all alone. It’s 11:30am. Time for lunch and I had to summon my secret impromptu cooking skills. 🙂

The result: sauteed squash (ginisang kalabasa) and a set of fried fish lumpia. 🙂

The fried fish lumpia was fairly easy. It’s a ready-to-fry lumpia pack from the grocery. 🙂 Ah, the convenience of instant food (in exchange for preservatives) 🙂

I cooked it first as a strategy I learned from mom way before.  It saves on cooking oil since you could use the left over cooking oil from the pan for sauteing the next vegetable dish — Sauteed Squash.

NomNom Recipe for Sauteed Squash:

Suateed Squash & Fried Lumpia

Ingredients:

• 1 medium squash/pumpkin; sliced into cubes
• 1/2 garlic bulb
• 1/2 onion bulb
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• cooking oil

Procedure:

1. I first pan fried some crushed garlic and slices of half a bulb of onion.
2. This was followed by slices of squash cubes; mix well.
3. Heat for a while (1 minute) and add a cup of water.
4. Add two tablespoon of soy sauce and mix again; you may add salt and other spices to your liking.
5. Let it boil or simmer until the water left is just enough to cover the base of the pan; stir from time to time.
6. Serve while hot.

Well, this might not be perfect, or something, but this is how NomNom does his no-fuss Sauteed Squash and tricky fried lumpia. 🙂