Entries Tagged 'Street Fare' ↓

Another adventure in Legazpi Sunday Market is set as they organize the first “Grilla In Manila” grilling contest and festival on April 25, 2010.

Although registration for the contest is already closed, you can still join us as we witness the actual contest this weekend from 8am to 11am. Teams just had their debriefing last Sunday. Aspiring cooks, chefs and entrepreneurs are encouraged to attend.

Here is a backgrounder on the contest:

The contest is open to non-professionals, foodies, student chefs, starting out entrepreneurs, etc. (amateurs).  Teams with a maximum of 3 members will be allowed.

a. The teams will submit a total of 3 dishes prepared in its entirety at the market (preparation and cooking time is a total of 3 hours).

1. Grilled Beef Dish – 2.5 kilos of Angus  beef will be provided by the LSM courtesy of sponsor Tenderbites.
2. Specialty Grilled Dish (choice of team)
3. Side Dish (produce to be purchased at the LSM by the team). Produce (vegetables, fruits, protein etc.) must be purchased at the LSM by the team on the day of the event  for only P200 (to be sponsored by the market). It must also be prepared in its entirety at the market (preparation and cooking time is a total of 3 hours)

b. Preparation and cooking time is a total of 3 hours. All 3 dishes should be ready for tasting at 11am.

c.  All grilling and cooking equipment, unless specified, will be provided by the team. No electricity will be provided.

Legazpi Sunday Market's Grilla In Manila

d.  All ingredients will be provided by the teams except where specified.

e.  5 gallons of water will be provided for each team’s use.

f.  Teams should be at the venue by  8:00 am.

g.  Teams must provide all cutlery, dish towels, utensil , grillers and any appliances or Ingredients not specified.

h.  Cleanliness and safe food handling is of at utmost importance.

i.  The amount of food prepared must be enough for:
– 40 small tasting portions
-  5  full portions for judges (plated)

Judging Criteria
Presentation/Visual Appeal        15%
Palatability/Flavor            50%
Tendreness                15%
Originality/Creativity            20%

Awards
The Market Griller (people’s choice)
The Grill King (overall winner)

For inquiries on Legazpi Sunday Market‘s “Grilla In Manila“, you may call Maan at (632)425.0851 or email Legazpi_SundayMarket@yahoo.com

Mini Stop's Ube Halaya Sundae

While walking along the streets of Makati the other night, I passed-by Mini-Stop along Pasong Tamo to satisfy my usual craving for cheap soft serve ice cream.

The last one I had was when it was still the Hershey’s Chocolate sundae flavor (which is yummy by the way).

To my surprise, I saw an ube colored poster and asked details about it. It turned out that it’s a new flavor which just started last Dec 28 in all of their branches – it’s Ube Halaya Sundae!

However, it’s on a Limited offer basis and most probably would only last for a week or two. So hurry up!

It seems that Mini-Stop is just testing the market for the flavor. It may come back later on if it does well.

Ube Halaya or Halaya Ube is a rich dark lavender purple color of sweet yam-jams usually stored in bottles found in local grocery shelves. It is  made from a variety of sweet potato called purple yam (ube)

almost done 🙂

more Ube Halaya Sundae

It almost tastes like its real ice cream counterpart.

At P15 (USD 0.33), Mini-Stop‘s Ube Halaya Sundae is love. 🙂

Just have it in moderation though; powder-based soft serve ice-cream/sundae are not exactly healthy food. One Ube Halaya Sundae per day would do. 🙂 (kidding!) Nomnomnom….

Balut is a Philippine street fare which is rarely welcomed by foreign tastebuds, especially when they are oriented on what it is.

Philipine Balut

Balut is fertilized duck embryo, cooked, kept warm, and usually sold as street food.

The concept is generally a taboo in western countries but also available in other south east asian neighbors like Vietnam and Laos. A famous source of balut in the Philipines is Pateros where incubation and selection of the eggs are carefully done.

NomnomClub.com @ WordCamp Philippines 2009

Eating balut has also been featured in a number reality-TV series as part of daredevil tasks like Survivor, Amazing Race and Fear Factor. It is also considered an aphrodesiac.

In a WordCamp Philippines 2009 conference held last Saturday, we had Beau Lebens and Seth Bindernagel as guests speakers from WordPress and Mozilla, respectively.

WordCamp Philippines 2009

On a gathering at the night after the wordcamp conference, a balut vendor passed by Whistlestop where we were having our dinner. And being foreigner and guests, we dared them to take on a balut-eating challenge. Seth was game and ready, although Beau needed a little more convincing.

The Japanese guy, also from Mozilla, was tough. He compared the probable experience to Japan’s serving of fish sperm. This totally deserves a completely separate blog (perhaps next time). 🙂

Seth Bindernagel

Anyhow, it was Autralia versus the USA with Seth on the right corner and Beau on the left. The Wordcamp organizers, volunteers, and friends taught them the step by step procedures as to how to eat a balut and proded them on in the process mentioning “don’t look” (at the embryo) so as not to visually discouraged them. LOL.

How To Eat A Balut

1. Lightly tap the tip of the egg shell on any hard surface just like a hard boiled egg. This is done with caution so as not to spill the young duck’s juice.
2. After a hole has been punctured, one could immediately sip the warm juice. The broth essence is full of protein.
3. Peel off the rest of the eggshells to reveal most parts of the yolk and the young chick.
4. Give it a dash of salt to enhance the flavor. The embryo is slightly moist as some of the juice still remains. This is perfect for the pinch of salt to mix with.
5. Eat while still warm. Swallowing it whole is possible but bite-after-bite is recommended. (do not forget to remove the “white part” which is hard and rubbery – this part is not eaten as it is hard to digest).
6. Congratulations! You have just proven that you are as tough as the Survivor, Amazing Race and Fear Factor contestants! 🙂

Peel off the Balut Shells

Add a Pinch of Salt

Chew Away 🙂

With the recent interest in balut, the delicacy has found itself  served in different ways including as appetizers in restaurants, preserved in bottles, or cooked as adobo. Unsold balut in the streets are eventually fried and sold as a different delicacy alltogether.

Here’s a video of the “How To Eat Balut” incident.:

A good tip is to choose your balut young, with the embryo as undeveloped yet as possible. This means that the young chick is “not yet” a chick. Otherwise, you’ll feel some feathers/hair in your tongue or end up chewing out the balut‘s “beak“. Eeewww. LOL. 🙂 Nomnomnom.