Foot and Fire

I wanted to cook Tinola as my last entry for the National Heroes Day Cookfest but we had it last week and I was not abe to snap a photo of it as I planned to do another recipe. Anyway, I wanted Tinola for my last entry because it was mentioned in Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and the neck and wing parts were given to Fr. Damaso who was insulted but the soup was especially prepared for Ibarra who just came back from abroad and not for him. (By the way, I can't help but mention that I love the neck and wing part mainly because of the foodie wisdom that says, "the nearest to the bone, the sweetest is the meat." This, Fr. Damaso has no clue).   And so, I had my favorite dish, Binakol. I checked on the web the entries on binakol and I was surprised that most entries would introduce binakol as Tinola but uses coconut water and coco meat. Okay, I was not pleasantly surprised (I'm a bit horrified, I admit) because the binakol I grew to love while I was in Ilo...

Half kilo native chicken Onions Bellpepper Ginger Coco water of 2 coconuts (about 2 L) 3 Potatoes, cubed Coco meat Salt and pepper to taste. Boil the chicken until tender with minimal water. Add ginger, onion, bellpepper and coco water. Simmer, then add poataoes and coco meat. Adjust taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with rice on the side.

Half of native chicken Ginger 2L Young Coconut water (buko juice) 2 large potatoes, cubed Young coconut meat (buko) Salt and pepper Boil native chicken till tender and water is reduced. Add the coco water and ginger and bring to boil. Add potatoes and pepper. Continue to boil until potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper. Serve with rice.

4 cups walnut 1 cup raisins 6 cups desiccated coconut 3 cups flour 4 pcs eggs 1 cup canola oil 11/2 cup brown sugar 2 cans condensed milk Grated cheese or pinch of salt (optional) Break whole walnut into pieces and combine raisins in a bowl. Set aside. Combine desiccated coconut and flour in a deep bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, break eggs, add canola oil, beat lightly add sugar. In the coconut-flour mixture, add the egg-oil mixture alternately with milk one portion at a time and mix.  Repeat until all are mixed together.  Add the walnut and raisins, and cheese or salt if desired.  Bake at 180F for 20 minutes. This recipe made about 150 pcs but the macaroons are not uniform in sizes and a small muffin baking tin is needed to hold the batter as the paper tin cannot mold by itself and so that the outcome of the macaroons will be uniform.... Walnut and raisins.... The batter The paper tin cant hold tight The finished product.

By GERLIE M. UY Colorful, well-presented in plates, tasty....  These are some of the photos of the fruits we partook during our Palawan trip... *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

By GERLIE M. UY Yes, I am feeling the paradise vibe while sipping this buko...  *** A watermelon plating. *** Pineapple plating by our tour guide renz. *** Crab, crab, crabs. *** fish, fish, fish. *** plated cucumber. *** our lunch in El Nido ***

By GERLIE M. UY We stayed at Doc J's Stop-over located just about two kilometers from entry to the municipality of Don Salvador Benedicto (aka DSB and don sal) located at 37 Brgy. Pandanon, DSB, Negros Occidental. DSB is a cool place but we dared to have halo halo as it is the place's best offering to those who stop over to the place... HALO HALO at DOC J's Stop Over, 37km Pandanon, Don Salvador Benedicto (DSB) Doc J's Halo Halo has vanilla ice cream, ube halaya, bits of colored kaong, sugared young buko or coconut shreds and sweetened with milk creamer and honey with dissolved mascuvado sugar LANZON (the yellow one) -- steamed grated cassava with young shredded coconut LINUPAK NGA KAMOTE KAHOY -- pounded cassava with shredded coconut LINUPAK NGA KAMOTE KAHOY, up close arroz con caldo passion fruit juice with buko shreds (young coconut) Don Sal women sell their camote and banana chips as well as their candied young coconut called BUKAYO.  LINUPAK NGA SAGING -- pounded ...

By GERLIE M. UY 1 big can of fruit cocktail, drained 1 block cheese, cut into small cube pieces 2 cups raisins 2 cans corn kernels, drained 20 pcs young coconut (buko), shredded (reserve water for the juice) 3 condensed milk 3 all purpose cream Mix all ingredients and refrigerate to chill. Serve as cold dessert! the young coconut!

By GERLIE M. UY TONGUE OUT. The boy is salivating over the mutant coconut aka macapuno. gelatinous and smooth, that is macapuno sans sugar. chopped macapuno. dissolved sugar. bringing the sugar into boil. Cool a bit and this is ready to go!!! 1 T sesame seeds 1 small macapuno coconut (mutant coconut) water 2 cups washed sugar 1 cup water 1T vanilla syrup Toast sesame seeds. Set aside. Shred or chop macapuno coconut and this will yield about two cups. Bring water to boil and put the macapuno for about five minutes. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a bowl, dissolve sugar in 1 cup water. Transfer mixture in a small casserole under medium fire and stir constantly for about five minutes until dissolved. Add the macapuno and let simmer uncovered for another ten minutes. Add vanilla and toasted sesame seeds and remove from fire. Let cool and transfer in a glass container.   Serve with bread, as is or as toppings to fave fruit.