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Recipes
Recipes
Lila’s Ube Crinkles Recipe
Ube has a subtle, delicate flavor—think mild sweet potato with vanilla overtones. This simple, chewy cookie that Lila created allows that flavor (and lovely color) to shine.
YIELD: 3½ DOZEN USING A MEDIUM-SIZE (2¾”) COOKIE SCOOP
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar (white granulated sugar is fine, but the brown sugar adds a little something special)
2 eggs
1½ cups ube jam / halaya*
1 tbsp ube flavoring (I used the McCormick Ube Flavor)
2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F° and line cookie sheets.
Whisk all the dry ingredients in a bowl—flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream together butter and sugar using a mixer until well combined, then add the eggs one at a time.
Add in ube jam and flavoring and mix at high speed until fully incorporated. Once the mixture is a lovely, uniform violet color, turn the speed down to low and gradually add in the dry ingredients mixture. Mix until just combined.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours or overnight. Do not skip this step as the dough is very sticky and hard to work with while warm.
Using a medium-size cookie scoop, roll the cookie dough into balls (or scoop with a spoon and shape into roughly 2¾-inch balls) and coat with powdered sugar.
Bake on lined cookie sheets at 350 degrees F° for 10 minutes or until firm around the edges and slightly underdone in the center (but not doughy). Enjoy!
Derek’s Salabat-Spiced Banana Bread
(Filipino Ginger Tea Inspired)
When Lila first got into baking, she devised this recipe for Derek and it remained his favorite despite the change in their relationship. She couldn’t blame him—as a fellow ginger fiend, she finds it absolutely delicious with a nice milky tea.
YIELD: ONE 9X5 INCH LOAF
Ingredients
Dry:
2 cups flour
¼tsp cayenne
½tsp salt
½tsp cinnamon (heaping)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
Wet:
5 medium to large bananas (VERY ripe)
5 tbsp melted coconut oil (or melted butter)
½to ¾ cup honey (depends on how sweet you like it)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
A few swipes of calamansi or lemon zest (about ¼ to ½ lemon)
Optional:
½to 1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 to 2 tbsp instant salabat mix*
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F° and prepare a 9x5 loaf pan (grease/spray/line).
Whisk dry ingredients in a medium-size bowl and set aside.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl, then add the coconut oil and honey. Mix well then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Grate the lemon peel or calamansi directly into the bowl and add the crystallized ginger, if using. Mix thoroughly.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix lightly with a rubber spatula until just combined. Don’t overmix, it will still be slightly lumpy.
Put mixture in a prepared loaf pan and sprinkle top with instant salabat mix, if using. Bake for about an hour. Check the banana bread about halfway through the cook time, and if it’s browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil.
It’s done when a knife or chopstick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy with a nice cup of tea!
Lola Flor’s Minatamis na Bao
(Coconut Jam)
This rich coconut caramel spread is one of Lola Flor’s specialties. It’s traditionally served with pandesal (Filipino soft bread rolls) and kakanin (Filipino sweet glutinous rice cakes) but it’s delicious in many other applications (Lila once used it to fill a layer cake!). A great way to jazz up breakfast and tea time.
YIELD: ABOUT 1 CUP
Ingredients
1 can coconut milk (13.5 fl oz)
⅔cup of dark brown sugar*
2 pandan leaves, tied in a bow, or 1 tsp pandan extract (optional)
Put all the ingredients in a thick-bottomed medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, lower to a simmer and stir the contents until the sugar dissolves.
Using a rubber spatula, stir the jam until it thickens to a honey-like consistency and is a lovely dark brown, about 45 minutes.* Make sure to stir the contents, scraping the bottom and sides, often so that the jam doesn’t stick to the bottom. If you want to be sure it’s done, drop a small amount of the jam into very cold water and see if it forms a soft ball.
Remove from heat and pour into a clean glass jar. Allow to cool and thicken a bit more before using.
Tita Rosie’s Chicken Adobo
Adobo is often considered the Philippines’s national dish, and is more a style of cooking than specific food. The main ingredient and seasonings vary according to region (it’s an archipelago of over 7,000 islands, after all) and even according to family, but this is how Tita Rosie makes it.
SERVES 4-6
NOTE: This dish tastes best when marinated for several hours, so start it early. Also, the ingredients are highly adjustable. Want it saltier? Add more soy sauce. Tangier? More vinegar. Is the flavor too strong? Add more water. Want to switch up the meats? Sub in a pound of pork belly for a pound of the chicken. Adobo is a personal experience.
Ingredients
3 to 4 lbs of skin-on, bone-in chicken legs, thighs, or drumsticks (avoid chicken breasts, which are too dry for this style of cooking)
¾cup soy sauce (Datu Puti brand preferred)
1 cup vinegar*
1 cup water
1 tsbp sugar
10 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Put all ingredients in a large pot or sealable plastic bag, making sure the chicken is mostly submerged. Marinate in the fridge for four hours to overnight, turning the chicken or bag around several times so the marinade is distributed evenly. You can skip this step or cut the time down to only thirty minutes, but it won’t be as tasty.
If you used a bag, empty the contents into a large pot and turn the heat to high. If it’s already in a pot, you can skip straight to heating everything to boiling. Once the liquid boils, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, but not falling off the bone. Remove the chicken to a plate using tongs, but keep the marinade simmering in the pot.
Heat a separate pan on high and add a splash of oil. Brown the chicken on all sides, in batches, until the skin is crisp. Alternatively, crisp the skin under the broiler. Set aside.
Turn the heat back up to high under the marinade pot and boil the sauce for 20 minutes or more, until it’s reduced by at least half. Some people like it a little drier, others saucier, so boil it until you have the desired amount. Return the chicken to the pot and stir to coat with sauce, then serve with white rice.
