by Ianne Monfort
HOW time flies. It seems only yesterday when we were packing away Christmas decor and here we are once more unpacking the same decor for yet another fun – filled holiday.
Christmas is perhaps one of the seasons that challenge the adventurous cook than any other. Other festivities and celebrations may come and go in a day, but the Christmas season often means a month of celebrating, with the stove and the oven hardly cooling off from the first of December to the year’s end.
Making traditional favorites is just part off the Christmas challenge but then there is the endless search for new ideas – festive main courses and not to forget the holiday desserts.
The following recipes that appear in my column have been selected to expand your repertoire of cooking for the holidays.
Enjoy this new innovation of Lumpiang Sariwa, Fiesta Lapu – Lapu and Buko Pandan Special. Happy cooking!!!
LUMPIANG SARIWA
½ k. cabbage, sliced finely
2 carrots, shredded
2 yellow camote, shredded
1 cup Baguio beans, sliced finely
1 small bundle kintsay, chopped
1 cup sayote, shredded
¼ k. pork, sliced into fine strips
½ cup shrimps, peeled (extract juice from heads)
1 small onion sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 cup ground peanuts
3 tbsps. Cooking oil
1 cup shrimp juice
2 pcs. Tokwa diced
Lumpia wrappers
Lettuce leaves
LUMPIA SAUCE:
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup soy sauce
2 cups water
3 tbsps. Cornstarch
¼ cup water
2 heads garlic, minced
PROCEDURE:
Extract the fat from pork. In the same fat, sauté garlic, onion and tokwa. Add pork, shrimps, then shrimp juice. Simmer then add Baguio beans, carrot, sayote, camote, and cabbage. Season with soy sauce, dash of ground pepper and salt (if needed). Remove from fire; let it cool. Add kinchay and sprinkle half of the ground peanuts.
TO SERVE:
Place a lumpia wrapper on a plate and put a lettuce leaf. Brush with little lumpia sauce then put enough vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with ground peanuts and freshly minced garlic before closing the wrap. Serve with lumpia sauce.
FIESTA LAPU-LAPU
2 kg medium lapu-lapu fillet, cut into 1 1/2 “long and 1 1/2” wide strips (reserve fishbone with head and tail intact)
20g Knorr Chicken Seasoning Mix
80 ml ginger juice
80 g all- purpose flour
250 ml cooking oil
2 pcs eggs, hard boiled and mashed
80 g chorizo Bilbao, cooked (sautéed) and chopped
80 g black olives, pitted and sliced
80 g ham, cooked and chopped
120 g Lady’s Choice Mayonnaise
5 g parsley, chopped
Lemon juice
PROCEDURE:
Season lapu-lapu with Knorr Chicken Seasoning Mix and ginger juice. Dredge fish fillet strips and bone in flour. Fry until golden brown. Place in paper towels until excess oil has been absorbed. Arrange the fish fillet on top of the fried fish bone on a platter. Top with chorizo, olives, eggs and ham. In a bowl, combine Lady’s Choice Mayonnaise, parsley and lemon juice, transfer into a squirt bottle or piping bag. Drizzle the mayonnaise mixture on top of the fish and serve immediately.
BUKO PANDAN
SPECIAL
120 ml buko juice
1 drop pandan essence
30 g Carte D’Or green gulaman
30 g Buko strips
20 ml condensed milk, chilled
40 ml all- purpose cream, chilled/ whipped
10 g Wanton wrapper strips fried
Desiccated coconut as needed
PROCEDURE:
Dissolve Carte D’Or green gulaman with buko juice. Bring to boil then simmer , add pandan essence. Place in mould then place in fridge until set. Mix condensed milk and all- purpose cream. Assemble dessert by unmoulding gulaman, top with buko strips and fried wanton wrapper. Drizzle with cream mixture, garnish with roasted desiccated coconut.
