Asparagus bundles with bacon,
panko and chili mayonnaise

This is my first entry in Beets N Squash YOU! a monthly themed recipe contest with a featured vegetable. This month it’s my favorite spring veg: asparagus.

My usual preparation for asparagus is simple: grilled or stir-fried with garlic and salt. It’s one of those vegetables that needs very little attention to taste great.

But, with Easter coming up, I thought I’d get a little more ambitious. One of my fave restaurants here in The Hague is Mochi, which unfortunately bills itself as ‘Japanese-Latin fusion’. (Anyone who knows me knows I’m a total hater on the asian fusion front.) However. The food, which of course is trendy little dishes, is delish, so I’ll forgive them for that as well as their fusion sins. The best dish there, in my opinion, is an appetizer called asperges hirado. It involves all my favorite things: Asparagus. Bacon. Panko. Deep-frying. Mayonnaise. Need I say more?

So I thought I would take a stab at it. What’s even better is that this is the easiest thing ever to make, and it looks great, so would make a pretty appetizer for guests. The key to its success is using pencil-thin asparagus and very thin-sliced bacon. If the asparagus is too thick, it won’t cook through. For the bacon, I used ‘ontbijtspek’ for this (basically a super thin breakfast bacon that is a little bit sweet). Thin pancetta, or even proscuitto would work here; just don’t use thick-sliced bacon because the deep-frying will go super quick.

At Mochi they serve this with wasabi mayonnaise. I made a milk mayonnaise with garlic, then mixed it with sweet chili sauce, two to one. A little sweet, a little spicy. Perfect for the salty crunchy asparagus bundles.

Asparagus bundles with bacon, panko and chili mayonnaise
serves 4-6 as an appetizer

Ingredients
200g thin asparagus
about 200g thinly sliced bacon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup of panko breadcrumbs (more or less)
300-400ml sunflower oil for frying

For the chili mayonnaise
1/4 cup mayonnaise (homemade or store-bought)
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

1. The asparagus should be about 20cm long (8 inches or so, or less). This makes it easier to wrap in the bacon and to fry. Group the asparagus in bundles of five.
2. Wrap each bundle with one or two slices of bacon, keeping the asparagus tips exposed. Basically there should be two layers of bacon to keep the bundle together.
3. Place the egg in a shallow dish, and the panko in a separate shallow dish. Dip each bundle first in the egg, then the panko.
4. Heat the oil in a saucepan to 325 degrees F (160 C). Fry the bundles in batches, turning them with tongs as they become golden. Each bundle shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes.
5. Slice each bundle into two pieces. Combine the mayo and chili sauce. Serve immediately.

Palitaw (sweet rice dumplings with
sesame sugar and coconut)

Recently my friend Justine posted a link to a Korean dessert called gyung-dan, which are basically little chewy cakes of rice flour, sometimes filled with sweet bean paste, and rolled in sesame seeds. Right away this made me think of palitaw, one of my favorite Filipino kakanin, or desserts. Palitaw is boiled sweet rice flour (no filling) that is then coated in sugar, toasted sesame seeds and, in the usual Filipino tropical twist, grated coconut.

This is the easiest dessert ever to make if you have the ingredients on hand. You will need sweet rice flour, such as Mochiko. Some (like my mother, of course) would argue that to make proper palitaw you really should soak sweet rice, then make it into a paste. Frankly, I will admit that with this step, I probably would never make palitaw myself, so I’ll stick to the Mochiko. She did convince me, however, of the worthwhile step of grinding the toasted sesame seeds with the sugar to “get the most sesame flavor from it”. She is right about that.

For the grated coconut, ideally you would have fresh grated coconut extracted with one of these dangerous bad boys (The way it works is you sit on the grater on a low stool, and hold the coconut and grate it with the sharp metal bit. Why do I call it dangerous? My auntie, as a child, ran into one of these, resulting in a huge bloody gash. I guess the moral of the story is don’t run in the house when there are coconut graters lying around.)

If you don’t have access to fresh coconut, check the freezer at the Asian grocery, or use desiccated (non-sweetened) coconut as I have here.

Finally, make sure to eat the palitaw right away. There’s basically no point if it isn’t piping hot; after that it gets insanely chewy and soggy. But when it’s fresh, it’s a little piece of tropical heaven.

Palitaw
serves 4

2 cups (300g) sweet rice flour (such as Mochiko)
3/4 cup (180ml) water
1 cup (90g) grated coconut
1/2 cup(100g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Stir the flour and water in a bowl until smooth. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and flatten slightly into patties.
2. In a food processor, combine the sesame seeds and sugar. Set aside in a shallow dish (you will roll the patties in them after they’ve been cooked. Set the grated coconut in a separate shallow dish (also for coating the patties later).
3. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Drop the palitaw into the boiling water. Cook until they float to the surface.
4. Roll them right away in the sugar-sesame mixture, then in the grated coconut. Serve immediately.

Caldereta

Caldereta is one of my favorite comfort foods. Traditionally, it is a Filipino beef stew with tomatoes. This is a dish you will often see at turo-turo places – otherwise known as point-point joints. At the point-point joint, you point at the steam tray that looks best to you. More accurately, the steam tray that looks least repulsive. They stir up the lukewarm mixture, breaking up the grease on top, and slop it into a Styrofoam container with a heap of rice. (Can you tell I’m not a big fan of the steam tray places?)

Let’s just say there’s a turo-turo place in the city I used to live in that continually seemed to get shut down by the health department. And that was the “okay” place. *shudder*

That said, it makes sense to make your caldereta from scratch because it is fantastic when it’s homemade. I’m not going to make any serious claims toward authenticity here. I add a bit of tamarind in the beginning for sourness, and a can of good whole tomatoes instead of some fresh ones. Oftentimes you find green beans in caldereta, but instead I add potatoes (you can’t go wrong with meat and potatoes) and stir fry crisp green beans as a side dish. As I’m frying the onions in the beginning, I also throw in a big pinch of red pepper flakes to add a little heat.

I use beef chuck for this, and instead of cutting it into cubes, I leave the pieces large (easier when you are browning it) and slow cook it long enough for the meat to fall apart. Also a secret addition: if you have a piece of bone-in oxtail, add it. It gives great flavor. And by the way, this is great in a slow cooker: a winter dinner that’s ready as soon as you get home from work. What can be better?

Caldereta
Serves 4-6 with steamed rice
UPDATE: Thanks to Allan’s comment below, I’ve added liver pate as an optional ingredient, and adjusted the tamarind paste also as an optional ingredient (as it’s not really traditionally used). Many Filipino cooks use liver pate as a thickener in this dish. I prefer it without, but feel free to try it!

Ingredients
Vegetable oil
2 pounds (1 kg) boneless beef chuck
1 medium piece of oxtail (optional)
1 15-oz (500g) can of whole tomatoes
1-1/2 cups water
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch knob of ginger, grated or minced
1 tablespoon tamarind paste (use a tablespoon balsamic vinegar if you don’t have tamarind) (optional)
3 tablespoons liver pate (optional)
½ pound cubed, peeled red potatoes
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
A small handful of cilantro, minced for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 250 F (120 C). (If you are using a slow cooker, do everything up until step 5, then add the ingredients to the slow cooker.)
2. Rinse and dry the beef and oxtail, if using. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
3. In a large Dutch oven, heat a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil over high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, doing this in batches to avoid crowding. Set it aside.
4. In the same Dutch oven, add a little bit more oil, and fry the onions over medium-low heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tamarind, garlic, ginger and red pepper and stir for another minute. Dice the tomatoes (or, if they’re soft enough, shred them with your hands over the pot), and add them with the juice, and the liver pate, if using. Add the water, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the meat and cover. Put the Dutch oven in the oven and cook for 3-4 hours, checking it to make sure there’s enough liquid every now and then. After about 3 hours, add the potatoes and continue baking for another hour. The meat should come apart easily with a fork.
6. Serve with rice. This tastes great the next day.

Nutella steamed pudding

Although my favorite way to eat Nutella is slathered on bread, I thought for World Nutella Day (four years old this year, I might add!) I would combine two of my favorite things: steamed pudding and Nutella.

Steamed pudding is basically a cake that is steamed rather than baked, then turned out onto a plate. What’s great is that it never gets really dry, so it’s moist and gooey, and often times light.

Usually a 4-5 quart heatproof bowl is the tool of choice for steaming the pudding in. This then needs to be set inside a larger pot that can accommodate water about halfway up the sides of the bowl.

Lucky for me, I have a steam oven (great for making siopao, by the way!), so I just set a large heatproof dish with a cover directly in the oven. For traditional steaming, the pudding bowl needs to be prepared properly. These instructions from the BBC are the best I’ve seen for preparing a steamed pudding.

This pudding is more like a souffle, and the Nutella taste is subtle in the light airy texture. To dress it up, you can prepare a little Nutella sauce, but I’m happy eating it with a spoonful of sweetened creme fraiche.

Nutella steamed pudding
serves 4-6
Recipe tip: Because Nutella actually doesn’t have a lot of chocolate (or hazelnut for that matter), the taste is really subtle when you bake with it. What I have found, however, is that if you make your own gianduja (chocolate-hazelnut mixture), you really boost the intensity of chocolatey-hazelnutty flavor. There’s a great recipe at the Cook and Eat blog. Give it a shot!

Ingredients
1 cup (240ml) Nutella
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
4 tablespoons (50g) butter (plus more for greasing the bowl)
pinch of salt
6 eggs, separated: yolks in one bowl, whites in another
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup (65g) sugar
1/4 cup (35g) flour

1. Grease the bowl generously with butter.
2. In a small heavy pan, heat the cream, butter and salt over medium low. Lower the heat to low and add the Nutella. Whisk together until totally combined. Set aside until just a bit warm.
3. Add the egg yolks to a large bowl and whisk until a bit frothy. Pour the Nutella mixture into the eggs, whisking while you add it so the eggs don’t curdle.
4. In a separate bowl, whip the egg white with an electric mixer. When the egg whites start looking foamy, add the cream of tartar and the sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks form, but don’t let it dry out.
5. Stir in about a quarter of the egg whites into the egg yolk and Nutella mixture. Gently fold the rest of the egg whites in with a spatula. Sprinkle on the flour and gently fold that in as well.
6. Prepare the steamed pudding (as directed in the video link above). Set a tea towel in the bottom of a huge pot that will hold the pudding bowl. Add the bowl and pour boiling water until halfway up the sides of the bowl. Set over medium low heat (until the water is simmering) and cover the pot. (You may need to add water part of the way through)
7. Steam the pudding for an hour. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. This is a good time to prepare the Nutella sauce, if you are making it.

Nutella sauce
1/4 cup (60ml) Nutella
3 tablespoons boiling water

Add the Nutella to a medium-sized bowl. While whisking, pour the boiling water over the Nutella. It may seize up at first, but as the water gets incorporated, it will become smooth again.

Sweetened creme fraiche
1/2 cup (120ml) creme fraiche
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the creme fraiche, sugar and vanilla. Stir together until smooth.

Links:
Cook and Eat: DIY Nutella
World Nutella Day
Ms. Adventures in Italy
Bleeding Espresso

Siopao asado

My New Year’s cooking resolution is to cook more Filipino food, specifically food that I grew up eating. The other week I was having a discussion with my 6-year-old, and told him I was cooking one of Grandma’s recipes. He was like, “oh, so you’re making Chinese food?” Um, nooooo.

I cook a lot, and I cook ‘fiesta’ food on special occasions (pancit, lumpia, leche flan), but aside from rice, I surprisingly don’t cook a whole lot of Filipino food on the regular. I plan on changing that this year: some old recipes and also, hopefully, some recipes I haven’t tried yet will make their way onto this site. I may have to rename it “Crispy Pata” to be accurate!

So in reference to our Chinese/Filipino discussion, I started the year by making siopao on New Year’s day. Siopao is basically a Filipino adaptation of the steamed Chinese char siu bao, but with a uniquely sweet/salty pork filling that is purely Filipino.

I was a bit disappointed with the recipe I ended up using for the dough, so if you have a dough recommendation, send it my way! I found this dough did not have the light, fluffy, slightly chewy quality of most Filipino siopao. (For example, I almost never see siopao that have cracks in it.)

The filling is my own because the Filipina ladies in my family would kill me if I published their top secret recipes. I guesstimated the ingredients, made it my own (I love pork belly so I used it here) and it came out incredibly close to the asado filling I grew up eating.

Siopao asado
Makes a dozen steamed buns

For the bun:
1 cup warm water (about 110F)
2-1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (if you only have active dry yeast, make sure to proof it first)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the filling:
2 pounds (1 kg) pork belly
1 cup chicken broth
1 small onion, diced (the size of a shallot)
3 tablespoons Filipino soy sauce (such as Datu Puti, if you don’t have it, a ‘superior’ soy sauce will work)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons sugar

1. Preparing the filling: Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C). Combine the pork belly with the chicken broth in a baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 2 hours, or until the pork is very tender. Remove from oven and discard the broth (or set it aside for a different use).
2. Raise oven temperature to 450 F (220 C). Place the pork back in the oven, uncovered, and roast for 30 minutes, fat side up. Remove and let the pork cool, then chop it into bite-size pieces.
3. Combine the soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce in a small bowl. Heat a wok over medium high. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, swirl it around, and add the onion. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the pork and the sauce. Heat through until the sauce has thickened a bit, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste if necessary. Remove to a bowl and let the filling cool.
5. For the dough: Combine the water, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Add the flour and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic and not sticky. I take it out of the mixer toward the end and put it on a floured surface to knead for a few minutes by hand.
6. Grease the inside of a large bowl. Turn the dough into it and cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 2 hours.
7. Remove the dough, sprinkle it with the baking powder and knead it until the baking powder is worked in. Separate into 12 equal pieces on a lightly floured surface. Cover again with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 30 minutes. While the dough is rising, cut 12 squares of parchment paper to go underneath each bun when it steams.
8. When you are ready to fill the dough, roll the dough out or flatten with your hands and fill with 2 tablespoons of filling. Pinch the dough closed, trying not to get filling on the outside of the bun.
9. Prepare a wok for steaming. Place the buns in the steaming basket for 15-20 minutes. (Do this in batches if necessary)
10. Serve warm, or allow to cool, then wrap them in cling wrap and keep in the refrigerator.