Friday, April 20, 2007

LET'S WARP THEM UP

Although the Philippines has never been under the Mexican regime, the culmination of over two hundred years trade route from Manila and Acapulco made an impact to some of the Philippine dishes. Mexican and Filipino sailors that sailed in the galleons must had exchanged recipes along the way that the "tamale" or what the Filipinos calls "tamales" (with an "s") came and stayed in the islands. In Cebu island, the natives use corn husk. I would assume because most of the Visayan islands are corn-eater natives of the Philippines. But predominantly, the Filipinos use a lot of banana leaves for wrapping food like some of the South American countries. This is specially in Pampanga, a suburb of Manila in Luzon...where according to historians, some Mexican sailor jumped ships, intermarried with he natives and settled in the area. There is a town in the area called Mexico.

In the Philippines. "tamales" is one of those dishes eaten when one craves something different for merienda or snack. They are not easily available, nor sold by the street vendors. In Mexico and even at the border cities of the US, one can buy them from the street vendors...in a cart with poratble stoves that you can assure that they are freshly hot. In Manila certain select establishments specializes in them. I remember in my younger day, Aristocrat Restaurant in Dewey boulevard (now Roxas Blvd.) sells them. They don't make them in their kitchen, but delivered by one of our relative from Jolo, Mandaluyong.They are related to my maternal grandmother.

TAMALES

In a wok or skillet, toast:

5 cups of rice flour, set aside

Combine with;

1 cup chicken broth
6 cups of coconut milk
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup ground peanuts
1/2 1/2 brown sugar
1 tesapoon annato powder (achuete)

Cook over low heat until thick and mixture separates from the side of the skillet stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

Cool and set aside:

In another skillet or wok, combine;

2 cups of rice flour (not toasted)
3 cups of coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth salt and ground white pepper to taste

cook over low heat, as the first mixture. Cool and set aside;

Meanwhile, boil ;

4 eggs, sliced in eight's or whole quail eggs ( canned quail eggs will do)

In a wok or skillet saute and caramelize;

2 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 minced garlic cloves
1 diced onion

Add:

1 cup flaked chicken breast
1 cup julienne ham
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cool

Slice;

Chorizo de Bilbao or pepperoni crosswise thin

Prepare the banana leaves;

Wash and wipe dry and cut into 5x5 inches pieces. Blanch in boiling water or pass through an open fire of a gas burner to make the leaves pliable. This also strengthens the leaves and will not split or tear while in he process of wrapping. I personally prefer blanching in boiling water...the easy way.

Lay two pieces on top of the other.

At the center put 2 tablespoon each of the flour mixtures side by side.
Pat lightly to to make a mound. Top with the meat mixture in the center, sliced eggs, Chorizo de Bilbao and a few roasted peanuts.

Overlap the two ends of the leaves over and fold encasing the "tamales " mixtures. Wrap again with another piece of leaf or aluminum foil into the desired bundles. Without the aluminum foil, you can tie the bundles with raffia or Cotton strings.

Steam for about an hour, Serve warm or cold.


Note: If you don't have a steamer, use the foil for the final wrap. place them on a large baking dish . Cover with aluminum sheet and steam-bake 350 degree oven for an hour.


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TAMALES MY MOTHER USE TO MAKE

This recipe is what I can remember my mother and use to make. It is not often that this was present in our dinning table because like working mother. she does not have the time to do it personally. We have a relative that specializes in this dish, sells the finished products to hotels and restaurants in Manila. So, our "tamales" for the holidays comes from the kitchen of a relative...bought! There is a lot of planning and work on this recipe, but worth it!

In a stock pot, boil in water to cover:

6 chicken breast
1 pound pork butt (optinal)... (you can use prepared cooked sliced ham and does not have to with the rest of the ingredients)
1 onion, halves
1 celery stalk
2 whole garlic cloves
2 chicken bouillon cubes

Drain, cool and set aside.

In the same broth cook;

1 pound shelled shrimps, just pink and opaque...don't over cook them.

Drain and set aside;

Combine and stir
2 cups water-ground corn meal
2 cups of water
cups of coconut milk
2 tablespoon chili powder
1/cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon azzafran ('kasubha")
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Place on top of the double boiler in simmering water.
Stir until the mixture is set and does not stick on the side of the pot. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Clean the top pot of the double boiler, combine and stir;

4 cups glutinous rice flour
2 cups chicken broth combine with,
2 8-ounces canned coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Cook the same as the first flour mixture...you should have a soft paste consistency for both of the pastes.

Cool and set aside.
Prepare the banana leaves as above recipe.

At the center of the banana leaves, put 2 heaping tablespoons of the paste mixture side by side, top with;

pieces of flaked chicken breast
sliced pork pieces...you can eliminate the pork and use ham instead.
sliced Chorizo de Bilbao
quartered piece of hard boil eggs or one quail egg

Wrap as above recipe, arrange on a steamer,steam for an hour.


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ALMOST LIKE TAMALES...BUT!

This is a pseudo-tamales in a sense and look like the real tamales. This I found while in Hong Kong and sometimes they are sold frozen in some Asian supermarket that has been wrap in bamboo leaves...yes! bamboo leaves are big in China.

Soak overnight;

3 cups glutinous rice (malagkit), washed and drain

Transfer to a microwave-casserole dish and add and blend well;

3 cups coconut milk
1 table spoon chili powder
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder or mashed

Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and place in the microwave oven, set for "rice." When the "ringer" of the oven indicates the rice is done...I assure you that it not! Stir the rice, turning over several times, discard the the plastic wrap and place a wet paper towel on top and cover with lid or another plastic wrap...COOK TWICE!

Cooking twice will assure you to have a tender glutinous rice. Cool and set aside.

Have ready;

3 hard boil eggs, quartered
4 chicken breast, boil and flaked into 12pieces
12 slice pieces of ham
1 Chorizo de Bilbao, cut into 12 slices
1 cup of unsalted roasted peanuts

Divide the rice into 12 portions, make a compact mounds on prepared banana leaves. Place on top of the mounds...in the following order; ham, chicken, chorizo, peanut and eggs

Follow instruction for the banana leaves preparation and wrapping as from the above recipes.

Steam for an hour.

Serve with your favorite salsa.


1 comment:

flipster said...

A little historical correction on your blog, Mexico and the Philippines were both colonies of Spain, The cultural, agricultural, commercial exchanges were the result of Spain's interest in trading with China. Manila was used as a trading post with China because the Portuguese in Macao had a monopoly in the mainland. The Chinese were paid in silver from Mexican mines.
This was going on a hundred years before the English landed on Plymouth Rock.