Chef Tatung's Garden Cafe

I’ve read great reviews for a resto just within the UP Village area, run by a Chef Tatung.  So when a deal came for it, I excitedly bought a few vouchers for a family weekend lunch-out.  It took us awhile to find a common time, but when we finally did, I booked us a table and headed out for a short drive to UP Village.

With just the address on hand, we looked for the resto.  As expected, it looked like an ordinary house with no visible sign that it was an eating place (or did I miss it?).  Anyway, the white gates were open so we trooped towards the door and entered the Chef's abode.  I've read somewhere that this is really his private home converted into a resto.  It was homey and welcoming.  Definitely a good sign.

After scouring a computer printed menu, we ordered what we thought would be interesting.  We started with Chicken Sisig Lettuce Wraps (P240) and Local Veggies with Assorted Dips (P160).  We enjoyed how the chicken sisig was plated.  But being Tagalog who enjoys her buro, it was refreshing to find it as a menu item in a resto.  The local vegetables were young and sweet, paired with three dips, buro, patis-calamansi and bagoong, it was a match made in heaven (though I'm pretty sure my Tatay (Dad) wouldn't agree)

 

Chicken Sisig Lettuce Wraps (P240)

  

Local Veggies with Assorted Dips (P160)

 

We continued on with Chicken in Roasted Coconut in Yellow Ginger Sauce (P320) which would have been better if it had absorbed more of the flavors.  The sauce reminds me of thai chicken in coconut sans the basil.  Prawns in Aligue Sauce (P480) proved too rich for me, so I just took the prawns and separated it from the rest of the sauce.  For carbs, we tried Tatung's Favorite Fried Rice (P160) which I think was called Nasi Goreng rice when we ate there.  It was an interesting mix of shrimp, peanuts, carrots and scrambled eggs.  It was a meal in itself, heavy and satisfying.  I think we  also tried their Molo soup too, which at P180 was a steal since it was good for sharing.

 

Tatung's Favorite Fried Rice (P160)

 

  

Chicken in Roasted Coconut in Yellow Ginger Sauce (P320)

Prawns in Aligue Sauce (P480)

 

We didn't get desserts anymore since we were all full from the meal but over-all, the place is great for families who want to enjoy reasonably-priced, Asian/Filipino home-cooked meals leisurely in a not too crowded and noisy atmosphere.  As for the desserts, maybe we'll return for them one of these days. (The chocnut chocolate cake sounds interesting)

Chef Tatung's Garden Cafe

17 Matipid St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City
Mobile: +63 915 846 3234
Telephone: +632 352-6121 

The waiters said you don't need to reserve but the space is quite limited so I'd still recommend to call them up before going there.

Break from the holiday binge, my first assignment for the year.

I have a love/hate relationship with food during the holidays.  I cook/bake myself to exhaustion that I don't feel like eating anything heavy anymore by the second week.  Mostly, I ask for something light, just to fill my tummy.  So, when I got my recipe assignment for Yummy.ph, it was easier than usual since this was actually what I was eating during December and well into January.

The assignment called for healthy, low-calorie dishes for the new year. Perfect!  

First off, an eggwhite omelet.  This has been a regular breakfast item for the last few weeks out of necessity.  We had at least 3 liters of eggwhites stored in the ref from a holiday leche flan cooking spree.  Our cook usually just scrambles everything with onions and tomatoes but for the readers, I added a few more ingredients, bell peppers for crunch and color, and three different types of mushrooms for added fiber, subtle flavors and protein.  Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/egg-white-omelet-with-three-mushrooms. A complete meal in 10 minutes tops!  Can't beat that.

I included a few more recipes from our home kitchen.  The 15-minute baked fish is actually our own version of Pinangat, 5 minutes prep time, microwaved for 10 minutes on high.  Simple, and yet so flavorful. http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/15-minute-fish-fillet  

Another is the Low-carb Chicken Soup, a clear soup that's light on the tummy. http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/low-carb-chicken-soup .  Other recipes are the Pan-grilled fish with Indian Mango Salsa and Steamed Chicken with Veggies.

For the first time, everything is unbelievably easy even for beginner cooks, prepared and cooked in less than 30 minutes. After all, diet-friendly grubs need not be too fussy, right?

Two days of chocolate bliss at Puratos University

Our chocolate cake.  The pink bows didn't turn out the way I envisioned it to be. Oh well, I'm sure it tasted good naman.

I’ve been in blogging hiatus.  There was just too much to cook, bake, eat, meet, shop, run around for, it was one of the things that I had to sacrifice to get more time to be holiday crazy.   Seriously, I also didn’t feel inspired to write.  Maybe I’m just completely worn out.  It’s now January and the madness has died down considerably. Thank God!  Just finished a foodie project and thankfully this spurred this break from my writer’s block.

I have been having friends over and trying recipes we both haven’t been doing but I still miss going to cooking classes.  I’m sure I’ve attended enough of them through the years  but surely there’s still something exciting to learn.

Shienna, the chocolatier showing us how to make pralines from scratch

When Puratos, a food company which imports both compound and Belgian chocolate (there’s a difference apparently) posted a facebook ad for their Carat chocolate course, I was excited.  I’m in love with chocolates (who isn’t?).  It’s my Achilles heels!  I’ve dreamed of becoming a chocolatier (no kidding).  I’ve made molded chocolate giveaways a few years ago but never really learned how to make it properly.  I guess, I was just content with buying my Meiji and Baby Ruths or getting from Ate, Kirkland’s Chocolates of the World (at $10, it was worth every bit).  The course was a steal at P5,000 considering it was good for two.  The only problem was, how to get there.  Their plant is in FTI Taguig.

I’ve never drove by myself to FTI so as expected, I got lost. Thankfully, I was with my nephew who I brought along, so at least I didn’t get lost alone.  Anyway, found FTI at last, with still a few minutes to spare but whew! The drive time from the house to FTI took more than 2 hours.  This, I thought to myself, better be worth it.

Cupcakes covered with chocolates, isn't it obvious which ones were decorated by a pro and which ones were decorated by the newbie? ;)

Thankfully, it turned out we were just 4 in the group.  The place was spacious for 4 but I don’t think more than 10 would fit comfortably.  We started with being just onlookers to what Shienna, the chocolatier was doing.  There was a bit of hands-on chocolate molding and cupcake decorating. Without realizing it, we stood up the whole day and went home with this realization:  working as a chocolatier wasn’t as easy as I thought but I’m telling you, the smell of chocolate is the best perk-me-up!  Actually, can’t stop tasting it while working on it.  Got to taste their natural Belcolade Belgian chocolate, too. OMG.  This is bad. It's so addicting.

Double chocolate drink.  Even the decor was made from chocolates.  Be still, my heart!

Second day, we were given a free hand to make whatever we wanted to create with chocolates. Best of all, we get to bring everything home.  Yey!!!    My nephew and I were a team and made A LOT of molded chocolates and pralines. Actually, we knew we had to decorate a cake but we didn’t plan how to go about it so we just continued on making pralines and molded chocolates for 3 hours.  When the cake came, I panicked.  I worked for half day on molded chocolates and didn’t once thought of starting making decors for the cake.  Our other classmates, being cake professionals, were already working on their cake since the day started.  Haha.  Oh well, we’ll just have to wing it.

That's us, trying to make a presentable cake as fast as we could.  We got too caught up making the pralines

Working with pralines at least taught me some valuable lessons.  First, water and chocolates don’t mix so be obsessive about drying molds.  Second, as with anything, it requires patience and a lot of practice.  Lastly, as with drying the molds, never use a mold unless it’s totally clean of everything, including leftover chocolates!

And here they are!  Can’t say its all perfect but even the imperfect ones are soooo good. 

The finished pralines.  I love their polycarbonate molds.  It really turned out perfectly shaped... well, at least most of them.  

Best of all, we got to bring home 10 kilos of white chocolate.. yes, 10 KILOS!  I’ve  probably used more than half of it already for my holiday baking but I still have more than enough to practice my new skills.

After two days of chocolate bliss, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of eating chocolates but, seriously, I have to find a different second career.  I’ll never survive working as a chocolatier.  The boss will certainly fire me on the very first day for eating all my creations!

Cake done by a classmate.  Oh, she's a pro at this!  

Ensaymada madness

I couldn't stop myself, just had to take a pic before everything disappears in 2 minutes... flat!

Almost everyone I know has a bucket list, things they want to do  before they go.  I, too, have a growing foodie bucket list, made up of mostly, what else, food to cook or bake. ;)

Ever since I finally baked a successful pandesal, I couldn't stop thinking of making another go at baking an edible ensaymada.  I've tried it twice, both times it turned hard as rocks and this isn't an exaggeration. Even my dogs wouldn't touch it!

Anyway, I was on a look out for a recipe.  I probably have 5 different  ensaymada recipes from different sources languishing in the recipe box but I wanted to try a new one so I searched yummy.ph and found this: Patty Loanzon's Cheesy Ensaymada http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/Cheesy-Ensaymada . Looks easy enough but yikes! 4 hours wait to proof! This is gonna be a looonnnggg day. 

Since this was a spur-of-the-moment baking, I have to make do with the ingredients on hand.  Everything checked except queso de bola.  Raiding the ref, I found some leftover blue cheese, Pecorino romano, and a pack of cheezy spread.  Though blue cheese might be an interesting choice, it had to be the Pecorino since I needed my family or the dogs to finish this lot in case it doesn't turn out well. Haha.

After resting the dough for 1 1/2 hours and rolling it into a swirl, it's ready for 4 hours of proofing.  Time for some early Christmas shopping!

With everything set, I turned on my trusty Kitchen aide and kneaded it using the dough hook attachment.  I'm sure manually kneading it is possible but after my failed attempts using hand-kneaded ensaymada, I'm not gonna risk this one, so I let the dough hook do its job.

After four hours and a failed shopping trip, all puffed up and almost ready for the oven.

I made some minor revisions to the recipe.  To get a more buttery and a stronger cheese flavor, I used pecorino romano instead of processed cheese in the dough and added an extra 1/2 c of butter to the dough.  Also, I kneaded it an extra 5 minutes since the dough wasn't elastic enough after 5. Lastly, I made a sponge composed of the yeast, a bit of flour, honey and water and allowed this to rise a bit before adding it to the rest of the dough ingredients.

And here they are!   

 Finished Pecorino romano ensaymada.  Buttery and soft just the way I like!  

The pecorino and butter sent heavenly aromas from the oven, beckoning the hungry to try the large buns even while scorchingly hot.  I couldn't stop myself, I had to know if at last I made an edible ensaymada.   Even without the topping, I bit into it.  It yielded.  I was excited.  It was soft, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth. FINALLY, an ensaymada recipe worth keeping.

First time Ibos!

Sorry haven’t been posting.  It has been a busy month for me and just had a breather before another long weekend.  

I’ve finally got a short vacay outside the Metro. Actually, I had a quick visit to the family’s roots in Mindanao.  If you’ve been there, its actually a bucolic seaside town with amazing views of endless rice fields. But any vacay wouldn’t be complete without some foodie pursuits, right?

Ricefields abound around Misamis Occ.

Aren’t you sometimes awed at how a humble seed from no less than a weed can be transformed into so many delectable possibilities?  I’m particularly talking about rice, which could be the staple we know, a kind of porridge, a sauce thickener, a main dish (I’m thinking risotto and paella), a snack item, even a dessert!  I sometimes feel guilty of being able to easily bake a passable chiffon or a chocolate cake and yet clueless on how to make native snacks such as biko or suman.  It has been on my to-do list for so long, so on this vacay, I asked my cousins if they could find me someone who’ll be willing to show me how wrap our native rice-based delicacy called Ibos.  Thankfully, the retired family cook was only too willing to teach me how.

Manong Ipit thinning some of the coconut leaf ribs to make it easier to use as a wrap.

Why Ibos? Because I really love how this one tastes. Unlike similarly wrapped rice delicacy found here in Manila, this one is slightly sweet, with a hint of anise and a heavenly smoky taste that you get from cooking the filling in an open wood fire.  And don’t forget the leafy undertones which it gets from wrapping and boiling this in young coconut leaves.  It’s the perfect breakfast, midday or afternoon snack with sikwate (native chocolate drink) or naturally ripened mangoes. 

Cooking the ibos filling in open fire just like in the olden days.  Frankly, I think this infuses the filling with some complex smoky flavors which makes it extra special.

Just thinking about it makes me wish I still had my BH (what they call the “pasalubong” there) stash in the freezer but alas, it was gone in a flash.  Blame it on the shrinking baggage allowance which will never be enough if you want a month’s supply of ibos in the freezer. Haha! :)

Only the young coconut leaves are used since its more pliable

It didn't take long before I realized this thing needs quite a BIT of patience to wrap! But as I hit my 5th one, it became a LOT easier.  Practice does makes perfect, so BRING IT ON! ;)  Between the four of us, we were able to make around 75 pieces of oddly shaped ibos.  Good thing, quality control doesn't apply to first timers.

It's kinda hard to describe how to wrap it.  You can look at this  blog for some direction http://unofficialcook.com/recipes/suman-sa-ibos/.    I'm attaching, though, the recipe for the filling which you have to cook in a heavy pot on an open wood fire or stove top with continuous stirring until it is almost half-done then wrapped while hot.  Since the filling is still undercooked, the ibos should be arranged standing in a covered heavy bottomed pot half-submerged in water and boiled until done.

The newly wrapped ibos before it was boiled in water.  Looks good, right?

Ibos, just the way I like

2 1/2 kilos glutinous rice

milk from 6 mature coconuts

sugar to taste (according to the cook, its 1 salmon can full, ok so where do I get an empty can of salmon if I don't eat it? Haha )

2 Tbsp salt (I'm not too sure if this pertains to iodized or rock salt so, don't add everything all at once.)

1 Tbsp anise or less if preferred, pounded with a bit of water

Water with the same volume as the 2 1/2 kilos of rice   

 The finished product, our breakfast the following day :) Together with some hot cocoa, there couldn't be a more perfect combo to start the day than this!

Couldn't get more sinful than this, Sinfully

When was the last time you entered a store and wouldn't want to leave it, ever?  This is probably the reason why Sinfully, the offsite branch of the Makati Shangrila patisserie didn't provide dine-in facilities in their store.  No one would wanna leave.  

Whoever thought of putting the chocolatier and all the chocolates in front of the store, in full view of the malling public is a genius!  The chocolates, I swear, called out to me to come into the store and buy them all.  Haha.  

We looked at everything and couldn't decided which ones to try.  If only I could take all of them home. *Sigh*.  So finally we decided to skip the chocolates and tried two mini cakes instead, Desire and Endless Summer (I think that's what its called) and tried to find a bench where we can vent out all out ooohhhhs and aaaaahhhhhs.

                                               Desire at its finest

                   Endless Summer

Between the two, we both agreed we loved Desire more.   Its layers perfectly blend and compliment to make each forkful a perfect bite.  The chocolate sponge bottom supports a layer which reminds you of a Ferrero rocher chocolate piece, topped by a thick rich caramel layer and finished with a dark chocolate mousse, all enrobed in a thin and shiny dark chocolate icing and topped with exotic fruits such as a physalis (my current obsession), a bunch of cranberries and a strawberry holding a blueberry. Miraculously, even with all these, the cake wasn't cloyingly sweet.  Definitely a piece of heaven on earth!

No doubt about it, I'm coming back for the chocolates but for now, I'll just dream and drool.

Pork Ribs with Tomato Sauce

I have shelves full of cookbooks, some given, some bought while others inherited.  I still add a few more titles each year whenever one piques my interest but it seems I always bring down the same titles whenever I want to try a new dish.  

And every time I feel like cooking Chinese, my hands just automatically reaches for this book "The Technique of Chinese Cooking", a 36 year old book I inherited from my Nanay (Mom).  I may have several books, all teaching how to cook a variety of Chinese dishes but this one seems to be the most authentic (I think I saw a peking duck recipe there which starts with teaching you how to kill the duck.. haha).  But since it was made in Taiwan, the translation could sometimes be off, fortunately the gist can be understood anyway. 

Today, I wanted to eat pork.. period.  Its been awhile since I cooked anything with pork but I didn't want to go out anymore to buy ingredients so I had to make do with what was inside the freezer and cabinets.  Fortunately, there was a pack of pork ribs.  Yey!  This is definitely my day.  

I searched the book for a simple pork rib recipe and found this.  Easy peasy.  I didn't have celery in the crisper so I omitted it,  added more sugar to the sauce and replaced hot soy sauce (didn't have this ingredient) with soy sauce and chili powder. So worth to try, definitely finger-licking good. (Sorry Col.Sanders, this one really is) :)

Pork Ribs with Tomato Sauce (Cantonese dish)

Ingredients:

1/2 k pork ribs, sliced about 2 in long and 3/4 in wide)

Marinate

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp MSG (omit if you want)

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 Tbsp soy sauce (I used Kikkoman All Purpose soysauce)

2 tsp Shaoxing cooking wine

1/4 tsp meat tenderizer

1 pc celery (I omitted this since I didn't have it at home)

Glaze

2 Tbsp soy sauce 

1/8 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 Tbsp tomato catchup

2 tsp sugar

Other ingredients

oil for deep frying

parsley for garnishing

1. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade.  Massage onto pork and let it stand for an hour or two.

2. Combine all the ingredients for the glaze.  Set aside.

3. After marinating, deep-fry pork ribs in very hot oil until crispy.

4. Boil the glaze mix, drop in pork ribs and mix evenly.  Garnish with parsley.