Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cashews or any nuts

Procedure:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.  Line an 8 x 4 loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla and sugar.  Mix well.  Add in the flour mixture and mix just until combined.  Transfer mixture to the loaf and top with chopped cashew nuts.

Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

Chicken Fettuccine

A very festive dish.  This chicken fettuccine recipe is anything but simple.  My cousin, Jen, actually taught me this recipe, so thanks a lot cuz!  Love lots!  The recipe is good for 20 persons or more, so you can adjust the recipe for smaller group.

Ingredients:
1 kilo fettuccine pasta, cooked according to package direction
1 cup chicken hotdog, sliced
1 small can button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup bacon, chopped
1 whole chicken breast
1/2 cup butter
1 can cream of condensed chicken
1 cup all purpose cream
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 medium size onion, chopped
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

Procedure:
Boil and cook chicken breast in 2 cups of water.  Once cooked, remove from bone and cut into strips or bite size.  Reserve 1 cup of the chicken stock.

In a large saucepan with a little bit of oil, cook the bacon until lightly crispy.  Add in the butter and saute garlic and onion until translucent.  Add button mushrooms and let it cook for about a minute.  Put in the sliced hotdogs and cook for another minute.

Next, add the all purpose cream, cream of condensed chicken, evaporated milk, chicken strips and chicken stock.  Mix well and let it cook until it starts to boil.  Add in the cheddar cheese and Italian seasoning and continue to cook until the cheese has completely melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  When the mixture has thickened a little, remove from heat and top on your fettuccine pasta.  Serve and enjoy.

Easy Garlic Shrimp

A buttery, garlicky shrimp dish with subtle sweetness from the addition of drinking soda.  Very easy to prepare, just be careful not to overcook your shrimps or they will be rubbery.  You can tell the shrimps are done when they turn orange in color from being grey.  This recipe goes well with vinegar with lots of garlic, onion and chopped chili.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo raw shrimps
3 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup Sprite or lemon soda
1/4 cup butter

Procedure:
Saute garlic in butter until slightly browned.  Add in the shrimps and mix well.  Add the drinking soda, mix well, and cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the shrimps are fully cooked.  Transfer on a serving plate and enjoy with you favorite dipping sauce or vinegar.

Buttercream cake with bear topper

Chocolate cake frosted with American buttercream.  Cake toppers are made out of sugar paste.  Visit my Facebook page Derek's Sweet World to order a cake and see other cake designs and baked products.

Tuna Carbonara

Carbonara is an Italian dish which consists of pasta, egg, bacon and cheese.  But here in the Philippines, any pasta dish that has a white sauce is called carbonara.  The sauce is this recipe is versatile in that you can use any kind of pasta.  In this dish I used spaghetti pasta.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo spaghetti pasta, cooked according to package direction
1 medium size onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped bacon
1/2 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 can tuna flakes in oil
1 cup all purpose cream
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp minced parsley leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
In a saucepan, heat butter and cook bacon until crispy.  Scoop bacon out of the pan and set aside.  In the same pan, saute onion and garlic until onion is lightly translucent.  Add in the sliced mushrooms and cook for about a minute.  Add in the all purpose cream and evaporated milk.  Mix well and when the sauce starts to boil, add in the tuna flakes, oil included.  Mix and add in the cheddar cheese.  Add in about 3/4 of the cooked bacon and chopped parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.  Continue cooking, mixing continuously, until the sauce is slightly thickened.  Remove from heat and top on cooked pasta.  Garnish with cooked bacon and chopped parsley.

Kwek-Kwek

Kwek-kwek is a deep fried hard boiled quail eggs covered in a colored batter, usually orange in color.  The orange color usually comes from the use of atsuete or anatto, but I colored mine pink just because.  I just half all purpose flour and half rice flour because I find that by using rice flour the batter is extra crispy and remains so for a longer time than using all plain flour.  This is a very popular street food in the Philippines and it has a cousin "tokneneng" which is a a similar version except it uses hard boiled chicken eggs instead of quail eggs.  Tokneneng is best paired with fish ball sauce or vinegar.

Ingredients"
Hard boiled quail eggs, around 20 pieces, peeled
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rice flour
4 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp anatto powder or 1/2 tsp food color
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Procedure:
Dredge hard boiled quail eggs in cornstarch.  Set aside.  In a bowl, combine the flour, water, salt and pepper, and anatto powder or food color.  Mix well.  Dip each egg in the batter, and using a spoon, scoop one by one and deep fry in hot oil for a few minutes until crispy.  Make sure the oil is hot enough or your batter will just soak the oil and they will not be as crispy.  Drain in paper towel.  Serve while crispy.

Chili crab

This is a very straightforward dish.  It's sauteed crabs with the addition of crab paste, which gives the dish that distinct crab and very savory taste.  Crab paste is preserved crab meat, usually in sold in bottles, and is almost always available at the supermarkets in the Philippines.  The dish also calls for the addition of chili paste, but you can always omit it.

Ingredients:
10 medium-sized crabs
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup crab paste
1 tbsp chili paste

Procedure:
Saute garlic in butter until lightly browned.  Add in the crabs and stir.  Add about 1/4 cup water.  Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes.  Open the lid and add in the crab paste and chili paste.  By this time the crabs should have turned into a pinkish, reddish color.  Season with salt and pepper as necessary.  Stir well and cover again and let the crabs cooks thoroughly for another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Enjoy.

Yema Cake

This is a sponge cake frosted with yema.  Yema is a milk candy with eggyolks that is a common delicacy in the Philippines.  The combination of the sweet yema frosting together with the cheese topping makes a very interesting and yummy flavor.  Try it and tell me what you think.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
A
1 cup cake flour, sifted
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt

B
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup vegetable oil, I used coconut oil
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp lemon extract

C
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
6 tbsp granulated sugar

For the yema frosting:
1-1/2 cup condensed milk
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
Grated cheese for topping

Procedure:
Make the cake.  Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.  Line two 8-inch round baking pans with baking paper.

In a bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, 6 tbsp sugar and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl combine the egg yolks, vegetable oil, water and lemon extract.  Combine the flour mixture to the oil mixture and mix well, until no lumps are seen.

In a separate bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar.  Beat until frothy.  Add in 6 tbsp sugar gradually while continuing to beat until the egg whites form soft to medium peaks.

Fold in the egg white mixture to the flour mixture.  Be careful not to deflate the egg white mixture.

Pour on to your prepared pans and bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.  Let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, prepare your yema frosting.  Combine the condensed milk and egg yolks and mix.  Over low heat, cook mixture until slightly thickened but of spreading consistency.  Remove from heat and add in vanilla and butter.  Mix well and let it cool completely before frosting the cake.

Place one cake on your cake rack and frost top with yema frosting.  Stack the other cake on top and frost completely.  Top with grated cheese.

Banana cake with chocolate ganache frosting

Ingredients:

For the cake:
1 cup mashed over ripe bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil, I used coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 cup warm water
2 cups light brown sugar
1 and 3/4 cups cake flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the ganache:
8 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, cut into pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp butter

Procedure:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two 8-inch baking pans with baking paper.

In a bowl, combine the sugar, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Mix well making sure all ingredients are well combined.  Set aside.

In another bowl, combine all 3 eggs together, lightly whisk.  Add in the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, vanilla, milk and warm water.  Mix in the dry ingredients mixture and stir just until combined.  Pour mixture into your prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs left.  Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Prepare the ganache.  Heat the cream and butter just until the mixture starts to boil.  Immediately pour over the chocolate and stir until all chocolate pieces are completely melted.  Let it cool slightly and stack and cover your banana cake.

Thumbprint cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
chocolate buttons

Procedure:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.  Line cookie tray with baking paper.

Cream butter and vanilla until smooth.  Add in the powdered sugar and salt and continue beating until soft and creamy.  Add the cornstarch and flour and beat until mixture is soft and fluffy.  Chill the mixture for about an hour.  When the mixture is firm enough, form into balls, about 1 to 1-1/2 inch size.  Line them on cookie sheet 1 inches apart.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, remove them from the oven and press down 1 chocolate button on each cookie and continue to bake for another 2 minutes.  Remove from oven and transfer on a wire rack to completely cool.

Oreo cheesecake cookies

Ingredients:
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
About 10 Oreos cut into chunks

Procedure:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Add sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.  Add in flour and mix until just combined.  Add the Oreo chunks and mix well.  Chill the mixture for about an hour or until the mixture is firm enough.  Form into balls, depending on how big you want your cookies to be.  Line them on cookie tray lined with baking paper 1 inch apart.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are light brown and the center still a bit soft.  Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.  Makes about 25 medium-sized cookies.

Pork Sinigang

 Sinigang is a sour soup that is very popular in the Philippines.  It is a main dish and usually paired with rice.  Soup is usually made sour with the addition of tamarind or kamias, although sour mix are now readily available in the supermarkets for convenience.  The dish is very versatile that you can use any kind of meat, from pork, beef, fish or even chicken and can add almost any vegetables.  Eat it with plain rice and paired with fish sauce and chili and it's a sure hit.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo pork belly cut into small squares
2 cups raw unripe tamarind or you can use 1 sachet sinigang mix depending on how sour you want the soup to be
3 gabi (taro roots) cut into 1-inch thickness

1 labanos (radish) cut into 1-inch thickness
A bunch of sitaw (string beans) cut 3-inch long

A bunch of kangkong (swamp gabbage)
1 tbsp salt

Procedure:
Wash pork and cut into small squares.  Put it in a pan with about 4 cups water.  Add salt and boil until pork is tender.  Add more water as necessary.  Add the gabi (taro roots) and raw tamarind and cover to boil until the tamarind floats (this may take about 5 minutes or so).  Remove the tamarind from the pan and mash.  Strain and reserve the soup of the tamarind.  Meanwhile, add the sitaw (string beans) and labanos (radish) to the pork pot.  Continue to boil until the vegetables are cooked.  Finally, add the tamarind soup or sinigang mix and season with salt as necessary.  Continue to boil for a minute and then add the kang-kong (swamp cabbage) and remove from heat.  Serve hot.