KULINARYA's Fresh Lumpiang Ubod

I've continued road-testing recipes in the book KULINARYA, now considered a national bestseller as it has become a favorite gift to friends and family, especially Filipinos living overseas. I've handed out a few copies of the book myself - to my "inaanaks" or godchildren for the new wives to work their way into the hearts of their new husbands thru the stomachs, and to relatives abroad who long to cook Filipino dishes the authentic way. At the very least, the photographs in the book would be enough to appease their tummies that might have gotten homesick for their traditional Filipino cooking.

So, off to another recipe out of the cookbook which is the most accurate by far that I've read and tested. This time around, since I'm catering for a nephew's one-year old daughter on May 17, I tried KULINARYA's Fresh Lumpiang Ubod (Coconut Pith Spring Roll). The trick to making this dish is to have really good coconut pith - the "ubod" - which means you have to get "ubod" that stays crisp and does not become chewy after cooking. I was able to get fresh "ubod" some from Makro which was already julienned into fine strips (that cut away part of the work for me). KULINARYA suggested that the "ubod" be soaked in some water with a tablespoon or two of fresh milk. I did that to make sure the "ubod" stays fresh. 

The recipe as printed in KULINARYA: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine

Of course, the all-important step in the recipe is to make the fresh lumpia wrappers as you can't use the store-bought kind. The lumpia wrapper must be soft yet it should hold the fillings well. It's best to cook the fillings first since you need to let it cool before putting inside the wrapper. 

KULINARYA's recipe for Fresh Lumpiang Ubod is quite simple. The filling was a mixture of sauteed garlic and onions, to which about 100 grams of ground pork is added. After sauteeing the ground pork, peeled shrimps are also sauteed. This is seasoned with some salt and pepper and then finally, the "ubod" (strained from the water and milk mixture) is added and again, sauteed for another 10 minutes or so. As a personal touch, for color, I added julienned carrots.When the filling is seasoned to one's taste, you can strain the cooked mixture and let cool. 

Meanwhile, you can do the fresh lumpia wrapper, quite tedious since you have do it one wrapper at a time. I used a 10-inch non-stick skillet, swirling 1/4 cup of the batter made of flour, cornstarch, egg, salt, oil and water, to make a perfect wrapper, although I was expecting something with a yellowish tinge. The other recipes I read used more eggs - maybe that's the trick to adding color to the wrapper. Nonetheless, the wrapper I made was soft and held the fillings well. 

Lastly, you need to make the sauce - a sweet, thickened soy sauce-water-sugar mixture. The recipe calls for caramelizing the white sugar first and then adding water and soy and thickening that with some cornstarch mixed with water. 

Finally, you can assemble the spring rolls! One lumpia needs one lettuce leaf on the wrapper, plus the filling and if you want, you can put in the ground peanuts and some of the sauce before wrapping and rolling the lumpia. Now, to serve, you just drizzle the sauce on top of one lumpia and add ground peanuts and minced garlic. Voila, you have a merienda delight that's fresh, healthy and bursting with a sweet, salty, garlicky flavor. A Filipino spring roll that rivals fresh spring rolls of our Vietnamese and Thai neighbors!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The past holiday season was special for Filipinos as there were exactly eleven straight days of no work and partying! It was, indeed, the Twelve Days of Christmas, if you count Dec. 24th or Christmas eve when most Filipinos take the half-day off or get out of work early to start their holiday celebration. 

Check out the Facebook pages of most Filipinos over the holidays and you will see that they have been partying almost everyday on those Twelve Days of Christmas. It was a time for much family bonding as most members of the household got the days off or went to their hometowns. It was a time for reunions and gatherings of entire clans and those who were once affiliated with a certain organization, company or what-have-you. There were office parties and weddings to go to and parties, parties, parties. And everywhere and anywhere you go, there was a common denominator: FOOD.

Last Christmas, I hosted several parties at home for family and friends - I lost count - including showers, high school reunions, ex-officemate reunions, and several family parties, plus the office party for our staff. And all the time, I had to put out the best food on the table, owing to my claim of being a big quote-unquote "home chef." Thinking up menus for these parties was usually a difficult task and there were times I could not even go beyond menu planning and we would end up just buying food. But this time around, the menu planning went smoothly and I managed to learn and actually, cook the food for each occasion. 

My party fare included Pastel de Lengua, Paella Negra, Ginataang Sugpo, Chicken Relleno, Baked Fish Fillet with Kesong Puti, Adobo Carbonara, Chicken ala King and so much more! What made the task easier was the presence of so many reliable cookbooks around like the quintessential "The JOY of Cooking" and recently, for Filipino fare, "KULINARYA" which was a collaboration of the best chefs in the country. Having had the habit of working on a dish with three recipes of the same dish on hand, I had to convince myself that the authors of "Kulinarya" knew what they were doing. 

For the chicken relleno or stuffed chicken, I actually began with three recipes culled from the internet and cookbooks. But at the last moment, I decided I was going to road-test the recipe from "Kulinarya." This was not the first time I did chicken relleno. I managed to do one, albeit a steamed version, two years ago. Stuffing a chicken has the semblance of doing a science experiment and that thrilled me a bit in a strange sort of way. 

For the chicken, I bought a deboned one from the market - freshly dressed chicken and deboned right in front of you by the experts. I dare not do this myself -- YET. For the stuffing, there's ground chicken breast (instead of ground pork), minced chorizo bilbao and vienna sausages, grated edam cheese, sweet pimientos, some olives, salt and pepper and three hard-boiled eggs. Instead of steaming the chicken, I baked it after brushing with olive oil and melted butter. For a small chicken, I only baked it for 1 hour 10 minutes as I didn't want to end up with a chicken that was tough and chewy. Mine turned out brown and crispy and at the same time, juicy. Just right and the inside came out perfect! I also covered the chicken in foil to bake for the first 30 minutes and then took out the foil for the chicken to brown evenly in the oven for the next 40 minutes.

I did "Kulinarya's" recipe twice just to check if everything would still be perfect the next time around. The only change on my second chicken was the use of a different brand of sausages that turned out to be saltier. Also it was edam cheese during the first time and then quickmelt cheese on the second try. Generally, the first chicken was so much better and tastier!

Our holiday feast during Christmas day was served with nary a hitch! The chicken relleno wowed my brother who came in from the U.S. and served alongside fiesta favorites like beef/chicken pochero, pastel de lengua, beer-battered fish fillet and yes, the ever-present spaghetti, it was a Christmas that we will remember for a long, long time.