Banana
#COOKING: FILIPINO SPAGHETTI RECIPE
Filipino Spaghetti. What is this and how is it different from the Italian classic version we know and love? Well, this Filipino favourite is very popular at birthday parties and fast food chains like pride of The Philippines, Jollibee, serve it as a menu staple. Defined by its bright red sauce, which has a base made of Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste and Banana Ketchup (tomatoes were hard to come by during the war!) and also its distinctly sweet flavour, we’re sure you’ll love this if you have a sweet tooth. Also, its protein is a sweet Filipino sausage called Longganisa – or sliced hot dogs – and pork. Stop judging. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it! This is actually great!
Ingredients:
450g Spaghetti
2 cups Tomato Sauce
1 cup Banana Ketchup or Tomato Ketchup
1 can Tomato Paste
8 small Longganisa, sliced
1/2 lb ground pork
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsps Brown Sugar
2 tbsps Oyster Sauce
3 tbsps unsalted butter
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup grated Cheddar/Mozzerella
Instructions:
1. Prepare Spaghetti till al dente. Strain in colander and set aside, reserving a ladle-full of liquid from pasta2. In large skillet, sautée onions and garlic.
3. Add Longganisa and pork. Fry till ground pork is browned. Drain fat.
4. Add Tomato Sauce, Ketchup and Tomato Paste, plus 1/4 cup water. Stir.
5. Add brown sugar, salt, pepper and oyster sauce and stir.
6. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer low heat for 30 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.
7. In large skillet heat butter and reserved liquid from pasta till boiled.
8. Add spaghetti and toss, ladleling-in a couple scoops of the Tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Mix evenly and remove from heat.
9. Transfer spaghetti to large dish and pour sauce on-top. 10. Garnish with shredded cheese and serve.
Gallery:
(Photo credit: Mr Will Wong)
#COOKING: AIR FRYER TURON RECIPE
Air Fryer Turon. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Filipino Cuisine, it honestly is so satisfying! One of my favourite things is Turon and it’s been so long since I’ve had it. It’s basically a sweet, caramelized egg roll with banana/plantain stuffed inside. So delicious. I was watching SELENA + CHEF and it was so cool seeing Toronto-born, New York-based Chef Jordan Andino guest star on the show, showing us how to make some traditional favourites. I love that his take on Turon has Jackfruit, a stinky, albeit delicious and underappreciated fruit. If you can find it fresh, use fresh, if not, no shame in canned. I’ve played around with this and adapted it for the Air Fryer, cutting sweetness and grease, but still enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Ingredients:
8 Egg Roll Wrappers1 ripe Plantain (should have black markings on skin), cut into four pieces and then divided into thirds
4 pieces of fresh Jackfruit, sliced into strips
1/4 cup light brown sugar
4 tbsps melted unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
Instructions:
1. Lay Egg Roll Wrapper on cutting board.2. Arrange 3 strips of plantain and 2 jackfruit on wrap.
3. Sprinkle a bit brown sugar over plantain and jackfruit.
4. Fold bottom of wrap up, just to cover the fruit. then fold-up left and right sides. Dip finger in beaten egg wash and rub onto top strip of Egg Roll Wrapper. Fold over once more and seal gently.
5. Arrange Turon onto a platter.
6. Pre-heat Air Fryer at 375°F.
7. Brush melted butter allover the Turon. Sprinkle a bit more brown sugar.
8. Fry in two batches, four each for about 7 minutes. Flip Turon once half-way through.
9. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before eating.
Gallery:
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
#COOKING: MAGNOLIA BAKERY-ESQUE BANANA PUDDING RECIPE
Magnolia Bakery-esque Banana Pudding Recipe. If you’ve ever been to New York City, surely you’ve made time to have a cupcake or a slice of cake at this famed bakery. But their Banana Pudding is revered and we love that THE GIRL WHO ATE EVERYTHING gave it a crack deciphering their recipe! We loved it but made some modifications to fit our palate. This is an awesome treat for a cool day. It’s like a Banana Pudding-meets-de-constructed Banana Cream Pie. Hope you enjoy our take with even more banana flavour and less sweet. This is super-easy to make. If you really can’t find Nilla Wafers, use Ladyfingers.
Ingredients:
150g of Mr. Christie‘s Nilla Wafers
3 cups whole milk
473 ml whipping cream
1 package of Jell-o Banana Cream Pudding
5 tbsps sweetened condensed milk
4 bananas, sliced thin
Instructions:
1. In saucepan on medium heat, warm-up milk. Do not let it boil.2. Stir-in pudding mix. Stir often to avoid it from going lumpy.
3. Stir-in condensed milk. Remove from heat. Allow to cool at room temperature before refrigerating for 2-3 hours.
4. Using handmixer, whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold cream into chilled pudding till fully blended. Do not overmix.
6. In large transparent bowl, layer Nilla Wafers and then a layer of sliced banana. Top with pudding cream. Repeat. Chill 4 hours.
7. When ready to serve, spoon mixture into dish and top with Nilla Wafers and more banana slices.
Gallery:
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
#COOKING: BANANA UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
Banana Upside-Down Cake. My friend Michelle sent this one over, so I know this one is good. This Recipe was created by Jessie Sheehan and we made a few adaptations to it. It’s basically an Pineapple-Upside Down Cake (see our Pineapple-Upside Down Cheesecake) but made with Bananas and even more caramel on-top.
Topping:
2-3 large bananas, sliced length-wise
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, unsalted
1/2 tsp sea salt
Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1/2 cup organic raw sugar (or more)
1/4 cup almond slivers, toasted and crushed
1 egg yolk
1 egg
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
3/4 tsp sea salt
Whipped cream
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare topping. In large skillet, melt butter, stir-in salt and sugar till dissolved.
3. Transfer mixture into cake pan (spring-form, if you have). Arrange banana slices on-top and press-in.
4. Prepare cake. In large bowl, cream sugar and vanilla with handmixer. Add eggs.
5. In separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder.
6. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients with handmixer. Fold-in almonds.
7. Pour batter over bananas in cake pan. Bake 35-40 minutes till center comes out clean with toothpick.
8. Cool five minutes and flip cake over.
9. Allow to cool 1-2 hours before serving. Store in air-tight container for up to a couple days or freeze. Serve warmed with whipped cream.
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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