Pork Free Pancit Palabok

Pancit is a staple in filipino cuisine. If you've been to any filipino parties then you've probably seen a giant pan of pancit bihon or pancit canton (cabbage, pork, chicken etc.) Palabok is maybe a lesser known type of pancit to those that didn't grow up in Filipino households. I can't even remember the last time I had palabok which is why I wanted to make it!

 Pancit Palabok contains thin rice noodles covered with a "gravy" sauce of shrimp and topped with shrimp, chicharron, green onions and eggs. It is delightfully orange. This recipe is a pork free version. I know, what kind of Filipino doesn't eat pork!? Well some people don't eat pork ( my honey included ) so why should they miss out on the yummy-ness that is Filipino food? So here it is...my version of a Pork Free Pancit Palabok.

Pork Free Pancit Palabok
 serves 4

• 1-8oz. package of thin rice noodles

For the sauce

• 1 Tbsp. of Annatto Powder
• 4 C. of chicken stock  (or homemade shrimp stock)
• 1/4 C. flour
• 1/4 C. Water

For the topping

• 1/4 C. Crushed shrimp chips
• 2 Boiled eggs
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 C. Cooked shrimp (store bought)
• 1/4 C. Green onions
• Four slices of turkey bacon

1. Soak the rice noodles in water for 2-3 minutes until soft. Drain and then set to the side. 

2. To start the sauce. In a Saucepan add chopped turkey bacon and garlic to oil. Fry for a few minutes until crispy but don't burn the garlic. When finished remove but keep oil in the pan. 

3. Add annatto powder to 1/4 cup water. Mix and dissolved completely. (The Annatto makes the sauce orange, it's perfectly normal) Then add water to Saucepan that you fried the garlic and bacon in.

4. Over Medium heat slowly add flour to the saucepan stirring frequently. Whisk in chicken stock and Annatto water. Sauce should be like a gravy but not too thick. Adjust by adding more stock or water.

5. When the gravy is done, set to low to keep it warm. In a large pot bring water to a boil. Add softened rice noodles and cook for 1 minute. This seriously takes no time at all! Drain and place noodles on serving dish.

6. Top Noodles with gravy.

7.  The last step: Add toppings! Go crazy! Top the gravy with cooked shrimp (I just reheated the store bought shrimp we had.) Slice the hard boiled eggs in half and place on the sides. Sprinkle the cooked turkey bacon and garlic over the Shrimp. Then the green onions and lastly the crushed shrimp chips. Ta-da!

My gravy is a little less orange but I used wheat flour which I think turned it a more brown color. Oh well still good.

Lychee Rose Cake with Lychee Cream Filling

After making my pandan macarons with lychee I had oodles of lychee syrup left over. Since that sweet stuff is just too good to toss away I wanted to put it to good use. But what to make!? My first thought was cake. Other than the obvious reasons (because cake is good) I thought it was a good idea because 1. I've never seen a lychee cake before and 2. My honey's birthday was approaching and so it was meant to be.

 I have to say this lychee cake was a long process. First I researched lychee cake and it turns out there is such a thing. Seems to be common in Asian countries ( duh they have the best stuff!) but what I mostly found was a recipe for spongecakes and this oh so famous lychee martini cake. A spongecake was a little more effort than I was willing to put in. And although vodka soaked lychees sounded good it just wasn't what I was looking for. So maybe just a white cake with lychees in between. Next I researched white cake recipes. I found many recipes for this of course but then I thought " Geez I don't need to make a whole 9 inch cake for two people! I will never get rid of post baby weight! " Enter the 6 inch cake. Brilliant. The trouble is there are not so many recipes for just a 6 inch cake. And yes I COULD have taken the time to calculate how to divide the ingredients and so on, which I considered really, but after reading how to do that my brain exploded. Seriously read it and yours will explode too. So back to the cake...I scoured the internet for a 6 inch cake recipe and finally found one. I still had my heart set on the lychee cake so some minor tweaks to the recipe were in order. Lastly a quick trip to the Asian store. I had all my ingredients but in the days between the macarons and the lychee cake the lychees I was storing in the fridge got eaten. A simple mistake. How can you resist the yummy-ness of a lychee? So really it was my fault. The trip to the asian store was bountiful. Rice flour, bihon noodles, 3 cans of lychee, shrimp chips and a gem of a find : Rose essence! I noticed most lychee cake recipes called for a combination of rose or raspberry. I wasn't keen on the raspberry but the rose intrigued me so now it was going to be a Lychee Rose Cake.

Now to the good stuff...

 6 Inch Lychee Rose Cake

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tsp. Rose essence
• 2 Tbsp. Lychee syrup ( from canned lychees)
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 2-6 inch cake pans

1. In a Medium bowl whisk together flour and baking powder and set to the side.

2. In a seperate bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add egg whites one at a time and then beat in vanilla and rose essence and lychee syrup. The rose essence is bright pink and will stain your fingers so beware. It gives the cake a nice floral aroma and a beautiful pink color.

3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk, mixing well and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. (The addition of the flour mixture and milk will go as follows: 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by 1/2 of the milk, another 1/3 flour mixture followed by the remaining milk, and then the final 1/3 of the flour mixture.)

4. Pour the batter into the greased cake pans evenly. Tap the pans to release any air bubbles.

5. Bake at 350 F. for 18- 22 minutes. (Don't forget to toothpick check your cakes) Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Lychee Cream Filling

• 1/2 pint fresh whipping cream
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/4 C. chopped Lychees (  from the can )
• 5 Tbsp. Lychee syrup 

1. Separate the lychees from the syrup by straining. Keep the syrup in a separate bowl. Chop the lychees and set the side. A rough chop is ok or you can puree in a blender.

2. In a medium bowl whip the fresh cream, vanilla and lychee syrup. Best if you're using an electric mixer. Whip until fluffy ( like whipped cream duh)

3. Gently fold the chopped lychees into the cream and then refrigerate.

* When your ready to assemble the cake you will sandwich the cream in between the cake layers.

Easy Vanilla Frosting

• 1 C. softened butter
• 1 1/2 C.  Fine Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

1. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the butter and sugar.  Begin mixing on low speed until crumbly, and then increase to high and beat for 3 minutes. Then add Vanilla and beat again for another minute.

Assembling the Cake

My cake frosting skills still need improvement. The one thing I've learned though is to crumb coat your cake. That means doing a light coat of frosting on the cake then refrigerating overnight and finish frosting the next day. This gives your frosting time to set which will make it easier later. Ever try frosting a cake but the cake crumbs smear into it? Annoying. This prevents that.

1. Once the cakes have cooled . Place one layer of cake down. Top with the lychee cream filling. I put a giant heap. Go on, go crazy with it. Spread with a spatula. Then place second layer on top.

2. Crumb coat the stacked cakes with a light layer of frosting. Then place in the fridge.

3.  The next day or several hours later...finish frosting with leftover frosting. ( assuming you refrigerated the frosting..take it out ahead of time to allow it time to softened. Smearing cold frosting is darn near impossible)

4. Once the cake is frosted. Decorate to your liking! I added some of the canned lychees on top for a pretty but simple design.

 * I only made 1-6 inch cake so I halved this recipe for the cake. That's why my cake is not THAT tall.

The cake was rather tasty. It had the sweet lychee flavor combined with the rose which made it springy and floral. It made it a nice pink color too (always a plus!)

 

Calamansi Tartlets

Calamansi is a filipino lime, a.k.a Calamondin. Last year I got a new Calamansi tree and a few weeks ago it was overflowing with fruits. ( I don't have a green thumb really but having a Calamansi tree is almost effortless as long as you water it!) The fruits are super sour, range from orange to yellow/green color, and are small. Smaller than kumquats even! So anyways I had a ton of Calamansis to use and racked my brain on what I could make. Then I remembered I had these mini pie shells I bought from World Market and it hit me... Key Lime  Calamansi Tartlets! Now Key Lime Pie is pretty good. I live in Florida so it's almost mandatory that I like them, but Calamansi is better. Yeah I said it.

 Calamansi Tartlets

• 1 package of mini tart shells.
• 1 14oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 4 Egg yolks
• 1/2 C. Calamansi Juice
• 2 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar
•  Zest from a Lime 

1.  Preheat Oven to 375 F.
 

2. In a large bowl whisk egg yolks. Add Sweetened condensed milk, Calamansi juice, sugar and lime zest. I tried zesting a Calamansi but those suckers are so small it was nearly impossible. I had a lime on hand so I used that instead. Whisk all ingredients together.

3. Pour batter into pie shells. I used Clearbrook Farms Sweet Tart Shells. Found here. But any mini pie shell will do. Fill to the top. Bake  for 10 mins or until custard has set. Watch carefully if you cook too long the custard will crack. Some of mine cracked but it still taste good! When finished let it cool completely. 
(If you want you can top with whipped cream but I left it off because less is more!)

* If you have leftover batter just pour into a ramekin and bake. Then you have a crustless Calamansi custard! 

Pandan Coconut Macaron with Lychee Ganache filling

Happy St. Patrick's Day! This is my first real post. I've been dying to make macarons for awhile but I've been a little scared. But with a 2 month old and a lot of time at home I figured now is the best time to try. Now Macarons aren't Irish I know but I made them green so it's ok. :)

Traditional french macarons are made with almond flour or almond meal. Neither of which I had on hand. But I did have brown rice flour and after a little googling I discovered I could make macarons with rice flour. Huzzah! (perfect for those with nut allergies btw)

The best part of macarons are all the insane and endless flavor combinations. Of course I had to include some Asian flavors. I know I wanted to use Pandan (because it's green!) Pandan is slightly nutty and has an earthy vanilla flavor, it goes well with coconut. I chose a lychee filling because it's delicious and we had a giant can in the pantry.


Pandan Coconut (Rice) Macarons with Lychee Ganache Filling

Ingredients


Macaron shells

• 3/4 C Rice Flour ( I used organic brown rice flour)
• 1 C. Powdered Sugar
• 3/4 C. granulated sugar
• 1/2 Tsp. Pandan paste
• 4 Egg whites
• 1/4 C. shredded coconut
• pinch of salt

1. In a medium bowl sift rice flour and powdered sugar, and coconut- set to the side.

2. In a large bowl whip salt, egg whites and granulated sugar. When I say whip, I mean whip the living shamrock out of it. A good solid ten minutes. Use an electric mixer so your hand doesn't fall off. Three things to look for: Stiff peaks, glossy and white. (Like marshmallow fluff) 

3. Stir in 1/3 of rice flour/sugar mixture into egg whites. Then fold in the rest with a spatula. After partially mixed add the Pandan paste and continue to fold. The mixture should be the consistency of molten lava ( All the macaron recipes I researched said THIS and trust me because one batch I made that did not look lava did not bake correctly so I assume its true!)

4. Preheat Oven to 320 F. (The recipe I worked off of said 325 F but my shells browned a bit so I turned it down and they browned less. haha still working out that kink)  Transfer batter to a pastry bag with a round tip attached. Squeeze out rounds on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Leave enough space in between because they will spread. Tap the baking sheet down two or three times to release air bubbles. Let the shells sit out for 20-30 mins or until a skin forms on the top. Then bake for 15 mins. 

Lychee Cream Ganache

• 4 oz. heavy cream
• 1/4 C. Pink Candy Melts ( I had these on hand but for future use I'd use white chocolate chips)
• 4 tbsp. Lychee syrup

1. In a saucepan boil heavy cream and lychee syrup together, until it thickens a bit.

2.  In a microwave safe bowl heat candy melts for 15 sec and then stir. Repeat til melted.

3. Add cream mixture to candy melts and stir until blended. Then refrigerate for 30 mins.

* The candy melts are extremely sweet and the lychee flavor was not strong enough for me so next time I'll add more syrup and use white choc chips with a tad food coloring for that pink color. Practice makes perfect.

Once the macaron shells are baked. Let them cool completely. Pipe the ganache on one side and then sandwich the cookies! Ta-da!!

* My macarons browned a bit and were a little crunchy so will work on the oven temp but overall good for my first attempt.