Brazo de Mercedes

Brazo de Mercedes is a meringue roll with yellow custard filling and very popular Filipino dessert. It is very easy to make and ingredients can easily be found at any grocery stores. It took us about a total of 35 minutes to make (and bake) from start to finish. Last time I had this was probably a decade ago and I remember Goldilocks makes the best Brazo de Mercedes, hands down! ... Here's our attempt to make a homemade custard meringue roll...

Ingredients (Meringue)

10 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cups granulated sugar

 

Preheat oven to 350°F

In a big bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar using an electric hand mixer

Gradually add sugar, continue mixing until it reaches it's thick and stiff stage

Spread the mixture on a greased wax paper on top of a baking pan or cookie sheet

Bake for 22 minutes or until golden light brown

Ingredients (Custard filling)

10 egg yolks

1 can condensed milk

1 tsp Vanilla extract

In a saucepan, mix egg yolks, vanilla extract and condensed milk until thoroughly combined and keep stirring over a medium heat until mixture thickens. Set aside and let it cool.

Once meringue is done, let it cool for few minutes and sprinkle powdered sugar on top

Flip it over on a cookie sheet with wax paper and spread the mixture evenly. Roll it carefully from one (longer) side to the other and transfer on a larger plate or cake box. Slice, serve, share and enjoy! ;)

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Siopao Asado

Siopao Asado is a filipino version of Chinese steamed dumplings with a sweet pork filling. Siopao is a Hokkien term for bāozi which means steamed buns. In Thailand it is called Salapao and in Philippines it's called Siopao. It is definitely one of my favorite snacks when I was in the Philippines. Coming home from work late afternoon, I remember my Dad would bring home some siopao for snack and this will fill us up until dinner time. The recipe I found online didn't include hard boiled eggs but I remember vaguely that that's my favorite "bonus" filling in my snack, so I made sure to add it in our home-made Siopao.

My little chef is too eager to start with the dough and I kept telling him that the filling has to come first.  But before we start, I explained to him our kitchen safety rules and most importantly, our work area & counter must be thoroughly cleaned and our hands as well.

Sweet Pork Filling Ingredients

2 lbs pork, cut into small pieces
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 large red onion, minced
1 tsp cornstarch, diluted in 1/4 cup water
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce 

Dough Ingredients

Yeast-sugar-water mixture

2 cups warm water
1 pouch dry yeast
2 ½ tbsp sugar 

Flour Mixture

½ cup sugar 
5½  cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ tbsp baking powder
6 tbsp shortening

Let's cook the filling shall we?...

• Heat cooking oil in pan.
• Saute the garlic and onions.
• Add pork and cook until the color of the outer part turns light brown.
• Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, Hoisin sauce, and sugar then mix well.
• Simmer for 40 minutes or until meat is tender.
• Add Diluted cornstarch in water and mix until sauce becomes thick
• Turn off heat, Set aside.

Now, it's time to make the dough...

• To make the dough, first prepare the 2 cups of warm water in a bowl then add the yeast and sugar and mix well.

• Leave the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes

• In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, shortening and the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly

• Knead the dough until it becomes fine.
• Set aside for an hour in the mixing bowl and cover.

• Knead the dough again and make form a tire shape then cut into individual slices
• Form the cut dough into a ball and flatten using the rolling pin.
• Put a spoonful of the Asado filling in the middle of the flattened dough and pinch the edges until sealed on top.

• Put a wax paper underneath and place it in the steamer.

• Steam for 15 minutes. Do not crowd the Siopao. They will rise and become bigger after steaming.

By the way, this is not my recipe. I made few tweaks to the original recipe I got from Panlasang Pinoy website to make it work for me. I reduce the sugar and oyster sauce and added more flour since it was too soft and sticky. You can definitely adjust size and change meat-filling as well. Freeze left-overs. So whenever you crave for it, just pop one in the microwave! :)ENJOY!

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Suman sa lihiya

To start this year easy and simple, we decided to make Suman. There are many variations of Suman but this particular one we chose is the simplest of them all. Suman sa lihiya is a Filipino delicacy made of glutinous rice or sticky rice with lye water and wrapped snugly in a banana leaf. When I was little, every day during holy week my Grandma takes me to a local Market and she'll buy a lot of Suman, sweet ripe yellow mangoes and Sikwate (Hot cocoa). Suman is best eaten with latik (a coconut milk residue), brown sugar, white sugar, fruit jams or nutella!

Here are the ingredients:

2-1/4 cups glutinous rice

1 teaspoon lye water

2 cups water

1 package banana leaf, cut and size 8x10

Cooking Procedure

• Place the glutinous rice in a large mixing bowl then pour 2 cups of water and let it soak for 3 hours.
• Drain excess water. Add the teaspoon of lye water and mix thoroughly.

• Prepare banana leaf. The bigger leaf should measure about 8x10 while the smaller is 3x5.
• Arrange the banana leaves by placing the larger leaf first in a flat surface then put the smaller leaf in the center, diagonally.
• Add a spoonful of the rice mixture and place it in the middle.

• Fold the leaf in half twice and close each side by folding toward the center about two inches.
• Set aside with the flap down and continue to make another wrap.
  

• Put together both of the folded banana leaf, flap facing each other and secure it with a kitchen twine on each side.

• Once done wrapping all the rice mixture in the banana leaf, arrange them in a cooking pot and fill in water.
• Turn on to medium high heat and boil for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
• Turn off and drain water.
• Carefully open and transfer to serving dish. Enjoy! :)
  

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