Homemade Skinless Longganisa

Longganisa is one of my classic comfort food.   Although we have chorizo here in Spain, it's really nothing like longganisa from my beloved Philippines. 

 

I have been wanting to be able to make one but haven't really found an easy recipe so thank goodness to my pretty preggy friend Dianne as she was able to find one.  The plus side is that she has already tried this and approved of the result.  Being a great foodie that she is, I have no doubts the recipe is really going to give good results.

 

It took me a while before I was able to finally make this on my own as life happens and this mama gets burried with so much work and mama duties.

 

I did some modifications on the recipe to suit my liking... for one, I love my longganisa just a  tad bit on the sweeter side so, I used a bit more sugar.  You can refer to Dianne's recipe for the original recipe.

My recipe below is probably just good for 2-3 people so double it if you want a big batch.  Dianne's recipe calls for 1.5lbs ground pork and that's about 680 grams.

 

Ingredients:

 

250grams ground pork (I used the mix kind - mixed beef and pork)
1 carrot, grated (my special ingredient)

1.5 Tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper (I may have used a bit more)

5 cloves garlic (yes, I used 5 times the original recipe.  we love garlic in the house so, need I say more?)

1/2 tsp anato/atsuete powder (I don't have anato seeds here)

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 or 2 tbsp of red wine
a little butter

Let's get down to the business.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl except for the wine and the butter.  Mix it good until all ingredients are well incorporated.  You can use a spoon or your clean hand. Hand is better.

I like sneaking in veggies in my dishes so I thought I'd sneak in some grated carrots in this. It wasn't a bad idea at all!

 

Roll a part of the mixture to a cling wrap.  The amount depends on how big or long you would want the longganisa to be.  I did about an inch thick.

Now, here's a trick I did.  I closed the sides of the cling wrap (after the longganisa is rolled inside) and made a knot on each side.  This made the longgaisa more compact and sort of tube-like round.

does this remind you of the classic ice candy?

excuse the blurry photo. I was just using my phone camera on my left hand.

 

You gotta let it cure overnight inside the fridge.  But if you are impatient like me, 1 or 2 hours may already be good... but not as good as overnight, so remember that ;-)

I also have a slightly different way of cooking longganisa.  I've used my mom's classic way of cooking longganisa and also added some Spanish touch to it.

 

In a skillet, I put the longganisa (cling wrap removed) with a little bit of water.  Let the water boil.  This way, I am more confident that the longganisa would be well cooked until the core part.  I love meat and I love it well done.  I may have also sprinkled the longganisa a dash of brown sugar while it's cooking (yes more)... but that really depends on your liking.

 

When the water is about to get dry, pour in your red wine. This gives tanginess to the longganisa and that nice dark color.  I am thinking that with the wine, you can totally ommit the anato powder.

Oh, just imagine how the mixture of different tastes would explode in your mouth with every bite!

Let it simmer until it caramelizes a bit.  Then put a little butter or if you prefer to be healthier, use vegetable or olive oil.  I used butter!

Then just let it fry until golden brown and the caramel becomes sticky.

 

You wanna be more sinful?  Cleanup that caramel in the frying pan with rice!

Yes, I committed more sin by frying the rice on the longganisa caramelized drippings!   And I must say, it is all worth it! Every.single.calorie.
 

BOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Satisfied cravings ::somewhat::

Because Witchy Crazy Mommy showed some pictures of Jollibbee's chicken joy in her blog, I went stir crazy with my cravings.  Jollibbee is one of the most popular(very close to McDonald's in popularity if not more) fastfood chain in the Philippines.  And I am ::as gazillion other filipinos:: crazy over their chicken joy.  Unfortunately, me is away from Philippines.  Unfortunately, from where we live, there's no Jollibbee...not even a Filipino or Asian store.  But the cravings is wild.  I was tapping my fingers from one hand against the ones in the other hand; eyes wild, wide open; half-smile on my lips; and drool slowly dropping from one side of the mouth.  Enough visual?

Then I remember I still have one of those seasoning pack for fried chicken we bought from the Philippines.  I started to look for it from our kitchen cabinet while chanting in low voice chicken joy chicken joy chicken joy chicken joy.  Found one! I hugged it then kissed it then hugged it again with my shoulder swinging from one side to the other.

There it is!

It won't be exactly like Jollibbee's chicken joy but it will be close.  The closest I can get to tasting Jollibbee's chicken joy!  Dinner will be langhap-sangrap! 

Dinner time came and there goes my chicken joy slowly getting fried!

And there they are... crispy golden brown.



And the taste? Close enough! That is for someone who hasn't tasted the original for 2 years already! Verdict is a-ok and I kind of satisfied this crazy cravings for this oh-so-not-healthy food hah!  Hubby, baby and me tummy are all happy :-D

Cassava Cake

This motherhood thing rocks.  Of course there are times that tiredness brought my mommy tasks kills me at night but the wonderful moments sends those difficult moments to trash.  One of the things that motherhood is doing to me is that I am conquering my fears.  I feel more daring and brave to try new things out or learn new things that I never dared to learn before.  I've already mentioned before that I never dared to bake before as I see it too complicated for my cooking ability (or lack thereof)... but something in me says for my Little Spanish Pinay, it will be really wonderful if I learn how to bake.  I'm sure she'd love the thought that mami prepared something yummy for her with all mami's love and effort.  And one day, we can bake together and it will be awesome.

Big deal some might say, right?  For me, ya bet it is!  I'm shallow like that.  Ok, so enough of the intro.  This post is sounding like it has nothing to do with the title. Duh.  Let's go down to the grain.  I was able to cook cassava cake!  And I am sooo happy.  It was sumptuous and just like how it is made in the Philippines.  Even better than some I have tried.  I found this very nice and easy to follow recipe from Panlasang Pinoy. Love this site as it even has step by step video for each recipe.  What's more, is that the host/cook speaks in Filipino.  Cool, ayt? (cool for us Filipinos ;-) )

A little background on what's cassava cake:  This is an all-time favorite Filipino dessert or merienda for many in the Philippines.  Made with cassava or yuca, as what Latin Americans call this wooden shrub.  In our native language, it is called bungang-kahoy.  I always thought it is difficult to do but it wasn't at all! When I saw some cassava in one of the supermarket, I couldn't believe mah big eyes. I even doubted if it is THE cassava that we use in the Phiilppines to do cassava cake.  Then I felt kind of sad thinking even if it is THE cassava,  I didn't think I can make cassava cake.  Boy, was I wrong.  So now, without further ado, here are some photos of my first ever cassava cake.

I didn't have a baking tray big enough and i tried to stuff all the batter in this baking tray... I thought it will overflow.  I never stopped looking at the oven while biting my nails.

Done with topping.  Well done.  Too well done,  I think hee.  

Never mind the seemingly burnt part, ok? Promise it is really sumptuous inspite of the look ;-)

I topped it with grated cheese hopping the burnt part will be covered.  

But no, it didn't work. Can't blame a girl for trying, right?

And I just gotta try it first before letting hubby try it... one bite, and I was brought back to my years in the Philippines.  My beloved Philippines.

See how motherhood rocks? :-D

this shall be my entry for Fun with Food Friday hop!

Craving For Street Food

Last night I was craving for popular street foods in the in Philippines - kwek kwek, kikiam, squid balls, isaw, etc.  All I could do to satisfy this cravings is to make some kwek kwek... the rest is kind of impossible to find where we live.  

Ready to be chowed!

There's  no orange food coloring here or atsuete so the batter turned out a little bit yellowish but once kwek kwek was fried, they already resemble the kwek kweks being sold in the streets of my beloved Philippines.  I also fried some meatballs in case kwek kwek wouldn't tickle hubby's fancy.  But I was almost sure he'd like them... hubby loves Philippine food including bagoong! 

These kwek kweks are quail eggs or huevos de codorniz as how they are called here in Spain.  Covered in batter and then deep fried.   So landed in our dinner plate last night and I was happy hubby loved them.

A close up of the kwek kweks - they turned out to be good!

Here they are in our dinner table waiting to be chowed... complete with sauce ::sawsawan::