Burnt Lumpia: Filipino Food | Filipino Recipes | Culinary Hijinks

Bangus Sisig

Ah, Sisig! When prepared correctly, nothing quite captures the varied flavors and textures of Filipino cuisine like a sizzling-hot platter of chopped pig's face. It's true.

Chewy and crispy, fatty and meaty, sour and spicy--they're all there. Gustatory opposites complementing each other on a single plate of porky goodness. And thanks in large part to the increasing popularity of ethnic street food in the United States, and more specifically, to the growing interest in Filipino cuisine as a whole, more and more people have come to enjoy this once-obscure Pinoy dish.

Since my first post on Sisig nearly three years ago, the humble street food has gone on to enjoy some time in the limelight (err, kalamansi-light?). Sure, sisig has always been served in a handful of mom-and-pop hole-in-the-walls, but it didn't hurt that some yahoo started slinging pig face from a food truck, or that Anthony Bourdain sang Sisig's praises on TV:

Alas, despite the joys that come with eating the wobbly and chewy bits of a pig's face and ears, some people just can't bring themselves to eat the wobbly and chewy bits of a pig's face and ears. And that's understandable. I suppose.

But if you've got no qualms with stuffing your own face with that of a pig, there's also the not-so-small issue of fat--and there's a lot of it in pig cheeks. Take a look at a cross-section of a pork jowl and it looks a lot like that of a pork belly, hence the term "face bacon".

So what's a Filipino food lover to do when a hankering for sisig is had, but just sans fatty face? Luckily, there are more savory sisig scenarios besides pork. Filipinos have long sisig'd other proteins like tofu, chicken, and various seafoods.

But sisig made from Bangus (or milkfish), is perhaps my favorite non-pork face option for the classic street food.

LA Times' Pandan Chiffon Cake with Coconut Glaze

Walk into most any Filipino bakery (in the U.S. and in the P.I.) and you are just as likely to find a display of brightly decorated chiffon cakes as you are to see the plain-jane likes of freshly baked pan de sal and ensaimada.

Big chain Filipino bakeries like Golidlocks and Red Ribbon, as well as smaller mom and pop joints, all crank out various frosted, iced, and overly sugared chiffons ranging in flavors from chocolate, to mocha, to mango, to pandan, to macapuno, and the ever-popular (and ever-purple) ube. Heck, my family even loves the neon tropical chiffon cakes (passion fruit & guava!) from King's Hawaiian bakeries.

Yup. We Pinoys loves us some chiffon cake.

But how on Earth did an American cake come to be such a popular dessert amongst Filipinos? Well, probably in the same way that spam, ice cream, and hamburgers made their way into the Filipino culinary landscape--American tastes and food products crossed over to the Philippines during the American occupation of the Islands in the first half of the 20th century. Ever since then, chiffon cake (and spam, and ice cream, and hamburgers, and many other things) has stuck with us. Ah, colonialism!

Anyways, when the LA Times recently ran this story on chiffon cake (and provided recipes for a basic chiffon as well as chocolate, hazelnut-orange, and pandan-coconut) I knew I had to dust off my angel food cake pan and give one of the Times' chiffon recipes a try. Although I considered ube-fying the basic recipe for chiffon cake, I decided to instead give the pandan-coconut recipe a whirl (my cup runneth over with a crapload of ube recipes).

Rat Tails in the Garden

On most visits to my grandparents' house, I can usually be found in the kitchen, hovering around my grandmother and her two sisters (AKA "The Aunties", AKA my extra grandmas) as they prepare that day's meal. And while many of the kitchen ingredients come directly from the backyard garden that my grandfather usually tends, I rarely venture out there on account of things like bugs and dirt. I mean, I can't be bothered to have my nice kicks all muddied up now can I?

Truthfully though, my grandfather hasn't been himself for the past few months, so he and his green thumbs have been inside the house and away from his vegetables in the backyard. But despite my grandfather's absence from the garden, I still found my grandmother prepping a particularly interesting looking veggie on my last visit to their home.

On the kitchen counter were a bowlful of strange green pods resembling some sort of love child sprung from the loins of a green bean and a green thai chile. My grandmother told me that they were the pods that eventually grow from a radish root if left to its own devices.

Initially, I was quite dubious of this "radish pod" talk. Stuff grows out of a radish root? That's crazy I thought. Maybe my grandfather had been well enough to go outside and grow these magic beans. Or maybe my grandmother or her sisters had been tending the garden. So I actually went outside to the garden to have a look for myself.

If Elvis Were Filipino...

Everything I know about Elvis Presley, I learned from The Honky Tonk Man. Which is to say, I don't really know anything about Elvis Presley. Spending many of my formative years watching professional wrestling has somewhat skewed my world view. It turns out that Elvis didn't really like smashing his guitar over people's heads. Who knew?

Anyways, what I do know about Elvis is that the guy had a serious addiction to peanut butter and banana sandwiches (among other things). Elvis loved PB&Bs so much that the sandwich has become something of a cult dish over the years.

Although spreading peanut butter and mashed bananas on white bread, and then frying the whole mess--grilled cheese-style--in butter sounds incredibly satisfying to me, I've never actually had a peanut butter and banana sandwich. But I've concocted something that may be just as good, if not better, than a PB&B:

An Ube and Saba Banana Sandwich!

Picnic for the Planet & Some Fried Chicken

This Friday April 22 is Earth Day. And to celebrate, The Nature Conservancy is encouraging people all around the world to step outside and head to their favorite outdoor spot to enjoy good food in the company of great people.

Picnic for the Planet is a celebration of the planet we live on, the food it provides and the people we share it with--after all, there's more to Earth Day than just recycling; our food choices can have huge impacts on our environment as well. According to The Nature Conservancy, you can take the following actions to make better food choices for the planet:

1. Eat Smart: Learn what's in your food, where it came from, and who it impacts.
2. Eat Local: Where possible, buy food that is in season from local food producers.
3. Eat Sustainably: Eat sustainable seafood — one of the only things that we eat that we still get from the wild.
4. Eat Green: Eat more fruits and vegetables — it's good for your health and the planet's.
5. Eat Out: Join us in the Picnic for the Planet!

To participate in Picnic for the Planet, people can choose a location and plot a picnic here: meetup.com/natureconservancy to help spread the word.

Heck, at the very least just head outside on your own and have a private picnic with some good eats.

What's that you say? What should you throw in your picnic basket? Well, chefs around the country (like Mario Batali, Alice Waters, and Eric Ripert) have all offered up their favorite picnic recipes to provide some outdoor eating inspiration.

And if those recipes aren't enough, how about some Filipino Fried Chicken from yours truly?

Homemade Ube Pop Tarts

My childhood was not without its fair share of processed convenience foods. Seeing as both my parents worked, and worked often, the refrigerator and cupboards at our house were usually stocked with enough TV dinners, frozen pizza, frozen waffles, boxed macaroni, Instant Ramen, and the like, to last an ice age or two, or to at least feed three undersupervised boys for a few days.

Luckily, the high dosages of yellow number 5, high-fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and nitrates had no long-term ill-effects on my brothers and me. Wait, scratch that. Both my brothers (ages 35 and 28) now have gout (seriously). Though somehow I managed to escape that fate. Good times.

Anyways, my favorite junk/survival food from back in the day had to be pop tarts--the toaster pastries that I believe were meant for breakfast, but I took to eating the tasty pastries any time of day. I was especially addicted to the strawberry pop tarts with the white frosting and sprinkles.

Although I've long since shaken my addiction to the sugary toaster shingles, I still sometimes get the urge to buy a box of pop tarts whenever I pass them in the grocery store--for just a taste of nostalgia. But then I take a look at my own young son sitting in my grocery cart and realize that if any of that processed pop tart-y goodness got into his system, he would surely run through the walls at home.

But a few weeks ago, I came across this great article in the LA Times about homemade pop tarts. After reading the article, I immediately thought, "Wait a second. I could make my own pop tarts? And I could put whatever I want in them?"

Of course I had to try the recipe out, and of course, I had to put my own pinoy-twist to it as well. The outcome? Homemade Pop Tarts filled with Halayang Ube (purple yam jam) and glazed with ube frosting.

Two Words: Done Deal

It's funny.

I've been daydreaming about writing this particular blog post and making this particular announcement since perhaps day one of this blog. Every now and then, for the past four years, I'd catch myself staring off into space, quietly wondering and hoping:

Wouldn't it be cool if I were to write a...

One of these days I'm going to write a...

Man, I really think I could write a...

And then before finishing my thought, I'd shake my head and continue banging on my keyboard, posting Filipino recipes and just sharing a part of my life and culture with anyone who happened across this blog.

Eventually though, after a couple years of wondering and hoping, I sat down and got to doing and writing. A proposal was written, and re-written, and massaged, and fine tuned, and...

And now, now that I actually am writing this blog post and actually do have something to announce, I'm at a loss for words.

Or maybe I'm just nervous.

Here goes:

I've got a cookbook deal!!! A cookbook deal!!! A mother-effing cookbook deal!!!

Wow, it felt insanely gratifying typing those words just now (especially the mother-effing part).

Yes friends, I am so very happy to share with you that over the next year or so I'll be busy writing a Filipino cookbook. I've signed a contract with Tuttle Publishing, and my manuscript is due in January 2012. My cookbook is tentatively titled The New Filipino-American Cookbook (ooh-lar-lar) and is scheduled to land in bookstores, Amazon, and my car trunk by Fall 2012.

I can already see some people out there who may be decrying the title and asking "Filipino-American? Does that mean this cookbook is geared toward Westerners?"

The answer, NO. The cookbook is intended for ANYONE interested in Filipino cuisine and culture. I'm envisioning this cookbook to be an extension of this blog in the sense that I'll continue exploring what Filipino food is, as well as what Filipino food can be. There will be new recipes featuring some traditional dishes, as well as some recipes with my own wacky take on things--you know, business as usual here at the Burnt Lumpia Worldwide Headquarters.

I would also like to take this time to thank Jaden Hair, Andrea Nguyen, and Pat Tanumihardja--three brilliant cookbook authors and all-around wonderful women who have each provided guidance and advice to me for the past couple of years. Thank you all for being mentors to me. And thank you for being inspiring cookbook authors. Thank You!

And lastly, thank you friends and readers. This is really, truly a wonderful/scary/exciting time in my life. I couldn't have gotten to this point without making the connections I've made with all of you. I've got a long road ahead of me still, and I hope you'll continue on this journey with me, as many of you have from the beginning.

I can only promise you that over the next year I will pour everything I've got into writing this cookbook, this FILIPINO COOKBOOK!!!, and hopefully you'll find the time to flip it open.

Cookbook Rules Everything Around Me

Banana 2 Conference

This Saturday February 26th, I'll be participating in the Banana 2 Conference at CBS Studios in Los Angeles.

The Banana 2 Conference will be an event spotlighting the efforts of Asian American and Pacific Islander bloggers. According to the Banana 2 website:

"BANANA 2 is a follow-up to the inaugural convening in Nov. 2009 co-hosted by Lac Su, author of I Love Yous Are For White People (HarperCollins, 2009) and Steve Nguyen, a television/film producer and head of the ChannelAPA.com's Los Angeles division, who enlisted the help of a small group of bloggers and community activists to produce an event highlighting and amplifying the online voices of Asian Americans.

The conference will provide an opportunity for bloggers and their readers to build a stronger community by beginning conversations and building relationships beyond the conference. Conference panels will include topics on using blogs and social media to create meaningful social change, working with businesses and corporations and defining the role of Asian American bloggers."

I'm definitely flattered to have been asked to participate in this great event. I'll actually be taking part in a panel that day specifically devoted to Asian American bloggers who blog about a specific topic--my blog topic being, of course, Filipino food. I'm definitely looking very forward to sharing my thoughts about my blog and about Filipino food.

Again, Banana 2 will be taking place this Saturday February 26th, from 8am to 6pm at CBS Studios in Los Angeles. Conference admission is $20 per person, and you can register online at http://www.banana-2.com/register/.

For more information on Banana 2, visit their website here.

 

Four

Four Valentine's Days ago, I started writing Burnt Lumpia. Yup. This here Filipino food blog is now four years old.

Four years is a long time to be writing anything, let alone to be writing a blog solely about Filipino cuisine. At the time, on that first fateful Valentine's Day when I wrote some lil' test post and hit the "Publish" button, I wasn't sure anyone knew what Filipino food was exactly.

And now? Four years later?

I'm still not sure.

But despite my own uncertainty, there have been signs of increasing interest and appreciation of Filipino cuisine as of late. Adobo in the New York Times? The "next Asian cuisine to hit prime time"? "Filipino cuisine is finally entering the mainstream"? Who would'a thunk it?

Four years.

Four years of testing and developing recipes. Four years of note taking. Four years of calling my grandmother and aunties with questions about ingredients, measurements, and family stories. Four years of posting random movie clips for my own amusement. Four years of making fun of my mom's indifference and my dad's drunkeness, puppy punching prowess, and overall awesomeness(?). Four years of working towards...

Has it all been worth it?

Well. Yes.

Believe me, it's been gratifying enough taking what I've learned from this blog and executing that in real time. And at the very least, I now know a hell of a lot more about my culture than I did four years ago. And thankfully, this didn't happen in a vacuum. I've gleaned a lot from the readers of this blog, and from the people I've connected with all around the world because of this blog. And for that I am very, very thankful.

And even with all the recipes I've managed to post, there's still more to come from me and this blog. Much more--on a grander scale. I promise hope...

But until then, I just want to thank everyone out there who has read and supported this blog for the last four years, months, weeks, days, hours, or even if you've just tuned in four seconds ago.

Thank you.

Thank you for BELIEVING in Filipino food.

And stay tuned...

Gambas for Game Day

Gambas al Ajillo (sauteed shrimp with garlic) may usually be a staple in Spanish tapas joints, but the same dish is also a popular Filipino bar food (perhaps a takeaway from a couple hundred years of Spanish colonialism, I'm guessing).

And despite its Spanish origins and Filipino popularity, gambas al ajillo are also perfect game day fare for an All-American Super Bowl shindig--especially if all of your Crispy Adobo Wings dissappear before the first timeout.

In fact, gambas al ajillo are so quick and easy to prepare, you can probably get a batch done, from start to finish, in 5 minutes flat--ensuring you don't miss a single play, snap, or commercial (hey, I don't judge) during your Super Bowl viewing party.