Tropical Island Cooking. Jennifer Aranas
STEAMED RICE CAKES WITH BACON AND CARAMELIZED ONIONS SUMAN NGA BABOY
One of my earliest kitchen memories is of my mom regularly enlisting my sister and me (it was actually more like a forced draft) to help her roll what seemed like hundreds of sweetened, steamed rice snacks on Saturday mornings. She was famous for her suman and often gave it to friends and co-workers, especially around the holidays. Back then, we rolled the sticky rice like egg rolls in small sheets of aluminum foil before they went into a large steamer for an hour. Now, when I wrap suman I often use banana leaves, which impart a leafy green flavor to the rice. Suman can take on a few incarnations: sweet or savory, plainly served with sugar or dipped into hot chocolate, or heavily adorned with meat and vegetables. I have presented here one of my favorite savory suman recipes, heartily flavored with musky dried mushrooms, smoky bacon, and caramelized onions. Two nontraditional accoutrements that pair exceptionally well with this dish are sweetened Edam butter (page 17) and mushroom soy dipping sauce (page 20), something a little different than the typical dipping sauces of soy and garlic or fish sauce and vinegar.
Makes 8 suman squares
3 dried shiitake mushrooms
½ cup (125 ml) rice wine
⅔ cup (150 ml) hot Chicken Stock (see page 15)
3 slices bacon, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 cup (200 g) uncooked glutinous rice
1 cup (250 ml) coconut milk
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10-oz/280-g) package banana leaves, thawed
Soak the mushrooms: Combine the dried mushrooms, rice wine, and hot chicken broth in a medium bowl. Soak the mushrooms for 15 to 20 minutes until caps are tender. Remove the mushrooms and squeeze the excess liquid back into the bowl. Cut off and discard the mushroom stems. Slice the mushroom caps thinly. Set the mushrooms and soaking liquid aside.
Cook the rice: Heat a medium skillet (2 to 3 quarts/liters) over medium heat. Add the diced bacon. Cook and stir the bacon for 4 to 5 minutes until much of the fat is rendered out. Add the onion and sauté another 5 to 7 minutes until the onion begins to caramelize and turns a golden color. Add the glutinous rice and stir to coat with oil. Deglaze the pan with the mushroom soaking liquid, scraping off any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add the coconut milk, sliced mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Simmer the rice for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid. The rice should be very thick and sticky but still firm when you bite into it.
Form and cool the rice: Turn the rice out into a 9 by 9-inch (23 by 23-cm)-square baking dish and press it into a 2-inch (5 cm)-thick block. Molding the rice this way will allow you to cut even blocks, which makes for easy wrapping. Cool the rice completely. Use a knife to cut 8 equal-sized blocks just slightly over 2 by 2 inches (5 by 5 cm)-square.
Wrap the suman: Step 1. Prepare the banana leaves by running both sides of each leaf under hot water and wiping dry with paper towels. Lay one leaf horizontally in front of you. Starting from the bottom edge closest to you, cut the leaf into 4-inch (10 cm)-wide strips, at least 6 inches (15 cm) tall from top to bottom. Each strip will be used to wrap a single suman block so make sure you have enough strips for the number of blocks. Step 2. Cut an equal number of ¼-inch (½-cm) leaf strips. These thin strips will be used to tie the suman closed, like a ribbon. Step 3. Center 1 rice block on the bottom edge of a leaf strip. Pull the bottom edge over the rice and roll the block in the leaf like a gift. Fold in the sides and hold them secured with your fingers. Tie the ¼-inch (½-cm) leaf strip around the block so that it holds the sides and top edge closed. Tie the “ribbon” into a knot. Continue wrapping the remaining blocks of suman.
Steam the suman: Place the wrapped blocks in your steamer and steam for 50 minutes. Cool slightly before serving. Serve with Edam butter (page 17) and mushroom dipping sauce (page 20).
SHRIMP AND SWEET POTATO FRITTERS UKOY
This is what I like to consider a bare-bones ukoy recipe upon which other variations are built. These fritters are light and crunchy with just barely enough batter to keep the sweet potato and cassava clinging to the shrimp. Other variations may include the addition of chopped green onions (scallions), bean sprouts, or water chestnuts mixed with flour and water into a pancake batter consistency. Such modifications detract from the crunchiness of the basic recipe, but the textural softening is replaced with heightened flavor. One key procedural note is to use a slicing tool that will cut long, ½ to 1-inch (13 to 25-mm) matchsticks of sweet potato and cassava. A mandoline works beautifully to slice wiry vegetable threads that cook quickly into shoestring fries surrounding the shrimp.
Makes 10 to 12 fritters
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into matchsticks (approximately 1½ cups/340 g)
1 small fresh cassava, peeled and cut into matchsticks (approximately 1½ cups/400 g)
½ cup (50 g) cornstarch
2 to 3 large egg whites
10 to 12 jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and butterflied with tails left on
2 to 3 cups (500 to 750 ml) oil, for frying
Make the batter: Combine the sweet potato, cassava, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Toss the vegetables to evenly coat with the cornstarch. Add the egg whites little by little and mix with the vegetables until just moistened and gluey. The vegetables should be thick and sticky when pressed together.
Form the fritters: Sandwich the body of a butterflied shrimp in between two spoonfuls of sweet potato batter and press the fritter together. The tail should be left sticking out. Lay the formed fritters on a cookie sheet. Continue with the remaining shrimp. Chill the formed fritters in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before frying. This will allow the batter to firm so that it doesn’t separate from the shrimp during cooking.
Fry the fritters: Heat the oil to 350°F (175°C) in a deep skillet. The oil should be 1½ to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) in depth. Gently place 2 to 3 fritters in the oil and fry until golden brown on each side, 3 to 4 minutes. Dry on paper towels and serve immediately with the dipping sauce. Continue with the remaining ukoy.
UKOY DIPPING SAUCE
3 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon mirin
1 small clove garlic, minced
Mix all the ingredients together in a small dish. Serve with ukoy.
CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE
Filipinos are terribly clever when it comes to inventing new uses for everyday ingredients. I am particularly fond of the use of liver in sauces and stews. Quite a few Filipino dishes call for liver or liver pâté as an ingredient, which not only imparts rich flavor but also acts as an elegant sauce thickener. Traditionally, canned liverwurst was the product of choice. However, this simple recipe far outweighs the taste and quality of a canned product and can be served in a number of ways. Alone, it is a delicious pâté served with your favorite crusty bread or sliced pears. And finally, if frozen and cut into small bouillon-sized blocks, it can be used as a flavoring or thickener in place of a traditional roux. You will be pleasantly surprised by the sultry depth that a little of this mousse will give your sauces and stews.
Makes