PINOY PUTO

Ingredients:

2 cups milagrosa rice or wagwag rice, soaked and ground with 2-1/2 cups water
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsps baking powder
grated coconut

Cooking procedure:

Make sure ground rice has consistency of a thick batter. then, add sugar, salt and 1 teaspoon baking powder for every cup of mixture. fill molds with 2/3 full mixture. Put steamer and steam 30 minutes or until done. Remove from mold and serve with grated coconut, if desired.

BUD BUD PILIT RECIPE

The ingredients

3 cups malagkit (glutinous rice)
5 cups coconut milk, first extract
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
banana leaves

The cooking procedure:

Wash malagkit very well. Drain. Cook with coconut milk, salt and sugar in wok, stirring constantly. When mixture is almost dry, stir to prevent from sticking to the bottom of the wok. Reduce heat and cover mixture with banana leaves for a few minutes.

Wrap 2 tablespoons cooked malagkit in wilted banana leaves. Tie in pairs and steam for 30 minutes in big pot. Serve with hot chocolate or ripe mango slices.

CHEFS PREFER OTHER DISHES ALSO

I spend almost 12 hours in a day inside my kitchen. I can survive a day without using going outside or looking outside the window. As long as I am doing the kitchen, my focus is in the dish that I am preparing. Time really fly fast when I am inside the kitchen, preparing the foods for the day in the restaurant. The time I look at the clock it is 7 am and the next time I look at the time it is already 6 pm. That fast. Most of my chef-friends suffer from ulcer because of the things that we do and that is cooking.

Cooking most of the time would lead to not being hungry at all. Lost of appetite usually is the main health problem of chefs around the world. That is why many chefs would dine out rather than stay in their restaurant and eat the dishes that are prepared. Common dishes becomes special when we chefs eat it.

KITCHEN TOUR

I have a chef friend chef working in Marco Polo Hotel. He invited me to see their kitchen and the equipments that they use there. I am very interested to see that. According to my friend chef, I will be allowed to see the kitchen since I am a cooking instructor and a consultant of the hotel. Yes, I am a consultant there. The equipment that I am interested to look at was moved from Hong Kong Marco Polo here to our city.

But aside from the kitchen, I am also interested to see their food preparation process and their methods of food preparation. Maybe some food tasting will also be good for me. After Marco Polo kitchen tour, I will also be at the launching of another restaurant in the metro. It is owned by my chef friend and the opening will on the same day with my Marco Polo tour. I guess I needed to divide my time equally for both occasions. it's gonna be a food trip for the day for me.

ANOTHER COOKING ENGAGEMENT

I am so very busy right now in the restaurant because I needed to cook 20 dishes for a party that is going to happen tonight. I cut short the restaurant operation hours so that my other chefs can help me do the cooking. The dishes that we were about to prepare are not that simple because these are French cuisines and it requires careful preparation or else the food will not be good.

Our main course for the party is also difficult to cook and time consuming. We are going to roast a cow whole. Roasted cow is what they requested from us and we promised to gibe them one for the party proper. Roast cow is very easy because all the ingredients are all prepared. The problem is that it requires constant heat or else the oil in meat will dry and will make the meat taste bad.

I already added more chefs in my team of cooking. I want that the entire event to be successful and the foods that we will be preparing will be a hit. I am not new to this kind of situation. But I want to have an organized party and well prepared foods.

THE RELAXING CHEF

I was cooking the entire day in the restaurant. My assistant chef was on leave today and she might be back on Wednesday. Since I am the only one, I did all the cooking in the restaurant. I brought with me are my recipe books and some cooking note that I will be using as my guide as I do the cooking in the restaurant.

I already gave the authority to my assistant chef to have her personal recipes in the restaurant as part of the menu. I think her recipes are also performers in the restaurant. I also asked some pointers from my assistant chef about the secret ingredients that she uses in her recipes. For tomorrow, I already prepared the menu and the appetizers. My other chefs in my kiosk was also with me today as we prepare the dishes.

My assistant chef really needed the much break from the cooking in my restaurant because while I was busy in the catering service the other week, she was the only one doing the cooking in my restaurant. I will be expecting her on Wednesday. But for now, I am on my own, the owner chef will do the cooking personally.

A CHEF'S FRIEND

I was in the supermarket this morning, buying the week's supply for the house and for the restaurant. While in the market, I saw an old time friend. She used to be with us in the culinary school. But did not finish the culinary studies because she needed to operate her business immediately. I never thought that we would meet again, especially in the market. The last information I had about her was that she operated a milk business. But that information was not confirmed because she had to quit the culinary study immediately.

We were hugging each other in the market. She told me that her dairy business is doing well. She has different types of milk from chocolate to the plain milk. Her milk are not commercialized powdered milks. Hers were fresh from the cow and straight to the bottle. She delivers to various shopping malls and supermarket too. She offered me the milk. I was thinking that her milk has a room in my kitchen. I always use milk in my kitchen. I use it for cooking and baking as well. I guess now that I found the right milk supplier, my baking will definitely will improve a lot.