Paella De Pollo Con Romero

Ultimate delicious and easy Spanish chicken paella dish (Chicken paella with rosemary) Serve 4 as a main course.
Ingredients:
4-5 boneless chicken thigh, cut into halves
350g De Cecco riso arborio (rice) wash and drain
1.2 litre boiling chicken stock
3 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 medium size red Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium  size pimiento or red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
320g or 3 medium size tomatoes, coarsely chooped
2 laurel or dry bay leaves
1 tsp azafrán de la mancha (saffron)
1 tbsp hot paprika, I prefer (Ambroisa)
½ tsp Ambroisa paella mix, added some colour and flavor (if available and preferable)
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 fresh spring rosemary
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
freshly ground black pepper
salt
Preparation:

1. Marinate the chicken with chopped parsley, salt and ground pepper, leave at least 30 minutes, preferably longer on the fridge. 

2. Heat the paella copper pan or any heavy gauge paella pan over medium heat. Add only 1 tbsp olive oil, fry the chicken and skin side down its juices became the oily pool and cooked in its own fat.

3. Fry the chicken thighs 8 minutes per side or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and crisp. Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a large plate with wire rack or paper towels and drain the excess oil. Set aside.

4. On the same pan sauté garlic until fragrant, add onion and stir until the onion is translucent. Stir with pimientos and sauté for a 1 minute, then add the tomatoes and bay leaves. 

5. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly until tomatoes are softened and caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld.

6. Add the rice into the pan.

7. Stir well to coat the rice.

8. Add 6 ladle spoon of boiling chicken stock.

9. And stir for a few seconds.

10. Add the paprika, saffron, paella mix, pinch of ground black pepper and season with salt. Taste and adjust seasoning (you might have to add more salt.

11. Add fresh rosemary and more chicken stock.

12. Stir well again until totally mix all the ingredients blended with the rice, you almost can smell it the aromatic flavor of rosemary and spice. Cover with lid and bring to a boil for 10-15 minutes. Stirring occasionally so that it does not burn on bottom of pan.

13. After 10-15 minutes when the rice evenly and absorbs the liquid. Add the remaining stock and stir.

14. Place the chicken thighs on top of the paella rice mixture.

15. Reduce the heat to low, cover again and cook for a further 10 minutes until rice is tender but al dente and all the stock is absorbed.

16.  When the paella is cooked, turn off the heat and rest for a few minutes.

17. Place paella at the table.

18. And serve with lemon wedges if desired.

Suman Verde Served With Latik

These sweet steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves will be a hit with anyone who enjoys that wonderful suman that come with Pinoy merienda (snack) or desserts. Suman is usually made with lye water a kind of edible chemical subtance that adding extra flavor. But for my makeover suman, I like the using fine white sugar gives this dish and try adding a pandan extract which will give it a green color like fine jade. They also feature a nutty flavor of coconut condensed and flaked toasted coconut or latik on the outside. My family just loves this wonderful and easy steamed rice dumpling that's as truly delicious.
Ingredients:
3 cups glutinous rice or malagkit
2 cups white granulated sugar
1 tbsp condensed coconut
½ tsp pandan extract
pinch of salt to brings out the flavor
5x6 inch banana leaves
10x10 inch banana leaves
latik
Preparation:

1. Place the malagkit or sticky rice in a mixing bowl then pour in water and stir and allow to sit for at least 2-3 hours. In the meantime, prepare the banana leaves. Warm the whole banana leaf or cut into manageable pieces, large and small enough to wrap the rice dumplings, then clean with a soft cloth. Wash and rinse the rice, line colander with thin soy bean cloth or cheese cloth and let the rice drain out the excess water.

2. Put the sticky or glutinous rice back in the mixing bowl and combine with sugar, salt, pandan and condensed coconut.

3. Mix well until all the grains have an even color.

4. Arrange the banana leaves by placing the larger leaf then put the smaller leaf in the center. Spoon around 3 tbsp rice mixture into the center of the leaves. lengthwise, the shape of a log.

5. Roll them up and fold that side to enclose the rice.

6. Make another one the same size around 5 or 6 inches. Pair these 2 suman with the folded sides together, then tie the two ends together tightly.

7. In a copper casserole pot or heavy pot. Place the parcels or wrapped rice mixture, add enough water to cover the suman. Cover and boil at medium heat for 1 or 1½ hours until it is cooked completely. The simmering time depends on the type of your pot.

8. When its boiled, the banana leaf imparts a lovely aroma to the suman.

9. Transfer the suman on a colander to drain the excess water.

10. Take the suman, cut the string and unwrap then discard the banana leaves. Serve hot or cold, but still far from perfection, of course best eaten while still hot, serve with  latik or toasted coconut. Add more sugar on top of the suman if you want. Enjoy them with a smile!
Note:
Suman may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  They also survive the freezing process for couple of months. The quantity of these ingredients it yield 16 or 18 suman.

Ginataang Mais With Macapuno

My version of ginataang mais with macapuno. Ginataang mais is a Filipino rice and corn sweet dessert or rice pudding and it really brings back a lot of memories of my grandmother Anastacia. There is one ingredient that not really a very traditional Filipino ginataang mais. I found out that the black rice it has a nutty flavor which makes this ginataan extra enjoyable to eat. Black rice is a type of whole grain glutinous rice usually eaten in Thailand. If you can't find black rice, just white glutinous rice that would be great. You can use corn kernel in a can but fresh is always best. This dish is that it can be served warm or cold, after meal or just a snack that every Filipino loves!
Ingredients:
4pcs fresh corn kernels
½ cup black sticky rice
1 ½ cup glutinous rice or malagkit
8-10 cups coconut milk
1 ½ cup granulated white sugar
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup macapuno
a dash of salt
coconut cream
Preparation:

1. Put the black rice in a deep bowl and pour in cold water and soak for overnight. Drain the rice, wash and rinse through your fingers to clean it then drain. Repeat until the water comes clean.

2. Remove the fibers and outer skin, rinse and use a sharp knife to shred the corn from the cobs. Set aside.

3. In a copper pot or any heavy pot, mix all ingredients except for corn and cream, cover and heat until boiling.

out 20 minutes or until the rice and corn are cooked. By the way don't cooked too much, the rice it should be cook in al dente and not too soft it should be close to risotto.

5. Add the macapuno or fresh grated buco strips even better. Stir every now and then to prevent it from sticking to the pot., uncovered and cooked and boil for another 10 minutes. Add more water if necessary.

6. Add around 1 cup of coconut cream.

7. When the coconut cream has been absorbed, remove from the heat.

8. Serve hot or cold and drizzled some coconut cream on top if desired.

Kalamay Na Biko

Anyone who couldn't resist this delicious malagkit na kakanin or sweet sticky dessert cooked in coconut milk. Wondering what Kalamay is? Kalamay is a sticky sweet delicacy that is popular in the Philippines. There are many types of Kalamay. But this biko or sticky rice cake with caramelised coconut cream topping is made of simple ingredients just check out the list below ↓.

Ingredients:
3 cups sticky rice or glutinous rice
1½ cups brown sugar
5 cups coconut milk
sprinkle a little salt
heated banana leaves
coconut oil
For The Topping:
1 can coconut cream
200g brown sugar
1 tsp pandan extract
1 tsp condensed coconut, if any and you can find this product in any Thai grocery store
Preparation:

1. In a copper casserole or any deep pan, combine coconut milk, sugar and sprinkle a little bit of salt to brings out the flavor, stir until sugar is dissolved.

2. Wash the glutinous rice and pour into the coconut milk and sugar mixture.

3. Stir the mixture for a couple seconds.

4. Cover with lid, bring to a boil and cook in medium low heat for 10 minutes.

5. After 10 minutes, stir the mixture in one direction and cook for another 20-30 minutes. Be sure to stir constantly to prevent mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  

6. Mix thoroughly to form a sticky and when the liquid is fully absorbed by the rice. Take off from heat and set aside.

7. In a sauce pan, combine the coconut cream, sugar, pandan extract, condensed coconut cream and cook in medium low heat. Stirring continuously until the liquid has reduced in half.

8. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the banana leaves at the bottom and brush with coconut oil.

9. Spread the cooked sweet rice to a pan covered with banana leaves and flatten evenly. If you don't have banana leaves you can grease the aluminum foil to avoid the kalamay from sticking. Though the banana leaves it give this dessert a distinct taste and fragrance.

10. Pour the topping onto the sweet rice cake.

11. Bake on a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

12. When done, remove from the oven immediately and let it cool, slice and serve!