Lumpiang Hubad

 

 

You might have noticed a lot of lumpia on the blog this month - here is another! Lumpia are Filipino spring rolls and they come in all varieties. I've already shared fresh (lumpiang sariwa) and gorgeous fried (lumpiang prito) spring rolls, you can find links to those recipes at the bottom of this post. Lumpiang hubad is essentially the filling of the rolls and the sauce, but without wrapping them up into rolls. Same great flavours, but a 'lazy' version which doesn't involve taking the time to roll them. The peanut sauce all over it is just delicious.

 

I've chopped my veggies bigger than I did when making the lumpiang sariwa and prito, because I knew I wouldn't be rolling it up. You can also just make a double batch of lumpiang filling and use half for rolls and half with peanut sauce like this for another meal.

 

 

Lumpiang Hubad

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
400g hard tofu cut into cubes
1 cup sweet potato cut into cubes
1 large carrot, cubed
1 cup chopped celery
2 tsp vegan fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup sliced green beans
1 cup cabbage
Shallots, for garnish

For the peanut sauce:
2 cups water
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp cornstarch

To make:
1. Heat oil in a large frypan or wok and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent and then add the tofu and sweet potato. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add the carrots, celery and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce. Once the carrot is tender, turn off the heat and stir through the green beans and cabbage. The residual heat will cook them just enough. 
3. Set the filling aside to cool a little, it can be warm but not hot when you wrap up the rolls.
4. To make the sauce: Combine 1 1/2 cups water, soy sauce, brown sugar and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Once all the sugar is dissolved add the peanuts and garlic and simmer for 3-4 minutes. In a cup, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water with the cornstarch and stir until smooth. 
5. Stirring the sauce continually, add in the cornstarch. Stir continuously over a low heat until the mixture thickens up a bit. Remove from the heat. 
7. Arrange lumping hubad in a bowl and pour the peanut sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped shallots.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Float

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton

 



Filipino Pancit Canton

The Philippines is a fun country to explore, it's such a melting pot of different influences. A lot of Chinese influence has made it into their traditional dishes, and this is one of them. Pancit means noodles, so these noodles are called Cantonese Noodles in the Philippines. It's a dish of stir fried noodles with vegetables (and usually pork) similar to a chow mein. It has lots of variations, you can use any variety of mixed veggies, and a few different cooking methods. I love how easy this dish is because you cook the noodles in the broth, rather than separately, which makes it a great one-pot dish.

Filipino Pancit Canton

Ingredients
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
2 tbsp. oil
1 onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium-large carrots, cut into sticks
4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup light soy sauce
750g dried wheat noodles
3 cups shredded green cabbage
A few handfuls of snow peas, trimmed
Generous grinding of black pepper

To Make
1. Soak shiitake mushrooms in one cup of hot water while you chop all your veggies.
2. Heat the oil in a wok and sauté the onion until just softened and then add the crushed garlic and cook for another few minutes.
3. Add the carrots, vegetable stock, soaked mushrooms, soy sauce and any liquid remaining from the mushrooms. Bring to a simmer and simmer until the carrots are just slightly softened.
4. Add the dried wheat noodles and simmer until he noodles are just cooked and have soaked up the liquid. Add the shredded green cabbage, snow peas and a generous amount of cracked pepper. The residual heat will cook them just enough. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Note: Depending on the thickness and variety of your wheat noodles, liquid quantities may be variable. If your noodles have absorbed all the stock but are not quite yet cooked through, you may need to add in a little bit more liquid - make sure it is boiling hot rather than cold. Alternately, you may find that the noodles are perfectly cooked but you still have quite a bit of liquid. In this case, mix 1 tbsp. cornstarch with 2 tbsp. cold water and stir just before you take it off the heat and add the remaining veggies.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Floats

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Coconut Mango Float (Vegan)

The start of Autumn in Sydney means take advantage of the last few mangoes around before they disappear until next summer. One of the many things I miss about summer as I'm trudging through the winter months is the beautiful summer stone fruits, so it's nice to make the most of them while I still can.

Mango float is a dessert popular in the Philippines and several of it's neighbours - including parts o Australia. It's a nice simple dessert, easy to make and usually not vegan. My version has a few changes. I've used whipped coconut cream (a vegan's best friend) but I've also included grated fresh coconut because Filipino versions use young coconuts, it adds a lovely texture to the whipped cream and enhances the beautiful coconut flavour. Most recipes use whole biscuits for the biscuit layers, but I've just used crumbs because I found it a bit easier. If you like, you can layer whole biscuits and just use crumbs to fill in any gaps.

Mango float is often made like a slice, in a long dish and then cut into slices. I've made mine in jars because they look so lovely plus they're very easy to store. You could also make them in individual parfait glasses or dessert bowls, or even in one big glass bowl like a trifle. If you're making it like a slice, you'll want to start with a bottom layer of whole biscuits to make the base, but if it's in jars or parfait glasses then I prefer to start with a layer of mango because I think it's nice getting to the bottom and finding fruit!

If you like a boozy dessert, try marinating the mango in 1-2 tbsp. rum.

Coconut Mango Float

Ingredients
2 x 400ml cans coconut cream (refrigerated for at least 24 hours)
1/4 cup soft icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated fresh coconut flesh
3 large mangoes
200g digestive biscuits (or other plain biscuits) (you'll need more if you want to make it slice-style, as you'll need a bottom layer)

To Make:
1. Remove the cans from the fridge (the longer you refrigerate them the better), open them up and scoop out all the solidified cream. Discard any watery liquid in the bottom of the can.
2. In a bowl, whip the coconut cream solids with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Move the beaters up and down while you beat to aerate the cream as much as possible. Once it's smooth and whipped, add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat in well.
3. Chop the mango flesh into cubes or slices. At this stage you can add a tbsp. of spiced rum or another liqueur if you want to.
4. Turn the biscuits into crumbs either in a food processor or just crumble with your hands.
5. Start with a layer of mango and then top it with coconut cream and a fairly generous layer of biscuit crumbs. Follow this with another layer of mango and another of coconut cream. Garnish with more biscuit crumbs.
6. Set in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight).

Serves about 8.

If you want to make it as a slice, use a long rectangular dish. Start with a layer of whole biscuits and fill in any gaps with crumbs. Then layer mango and then coconut cream. Repeat with another layer of biscuits, followed mango and coconut cream.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton

Filipino Adobo Tofu with Pineapple and Bamboo Shoots

March is Philippines month on the blog, and I'm looking forward to sharing a lot of new dishes with you. As with a lot of Asian nations, the Philippines has a long history of association with a lot of different countries - all of which have influenced their cuisine. The resulting cuisine has Malaysian, Spanish, Chinese and even American influences which have contributed to their unique cuisine. Generally, I have to say, it's a very meaty country! They love eating their pigs over there and most of the recipes I found contained several part of the pig. But I found a smattering of lovely vegetarian dishes hidden amongst all the meat and have more than enough to share a month's worth of recipes with you.

I'm going to start with some Adobo Tofu. You might think of Spain when you hear the word adobo, and infact the adobo is quite well known and well used in America thanks to it's large hispanic population. But what you might not know is that when the Spanish explored the Philippines in the 16th Century, they discovered that the Filipino population had a very similar method of cooking with vinegar. Because it was so similar to the Spanish method, they named it adobo, despite the fact that it was indigenous to the region.

Filipino Adobo Tofu with Pineapple & Bamboo Shoots

Ingredients
500g hard tofu (sometimes called extra firm tofu)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 small pineapple (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups chopped)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup white vinegar (I used white wine vinegar, you can use palm vingear, coconut vinegar or any other variety of white vinegar)
1/3 cup light soy sauce
2 bay leaves
Generous grinding of black pepper
1 small can (220g) bamboo shoots (if you can find fresh shoot, even better!)

To Make
1. Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the tofu and cut into cubes or triangles. Heat the oil in a wok and fry pieces until lightly browned on both sides. Remove and set aside.
2. Peel and chop your pineapple and set aside. Peel and slice your garlic and lighty fry in the remaining oil in the wok (you may need to add more if there is not much left) until just starting to go golden. Then add the pineapple and cook for about another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the vegetable stock, vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves and black pepper. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the tofu and drained bamboo shoots. Simmer for about 15 minutes. 

You can serve with rice and steamed vegetables. 
Serves 4. 

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Float

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton