FOODS

The Truth About Filipino Adobo – CASA Veneracion

“Adobo” is a Spanish word that literally translates to sauce, seasoning or marinade. In Spanish cookery, the basic ingredients for adobo are salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, vinegar and paprika. Before there was refrigeration, the mixture was used to preserve meat and fish. It was also used to pickle vegetables. In short, back then, it was a mixture for curing raw food.

As Spain went on to colonize many parts of the world, the use of adobo spread to Latin America and other Spanish colonies. The Philippines was a Spanish colony from 1521 to 1898. When the Spaniards arrived, they saw that the natives cooked their food with vinegar, garlic and peppercorns too and, because of some similarities with their adobo, the Spaniards referred to those native dishes as adobo.

And that paved the way for the misconception that Filipino adobo is part of the Spanish legacy. It is not. In fact, despite the similarities in some of the ingredients, Filipino adobo is a stew, not a curing method. What it was called before the Spaniards arrived, no one knows today.

There are many regional variants of Filipino adobo but all share three ingredients in common — vinegar, garlic and peppercorns. In some regional variants, the salty component of the stew can be plain salt or patis (fermented fish sauce). Meat or seafood is simmered in the mixture until it soaks up all the flavors of the seasonings and spices, and the liquid turns into a sparse thick sauce. That is Filipino adobo.

Soy sauce is a regional rather than a universal ingredient. Although adobo with soy sauce (adobong itim) has been more popular over the last hundred years or so, adobo without soy sauce (adobong puti) appears to be the original based on historical accounts on how the Spaniards described the dish that they encountered when they arrived.

Variants of adobong puti are still cooked to this day — adobo sa dilaw, cooked with turmeric which gives the dish a distinctive yellow hue, is just one of many. So, it was rather hair-raising to hear someone who calls himself an authority on Filipino food, an ex-blogger who used to conduct food tours in Manila (no, not the late Carlos Celdran), claiming on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations that soy sauce is an essential ingredient of Filipino adobo. What a clueless remark that was.

Even more clueless is the recent attempt by the Philippine government to “standardize” the cooking of iconic Filipino dishes including adobo and sinigang. The most well known variants of adobo may be the ones with pork or chicken, or both, but almost anything can be cooked using the basic adobo base of vinegar, garlic and peppercorns.

Sinigang with bangus (milkfish) or pork may be the variants most often cooked in Filipino homes a generation ago, but the sinigang universe has definitely gotten much bigger than that. Perhaps, the proponents of the standardization of popular Filipino food should be reminded that there is more than one souring agent used to cook sinigang — sampalok (tamarind), bayabas (guava), balimbi (kamias) and even green unripe mangoes. And anything from seafood to poultry to meat can be cooked into sinigang.

Standardize the cooking of adobo and sinigang? Oh, come on.

These policy makers ought to remember that our cuisine is part of our identity as a nation. And, as with any living cuisine, ours never ends to evolve too. It is not something to be tweaked, and its evolution repressed, to appeal to the bland palate of the white man.

Updated from a post originally published in July 10, 2014 […]

FOODS

No Churn Black Sesame Ice Cream – The Viet Vegan

.mv-create-jtr-wrapper{margin-bottom:20px}a.mv-create-jtr-link{display:block;padding:10px 10px 10px 0;color:#333;font-size:16px;text-decoration:none!important;-webkit-transition:color .5s;transition:color .5s}a.mv-create-jtr-link:hover,a.mv-create-jtr-link:focus{color:#666}.mv-create-jtr-link .mv-create-jtr-caret{margin-right:5px;padding-top:6px;fill:#333}.mv-create-jtr-link:hover .mv-create-jtr-caret,.mv-create-jtr-link:focus .mv-create-jtr-caret{fill:#666}a.mv-create-jtr-button{display:inline-block;padding:.75em 1.5em;border:0;color:#fff;background:#333;box-shadow:none;text-shadow:none;font-size:16px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none!important;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:background .5s;transition:background .5s}a.mv-create-jtr-button:hover,a.mv-create-jtr-button:focus{color:#fff;background:#666}.mv-create-jtr-button .mv-create-jtr-caret{margin-right:5px;padding-top:6px;fill:#fff}.mv-create-jtr-button:hover .mv-create-jtr-caret,.mv-create-jtr-button:focus .mv-create-jtr-caret{fill:#fff}.mv-create-jtr-button-uppercase{text-transform:uppercase}This no churn Black Sesame Ice cream is a deep, nutty and delicious good time! 3 ingredients, no ice cream maker required, this is perfect for milkshakes, adding to bubble tea, or adding to the top of some bingsu!I have a painful history with my ice cream machine (TL;DR: I sold it a few years back during a really rough time in my life and en route I pooped my pants on the subway lol). But for this recipe, you will definitely not need any ice cream makers (although it definitely wouldn’t hurt)For this no-churn version, you will need a good blender (I have a high speed one). I froze the blocks of black sesame seed butter and sweetened condensed milk and then blended that with soy milk to create the mixture to freeze.The results aren’t as easy to scoop as a churned ice cream might get. The aeration of churning really does make a difference, but you can mimic that aeration by folding in coconut whip (like the So Delicious/Cool Whip reminiscent type stuff) and that’ll make this a lot lighter!But all in all, with limited equipment, this black sesame ice cream is super simple, easy, and quite delicious!I used this black sesame ice cream to make a vegan black sesame milkshake in a recent video, so check out how else I used black sesame seeds!
[embedded content] Yield: 8-10 servingsNo Churn Black Sesame Ice CreamIngredients
1 can (7.4 oz/221 g) vegan sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup (125 mL) black sesame seed butter
2 cups (500 mL) plant milk (higher fat is ideal, soy, cashew, or coconut would work great here)InstructionsIn a bowl or a blender, mix sweetened condensed coconut milk and black sesame butter until well combined. Transfer to an ice cube tray and freeze (I froze overnight, but at least 8 hrs should be enough time)Once completely frozen, in a blender, combine the frozen condensed milk and black sesame mixture with 2 cups of plant milk. Blend well, then transfer to a container to freeze. For a softer ice cream, check after 3 hours and it should be mostly frozen but not completely hard. Scoop and enjoy!If you want a fluffier result, you could also fold in some coconut whip (the So Delicious coconut whipped topping would be so good here).Spread the love: […]

FOODS

Black Sesame Milkshake – Two Ways! – The Viet Vegan

April 30, 2021 by Lisa Le Leave a Comment.mv-create-jtr-wrapper{margin-bottom:20px}a.mv-create-jtr-link{display:block;padding:10px 10px 10px 0;color:#333;font-size:16px;text-decoration:none!important;-webkit-transition:color .5s;transition:color .5s}a.mv-create-jtr-link:hover,a.mv-create-jtr-link:focus{color:#666}.mv-create-jtr-link .mv-create-jtr-caret{margin-right:5px;padding-top:6px;fill:#333}.mv-create-jtr-link:hover .mv-create-jtr-caret,.mv-create-jtr-link:focus .mv-create-jtr-caret{fill:#666}a.mv-create-jtr-button{display:inline-block;padding:.75em 1.5em;border:0;color:#fff;background:#333;box-shadow:none;text-shadow:none;font-size:16px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none!important;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:background .5s;transition:background .5s}a.mv-create-jtr-button:hover,a.mv-create-jtr-button:focus{color:#fff;background:#666}.mv-create-jtr-button .mv-create-jtr-caret{margin-right:5px;padding-top:6px;fill:#fff}.mv-create-jtr-button:hover .mv-create-jtr-caret,.mv-create-jtr-button:focus .mv-create-jtr-caret{fill:#fff}.mv-create-jtr-button-uppercase{text-transform:uppercase}This black sesame milkshake is a refreshing, creamy, and not too sweet treat! I used my no-churn black sesame ice cream for this, but I have a version below that just uses ice and black sesame seed butter in case you don’t have any on hand.I shared in my black sesame seed butter cup recipe some of the nutrient breakdowns of black sesame. So just feel a little extra good about black sesame! (I will, anyway hehe)
[embedded content] Yield: 1 shakeBlack Sesame Milkshake – Two Ways!
Prep Time
5 minutes
Total Time
5 minutes IngredientsMilkshake with Black Sesame Ice Cream
3 scoops ice cream
1 cup (250 mL) plant milk (I used soy)
1-2 tbsp (15-30 g) black sesame powderWithout Black Sesame Ice Cream
1 cup (250 mL) plant milk
4 ice cubes
2 tbsp black sesame seed butter (or 1/4 cup black sesame seed powder)
2 tsp vegan honey or liquid sweetener of your choiceInstructionsFor either method (with ice cream or without ice cream), combine the listed ingredients and enjoy!Spread the love:Filed Under: Dessert, Drinks, Gluten-Free Tagged With: black sesame, black sesame seed milkshake, milkshakeAbout Lisa LeLisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.Reader InteractionsThis site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. […]

FOODS

How to Store and Use Sourdough Starter from the Fridge – The Viet Vegan

Today I’m breaking down how I store my sourdough starter in the fridge for several months, untouched, and how I revive it to make delicious sourdough bread again!Making sourdough can be time consuming, If you need to take a break from sourdough, you don’t need to throw out your starter! Here’s what I do to store mine in the fridge:How to store sourdough starter in the fridge to hibernate long termI use a clean jar with an airtight lid. I use the same kinds of jars for when I store my sourdough on the counter. These are old gelato jars I get from my zero-waste bulk shop! But you can use any jar, it’s easier with a wide mouth jar!With the new, clean jar, I create a sourdough starter feed of my usual ratio of 1:5:5 (5 g mature starter, 25 g flour mix, and 25 g water). Then, let it sit on the counter for about 6-8 hours for the yeast to multiply. I’ve also just fed the starter, and then immediately stuck it in the fridge. However, I find that my starter bounces back a bit better and is less angry at me if I let it feed a little bit before going in the fridge.Either way, I stick it in the fridge with the lid on airtight. If my jar was more than 50% full, I’d leave the lid on more loosely, but since it’s only 20% full, there’s lots of room for it to expand.From the fridge: Discarded all but 5 g, then fed 25 g flour mix and 25 g water (1:5:5 ratio)How long can you store sourdough starter in the fridge?Leave your starter in the fridge for as long as you want. I’ve left it in there before for 1 week; 2 months; and just recently; I pulled Carter the Starter out of the fridge after being dormant and untouched for 4 months. I’ve heard of people leaving it in there and still being able to wake up their starter after a year!The older your starter is, the more resilient it is. So personally, I think it’s better to hibernate your old starter than to throw it out and start from scratch.24 hours after my first feed from the fridge: I didn’t feed at the 12 hr mark because he barely rose at all (this is about 175% increase instead of my ideal 200% increase)How to wake up my starter from being in the fridge:First, I pour off the grey liquid I see on top. That liquid is the alcohol produced from long-term fermentation. Actually I take it as a good sign, that the culture is still active! But it also means it’s hungry, which is fine, because next we feed it!I take a new, clean jar and take 5 g of the hungry starter, then feed it my usual 1:5:5 ratio of starter:water:flour mix. My flour mix is 40% rye, 40% bread flour, 20% whole wheat. Feed your starter whatever you normally feed it, be it rye, bread flour, or all purpose!So feed your starter whatever ratio you normally feed your starter; be it 1:3:3, 1:4:4, whatever works!So your newly fed starter will sit in a warm place on your counter for the next 12 hours. If it doubles, I discard all but 5g again, and feed my usual 1:5:5 ratio. After 24 hours, it has doubled and has a lot of bubbly activity, which tells me yeast and bacteria production is back to normal! It should smell pleasantly nice and sour.Can you eat the discard from the fridge?When your starter is cold, the bacteria will continue to grow, but the yeast production is halted. So depending on how long your starter has been dormant in the fridge, it’ll be a little TOO probiotic for your digestive system.Compost or throw out the remainder of hungry starter from the fridge: I would not recommend cooking with it if it’s been in the fridge for longer than a week.Carter the Starter after 48 hours of being taken out of the fridge. I fed at the 36 hour mark, kept that discard and this discard to bake a loaf of bread!How do I know when my starter is ready to bake with?Depending on the age of your starter, it should be able to bounce back within a day or two. If you find it’s not doubling or getting nice and bubbly, give it more time to ferment.Since I feed mine 1:5:5, I felt safe to let it ferment to 24 hours, but if you typically feed a 1:3:3 or 1:4:4 ratio, you can probably discard and feed again at the 12 hour mark. Then use your starter as you normally do.Something not quite right with your starter?If you find your sourdough has some funky smells or isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do, I wrote a post all about troubleshooting my sourdough starter if you’d like to see what issues I had with mine and what I did to fix it. I also wrote all about how I made Carter the Starter in the first place!It was a bit of a round-about method because I was following King Arthur Baking’s recipe for sourdough starter. It didn’t quite work so I had to change tactics half-way through. I did write what I would have done differently if I had to start over! It was a very long and detailed post, so have a read if you need help with your starter.Click the image above to see my Go To Sourdough Bread recipe!I kept the discard from 36 hrs + 48 hrs feeding to make a loaf of bread! You can try my go-to sourdough bread recipe, I use a combination of bread flour and whole wheat. I’ve made it multiple times with discard straight from the fridge.Need more help?I’m definitely not an expert, but I’ve had Carter the Starter for almost a year now, and baked several dozen successful loaves of bread! I’ve tried so many different methods, flour combinations, and inclusions. I feel pretty confident in my ability to troubleshoot and read sourdough bread now.Feel free to leave a comment with your questions (or you can reach out to me on Instagram for a more timely answer) and I’ll try to help if I can! Good luck, and happy baking :)Spread the love: […]

FOODS

Vietnamese Style Fried Rice – The Viet Vegan

.mv-create-jtr-wrapper{margin-bottom:20px}a.mv-create-jtr-link{display:block;padding:10px 10px 10px 0;color:#333;font-size:16px;text-decoration:none!important;-webkit-transition:color .5s;transition:color .5s}a.mv-create-jtr-link:hover,a.mv-create-jtr-link:focus{color:#666}.mv-create-jtr-link .mv-create-jtr-caret{margin-right:5px;padding-top:6px;fill:#333}.mv-create-jtr-link:hover .mv-create-jtr-caret,.mv-create-jtr-link:focus .mv-create-jtr-caret{fill:#666}a.mv-create-jtr-button{display:inline-block;padding:.75em 1.5em;border:0;color:#fff;background:#333;box-shadow:none;text-shadow:none;font-size:16px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none!important;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:background .5s;transition:background .5s}a.mv-create-jtr-button:hover,a.mv-create-jtr-button:focus{color:#fff;background:#666}.mv-create-jtr-button .mv-create-jtr-caret{margin-right:5px;padding-top:6px;fill:#fff}.mv-create-jtr-button:hover .mv-create-jtr-caret,.mv-create-jtr-button:focus .mv-create-jtr-caret{fill:#fff}.mv-create-jtr-button-uppercase{text-transform:uppercase}Vietnamese-style fried rice is a lot paler than a lot of the saucier fried rices you can find. Using the simplicity of vegetables, mushroom broth powder and a touch of soy sauce, this Vietnamese fried rice is savoury and a perfect side dish to any meal.I realized I hadn’t shared a simple Viet-style fried rice recipe on here. I have an egg-fried rice one (where I use tofu scramble as an egg replacement that is VERY good! I have a tom yum fried rice using tamarind paste to make a homemade tom yum paste to make a tangy fried rice.But this kind of simple fried rice is how my mom always made fried rice. It was always what we had to use up some old vegetables in the fridge or leftover rice from last night’s dinner. Fried rice was always a delicious option for lunch the next day.The seasoning is from the mushroom broth powder (they’re like dried broth granules, traditionally chicken bouillon granules are used here), which I find from the Asian market that sells Vietnamese ingredients. A touch of soy sauce adds depth of flavour and colour, and you have plenty of flavour coming from the vegetables to round out this dish!I used this fried rice as the carby layer of a bento box I have coming to YouTube soon, and it was a great, lightly seasoned base to go with the fried and seasoned tofu from the other layer (recipe coming soon!)Feel free to swap in other veggies you have on hand like zucchini, bell pepper, mushrooms, celery, bok choy, etc. Add them in order of how much liquid needs to be cooked out (e.g. bell pepper, zucchini and mushroom), then vegetables that need more time to cook (like celery, bok choy, cabbage).You can add seasoned TVP or soy curls, or even diced tofu here too if you want to add protein to this to round it out. But I usually have a protein-focused side dish to serve with this, so in this case, it wasn’t necessary. But in any case, this Vietnamese-style fried rice a great way to use up leftovers! Yield: 2-3 servingsVietnamese Style Fried Rice
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Additional Time
20 minutes
Total Time
45 minutes Ingredients
1 cup rice, cooked (~2.5 cups cooked rice)
2 tbsp oil
2 green onions, diced (greens reserved for garnish)
1 shallot or 1/4 red onion (optional, I like it for extra colour), diced
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
1/3 cup frozen corn
2 tsp mushroom broth powder (any dry broth stock powder works)
1 tbsp soy sauce
Optional:
Black pepper
White pepper
Cilantro to garnishInstructionsCook your rice in a rice cooker or however you prefer to make your steamed rice. Follow instructions as per your rice cooker (feel free to use a little bit less water than usual because drier rice works best for fried rice)Preheat a large wok over medium heat. Add oil, let heat through for 30 sec, then add diced whites of green onions, shallots and carrots, then stir fry until onions are translucent and carrots are almost tender (about 5 minutes).Add frozen corn and stir to cook through, about 3-4 minutes.Add the cooked rice, then break up with the cooked vegetables. Season with mushroom broth powder and soy sauce (you could also add a pinch of MSG and a dash of black or white pepper here too). Stir fry for about 5 minutes, or until you hear the rice crackle in the heat and everything looks uniformly seasoned.Stir in the greens of the diced green onion and then serve! Garnish with cilantro if you have some.Spread the love: […]

FOODS

Fluffy Soft Asian Red Bean Bread Recipe (Tangzhong Style)

Yummy bread that stay soft for days is the trademark of a tangzhong bread recipe. Try these fluffy breads filled with sweet red bean paste!

When it comes to beans, I’m not really particular. I neither actively seek them out nor do I remove them piece by piece from my chilli. They’re just one of those things I don’t mind, you know? But there are particular moments when I’d eat them wholeheartedly, and one of them would certainly be when they make an appearance inside Asian Red Bean Bread.
I know red bean isn’t exactly for everyone, but it’s hard to just ignore how well it goes with the tangzhong-style Asian fluffy bread. In fact, I even went out of my way to acquire a bag of red bean paste from Cartimar just so I could make this bread. (You won’t use the whole 800 grams for this recipe.) […]

FOODS

Ube Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting Recipe | The Tummy Train

Looking for ways to make use of the ube jam in the fridge apart from eating it off the spoon? Try out these fantastic Ube Cupcakes!

Right now, the last tub of homemade ube halaya is sitting in the fridge. At the start of the year, we received two tubs of homemade ube halaya from two different people who spent their Christmas break laboring to make this delicious jam. (I hear it’s really hard work!) Since I do love me so ube, I was very happy to receive such a gift. But then I realized that if I counted the ube jam I bought last month that sat forgotten in the freezer, that would mean we had three tubs of ube jam waiting to be consumed. Clearly, it was time to make some Ube Cupcakes!
After Christmas, maybe some of you are in the same predicament as me. Well it sure is a good one to be in! […]

FOODS

Singaporean Cereal Prawns Recipe | The Tummy Train

Singaporean Cereal Prawns has buttery, milky notes with the unique scent of curry leaves, plus a bit of kick from the chili. One of my fave easy dishes!
It’s been many years since I’ve last been to Singapore, and frankly one of the things I miss the most about that country is the cuisine that is as diverse as its people. I love how just with the laksa alone you have a slew of different kinds. One of my recent favorite dishes is the Singaporean Cereal Prawns, sometimes also called Cereal Butter Prawns or 麦片虾 in Chinese. Popular Singaporean restaurants here in Manila like Shiok Shiok already offer Cereal Prawns on their menu, but I have a habit of wanting to learn to cook all my favorite dishes. And so here we are! 

There are several different versions on how to make Cereal Prawns on the interwebs, but I was looking for a version that tasted like the one from my memory. At the very least, it had to taste like Shiok Shiok‘s version because I love that one to pieces! So after several trials, I happily discovered this recipe from Eat What Tonight blog, and it tasted exactly the way I liked it. Just buttery enough, with a toasted but sweet and milky flavor from the cereal, and that inexplicable scent and earthiness from curry leaves. The bonus is the spicy kick. I’d say this dish is great with rice, but really, this can be eaten on its own. […]

FOODS

Bon Appetit's Basque Burnt Cheesecake Recipe | The Tummy Train

This sublime Basque Burnt Cheesecake is the stuff of dreams! Creamy, savory, just sweet, and just salty, all at the same time. Serve with a lightly sweetened latte to elevate the experience.

Out of all the so-called food trends I’ve seen lately, perhaps my favorite is that of the Basque Burnt Cheesecake. I’m a fan of this mega indulgent treat. I can’t really decide if it’s my favorite kind of cheesecake, but I definitely like it more than Japanese cheesecake. Between American cheesecake and Basque Burnt Cheesecake though, it’s a bit more complicated for me to pick a favorite. There are some American cheesecake recipes that are sublime, in the same way that some Basque Burnt Cheesecake recipes aren’t as good. […]

FOODS

Classic & Chocolate Silvanas Recipe | The Tummy Train

Cashew-based meringue cookies, rich buttercream, and cookie crumbs come together to create this truly delicious treat! I even made a chocolate version to go along with my classic silvanas.
I tested the recipe for these Silvanas for Taste of Home. Below I relate my experiences in making this Pinoy recipe, but the full recipe and instructions can be found HERE.
When you think about how large the universe is, it’s not hard to accept the fact that it’s really hard to stick out. You’re such a tiny tiny part of it after all. Yet sometimes and somehow, inexplicable things happen. You know, like unexpected connections and people finding other people by chance. This is what I feel happened with me when my little oasis on the Internet was seen by an editor from Taste of Home. Yes, THAT Taste of Home, the popular US-based food magazine with the lovely website I often visit for inspiration. […]