Boy in the Galley: Microwave Mug Cake

The Boy made a chocolate mug cake, recipe from here. It was for a school assignment to make an instructional video. 

Ingredients

1. Mix everything in a mug, dry ingredients first then wet ingredients. 

2. Microwave for 1 minute and 50 seconds. 

We ate his homework. 

Pão de ló de Alfeizerão

This is a traditional Portuguese cake, which is basically a collapsed and eggy sponge cake. Legend says it was a failed sponge cake by nuns who suddenly found themselves hosting the King, but somehow the King loved the mistake more than the original and a new conventual sweet was born. My first attempt was a failure, but by the second attempt I think I nailed it. This is the recipe I used based mainly on the recipe and video by Clara de Sousa.

Ingredients
8 eggs (6 yolks, 2 whole), room temperature
100 grammes (1/2 cup) sugar
50 grammes (2/5 cup) self-raising flour, sifted

1. Line a 20-centimetre (8-inch) round cake tray with parchment paper. Pre-heat the oven at 220C.

2. Whisk eggs and sugar until mixture is more than double the volume and pale in colour. This usually takes about 10 minutes or so.

3. Fold in the flour until incorporated, careful not into overwork the batter.

4. Bake for 7-10 minutes (this one baked for precisely 9 minutes). The cake will be jiggly when you take it out-- bang it onto a surface to help it collapse (which is what this particular pao de lo is all about).

Don't eat it right out of the oven. Wait for it to cool down or, better yet, put it in the fridge and eat after a few hours or overnight. The texture and flavour will have matured better by then.

Here is what it looks like: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBFq93cHPob/ 

Next in the Galley: Yema

Yema is one of those Filipino conventual sweets, to use a term I recently picked up from Portugal. The name means egg yolk in Spanish and is the main ingredient in this dessert. Other Filipino conventual sweets are brazo de Mercedes, pianono, and leche flan: eggy and sugary desserts that were created to use leftover egg yolks after the whites have been used to make a cathedral or two. This recipe is how my Dad used to do it. 

Ingredients
4 egg yolks
1 can condensed milk
1/2 bar of butter
orange or lemon zest

Constantly stir egg yolks, condensed milk, and butter over low heat. Add zest towards the end.

Some recipes online call for 10 egg yolks for the same amount of condensed milk, but I'll try this tested recipe first.

It's suggested to let the resulting paste cool down, form them into balls (or other shapes) and roll them on sugar so they don't stick. But whenever my Dad made these we'd just take spoons and eat them straight from the pot.

Update (21/05/2020): It's been three months since I said I was gonna make yema but I haven't done it yet. Since then the world has gone upside down and we're just 2 weeks away from the end of a 2-month circuit breaker (SG's term for lockdown). But despite my lack of progress on yema, I am now setting my sights on the rather more challenging pão de ló de Alfeizerão. I see a fairly feasible recipe here: https://www.notquitenigella.com/2019/06/03/pao-de-lo-authentic-portuguese-sponge-cake/ and https://claradesousa.pt/receita/pao-de-lo-de-alfeizerao/ and http://portuguesediner.com/tiamaria/pao-de-lo-de-alfeizerao/

Let's see what the next update will bring.

Next in the Galley: La Carlota Rosa

A childhood favourite dessert. Despite the name, it was actually closer to a cathedral window rather than the classic charlotte russe, although for colour we used diced sweetened fruits rather than coloured jelly cubes. The best part was the sweet, milky jelly that brought the dish together. We sometimes even skipped the sweetened fruits that were supposed to be the main part of the dish. This is literally how my mom made it. 

Ingredients
4 small envelopes powdered gelatin (we use Knox)
2 cans evaporated milk
1-2 cups sugar
1 can fruit cocktail or peaches (or any fruit that works well with a milky jelly)

Mix 4 envelopes in 1 cup water. Set aside.
Heat 2 cans of evaporated milk in a pot, medium low heat and don't boil.
Add in the gelatin, stirring until dissolved.
Add 2 cups (I use just a cup OR 1 and a half cup) of sugar, stir until dissolved, too.
Let cool just enough to transfer in a dish.
You can add in drained fruit cocktail or canned peaches or canned pineapple or just nothing which your sisters prefer.
Enjoy!

Hung Wan Cafe & Bakery Shop

My Dear and I ate at a lot of places when we went to Hong Kong but the one place we miss the most is this bakeshop, located just across the Metropark Hotel Mongkok where we stayed. We were hooked on the place after I bought a few buns and an egg tart on a whim, and it quickly became our daily breakfast place.

The venue itself isn't really much: think old-school small Chinese restaurant complete with dingy never-been-scrubbed walls and tiles and, if they had a restroom, you'd probably not want to use it. Really a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, the kind that probably existed since the 1920s, possibly even earlier, and has never been touched by any kind of interior design. It's the kind of place that won't be on any tourist map-- the Hong Kong Tourism Board won't exactly consider its grimy interiors as the island's best representative-- but it is very popular with the locals, who we see every morning when we have breakfast. It's the kind of place that has been around forever making the same things over and over until perfection; unfortunately, cleanliness and ambience aren't among their priorities.

The staff are friendly and they try to accommodate, but they don't speak any English. The menus aren't in English either. If, like us, you don't speak a word of Chinese, ordering will be done via pointing, gestures, and, mercifully, a few common English words. In our case, that one English word was "coffee". Regular tea is served on the house. Oh, bring a jacket-- the aircon is always on full Arctic blast even if it's 20C outside.

Its menu is not so varied-- noodles, baked buns (sweet and savoury), pastries-- but the few things they make they make very well. Our favourite is what we call in Manila as Spanish bread: golden brown top with sesame seeds; perfectly chewy texture; right amount of butter, sugar, and dessicated coconut for filling. They also make great egg tart (nice crumbly crust, subtly flavoured custard) and ham and egg bun (they don't scrimp on the ham or egg)-- in fact, everything we ordered was just superb. By some mysterious method, Hung Wan got the texture of their bread just right. Hong Kong, by the way, makes great breadstuffs, and Hung Wan was the best of them all. Each order of bun or pastry costs between HKD 4 to HKD 7; the Spanish bread costs HKD 5.

The coffee, which is the only drink we knew how to order, wasn't too bad either. Each order is freshly brewed using what looks like an old cheesecloth which has seen better days and some pre-War-looking metal pitchers and steamers. Only old-school coffee making here; no espresso machines in sight. Ordering "coffee" means you're served coffee with heavy cream and sugar already mixed in. I actually prefer black coffee, but I didn't know how to order it in Chinese. In any case, the standard coffee, which costs HKD 10 a cup, is quite thick and heavy-- the closest analogue I can think of is that thick Spanish-style hot chocolate. No coffee in Starbucks has this depth of texture. It was pretty good, actually, and really picked us up for a long day of walking.

Bottomline, best bakeshop ever. If you can get over the looks of the place. Here are the scores:

Quality = 9.0
Size = 7.5
Taste = 9.5
Ambience = 2.0
Service = 6.0
Value = P406.90
Price = HKD 20 = P133.60
Sulit Rating = 2.91 > 1

Here's their address and contact info, lifted from their takeaway plastic bag:

Hung Wan Cafe & Bakery Shop
726 Shanghai St., Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel. 2392-6038, 2393-7852

See the pictures (and this review) here.

My P1,000 Morning Food Trip

It started benignly enough. I woke up earlier than usual to bring my Dear to her office in Greenhills, a mere 25 minutes away including mild traffic. On my way home I decided to look for Pasteleria Mallorca which I knew was somewhere along Sct. Fuentebella in Quezon City-- also 25 minutes from my house but in the opposite direction.

Pasteleria Mallorca's products are actually available in supermarkets-- I've tried (and like) their lenguas de gato, palillos de Madrid, and galletas San Nicolas-- but I've always wanted to visit their shop not only to buy their pastries but also to try their old-school ensaimadas, which are supposed to be the best in town.

So there I was, driving down the length of Sct. Fuentebella looking for a pastry shop, thinking it should stand out in what's mainly a residential street. No luck. After seeing the same houses four times I decided to call it quits and go home. So as not to let my detour be a total waste, I thought I might as well pass by Estrel's on the corner of Sct. Tobias and Sct. Limbaga.

Estrel's, established in 1946, is actually famous for its caramel cake which is I should say really superb-- it's one of those cakes in which everything is actually good: cake, filling, icing, flowers, etc. But since I wasn't in the mood for cake I decided to buy a box of food for the gods, at P360 for 20 pieces. They're very delicious and you can tell they only use premium ingredients, but I find it quite pricey since I'm already happy with those generic versions you can buy in any supermarket. But if you want food for the gods that is worthy of, well, God, then do buy a box from Estrel's. As for me, next time I'll stick to the caramel cake.

Heading back home, I impulsively parked at Santi's Delicatessen along Timog Avenue, unable resist rummaging though a well-stocked grocery. They did have a good selection of cheeses, canned goods, meats, sausages, etc., but I could find 90% of them (or equivalent substitutes) in other supermarkets at a marginally cheaper price. I was also looking for some Russian sturgeon caviar which I can't find anywhere in this country, and neither did I find it there. I ended up buying two links of pork cervelat, two links of veal bratwurst, and three links of Italian garlic pork sausage for a total of P295.40. This amount is actually enough for at least six meals so at around P50 per meal it's a pretty good deal.

While on the Santi's checkout line I met Mrs. Tess Morato-Lazatin, a daughter of Tomas Morato (yes, the street's namesake). She mentioned that, as a hobby, she makes morcillas and chorizos and cooks made-to-order paella (10 people minimum), using recipes from her home in Spain. Obviously she didn't have any products on hand so I got her contact info and I'll surely order some chorizos when my current stock runs out, maybe even some paella if I feel like splurging. I mentioned I was in the area looking for Pasteleria Mallorca, and lo and behold, she knew where it is-- 18 Sct. Fuentebella.

So back I drove to Sct. Fuentebella, looking for No. 18 which I'm sure I've seen before. And yes, I've seen it before-- that green-gated house that looks like the other houses beside it with nary a clue that it makes Spanish pastries on site. Well they do have a sign on the gate, if a plastic-covered piece of paper with words you'll only be able to read if you step off your car and walk up to it counts as a sign.

And there I was, at the first cause of my detour, the home-based factory of the Pasteleria Mallorca line of pastries as well as the Mega Mexicana line of tacos and dips (never knew they were made by the same company). First order of business was the ensaimada-- they had none. They make them only during the afternoon, freshly baked at around 2:30pm. Sigh. I guess I'll have to order some in advance then. But since I also went there for the pastries, particularly the lenguas de gato, it wasn't a total let-down. Besides, they also had some frozen sans rival and tarta Madrid, but they were too much for me at the time. I ended up buying a jar of lenguas de gato (P210), a jar of palillos de Madrid (P135), and a pack of argellanas (P60).

So that's P1,060.40 worth of various food stuffs bought on a whim. And it wasn't even lunchtime.

Sweet Cat's Tongue for Merienda

I bought myself a container of lengua de gato-- those small, crumbly, buttery cookies that are a favourite of mine-- and it got me wondering what the name literally means. Well, for those who wondered the same, here's my small list of Spanish-named Filipino snacks and desserts and their literal meaning. Some are straightforward, others quite imaginative. Do tell me what I missed.

barquillos = rolled wafers
brazo de mercedes = arm of favours/gifts (so it has nothing to do with someone named Mercedes?)
canonigo = a priest serving in a cathedral
crema de fruta = cream of fruit
empanada = pie or stuffed pastry (from empanar, to wrap with bread or dough)
ensaimada = sweet bun (from the Catalan saim, or pork lard, which was traditionally used to make the bun)
galletas = hardtacks or hard biscuits (from the galleon; hardtacks are also known as ship's biscuits in English)
leche flan = milk custard
lengua de gato = cat's tongue
maiz con hielo = corn with ice
maja blanca = white belle (but maja can also come from from majar, or to mash)
maja maiz = corn belle
mamon = small baby (noun); suckling (adjective, as in suckling baby)
merengue = meringue (supposedly named after the Swiss town of Meiringen)
pan de regla = menstruation bread (regla's association with menstruation comes from regla menstrual, or menstrual rule/period)
pastillas = pills
pastillas de leche = milk pills
rosquillos = ringlet cookies (from rosca, meaning ring-shaped roll)
torta = round cake or loaf (the Spanish word for omelette is tortilla)
turrones = nougats

References:
Castillo, Carlos and Otto F. Bond. 1948. Spanish-English English-Spanish Dictionary. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago
Duran, Carlos Francisco. 1942. English-Spanish Spanish-English Dictionary. Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Company
Free Translation Online
Online Etymology Dictionary
Wikipedia