February 18, 2013
1:24 PM
by: Dolly Dy-Zulueta

What’s For Breakfast?

New York Cheesecake Pancakes

New York Cheesecake Pancakes

OH, yes, IHOP, the iconic brand famous the world over for its pancakes, omelettes and breakfast items, is now in Manila. It opened the doors of its flagship store at W Global Center (30th St. cor. 9th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City) last Friday (February 15, 2013), and metro diners who know the brand could not believe their eyes. But it’s true. IHOP, whose parent company, DineEquity Inc. is based in Glendale, California, has been brought to Manila by InterDine Corp., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Restaurant Concepts Inc. (GRCI).

GRCI has already successfully brought several other popular American restaurant brands to the Philippines. It owns the W Global Center building, which stands right next to the posh Bonifacio High Street.

Under the agreement entered into by DineEquity Inc. and InterDine Corp., the latter will open a total of 20 IHOP restaurants in the Philippines in the next five years, with the opportunity to open other IHOP stores in Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam as well.

“We are absolutely thrilled about bringing IHOP to the Philippines and Southeast Asia. IHOP is an iconic brand, and it truly echoes wonderful memories for people who have experienced dining there before. We are eager to share the same experience with families and diners in the region,” says Archie Rodriguez, CEO and president, GRCI.

That the first and the flagship store of IHOP in the Philippines should be located at W Global Center in Bonifacio Global City is obvious. More than 5,000 runners pass by this high-traffic area of Bonifacio Global City every day since it forms part of a morning and late afternoon jogging path, and IHOP serves basically breakfast food although it also serves a wide range of lunch and dinner fares. IHOP is best known for its pancakes, omelettes and crepes, both of the savory and sweet kind.

Members of the local food media got to try IHOP’s breakfast treats two days before the actual opening, and served during the media breakfast lunch (no, not brunch as in eating between breakfast and lunch, but breakfast lunch as in enjoying breakfast food over lunch) were a number of select pancakes, omelettes and crepes, plus Stuffed French Toast Combo served with hash brown, bacon strips and double sunny-side up fried eggs.

Three kinds of pancakes were served: New York Cheesecake, Cinn-A-Stack and Funny Face.

Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes

Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes

New York Cheesecake was my favorite. It was two huge, fluffy buttermilk pancakes with cheesecake bits stacked on top of each other, then dusted with confectioners’ sugar, drizzled with strawberry syrup, and topped with fresh strawberries and a rosette of whipped cream. I love all types of berries, especially strawberries, so I really enjoyed this one. Of course, in the U.S., each order of pancakes at IHOP should give you a stack of four pancakes, but this obviously is too much for the average Filipino diner, so adjustments were made in the serving size to fit the Filipino diner, although each serving is still generous and filling.

The friendly servers also brought us an order of Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes. As its name suggests, it’s two huge, fluffy buttermilk pancakes with cinnamon filling and topping, drizzled with rich cream cheese syrup and topped with whipped cream.

The third pancake is a certified kid pleaser, Funny Face. It’s called Funny Face because it’s a big chocolate choco chip pancake sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar, topped with whipped cream eyes, nose and lips, and choco chips on the lips and cherries for the eyes.

Big Steak Omelette

Big Steak Omelette

Spinach & Mushroom Omelette

Spinach & Mushroom Omelette

For the omelettes, IHOP brought out two of its best – Big Steak Omelette and Spinach & Mushroom Omelette. The Big Steak Omelette is undeniably one of IHOP’s best-sellers in the U.S. It’s very filling, being a huge omelette with a generous serving of tender strips of steak, hash-browns, green pepper, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes and Cheddar cheese, with tomato salsa on the side. The Spinach & Mushroom Omelette is a vegetarian’s delight, folding spinach, mushrooms and Swiss cheese into the omelette and then topping it with Hollandaise sauce and serving it with fresh cutup fruits on the side.

Garden Stuffed Crepes

Garden Stuffed Crepes

Strawberry Banana Danish Fruit Crepes

Strawberry Banana Danish Fruit Crepes

IHOP is also big on crepes, and, during media day, IHOP Philippines introduced one savory and one sweet crepe. The savory one was Garden Stuffed Crepe, which I also loved, since it was two crepes filled with fresh spinach, mushrooms and Swiss cheese, and topped with Hollandaise sauce and diced tomatoes. The sweet one was Strawberry Banana Danish Fruit Crepes, a platter of two dessert crepes filled with rich sweet cream cheese filling, topped with fresh strawberries, fresh banana slices, strawberry syrup and whipped cream.

Take your pick for extra syrup: Olf-Fashioned, Butter Pecan or Strawberry

Take your pick for extra syrup: Olf-Fashioned, Butter Pecan or Strawberry

One distinctive feature of IHOP is a tray of pancake and crepe syrups on each table. Each tray comes with three syrups – Old-Fashioned Syrup, Butter Pecan Syrup, and Strawberry Syrup – for diners who want extra syrup on their pancakes or crepes to partake of.

So, whatever American breakfast you fancy, whether it be pancakes, omelettes, crepes or French toasts or a combination of two or more, IHOP should satisfy your cravings well.

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February 13, 2013
1:37 PM
by: Dolly Dy-Zulueta

Binallay of Ilagan, Isabela

01-IMG_9035 copyONE of the native delicacies that the visiting group of Manila-based journalists (of which my husband Raff and I were a part of) indulged in during our recent stay in the Province of Isabela to cover the 2013 Magical Bambanti Festival was Binallay. It’s a sticky rice flour cake wrapped in banana leaves that originates from the City of Ilagan, where it’s considered as a Holy Week delicacy because it’s a tradition for the people of Ilagan to fast during Holy Week and eat nothing but binallay.

Natividad Ricafrente of Ilagan, Isabela, shows how to make binallay

Natividad Ricafrente of Ilagan, Isabela, shows how to make binallay

Binallay is a kind of suman that Jun, Daisy and Nathan, the media coordinators assigned to us by the Office of Governor Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III during our four-day visit, brought us for breakfast one morning at Hotel Sophia, where we were staying. Despite the fact that all of us has had a filling breakfast already (which included lobsters, adobo flakes and scrambled eggs with steamed rice courtesy of hotel owner Lala Bernardo and Theo Garcia), we all still had room for the curious-looking flat suman that had just arrived and proceeded, without much prodding, to try the binallay.

But not without first being taught how to properly enjoy it.

First, there is a technique in unwrapping and eating the binallay. First, you have to spoon a generous amount of its sweet syrupy sauce called laro (made with panutsa and coconut milk with little curdles of latik) onto your plate. This is to keep the binallay from sticking to the plate once you plate it. Then, you hold a piece of binallay up, peel off its banana leaf wrapping in strips to keep the sticky cake intact and prevent it from sticking to the banana leaf, and then let it fall gently on top of the sauce. Then you start forking your way through the binallay just like regular suman.

A quick bite of the binallay and we had to be off to our official press conference and interview with Governor Dy at the Governor’s Mansion, fondly called Balai, which stood right beside the Provincial Capitol in Ilagan. After the official function and the lunch that ensued, the lady who made the binallays that we enjoyed for breakfast that morning arrived at the Balai with more binallays and was all propped up to show us how to made the local delicacy.

We proceeded to the Balai’s kitchen, and, there, Natividad Ricafrente, who has been making binallay for over 10 years now, conducted a demonstration on how this popular food product from Ilagan is made. The binallay of Ilagan, Isabela, can last for five days to a full week.

Step 1: Add just enough water to the malagkit rice flour to form a dough and knead the dough until smooth.

Step 1: Add just enough water to the malagkit rice flour to form a dough and knead the dough until smooth.

Step 2: Form dough into small balls, roll to an oval shape and slightly flatten.

Step 2: Form dough into small balls, roll to an oval shape and slightly flatten.

Step 3: Place flattened dough in the center of a small sheet of banana leaf.

Step 3: Place flattened dough in the center of a small sheet of banana leaf.

Step 4: Fold and wrap many times over.

Step 4: Fold and wrap many times over. Fold both edges in and tuck neatly underneath.

Step 5: Place banana leaf packets in a steamer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Step 5: Place banana leaf packets in a steamer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

The recipe…

THE BINALLAY:
2 cups malagkit (glutinous rice flour), of bongkitan variety*
water
banana leaves
butter (optional)

1. In a bowl, place the malagkit rice flour (*bongkitan is an organic glutinous rice variety grown in the Cordilleras).
2. Add just enough water, a little at a time, to hold the rice flour in place and form a dough.
3. Knead the dough until pliable.
4. Divide dough into small balls the size of an egg or pingpong ball. Knead the small ball of dough until smooth, roll to an oval shape and slightly flatten using both palms.
5. Dust small pieces of banana leaves and lay on working service in a stack.
6. Place a small flattened dough ball in the center of a banana leaf. Wrap the banana leaf around the binallay dough, then fold both edges to seal.
7. Place banana leaf packets in a steamer, and steam for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked.

THE SAUCE:
1 cup freshly grated coconut milk
1 cup panutsa or tagapulot (whole raw sugar)
water

1. Pour coconut milk into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously until thick and brown in color.
2. Add panutsa or tagapulot. Continue stirring until the sugar is completely melted and caramelizes.
3. Add just a little water and simmer until of thick sauce consistency.

 

Posted in Desserts, Recipes Tagged , , , , , ,

February 11, 2013
10:23 AM
by: Dolly Dy-Zulueta

Moist Banana-Carrot Cupcakes
with Cream Cheese Frosting

banana-carrot cupcake copyI LOVE baking, and so I try to absorb each and every baking tip that I can get from top pastry chefs in the country whenever I attend cooking demonstrations, seminars and workshops or even during shoots for FLAVORS Magazine. One thing I learned from cupcake queen Chef Sonja Ocampo (of Cupcakes by Sonja fame) when I attended a Cupcake Workshop which she conducted at Enderun Colleges is never to waste bananas. When they become too ripe and the peel turns black and you want to throw them away, don’t. Pop them into the freezer. You’ll have a use for them when you decide to bake banana cake, banana bread or banana muffins. Overripe bananas make the best ingredients for such sweet concoctions because they turn out naturally sweeter and more fragrant banana cake than those that you mash fresh. So I do that.

Yesterday, when I decided I wanted to make some banana cupcakes for Valentine (although yesterday was Chinese New Year), I fished out three frozen overripe bananas from my freezer. To shorten the process, I used Banana Cake Mix because The Maya Kitchen just sent me some mixes very recently. Instead of two bananas, though, I used three bananas, and I threw in some grated carrots and pineapple tidbits to make my cupcakes even more moist and delicious.

True enough, when I took out the batch of banana cupcakes out from the oven, they smelled heavenly. While letting them cool down to room temperature, I whisked up some cream cheese frosting. I used the cream cheese frosting recipe that I learned in baking class under super talented pastry chef Junjun de Guzman at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies (CACS) and just scaled it down so I don’t end up with too much excess icing. This is one favorite frosting of mine that I use time and again because it never fails to impress.

With the cupcakes down to room temp, I poked a hole in the center (a tip I learned from donut making class under culinary icon Sylvia Reynoso Gala way back when I was just starting to learn to bake) and piped cream cheese frosting into the cupcakes and then on top.

Because it’s Valentine, I used pink cupcake liners and I topped my cupcakes with a pink marshmallow each. I had wanted to use heart-shaped candy sprinkles but, obviously, I failed to get some in time for yesterday’s baking session. I think the pink marshmallows sufficed, though, as a subtle reminder that, hey, it’s Valentine’s Day on Thursday, so you guys better come up with something sweet and romantic to surprise your wives with.

THE BANANA CUPCAKES:
1 small box Maya Banana Cake Mix
3 tbsps. cooking oil
1/4 cup water
3 pcs. frozen overripe bananas, mashed
1/2 pc. carrot, grated
2 tbsps. canned crushed pineapple, drained
1 medium-sized egg

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (or 177°C). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with fluted paper cups.
2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix just until incorporated, about 50 strokes of a wooden spoon.
3. Spoon into lined muffin cups three-fourths full.
4. Bake just until done. To check doneness, stick a cake tester or toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean, it’s done.
5. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1-1/2 tbsps. unsalted butter, softened
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cream mixture until smooth.
3. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
4. Scoop into an icing bag fitted with a large round tip.
5. Poke a hole in the center of the cupcakes, making sure you do not hit the bottom so the extra icing doesn’t flow out.
6. Fit icing tip of piping bag into the hold and pipe until hole is full. Then pipe icing on top. Top with a piece of marshmallow, heart-shaped gummy candy or white chocolate button, or sprinkle the whole expanse of the frosting with heart-shaped candy sprinkles.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Posted in Cakes/Pastries, Recipes Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

February 8, 2013
12:50 PM
by: Dolly Dy-Zulueta

Prosperity Toss
for the Chinese New Year!

IT’S Chinese New Year on Sunday, February 10, 2013. The Chinese New Year, which follows the Lunar Calendar, happens to fall on this auspicious date this year, which is the start of the Year of the Water Snake. And since we have a huge Chinese community here in the Philippines, Chinese New Year is a big holiday in the country, which will usher in the New Year with fireworks, Dragon and Lion Dances, lucky red envelopes called ang pao or hong bao, the giving away of tikoy (or Chinese sticky rice cakes), and, of late, the tossing of a prosperity salad called Yee Sang or Yu Sheng.

Chef Richard Thong of Makati Shangri-La Hotel's The Shang Palace demonstrates how to do the prosperity toss with the Yee Sang Salad on Chinese New Year

Chef Richard Thong of Makati Shangri-La Hotel’s The Shang Palace demonstrates how to do the prosperity toss with the Yee Sang Salad on Chinese New Year

While the tradition of tossing a raw fish salad for good luck can be traced to Old China, the tossing of the Yee Sang prosperity salad is believed to be more of a recent tradition started by the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese. The Yee Sang is a raw fish salad arranged on a big platter with shredded vegetables, peanuts, condiments and a variety of sauces in small bowls. Family members gather around it and, armed with chopsticks, mix up the ingredients and toss the salad high up in the air. It is believed that the higher you toss the salad, the more lucky you will be throughout the year. So, for once, making a mess – and sometimes hitting the ceiling with the salad – is desired. After tossing the salad while shouting “Lo Hei!” or “Huat Chay!” the family partakes of the prosperity salad, which signals the start of a bountiful celebration meal.

Last Tuesday (February 5, 2013), my husband Raff and I joined an intimate group of media practitioners at Makati Shangri-La for a Yee Sang Prosperity Toss and a full-course Prosperity Meal prepared by Chef Richard Thong of The Shang Palace. Hosted by Director of Communications Lesley Tan and Assistant Communications Manager Mica Siquijor-Cordero, the Prosperity Lunch had all of us tossing the huge platter of Yee Sang Salad in the center of the round lauriat table’s lazy Susan.

01-IMG_9172 copyThe Shang Palace’s Yee Sang Salad, which is available to diners for the duration of the Chinese New Year celebration, consists of shredded carrots (which symbolizes good luck that is approaching), white radish (progress at a fast pace), green radish (forever young), peanuts (a household filled with silver and gold), pomelo (numerous sources of wealth), sesame seeds (prosperity for business), smoked salmon (abundance throughout the year), lime or calamansi (riches and safety for the whole family), pepper and cinnamon (may all your wishes be fulfilled), deep-fried crisps (floor full of gold), plum sauce (attract wealth and treasures), and oil (good luck and smooth sailing).

The carrots and other shredded vegetables and pomelo are arranged on the platter, which we seasoned with pepper and cinnamon, topped with smoked salmon and deep-fried crisps, squeezed with calamansi, and poured with plum sauce and oil before tossing the entire thing high up into the air as part of the Chinese New Year tradition.

We then took small amounts from the mess of a salad that we made and ate it together like one whole family. From there, we proceeded to the other courses of the Chinese lauriat lunch, all in one way or another prosperity dishes meant to bring us good luck in the Year of the Water Snake – Prosperity Noodles, Assorted Dim Sum (Siu Mai and Hargau which we Filipinos know better as Pork Siomai and Hakao, respectively) plus BBQ Pork Pies, followed by Dry Oysters with Tofu Skin, Steamed Lapu-Lapu and Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage in Lotus Leaf, and ending with Fried Tikoy, Pineapple Cakes and Egg Tarts.

Prosperity Noodles

Prosperity Noodles

Pork Siomai (left) and Hakao (right)

Pork Siomai (left) and Hakao (right)

BBQ Pork Pies

BBQ Pork Pies

Dried Oysters with Tofu Skin

Dried Oysters with Tofu Skin

Steamed Lapu-Lapu

Steamed Lapu-Lapu

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage in Lotus Leaf

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage in Lotus Leaf

Of all these prosperity dishes, we Filipinos are most familiar with the tikoy, which has become a part of our own Chinese New Year tradition. We usually prepare it by cutting the round sticky rice cake into thin strips, then dipping each strip in beaten egg and pan-frying. But Chef Richard Thong, who has other suggestions on how else to prepare the tikoy. One is to cut the tikoy into strips, dip it in beaten egg as we do, and then coat it with flour before pan-frying them. Another way to prepare the tikoy, a lighter and healthier way, is to cut the tikoy into strips, steam them, and then either eat them as is or coat them with desiccated coconut. Well, you can also wrap tikoy strips in lumpia wrapper before frying them for added crunch, but Chef Richard’s steaming suggestion seems to be the best. Shall we try them, then, this Chinese New Year?

The stickiness of the Tikoy symbolizes the close ties among family members

The stickiness of the Tikoy symbolizes the close ties among family members

The Shang Palace's Pineapple Cakes are made from fresh local pineapples and not ordinary pineapple jam

The Shang Palace’s Pineapple Cakes are made from fresh local pineapples and not ordinary pineapple jam

Egg Tarts

Egg Tarts

Gong Xi Fa Cai or Kung Hei Fatt Choy, everyone! May the Year of the Water Snake bring us all good health, good fortune, good family ties and career success!

 

 

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February 6, 2013
12:13 PM
by: Dolly Dy-Zulueta

Delicious Donuts 24/7, Anyone?

01-Dozen copyDONUT monsters, rejoice! J.CO Donuts and Coffee just opened another branch last week, this time at Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City, so people who live East of Metro Manila can now have delicious donuts within their reach. The store, the seventh in the Philippines and easily J.CO Philippines’ biggest store, has created a donut-laden sweet path to the East, serving customers in Quezon City as well as Pasig, Cainta, Antipolo and further on.

What’s more: This new branch of J.CO Donuts and Coffee now makes J.CO donuts, freshly brewed Italian coffee, cold coffee and tea beverages, and frozen yogurt treats available 24/7. Yes, 24/7! It’s the first donut store – and the first donut brand, at that – to attempt 24/7 operations, and its owners are confident that it will be a hit among donut lovers. After all, the six J.CO outlets that came before it have been such huge successes that queues for soft, fluffy and delicious J.CO donuts have become commonplace in all of its stores.

Now, with J.CO Eastwood City’s 24/7 operations, customers craving for its freshly made donuts can now have it at any time of the day – or night. No need to wait for the store’s opening time to be first in line. No need to rush to the store to catch it before it closes for a box of delicious donuts to bring home. You can have it whenever you want it.

J.CO's signature soft bite donut, Al Capone, with white chocolate topping and toasted almond slices

J.CO’s signature soft bite donut, Al Capone, with white chocolate topping and toasted almond slices

Oreology

Oreology

Strawberry Caviar Choco

Strawberry Caviar Choco

Heaven Berry

Heaven Berry

This new Eastwood City store serves the full range of J.CO donuts, including the ever-popular Al Capone (signature soft bite donut topped with Belgian white chocolate and a sprinkling of roasted almond slices), Green Tease (donut filled with green tea cream, topped with green tea icing and decorated with white chocolate swirls), Oreology (white chocolate topping fully covered with ground bits of dark Oreo cookies), Strawberry Caviar Choco (strawberry-choco topping and crisp chocolate bits), Berry Spears (cream cheese filling, strawberry sauce and white chocolate topping), Tiramisu (espresso dessert-inspired creation with tiramisu-flavored filling and topping and a light sprinkling of cocoa), Heaven Berry (strawberry cream donut topped with swirls of white chocolate), and Chocolate Caviar Choco (hazelnut-flavored chocolate glaze with crispy chocolate bits).

Green Tea Frappe, Green Tease and Funilla Glaze

Green Tea Frappe, Green Tease and Funilla Glaze

J.COOL frozen yogurt treats

J.COOL frozen yogurt treats

It also carries J.CO’s whole range of hot and cold beverages, as well as J.COOL frozen yogurt treats with whatever toppings you fancy.
The new store was officially opened last week, in the presence of Johnny Andrean, who founded and opened the first J.CO Donuts and Coffee store in Jakarta, Indonesia, back in 2005. Also on hand to welcome guests were CFI president Oszen Chan, chairman Carlos Chan, vice chairman Edgar Sia, first vice president and division head of Megaworld’s commercial division Kevin Tan, J.CO CFI Philippines VP for operations Trina Lim, and marketing assistants Alvene Ngo and Lesley Chan.

The Oreology, Al Capone and Green Tease donuts that I personally assembled

The Oreology, Al Capone and Green Tease donuts that I personally assembled

The store opening was made even more exciting by J.CO, which treated guests from the media to a hands-on donut- and beverage-making workshop. Each guest had an opportunity to personally make three signature donuts – Al Capone, Oreology and Green Peace – as well as a cold beverage. Everyone had fun making their own donuts and beverage, including me.

J.CO Donuts and Coffee’s other stores are located at SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, Greenbelt, SM City Fairview, TriNoma and Alabang Town Center.

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