Cookaholics Bulletin Board

My wife went on a little snack binge today since she is meeting friends in the big park downtown. She went with Filipino puto, a steamed rice dish. Hers is a variation of Puto Mamon which uses egg and sugar. She also raided my production bottle of homemade Vanilla Extract and finished by topping each with a small chunk of cheddar cheese "nicked" from my cheese stash. They turned out pretty good considering cheddar cheese and vanilla are not pairings I normally make. I'll have to consult the Flavor Bible on that later!

These are just a few of what she turned out. My young sister-in-law absconded with a bunch and was selling them for 3 pesos each in the neighborhood! I was ready to paddle her butt. For selling too cheaply. I told her next time it is 4 pesos each or else!





Later we managed to produce a batch of Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies for those of us with slightly more Western tastes.

Steve,

So, recipe?

Her recipe was modified from the cookbook: Kulinarya

Puto:

1 cup rice
1 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
chunks cheddar cheese (optional)
pandan leaves (optional)

Wash and soak rice in water for 5 hours. Pour soaked rice in blender, add water (from soaking) to level of the rice, blend for 1 1/2 minutes (repeat if necessary to do the rice in batches).

Pour blended rice in bowl, add rest of the water, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth, then strain through cheesecloth or fine strainer.

Brush muffin pan (can line with plastic wrap) or muffin tins (ours are plastic) with butter, fill with blended rice mixture. Place small chunk of cheddar or favorite cheese in top so it remains visible but is embedded.

Steam for 15 minutes over high heat.

For pandan option, trim the bottom off the pandan leaves, then cut into 5 cm pieces. Place in blender with water and puree. Then strain the leaf remainder out and use pandan water to soak the rice before blending.

We borrowed a two tier steamer from a neighbor which made it go much quicker.