50 ways of becoming proudly Filipino- part four - Making Halo Halo

Following from my earlier blogs on the 41 the steps I have taken to become Filipino, I found this in my 2015 blogs. I realised you cannot live in the summer in the Philippines without being able to make Halo Halo....

The recipe is taken from the Recipe book my mother gave me in 1976

Neil’s recipe book

Continuing my series of recipes from my recipe book here is a favourite desert of my Pinoy friends- Halo Halo.

Halo Halo in a Beer glass!

Just before we start a little background to the dish. According to Wikipedia:

“Halo-halo (Tagalog: [haˈlo-haˈlo], "mixed together") is a popular Filipino dessert with mixtures of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans, jello and fruits. It is served in a tall glass or bowl.

Ingredients include boiled kidney beans, garbanzos, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), and plantains caramelized in sugar, jackfruit (langkâ), gulaman, tapioca, nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), cheese, pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). Most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, purple yam (ubeng pula), or ice cream. Evaporated milk is poured into the mixture upon serving.

Halo Halo in a bowl!

Halo-halo was featured as a Quickfire Challenge dish in the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American reality television series Top Chef. The halo-halo, which featured avocado, mango, kiwi and nuts, was prepared by Filipino-American contestant Dale Talde and named as one of the top three Quickfire Challenge dishes by guest judge Johnny Iuzzini of Jean-Georges. Talde also made the dish in a later episode.^[1]

Halo-halo was featured in an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown when its host Anthony Bourdain visited a Jollibee branch in Los Angeles. Bourdain praised the dessert and even posted a photo of Jollibee’s halo-halo on his Twitter account, which he described as "oddly beautiful."

Halo Halo at Villa Escudero

So this is how you make it:

Ingredients:

6 ripe Saba bananas (plantains)

1 litre (4 cups) bottle sweetened red mongo (mung) beans, drained to yield 4 cups

1 litre (4 cups) bottle sweetened jackfruit, drained to yield 3 cups

1 litre (4 cups) bottle sweetened Kaong (palm nut) drained to yield 3 cups

1 cup cooked Sago (tapioca pearls)

200 g (1 cup) castor sugar

Crushed ice

750 ml (3 cups) fresh milk

24 oz. bottle (4 cups) Ube jam

6 slices Leche flan (crème caramel) cut into squares

½ cup Pinipig (substitute Rice Krispies breakfast cereal)

6 scoops of ice- cream (any flavour)

Method: ( or Procedure as my Kabayan say)

1. Boil bananas about 10 minutes or until tender. Peel and slice into 2 cm (1 inch) piece. Set aside to cool.

2. Divide the bananas, mongo beans, white beans, jackfruit, kaong and sago into 6 tall parfait glasses, the proportion of the ingredients depending on one’s own preference. Add sugar to taste.

3. Fill the glasses with crushed ice. Pour about 125ml (½ cup) milk into each glass. Spoon Ube, Leche flan and Pinipig on top of the crushed ice. Top each each glass with a scoop of ice cream. Serve with long-handled spoons.

If you want to make your own Leche flan (crème caramel) here is the recipe for that:

Learning to make Leche Flan from Chef Gracie at Poochies kitchen

Leche Flan (Crème Caramel)

Ingredients:

150g (1 cup) brown sugar

60 ml (¼ cup) water

6 eggs + 2 extra yolks

300 g (1 ½ cups) white granulated sugar

375 ml (1 ½ cups) evaporated milk

Zest of dayap (key lime), or 1 lemon or lime

My first Leche Flan- a proud moment!

Method:

1. To make the caramel base, combine brown sugar and water in a saucepan. Allow sugar to melt over low heat until a syrup forms. Pour immediately into two llaneros or one loaf tin. Tilt pan (s) to make sure syrup coats bottoms of pans evenly. Set aside.

2. Lightly beat the whole eggs and extra egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and evaporated milk and stir to mix. Strain into prepared pan(s), then stir in the Dayak zest.

3. Cover pan(s) with foil and place in a steamer and cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until Leche Flan is firm to the touch. Let it cool. Chill 3 to 4 hours or refrigerate overnight before serving.

4. To serve, run a spatula or knife along the edge of the pan to loosen the flan. Turn out onto a serving platter.

Best wishes and I hope you like it.

Chef Neil