Suman sa Lihiya and Suman Malagkit (Filipino)

My boyfriend's mom is filipina and she keeps on (in a nice way) pushing me to cook more Filipino food, because she says that Filipino in Montreal are lazy and they'd rather pay a caterer to get Siao Pao (steamed buns) and Filipino treats than making it.  Yesterday we went to help her at her part time office cleaning job and the whole hour drive she kept on talking to me about this dessert called suman.  I'm guessing suman is how they call all glutinous rice treats, or maybe glutinous rice treats cooked in banana leaves.  She suggested me to make Suman Malagkit, because her brothers and sisters prefer this one so I could sell it to them on special occasions, but herself, she prefers Suman sa Lihiya.

Suman sa Lihiya is made with soaked glutinous rice soaked in water, drained and mixed only with lye water (lihiya), rolled in banana leaves in a special (hassle to make) fashion and tied two by two, then boiled for an hour and a half.  You can top it with brown or palm sugar and coconut (which I was too lazy to defrost). The lye water instantly makes the rice yellowish, and once cooked in banana leaves it turns green. I thought I wouldn't like it because the rice isn't sweetened but with just a little sugar on top it tastes divine!

Recipe I used from Pinoy Cooking:

http://www.pinoycookingrecipes.com/suman-sa-lihiya.html

Suman Malagkit, on the other hand, is dried rice cooked with coconut milk, sugar and salt, until it becomes really sticky (the rice is still hard at this stage).  Then the mixture is placed in banana leaves and steamed 45 minutes.  UPDATE: Steam an hour and a half, 45 minutes is far from enough!

Recipe here:

http://www.pinoycookingrecipes.com/suman-malagkit.html

Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures, I was too tired to make a nice arrangement on the table and there's not much light on my counter under the cupboards.  Maybe I should buy one of those neon to hang under there...  Maybe I'll take nicer pictures when my boyfriend tries it with me.

I also slow-simmered some Thit Kho Tau for supper (will post tomorrow) and I only have two big burners (like most stoves) so all this cooking kept me busy from 10:30am to 3:30pm. Now I'm gonna relax before my mom-in-law comes pick us up to help her again, and she can sample my Suman!  

White Fish Steamed in Banana Leaf with Soya Beans

I feel like I have a hard time finding fish fillets (or fish mongers that offer to fillet your fish for you) other then salmon, trout, or that really soft white fish that I can't remember the name of.  I love mackerel so I have fish bone tweezers and I try my best to fillet fish and try new fish.

I went to this fish restaurant that sells fish.  There's never anyone, they keep most of the lights out, but we've been curious about this place and we've never been before even though it's a block away from our place and we've been living here for 2 years already.

So we entered this place, La Grotta del Mare, and it looked gloomy and it didn't really smell fresh.  I asked the guy for mackerel but he only had shrimps and 3 types of fish (wtf?).  He almost forced me to take this "loup de mer" saying it was really good, then he weighs it, doesn't even ask me if the price is good, and there I am paying for this small fish almost twice the price of a nice sized mackerel...  I put it in the freezer, because I was stuck with it and I rarely cook white fish.

I did some research and found out "loup de mer" is a kind of bass.  I speak really good French and good English, but most recipes I use are in English so I didn't know what a loup the mer was.

Then I got my cooking book from Luke Nguyen and saw this recipe for white fish!  It's fish fillets, spreaded with a soy beans marinade and topped with glass noodles and chillies, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed!  So unexpectedly delicious, like delicious enough to make it again and again, keep in your recipe book.  I wrote that the amount of glass noodles is adjustable because I like a lot of noodles, but if you use as much as me, you won't see the fish (look at my pictures haha).  So here is my version, adjusted and simplified, of "Barramundi Steamed in Banana Leaves with Soya Beans" from the book "The Food of Vietnam" by Luke Nguyen.

(serves 4 - ingredients on the picture for 2)

Marinade for 300g of white fish fillet (the book uses barramundi, I used bass):

-1tbsp sugar

-2tsp fish sauce

-1tsp sea salt

-1tsp ground black pepper

-2tbsp salty soy beans

-20 to 35g glass noodles, soaked for 5 minutes in hot water, then rinsed in cold water and water pressed out 

-4 banana leaf piece, about 8x10

-1 long red chilli, julienned

-1 to 1 1/2tbsp garlic oil (heat some thinly sliced garlic in some oil on medium until the garlic is fried, strain)

-soy sauce to dip the fish

Combine everything for the marinade and spread it on the flesh side (or one of the sides if you removed the skin) of the fillets.  Sandwich them 2 by two with the marinade inside, and leave them to marinate in the fridge for a couple hours.

Start your steamer on high.  (The author says the water must be boiling energetically so the fish cooks faster and stays firm.)

In the middle of each banana leaf, place a piece of fish (I cut my fillets in two and place them next to each other for a square shape) top with marinade, glass noodles, some garlic oil and some chilli strands.  Fold both sides over the center, then flip the other sides under the package.  Repeat 3 more times.  You can tie the squares with kitchen rope or just arrange them on them on the steamer so they don't unfold while cooking.

Steam for 8-10 minutes.  Open the squares with scissors, serve with soy sauce to dip and jasmine rice and a salad or a vegetable side dish.

Ga Nuong La Dua (Vietnamese)

Another Vietnamese meal!  Ga Nuong La Dua, I took from my Luke Nguyen's book again.  I've been watching videos of him on YouTube lately, he's really skilled, his travelling cooking show is amazing.  Just search "Luke Nguyen on YouTube! 

So basically it's chicken, marinated and grilled between pandan AND banana leaves.  You eat it in baguettes like a Banh Mi!  I really liked it, the flavours were so interesting and balanced!  I got a lot of compliments on Facebook for this, so I hope some people will be happy to get this recipe.

Simplified, and only slightly modified from "Marinated Chicken Chargrilled in Pandan Leaves" from the book "The Food of Vietnam" by Luke Nguyen!

(for 4 mini baguettes)

Marinade for 500g of chicken legs, skin removed and deboned, each leg cut into 8-9 pieces:

-2tbsp fish sauce

-1tbsp sugar

-1/2tsp white pepper

-1tbsp oyster sauce

-5 green onions, white parts only, chopped

-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

-1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used Red Palm Fruit Oil, for colour mainly but I love the taste and it's super healthy)

-A bunch of pandan leaves cut in half and bruised a little

-2 square pieces of banana leaves

To serve:

-4 mini baguettes or a big one cut in 4

-cilantro (which I don't like so I substituted flat parsley as usual)

-mint leaves

-one or two red chilies, thinly sliced

-toasted sesame seeds

-(I added cucumber sticks, it balances the heat of the chilies a little and is always included in Banh Mi)

Mix everything for the marinade and marinate the chicken for a couple hours or overnight is better.  To cook, the book uses a Vietnamese or korean grilling rack and sandwiches everything inside but since I don't have a grill, I used a ridged pan and added a big square plate over to simulate the rack.  So either on the rack's bottom or the ridged pan, put one banana leaf, align pandan leaves to cover it, place the chicken nicely on top (I put all the chicken with the nice side on top).  Then, cover with pandan leaves and finish with the last banana leaf. Then, close the grilling rack or add a plate on top of the banana leaf.  Cook for 15 minutes on each side.

To serve, put the whole sandwich of leaves and chicken on a plate with the nice side of the chicken up.  Partially open the leaves for better presentation, and top with sesame and chilies.  Have cut baguettes, herbs, chilies, sesame, and cucumber if using ready, so everyone can make their own baguettes!  The book suggests alternatively to just serve the chicken with rice.  My boyfriend added mayo cause he thought it was a little dry, but I thought the meat was juicy enough!

For those of you wondering, I served it with a roasted Japanese sweet potato that I cooled down and cut, then stir-fried with curry leaves, grated coconut, ginger and topped with coarse salt.  Soooo good and simple!