1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar (white cane vinegar or apple cider vinegar) 1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 bay leaf
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
Black pepper (to taste)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Mix the baking powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper, and coat the wings.
2. Lay the wings flat in baking trays or zippered plastic bags and store in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
3. Prep your grill and cook the wings over indirect heat for 30 to 40 minutes until the skin is crisp, turning once or twice. You can also bake in a 400°F oven for 40 to 60 minutes, turning every 20 minutes to evenly crisp the skin.
4. While the chicken is cooking, add all the sauce ingredients to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered until the liquid reduces to a thin glaze.
5. Toss the grilled chicken wings in the sauce until evenly coated and serve.
Lola Flor’s Turon
These sweet, crispy spring rolls are sooo addictive! The recipe below is for the traditional banana and jackfruit filling, but feel free to get creative by swapping in different ingredients, such as cheese (Filipinos love the combination of salty and sweet) or even chocolate.
YIELD: 12 TURON
Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
12 square lumpia or spring roll wrappers 6 saba bananas (sliced in half lengthwise) OR 4 large firm-ripe yellow bananas (cut in thirds) ? to ? cup sliced jackfruit (fresh or canned) Neutral oil for frying (canola, vegetable, etc.)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the brown sugar in a medium-wide bowl and fill a small bowl with warm water.
2. On a clean work surface (cutting board, large plate, etc.), position a lumpia wrapper so it looks like a diamond, with a point facing toward you.
3. Roll the sliced banana in the brown sugar and place horizontally in the middle of the wrapper. Add a strip or two of jackfruit next to the banana.
4. Take the wrapper point closest to you and fold it over the banana-and-jackfruit filling, then tuck the point tightly under the filling.
5. Fold the left point and then the right point over the filling (it’ll overlap slightly and look somewhat like an envelope), then use both hands to roll the wrapper tightly away from you until only a 2-inch point at the top is exposed. Dip your finger in the warm water, spread it on the exposed point, then continue rolling until the wrapper’s fully sealed. Set the wrapper aside and continue doing this until all the wrappers are filled. Reserve the remaining brown sugar in the bowl.
6. Add ? to 1 inch of oil to a heavy-bottomed pan (such as cast iron or a Dutch oven) and heat to medium high. You can also use a thermometer for more even cooking, in which case, you want it heated to about 350°F.
7. Add about half the turon to the oil in a single layer and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes, using tongs to turn the turon over a couple of times. Remove to drain on a wire rack, colander, or on a plate covered with paper towels. Repeat for the rest of the turon.
8. Once all the turon have been fried, raise the heat to high and add the remaining brown sugar (that you reserved in the bowl) to the pan. Spread the sugar out in an even layer using the tongs. Once it’s melted and slightly dark, return the turon to the pan, a few at a time, and use the tongs to roll the turon in the caramelized sugar until fully coated. Return the turon to the wire rack/colander/plate (remove the paper towels so they don’t stick to them) and let cool until the caramel sets into a crisp coating.
9. Best served while still hot and crisp, though you might be able to reheat in a toaster oven. Enjoy!
Lila’s Halo-Halo Ice Candy
These simple ice pops are a little fiddly to put together, but they’re fun, delicious, highly customizable, and take up way less space in your freezer than traditional ice pop molds. But if you don’t want to bother with the bags, feel free to use molds instead.
YIELD: ABOUT ELEVEN 8 X 2-INCH BAGS
Ingredients:
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 14-ounce can condensed milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch (optional*)
Halo-halo fixings, rinsed and drained (your choice): Jarred halo-halo mix
Jarred or canned sweet red beans
Jarred sweet garbanzo beans
Jarred nata de coco
Jarred kaong
Jarred macapuno OR dried coconut
Ube halaya (jarred or homemade)
Saba banana, chopped small
Jarred or canned ripe jackfruit
*I’ve read that cornstarch helps the frozen mixture stay creamy rather than completely icy, but I’ve seen plenty of recipes without it.
Equipment:
Blender or large mixing bowl with spout Thin plastic bags (I use FroZip brand) OR ice pop molds Chopsticks or long-handled tweezers
Funnel
DIRECTIONS:
1. Add the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and cornstarch to a blender or large mixing bowl with spout. Fill the empty evaporated milk can with water and add to the mixture as well.
2. Blend or mix everything until completely smooth.
3. Taste the mixture to check for sweetness level—the halo-halo fixings will add additional sweetness, so if the milk mixture is too rich or sweet, add another can or two of water to dilute the mixture to your desired level. Freezing dulls the level of sweetness somewhat, but you don’t want it sickeningly sweet at this stage.
4. Use chopsticks or long-handled tweezers to insert 1 to 2 teaspoons of your choice of halo-halo fixings into your plastic bags or ice pop molds. Again, the more fixings you add, the sweeter the overall ice candy will be.
5. Using the funnel, pour the milk mixture into the plastic bags or ice pop molds. Make sure to leave room for the mixture to expand in the freezer, about two-thirds of the way. If using the bags, either twist tie or zip them closed.
6. Lay the bags or molds flat in the freezer and allow to freeze at least 6 hours or overnight.
7. Enjoy!
Adeena’s Brew-ha #1 (aka The Lila Special)
The Brew-ha #1 is an extra-refreshing spin on iced coffee, diluted with coconut water instead of plain water. It’s perfect for those blazing hot days when you could use some extra electrolytes. A baller move—and the way my protagonist, Lila, prefers her drink—is to use both coconut water and coconut milk for a naturally sweetened, lactose-free, and vegan-approved beverage.
YIELD: ROUGHLY 3 CUPS OF CONCENTRATE
Ingredients:
5 to 10 pandan leaves (depending on length), well rinsed 4 cups filtered water
1 cup coarse ground coffee
Coconut water (can be replaced with plain filtered water) Coconut milk
DIRECTIONS:
1. Blend the pandan leaves with the water, then mix with the ground coffee in a lidded container. Stir so that the grounds are fully saturated.