maxwell turns one

Last Friday Maxwell turned one. To celebrate we threw him a small party with family. We kept things pretty simple. Platters of sushi and sashimi, some Korean and Filipino appetizers, and a homemade banana layer cake.

Mundoo, in honour of Maxwell's newborn nickname (Korean dumplings):

My mom made the Filipino lumpia (springrolls) and empanadas:

I baked the banana layer cake the night before. In the background are two go im towers (used to decorate the food table) that I made out of candy and beans. The one has Maxwell's Korean middle name written in Korean.

A platter of Korean rice cakes called tteok:

The highlight of a traditional Korean dol (first birthday celebration) is the future-predicting ceremony. Basically, a bunch of objects are placed in front of Maxwell and whatever one he reaches for first determines his future. A roll of string represents a long life, a pencil means he'll be a scholar, money equals wealth, a brush means he'll be an artist, and a bowl of food means he'll never go hungry. These days you can also add more objects, but we kept it simple. So what did he choose?

The food! 

I can't believe Maxwell is one already! He's crazy about food (surprise), walking up a storm, and turning into a pretty swell dude. I feel like I'm still learning the ropes at this parenting thing, but it's fun to watch him change and grow each month. 

kanto

I first mentioned Kanto at the Scadding Court Market way back in February when they hadn't even opened yet. Well, it's been months and I've walked by so many times without stopping in, so last week when my mom was in town we picked up some food for a quick dinner. 

Kanto's menu is focused on convenient Filipino street foods. We grabbed an order of lechon kawali (crispy pork belly) and lumpia shanghai (spring rolls). 

The lechon was awesome! Juicy with a bubbly, crispy skin—just like it should be. And the lumpia (we had the chicken version since they were sold out of pork) were little deep-fried bundles of flavourful ground chicken wrapped in a thin and crunchy spring roll wrapper. Not gonna lie, I ate most of this straight out of the container before we even got home.

Kanto

707 Dundas St.W 

@ the Scadding Court Market

filipino ensaymadas

My mom is visiting for the week which means I'll be getting lots of home cooking. So far one of the highlights was when she showed up with bags of homemade Filipino ensaymadas made by my 80-year old auntie. Sort of a cross between a brioche and Asian-style breads, ensaymadas are buttery, soft, slightly sweet buns. They can be eaten plain, topped with a smear of butter, then dipped in sugar, or topped with a smear of butter, dipped in sugar and sprinkled with shredded cheese (yes, cheese). Sounds weird, but tastes amazing. 

My auntie used to make these all the time when I was a kid (though we never got the cheese version) and me and my bro used to devour them. She’s passed the recipe onto me, but they’re pretty labour intensive to make and I’ve yet to tackle them. For now, my freezer’s stocked and I’m set for a little while.

casa manila

For Mother's Day I decided to take my mom to a Filipino restaurant. Mainly so I could stuff my face with dishes that I don't get to eat too often these days. Truthfully, I haven't been to a lot of Filipino restaurants in the GTA (most are in Scarborough), but I do like Max's and now I can vouch for Casa Manila too. Service is pretty slow (not surprising since I find that service is always slow at Filipino restaurants, especially on weekends), but the food came out piping hot and tasted just like mama would make. 

Daing na bangus: grilled milk fish with citrus and soy.

Lechon kawali: deep-fried crispy pork belly.

Sizzling pork sisig: the menu describes this as "fried pork mask" but really it's chopped up pig face mixed with all kinds of deliciousness. 

Pancit canton: stir-fried egg noodles with chicken, shrimp and vegetables.

The table after digging in (not shown: an enormous communal bowl of steamed rice and our crispy calamari appetizer).

Dessert! Traditional halo halo (shaved ice topped with yam ice cream, fruit, sweet beans, flan, crispy rice flakes)

Apparently Filipino food is starting to become popular in the city. La Mesa Filipino Kitchen recently opened up on Queen West and Kanto (which I haven't had a chance to try) is getting some rave reviews too. 

scadding court market

The Scadding Court market at the corner of Bathurst and Dundas opened last summer and is a pretty unique concept. Rather than having stalls, vendors are housed in refurbished shipping containers that stay put all year long. Food vendors (such as Monforte Dairy and La Pupusa) have small menus akin to food trucks. I feel like this project has a lot of potential and have my fingers crossed that the warmer months bring even more vendors. 

Happily, I walked by last week and saw a new vendor being advertised—a Filipino vendor nonetheless! Exciting times. I sampled a couple of items from Tita Flips when they were at the Toronto Underground Market so I'm pumped to see what they'll offer here.

During the winter, the vendors' hours vary (and some vendors seemed to have closed up shop altogether), but I recently grabbed a few bites from Kim's A La Carte: Ddukbokki (chewy grilled rice cakes smothered in a sweet-spicy sauce, $1) and kimchi mandu (kimchi filled dumplings, $1).

happy holidays

This past week has been spent cooking, baking and eating. We will have a traditional turkey feast tomorrow, but tonight for our Christmas Eve dinner, it was all about Asian eats. Happy holidays indeed! 

Stir-fried noodles with chicken, broccoli and mushrooms.

Korean extra-crispy chicken wings.

The entire menu: rice, noodles, chicken wings and lechon kawali (deep-fried pork belly).

max's restaurant

Over the weekend, me and the fam trekked out to Vaughan for some Filipino food at Max's Restaurant. Max's is a chain in the Philippines and is known for it's fried chicken. At 8 p.m. on a Saturday night, we had to wait about an hour to get a table. Service was quite slow, but the food was classic Filipino deliciousness.

Max's teasers appetizer plate (Lumpiang Shanghai/Filipino springrolls, crispy calamari)

Our table

Whole Max's chicken

Garlic rice (fried rice with A LOT of garlic)

Lechon kawali (crispy deep-fried pork belly)

Pancit canton (stir fried egg noodles, vegetables, pork, chicken, shrimp)

Then onto dessert! We went for the Halo Halo, shaved ice topped with sweet beans, ube (yam) ice cream, jackfruit, coconut jelly, palm nuts, leche flan (caramel custard), evaporated milk and crunchy rice flakes.

And Buko Pandan, young coconut mixed with Pandan gelatin, condensed milk and Macapuno (a type of coconut) ice cream, topped with crunchy rice flakes.

Max's Restaurant

1520 Steeles Avenue W.

cooking with mom

My mom was visiting for the weekend and we decided to make traditional Filipino siopao—a steamed bun stuffed with pork that's similar to the Chinese bao served at dim sum restaurants. Neither of us had ever made them before, but luckily they turned out great (even though they didn't look so great). The fluffy steamed buns filled with sweet and savoury pork is such a good combination. When I was little my mom would buy frozen siopao when she came to Toronto (I grew up outside of the city) and they used to be one of my favourite treats.

For the filling:

1 1/2 lbs pork shoulder, chopped into small pieces

1 small onion, finely minced

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

4 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1/4 C cold water

1. Saute onions and garlic in some oil until soft and translucent. Add pork and continue to saute until pork is no longer pink. Add everything but the cornstarch mixture and let simmer on low for 30 minutes or until pork is tender. Add the cornstarch mixture and simmer for 2 more minutes. Let cool completely. 

For the buns (adapted from David Chang's Momofuku steamed buns recipe)

1 tbsp + 1 tsp yeast

1 1/2 C water, room temperature

4 1/2 C bread flour

6 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp milk powder

1 tbsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 C vegetable shortening

1. Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and not too sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.

2. Punch down the dough and turn onto a clean work surface. Divide into ping pong ball sized pieces. Place on a baking sheet, cover and let rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime, cut some 3-inch squares of parchment paper.

3. Flatten, then roll each ball into 4-inch wide circle. Fill with about 2 tbsp of filling. Pinch the dough to enclose the filling. Place a square of parchment on the bottom.

4. Place in a bamboo steamer and steam for 12 minutes. After steaming, you can let the siopao cool completely and freeze them. To re-heat, either microwave for about 2 minutes or re-steam.