Filipino Leche Flan Recipe

Leche Flan is the Filipino version of caramel pudding or crème caramel. It's an egg-based dessert so popular, that it's served in almost every special occasion or family gathering. Some people prefer their leche flan to not be so creamy and a bit airier. I, on the other hand, like my flan smooth, rich, and creamy.

Home-cooked Leche Flan (@thegrub78) on Dec 12, 2014 at 4:30am PST

Ingredients:

• 10 egg yolks
• 375 ml or 1 can condensed milk 
• 375 ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 tbsps. sugar for caramel

Steps:

1. Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl and using whisk, stir gently. Do not beat so as to prevent bubbles from forming. Set aside.
2. Caramelise the sugar. Usually, a llanera (steel mold that's traditionally used to make flan) is placed on medium heat to caramelise the sugar. Since I don't have one handy, I just caramelise the sugar in a pan, then transfer it into a normal steel mold. For this recipe, I used 2 round molds with a diameter measuring around 18cm.
3. Keep an eye on the sugar making sure it doesn't get burnt. Once some of the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan a bit to aid the rest of the sugar to caramelise faster. Do NOT stir. Once the sugar turns golden brown, it is ready. 
4.  Transfer caramelised sugar into molds making sure that the bottoms are covered. Let cool for 5 minutes. 
5. Prepare your steamer. If you don't have a steamer, use a big pot that can fit the two molds, or use two pots. Fill the pots with 3-4 inch-deep water, and put a metal stand at the bottom where you can place your molds on top it so the molds don't touch the water. Bring water to a boil.
6. Strain the flan into the molds and cover with aluminium foil. Make sure to cover properly so water doesn't get in. 
7. Place molds into the pots and steam for 40-45 minutes.
8. Let cool and refrigerate.
9. Run a knife around the mold, put a serving plate/dish on top, and turn upside-down to get the flan out of the mold. 

Enjoy!

Simple Chinese Roast Pork Belly Recipe

Homemade Roast Pork Belly

Ingredients:

• 600 grams pork belly
• 2-3 tbsps. Five Spice Powder
• rock salt (enough to cover the top part of the meat entirely)
• 2 tbsps. rice wine
• salt
• pepper

Steps:

1. Rub rice wine on the meat part of the belly. Follow it with salt, pepper, and the Five Spice powder. 
2. Careful not to have any of the powder on the skin part. 
3. Let the meat sit in the refrigerator skin-side up for at least 4 hours uncovered. 
4. Preheat oven to 200°C (set to "bake"; top and bottom function)
5. Take meat out and poke a lot of tiny holes on the skin without getting through to the fat layer. Make sure you've gotten rid of the hairs on the skin. If you find it difficult to poke the skin while raw, you may wait until step 9 to do this.
6. Wrap the meat snugly in aluminium foil (skin-side up) leaving the top uncovered. Try to make the foil tray-shaped to avoid the fat spilling out. Leave about half an inch allowance on the height of the foil to accommodate salt.
7. Cover the skin entirely with rock salt. 
8. Put in oven, and bake for 40-45 minutes.
9. Take meat out of the oven and completely get rid of the rock salt.  If you haven't pricked the skin yet, this is the time to do it. 
10. Set meat on a wire rack and place foil underneath to catch the drippings.
11. Put it back into the oven, and "Broil" for 10-15 minutes or until the skin is crackling and crispy.