Dairy-free Leche Flan (Filipino style)

Well the holidays are coming and I started craving Leche Flan. Leche flan is a Filipino custard-type desert.  I grew up eating it, made by my parents using the traditional way. Loaded with milk and eggs.  My daughter and I are allergic to dairy and I had to find a way to make it safe for us.

Warning: Recipe contains a lot of sugar!   We don't eat this everyday so to me it's okay.

Ingredients:

For the caramel syrup:

1 cups organic sugar

For the flan:

3 beaten eggs

4 large egg yolks

3/4 cup organic sugar

2 1/2 cup rice or hemp milk(probably almond milk will work too)

1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla

You will need some sort of a mold or ramekins. I used medium sized ramekins, Corning ware.  You will also need a metal roasting pan, aluminum will do.

In a heavy pan, heat 1 cup of sugar until it melts on medium heat. Swirl it around to make sure there are no lumps.  Do not burn the syrup!  After it's done, divide it between the ramekins. For my recipe I had 5 ramekins.

Now on to the flan.  In a sauce pan, pour the non-dairy "milk" and the vanilla.  Don't boil it but just let it simmer on low. 

In  a bowl mix the eggs and sugar using a handheld mixer. I mixed mine on medium setting until it's fully mixed.  Then slowly add the non-dairy milk/vanilla mixture.  Mix it again with your mixer. Pour it in the ramekins. Fill the roasting pan with water and place the ramekins inside. You want to make sure the water comes up at least halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cook it on 355 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.  You want it a little jiggly and a bit firm. 

Once it's done, take them out. To get the flan out, you want to use a sharp nice and run it inside the edge of the ramekin.  Then get a plate, place it on top of the ramekin, shake it a little and the flan should slide right out.

I hope you enjoy it! Everyone that have tasted this said it tastes just like the Filipino Leche flan. 

Gluten-free Turon

Turon is a popular Filipino sweet, sort of like a lumpia-wrapped banana or plantain.  I am used to it being a plantain lumpia.  I grew up eating it but since going gluten-free 5 years ago, I've had to figure out how to make it okay for us to eat.  While the lumpia wrapper is made of wheat, the wrap I used is made of rice.  I made these several times until I decided why not post it, maybe someone else might like it.  My family loves it.

You can purchase the rice wraps at Kroger and Asian and Filipino stores.  Follow the instructions that comes with it.

Ingredients:

1 large very ripe plantain
1/4 cup organic sugar
Sunflower oil or use coconut oil if you're able to tolerate it(I can't)
Sliced jackfruit (optional)

Cut the plantain in thin small sizes.  Get the rice wraps ready.  Lay the plantain on the wrap, add a little bit of the sugar and fold it in sideways and roll it all the way. Seal the end with a little water.

Heat oil in medium on a frying pan.  When it's hot then you can slowly put the turon to fry. They tend to stick to make sure they are spaced apart.  Cook until both sides are light brown and crispy. Drain. You can serve it with ice cream or just eat it by itself.

Enjoy!

Kare-Kare paleo style (Filipino dish)

Kare-kare

I apologize for the lack of picture but every time I make this it gets snatched so fast. I don't even get a chance to take pictures.  This is a Filipino dish that I've changed a bit to make it paleo.  I hope you like it. I grew up eating it.  My dad made this with peanut butter and I changed it to cashew butter to make it low salicylate and also paleo.

As always I don't ever measure when cooking(aside from baking).

Ingredients:

4 or 5 pieces of ox tail (yes you read it right!)
a dash of black pepper(optional, omit if low salicylate)
a dash of sea salt
1 tablespoon (eyeballing this) of cashew butter or almond butter(if not low salicylate)
3 or 4 cloves of crushed garlic
a handful of chopped bok choy
A cup or two of filtered water

Put everything except the boy choy in a pot to cook until the meat softens.  After oxtail is soft which takes about an hour for me, add the bok choy. Cook for another 15 minutes until bok choy is soft.  Then it's done!  I grew up eating this with boiled white rice.   I also omitted the shrimp paste because I'm severely allergic to shrimp.