One of the joys of joining a cooking group on Facebook is seeing members getting all excited about dishes they cooked - or those shared by others, and then trying their best to replicate them.
For Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong, no other cooking group could possibly be as fun and as educational than the Facebook page, ‘Domestic Workers’ Corner It’s All About Food’.
This group started by Rodelia P. Villar just two years ago was meant to make it easier for newly arrived Filipino domestic worker to cope with the cooking requirements of their employers, especially if they’re Chinese and prefer to eat their own food at home.
DWC’s food page became such a big hit that in no time, Villar and her fellow administrators had to open two other accounts to serve the other needs of their growing number of members.
But it is the Food page that remains as the happy place for members – where they get quick help from others when faced with the dilemma of what to cook for the day, how to cook a strange ingredient that their employer just handed them, or even just to gripe on how hard it is to cook several dishes on a tight budget.
Many members also use the page to poke fun at themselves whenever their cooking turns into a disaster, or share a dish that only a fellow Pinoy would love.
To the latter belongs Madel Reyes, a bubbly 31-year-old single mother of a 12-year-old girl who avidly loves to cook, and does not think twice about sharing not just her recipes, but also dishes that she whips up furtively because her Chinese employers are not inclined to eat them.
“Hilig ko po talaga magluto. Nanonood lang ako ng video sa YouTube then ginagaya ko. Patago lang ang pagluluto ko kapag wala ang amo ko, then binibigay ko sa mga kapitbahay kong maid din dito,” Madel says.
One dish she gladly shared with her Pinay neighbors and the recipe, with her fellow DWC members, is her no-bake glutinous rice cake. The cake which she cooked in a rice cooker and was made from just six easy-to-get ingredients, became such a hit with her fellow Pinays that her post immediately garnered 1,300 likes within their secret group.
In no time, several members began doing their own versions of Madel’s sweet glutinous rice cake. Some who didn’t want it too sweet substituted coconut milk for the condensed milk, others said they used the entire eggs and not just the yolk.
Others decided to take the challenge farther by adding ube flavor, carrots, nuts and other ingredients they fancied. Many were happy with how their cake ended up, while others reported disastrous results, but happily posted their creations anyway.
Madel was so amused by the interest generated by her easy-to-do cake that she offered to give a reward to those who could give a new twist to her recipe, and gets to show proof that their employer liked the result.
So far, there has been no taker, most likely because the helpers who made their own cake preferred to keep it for themselves.
Madel herself says she does not eat many of the dishes she cooks for herself in her free time.
“Most of the time hindi ko kinakain ang niluluto ko kasi ayaw kong tumaba pero happy ako kapag ang luto ko na pinapakain ko sa iba ay pinupuri nila,” she says.
That includes the praise and comments that have come her way since she posted her highly popular and much-copied glutinous rice cake recipe.
Here’s Madel’s recipe:
Rice-cooker cake
Ingredients:
1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
3 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup of sugar (optional)
4 egg yolks
1 cup glutinous rice
Procedure:
1. Mix everything together, then strain.
2. Pour ingredients into a rice cooker.
3. Cook for about 35 minutes or more, depending on your cooker.
4. Put grated cheese on top for a yummier taste.
(Note: No need to add water as that will make your cake too soft)
Royal Bibingka
(Ube-flavored spin-off)
By Daneth Obbania Casibang
Daneth said she decided to cook her version of the viral cake as she was feeling stressed and wanted to do something to take her mind off her problems. She thanked the one “who shared this recipe,” then added, “Hindi mo alam kung paano mo ako napasaya ngayon.”
Ingredients:
2 cups glutinous rice flour
2 eggs
½ cup coconut milk or gata
½ can evaporated milk
½ can condensed milk
2 tbsp melted butter
4 tsp sugar
grated cheese
ube flavor (optional)
Procedure
as given by Madel
Carrot rice-cooker cake
By Jenny Vieve
Ingredients:
1 pcs medium sized carrot
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsps sugar (add more if you want it sweeter)
2 tbsp cooking oil (naubusan lola mo ng butter)
2 eggs
Milk (tantiya lang or according to taste)
Procedure:
1. Mix all ingredients together (make sure the batter is not watery)
2. Cook in the rice cooker for at least an hour
And.... Why not try?
Not all succeeded in replicating Madel Reyes’s rice cooker cake, but it was all a good baking lesson learned
Some of those whose efforts were worth mentioning are lined up on the right.
Among the not-so-successful, the one below still had something positive to say about the result of her effort: “... pero masarap din.”
At least, she was not disappointed enough to not try again.
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