Cheese makes dishes special. Want creamier kaldereta? Add cheese. Want tastier fruit salad? Add cheese. Want more savory sandwich? You guessed it—add cheese. And as more Filipinos stay at home, more recipes are being made in the kitchen.
Popular cheese brand Eden, together with chefs Tatung Sarthou and Rosebud Benitez, shares recipes of popular Filipino desserts that are made with cheese, and can be made sans complicated kitchen equipment.
“We chose easy-to-make recipes that can be made without oven,” brand manager Kristen Mendoza said during a virtual cooking lesson via Zoom.
Chef Tatung demonstrated how to make bibingka using oven, but can also be cooked using steamer or pan, “just like how you would cook a pancake.” Chef Rosebud, meanwhile, made a special halo-halo topped with ube halaya, leche flan, and shredded cheese.
Special Halo-halo with Eden
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. saging na saba, chopped
1 tbsp. sweet red beans (munggo)
1 tbsp. colored jelly, cubed
1 tbsp. sago
1 tbsp. macapuno
1 tbsp. kaong
1 tbsp. nata de coco
1 tbsp. pinipig
small slices jackfruit
shaved ice
brown sugar
evaporated milk
ube and leche flan
Eden cheese, grated
Procedure:
1. Put saging na saba, sago, sweet red beans, jackfruit, jelly, macapuno, pinipig, kaong, and nata de coco in a tall glass.
2. Add some brown sugar. Add shaved ice. Drizzle with evaporated milk. Garnish with ube and leche flan.
3. Finish off with grated Eden Cheese on top. Mix before eating.
Cheesy Bibingka with Eden
Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup water
2 pcs. eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup coconut cream, at room temperature
2 tsp. melted butter
165g. Eden Cheese, grated
2 pcs. salted eggs, sliced
Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350-degree Fahrenheit (177-degree Celsius).
2. Place a sheet of wax paper or banana leaf on a (5-inch) round baking pan (heat the banana leaf to make it pliable).
3. Mix rice flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, combine water, eggs, sugar, coconut cream, and butter. Mix well.
5. Slowly pour dry ingredients over wet ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula until thoroughly combined. Use a sieve to get rid of lumps.
6. Fill prepared pans with the mixture until 75 percent full.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Halfway in the baking process, top the mixture with salted eggs and cheese.