Category: snacks

Adobong Mani

celia kusinera Leave a comment

This is best paired with a tall glass of Coke with lots of ice. Yum! One of the favourite snacks of Pinoys is this deep-fried peanut aka adobong mani. Why it's called adobo, with nary a sight of vinegar nor soy sauce, I do not know. I just go with the flow or rather the flavour and do not attempt to explain things away.

I used to watch my more enterprising younger sister make this when she was still in elementary school. She then proceeds to package it into small plastic bags and sell it via a corner store. Me and the rest of our siblings? We gamely volunteered to pack it for her with the eye of course of sneaking every other spoonful in our mouths. You can probably guess that my sister's business didn't exactly flourish. Hahaha.

The thing with deep frying the peanuts is once it reaches the cooked stage it can very quickly burn in a matter of seconds. So it is imperative to immediately remove all of the peanuts from the deep fryer once you think it's cooked otherwise you will have a mix of crunchy well cooked ones and some burned ones. Not nice at all.

My sister did not have any deep fryer thermometer nor use a timer when she was cooking this. All she had for indicator was the garlic - if it turned to golden crispy and the peanuts are of the right colour then it is done. You can use that as a guide although timing it and pre-heating the cooking oil to the right temperature would help a lot from guesswork.



Adobong Mani
Deep Fried Red-Skinned Peanuts

dried red-skinned peanuts
garlic cloves - smashed skin-on
cooking oil
fine salt


  1. Pour some cooking oil into a saucepan to reach at least 1/2-inch up the side. Heat until it reaches 180C/350F in temperature.
  2. Deep fry the garlic and peanuts in batches making sure that the peanuts are submerged in oil. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes for peanuts with small kernels and 4 - 5 minutes for big kernels.
  3. Set a metal sieve or strainer on a deep bowl. Once the peanuts are cooked, pour the whole lot in the strainer making sure that the bowl will catch the hot oil. Drain and transfer to a serving bowl. Add fine salt to taste.
  4. Pour back the oil in the saucepan, re-heat to 180C, and repeat for the next batch.



German Apple Pancake

celia kusinera Leave a comment
Lesson for this recipe: use a non-stick pan! As you can see from the pictures the brutality of the removal from the pan I used is quite evident. :) I swear I'll post a better illustration later.

Despite the messed up appearance of the final product the flavour was sublime. Yum! Most especially since it is not particularly sweet. If you need further sugar boost, copious amount of maple or golden syrup over it will do the job.

This is adapted from excellent The New Best Recipe cookbook which is currently providing me with a lot of culinary ideas.







German Apple Pancake

3/4 cup whole milk (or half single cream and half whole milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs - lightly beaten
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 medium Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp icing sugar (confectioner's)
  1. Pre-heat oven to 260C/fan 240C/500F.
  2. Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/4-inch slices.
  3. Mix the milk, eggs, vanilla, salt and granulated sugar until well combined. Set aside.
  4. In a 10-inch non-stick oven-proof pan, melt the butter.
  5. Add the apples and sprinkle the brown sugar over.
  6. Cook over medium-high heat while stirring occasionally until the apples turn golden (about 10 minutes).
  7. Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the batter around the edge of the pan then over the apples.
  8. Place the pan in the oven and reduce the temperature to 220C/fan 200C/425F.
  9. Bake until puffed and browned - about 16 minutes.
  10. Loosen the edge of the pancake with a heatproof spatula. Invert the pancake on a serving plate and dust top with icing sugar. Serve immediately with warm maple syrup.

German Apple Pancake

celia kusinera Leave a comment
Lesson for this recipe: use a non-stick pan! As you can see from the pictures the brutality of the removal from the pan I used is quite evident. :) I swear I'll post a better illustration later.

Despite the messed up appearance of the final product the flavour was sublime. Yum! Most especially since it is not particularly sweet. If you need further sugar boost, copious amount of maple or golden syrup over it will do the job.

This is adapted from excellent The New Best Recipe cookbook which is currently providing me with a lot of culinary ideas.







German Apple Pancake

3/4 cup whole milk (or half single cream and half whole milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs - lightly beaten
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 medium Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp icing sugar (confectioner's)
  1. Pre-heat oven to 260C/fan 240C/500F.
  2. Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/4-inch slices.
  3. Mix the milk, eggs, vanilla, salt and granulated sugar until well combined. Set aside.
  4. In a 10-inch non-stick oven-proof pan, melt the butter.
  5. Add the apples and sprinkle the brown sugar over.
  6. Cook over medium-high heat while stirring occasionally until the apples turn golden (about 10 minutes).
  7. Remove the pan from the heat. Pour the batter around the edge of the pan then over the apples.
  8. Place the pan in the oven and reduce the temperature to 220C/fan 200C/425F.
  9. Bake until puffed and browned - about 16 minutes.
  10. Loosen the edge of the pancake with a heatproof spatula. Invert the pancake on a serving plate and dust top with icing sugar. Serve immediately with warm maple syrup.

Fudges Savoury Biscuits

celia kusinera Leave a comment
Fudges has been quite generous to send me some of their delectable savoury biscuits. I'm quite familiar with the brand although only their sweet cookies are ones I have repeatedly purchased before. And like their sweet products, these new savoury biscuits are very good. We lost no time in trying them with different spreads, dips, drinks (teas and coffees) but I personally like them with soups which in these increasingly colder weather is very welcome indeed.



My favourite is the mature cheddar flavour while my husband prefer the stilton and walnut ones. Thanks Fudges Bakery!

Fudges Savoury Biscuits

celia kusinera Leave a comment
Fudges has been quite generous to send me some of their delectable savoury biscuits. I'm quite familiar with the brand although only their sweet cookies are ones I have repeatedly purchased before. And like their sweet products, these new savoury biscuits are very good. We lost no time in trying them with different spreads, dips, drinks (teas and coffees) but I personally like them with soups which in these increasingly colder weather is very welcome indeed.



My favourite is the mature cheddar flavour while my husband prefer the stilton and walnut ones. Thanks Fudges Bakery!