By Cristina Espina
Photography by Carol Bustamante

A HOMEMADE gift is worth a thousand store-bought treats, especially when it’s also something that tastes good. Not all home cooking is easily wrapped up and exchanged in the traditional sense, but there are a few easily prepared delicacies which make perfect presents for a host who has just invited you to a dinner party. For those who love enjoying good food with dear friends, the next best thing to extending an invitation for dinner is accepting another’s invitation and bringing any one of these gifts as a gesture of thanks and friendship.

Atchara
      Every culture has its own distinctive pickled dish, with playful variations among its subgroups. In the Philippines, this dish is atchara. The main ingredient is green papaya, with other vegetables added to the mix depending on the individual cook’s creativity. Balancing the sour flavor of vinegar with the sweetness of sugar, it functions equally well as an appetizer or a garnish. Each family has its own distinctive version that could provide
a dash of variety to another household’s meals. Trying out recipes may also lead to some pleasant surprises for the palate.

Ingredients
1 kilo sayote or unripe papaya, peeled and sliced into strips or grated
2 pcs medium-sized carrots, peeled and sliced into strips
1 pc medium-sized red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 pc medium-sized green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 thumb-sized ginger, peeled and sliced into strips
20 pcs sibuyas Tagalog, peeled and halved
10 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
50 g rock salt

For pickling solution:
300 g sugar
480 ml vinegar
10 g salt

Procedure
         Mix all the prepared vegetables together on a tray. Sprinkle with salt then let stand for an hour. Drain and squeeze out excess water through a cheesecloth. Pack vegetables loosely in sterilized jars.
       In a saucepan, combine sugar, vinegar, and salt. Boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and pour into the jars. Allow to cool and remove air bubbles then seal tightly. Store for future use.

CHICKEN LIVER PATE
Pâté (pronounced as pah-TAY) is French for pie. It consists of finely ground livers of chicken, pigs, ducks, geese, and calves, flavored with herbs, spices, wild mushrooms, wine, brandy, and in some rare instances, with black truffles from Perigord in France.
It is traditionally served baked in a crust or pie loaf (en croûte) called pâté en croûte or baked in a terrine, a square or oval crock specially designed for baking pates or terrines, in which case it is known as pâté en terrine. The most famous pâté is probably pâté de foie gras, made from the fattened livers of geese. Foie gras entier is fattened goose liver cooked and sliced, not made into pâté. The pâté is served on bread, often as hors d’oeuvre, served with banh mi, a Vietnamese baguette sandwich, or with dill and other fresh herbs.  

Ingredients
1/2 kilo chicken liver, cleaned
240 ml milk
60 g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
50 g bacon, chopped
150 g onion, chopped
5 g minced garlic
15 g black or white peppercorns   
1 pc bay leaf
3.2 g chopped fresh thyme leaves
2.5 g salt
2.5 g freshly ground black pepper
60 ml brandy chopped parsley leaves, for garnish
toasted French baguette, mini baguette, or crusty bread, accompaniment  


Procedure
        In a bowl, soak liver in milk for 2 hours. Drain well. In a large sauté pan or skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Add bacon and onion and cook, stirring, until soft, for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant for 30 seconds. Add chicken liver, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook, constantly stirring, until liver turns brown on the outside and still slightly pink on the inside for 5 minutes. Add brandy and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and liver is cooked through but still tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Discard bay leaf. In a food processor, puree liver mixture.
        Gift suggestion: Pour into pate terrine or mold and accessorize with a ribbon. Best served with French baguette slices.

MANGO JAM
Recipes for jam could be traced in the earliest cookbook, Of Culinary Matters, written
by the Roman gastronome Marcus Gavius Apicius in the first century. It is believed that returning Crusaders first introduced jam to Europe.In the 16th century, jam-making flourished in Europe following the arrival of the Spanish in the West Indies who had been preserving fruits for generations. Jam-making enabled the people to have vitamins from fruit all year round. Once it became known that Vitamin C prevented scurvy, jam became part of the staple used on ships. Jam provided sailors vitamins they needed to stay well. Fresh fruit did not last long, but the jam lasted for the length
of the trip.
 

Ingredients
1 kilo ripe mangoes
50 g sugar

Procedure
       Thoroughly wash the mangoes and scoop out the pulp. For every cup of mango pulp, add 50 grams of sugar. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil. Cook until mixture is thick enoughto spread.
        Pack in dry, sterilized glass jars. Remove air bubbles and half seal. Sterilize jars for 25 minutes in boiling water. Seal completely.

PESTO
Pesto is a sauce which originates in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy. The traditional recipe consists of crushed garlic, basil, and pine nuts blended with olive oil and pecorino sardo or firm Italian cheese. The name pesto is derived from the Genoese word pestâ or pestare meaning ‘to pound’ or ‘to crush’. The traditional method in making pesto, however, is not by pounding but it is grounded with a circular motion of the pestle in the mortar.
        Pesto is traditionally used on pasta, with potatoes and little green beans boiled in the same pot in which the pasta has been cooked. It is used in minestrone or served on sliced beef, tomatoes, and sliced boiled potatoes. Because pesto is a generic term for anything that is made by pounding, the original pesto is called pesto alla genovese or pesto genovese to help differentiate the original basil-based pesto from alternatives. Pesto is used as a cold sauce or dip, spread on bread, drizzled on salads, or served with steaks.

Ingredients
1 medium garlic clove
20 g fresh basil leaves, washed and patted dry
20 g parsley, roughly chopped
31 g pine nuts or cashew or walnuts
300 ml olive oil
65 g parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Procedure
      Combine garlic, basil leaves, parsley, and nuts in a food processor. Slowly add olive oil
in a steady stream. Stop the machine and add cheese, salt, and pepper. Turn on machine
and process until mixture is well-blended. Season according to your taste. Store in sterilized jars
and seal tightly. Store in refrigerator after opening.  

SALSA MONJA
      This traditional salsa was first used as a condiment by the sixteenth-century nuns who prepared it for friars. It is a relish that is often enjoyed during meals as an accompaniment to the meat entrée. Its elegance as an edible gift is matched only by its simplicity
as a recipe.

Ingredients
110 g  garlic, minced
110 g shallots, minced
110 g green olives, minced
240 ml olive oil
30 ml annatto oil
240 ml pickling solution 
40 g whole garlic cloves, peeled
60 g whole shallots, peeled
45 g pitted green olives
5 g ground black pepper

For pickling solution:
120 ml pickling liquid from the pitted green olives
120 ml vinegar
100 g sugar
5 g salt

Procedure
        Simmer minced garlic, shallots, and olives in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add annatto oil. In a small saucepan, boil the pickling liquid, until sugar is completely dissolved. Add olive oil mixture. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add whole garlic, shallots, and olives and simmer until liquid is reduced into half. Season with black pepper. Let mixture cool and put in a sterilized bottle. For best results, store in the refrigerator for two days before serving. Keep refrigerated. Best served with grilled or fried fish or chicken.

GOURMET TUYO
This humble offering is gaining popularity among gourmands. These days, a bottle of gourmet tuyo (salty sundried herring) is just as welcome as a jar of pasta sauce —
and just as good with pasta! Although the basic combination is prepared tuyo, olive oil, white vinegar, and garlic (with optional chilies), each cook who puts these ingredients together seems to have a different technique. 

Ingredients
6 to 8 pcs tuyo, scales and heads removed
oil for frying
120 ml olive oil
120 ml white vinegar
one head garlic, peeled and separated
chilies, optional
                  
Procedure
      Fry tuyo 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Debone when cool. Arrange the tuyo and the garlic cloves in a jar, then pour in the olive oil and white vinegar. Close the lid tightly and let the mixture sit for a week, to let tuyo soak up the flavors. If you desire a spicier version, use chili vinegar or insert some chilies among the tuyo and garlic in the jar.

POLVORON
Among the sweeter Filipino delicacies, powdery polvoron must be the easiest to make. It has only four basic ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, and powdered milk. Put a special stamp on a batch of polvoron, and turn it into one of the most memorable sweet treats the receiver ever sampled.

Ingredients
120 ml melted butter
100 g sugar
120 g flour   
58 g powdered milk
75 g crushed cookies or breakfast cereal of your choice

Procedure  
        In a bowl, combine butter and sugar. Set aside. Toast flour in a skillet over medium heat for 10 minutes or until brown. Add powdered milk and toast for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in crushed cookies or cereal. Gradually add wet ingredients to flour mixture and blend well. To test whether polvoron has right consistency, pack a mold or small measuring cup with mixture, and release it. If it won’t hold its shape, add melted butter as necessary to make mixture firmer. Mold individual servings and wrap in Japanese paper.

VINAIGRETTE
Probably one of the simplest edible gifts you can throw together on a budget. The basic recipe is simple: three parts oil, one part vinegar, a dash of herbs, and other seasonings. Any salad oil will do, from the most popular olive oil to the basic canola oil. You may get adventurous when it comes to the vinegar, which is the main ingredient of the dressing’s flavor. Stay away from your basic white vinegar. It’s also fun to experiment to see how herbs and other flavorings can affect the final product. Put your individual twist on a basic vinaigrette recipe and it might even become a highly requested holiday gift!

Balsamic Vinaigrette
This recipe goes with most green salads.

Ingredients
180 ml olive oil
60 ml high quality balsamic vinegar
15 g minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure
      Mix all ingredients in a blender, or put them in the bottle or jar (make sure that it has a tight-fitting lid) in which they will be presented to the recipient and shake to combine them. Note that oil and vinegar naturally separate and that the dressing will need to be shaken anew before each use. Store vinaigrette in the refrigerator.

Atchara, jam, pate, pesto, and salsa monja recipes courtesy of The Maya Kitchen Culinary Arts Center, located at 835 Liberty Building, A. Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road), Makati City. Call 8925011 local 118. Email conatcus@themayakitchen.com. Log on to www.themayakitchen.com.