{"id":2032,"date":"2010-09-18T00:23:40","date_gmt":"2010-09-18T06:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/?p=2032"},"modified":"2010-09-18T15:14:27","modified_gmt":"2010-09-18T21:14:27","slug":"maja-blanca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/?p=2032","title":{"rendered":"Maja Blanca"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>

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<\/a>For 333 years, the Spanish ruled the Philippines.\u00a0 They had a dessert called manjar blanco made with almonds, milk, sugar, and gelatin.\u00a0 It is similar to blancmange or panna cotta.\u00a0 The name literally translates to “white delicacy” because of its original color but people have altered it and have produced\u00a0their own versions using ingredients such as citrus, berries, or chocolate.\u00a0\u00a0The Northern Filipino\u00a0version called maja blanca is made of coconut milk, fresh corn, and agar agar (a gelatin substitute made from seaweed) because these ingredients were plentiful.\u00a0 I love its buttery yellow hue.<\/p>\n

I remember my Great Uncle Jesus making this dessert back in the old country.\u00a0 (He was named Jesus because he was born on Christmas Day, another thing the Spanish brought to the Philippines.)\u00a0 His way\u00a0of making this dessert involved a lot more work\u00a0than how I made my version.\u00a0 He\u00a0would go pick out some\u00a0mature coconuts, grate the meat, and\u00a0squeeze out\u00a0the milk using a cheesecloth.\u00a0 After that, he would harvest some young corn from the field,\u00a0\u00a0grate, then also squeeze out the milk using the same process mentioned above.\u00a0 After that he\u00a0brought\u00a0the coconut milk and corn liquid slowly to a simmer then\u00a0added some sugar.<\/p>\n

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Sometimes he used cornstarch to set it and other times he used agar agar.\u00a0 He would then pour the hot liquid into a thin pan then he let it sit on the dining table to set.\u00a0 That was the hardest part for me.\u00a0 I remember testing it probably every few minutes with a finger.\u00a0 By the time it was ready you could see finger dents on the edges!\u00a0 I can never get the recipe\u00a0out of him\u00a0so I made my own recipe using my memory of how it tasted.\u00a0 I think this was pretty darn close though he would probably not approve of diluting the coconut milk with cow’s milk and water but I didn’t want it to be too fatty.<\/p>\n

RECIPE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maja Blanca (My Version)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n