Halo-Halo

Greetings everyone! Here is my first offering in anticipation of Lotus and Shogun's Memorial Day BBQ...Halo-Halo (pronounced 'hah-lo hah-lo', not 'halo' like an angel's halo).

Halo-Halo is a Filipino dessert. It literally means "mix-mix" and is considered a warm weather refreshment. You can make Halo-Halo any way you want it. Below is a listing of some common ingredients. Most can be bought at Asian food markets. If you're in San Diego, your best bet is Seafood City (mainly Filipino food) or any mom & pop Filipino place in National City. Ranch 99 (an Asian food shopper's heaven) is also a good place to find these ingredients. If you're not in San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Queens-NY, Daly City-CA, or Hawaii or any place with a sizeable Filipino American population, you're out of luck! Okay, I take that back. I'm sure you can find these ingredients on the internet somewhere...

This recipe will serve a lot of people. Most of the time you only need a few tablespoons of the ingredients you like per serving. So, if you're not having a big old party, you will have LOTS of leftovers in those jars.

Halo Halo ingredients:

1 jar of kaong (palm nuts - plain or colored)
1 jar of macapuno (shredded coconut sport)
1 jar of nata de coco (this can be red or green) or nata de pina
1 jar of sweet red beans
1 can of langka (jackfruit) *can be cut into thinner pieces
1 can of garbanzos or sweetened kidney beans
1 can of creamed corn
1 jar of ube jam (a sweet purple yam)
sweetened bananas
leche flan (cut up into cubes) or custard

finely crushed ice to fill the glass (if you have an ice shaver, use it. A blender simply will not do)
1 can of evaporated milk
ice cream (vanilla or Magnolia brand Philippine ice cream - I suggest ube or macapuno flavor)

toppings: maraschino cherries, pinipig (flattened, toasted rice; sometimes it's colored) or if you're lazy, use Rice Krispies,

Fill the tall glass with a tablespoon of whatever you want from the above list. Add crushed ice to cover the top half of the glass. Pour some evaporated milk (the amount is up to you) on the ice. Top with a small scoop of ice cream and a cherry. Serve with long-stemmed spoons. Enjoy!

More from me:
Some Filipino ethnic grocers also sell some of these ingredients in one jar so you don't have to buy so many separate ones. There are usually 3 or 4 ingredients in one jar like red beans, jackfruit, and macapuno. I don't like buying those because when you spoon it out, all the flavors get mixed and ironically, I like my flavors to be layered separately. It looks prettier to me. I personally don't like mixing sweet ingredients with 'savory' ingredients (ex: garbanzo or kidney beans, and corn). The beauty of this recipe is that anyone can personalize it to suit their own tastes.