Most Filipinxs will agree: Filipino food is best enjoyed at home. Until recently, Filipino food has been a closely guarded secret. It’s difficult to find recipes that resonate when attempted, even for those of us who grew up in Filipino households. Everyone’s family has a different way to cook sinigang, and everyone believes theirs is the end-all, be-all. My family, for example, almost exclusively cooks sinigang with pork short ribs. Anything else just sounds disappointing to me.  

In my extended family, our mothers were career-oriented, you-can-have-it-all, aspiring-yuppy women of the 90s, and rarely had time to prepare meals for the family when it could so easily be bought. My brother and I grew up as much on American take-out as the only three dishes my mom can actually cook. As a result, my relationship with Filipino food was slightly more detached than other second-generationers. If I ate Filipino food, it was usually at a family party and catered from a short list of trusted restaurants in Carson, CA (shout out Nita’s and Manila Sunrise). Since I only encountered Filipino food at special occasions, I developed a sort of romanticization of the cuisine that extended to the culture as a whole.

I respect tradition - after all, my parents hauled their asses out of the Philippines to have me and my brother in America and worked with the singular intention of giving us a fantastically normal suburban middle-class childhood, all because tradition gave them a blueprint for American success that they followed to a T. At the same time, whether it’s because I gravitate to novelty by nature or just because I’m a special-snowflake millennial, I’ve never been content with convention. I’ve known I’m never going to have children since I was thirteen; I’ve known I’d never be able to work a 9-5 desk job since I was 16; I’ve known I’d never be the return on investment my mom was expecting since I started taking minimum wage kitchen jobs post-grad about five years ago. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting any of the above - the context of my life just blessed me with other options to explore. My parents came to America hungry. I, with the privilege of having been born here, can seek to satisfy my cravings.

In the course of a meal, dessert is not eaten out of need, but desire. It has to be so enticing that you can’t help but indulge even after you’ve already eaten your fill. To me, that means it has to incite a craving in you you didn’t know you had. A piece of cake can be just that, but why stop there?

Lately, I’ve seen my baking as an opportunity to compromise my respect for traditional Filipino cooking and my rebellion against it. After all, I’m never going to be able to make chicken adobo that anyone who grew up eating it can agree on. We’ve all got different preconceived notions of what Filipino food should be. But I can make desserts I know to be Filipino in spirit, if not in form. This recipe for pandan-flavored cheesecake is familiar and singular all at once - something that, hopefully, offers something enjoyable for anyone at any point in the diaspora. A little soursop curd to add a crisp, almost pear-like flavor to top it off. And if the whole thing can be gluten-free too, why the hell not? It’s 2019 and you have a history of diabetes in your family.

Gluten-Free Shortbread Crust

Yield: one 9” round or square crust

Ingredients

• 1 ½ c sweet rice flour

• ⅓ c powdered sugar

• 6 tbs (1 stick) butter, cold, cut in ½ tbs pieces

• 8 tbs coconut oil (solid)

• 1 egg yolk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare desired pan with either parchment paper or spray grease.

• Combine all ingredients except for the egg yolk in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on medium speed, until pieces of butter are small as peas and the dough has the texture of wet sand.

• Add the egg yolk, mix on medium speed.

• Press and smooth the dough into the bottom of the pan, as evenly as possible using the bottom of a measuring cup. Prick dough all over with a fork, to release steam and prevent expansion during baking. Bake for 20 minutes, or until edges are golden and the center barely begins to color.

• Remove from oven, cool on wire rack for at least 15 min. Prepare cheesecake filling.

Pandan Cheesecake (Filling)

Yield: one 9” round cheesecake

Ingredients

• ½ c heavy cream, room temperature

• 1 tsp to 1 ½ tsp pandan flavoring compound (gel form, not extract)

• 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature

• 1 ¼ c sugar

• 2 eggs, room temperature

• Boiling water, for hot water bath

Directions:

• Combine pandan compound and heavy cream in a measuring cup. It’ll be bright ass green, but it’s okay. It’ll look normal later.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed, until very smooth. Scrape the bowl and mix again.

• Add the eggs, and continue beating on low speed. Scrape the bowl. Mix again. Everything should be the same consistency.

• Add the pandan heavy cream. The batter should be a mellow green color.

• Pour the batter over the (cooled) gluten-free crust. Tap the pan on your counter to release air bubbles and even out the batter.

• Place the filled pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water, about 1” high. Bake the cheesecake in the roasting pan on the lowest rack in your oven, to prevent browning the top.

• Begin checking for doneness at 45 min - do not open the oven door before this point! Edges should be set, center should be slightly wobbly. Cheesecake will typically be done at 50 minutes, but every oven is different.

• Once done, leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door slightly cracked to cool down slowly. Once at room temperature (about 40 minutes), transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool further. Set cheesecake in fridge overnight, or at least for 6 hours.

• Top with Vegan Soursop Curd

Vegan Soursop Curd

Yield: about 16 oz

Ingredients:

• ⅔ c soursop juice (100% juice, ideally)

• 6 tbs cornstarch

• 4 tbs water

• 4 tbs honey

Directions:

• Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Whisk together until completely dissolved.

• In a small saucepan, mix together all the remaining ingredients with the cornstarch mix. Set over low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure to lightly scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent overcooking.

• Continue cooking until the mixture is thickened and can coat your spatula without dripping.

• Cool to room temperature, then transfer to fridge for at least 1 hour. Spread over completely set cheesecake. Top with sweetened coconut flakes.