Cook Along with Isabelle Daza: Family Recipes & Cooking Hacks

Last March 8 was International Women’s Day. The Maya Kitchen celebrated with a special cook-along hosted by two fabulous females: Isabelle Daza and her aunt, Nina Daza-Puyat. Aside from being the host of the Cooking with My Lola online video series, Isabelle is a model, actress, and the granddaughter of culinary legend and author, Nora Daza. One of her main goals is to introduce her lola’s recipes to a new generation of home cooks.

Nina, daughter of Nora, is a seasoned home cook and author, responsible for updating the recipes in her mother’s bestselling cookbook, Let’s Cook with Nora.

Isabelle and Nina hosted a fun cook-along on Zoom where they demonstrated Sweet and Sour Pork, an original recipe from Nora’s cookbook. Aside from this, they also showed viewers how to make Choco-Nut Brownies with Peanut Glaze. Participants received ingredients for the dishes and learned how to make them real-time from scratch. Additionally, they shared cooking tips and hacks, while entertaining questions.

You might have missed the cook-along but keep reading to learn how to cook these delicious dishes, plus invaluable cooking advice from Isabelle and Nina.

About Chef Nora Daza

For the unaware, Nora Daza wasn’t just a chef, she was a culinary pioneer. Her career began in the sixties, spanning decades. She was a restaurateur with well-known establishments in Manila and Paris, a published author, and a host for her own TV and radio show. Read more about Chef Nora here.

Her book Let’s Cook with Nora has been the ultimate resource for Filipino home cooks for decades. The original was a consistent bestseller for 50 years with 260 recipes expertly crafted and tested by Nora in her own kitchen. Now on its third edition, the cookbook has been lovingly updated by daughter Nina. Though still true to the originals, many of the recipes now include new ingredients that weren’t readily available to home cooks when it was first published in 1969. These include fresh herbs, dairy products, and specialty seafood, among others.

As promised, here are recipes from the cook-along for you to try in your own kitchen.

Choco-nut Brownies with Peanut Glaze

This recipe is Isabelle’s go-to for when she hosts gatherings. They’re an easy way to impress guests. Her Tita Nina put a spin to this classic Nora Daza recipe by creating a peanut glaze made from everyone’s favorite local candy. It uses the convenient Maya Chocolate Fudge Brownie to let you cut down on prep time without compromising the flavor.

Here’s what you need for this recipe:

Peanut Glaze:

• ½ cup heavy cream or all-purpose cream
• 1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 10 pcs Choco-Nut candy, crumbled

Choco-nut Brownies:

• 1 Maya Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix, 500g
• 10 pcs Choco-nut candy

To make the glaze, place 10 pieces of choco-nut candy into a bowl and crush them with a fork. Put the cream in a saucepan and cook over a low flame. Add the crushed candy and stir. Add the peanut butter and let the sauce simmer. Stir to thicken. Set aside to cool down.

For the brownies, preheat the oven to 177 °C. Follow the instructions printed on the box of the mix. You’ll need half a cup of butter at room temperature. Place it in a bowl, break it up, then mix it to achieve a creamy texture. Add 1 tablespoon of water and two eggs, then mix. Add the brownie mix and combine to create the batter. Do not fold. You can do it by hand or opt for a hand or stand mixer.

When done, grease a 9×9 brownie pan and line with parchment paper. Add the batter to the pan and spread it evenly using an offset spatula.

 Place half of your peanut glaze into a piping bag and add it to the top of the batter. Swirl it with your spatula so it gets incorporated into the batter. Take the choco-nut candy, break each into half and press the pieces onto the batter, spacing them evenly. Crumble extra candy and sprinkle on the batter. Place it in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

When the brownies are done, cut them into squares, then pipe the remaining peanut glaze on top of each squares of brownies. The idea is to experience the glaze with every bite.

Sweet and Sour Pork

This dish is Isabelle’s favorite. Both she and her Tita Nina agree that Nora’s recipe is the perfect balance of sweet and sour flavors.

These are the ingredients you need:

Sweet and Sour Pork:

• 1 whole pork tenderloin, trimmed
• 1 egg white
• 2 tbsps Maya Cornstarch
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 2-3 cups cooking oil for frying
• ½ cup Maya Cornstarch for coating (or cassava starch)

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup water
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• ¼ cup tomato ketchup
• 1 small carrot sliced
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 (227g) can pineapple chunks or tidbits, strained
• 1 tbsp Maya Cornstarch dispersed in 2 tbsps water

Start off with lean tenderloin trimmed of any membrane. Then, cut into bite-size pieces—about half an inch will do. When you get to the thicker part of the meat, you can cut the pieces into half.

Then, prepare the marinade. Combine 1 egg white, 2 tablespoons Maya Cornstarch, and half a teaspoon of fine salt. Then, add the pieces of tenderloin. (This is like a technique called velveting, which is used in Chinese cuisine to make meat extra tender.) Cover, then refrigerate.

Next, prep the veggies. Cut the onions in slices or quarter chunks, depending on your preference. Then, dice the bell pepper or you can do triangle-like pieces, also known as crazy cut. Then, slice the carrots.

For the sweet and sour sauce, add ¾ cup water, half a cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon soy sauce and salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Now it’s time to fry the ketchup. First, heat up oil in the saucepan and then add the tomato ketchup. Simmer and stir until it changes color from red to orange. Then, add the water, sugar, soy sauce and salt mixture. Use a spatula to ensure that all the sugar gets added to the pan. Bring to a boil, then add the vinegar. Lower the heat, allow to reduce before adding the vegetables.

To dredge the marinated tenderloin, add cornstarch to a Ziplock bag, add the meat, seal, and then toss gently to coat. Have a colander or strainer lined with paper towels on hand.

Heat up oil in a saucepan. Make sure the oil is hot. Dust off the excess cornstarch from your tenderloin pieces, then place one by one into the pan. Fry the tenderloin—a shallow fry will do—

until light brown in color. But if you prefer it extra crispy, then double frying is advised. Place the cooked tenderloin in the strainer to drain off excess oil.

Prepare a cornstarch slurry. Combine 1 tablespoon Maya Cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water (at room temperature, never hot). Then add the slurry to the saucepan (with the veggies and sauce) to thicken the consistency of the sweet and sour sauce. Add the pork to the sauce and the vegetables and serve with rice.

We hope you enjoyed these recipes and tips. To end this article, we’re leaving you with a simple but essential piece of advice from Nora Daza to Isabelle and Nina: Keep tasting your food all throughout the process. If it tastes good to you, it’s good enough to serve to your family. Indeed, Nora’s legacy endures through her family and the generations of home cooks that learned from her delicious recipes.

We would love to hear about your experiences with cooking, baking, and tasting these recipes! Leave a comment below.

 

Nina’s Tips:

• When making sauces, use a whisk to stir the ingredients to achieve a smooth texture.
• When working with wet and dry ingredients, always start off mixing the wet, then add the dry.
• If you don’t have a piping bag, use a Ziplock bag, roll it and then cut off the tip.
• For removing the membrane in meats, locate the muscle fibers in the meat and then cut against the grain.
• To make carrot florets, cut the carrot in half then make 4 to 5 deep vertical incisions on all sides. Then, cut crosswise to create flower-like carrot slices.
• When you fry pieces of meat one at a time, place them clockwise on the pan, so you know which one you put in first.

Isabelle’s Tips:

• Using brownie batter, you can also opt to make cookies instead of brownies. Use two spoons to create balls of batter and place on a cookie sheet.
• To check if brownies or cakes are done baking, stick in a toothpick at the center. If it comes out clean, then they’re ready to go.
• It’s important to refrigerate meat while marinating, especially in a tropical climate like ours. Heat speeds up the growth of bacteria.
• When adding cooked meat to a sauce, add it just a little prior to serving, so it retains its crispy texture.