Chicken Pastel and Ensaymada for Dessert

Hello again and welcome to another lunchtime here in the Philippines. As custom here in our country if there are visitors we would say, "Kain Po Tayo" it is a polite way to invite visitors to eat with you. Our food for today is Chicken Pastel. As for dessert let me share with you one of the most popular desserts here in our country called the Ensaymada.

Kain Po Tayo.

Chicken Pastel

This dish is has a lot of meat, balanced with some vegetables and has a very rich creamy sauce. The chicken pastel is one of the food influences from Spain.

Cost: 125 pesos per tub ($2.61 USD)

This dish is a best seller from the food store called Baloys and gets sold out real quick. We usually go to the store around 9-10 AM to be able to secure a tub.

Aside from the meat in the dish it also has quail eggs. Quail eggs are delicious but it is best to limit to three eggs per serving as it is high in cholesterol.

It is loaded with chicken breast meat, carrots, red bell peppers and potatoes. The creamy sauce itself is a winner and great to dip bread in it. But our main food staple is rice so we just drizzle the creamy sauce on top of hot rice.

There is more meat included like slices of ham and hotdogs. They have also added raisins to add a little sweet taste to them.

Ensaymada

This pastry is another influence from Spain and has been constantly evolving with new flavors. Its ingredients include milk, sugar, flour, eggs and cheese. Loved by every Filipino, you too will love it once you experience it. It is said that this pastry can be traced back to the 17th century.

Cost: 25 pesos per piece ($0.52 USD)

From the store, they have a lot of variants of the Ensaymada and we were only able to secure 4 types. The other flavors have been sold out already.

Macapuno

The Macapuno is a coconut variant here in our country that has not coconut water. Instead, the coconut is loaded with soft jelly-like meat. This type of coconut is used in often in desserts.

Bavarian Cream

I have only experienced Bavarian Cream in doughnuts but never in an Ensaymada. This combination looks delicious.

Classic

Sprinkled with sugar and lots of shredded cheese on top is the classic Ensaymada. You can never go wrong with the original.

Dulce De Leche

What is the result of you slowly heat milk and sugar together? The result is Dulce De Leche, a sweet flavorful spread that is perfect for pastries.

Right now we can only open one flavor and we chose the Macapuno. On top, there is a lot of shredded cheese which is what you are looking for in a good Ensaymada.

Their Ensaymada is one of the best from our city and is often bought as a Pasalubong (Something to Take Home) by visitors.

The pastry is soft and moist and can easily be broken in half.

Inside you could see the strands of the Macapuno. There is not a lot in there but just enough to give it some flavor of the coconut. It is delicious and wish I could break up the other flavors to share with you but the kids would be upset if we do that.

So that is it for our lunch today and I hope you enjoyed another taste of the Philippines.

Stay safe and happy eating.

All photos are original and taken with

Lumix GX85 and Olympus 45mm f1.8