Hello, Hivers! Good day.
Today, I’ll share with you how we prepared for the New Year.
Our New Year Tradition
In our family, before welcoming the New Year, we always cook food so we have something to put on the table. Then, when 12 AM comes, we eat together as a family.
The First Dish: Pork Adobo
We started by cooking pork adobo, the first dish we prepared because we also ate it for lunch. So yes, pork adobo was the first thing we cooked.
Preparing Biko
A few minutes later, my uncle bought the ingredients for biko (sticky rice cake) because they were going to cook it soon.
By the way, when they bought the ingredients for biko, they also stopped by to get ice to put in the cooler. The soft drinks were placed here since there were too many, and they wouldn’t fit in the refrigerator.
Wrapping Lumpia
My aunt and mom were wrapping lumpia (spring rolls), and I helped them. For the lumpia, we ground the pork into smaller pieces and prepared the spices.
Cooking Spam and Salad
- Spam Slices: These were pre-sliced for smoother preparation. After frying the adobo, the next thing we cooked was the spam.
- Salad: Another aunt of mine was mixing the salad. This kind of salad is my favorite! When I came near, my aunt asked me to taste-test it to check if the sweetness was just right. I said, “Approved! The sweetness is perfect.”
Seafood Preparations
Here, my aunt also prepared the shrimp and crabs for cooking.
What’s on the Table?
Here’s what we had:
- Chocolates
- Fruits
- Sliced bread
- Chiffon cake
Cooking the Biko
When I went outside, the sticky rice was just being steamed. This was for the biko.
- The Process: After half an hour, the sticky rice was ready.
My uncle was stirring the caramelized coconut milk (latik). The sticky rice needed to be mixed with the latik for flavor.
- Why Salt on the Lid?
You might wonder why there was salt on the lid of the pot. The sticky rice wasn’t fully cooked yet, so my brother added salt on top to help it cook thoroughly. And yes, it worked effectively.
Final Preparations
I also sliced carrots, long red chilies, ginger, and other spices.
And that’s all the preparations we did, my dear Hivers! Happy New Year!!