Ellen Guerrero's "Kitchen Recipes from the Heart"

Sunduan Restaurant.

Does it ring a bell? If you're from metro south, especially the Parañaque and Las Piñas areas, you would have passed by this once unique restaurant near the Freshfood Market and the now popular Dampa and Borakay paluto establishments. If you now recall Sunduan Restaurant, then it will be easier to associate the name Ellen Guerrero, or Mommy Ellen, as she owned the restaurant that was in the midst of salt beds and fishponds then.

Mommy Ellen launched her recipe tour aptly titled "Kitchen Recipes from the Heart" at SM City Bicutan recently. She gamely shared two of her recipes of all-time family favorites: "Pinaputukang Pla-Pla" and "Yema Balls." These two dishes, as Mommy Ellen puts it, are labors of love and should be prepared only for those who are closest to your heart as both require patience and hard work.

An authentic Parañaque dish, the delectable Pinaputukang Pla-pla viand was passed on to Mommy Ellen by her dear mother-in-law and was made a specialty of Sunduan. The yummy Yema balls, on the other hand, uses ingredients that are a twist from your usual store-bought Yema and tastes almost like the Brazo de Mercedez Crema fillings. Your family will surely love this mouth-watering dessert that you will definitely make this a regular cast of your Sunday meals.

Now, you can prepare this dish right at the comfort of your homes as Mommy Ellen and SM City Bicutan share with you the secrets of these recipes. Yeah, right here, right now!

Pinaputukang Pla-Pla

Ingredients:

Marinade:
1 kl. Pla-pla (scaled and with the back of the fish opened to serve as pockets for stuffings)
3 pcs. Calamansi
4 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

Stuffings:
½ kl. Chopped tomatoes
¼ kl. Onion
200 gms. Red bell pepper
¼ cup oil
4 beaten eggs
4 tbsp fish sauce

Procedure:
1.Marinate the fish on the marinade sauce for one hour. Set aside.
2.Sautee all stuffing ingredients following the order as listed here. Simmer for 5 minutes then set aside 1 cup of the mixture for stuffings. Simmer the remaining mixture until it is almost dry.
3.Using the 1 cup stuffing mixture, stuff the pockets of the fish then wrap then fish with banana leaves. Secure the wrap with a banana leaf knot.
4.Deep fry the fish in banana leaves on hot oil for 7 minutes per side.
5.To serve, unwrap the fish on a large dish and add more stuffing mixture.

Yummy Yema

Ingredients:
14 pieces egg yolks from large eggs
1 can condensed milk
2 tbsp butter

Procedure:
Pour all egg yolks and can of milk onto a hot pan. Stir continuously until the mixture achieves a thick consistency. Add 2 tbsp butter and continue stirring for about an hour. To serve, form the yema into balls as big as a golf ball. Roll in on white refined sugar then wrap in assorted colored celophane. Makes 15-20 balls.

I hope you enjoyed this piece. Save some for me! :)