If you are thinking WTF, that would be Aunt Pat’s Recipe World Famous Fruit Salad.
It’s a Rizal Day, a national holiday here in the Philippines commemorating the life of Jose Rizal, an independence fighter executed by the Spanish on December 30, 1896. Do I need a better excuse to whip up a batch of fruit salad? I don’t think so!
This is the first time since moving here I’ve managed to make the holiday dish that has been my tradition for over 40 years now. The problem I’ve had is getting together all the needed ingredients that make the unique blend of flavors I’ve enjoyed since first experiencing this concoction as a child at my Aunt Pat’s Thanksgiving feast. But it all finally came together during my last trip to the Royal supermarket.
Let’s see what happens!
How did it taste? Well, different but still good. It might be a tad on the bland side, at least the flavors didn’t seem as sharp as I’m used to. Then again, overnight in the fridge is when the magic takes place as the flavors all blend into a unique mixture of goodness. My initial taste test satisfied my craving for this long-time favorite. And it has now been prepared in three countries!
In other news, I bought a thermometer today and as I suspected I am not running a temperature. That’s kind of a relief. The coughing is much reduced so far today, but my nose is still running like an Olympic medalist. We’ll see how I hold up at today’s Hash.
Here’s some scary stuff:
If these guys ever start a band, could they be named anything other than “Boys in the Yard”?
Happy Rizal Day!
And a Happy Rizal Day to you! Now, at last, I understand the significance of the name “Rizal Extension.”
That has to be the most detailed, loving description of the making of a fruit salad that I’ve ever seen. I’m impressed. It’s obvious this salad means a lot to you.
If you need to use dried coconut, you can take your fresh coconut, shred it, then pile it into a cheesecloth, bundle the cloth up, twist it at the top, and keep twisting until you squeeze the living hell out of the coconut within. Or, if you’re willing to waste a lot of paper towels, you can use those to drain/dry your shredded coconut. Or, if you’re patient, you can lay your shredded coconut out on a baking sheet and warm it in the oven until it’s dry—350° F (about 175° C) for about 15 minutes. Drying any fruit concentrates its sweetness by removing water content and making the remaining fruit denser.
Forgot to mention that you can probably thicken up your sour cream by lining a mesh strainer with cheesecloth, then dumping your sour cream into it and letting it drip for maybe two hours. With all the water leaving the sour cream, the solids that remain ought to be a lot thicker and less watery. This trick works for people who want Greek yogurt but only have regular yogurt on hand (Greek yogurt is much thicker).
You could also buy some xanthan gum from iHerb and use an exceedingly tiny amount of it to thicken your sour cream…
Thanks for the tips! I hadn’t thought about baking the coconut to dry it out. The main purpose of the coconut is as a natural sweetener (same with the marshmallows) so that may be worth a try. Although truthfully, this batch was just fine.
Same with the sour cream. After being refrigerated it thickened up just fine. No need to go through that extra work methinks. And I don’t trust myself with xanthan gum, I’ll be too tempted to end the world as we know it!