Q: For Easter this year, my boyfriend's mother asked if I would plan and prepare Easter dinner for 9 people (including 3 kids). I jumped at the opportunity because I love entertaining, but mostly I want to impress my potential future mother-in-law! The thing is that they are Filipino and tend to keep things simple.
Dinners are buffet style. They also prefer to have white rice with every meal. My family has always had a traditional sit-down dinner with ham, potato salad, hard boiled eggs and such. I'm definitely going to do a ham, but what other types of dishes should I make?
Sent by Emily
Editor: Emily, we think this is a great opportunity to mix your traditions with those of your boyfriend's family. Get the ham, and make white rice too. Then find ways to creatively bridge your traditional cuisine with his. Perhaps a spicy pineapple salsa that would be good with the ham and rice, and a tray of incredibly delicious bibingka next to your colored eggs.
As far as seating arrangements and dining formality — that should be decided by whomever is hosting the party, with consideration given to the needs of the kids especially.
Readers, what else would you suggest?
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A posting at the Tangled Noodle blog says that there are no super-traditional Easter foods in the Phillipines. There is a list of Filiipino Christmas foods that may give you some ideas for celebratory foods.
Paella, Arroz con Pollo, or Arroz Con Gandules
Filipino cuisine is pretty fusion and has plenty of heart for American influences -- our traditional Easter included not just ham, but also deviled eggs and fruit salad (made Filipino by adding mutant coconut strings) -- so your traditions can easily blend with your boyfriend's for something that represents your relationship. The spicy pineapple salsa sounds great. For sides gingered baby carrots might be nice. Asparagus with hollandaise would sate the Filipino love of sour flavors. Rice is, of course, a given, but you could dress it up as paella. For dessert, pastel-colored rice dumplings would be very seasonal, but we always had carrot cake with macadamia nuts.
As for seating, large Filipino parties are usually buffet-style as matter of practicality, but if you can accommodate everyone out of the table, it would not be unheard of.
you probably already know this - but please make JASMINE white rice. a sign of a true pinoy home.
also, maybe consider having traditional desserts like coconut pie, cassava cake, or leche flan (also pinoy style, slightly different than spanish). also typical universally popular fiesta dishes for holidays are menudo (beef stew), mechado (also beef stew), afritada (chicken dish). all google-able, just enter "filipino+menudo", etc. bonus: often usually pleasing to western palates.
if you are doing brunch on the earlier side, you may want to look into -ilog breakfast dishes - this is a filipino abbreviation for various meats/fishes + egg and sinangag (garlic rice). popular versions are: tapsilog (an easter tradition in the philippines - tapa is cured pork - with an egg and sinangag), longsilog (longanisa - a hearty sausage - with egg and sinangag), and dasilog (cured milkfish +egg and sinangag). i remember many a happy family get-together morning start out that way, huge platters of eggs over easy, longanisa, tapa, and a big steaming bowl of sinanag.
GOOD LUCK!
also - i am filipina and i HATE hollandaise, as does everyone in my family. i am sure there are plenty of filipinos who love it, but i feel like it's a sauce that polarizes people (lovers/haters), so beware.
I know a lot of filipinos and have been to the Philippines 3 times. Don't mess with the rice! It needs to be plain white rice or it isn't a meal. We have a filipino preacher who stays with my family sometimes and he hates most US potlucks because he just wants some plain rice and if he finds any it's in a casserole.
Another thing is make sure there's ketchup on the table, or banana sauce. If you want you can make it pretty by putting it in a dish, but it's a necessary condiment.
Good luck! I was engaged to a filipino guy but the only cooking I did for his family was making guacamole which they declared gross ;-) I do agree that avocado milkshakes taste pretty good though.
I don't mean for you to obsess over this, but can you find out what kind of white rice they like? My family is Filipino and we actually don't really care for jasmine rice- we prefer Kokuho Rose rice, but maybe my family is weird. Regardless, I'm sure the family will appreciate your effort!
Fried chicken and ketchup, preferably banana, would be good. Filipinos have simple palates but are hearty eaters. If you can get seafood, unpeeled steamed shrimps (heads intact!) and blue crabs would be good too. Serve it with vinegar and crushed garlic.
We also like Chinese dishes, and love pork. And white rice, please! Jasmine or rose rice are okay. I eat red or brown rice, but most Filipinos I know dislike its earthy taste.
Good luck!