Christopher Bennetts

While living in Lapu Lapu Cebu we had two housemaids but I preferred to make dinner for my children and over time started to enjoy cooking and became adventures with trying out new ideas.  

In the beginning I would try to follow recipes but obtaining the required ingredients was often a challenge and required substitution. I soon discarded fixed recipes and found that it was better to trust my own instincts about what would work.

When I wanted to make a dish I was familiar with I would consult the internet and read a few different recipes for the dish and then devise my own making use of the ingredients I had.   Sometime the end result was nothing like the original dish but it always seemed to work in that it was tasty and quickly devoured by my children.

Our Special Family Dish Created while living in the Philippines

I had been making my own Salsa for a long time after being frustrated that it was out of stock one day when I wanted to have a Mexican night.  One night a followed my instincts creating a new dish that my children loved and it became a bit of a favorite. The dish is inspired by Mexican but is not like any Mexican dish I am aware of.   

The dish does not have a name but here is how to make it:

Make a bed of Corn chips on a large plate.

Brown some chicken cubes and then mix in a Salsa sauce (in this case my own home made Salsa)

Layer the Chicken Salsa on to the bed of Corn Chips

Deep fry some cubed potatoes until golden brown

and layer them on top of the Chicken Salsa

Next make the tropical fruit sauce for the final layer.  

You can use just about any tropical fruits you like.  I normally use Pineapple, Mango and Bannana.  

When making the fruit topping the order of cooking is important so start with the Pineapple which is the hardest of the three

and when its start to get soft add the Mango

 and a little later the Bannana and cook until they are start to fuse.

Layer the fruit sauce on the top of the fried potatoes.

The dish is now finished.  

Enjoy!  

There is a great infusion of flavors and is actually very representative of the Philippines but not of Filipino food.  

We have a base of Mexican corn chips and Salsa sauce.  Most people are aware that The Philippines was a Spanish colony but not so many are aware that it was actually administered from Mexico.

We have potato fries that are synonymous with American fast foods.

We have tropical fruits from the Philippines.