Cheese sticks in the Philippines are small cheese-stuffed fried spring rolls. In this recipe, the cheese is laid on a bed of ube jam for a sweet-savory snack.
It works? It sure does. But the key here is finding a good balance between sweet and salty.
Some ube jams are sweeter than others while some cheeses are saltier than others. You’ll have to source an ube jam and a cheese variety that will go well together.
Ube Cheese Sticks
For best balance in flavor, use a salty cheese like sharp cheddar or native kesong puti to contrast with the sweetness of the ube jam.
Servings: 12 ube cheese sticks
Ingredients
- 175 grams cheese
- ½ cup ube jam
- 12 small spring roll wrappers - if using large, cut each into two triangles
- egg wash
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- cooking oil - for deep frying
Instructions
- Cut the cheese into sticks about three inches long and half an inch in width and depth.
- Lay a piece of wrapper flat and smear ube jam on one side.
- Top the ube jam with a piece of cheese.
- Roll the wrapper once to enclose the ube jam and filling then fold in the left and right sides.
- Wet the far edge of the wrapper with egg wash and roll all the way to form a log and seal the fillings.
- Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
- Sprinkle the bottom of a container with half of the starch.
- Lay the ube cheese sticks in single layer in the container then sprinkle with the remaining corn starch. Seal the container.
- Freeze the uncooked ube cheese sticks for at least three hours. This will prevent the cheese from softening too soon during frying and ooze out of the wrapper.
- Heat enough cooking oil in a frying pan to reach a depth of at least two inches.
- Fry the ube cheese sticks, in batches if your pan is rather small, until golden and crisp.
- Serve the ube cheese sticks immediately.
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Ube Buchi
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