Colourful and vibrant, Filipino food is the culmination of naturally salty, sour and sweet ingredients from the land. New cookbook Under Coconut Skies follows 7000 Islands in bringing vivid tastes and enchanting stories from the Philippines to Aussie kitchens.

Fried chicken with banana chili catsup glaze (Pritong Manok)

Serves 4–6

• 1 red onion, finely grated
• 6 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly cracked
• Black pepper
• 1kg boneless chicken thighs, halved, or mixed drumsticks, wings, and thighs
• 75g (1/2 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 85g (2/3 cup) cornflour
• Vegetable oil, for shallow frying
• 5 kalamansi, halved, or 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
• 1 long red chilli, thinly sliced, to serve

For chilli catsup glaze

• 160ml (2/3 cup) banana catsup (ketchup)
• 150g caster (superfine) sugar
• 80ml (1/3 cup) fish sauce
• 2 long green chillies, thinly sliced

Combine the onion, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat well. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.

To make the chilli catsup glaze, place the ingredients and 1 Tbsp of water in a large bowl and stir well to combine.

Heat 1cm of vegetable oil in a large deep-frying pan over medium heat. Place the flour and cornflour in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Working in three batches, remove the chicken from the bowl, leaving the onion mixture attached, and coat well in the flour mixture, making sure it gets into all the creases and crevices – the more the better as these will form the crispy crunchy bits.

Cook the chicken for 2–3 minutes each side, until golden and crispy (or 3–4 minutes each side for drumsticks and 1–2 minutes each side for wings). Drain on paper towel, then repeat with the remaining chicken.

While the chicken is still hot, add to the glaze and toss to coat well. Transfer to a serving platter and squeeze over some of the kalamansi halves or lime wedges. Scatter over the chilli and serve with the remaining kalamansi or lime on the side for squeezing over.

Hot tip: Filipino fried chicken is best enjoyed as pulutan (beer food), a favourite food group in the Philippines.

Candied kalamansi cake

Serves 8

• 225g (1 1/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 135g (1 1/2 cups) desiccated coconut
• 330g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 250g unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly, plus extra for greasing
• 185ml (3/4 cup) coconut milk
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp kalamansi zest

For candied kalamansi syrup

• 230g (1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 Tbsp kalamansi juice
• 135g (1 cup) very thinly sliced kalamansi, seeds removed

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

Whisk the flour, coconut, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the melted butter, coconut milk, egg and kalamansi zest in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Transfer the batter to the lined tin and bake for 45–50 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out clean (if the top browns too quickly, cover the cake with foil). Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.

Meanwhile, to make the kalamansi syrup, place the sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 12–15 minutes, until very thick and syrupy (if it starts to colour, you’ve gone too far). Remove from the heat and stir in the kalamansi juice. Cool slightly, then add the kalamansi slices and gently stir, just once, to coat.

Spoon the syrup and kalamansi slices over the warm cake and serve immediately.

Hot tip: Kalamansi, also known as calamondin or Philippine lime, is the country’s native citrus and ubiquitous to the cuisine. It can be found at Asian grocers, however if you know a Filipino family, they likely have a tree of their own.

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