Cilantro Onion Dip

One of the many things I look forward during the Christmas holidays is the annual get-together with my UP friends. Despite the hectic menu-planning, grocery shopping and the actual kitchen work (thank God for our angels), I find genuine happiness in putting myself (and the whole household) into this stress. It is the playground of my wannabe career (sorry debits and credits, you are starting to be such a bore and a pain, haha) and nothing compares to the positive reviews and the contented smiles by these guys who stuff themselves with the food prepared every get-together at our home.

Photos by Sierra. 2012 Christmas Dinner.

Years ago, I've written a post about the concept of "small hours" which I picked up from Rob Thomas' Little Wonders. I believe that our lives are mainly made up of these "small hours" like all those meet ups over coffee and dessert, laughing over lunches and dinners while reminiscing our silly old days together, the overnights and the trips that become bonding moments, the friendly competitions as to who did the better case project, our booboo episodes, and merely anything that we still get to remember years later.  It is in these “small hours” that we are real, being our simple selves, and more than willing to take in every moment that leaves us happy deep down inside. It is because that they happen once, so unplanned, but so brief that you choose to recall them as accurately as possible, that they become so special because they will never happen again the same way they did but they are indeed worth reminiscing. With this group of friends, we probably have millions of "small hours" over the years that somehow defined us as to who we are today. Despite that almost half of the group are overseas, no amount of months apart makes us forget about these moments of our lives. So, with rare occasions like Christmas when most make it in town for the holidays, we just have to level it up from the usual restaurant meet-ups. In my world, home-cooked food prepared just for that occasion makes everything more special.

For our 2012 Christmas dinner, the starters took the spotlight. Among the platters of tapas and cheese and chilli beef in wonton cups (recipe for this coming soon!), this simple dip was literally wiped out. They were even surprised how easy it is to make. I've picked this up from my aunt who served it a while back and since then I got hooked with this dip. Even if there's no occasion, I whip half of the recipe just so that I have something ready in the fridge.

Cilantro Onion Dip
1 bar (8 oz / 225g) cream cheese, softened
1 white onion, finely chopped
2 stalks of cilantro or wansoy

1. Gather all your ingredients, your knife and your chopping board. The green axe-like thingy is an herb chopper by Kuhn Rikon I got in Marshall's in the US at a very cheap price. It's totally fine if you don't have this just as long as you have a sharp knife.

2. Finely chop your white onion. Then chop the leafy part of the cilantro or wansoy. It is best to use a sharp knife when you chop your herbs so that you retain the essence in the leaves which you will mix with the cream cheese. A blunt knife will bruise your herbs and you will end up losing the flavor to your chopping board.

3. In a bowl, make sure that your cream cheese is soft enough to make it easier for your to stir in the chopped onion and cilantro or wansoy. Mix until combined. The dip tastes fine without seasoning, but do feel free to season it with salt and pepper according to your taste.

4. Chill the dip in fridge before serving with crackers.

Easy peasy!