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Potato salad as the name suggest is a dish made out mainly of potatoes. It may be called a salad but it is a side dish which is often served with mains like: barbecues, roasts and fried chicken. There are lots of versions of this popular salad where ingredients varies from different regions. It can … Continue reading »
Oden is a Japanese winter soup dish which consists of several ingredients like daikon radish, boiled eggs, mixed fish cakes, different types of tofu and konnyaku served in a dashi flavoured stock. There are lot of ingredients to choose from like different fish cakes, vegetable and root crops but there are no strict rules what … Continue reading »
Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish made out of wheat noodles served in a meat or seafood based soup, often flavoured with soy sauce or miso then topped with different ingredients ranging from sliced meats, dried seaweed, kamaboko, green onions, pickled bamboo, wood ear fungus and occasionally corn. Today the true ramen can be only … Continue reading »
When we crave for crabs we usually go to Asian shops and buy some, but recently they are always out of stock even if we go early hours in the morning. I guess some Asians are faster them me and crave more than I do. Anyways I was glad that a colleague of mine introduced … Continue reading »
Guisadong upo is one of the sautéed vegetable dishes popular in Philippines more commonly on provinces where bottle gourds are abundant. We had posted something similar like this and it uses pork as its main ingredient but today this dish is even more frugal as we will be using sardines. This is a fairly common … Continue reading »
When you cook or even bake a lot sometimes you would have accumulated a lot of excess ingredients and sometimes you are wondering what you would do with all this unused or leftover items. For me I treat it is as a time to get creative otherwise these ingredients will be all wasted, so for … Continue reading »
Bistek is a very popular Filipino dish, it is in fact considered as one of our national dishes. The name came from a Filipino slang word which was derived from the word “Beef Steak”, but this beef steak is cooked differently, meat is usually pan fried then cooked again by simmering it in a thick … Continue reading »
I guess I will eat any seafood that is served in front of me (except for sea urchin), I love everything about them the taste, the texture, the aroma and the variety. Combine them all together then my jaw would easily drop and my salivary glands would produce its secretion non-stop. It does not matter … Continue reading »
Laing is not the most visually appealing dish out there but trust me this is a good dish, it’s so good every Filipino gathering I attended this is one of the most sought after dishes. This dish is made out of taro leaves, coconut milk and chillies, it is very popular in the Bicol Region … Continue reading »
Thit Heo Nuong Xa or Vietnamese Style Grilled Lemongrass Pork are grilled pork pieces usually served as a side dish to fried noodle and noodle soups. These addictive meat dish are sweet and savoury and sometimes with a sticky outer layer. The secret on this recipe is the marinade used and the way it is … Continue reading »
Iskrambol or Ice Scramble is the Filipino version of Slushy made out of banana flavoured frozen condensed milk usually sold by street hawkers. During my childhood this was really popular and it was sold outside schools in big styroboxes, I still remember kids queuing for this one while the vendor scoops it out from the … Continue reading »
Lo Ba Bung, Lurou Fan or Rouzao Fan is a very popular Taiwanese street food made out of braised minced pork topped over a freshly cooked rice. The taste is so addictive hence its popularity over the region, it is fragrant, oily, salty, sweet and sticky accentuated with a side serving of pickled turnip, pickled … Continue reading »
People with high cholesterol beware, reading this alone might worsen your condition. Let’s start by saying that this might be the most sinful dishes Philippines have to offer traditional ones will have a very high fat content compared to multiple serving of triple decker baconators, now you might wonder why? It is because of one … Continue reading »
Hash is a type of dish which consists of diced meat and diced potatoes seasoned with herbs and spices and sometimes cooked with onions. The word came from the French verb “hacher” which means to chop but now is widely used as an English word was to describe cooking method where you “mess up a … Continue reading »
I haven’t cooked fried rice for a long time and the last time was this Pineapple Fried Rice exactly 1 year ago. While the last one was something traditional and popular today we will be doing some freestyle and this was our brunch, resulting from “don’t know what to eat for breakfast” scenario. So the following … Continue reading »
Flaugnarde is a French dessert made with thick flan-like batter filled with fruits like apples, berries, peaches, plums, prunes or other fruits topped with powdered sugar. Flaugnarde is a variation of Clafoutis which is basically the same dish but only using cherries. Traditional Limousin clafoutis uses unpitted cherries which adds a different flavour to the … Continue reading »
It is funny when you see in supermarkets here in New Zealand throw away the tendons or any other types of offal in that regard but in Asian shops this is one of the most expensive items you can buy. But during the recent year these Non-Asian supermarkets already started to embrace the fact that … Continue reading »
Thai Green Chicken Curry is a type of an Asian curry made out of chicken, vegetables, coconut milk and green curry paste. Its main characteristic is it’s colour which is uncommon for curries which we usually associate with red or orange colours, the green tint is coming from a blended herbs and spices which includes … Continue reading »
Paksiw na Isda is a type of Filipino dish where fish is poached in vinegar seasoned with fish sauce and finger chillies. The name of the dish is derived from the word “paksiw” which is a cooking method where meat or seafood is simmered in vinegar hence you will see this term not only used … Continue reading »
Want an easy and simple way of cooking your broccoli? I guess there is nothing as simple yet flavourful way of cooking it than this Chinese dish, broccoli in garlic infused sauce. It may not look as fancy as other Chinese dishes but this packs a lot of flavour and goodness, all you need is … Continue reading »
Back in the Philippines crabs are abundant and huge in size, here is the opposite and it’s hard to find large sized crabs and if you do find some they are expensive. We cook them in different ways like with vegetables and coconut cream or like relleno but sometimes we just boil them and eat … Continue reading »
Guisadong upo is one of the sautéed vegetable dishes popular in Philippines more commonly on provinces where bottle gourds are abundant. This cheap and simple dish usually is made out of 3 main ingredients which are pork, bottle gourd and tomatoes. A simple yet rich dish which is enjoyed as mains paired with rice but … Continue reading »
Bento for those who does not know is a term for defining a packed meal (home or takeaway) in Japanese cuisine, similar to “Baon” in Philippines, “Dosirak” in Korea or “Biandang” in Taiwan. Traditionally a bento uses a boxed shaped container which is filled with different food items such as rice, meat, vegetables (pickled, cooked … Continue reading »
Before I really got interested into cooking the only corned beef that I know of is the canned version and I do love it specially the Palm’s Brand the taste is just addictive, it’s like KFC or New York Style pizza where you know it’s not healthy but you still kept on eating it. I also … Continue reading »
I guess most of us associate salad with something green, healthy and leafy well it’s a different case in the Philippines as salad there is commonly associated with something sweet and fruity. When someone talks about salad in the Philippines by default it is pertaining to something sweet like a fruit salad or buko salad and … Continue reading »
Pasta is the Italian counterpart of what rice is in Asian cuisine it’s so versatile you can just throw any ingredients to it and create a wonderful complete dish; this post is one example of it. I made this pasta one lazy day where all I want to do is lie around the couch and … Continue reading »
Cabbage and Cannellini Bean Stew is a dish I learned from my wife, its a dish made out of cabbage, cannellini beans and pork. I was asking her where did she got the recipe and from which province did it originated in the Philippines. She told me her father cooked it regularly during her childhood … Continue reading »
If you live in New Zealand then it is common in offices where a colleague brings once in a while a lot of fruits in the table for everyone to share, this is because most of the average homes here have their own fruit trees from peaches, apples, plums, lemons to pears. Several weeks ago … Continue reading »
Sarawak Tomato Kuay Teow is a noodle dish popular in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, it is made out of rice noodles served with vegetables, chicken and seafood together with a generous amount of tomato based sauce. Similar to Wat Tan Hor Fun this dish is also saucy served with an array of vegetables and meat, … Continue reading »
Several months ago I was looking for a place to eat near the Viaduct or Wharf area in Auckland, there are a lot of options but the one that interested me most is this Tapa’s Bar called Pescado. It was my first choice because we barely dine in a tapas bar and my last time was … Continue reading »
Surimi I guess most of us associates it with crab meat but in Japan surimi can be made out of any seafood that is pulverized to a thick paste and formed into various shapes. Typically it is made out of white fleshed fish like pollock or hake. Surimi literally means “ground meat” and the … Continue reading »
Don’t get this confused with the Mexican Menudo as this is very different, though they have the same colour which is red, the similarity ends there. Not sure if the Philippine menudo originated from it, but most probably the origins of this dish is Spanish like the Afritada and Callos but if there is someone who … Continue reading »
Kikiam or Quekiam is another popular street food in the Philippines usually sold by street vendors pushing wooden carts equipped with deep frying woks. Usually sold together with fish balls it is also served with three kinds of dipping sauce which are: spicy vinegar, sweet brown gravy and sweet and spicy brown gravy. This street … Continue reading »
Several weeks ago I was thinking of what I can do with some Shanghai vegetables I had in my fridge, usually we just blanch it and serve it with garlic infused oyster sauce but sometimes you want something different for a change. Before we had tried serving green leafy vegetables in minced pork and shiitake … Continue reading »
Churrascaria for those who haven’t heard of it is a word to define a place where meat is cooked in Churrasco style, which basically is an equivalent of barbecue. This dish originated in Brazil more specifically in the Pampa region, traditionally it is cooked using fire pits and charcoal at backyards but due to modernization … Continue reading »
This burgers are a good alternative to your usual beef burgers as this uses chicken dressed in creamy chipotle sauce which gives this dish a different dimension in terms of taste. If you love things spicy then this is for you, a simple chicken burger with tomatoes, cheese and chopped lettuce infused by smoked … Continue reading »
Orange chicken is a dish made out of deep fried battered chicken pieces dressed with savoury sweet and sometimes spicy orange sauce. This dish has its Chinese roots which came from an original recipe from the Hunan province, while its predecessor was Chinese this dish is totally American. If we are to look closely … Continue reading »
If you had noticed during the past days this week we were posting only either vegetables or seafood dishes that is because it is Holy Week. You might be wondering why? Well it is a practice in most of the Christian faith specially the Catholics that during these days everyone should abstain from eating meat … Continue reading »
One of the best cheeses you will ever taste is Haloumi specially when freshly fried or grilled, the mozzarella like texture of inside and semi crispy outer layer combined with its salty taste is something to drool for. Just on its own is already a treat but for this instance we will be using it … Continue reading »
When I first saw this Asian eggplant with garlic oyster Sauce at Bams Kitchen I told myself I got to do that one as I am a big fan of vegetables dressed with oyster sauce. It’s simple, quick to make and most importantly yummy. I made some minor changes like grilling the eggplants for that … Continue reading »
Tinola is a popular cooking method in the Philippines where meats like chicken or seafood is boiled in water infused with ginger, garlic, onions, fish sauce and sometimes green chillies. Most popular variations are chicken and mussels usually served with rice. For this post we will be doing it with a lesser known variation which … Continue reading »
I never knew that there is a fusion cuisine for Chinese and Indian until I tried this vegetable Manchurian, it looks like meatballs but trust me they are made out of chopped vegetables in a hot soy based gravy. This dish originated from the Chicken Manchurian which is probably the most popular Indian Chinese cuisine. … Continue reading »
Sans Rival is a Filipino dessert made of sandwiched French Buttercream in multiple layers of meringue infused with chopped cashews. This is one of the most popular desserts in the Philippines but you might be wondering why it has a French name? “Sans rival” or “without rival” in English has its French roots, it was … Continue reading »
I first tried this dish not in Taiwan but in Malaysia, in one of their night markets in SS2 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Night Markets or Pasar Malam happens only once a week it’s a place where hawkers sell different things from fresh veggies, fake watches to household items. It is one of the places I … Continue reading »
Francesinha is a Portuguese sandwich that originated in Porto, it is made out of ham, linguiça (pork sausage), fresh sausage, roast meat and covered served in bread topped with melted cheese and a hot thick sauce made out of tomato and beer. Sounds a lot, yes it is and original version of this sandwich is … Continue reading »
There are a lot of good places to eat in Auckland CBD and most of them are not the big establishments, in fact the small eateries are sometimes way much better and this is one example, a small restaurant tucked in Lorne St in the middle of Auckland CBD called Mentatz. The dishes are great … Continue reading »
Yogurt, yoghurt or yoghourt is a dairy product produced by fermentation of milk though bacteria called “yogurt cultures”. That procedure produces lactic acid hence the thick texture and sour taste. It’s an interesting process and here we can do that at home as you can easily buy yogurt kits in the supermarket. The name came … Continue reading »
One of our family favourite Thai dish, the Tom Yum. If you’re a Filipino and haven’t tried this one out I am sure you will love this one as it is nearly similar to sinigang but its spicier and its tastes cleaner and fresher due to lemon grass and galangal. The first time I saw … Continue reading »
Mango is a popular fruit in the Philippines and mangoes grown there tastes better than other mangoes grown in other countries, you might say I am biased due to my nationality but trust me I am not. Philippines produce the best and sweetest mangoes you will ever taste, I even describe it to my non … Continue reading »
I found some leftover dried bean curd sheets in our cupboard and was thinking what I can do with it. I continued to look on for other ingredients and we have some extra minced pork in the freezer. As I was planning what to do I remembered there is this dish in Malaysia that I … Continue reading »
