Content
Who doesn't like chicharon (pork scratchings)? I know that east and west unite in their want to eat these babies. These munchables are a cross between chicharon (pork scratchings) and lechon (roast pork) crackling. Read more »
All the holidays seem to be tumbling forward at a very fast pace and I can't keep up; yet Father's day is rather special and is never ever to be missed. Dad's are not the fussy sort but would always appreciate edible treats. This cake is almost instant, save for the cake at the bottom. You can do away with that and use store bought cake. In fact I got the recipe for the m
Filipinos love barbecue and are lucky enough that the weather allows them to barbecue all year round. The two most popular have very generic names: barbecue chicken and barbecue pork. Everywhere, they are seasoned similarly unless otherwise stated. Read more »
As a Filipino, I thoroughly connect to the taste of Jambalaya. Apart from the herbs and spices, it could have been a Filipino dish. We like all-in-one rice dishes like this because all the ingredients contribute to making the rice very flavourful. Read more »
Filipinos are nationalistic people; we have a "national" everything. Bangus or milk fish is our national fish. Although it is full of fine bones and is fiddly to eat, we just love it. It is the height of summer in the Philippines around this time of the year. Although it is terribly hot, it is also incredibly fun. It is the time for fiestas and picnics. Going on a picnic is a who
Blue food is supposedly revolting. I remember hearing of an experiment where chicken was painted with blue food colouring. People who tried them found their taste off-putting and nothing like chicken at all. I am a curious sort of person and, although I have never been good in science, I like doing experiments in my kitchen. The most popular post on this blog is the red velvet cake. I lik
Chorizo is one of my favourite ingredients. It is one of the ingredients that make Filipino food special. We used to buy chorizos in tins, coated with bright orange lard and labelled chorizo de Bilbao (referring to Bilbao, Spain). I wonder if it really originates from Bilbao as we have the propensity to label food with place names even if they don't really connect. Read more »
Summer swings our mood to a high level thanks to the good weather and plenty of sunshine. It is the perfect and perhaps the only time we can do our barbies and picnics. Although some summer food such as fruits, salads and grills are healthy, there are also those that aren't but we can't help but eat. Ice cream, fatty meats and salad dressings are usually the culprits to summer weight gain
I am a doubting Thomas when it comes to trying new recipes. Not that I doubt the recipe. I doubt my skills at following recipes. Sometimes though, there are recipes that I just have to try to make because they look so delicious. I love pouring custard rather than cream on chocolate cake so when I saw this recipe I knew this was something I'd like. Not only did it have chocolate c
If there is one dish that a Filipino should learn how to cook, it should be adobo. It is the quintessential Filipino cuisine. It is a very simple dish with only a few ingredients, yet every adobo is as different as the person who cooks it. Although chicken adobo is more known outside the Philippines, it is pork adobo that is the original dish and more loved
Whenever there is a special day coming, I feel pressured into doing something big to mark the occasion. I don't mean to be a snarky spoil sport but seeing adverts showing what we should do makes me feel railroaded into doing something I do not want to do. We all know that the noble meaning of the occasion is lost in marketing strategies. It is Mother's day on Sunday and the seco
Quinoa is a relatively new grain but is in everyone's shopping trolly and store cupboard. What's the deal in quinoa? The food and Agricultural Organization of the UN has declared 2013 as The International Year of the Quinoa. It is actually a seed rather than a grain, is low in carbs, high in protein, has neither fat nor cholesterol content and is gluten free. These ti
Gyoza, jiaozi, giaozi all refer to pot stickers, a crescent shaped Chinese dumpling. Pan fried, boiled or steamed, it always makes you want more and more of it. It takes so little time and a few inexpensive ingredients to make gyozas. These tasty little treats are not cheap when ordered from a restaurant. If you like them a lot and want to eat lots of them, make your own. Make a big bat
In the pre-Starbucks days, the local bakery in any town in the Philippines is the hub of activity at dawn, mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Although rice is the staple food, a bakery is never more than a few yards away from one's home. The daily supply of bread is bought freshly baked in the wood-fired oven of the local panaderia (bakery). Read more »
Mongolian beef, despite what the name suggests did not originate from Mongolia. It is a product of Western commercial cuisine geared towards creating an taste experience that is suited to their taste but recreates the flavour of a foreign cuisine. Although the traditionalists and the purists will shake their heads, I find nothing wrong with that. I who tweaks and twists my recipes actual
This dessert was named after Mercedes's arm, which is the literal meaning of its name. I don't know the real origin of this dessert but the name and the use of a lot of egg yolks suggests that it probably is of Hispanic roots. It is a Filipino favourite but is not dissimilar to the Spanish brazo de gitano (gypsy's arm) which is a Swiss roll type dessert. It has th
Filipino sausage is generally called longganisa and the style varies from region to region. When I was growing up, the only longganisa I knew was the bright red, short and fat ones from our local market. They were sold in links and had to be boiled before frying. The main flavouring is garlic and there were no herbs nor spice save for a generous amount of black pepper. The seasoning is a perfe
Wanting to eat noodles is a basic and natural yearning for Asian people. The first mouthful makes the first and lasting impression. The soup, the noodles and the toppings all have to taste good. It is quite a tall order but is not that difficult to fill. Having said that, the best noodle soup in town still eludes me and I have to make mine at home. No matter how often we eat no
The smell of seafood is the aroma of umami. It is a bit off putting for some but an allure for others. Growing up in Asia, the smell is very familiar, interesting and appetizing. It is the smell of home that I miss as I can't cook fried seafood as often as I like. Yet, on special days I allow myself to enjoy a fry up. Read more »
Of all the Filipino vegetable dishes, lumpia is probably the most popular one. The word lumpia simply means spring rolls. This particular one is called lumpiang sariwa which literally means fresh spring roll but refers to unfried spring rolls. The fried variety is called lumpiang prito, prito meaning fried. Lumpiang hubad (meaning naked spring roll) is the filling eaten without the wra
Sriracha has become a condiment embraced by everyone and sits at the table top aside ketchup and mustard. Do you remember your first encounter with sriracha? Sriracha is known as the Thai chilli sauce that comes in a squeezy bottle with a green nozzle. While that is right, it has long been served everywhere as the red orange hot sauce that comes with your dimsum, although at that time srirach
Tiramisu is an Italian dessert which simply means "pick me up" or metaphorically "make me happy". This name cannot be more very apt because the creamy trifle is perked up with strong espresso and Marsala wine. I love tiramisu and have plowed through a lot of recipes to find THE one for me. Some recipes have uncooked eggs in them and that bothers me a lot
Eggs are synonymous to Easter. The mere mention of Easter would bring to mind eggs, chocolate eggs in particular. Easter bunnies and eggs are surely the product of a commercial ploy, much like Christmas and Valentine's Day. I must admit that it won't be fun without them. For the Christians, Easter has a deeper and more somber meaning. Eggs still play a part but it symbolizes reb
I like the tradition of having roasts for Sunday lunch. It gives me a reason to look forward to the weekend. Sometimes though, I prefer having a lie in rather than rushing to get lunch ready. Pot roast gives me the best of both worlds. I can be cook it ahead and reheat for lunch. Read more »
We abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent. Abstinence, like fasting is supposed to be an act of sacrifice. Not meaning to defeat the purpose, I always line up a few meatless dishes to cook in the holy week. Read more »
Do you ever wonder what's in the prawns on toasts in restaurants? It is not a case of 'duh'. There must be something there that made the sesame seeds stick to the bread but I'm not quite sure that it's prawns. One time my son actually asked the waiter, "What's in this?" to which the perfunctory reply was "Chicken". With the way the conv
The mere mention of sweet and sour sauce would bring to mind Chinese food. Although a combination of sweetness and tang features in Chinese cuisine, it is not as we know it. Traditional dishes uses vinegar as the usual souring agent and brown sugar bricks that are similar to palm sugar in taste. Read more »
St. Patrick's Day must be the most fun saint's feast day that I know. The celebration is so global that everywhere in the world joins in the merrymaking. A good amount of Irish grub and tipple is consumed on this day. To join in the celebration, I made a classic Irish stew made with Guinness. Beef stew can be quite generic but this one has a rather unusual pair of ingr
Potatoes are the food of champions. They are nutritious and good enough to be eaten on its own. It is, however, the staple side dish and source of carbs of many a nation around the globe. The English usually serve them boiled, roast or chipped. For the Irish though, mash is a big favourite, steeped in tradition and is the traditional accompaniment to the
There are good days and bad days. And then there are really good days. Such days are when you open the front door and a delivery man hands you a huge hamper full of chocolates. Read more »
When I was growing up, we hardly ever ate spare ribs. Spare ribs are practically bones, usually relegated to the soup stock. I can't imagine that now everyone is paying good money for what the butchers used to toss out as scraps. Read more »
As a person who spends most of the day in the kitchen, I am always on the lookout for kitchen paraphernalia. I am more keen now, more than ever, because I try to find props for this blog. Read more »
As the Chinese new year celebration draws to an end, lets focus on the dessert menu. Auspicious food still has to be on the table so I chose something that will keep the family glued together. Sticky food is meant to promote family unity. Round shaped food bring unending prosperity. Nothing fits the bill more perfectly than mochi. Read more »
I love this dish but never knew its origins. This dish allegedly hails from Northern China. I say allegedly because a lot of Chinese recipes have gone through so much alterations that they are just a shadow of what they originally were. Also, there is a non-traditional Chinese ingredient here: ketchup. Although ketchup is much used in Chinese cooking today, it does not hail at
I thought I was going to rest after the holidays but more holidays are still to come up. I have just cooked up a storm for Chinese new year so I am going to do a bit of magic for Valentine's day. While most will be dining out on Valentine's day, some will stay in and have a do-it-yourself celebration at home. Mind that the occasion is about celebrating love so don't
For Chinese new year, cakes symbolize a rich and sweet life and layers signify rising abundance. Hence, this cake is the perfect offering at the beginning of the year. Kueh lapis legit is an Indonesian layer cake that takes after the Dutch spekkoek. This cake is grilled layer by layer to produce the striped effect. It is popular during celebrations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapo
During the two week Chinese New Year celebrations, food with auspicious meaning are eaten to beckon good tidings for the coming year. Whole chicken is served during Chinese New Year because it signifies rebirth, family togetherness and prosperity. Marbled eggs symbolize gold nuggets. In this dish, both are present to bestow good wishes to everyone partaking. Read more »
My Mum-in-law's cooking is very simple yet it is always delicious. It is the no fuss no frills way she cooks that make it that way. She makes food with simple clean tastes, none of the ingredients overpower each other. There is no tricks nor science employed. It is quite the opposite. She cooks simple fresh ingredients quickly to capture their natural taste at their prime. Thus vegetab
If I eat any more chicken wings I will probably take off in flight. My children love them so much that I do not know how to wean them from it. Some people, a few, do not like wings but I know that a LOT do. Some of the most popular posts on this blog are chicken wings. There was a time when chicken wings were so cheap because nobody wanted to eat them as they were fussy to eat. When the r
It is time to prepare for the Chinese New Year and I want to use up the leftovers from the Christmas past. Frozen peas, frozen corn, frozen ham, frozen prawns spell fried rice. I would have made yang chow fried rice but we happened to have a pineapple so I decided to make pineapple fried rice for a change. Pineapple and ham is one of my favourite combos. I know some find it chee
Dipping sauces are an integral part of Asian food. A simple, basic dish can be made spectacular by the sauce it is served with. Although some sauces go with specific dishes, there are sauces that are universal. They go with anything. One of the popular all around food perkers is chilli oil. When you get used to having chilli oil with your food, you can't go without it, no matter what y
I have been planning to make butter chicken for some time now but I never could come up with the complete ingredients. My curiosity has been piqued since I've seen it in pictures and recipes. There is a bit of a hitch though. The list of ingredients is quite long and that challenges me a bit. As regulars here have probably noticed, most of my recipes have a short list of ingr
A trip to the Chinese bakery is always a delight. The sweet bread dough is always light and airy. The fillings are so different from Western breads and I can't make up my mind which to choose. I am quite partial to char siu buns but my husband and son love the custard filled ones. When I make bread buns, I make an assortment of fillings since the bread dough recipe makes quite a
We have been extremely lucky to have mild weather since the start of the winter. 11° C on Christmas is nothing short of a miracle. Alas, as we all now know, good things don't last. The cold snap has descended and I'm feeling the cold right to my bones. When it comes to winter warmers, I turn to good old English favourite recipes. They know their stuff when it comes to these things
The excitement over Christmas has completely died down. We have taken down the Christmas decorations and the house is back to normal. It usually feels a bit gloomy at this time. It takes getting used to not having as much flickering lights. As I look back to the holidays, I feel a tinge of guilt on eating the food I have just done. I usually am able to restrain myself but
Baking apple pie has a lot of rewards. I like baking one on a grey, gloomy day. An apple pie is like free aromatherapy. I can't help but feel brighter once I start peeling the apples. The freshness of its scent just bring on the smiley face. The scent of lemons always bring visions of sunshine. Once I add the spices, I imagine a crackling fire. The heady scent of spices makes me feel war
In keeping with the cycle of life, we again usher in a new year. We bask in renewed hope that this year is better than the one that just ended. Not that it was not a good one, but there is always room for betterment and it is good to raise the bar each year. There is also room for contentment, I believe. I am very thankful for everything that has happened in the year that passed, good or
In the Philippines, new year's eve celebrations are steeped in traditions and beliefs. We welcome the new year with a bang, literally. Pyrotechnics of all sorts light the sky from dusk to dawn on new year's eve to ward off evil spirits and welcome the good ones. The noise from the fireworks is deafening almost and visibility is close to zero from all the fumes. The
Every year I go through a vicious cycle of being relaxed for the first three quarters of the year and go for a mad rush at the last quarter. I have never learned my lesson from the Christmas pasts. It doesn't get any easier no matter how many times I've done it. I breathe a sigh of relief when I have managed to go through Christmas without a hitch, but only for a week. It's
Coconut grows in abundance in the Philippines. Naturally it is used a lot as a cooking ingredient. Although mostly used fresh, dessicated coconut is also used for making sweets and desserts. We used to make coconut macaroons every Christmas because it is delicious and very easy to make. With the use of a few simple ingredients and a few minutes, yummy little treats can be made. They are p
