Food articles posted in Jan 2008

Hoisin sauce

It is the stuff that is spread on the Chinese pancakes that are used to wrap the skin of roasted Peking duck. It is sweet, salty and thick. Hoisin sauce is sometimes referred to as a barbecue sauce but it is traditionally a dipping sauce. Char siu is the name for the traditional Oriental barbecue [...]

Sour cream and garlic dipping sauce

The trick to a tasty sour cream and garlic dip is to grate the garlic instead of chopping it. Grate it, and grate an onion too, and add all the juices too. That way, the dip is smooth, no bits of garlic nor onion on your tongue and the juices mixed in will give the dip a deep and wonderful flavor that you’ll never get from commercial dips that come ready made in tubs…

Crushed galangal

From Wikipedia: Galangal, Thai Ka, Malay lengkuas… or in Vietnamese, Ri?ng. It is a rhizome with culinary and medicinal uses, best known in the west for its appearance in Thai cuisine and other Southeast Asian cuisine. Though it resembles (and is related to) ginger in appearance, it tastes little like ginger. In its raw form, [...]

Fermented black beans (tausi)

In the Filipino kitchen, they’re called tausi — pungent fermented (soy) beans. Chinese in origin, it has a complex salty flavor that goes well with fish or meat. It is available in jars, cans or even by weight in most vegetable stalls in public markets. Some recipes using tausi:

Mapo tofu
Humba
Pork and kangkong in black bean [...]

Broccoli and potatoes frittata

This was a side dish that accompanied the fried danggit — not dried salted danggit but fresh — that we had for dinner last Saturday. The base is made with thinly sliced potatoes which were topped with broccoli florets, slivers of belly bacon, onions and two kinds of cheeses — a low-fat cheese spread and grated quickmelt cheese…

Lemongrass (tanglad)

It is a grass and the “lemon” part of its name was probably added to denote its citrusy flavor. It is an important ingredient in most Southeast Asian cuisines, including the Philippines. Only the lighter portion (root end) is used for cooking. The stalks are first crushed to release the flavors, then chopped before adding [...]

Peanut butter

I don’t normally keep more than one jar of peanut butter but since I started baking again, it’s not exactly fair to tell the kids to please keep their hands of the peanut butter jar because I’ll use it for baking cookies or cupcakes.
So, I have a jar of peanut butter for baking/cooking, the kids [...]

Patis (fish sauce)

Known as nam pla in Thailand, nuoc mam in Vietnam, nam pa in Laos and ngan-pya-ye in Burma (Myanmar), patis is used for seasoning or as a dipping sauce. Patis making is an important industry in the fishing towns of Navotas and Malabon, both in Metro Manila. Fish is fermented with salt and water in [...]

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Asian cooking

• Candy-making
• Vietnamese barbecued pork with garlic and egg fried rice
• Bangus (milkfish) and broccoli stir fry
• Thrice cooked pata tim
• Soba noodles, chicken and veggies
• 20-minute pancit miki
• Tofu and Vegetables Stir-fry
• Lumpiang tinapa at mangga (smoked fish and mango spring rolls)
• Grilled meat balls
• Turkey tails stir fry

Asian Pantry

• Canned whole peeled tomatoes
• Kalamansi
• What’s for breakfast?
• Jams and jellies
• Eryngii mushrooms
• Bulaklak ng saging (banana blossoms)
• Enoki mushrooms
• Pandan leaves
• Cornmeal, finally!
• Turmeric (yellow ginger)

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