Tag Archives: Asian

Hi chocolate, it’s nice to matcha!

Posted in Baking Recipes, Bread-making, The Breakfast Bin, Asian cooking, Yeasted breads by

Did I really just write that title? I’m sorry.

So I finally managed to track down some matcha powder some weeks ago, and unfortunately it’s not the sort I’m looking for. It seems like a really mild type of matcha. From what I’ve been seeing in photos, the concentrated one has a greener hue; and from what I’ve been reading, it has a stronger taste. I can barely taste my matcha in this bread. No, scratch that– I can only taste the matcha if I concentrate really really hard. If I close my eyes and really try to unlock my tastebuds, I can taste the wonderful green tea notes with a hint of sweetness at the end. Unfortunately it lasts only a few seconds, not to mention I look kind of odd doing that at the table.

And yes I’m pretty sure it’s not just my imagination.

Continue reading for the recipe >>

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{Filipino Food-Love} Introducing one of my ultimate comfort foods

Posted in Asian cooking, At home, Baking Recipes, Filipino Food-love, Foodie Life, My Comfort Food, My favourite things, Spoon desserts & puddings, The Breakfast Bin by

I’ve talked about comfort food before, but lately I’ve realised that nearly nothing else can comfort me in the same manner as this simple little porridge can. We call this Filipino breakfast staple the champorado, and it’s basically a chocolate rice porridge, served with milk. Tell me which part of that doesn’t sound comforting– not to mention delicious?

There’s just something so homey about eating mushy warm food from a bowl. I know it sounds a little icky when I put it that way, but these kinds of food oddly make my soul feel at ease. That’s why most of what I consider my comfort foods share this particular characteristic (except maybe ice cream which can also be mushy but is cold). The champorado is one of my top comfort foods at the moment for reasons I can’t describe. Perhaps my love for chocolate plays a role in it? Ironically, I didn’t use to care much for champorado so thank goodness tastes, people, and circumstances change with the passage of time. I don’t really need to find an explanation for why I suddenly find myself loving this, but all I know is: Champorado has the power to turn my mood around, and that’s all I care about. Continue reading for the recipe

Everyman’s Pancit Canton- an introduction to Filipino cooking

Posted in Asian cooking, Cooking Recipes, Filipino Food-love, I love Asian noodles, Pastas & noodles by

One of the things I love the most about living the Philippines is, without a doubt, the Filipino food selection. It ranges from sweet to sour to spicy to salty in a span of cities and provinces. Sometimes when you travel through from one area of the peninsula to the other, the contrast between each province is striking not only in terms of appearance or culture, but with the food as well. You take one dish and each province has a unique way of cooking it that fits their identity. The diversity of each province can literally be sampled through the food, among other things. But there is this one food item that I feel is… universal, I suppose you could say, and that’s the dish I’m using to jump-start my promise to feature more Filipino food on the blog.

It shames me to admit that despite blogging for almost two years now, I haven’t shared a single Filipino recipe. When I came across this amazing blog, I felt a mixture of both guilt and inspiration. Here was a man who made a blog to cure himself of his homesickness, and here I am just neglecting what I could write about with even more clarity than all the things I have been making and sharing on the blog so far. I guess when you have seen and eaten certain things all your life, they become so commonplace that you begin to kind of ignore them. Despite the fact that there are so many things I wish I could change about this country, the one thing I love unabashedly is the food. It’s about time I start showing it.
Continue reading for the recipe

{Random Eats} Some of my favourite things to eat

Posted in Random Eats by

This week is kind of a busy week for me, so I’ll post about what I’ve been eating instead of what I’ve been making for today. (I’m so happy that the iPhone takes lovely impromptu restaurant food pictures.) Hopefully I’ll get something yummy up before the end of the week.

Well, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but some of my favourite things to eat are (1) Japanese rolls/sushi, and (2) dimsum and dumplings. Every time I have them, I get this feeling of major satisfaction that stems from deep within. I guess that means these are my happy food, or my “soul food”. If that’s the case, I would gladly devour these things every day!

One of my favourite restaurants is without a doubt Omakase Restaurant. It’s a nice Japanese restaurant that’s verging on the cosmopolitan spectrum. It has a fantastic selection of Japanese rolls with really interesting and yummy names like Dynamite Rolls, Dragon Rolls, and Spider Maki; as well as rolls filled and topped with avocado or cream cheese, to name a couple. Their soft-shell crabs are also worth a mention. My brothers love them so much we always make double orders.

Omakase Restaurant

{Ground Level, Connecticut Carpark Arcade,
Greenhills Shopping Center, Ortigas Ave.,
Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines}

~~~

One the other hand, Lugang Cafe is responsible for my constant dimsum cravings because of its Xiao Long Bao, or pork dumplings filled with soup and which pop in your mouth. It’s one of the things I scour the streets of Shanghai for because eating these little critters are such a pleasant experience. I don’t know how to make Xiao Long Bao on my own yet, but it’s comforting to know that at least I don’t have to go all the way to Shanghai for an authentic-tasting fix now. Also, I love the decor in this joint.

Lugang Cafe

{G/F 136-137 Main Mall South Wing, SM Mall Of Asia,
Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines}

~~~

What about you, what are your happy foods? :D

A special love for Japan and its gyoza

Posted in Asian cooking, Cooking Recipes, Dimsum & dumplings, From the books, Pork dishes, Seafood dishes by

One of my dream countries to visit is Japan. I’ve been to quite a few Asian countries but have never really visited Japan because it’s too expensive, as they say. However I am familiar with Japanese cuisine, it being one of my all-time favourites. I can also speak quite a few Japanese sentences given that I grew up watching tons and tons of Japanese anime shows. It might be funny but it’s true!

The Japanese inspired a lot of things in my life, I think. They inspired me to develop my imagination and my talent in drawing (anime!). They inspired me to value tradition with how much love they have for theirs. Theirs is definitely one of the most fascinating I have encountered, and I adore their elaborate festivals where everyone is all dressed up in colourful kimonos, walking along rows of sakura trees and towards the shrines to pray and to wish.

I am also constantly in awe of their meticulousness. I’ve been to Fukuoka before as a side trip for about half a day, and we went to the market that had stalls upon stalls selling mochis and other Japanese cakes and delicacies. One of the things I ended up doing in every store was walking through the aisles, just looking at each and every trinket, odd thing, and especially the food items there. They are packaged in these neat and amazingly designed boxes, with each brand having its own unique style. I wanted to buy all of them and keep the boxes. That’s kind of crazy right? There were also those amazing bento boxes filled with food in the shape of famous Japanese characters.

I pretty much love a lot of things about Japan. It’s probably why I have such a connection with gyoza, and why I decided to make it my first selection off the stunning and mouth-watering Asian Dumplings cookbook. Plus, gyoza seemed simple enough, with ingredients that were easy to find and easy to whip up. The fact that I don’t have one of those bamboo steamers (yet!) gave me a push towards this particular recipe. And even though my non-stick pan broke, I made it work with my wok. Maybe I got this attitude from the Japanese too, but I have an obsession with doing things right, especially when it comes to cookery. I mean everybody steams their dumplings in bamboo steamers, right? Why shouldn’t I? But you know what really drew me to this particular one? I was excited to pan-fry!

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Learning about Basic Dumpling Wrappers

Posted in Asian cooking, Baking Recipes, Cookbook Crazy, Dimsum & dumplings, From the books by

I’ve had the acclaimed Asian Dumplings book since forever, but I haven’t exactly made anything from it until recently, when I finally managed to pick out which recipe I wanted to start with.

Every time I flip through this book, it gets more and more difficult for me to find just one recipe to do first. Everything looks amazing! And especially for a dimsum-lover like myself, it’s fairly difficult to resist the photos. If I’m not intending to make any dumplings, I try to avoid looking through this book because every time I do, I always end up holding a dimsum menu in a Chinese restaurant.

I have always wanted to make my own dimsum at home, however I think I’ve been hesitant mostly because I am afraid of failing with making the dumpling wrappers. Now if I really wanted to learn about dumplings, buying the wrappers ready-made pretty much defeats the purpose. I was afraid that I would roll them too thick, turning them into these inedible rubbery things that awfully cheap dimsum sometimes come in. I was also afraid that I would roll them too thin, to the point that they would break apart if I so much tried to pick them up or form them. Trauma stemming from bad dimsum experiences in restaurants, I think.

Or maybe I just had to wait until I ran out of excuses.

When I finally got around to making dimsum, I realised mostly three things:
1. It’s quite time-consuming.
2. I never expected the process itself to be this easy.
3. Homemade dumplings are freaking amazing!

Continue reading for the recipe