..then here’s a Filipino recipe worth your time and effort. Just like the steak recipe I shared you, I hope you enjoy the extraordinary taste of this simple dish my friend, Pinky, featured in her blog:
Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw (Squash and Green Beans in Coconut Milk):

Since the usual kalabasa (native green pumpkin) and sitaw (string beans) which are so plentiful in Manila are quite hard to find here, I had to substitute them with butternut squash and canned green beans. I was quite happy with the result nonetheless since the natural sweetness of the squash tasted so well with …read more

Well here it is, the dessert that I just had to make. Very similar to the Filipino ginataan, but with more emphasis on the mung beans and the tapioca. I love the extra mung beans though, makes it healthier and that’s a big plus for me and hubby.

The ingredients. Would have used pandan leaves but the store was out and I didn’t have any stashed away in the freezer (sniff). So I had to make do with a drop of pandan extract — but whoa! Too green! So I stopped at one drop. …read more

Coconut milk is another indispensable item in Asian cuisines, particularly those in Southeast Asia. Here in the West, it is easy enough to find coconut milk canned, as in the picture. Grated coconut meat can also be found in the frozen section of Asian stores. Even young coconut meat (called buko/buco in the Philippines) is available frozen. Though these items make it convenient to prepare Asian foods in American kitchens, the increasing awareness about Asian cuisine has now also brought fresh coconuts into our stores. If you live in the coastal regions where turnover rate …read more

I’d love to call this soup Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, or Singaporean, but the fact of the matter is that each of these cuisines has *some* version of this soup, so I’ll simply call it “Southeast Asian”. The work comes mostly in chopping up the veggies, but you can always do that ahead of time.
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 large shallots, sliced thinly – divided usage
cooking oil for deep frying
1-inch piece ginger, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon palm sugar
1 teaspoon turmeric
the meat from 4 chicken thighs, chopped roughly
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled, halved if using large
1 13.5-oz …read more