Yes, I am aware that it’s a Spanish dish. But believe it or not, Paella has long been part of the Philippine menu. If I’m not mistaken, only Filipino cooking has the Spanish influence among all Asian cuisine. Surprised? You’re not alone. My Kiwi officemates were actually amazed to find out I was of Spanish descent when they asked about my lengthy maiden name.
I’m featuring the Paella today because my sister’s friend was kind enough to cook this for my mom’s birthday lunch.

Flickr Image: avlxyz

(I have the photo, Tom, the previous editor of Noodles and Rice, had the recipe.)
I miss …read more

My 2 year old daughter got the obento of her dreams last week.  Imagine a cute little beautifully presented lunch in a hard plastic reusable Hello Kitty.  She was over the moon.  In the end she ate hardly any of it, but that is what being 2 is all about.  But she did love the box and probably would have taken it to bed with her if I had let her.
Japan loves Hello Kitty, and so does a lot of the world.  

I took a holiday that involved a shinkansen bullet train journey last week.  On the platform I grabbed the nicest looking obento to eat on the way.  By chance I stumbled on a self heating beef obento.
The deal is, you pull a string that is sticking out of the cardboard box and after 7 minutes of steam and heat, your obento is ready.
It all relies on the chemical block that sits under the plastic tray of food.  Apparently ripping out the cord, activates a chemical reaction which generates enough heat to almost burn your lips. 
Very handy, very cool and very …read more

This was a recipe adapted from Susanna Foo’s cookbook.
It’s quite surprising, the use of thyme and tomato — ingredients you don’t usually see in Chinese cuisine. However, curiosity got the better of me and I tried it anyway. While this is a dish that’s easy enough to tackle on a hot summer evening, I would much rather have tried the soy sauce-rice wine-black vinegar of which Ms. Foo speaks in her notes. This one was just too much an amalgam of stuff that none of the individual elements stood out in the end, unlike Chinese …read more

Country-style ribs or spare ribs, cut into individual ribs or riblets
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
juice of 1 lime
several grindings of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
toasted sesame seeds for topping
Cook ribs in the rest of the ingredients, in a large saucepan, over medium heat, until mixture is bubbly. Lower heat and cover, stirring every once in a while, for about 15 minutes or until rib meat is tender. Remove ribs and set aside. Boil down cooking liquid until syrupy, then return ribs to pan and swirl to coat. Transfer to serving …read more

Simple to prepare and very simple to eat, Ginger pork should fit right into the easy cooking category of any household’s recipe file.
Ingredients
Enough pork to feed the household, thin (6mm) loin cut up into bite size pieces
1 teaspoon of ginger juice (squeezed out of half a grated knob of ginger)
2 teaspoons of sake
1 tablespoon of frying oil
The sauce:
1 tablespoon sake
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of soy
1/2 tablespoon of mirin
1 grated knob ginger
Marinate the pork in the ginger juice and sake while you get everything else ready
Mix all of the sauce ingredients and put them aside
Heat the oil in a large wok …read more

Here is an easy and delicious meal that has a seriously passionate following in Japan.  Most people eat this dish at one of the millions of Tonkatsu restaurants, but it can also easily be cooked at home with common ingredients.
For each serving, you will need:
1 pork cutlet (boneless loin chop about half an inch thick)
a little flour
Coarse breadcrumbs
half an egg
oil to fry it in

Simply tenderize the cutlet with the back of a knife or a mallet
Lightly coat it in flour, shaking off any extra
Dip it in some lightly beaten egg
dip and press it into the breadcrumbs coating it evenly ( at this …read more

Bistek, for “beef steak”, is a favorite Filipino dish. It is typically made using tender steak cuts, sliced thinly and marinated in soy sauce and kalamansi, then fried briefly as to maintain tenderness, and served with onions (and sometimes, potatoes) — also fried — along with its marinade, reduced to a syrupy salty sauce. There are several recipes available online, so instead of giving you another one, I’ll give you some pointers instead:

Quick cooking means the best cuts would be steak cuts, such as tenderloin or sirloin or rib eye. Rib eye can easily be found at …read more

This is another example of a recipe whose history I am not sure about .  It looks similar to a lot of traditional Japanese recipes like Niku Jaga, but I haven’t found one exactly the same yet.  This makes me think that it is my own recipe but if you think otherwise please feel free to let me know. 
It is a very simple recipe that is a regular participant in our meals. 
The ingredients:
A handful of very thinly sliced beef (about 1 or 2mm thick)
About two handfuls or a medium sized potato for each serve
About a handful of mushrooms
About a cup of  cheap sake
About …read more

If you’re lucky enough to be in Manila, I suggest you visit Marketman’s post on lechon to get “the real thing”.

For those of us who need to content ourselves with the homemade version, you can find recipes at All Favorite Recipe, dyaryoboy, and Pinoy Cook.
Mine is simply made with pork shoulder or pork picnic butt; make sure you get the cut that includes the skin. I boiled it in water to cover, with salt, for five minutes, threw the water out, and started afresh with cold water to cover. Brought to a boil, then …read more