Soyaghetti

One of the many products my sister brought back from her trip to Philippines in April is Marca Pina's Soyaghetti. It's a soya-based sweet style pasta sauce. It reminds me of a certain Chinese dish that I have come to love. I can't remember the name though. I haven't had it for ages but with just one taste, it brought me back to my glory days in China.

My sister bought just one pack.  I had to try it before returning to the island so I used the sauce when my sister requested  pasta for dinner one time. We normally cook more than enough food in case someone pays us a surprise visit. I cooked pasta good for three to four people, around 250 grams .

Home-cooked Meals Are Always The Best

A family friend hosted a home cooked meal when I went to her condo for a visit. She had been away for months. She only got back from America not too long ago but I hadn't seen her since she arrived. When she learned about my plan to come back to Bangkok for a holiday, she invited my family over for dinner. Living on the island and working long hours had deprived me of good home-cooked dishes. I wouldn't turn down such an invitation from an excellent cook so me, my sister and other relatives went.

Vegetarian Thai-Style Sukiyaki

Thai sukiyaki is mom's favorite. When we were at the grocery she spotted packs of Thai sukiyaki sauce. She asked why my sis and I hadn't taken her to MK, a popular sukiyaki restaurant in Thailand. In an instant, mom developed an intense craving for this one-pot meal. Our trolley was full and we felt too lazy to drag all shopping bags with us. I suggested we make it at home. We bought  ready-to-cook sukiyaki pack and  6 small packs of sukiyaki sauce. One to use at home, the rest were packed so mom could bring them back to Philippines.

Baby Corn, String Beans and Fish Tofu Dish

I cooked this dish so long ago but I kept delaying posting it. With the Thai New Year celebrations and my mom and cousin's arrival, I had a lot going on the past few weeks. Now that the long holiday is over, things are back to normal. First, let me share with you this quick and easy dish I cooked. Chop suey was what I had in mind so after stir-frying it, I added a thickened sauce to create something similar.

Moringa ( Malunggay) Pancit Canton with Vermicelli

Noodles is a reliable dish for potlucks. When my mom learned about the potluck my family was hosting on the first Sabbath she's here, she decided to cook the noodles I brought back from my trip to Philippines last Christmas. Mom cooked this delicious Filipino noodle dish called pancit canton, also known as lo mein or chow mein.

What to do with left over grated carrots?

Last year during Christmas time I had three carrot cake orders. After all the baking, I had about 200 grams of grated carrots left. To throw them away was a waste of money so I turned them into delicious patties. These are great as main dish or side dish or as  sandwich fillings.

Mongo with Sotanghon (Mung Bean Soup with Glass Noodles)

It was Friday. I knew the girlfriends were waiting for my text message about dinner. I was planning to cancel it as I didn't have a dish in mind. Also, I hadn't gone grocery shopping. I composed a quick message but before pressing the "send" button, I hurried over to the kitchen to check the fridge and see if I could find  any thing to cook. There's nothing else but a head of cabbage, tomatoes and 5 pieces of mackerel. I saw a small pack of vermicelli. If I could find mung beans in the cabinet, then dinner would push through. I was so happy I did. Two hours before the appointed time, I sent a text message to the girls.

I fried the mackerel. I cooked  mung beans soup with cabbage and vermicelli. The girls arrived  when I was setting the table. We enjoyed a simple yet  delicious Filipino meal.

Ve-G-Choplets Adobo with Potatoes

Yesterday when I woke up from a quick siesta, I felt a little pain in my right shoulder. I changed my dress and went to get a massage nearby. When I arrived at the massage parlor, only two massage therapist were working. I was asked to wait for a few minutes. I informed my sister of my whereabouts in case I couldn't come back early to cook for dinner. Twenty minutes had passed before my name was called. At least I didn't have to wait  forever but I knew I would be late.

When I opened the door to my apartment, I saw my sister in the kitchen  preparing dinner. I asked her what she's cooking. She told me she's cooking adobo. I told her I hadn't blog about it so she waited until I came back to get my camera.

 Adobo is considered as the national dish of the Philippines. The stew can be made with either chicken, pork or both cooked in vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, black peppercorn and soy sauce. In my family, both mom and sister are vegetarian so we use soy protein in place of meat whenever we cook adobo. We cook it the easy way too!

Cooking Japanese Udon Noodles ala Chinese style

Yesterday I felt like having noodles for dinner. I checked the cabinet and  found a pack of udon stashed in the back of the cabinet. I'd never cooked udon at home so I  cooked it ala cu mian style. It turned out the way I expected.

So what is Udon? Udon is thick wheat-flour noodle of Japanese cuisine (Wikipedia). It is likely derived from similar Chinese noodles called cu mian. How? According to history of Asian noodles, Japanese Buddhist monks brought the udon noodles back from China in the 800s. In Japan, udon noodles are usually served hot as noodle soup. In China, as far as I know, cu mian noodles are either stir-fried or cooked in soup.

Banana Spring Roll (Turon)

Bananas can be made into satisfying snacks. In the Philippines where bananas are readily available all year round, people have invented ingenious ways of turning these fruit into something delicious.Take this turon for example. Turon or banana spring roll is a popular Filipino snack. The bananas are cut lengthwise, sugar is sprinkled over a piece of banana, then wrapped in spring roll wrappers and  deep fried.



Turon is a favorite afternoon snack of my family. Last night as I was wrapping the bananas, I had the childhood flashbacks to when  my aunt cooked this so often while there  were abundance of bananas at my grandparents farm. I remember feasting on turon with my sister and cousins after siesta.  How I wish to turn back time when I could eat them without laboring over it :)

Red Kidney Beans with Tortilla Chips

Church potluck when I was young was a memorable one. It was a regular part of  Sabbath program in Philippines. The good fellowship during meal made Saturday a special day and the home made dishes  brought by each family were something I would look forward to.

One of my mom's favorite dishes to share at potluck was red kidney beans with tortilla chips and topped with shredded cabbage. The dish was a complete meal. Yesterday I made the exact same recipe  for dinner. I opted  to top it with shredded cheddar cheese and the result was even better.

Stir-fried Cabbage

I took a 2-month long hiatus from hosting Friday night dinner.  The complaints from girlfriends were never-ending so last week, I made a last minute decision to resume my Friday task. I texted the girls to come over for dinner and they were ecstatic.

Although I was low on supplies, I managed to cook a tasty  fish sarciado and served it with this veggie dish. The recipe is derived from the classic Chinese stir-fried cabbage.

Sarciado Red Tilapia

I was born and raised on the island. I grew up on a diet which consisted mostly of rice and fish, loads and loads of fish.  One of my family's homemade favorites is fish sarciado, a delicious recipe that has tomato-based sauce.

Fish sarciado is uniquely Filipino. The dish was invented as a way to give leftover fish a new twist.  The thick, rich tomato sauce and the eggs when added rehydrate the leftover fish and give this dish a boost of flavor.

I served this during our Friday night dinner.  I didn't have leftover fish. I used a freshly fried red tilapia instead. The sauce works  great with both.

Eggless Banana Pancake

One of the best, safest and cheapest places to stay when traveling in China is hostels. I did quite a lot of winter backpacking and all those times I stayed in hostels. What I loved the most about hostels was the home-styled food they offer their customers. Here's one that I looked forward to eating when I'd gone back to my hostel after a long day outside - banana pancake.  Simple yet very satisfying.

When I woke up the other day and saw the banana on the table, a thought came to me. Make a banana pancake similar to the ones I used to order in hostels in China.

Eggplant Pizza with Cheddar Cheese

Remember the tuna sauce I made last weekend. Because I was in a rush to whip up something for dinner, I really didn't notice the sauce I made was more than what we needed for our pasta. I had pizza craving and it came out in a timely manner. I made pizza using the leftover tuna sauce. It felt good that the sauce had not gone to waste.

I only had a little all-purpose flour left, not enough to make pizza crust so I added cake flour . I did some research about using cake flour in pizza dough and made an important discovery. It said that cake flour is the secret to a crust. There's only one way to find out.

Tortiglioni With Tuna Sauce and Fried Garlic

Pasta with tuna sauce -  a delicious comfort food. Sprinkle fried garlic on top and you get an amazing flavorful dish. Last weekend my sister and I were both busy doing our thing that we lost track of time. She and I just noticed that the sun had gone down when our stomach growled.

The hunger growls made us take a quick break. I went to the kitchen. I checked the cabinet. I found a can of tuna, tomato sauce, tomato paste and pasta. I have 2 big packs of  tortiglioni so I have been thinking how to use them up. I came up with this simple dish and it turned out to be tasty meal.

My failed attempt to reconstruct gan bian si ji dou has given birth to a new dish

I have an endless list of Chinese dishes that I love. One dish in particular had undoubtedly left me mesmerized.Gan bian si ji dou (Dry Fried String Beans) is a popular Sichuan vegetable dish but can be found anywhere in China.I remember eating it a lot in Chinese open air restaurants right across from my workplace. I had been searching for the recipe for so long  but was unsuccessful. A few months ago, I signed up to follow a blog by an American who is a Professor of  Chinese and now in China traveling.  Last month, he  blogged about this string beans dish with the name in Chinese and English. Boy, I was so happy I was able to find the recipe online.

I cooked the dish but  it yield a different result as I lack the right ingredients. The new dish turned out good though.

Tuna and Potato Patties

The wet weather in Bangkok is depressing.  Food supplies at home are rather low but my sister and I are feeling lazy and unmotivated to go out. I do get stuff from the market  and 7-11 from time to time but she and I haven't done a proper food shopping for a while now. The last time I went to the market was last week and I bought a kilo of potatoes. How did I utilize all of them? I haven't. Well, I used 400 g to make patties and the rest I still need to figure out what to make with them.

Baked Fusilli Topped with Sliced Potatoes

The experimental cook in me has inspired me to make this dish from scratch. I was supposed to make dumplings but was unable to buy the ingredients for the fillings so I postponed it. There's a major downpour and the last thing I wanted to do was leave the comforts of my home and go out in the rain. With the limited ingredients I had I was glad I was able to whip up something delicious before my sister came home from work.

Ginataang Mongo (Mung Beans in Coconut Milk)

There was a time during my childhood years when mung beans in coconut milk was part of my staple diet. Mom was assigned to work in another town. As mommy's little girl, I would always tag along on weekends and holidays. Sometimes, my vacay would fall on the time when  mung beans were in season. During those times, the caretaker of mom's office  would bring kilos of newly harvested mung beans from the farm her family owned. She would cook them once a day until our stocks last. I tell you, I had never gotten tired of it. In fact, I would always look forward to meal time as I knew there's mung bean dish on the table waiting.

For Friday night dinner last week, my sis and friends requested mung beans in coconut milk. Being the obedient personal chef, I cooked this dish and served it with fried fish and  tofu as  side dishes.