Lumpiang togue (egg rolls with bean sprouts)

Food shopping in the time of the coronavirus often means the stuff you usually buy is out of stock. That’s how I ended up with bean sprouts and tofu for my veggie rolls. I’d forgotten how delicious they are and easy to make. INGREDIENTS 5 cloves of garlic, crushed a medium onion, diced shrimp, peeled…

Bola-bola (meatball soup)

Bola-bola is so simple that it’s usually one of the first things we learn to cook. And yet, because I haven’t made it in years, I had to call my mom twice to make sure I was doing it right, LOL! The ingredients are fairly simple. 1 pound ground pork 6-8 bulbs of baby bok…

Giniling na baboy (ground pork)

Part of my weekend is usually spent running errands, doing chores and preparing a week’s worth of meals I could bring to work. Since I usually eat at my desk, the dishes have to be easy to handle — meaning I can basically just use a fork and there’s no cutting, deboning or stuff like…

Gyu-Kaku: Japanese BBQ

Do you know the difference between Japanese and Korean barbecue? I don’t. There’s something about using marinade, or not. Or how the meat is grilled — open flame versus iron plate. Or even what type of meat is used. I’m not really sure. All I know is that barbecue = happiness. To borrow the favorite…

Sinkutsang paro (sautéed shrimp)

One of the things my mom is never without in her freezer is a container of sinkutsang paro, or sautéed shrimp. It’s not really a dish by itself, more of a base for a veggie stir-fry or topping for pancit luglug or mixed with pork to make an even more delicious torta. Start with fresh…

Roast beef with white sauce

I was in Dallas last weekend for my uncle’s 80th birthday and my cousin made roast beef with white sauce, along with other delicious dishes, for his party. I was so impressed with it — the beef was so tender it was almost falling apart — that I decided to copy it, with a few…

Ube with coconut and sugar

One of the fun things about shopping during the weekend at the Korean superstore Hmart is that you get these tiny stations offering samples of the store’s diverse offerings. Sometimes it’s stuff like caramel and cheese-flavored popcorn, other times it’s fruits and vegetables I’ve forgotten about. Such was the case last weekend when I saw…

Gyoza, bao and ramen at Momosan

It’s sweater and boots season! Also, soup season! And if you’re in the midtown Manhattan area, right around Grand Central Terminal, and you suddenly got a hankering for rich broth and hearty noodles, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto has a ramen and sake shop a couple of blocks away. I was at Momosan with my cousin…

Cauliflower rice and salmon with lemon butter sauce

It’s been a while since my last post but I really wanted to share this delicious meal I made today. It’s an easy meal to prepare, especially if you already have the cauliflower rice. But I was feeling extra so I actually made my own. I wish I could say this is a healthy meal…

TGIF: Thank God (for) Indian food

We have a delicious tradition at work: On Fridays, we order Indian food for takeout. Technically, it’s Indian and Pakistani food because we get it from a family-owned Indian and Pakistani restaurant in Huntington Station called Masalah Grill. A friend and colleague discovered them about a year and a half ago. My regular order consists…

Ebun buru (salted eggs)

When I visit my parents, they always have longganisa (sweet Philippine sausage) and garlic fried rice ready for breakfast. More often than not, they also have salted eggs with fresh tomatoes. But the salted eggs they buy from the local stores are overly salty. A month ago, I decided to make my own salted eggs. In…

Ginataang mais (rice pudding with corn)

It’s funny how tastes change as we get older. I used to hate — I’m not exaggerating — eggplants, and now I can’t get enough of them, whether as tortang talong or just part of a stir-fry. I wasn’t a big fan of ginataang mais growing up, but now it’s one of my go-to snacks,…