MANGO CHUTNEY DRUMSTICKS

Leg or breast? Leg definitely. I am no fan of chicken breast. I know that the breast meat is the most popular though the most expensive part of the chicken. Even though the best chickens have tasty breast meat, I still do not usually cook chicken breast unless it is still attached to the rest of the chicken body.

GAI LAN WITH OYSTER SAUCE

I was lucky to have a good health visitor when I was bringing up my babies. A health visitor, for those not in the UK, is a health professional who guides Mums on how to take care of their babies.

THAI STICKY RICE AND MANGO DESSERT

Sticky rice is enjoyed in the east as in the west. Although treated differently, they are usually made into comforting desserts. 

MAPO TOFU

If you are not a tofu lover, this dish will turn you into one. It was love at first taste for me.

CHICKEN MOJITO

It's happy hour. Cheers. Roll out the barrel. All these words ring hollow to me.

I can't join in the merrymaking. I can't enjoy a tipple. Instead of getting drunk, I itch. I am one of those who can't even drink on a social level. I fancy the hip cocktails with twirly picks or minute parasols and wish I could nurse one and feel in with the crowd. But I am not one of those. I am not hip, not fancy, am old and can't take alcoholic beverages. I'm a total geek.

ALMOND JELLY

I still have to find out how almond extract smells unlike the almond nut. Nevertheless, I love almonds in both in forms. 

Almond jelly is one of the few desserts on the Chinese restaurant menu and the one that I like best. Slivers of soft set almond flavoured jelly is served with fruits and more almond flavouring. It is a very simple concoction, yet the taste is so perfect.

PORK BULGOGI

Bulgogi has been listed as the 23rd among World's 50 most delicious foods readers poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011. It is usually made with beef but pork or chicken is equally good made with the same recipe.

FETA CHEESE DRESSING

We all need a fresh spark on our usual menu from time to time. Sometimes a little change in the details is all it takes. Before you grab the jar of mayo yet again to slather on something, imagine how much more flavour a simple dressing like this would give to your food.

FILIPINO BARBECUE CHICKEN

Filipinos love barbecue and are lucky enough that the weather allows them to barbecue all year round. The two most popular have very generic names: barbecue chicken and barbecue pork. Everywhere, they are seasoned similarly unless otherwise stated.

INIHAW NA BANGUS (GRILLED MILKFISH)

Filipinos are nationalistic people; we have a "national" everything. Bangus or milk fish is our national fish. Although it is full of fine bones and is fiddly to eat, we just love it.

It is the height of summer in the Philippines around this time of the year. Although it is terribly hot, it is also incredibly fun. It is the time for fiestas and picnics. 

Going on a picnic is a whole day outing, usually with family or friends. The more rustic the setting, the better. The highlight is always the sumptous lunch. Everyone brings out their food and lines them up on banana leaves lining the table. Rice is always the main feature of a Filipino picnic. Everything else revolves around it. 

There would almost always be charcoal grilling involved. Pork, chicken and fish are usually on the menu. If bangus is grilled, it is always stuffed with onions and tomatoes. Bangus has a fatty belly but the flesh is very lean. Stuffing it gives it moisture and of course, more flavour. In a more local setting, It is usually wrapped in just banana leaves and grilled until the leaves char and fall off.

I like my bangus done just right, moist and with a good amount of filling. It isn't easy to do all these at the same time. Sometimes the fish is overcooked and dry by the time the stuffing is cooked. My solution to that is to pre-cook the stuffing before using. That also jumpstarts the cooking process as the filling is already hot.

Food like this are major rice magnets; they are so appetizing and so good with rice that you tend to eat a lot of it. It would have been a lot nicer to eat this if there were bamboo trees swaying and warm breezes blowing, and if it's not too much to ask, a gurgling brook. 

Ingredients:

1 bangus (this can be substituted with sea bass)
juice of 1/2 lime or 2 calamansi
2 tsps. light soy sauce
4 tsps. olive oil
ground black pepper
1/2 c. chopped tomatoes
1/3 c. chopped red onions
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. fish sauce

Instructions:


Season the bangus with the lime or calamansi, light soy sauce, 2 tsps. of olive oil and a pinch of black pepper.

Mix the tomatoes, onions, garlic, sugar, a pinch of black pepper, 2 tsps. live oil and the fish sauce. Microwave on full power for 1 1/2 minutes.

Drain the excess liquid then use to fill the bangus.






Wrap in a piece of banana leaf, then in foil. Grill for 10 minutes on each side. Remove the foil, leaving the banana leaf on, and grill for 5 more minutes on each side.

For the dipping sauce:

1/4 c. vinegar
1/2 red onion
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
chilli


Mix all of the ingredients together and serve as a dipping sauce for the bangus.

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QUINOA CON POLLO

Quinoa is a relatively new grain but is in everyone's shopping trolley and store cupboard. What's the deal in quinoa? 

The food and Agricultural Organization of the UN has declared 2013 as The International Year of the Quinoa. It is actually a seed rather than a grain, is low in carbs, high in protein, has neither fat nor cholesterol content and is gluten free. These tiny, tiny seeds are touted as the new superfood. The list is long and very scientific and I get muddled by that sort of thing so I'll just say that it is really good for you.

MELONADE

HSBC's advert with a pretty little girl behind a lemonade stand is so charming. Talk about pushy Moms (why are we always the bad guys?), but it is her Dad who makes her lemonade. It is so sweet that she is so business savvy. It is so sweet that she is multi-lingual at a very young age, such a good foundation for a future business mogul. It is fascinating that though the street is an ordinary residential area, it is the on the tour bus route. It is so clever that none of the neighbours have noticed the business opportunity except this cute little girl.

THAI STYLE BEEF SALAD

My teenage daughter had dinner with some friends at a Thai restaurant recently. She loves Thai food and was looking forward to the meal as well as the company. She ordered Thai beef salad and thoroughly enjoyed but said it was a bit too hot for her taste. We are all fans of Thai food but can't hack the heat sometimes. It is the birds eye chillies that they use that can leave bit of sting on the tongue.

TROPICAL FRUIT COCKTAIL

Being in the tropics, the weather is usually hot in the Philippines. There are only two seasons: wet and dry and the divide between them is blurred. It is predominantly hot, sometimes very very hot, then wet when typhoons and monsoon rains come.

So how do we know when it's summer? It is summer when school finishes. It is summer when there is a town fiesta every week. It is summer when all our favourite fruits are in season. It is summer when there are a lot of insects wanting to feast on the fruits.

GADO GADO

Many, many years ago, my husband and I used to go to an Indonesian restaurant in London's West End called Bali. It was one of those cozy restaurants decorated in the style of the place the food comes from. That probably added a lot to its charms and made the food taste so exotic and delicious. 

PHO BO

To us Asians, there is no greater comfort food than a steaming bowl of noodle soup. Noodle shops abound providing instant satisfaction to those craving their regular fix. It is habit forming, which is good because, not only is it delicious, it is very nutritious, too.  

LOW FAT MANGO AND LIME FROZEN YOGHURT

As the summer sets in and the sweltering heat come upon us, it is time to once again indulge in our favourite refreshments. Unfortunately, unless it's a glass of iced water you're thinking of, there's always some calories involved. Our local supermarkets usually have special offers for ice creams making it all the more tempting to load up with our cooling but calorific creamy treats. 

FRESH RICE PAPER SPRING ROLLS

The British summer is so short. It is always gone before you even know that it's there. When the sun shines everyone scampers out of their houses and goes outdoors. 

PANDAN BRINED ROAST CHICKEN

Pandan or screwpine leaves are widely used in Southeast Asian cooking. It is used in both savoury and sweet dishes to add a very unique fragrance and taste to dishes. It has been likened to vanilla but I think it has a more fresh, leafy scent.

STEAMED SEA BASS

Fish plays a big role in Chinese celebrations. When served whole, including the head and the tail, it beckons a good beginning and end to the year. The Chinese word for fish "Yu" sounds like the words for wish and abundance. Eating fish on Chinese new year symbolizes prosperity for the whole year.