That Korean Taste

Have you ever wondered why every morsel of meat, noodle and vegetable in Korean dishes is very flavorful? That the texture of each of the ingredients blends well with all the others? We recently discovered the reason.

A gift of Korean noodles (the grayish one) made us hound our friend for the recipe for Japchae and we decided to serve our brood something different so we went Korean. This is a dish with tenderloin beef and spinach, sesame seeds, pine nuts, etc. The secret? Marinating. Each major ingredient–the noodles, the beef and even the veggie–is marinated separately, set aside for a few minutes before finally cooking the dish. Typical Korean soy sauce must be used, also sesame oil and seeds, for added flavor. Because we wanted to serve authentic Korean fare, we hied off to Hanaro on President Ave., which has been operating in BF Homes Parañaque for a while. It is a haven of everything one would need for Korean cooking, with a wide selection of foodstuff as well as grillers, etc. Grace, who works in the store, is a great help. She knows exactly what they are selling and can answer all questions. We had a super noodle dish that went so fast we had to cook more half way through lunch.

Over the weekend, we finally made it to the Organic Market in Pasig (Julia Vargas corner San Miguel Aves.) in the Ortigas area. Don’t go too early, as we did (before 7:30 a.m.) or you’ll find the stall owners still putting up their tents and arranging their merchandise. It is not actually at the back of Podium as we were initially told. It is along the mall, on what looks like the parking area of Banco de Oro. This is where the Greenbelt group went to, after the Makati complex was converted into what it is now.

We were thankful that our suki, Leklek, was already set-up when we went there. As usual she has fresh vegetables such as golden zucchini at P120 a kilo, US salad tomatoes for the same price, cantaloupe at P40 each, fresh fennel bulbs at P200 a kilo plus romaine and Lola Rosa lettuce and kuchay (garlic chives) at P400 a kilo (you need only about 50 gms for a kilo of steak). What delighted us were the dried tanglad for P30 a small pack and dried bottled pandan at P50. Organized into the Alliance of Volunteers in Development Foundation, Inc. Leklek told us that her group has started exporting preserved local herbs and spices.

Next to her is the Rizal Dairy which produces a lot of healthy yogurt and a variety of cheeses, also Don Felipe organic vinegar for P19 a bottle of 375 ml, light tropical bottled jams at P60 each. There was a young man manning the "My Goodness, food that nourish" stall. Interesting name, apparently a spin off from the owner’s Greens Vegetarian Restaurant and Café in Quezon City. They sell cookies (from P70 to P165) which are moist and chewy and bottled (Tobee’s) honey at P150 (500 gms). Also in this market is Real Fresh brand free range chicken, marinated honey glazed for P185 a piece or dressed at P135.

The new SM Bicutan is composed of two buildings. If you are entering Bicutan from the South the Super Center which houses the supermarket is on the left. There is ample free parking space. This is a pleasant place to shop and prices are at SM levels, meaning reasonable. The fresh section with a good selection of seafood is equipped with state-of-the art hanging water spouts for cleaning fish. Salmon belly costs P209 a kilo while the steak is tagged at P315. They also have a big tank for live fish where swimming lapu lapu is priced at P473. Those on the rack go for P199 a kilo.

The Ocean Fresh line by Frabelle includes frozen yellow fin tuna at P95.75 a pack of 500 gms, gindara fillet at P140. In the vegetable-fruit section we found fresh tamarind (ripe) and the now much-preferred yellow capsicums. SM carries a wide range of rice, from the house brand Bonus to the imported variety, like Happy Buddha from Japan for P25 a kilo, and the locally grown organic rice at P70 for a pack of two kilos.

Happy shopping but watch that purse–lots of cellphones have been stolen in malls from unsuspecting shoppers.

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Lydia D. Castillo’s e-mail address: [email protected]