Home-cooking made easy

In years past, the “regulars” on a Filipino table, especially at breakfast, were pork tocino, daing, longganiza, dried small fish (tuyo and dilis) and tinapa. They come in handy when homemakers have very little time to prepare a meal from scratch. Besides, we have not encountered any Pinoy who did not like eating these foods.

Today, with the emergence of different cuisines, accompanied by the availability of foreign cooking elements, home-cooking has been made much easier. French, Korean, Japanese, Chinese ingredients, including seasoning and mixes, give joy to the homemaker, as sukiyaki or phad thai can be on one’s dining table in a matter of minutes with little preparation required.

A favorite outlet, the South Supermarket in Alabang, carries not only seasoning and sauces, but specially cut meat (beef and pork), each specifically labelled for a particular dish. It gives us pleasure that most are imported, mainly from the US. This is not to denigrade local meat, but constant disappointment over our own meat supply has made us come to appreciate the imports. The cost is also very competitive.

It is here in South Supermarket that we get our meat for shabu-shabu, Korean barbecue, sukiyaki and kalbi.

It is also here that we buy the bottled mixes for each dish. This saves us from buying some ingredients like mirin and kelp extract, likewise from the tedious chore of preparation, chopping, cutting, etc. 

The bottle of 500 ml sukiyaki sauce is good for at least four uses, if using only a half kilo of US beef (P305.80). It contains shoyu (soy), sugar, mirin (Japanese rice wine), alcohol spirit and kelp extract.

The dish is so simple to make. Fry the beef slightly (in beef fat, if available), add leeks and onions, add the meat, add water and one-fifth of the sauce. In minutes you’ll have an authentic Japanese specialty with all its authentic flavors. 

Now, have you ever wondered what makes Korean bulgogi so delicious? Apple and pear juices are the secret elements. It gives the mixture its slightly sweet and fruity flavor.

The pasta sauces have also caught our interest for quite a while. There are a lot of them in almost all supermarkets, even the food section of Marks and Spencer.

We have delighted in Hunt’s variants from its Three-Cheese to the Italian original. The French Casino brand, carried by all Shopwise outlets, have their Ratatouille sauce for those who want only vegetables in their noodles. This is done by simmering in olive oil a combination of eggplants, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, garlic and herbs.

Pick your choice, then, from the many kitchen aids that make home cooking very easy, while producing tasty dishes.

We recently got introduced to the newest variant of Pizza Hut, the Thin and Crispy. This is one real comfort food and quite exciting as one hears the ‘crunch’ with every bite. The toppings are the usual from the company, Barbecue, Three-Cheese, Veggie Lovers Supreme, De Luxe, etc. They are now conducting a FaceBook promo, called “It’s Crunch Time”, which awards a coupon for purchase of at list one such pizza. This goes on until Sept 20 when a grand raffle will be held. Prizes include a Samsung Galaxy S111 or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. Registrants will also have the chance to get gift certificates through the roulette.

Among the most unfriendly staff of some establishments are those in drug stores. One staff at the Mercury Drug in the South Supermarket building gave us a bottle of Allergy syrup with the wrong dosage. Confident of their reliability, we walked off, but when we looked closely, it had a higher milligram count. Back to the store, we were given the run around – the original lady attendant after a few minutes wait, waved us to a male staff who could not compute how much more we had to pay, then, with a pout, practically threw the bottle to us. Training definitely needed.

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