Korean Cuisine

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Norma Chikiamco

The ongoing Korean Food Festival in Hotel InterContinental’s Café Jeepney reminds me so much of the food my daughter and I had in Seoul last year.  One of our best meals was in Maple Tree House, where we had slabs of well-marbled beef, cooked tableside. IMG_1780 With it were several marinated maple leaves with which to wrap the beef.  Very tasty, not to mention the novelty of eating maple leaves.  Maple Tree House is located in 116-1 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.  Finding the place can be quite tricky, especially at night (our taxi driver wasn’t very cooperative). Try calling up first for direction (telephone (02) 730-7461 or (02) 574-4468), or ask your hotel concierge to give the taxi driver the exact directions.

In one of the shopping districts, we also enjoyed a soup of boiled noodles made from blended beans,IMG_1912: Noodles made from blended beans, with clams, served in a restaurant in Seoul as well as some yummy dumplings. IMG_1908: Dumplings, Seoul Present in almost every meal was kimchi, IMG_2050: Kimchi, served in a restaurant in Seoulfermented spicy cabbage leaves,  served along with other appetizers such as pickled cucumbers, marble potatoes, bean sprouts and cold spinach.

What we also loved in Seoul were the pastries, the most intriguing of which was a sweet delicacy called Dragon’s Beard, made with delicately wound together strands of wheat.  Waffles, too, seemed to be a favorite treat among the Koreans; the waffle we had in a coffee shop was all dressed up IMG_1999with a scoop of ice cream, swirls of whipped cream and chocolate, and slices of fresh strawberries.

IMG_8664

Kalbijim, served in Hotel InterContinental's Cafe Jeepney

At Hotel InterContinental Manila, Café Jeepney will be serving typical Korean dishes as part of its regular lunch and dinner buffet until May 27.  The dishes include kalbijim (beef rib stew), bibimbap (rice topped with beef and assorted vegetables), haemul pajeon (seafood and spring onion pancake) and of course kimchi. The festival, held in cooperation with Ara Korean Restaurant, is until May 27. Call 793-7000, local 771 and 772 for reservations (buffet price is P1600 ++ per person; those paying the full price will be entitled to unlimited servings of Korean persimmon punch).

IMG_8659

Japchae, as served in Cafe Jeepney, during the ongoing Korean Food Festival

Another dish being served in Cafe Jeepney as part of the Korean Food Fest is japchae, glass noodles with a sweet-salty flavor, mixed with sliced beef and vegetables.  Japchae is the featured recipe in my DIY column in today’s (May 17) issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. To view the recipe, see the Lifestyle section in today’s Inquirer, page C2 or click on the following link:http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/48303/%E2%80%98japchae%E2%80%99%E2%80%93korean-noodles

Posted in Articles, Food and travel, Main Courses, Recipes, Tastes and Impressions, Uncategorized, Updates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pineapple Made Sweeter

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Norma Chikiamco

Give fresh pineapples added flavor by caramelizing them in butter and sugar.  That’s my DIY recipe in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. And just so the pineapple doesn’t get cloyingly sweet, add a hint of salt.  This gives the pineapple a sweet yet oh so subtle salty flavor, the sweet and salty combination being one of the latest trends in the food world (thus the salted caramel, chocolate-covered potato chips, etc.)

And speaking of salt, it used to be that we had very few choices when it came to buying salt in Manila’s markets.  Mostly it would be just a choice between rock salt or iodized refined salt.  Now there are plenty of salt varieties available, including Mediterranean sea salt with its own grinder, Himalayan salt (with an exotic pink color), even fleur de sel from France. Casa Carmela of Bacolod also makes sea salt mixed with herbs such as lemongrass.

For my pineapple recipe, I used finely ground Himalayan salt mixed with brown sugar.  I also used Dole’s Tropical Gold fresh pineapple, which is available in the fruit section of big supermarkets. These fresh pineapples are already sweet to begin with, IMG_8539but when caramelized this way, they become irresistible.

You can even serve the caramelized pineapple rings with vanilla ice cream, or use them as topping for chiffon cake–to make instant pineapple downside up cake.

To view my DIY recipe for caramelized pineapple rings,  see page D2, Lifestyle Section, in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer or click on the following link:http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/47077/caramelized-pineapple-rings .

Posted in Desserts, Recipes, Tastes and Impressions, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Turbo-Baked Potato Wedges

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Norma Chikiamco

I usually like to have baked potatoes as a side dish for steak or roast chicken.  In restaurants, baked potatoes are often served with skin on, partly sliced at the center, with the inner part of the potatoes scooped out and fluffed up.  A topping of sour cream, crumbled bacon and chopped spring onions makes the dish even more appealing.

In today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, however, my DIY recipe is for baked potatoes of a different kind.  Instead of whole potatoes, I cut the potatoes into wedges, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and paprika.  Then instead of baking them in a regular oven, I bake the potato wedges in a turbo broiler, which is a kind of  portable convection oven.

In some recipes such as this, a turbo broiler is easier to use than a regular oven because it’s handier.  There’s no need to open an oven door to slide in (and later slide out) a whole dish containing potato wedges.  Instead I just lift the lid of the turbo broiler, pop in the dish containing the potato wedges, then set the temperature and the timer.  When the potatoes are done, I just lift the dish out of the turbo broiler. IMG_8137: Turbo Baked Potatoes Wedgesfor DIY

Not having to preheat the big oven saves me electricity and keeps my kitchen cooler, which is a big plus during these hot summer days.

The only drawback with a turbo broiler is that its interior is so much smaller than that of a regular oven.  Finding a baking dish that fits could therefore be a challenge.  For these baked potatoes I used an 8” x 8” baking pan—like the one I use for baking brownies—which fits snugly inside the turbo broiler.

This recipe was inspired by a similar dish I saw in one of the dinners I attended recently while on holiday in Sydney.  When family friends (and relatives by affinity) Carina and Pics Colinares hosted a dinner for us one evening, sliced roasted potatoes IMG_6594: Roasted Potatoes served in the house of Pics and Carinawas one of the dishes they served–and it was such a hearty accompaniment to the roast beef, pasta and other dishes on the table.

They also served an excellent dessert of fruits and assorted Australian cheeses.
IMG_6598: Dessert in the house of Pics and Carina Colinares

IMG_6599: Dessert in the house of Pics and Carina Colinares

On the other hand, our breakfasts in Sydney would be great meals, too. My brother Vic and his wife Yeyet would sometimes surprise us with splendid breakfasts of : Eggs Benedict in the house of Vic and Yeyet OlizonEggs Benedict, with the eggs expertly poached then layered on smoked salmon, fresh rocket leaves and toasted English muffins, before being topped with hollandaise sauce. There would even be asparagus, fresh tomatoes and a mound of caviar on the side.

Other times we’d have stacks of fluffy pancakes served with Australian butter and thick maple syrup.  What made the breakfasts even more special was having it on their newly installed deck, where we could have a view of the nearby woods and listen to the twitters of the birds (and the cackling of the kookaburra) as we savored our meal.

To view my DIY recipe for turbo-baked potato wedges (and a few other variations), see today’s (May 3)  issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lifestyle section (pagesC2-C3) or click on the following link: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/46029/turbo-baked-potato-wedges

Posted in Meal Starters and Side Dishes, Recipes, Tastes and Impressions, Uncategorized, Updates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Tale of (More Than) Two Brownies

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Norma Chikiamco

Oh the many brownies I have known!  My DIY recipe in today’s issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer is just one of them.  It’s my sister Cory’s recipe, which she improvised out of one I had given her many years ago, long before she moved to Sydney, Australia.  While I consider my recipe pretty good, hers has an appeal of its own because it’s easier and simpler to do.  The jury is still out, however, on whose brownies are better, hers

IMG_6742

Brownies as baked by Cory Yap, in Sydney, Australia

IMG_8038

Brownies as I baked them for today's DIY (using Cory's recipe)

or mine.

The well-meaning turncoats in our family, not wanting to offend anyone, would probably pick whose ever brownies they’re feasting on at the moment.

Anyway, back in high school in Baguio where I was then studying, my classmate Ann Loreto Tamayo would sometimes bring brownies to school as baon.  She’d generously share the brownies with our other classmates and me, the school boarders who were then miserably deprived of home cooking (the food served by the nuns in the refectory was detestable).  At other times, when we weren’t pinching brownies from Ann Loreto, my co-boarders and I would buy the brownies in the old D & S grocery in Session Road. Those were really good brownies, with a rich chocolate flavor accented by lots of chopped nuts and most important of all to me, it was fudgy, not cakelike (I hate cakey brownies).

One time, upon my insistence, Ann Loreto gave me the recipe for her mother’s brownies.   Not having access to the nuns’ kitchen, I waited till school break, when I would be back home in Manila, to bake those brownies.  I think it was the first thing that I’ve ever baked in my life and since it turned out not just edible but also scrumptious, it would be my go-to recipe for brownies for many years afterwards. Unfortunately, with the many moves I’ve made since graduating from boarding school, I’ve long ago lost that recipe.  Maybe it was also because for a few years afterwards, food, for me, was inconsequential, my concern then being directed more towards writing and newspaper journalism.

My erstwhile interest in cooking and baking was resuscitated only after I got married, and found myself with a husband and young children to cook for.  That was when I discovered this brownie recipe that I would eventually share with my sister.  It was featured in one of the foreign, glossy magazines that was lying around in the editorial office where I was then working.  Curious, I copied that recipe, tried it at home and found the brownies moist, fudgy and with just the right amount of sweetness. It has since been my favorite for baking brownies (Ann Loreto’s mother’s recipe having long been lost to oblivion).  I even brought the recipe with me when we moved to Syracuse, New York, and would often bake those brownies for my kids and their friends, as well as for the occasional bake sale we would have in our community.

The brownie recipe is one of the featured recipes in my cookbook The Recipes I Love,which was published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. and launched a few years ago in Manila.  For the curious who have a copy of this book, Continue reading →

Posted in Behind the Scene, Desserts, Recipes, Uncategorized, Updates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment