Oishinbu at Little Tokyo

I'm too lazy to write something lengthy at the moment but my friends brought me to this Japanese restaurant in Makati inside Little Tokyo and was I really full after. The best for me were the gyoza and tempura. The gyoza was juicy yet slightly crispy while the tempura had the fattest shrimps I ever ate. LOL. We are going to try the other restaurants beside it next. Gotta save though for the food was a bit on the expensive side. But definitely worth it.

Easy Sundubu Jigae

I was craving for Sundubu Jigae (Soon Duboo Chigae to some), a Korean tofu stew, for sometime now and even though my friends and I ate at Yedang (Korean restaurant in Ortigas) my tongue seems to be yearning for the dish every week!

So at the grocery store, I realized maybe I can replicate the dish again, but with some revisions since I don't have all the ingredients at hand. I looked up some easy Sundubu recipes on Youtube and bought stuff this afternoon. It tasted close to the real thing :)

I hope you find this easy to do too.

Easy Sundubu Jigae

1 block silk tofu, chopped into huge blocks

1/4 cup onion leeks, chopped thinly

1/4 k pork strips or menudo cut

1 white onion, minced

1 big clove garlic, minced

1 small pouch of Dae Kimchi

2 tablespoons of red pepper paste

2 tablespoons of patis or fish sauce

1/2 pouch of Del Monte Caldereta sauce

2 eggs

mushrooms (can be button, shitake or whichever you like)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 1/2 cups water

Saute garlic and onion in sesame oil. Add the pork and fish sauce. Saute until brown then add the water. Let it boil for 10 minutes then add the kimchi and red pepper paste. Put in the tofu then let it simmer. Add the caldereta sauce, mushroom and leeks. Let boil then crack the two eggs. Do not stir. Turn off the stove and let the remaining heat cook the egg. Serve with steamed white rice.

Sangchu Geotjeori or Korean Lettuce Salad

I saw this Korean recipe being made on 2 Days, 1 Night (shown on KBS) the other week. My sis said maybe I can replicate it. I found a recipe similar to the one on TV and some of the ingredients were a bit hard to find. So I decided to do some variations, available here in our supermarkets in Manila.

Sangchu Geotjeori or Korean Lettuce Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch romaine lettuce

2 tbsps. of red pepper paste

1 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

green onion leaves, chopped

Chop lettuce into bite size pieces. Add chopped green onion leaves and minced garlic. Add corn syrup and sesame oil. Add red pepper paste and soy sauce. Mix. Then sprinkle sesame seeds. Serve.

Good healthy stuff. Hope you like it.

Arce Dairy Ice Cream

Arce used to be the makers of Selecta Ice Cream but they eventually built their own brand in the late 90s. Since I've tasted the ice cream on a cone in UP during my college days, it has since become my favorite local ice cream.

My top 3 favorite flavors of Arce are pistachio, caramel and sweet corn. What I like about the ice cream is that the flavors are not too sweet and the milky taste is prominent. It also melts a bit faster than other local brand ice creams, I guess it having less artificial stuff.

I have yet to taste some of their other unique flavors like buko lychee, atis and blueberry cheese cake.

My version of risotto

This is the second time I've made "risotto" and it's more of Filipino rather than Italian. The first time I did this, I added uncooked rice into the broth and stirred constantly. It tasted great but the rice was cooked unevenly. So this time around I used cooked rice, since we had a lot of left overs from last night's dinner. And it was faster to cook too. If you love mushrooms and cream then this is a nice dish for you.

Patty's Beef and Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

Rice (cooked, about 3 cups)

Mushrooms of your choice (we used brown and shitake, put as many as you like)

Beef sirloin (or any thinly sliced beef in the grocery store cut into tiny pieces)

Frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

Butter ( 2 tbsps)

Garlic (1-2 cloves, minced)

Evaporated milk (one small can)

All Purpose Cream (the one in the small box)

Beef cube (1 cube)

Salt and sugar to taste

Water

Parmesan cheese

Saute minced garlic in butter. Add the beef and stir fry until it turns brown. Add the mushrooms then the vegetables. Add a half cup of water then add the beef cube, let it simmer. Add the can of milk and the whole box of cream. Add salt and sugar to taste. When it begins to boil, add the rice. Stir the rice thoroughly and mix the beef, vegetables and mushroom evenly. Stir constantly. You can add a bit more of water if it appears a little dry. Let it heat a bit then serve. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top for more of that Italian taste.

Hope you like this one.