Shoyu Chicken

Shoyu chicken

When I was a student at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, one of the first local dishes I learned to cook was shoyu chicken. It is yummy and the gingery taste is a reflection of the Japanese influence in Hawaiian cooking. Of course, there are hallmark Hawaiian dishes like poi and kahlua pig but those were more difficult to prepare without the proper equipment. You can't miss with shoyu chicken and it will always draw raves when you bring it to potluck parties or picnics. Once I visited my older brother in L.A., and his family liked my concoction a lot that they named it "ginger chicken." Shoyu means soy sauce so the dish may be called soy sauce chicken but calling it shoyu chicken is being true to its Hawaiian roots. Here's my kitchen-tested recipe:

Shoyu Chicken

3/4 kg chicken thighs
2 tbsps soy sauce
1-inch ginger (peeled and pounded)
1 tbsp cooking oil
¼ tsp sugar
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 star anise
½ cup water
½ tsp crushed dried chili

Marinate chicken in soy sauce and ginger for at least 1 hour. Add oil to skillet. Pan fry marinated chicken and ginger until light brown. When chicken pieces have turned light brown, pour off excess oil. Add marinade, oyster sauce, sugar, star anise, water and crushed dried chili. Simmer for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Discard fried ginger before serving. Serve hot with steamed jasmine rice.

Banh xeo and banh canh

Banh xeo - Vietnamese crepe

Last week (5-10 January 2008) I was again in Ho Chi Minh City so I went to 46A Dinh Cong Trang Street in District 1, the place for banh xeo and banh canh. It is on a road opposite the Tan Dinh Catholic church on Hai Ba Trung Street. Banh xeo is one of the landmark Vietnamese dishes that you must try when you're in Saigon. The Vietnamese pancake is filled with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts which is served with lettuce, sprigs of mint and Asian basil leaves and other herbs. To eat the pancake, take one of the larger leaves and use it to wrap around pieces of the pancakewith some of the smaller leaves thrown in, before dipping it all in a bowl of fish sauce, water, chili, lime juice, a little sugar, and garlic.





















Banh xeo is cooked on a large flat skillet on an open fire. When the pan becomes hot, shrimp, fat pork and bean sprouts are added. A thin layer of batter is then poured into the pan and covered. After just a few minutes, it is ready to be folded in half and served.























An excellent noodle dish to accompany banh xeo is banh canh. As you eat the short round noodles (bee tai mak) , you can't help but make a slurping sound. The soup has a lot of flavor which comes from pig trotters boiled and simmered for a long time. Banh canh is essentially a noodle soup with a chunk of boiled pork and finely chopped green onions and coriander leaves added to the bowl of noodles.

Divisoria's best kept secrets

I started going to Divisoria when I was a UP Diliman student more than 30 years ago, so in all these years, I have discovered the nooks and crannies of Manila's biggest market. To start the new year, I have decided to share with you what I have learned on where to buy the best stuff. It will be a long list, so for starters, let me begin with a few ...

Curtain materials - Larry's Curtains on Recto near the corner of J. Abad Santos Avenue. Larry's has a wide selection of drapes and curtain materials and all the fittings and accessories to install curtains -- rods, hooks, pins, etc. Name it, Larry has it. Most curtain makers in Metro Manila (notably Julie Habacon, tel. 63-2 658-7560) go to Larry's for fabrics and accessories. If your requirements are upscale, I suggest you go to the main store of Larry's Curtains which is on the South Superhighway, right side facing south. In the main store, you will find imported textile fabrics, rugs, etc. But the shop in Divisoria has a lot of stuff to choose from too.

Beddings - Aling Ising's is near Security Bank on the ground floor of the A. Ledesma building on Tabora St. To get there, walk through the Ilaya alleys (pasilio) until you come out to the street parallel to it. Enter another block and find your way to the Security Bank area. Behind it you will find Aling Ising's. It is a maze and if you get lost, don't fret. Just ask the nearby shops for directions. At this store, you will find a wide range of bed sheets, bed spreads, comforters, pillow cases, blankets, pillows and towels of every size and color imaginable. It is a great place for buying wedding presents. The prices are fixed and many traders and retailers from nearby provinces buy their stuff from Aling Ising's. My favorite buy here is Serene pillows. A 20 x 30 inch or XL size costs only P230. The pillow contains 100% hypoallergenic polyester fiberfill which doesn't flatten even after years of use.

Plastic bags - For your plastic bag needs, head to Carmen Planas St. Why this fuss about plastic bags? Well, my son lives in a condominium unit in Makati where recycling and segregating is the way of life. Consider these: Recyclable bottles, soda cans, and plastic containers go into a transparent plastic bag; non-recyclable poisonous wastes like batteries, chemicals, acids, etc. must go into a red bag and placed on the floor of the refuse room. Food scraps, kitchen refuse and leftover should be placed in a plastic container and picked up from outside the door of one's unit at 0600 to 0900 every morning, etc. I know that my son will just buy plastic bags in his favorite supermarket and not mind the price. So I make sure to stock up on these.

Parallel to Ilaya St., Carmen L. Planas St. is where you will see atis trees growing near the top of some of the buildings. Just look up and if you see atis trees, this is the street. Go to Tong Yak Grocery & Gen. Merchandise at No. 811-813 of this street. Telephone numbers are 02-241-9086, 241-9088. It has no sign board but it's the third shop on the left side of Carmen Planas St. coming from Divisoria Mall. It displays the different types, colors, sizes, and thicknesses of plastic bags and food containers that they sell. Based on my own canvass, it offers the cheapest prices in Divisoria.

No-battery flashlights - I first bought this type of flashlight in Yiwu in Zhejiang province. This small hand-pressing flashlight can be quite handy, especially during a power outage, when you frantically search for a candle or a flashlight whose batteries may have been drained. As the name suggests, this type of flashlight doesn't need any battery for illumination. All you need to do is to press it a few times. It runs pretty much like the way dynamo bicycle lights work. You can find this in 168 Mall in Divisoria. If you buy one piece, the Chinese seller would usually quote 50 pesos but many shops sell it for 35 pesos or 3 for 100 pesos if you buy wholesale (read: at least 6 pieces). When you buy it, test each one yourself. Don't leave the testing to the salesgirls because they can slip in a defective unit.

Fabrics - Ilaya still remains as the place to go for good quality fabrics, usually imported from Japan or Korea. For men's fabrics, go to Benson's in Ilaya. To find it, enter the alley just under the Divine Mart signage. On the other side of Recto Ave. , there are also textile shops worth exploring. Look for the "Carolina's Lace" signboard and walk through the narrow alley. Unless the seller is your suki, be extra alert as some sellers may shortchange you and shave off an inch or two from the fabric you bought. A good deterrent is either to ask if their measurement is accurate (Tama ba ang sukat nyo?) or show the tape measure you brought and say that you will measure it again after the fabric has been cut (Susukatin ko uli kung tama ang sukat.).

Mugs and decorative plates - Here's reader Jojo Agot's tip: i found a place where you can order mugs and decorative plates with your name and personal messages handwritten on them. The artists are so good that you can order as many mugs as you want without ever having two identical designs. Perfect for giveaways to friends and officemates. it's found below Carriedo Station of LRT1.

To be continued .... In the mean time, tell us about your favorite shop or suki in Divisoria and share it with us.

Biko for the New Year

In the run-up to the New Year, you might want to cook something sweet and sticky and the easiest dessert to make is biko for Visayans or sinukmani for Tagalogs. Each one might have his/her own recipe for biko but the recipe below is so scrumptious it will make you forget your low-carb diet. Adding finely chopped calamansi peel, which I learned from my Bol-anon students, will give it a lemony tang which is a good counterpoint to the rich coconut milk and brown sugar taste. Try it and I'm sure you will like it.

This recipe serves four hungry persons so you may need to double or treble the measurements if you're cooking for a bigger group.

Moni's Biko

2 cups malagkit (preferably tapul or black)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 big coconut, grated
1 1/2 c water
1 tbsp finely chopped peel calamansi or grated lemon rind
2 tbsps pounded ginger

Put 2 cups malagkit or sticky rice in rice cooker pot or thick pot using an equal amount of water. Add salt and pounded ginger; push the ginger to the bottom of the pot. Cook until done. Add 1 1/2 cups water to the grated coconut and extract the milk. Mix coconut milk, 3/4 cup brown sugar and chopped calamansi peel in a wok (kawali, kawa). Bring to a boil, then put in medium heat and keep on stirring until the mixture is thick. You need to stir continuously to prevent the coconut milk-brown sugar mixture from curdling. [To test the mixture for thickness, put a drop of the coco milk-sugar mixture (latik) in 1/4 cup water.] If it dissolves in the water, it isn’t ready yet so continue simmering until it is thicker. Stir in the cooked malagkit and mix thoroughly with the latik.

Divisoria before the New Year

I went to Divisoria after lunch yesterday and realized that it was much too late in the day to go to a crowded place. But in the morning, I had to wait for the aircon technician to install a bigger drain pan to the bedroom aircon as it was leaking. Two nights before I could hear the water dripping on the aircon one floor down from my son's condo unit and I didn't want the resident to complain again.

Upon arrival, I avoided Divisoria and instead headed to Ongpin and Benavides St. to buy Zhen de shou for my son and two packs of black bean bread at Xinyilong and two taipao from Masuki. I escaped immediately afterwards and I was grateful to the pedicab driver for taking me to the area near Sta. Cruz church where traffic was surprisingly flowing at 3:30 p.m.

This morning I decided to return to Divisoria to buy a few items like the no-battery flashlights at 168 shopping mall, a batik malong and Caruso handkerchiefs in Ilaya, seedless navel oranges at Sto. Cristo, etc. Being the wholesale fruit center in Divisoria, Sto. Cristo was teeming with wooden crates of pomelo and guava and boxes of oranges, kiat-kiat, Fuji apples, etc. Piles of wooden crates and boxes of fruits spilled into the streets and this has caused a huge traffic jam.

Many Filipinos believe that having 12 round fruits on New Year's eve will bring them good fortune in the coming year. Round fruits are said to resemble money. Kuya Kim (Kim Atienza) was about to give the trivia surrounding this practice but I didn't get to hear his story. No wonder, fruit buying in Divisoria in the days leading to the New Year has become a frenzied madness. Many buyers, rich and poor alike, bought kiat-kiat, chico, grapes, dalandan (native orange), pears, longgan, guava, watermelon and apple. Someone on TV suggested yesterday that the 12 fruits need not be imported. One should consider aratilis or manzanitas (Singapore cherry), tomato, singkamas (turnips), mangosteen, santol, macopa (tambis), and mabolo.

Still, it is hard to resist the bargains that beckon everyone in Divisoria. It is a place where one's money will go a long way. Large seedless navel oranges were being sold at 3 for 50 pesos. I quickly calculated the price difference between the oranges I bought in Shopwise in Makati the week before and I succumbed to the bargains. Lugging back a dozen navel oranges was a challenge as I had to weave in and out through the sea of people, pedicabs, porters hauling boxes of fruits, and delivery vans.

For the uninitiated, Divisoria may not be the place to be during the holidays because the crowds and traffic jam will defeat you. But for the brave at heart like me, Divisoria will always be a special place.

Who are my readers?

It warms my heart to see an increasing number of readers from the Philippines, U.S.A., Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Germany. Google Analytics, which provide the stats, showed that in the Philippines, an overwhelming majority of my readers come from Batangas. Interesting. So far, very few has ever left a comment in my posts. Comments and posts make up a blog so I would appreciate it if you could leave some feedback -- a question, a comment, perhaps another twist to a recipe or a travel experience I have ranted or raved about.

I hope the lack of comment does not reflect a lack of trust in the writer of the blog. To find out more about me, you can check out my other professional blog -- devcompage -- in which I write in my own name and the About section describes what I have done professionally. Happy holidays and let me hear from you.

Moni's roast pork

Since it's Christmas eve, this is a good time to cook this special dish. This is my favorite and although the basic recipe is Chinese pork asado, I spent years modifying it while we were living in Kauai, Hawaii in the 1970s. It is so easy to make and it has always elicited raves from our dinner guests. Besides cooking it for formal occasions like dinner at home, I also bring it to picnics where the preferred potluck dishes are not the soupy ones.

The spices -- Chinese five spice powder and star anise -- can be found in Chinese grocery stores, supermarkets, or even wet markets. If buying these spices in a wet market, the key is to use their local terms.

If you have queries about the cooking procedure, please leave a comment to this post and I will get back to you quickly.

Moni’s roast pork

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 pcs star anise
1 head garlic, crushed
1 ½ cups water
2 kg pork ham (pigue) – whole with bone removed, tie with cotton string (crochet thread)
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup water

Mix the first five ingredients in a thick cooking pot or Dutch oven. Add whole pork ham (pigue). Cover and simmer in low fire for about 1 ½ hours or until tender when pricked with a fork – you may have to add more water to avoid drying up; make sure there’s about 1/3 cup liquid left in pot when pork is cooked. Remove pork from pot, cut string, and slice thinly (like ham). Thicken the remaining liquid in pot by stirring in cornstarch dissolved in water. Arrange the thinly sliced roast pork in cascading style on a platter. Drizzle some gravy on top of sliced roast pork, but keep a gravy boat nearby.