Dear Readers, 

Fellow Food Enthusiasts!

Are we ready to taste the World? ?? ?? ?? ?? 

Sometimes it can be particularly challenging to find authentic ingredients that allow us recreate cuisines from our home countries, while abroad.

Discover today, how many cultures across the globe, share ingredients, spices and herbs, under different names. Finding these fusions has become my new passion.

This quick and easy  Filipino dishes are made with just 8 ingredients in 30 minutes! A great meal on busy weeknights for the family. 

Here are a few ideas i'd love to share:

 ADOBO CHICKEN - 30mins (Feeds 5-6)

Filipino Chicken Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines and may well become your new favourite Asian chicken dish! Just a few everyday ingredients I can practically guarantee you already have, it’s an effortless recipe that yields juicy, tender chicken coated in a sweet savoury glaze with little pops of heat from peppercorns.

This is a chicken thigh recipe and it MUST be made with thighs – no substituting with chicken breast!

• boneless skinless chicken thighs – cannot substitute with breast, need the fat to transform sauce into a glaze;

• soy sauce – all purpose or light soy sauce. NOT dark soy sauce (bottle will be labelled as such if it’s dark soy sauce);

• white vinegar – just everyday, plain white vinegar. Sub with any clear vinegar, including rice wine, apple cider, sherry vinegar;

• onion and garlic;

• peppercorns – or coarse cracked pepper; (african uziza leaf is a good alternative for that spicy and aromatic vibe)

• sugar – brown best, white ok;

• bay leaves – fresh or dried, not the end of the world if you don’t have; and

• green onion – optional garnish (African dried spinach is also a good garnish)

KARE KARE : cooking time 1hr to 3hrs (Feeds 4-6)

Kare Kare is a type of Filipino stew with a rich and thick peanut sauce. It is a popular dish in the Philippines served during special occasions. The traditional recipe is composed of ox tail. There are instances wherein both ox tripe and tail are used. The vegetable components of the dish are string beans, eggplant, bok choy, and banana blossoms. Lightly browned toasted ground rice is used to thicken the sauce.

 Useful Tips to keep cooking time low:

• To make your kare kare more affordable, try to add cuts of meat that are often used for long braised stews like beef shanks. 
• If you are using additional meat like beef shanks, cut the meat into similar sizes so they cook evenly during braising. 
• Use a blender that is powerful enough to pulverize the peanuts and toasted rice.
• Also be careful not to over-pulverize the ground peanuts because they might end up like peanut butter, which we don’t want.  
• Cool the toasted rice before blending it into a pulp. This is mostly for safety just in case your blender or food processor doesn’t react kindly to super hot food. I like to cool it down in front of a fan. 
• Blanch your vegetables before adding them into the stew to make sure they’re all cooked evenly. You don’t have to play the game of “are the beans going to cook the same time as the eggplant?” I like to prep the vegetables during braising. 

    You can also use RED PALMOIL for that nutty flavour and to sautee your ingredients.

And finish with some SPINACH to enjoy your leafy greens.

Vegan Kare Kare: This plant-based version replaces meat with extra firm TOFU