Recently

• Enoki mushrooms
• Coriander seeds
• Miso paste
• Turmeric (yellow ginger)
• Powdered dashi
• Shaoxing rice wine
• Jams and jellies
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Oyster sauce
• Sake

In the archive

• Garlic oyster sauce
• Firm tofu
• Kamias (Averrhoa bilimbi)
• Preserved seedless plums
• Bragg Liquid Aminos
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Enoki mushrooms
• Coriander seeds
• Miso paste
• Turmeric (yellow ginger)

Recent Comments

• Grace I
  on 'Powdered dashi'

Firm tofu

Local tokwa is cheaper but since I first tried Masoya Japanese firm tofu, it has been the only firm tofu for me. Discovering it was quite by accident. I was looking for silken tofu to make miso soup and there was only Masoya silken tofu. My eyes went past the Masoya firm tofu, I was not really interested thinking that firm tofu is firm tofu so why pay a high price for something I can get so cheap? There must be six kinds of local tokwa, in different sizes, on the same supermarket shelf. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when the same supermarket ran out of local tokwa that I was obliged to buy Masoya Japanese firm tofu.

Kamias (Averrhoa bilimbi)

Despite the similarity of the scientific name of the kamias to balimbing, they are two different fruits. Balimbing is Averrhoa carambola and the popular English name is star fruit. Sliced cross-wise, the cut pieces look like five-pointed stars.

Kamias is smoother but acidic as well. It is boiled and strained, or cut into small pieces, to flavor the classic sinigang and to cook paksiw na isda.

Preserved seedless plums

Bought on a whim at an Oriental food shop called The Big Little Store along Gilmore Avenue in Quezon City, I fully intended to eat these preserved plums as a snack. Then I chanced upon a wonderful recipe of scones with fruits and thought, “Why not preserved plums instead?” The result was delicious. Perhaps, it’s the licorice in the preserved plums.

These seedless plums are sold individually wrapped in 400-gram packs. P165 per pack. All natural ingredients (plums, orange peel, sugar, licorice and salt) with no preservatives added.

Bragg Liquid Aminos

I was introduced to Bragg Liquid Aminos by Susan Hassig, owner of Vieux Chalet Swiss Inn. She said I should try it in lieu of salt and I found myself using it in place or salt, patis (fish sauce) and (Knorr) liquid seasoning. It is good…

At P200 per pint, it is a rather expensive substitute for patis and salt for cooking. But as a dipping sauce, or if you like to sprinkle your food portion with additional seasoning…

Shiitake mushrooms

Dried shiitake mushrooms are available in most supermarkets; fresh ones aren’t that easy to find. While dried shiitake is more convenient for storage purposes — keep them away from moisture and they can last for a couple of months — but there’s nothing like fresh shiitake. For some reason, even when soaked for hours, the texture and flavor dried shiitake aren’t quite the same as fresh ones.

To prepare shiitake mushrooms — fresh or dried — the stems need to be cut off and discarded. Whether the caps need to be sliced or not…