It looks like a hurricane has hit my apartment, just as my guest and friend Chiho Uei buzzes the intercom. There are jackets hung over chair backs. A dirty pan on the hob. Dust in dark corners. “Sorry Chiho,” I pre-emptively apologise. “It’s a bit of a mess when you come up!” “Don’t worry!” she says, “We’re … Read more
I enter my local supermarket in a somewhat gloomy state. There’s brown shreds of smooshed lettuce in the bottom of the stacked baskets. I pass the bunches of broccolini that have made national news for being too expensive. A big picture of Justine Schofield is printed on the side of a display. She smiles violently … Read more
Firstly unlike many other no churn ice cream recipes this one is not sickly sweet. I aimed to reduce the sweetness of the mandatory no churn condensed milk part (I think the sugar and custardy texture help make it more foolproof than a more headache-inducing version with an egg based custard or similar wizardry). ROASTED … Read more
Restaurant quality mushrooms from @maximmushrooms Everyone goes mushroom mad sometimes. This recipe is perfect for when you’ve bought or foraged a few too many of mother earth’s favourite umami cups. It features the usual pickling spices, plus the Filipino zap of coconut vin – a taste which pairs well with the meaty mushrooms and reminds … Read more
Aesop is an Australian skin-care and self-care company, known for their high-end, well-branded (and incredibly expensive) products. And there’s no bigger epitome of this than their fabled Post-Poo Drops, a toilet freshener which elicits an understated scent of Mandarin, Tangerine, and Ylang Ylang when plopped into your toilet bowl after (and this is to quote … Read more
There’s nothing like biting into some juicy mango on a hot summer’s day. I have so many memories of cross hatching mango cheeks with a knife and inverting them to become an edible cubist echidna. But what do you do with the pits and the peels that you can’t eat? I recently came across this … Read more
Merry belated Christmas! I hope, like me and my family, you enjoyed bucketloads of fresh seafood and prawns or maybe you’re having some for New Years. With all those prawns, inevitably comes lots of leftover prawn heads, tails and shells. In this recipe I’m going to show you how to get the most bang for … Read more
I usually make this mushroom mince when I have a glut of mushrooms that I either forgot about or overbought from the bargain bin. Semi dried out, sad looking mushrooms are perfect for this! It’s a bonus if they’re fresh, but I’ve made this with both and it’s delicious either way. It’s an umami-rich lighter … Read more
Yes, it’s bananas! This is the homemade Filipino version of bottled ‘ketchup’, except ours is made from bananas, not tomatoes. This tropical innovation stemmed from a WW2 tomato shortage and is my favourite way to use up overripe bananas — and waaaay more versatile than banana bread! My homemade banana ‘ketchup’ served on a traditional … Read more
Recently I made my first attempt at crafting empanadas from scratch — yes, even the pastry. I felt intense pressure to make them perfect…first go. I was bringing them to the Filipino Food Movement Australia community picnic in Sydney. So I didn’t have time for catfish recipes from liars, cheats and online recipe swindlers. I … Read more