Posts Tagged ‘asian’
There was a time when my late afternoon entertainment meant this cartoon called Cooking Master Boy. This Japanese anime showcased the story of Mao as he goes on a quest around China finding different methods and secrets to perfect his cuisine. In his journey, he met amazing people, some of which bore titles such as Dumpling King or the Prince of Mapo Tofu. Back then, I used to poke fun at the idea of meeting people like these, ‘Iron Chefs’ who are kings and masters of their chosen recipe. Until recently, an amazing experience by Chowking’s doors has shown me that it can happen, there are indeed cooks who become kings of their recipes.
A few weeks back, ((Yes, I have a terrible backlog)) I had my Cooking Master Boy experience when I crossed the Beef Noodle King of Taiwan, Chef Liu Zheng Hsiung of the Lao Dong restaurants. One thing interesting about this guy is he won first prize in the Traditional Beef Noodle Competition for his clear soup beef noodle. What is more interesting is Chowking is planning to bring in his epic beef noodles to the Philippines.
Read More
I don’t know if there’s a Japanese dish like this, but I love mixing and matching vegetables with the staple Mapo recipe. One of my favorite Chinese/Japanese dish is Mapo tofu. I also love variations of it such as Mapo Nasu and particularly this one, Mapo Beans.
Cooking Mapo is rather easy as long as you have the right ingredients. There are two crucial ingredients for Mapo and that is Chili Bean Paste (Tou Ban Jan) and Chili Garlic sauce (the chinese kind, not the sweet chili sauce in the market). These two ingredients are easily available in groceries and won’t cost an arm and a leg to get. For those who are scared that these rot easily, rest assured that they’re good to store for a year or so in your fridge and you’ll be addicted to mapo that you’ll be shocked that you’re out of Tou Ban Jan and Chili Garlic sauce.
Anyway, on to the recipe!
Read More
