Manila Food Post: My Grandma's Humba (Braised Pork Leg/Knuckles)

One of my Grandma's dishes that I definitely will not pass is her delicious braised pork leg/knuckles. I remembered wondering why my Grandpa would love eating this dish with lots and lots of white rice. To me, as a child, eating oily food is a no-no and I ended up peeling away all the skin and fat. Stupid me. It's a good thing that I saved myself.

It was a cold winter's night in Taipei at my aunt's place and I was starving after we came back from one of our night outs. The only dish left for dinner that night is just her braised pork leg. I accidentally took a piece of meat with some skin and fat on it. I realized at that moment what I've been missing all my life. Glutinous, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth goodness paired with steaming white rice smothered with the lovely, dark porky sauce. What more could you wish for? I know some of my friends who have a "textural" thing with fat and pork skin. And this is definitely NOT the healthiest food ever. I can clearly classify this as not for the health-conscious and faint-hearted (literally).

If I were to choose my last dish, it would be another taste of this...

Manila Food Post: Uno Seafood Wharf Restaurant

I've been away and, on the last month, been terribly irresponsible because I've been skipping food trips. I have my reason: I went on a short side trip to Manila. My immensely short trip is not disappointing at all. I realized that I'm missed and loved. But most importantly, my family thought I have not been eating well, because, believe it or not, I LOST WEIGHT! Still, losing weight should not be a justification to stuff myself up. Going back to my first ever dinner out in Manila, of course, should be aptly held in Chinatown, where I was born.

I can't begin to describe the craziness that is Manila's Chinatown. It's probably the world's smallest but, believe me, you'll be astounded as to how busy this piece of area can get, specially during Chinese New Year.

One of the many number of things that you simply cannot miss out while in Chinatown is the food. We had a feast that night with almost 10 dishes. Imagine how you can eat 10 dishes in one seating! So I highlighted the ones that I liked the most.

The first dish out is called a Cold Platter. It consists of cold cuts mainly such as soy chicken, roasted pork, a type of marinated and crunchy seaweed (in the middle) and century duck egg among other items surrounding it. I liked the seaweed the best.

Skipping a good number of dishes, let me introduce you to one of my all time favorite dishes: The Chicken Pie. I remember so many New Year's Eve dinners when one of my aunts would stop by this shop just to buy this chicken pie for NYE. Until one year, this shop closed down. How disappointed I was! So it's indeed a pleasant surprice when I found out that this dish was part of the line-up. I'm not sure what's the best part about it, whether it's the buttery, flaky crust on top or the creamy, oozing chicken with carrots and potatoes inside. I know this may sound like a simple dish to anybody, but it brought so much nostalgia to me, I was almost teary-eyed.Sticky Rice with Mud Crab Crockpot is probably not so high-up my list but I loved the way the dish smelled when it was placed on our table. You can literally smell the smokiness of the rice and the crab. I liked it that the crab was not salty at all and the rice, though a bit bland, has a nice bite.The steamed scallop was the night's most sophisticated dish for me. Though not up to par in terms of taste, it was still tasty.

The night ended up with group photos taken, reminding me of how much part of a family I am. And a big one at that =)

SAZL Sweats: Garlic Chilli Prawns with Saffron Angel Hair

Nope. I didn't make the saffron flavored angel hair from scratch. I bought it from The Essential Ingredient. It is made from Passsion Pasta and they carry a range of different pastas of flavors and shapes. It is still considered as fresh pasta, so cooking will only take a few good minutes. I cooked my pasta without the salt, which most people would think is a crime, but I wanted to lessen the sodium content in the food I cook.

While the pasta is cooking, I threw in chopped garlic (2 cloves) and fresh chillies (about 2 fiery ones) with olive oil. Once the garlic and chilli flavors are incorporated into the oil, prawns go in next. Prawns cook quickly, then I pour in a couple of splashes of pinot grigio (Innocent Bystander, which I simply love to drink and cook with). Let the whole thing bubble away for the alcohol to evaporate. After a couple of minutes, take it off the heat and threw in a big handful of spinach leaves. By this time, the pasta should be cooked and put this into the prawn mixture. What I did at this point is put in a knub of butter and a sprinkle of salt.

There's nothing left to do but sit back, relax and eat! =)