Singaporean and other Southeast Asian cuisines may be easily incorporated into a Filipino meal. The flavors are familiar, and the dishes can be eaten as ulam.
How about Singaporean chili crab for lunch? Or Vietnamese spring rolls and Pad Thai for dinner? Give your chicken barbecue a Malaysian twist and serve it as satay skewers with ground-peanut sauce.
These are traditional specialties that may be ordered in hawker stalls or fancy restaurants in Singapore and Southeast Asia. But you can also cook them at home. Most of the ingredients are locally available, but for hard-to-find items, one may head to Rustan’s Supermarket.
It carries specialty Asian ingredients such as Vietnamese chili sauce, Malaysian roti flat bread, Singaporean sambal and curry paste, Thai noodles and coco cream.
To encourage Filipinos to try out these ingredients, Rustan’s Supermarket recently launched the Asian Street Food Invasion, a series of live cooking demos focused on Southeast Asian and Singaporean cuisine. Rustan’s Supercenters, Inc. president Donnie Tantoco led the ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
Hawker-style booths were set up in Rustan’s Supermarket, at Power Plant Mall, for the event. People had a fill of pad thai; pho, or noodles with beef in piping-hot broth; and Hainanese chicken with rice.
Those who are interested in cooking these specialties may attend the Asian Streetfood Invasion cooking-demo series, to be held in the following Rustan’s Supermarket branches: July 14, Power Plant Mall; July 28, Shangri-La Mall; Aug. 11, Rustan’s Makati. No purchase is necessary to participate.
Asian ingredients, which have long been available in Rustan’s Supermarket, will be sold during the demos. Snack items such as Nature’s Field, The Bakers Cottage and Veat delicacies from Malaysia; Koka instant noodles from Singapore; and Real Thai Rice Sticks from Thailand will also be sold.
A raffle ticket will be given for every P500 purchase; prizes include trips to the participating countries.
Rustan’s Supermarkets are in Glorietta, Power Plant Mall, San Antonio Plaza Arcade and Greenbelt in Makati; Gateway Mall, Il Terrazzo Mall and Katipunan Road, in Quezon City; Ayala Center and Arcenas Estates in Cebu.
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
500 g boneless chicken meat
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking oil
40 satay sticks or bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 1 hour
1 stalk lemongrass, lightly bruised
Salt and sugar, to taste
To be grounded:
3 stalks lemongrass, sliced
2.5 cm piece of turmeric
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp cooking oil
For grilling:
4 tbsp pure coconut cream
4 tbsp cooking oil
Peanut sauce:
5 tbsp oil
150 g roasted peanuts, coarsely ground
2 tbsp asam jawa (tamarind pulp)
125 ml water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
20 dried chilies, soaked in warm water
4 cloves garlic
10 shallots
4 cm piece of ginger
2 cm piece of turmeric
4 cm piece of galangal
3 cm piece of belacan (shrimp paste)
5 candlenuts
1 tbsp coriander seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 stalks lemongrass
For the satay:
Mix in a bowl chicken, ground ingredients, salt, sugar, light soy sauce and oil. Marinate the chicken cubes for 2-12 hours.
Skewer 4-5 cubes of chicken per stick. Grill chicken over hot charcoal, brushing with lemongrass stalk dipped in the mixed ingredients.
Frequently turn the skewers to prevent the meat from burning. You may also grill in an oven broiler for 10 minutes on each side.
Peanut sauce:
Mix all the boiling sauce with tamarind juice, sugar and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve satay with a bowl of peanut sauce; sliced cucumber and raw onion; and nasi himpit (compressed rice cake) or boiled rice. Fish, beef or lamb may also be used for this recipe.
(Recipe from www.malaysiakitchen.my)