123 Years of Sharing Love Through Taste With Lee Kum Kee

September 30, 2011 by

Last August, I had the privilege of watching Chef Sandy Daza cook his specially created recipes using authentic Lee Kum Kee sauces. Two of those recipes I managed, quite successfully if I may say, to cook in our kitchen.

On September 24, I once again had the privilege of watching another cooking master, Chef Ernesto Reynoso-Gala, share his culinary expertise during the fourth leg of the Weekend Cooking Festival. Chef Erns demonstrated how to properly cook three delectable dishes all featuring Lee Kum Kee sauces: Chinese Fried Rice with Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce, Chicken Wings with Lee Kum Kee Chili Garlic Sauce, and Sizzling Chinese Beefsteak with Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce.

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Chef Erns flanked by two lucky volunteers from the audience…I wish I would get to cook beside a Master someday.

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Audience frantically raising their hands to answer Issa’s questions correctly and get to take home products from Lee Kum Kee

The Chinese Fried Rice with Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce was, for me, the easiest dish to cook. It is also the most colorful dish so I’m sure my toddlers will enjoy eating it when I do get to cook it myself at home. The Chicken Wings with Lee Kum Kee Chili Garlic Sauce is like an Asian version of buffalo wings. I love chicken wings and I love spicy food so I definitely will be cooking this dish a lot at home. The last dish Chef Erns prepared that day used beef as the main ingredient. I haven’t gotten the knack of cooking beef properly yet so I’m a bit hesitant cooking this dish. Chef Erns made it appear so easy to cook though that I just might give it a try one of these days.

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From this very young chef, I learned so many valuable tips in cooking among them are:

  • Read the recipe before starting to cook. Prepare all the ingredients and utensils you need to use.
  • Sesame oil is the perfume of your food. It adds aroma to your food and is not meant for deep frying or pan frying.
  • When marinating, mix the marinade well before adding the meat. This ensures that all flavors are evenly distributed.
  • When cooking, do not stir too much as this prolongs cooking time.
  •  Asian dishes often use cassava (tapioca) starch to make sauces thicker. European dishes on the other hand use flour.

PhotobucketChef Erns also emphasized that cooking should not be too difficult that it leaves you too tired to enjoy the meal with your family. Cooking should always be fun and easy. With the many quality products Lee Kum Kee offers, cooking is made easier as their authentic Chinese sauces provide exceptional flavor and aroma to our dishes.

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The entire brood endorses authentic Chinese sauces of Lee Kum Kee!

I had the entire family in tow and could not stay longer for Chef Him Uy de Baron’s cooking demo. I would have loved to see how he personally cooked his three delectable dishes: Beef Bulgogi “Taco” with Chili Garlic, Mushroom Chive and Cheese Dumpling, and the Grilled Hoisin Pork Chops with Grilled Peach Salsa. I have the recipes though so I’ll still be able to try cooking the dishes at home.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch Chef Bruce Lim at the Cook With The Masters Grand Cooking Demo at the Glorietta Activity Center on October 9, 2011. Chef Bruce Lim, Lee Kum Kee’s ambassador for Southeast Asia, will be joined by culinary students, media, and celebrities who will be showing their culinary skills side-by-side The Masters. Be a part of this weekend cooking festival and show your love through taste with Lee Kum Kee!

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Munggo, Malunggay, and Kalabasa in Spaghetti Sauce? Yes! Del Monte Has it and My Toddlers Loved It!

August 17, 2011 by

Mothers know how important it is to provide nutritious food to growing children. Some moms though are so swamped with work, both at home and in the office, that it is quite improbable for them to spend hours in the kitchen and cook everything from scratch. Other moms like me simply have had no lengthy cooking experience that it is beyond our current capacity to cook everything from scratch. I admittedly belong to the latter.

Part and parcel of my grocery list are various ready mixes that make cooking so simple and fast. Among my favorites are sinigang mixes, pasta sauces, and barbeque marinades. While I was doing our weekly grocery shopping last weekend, I chanced upon a new product from Del Monte – The Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce with MMK. And, no, there’s no sob story fit for a Maalaala Mo Kaya episode there. MMK stands for the three new ingredients: Munggo, Malunggay and Kalabasa.

We still had a pack of colorful vegeroni pasta shapes in the pantry so I whipped up a sauce using the spaghetti sauce mix. It took me only less than 30 minutes to prepare and cook the entire meal. The toddlers love pasta and ate it with gusto without even knowing that there’s vegetable in the pasta sauce.

This really is another great product for busy moms (and moms who are still not that adept in the kitchen – like me!) who want more nutritious meals for the family. If you would like to find out my kitchen newbie version of Vegeronni with MMK Spaghetti Sauce, visit our Foodie Momster kitchen.

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Hot Champorado on a Cold Rainy Morning

June 24, 2011 by

Typhoon Falcon was still pulling the westerly winds and causing nonstop rain in the metro when we woke up this morning.  It made me crave for my mom’s champorado with dried fish or smoked fish.  I still have not learned the secret to my mom’s chocolatey champorado but I am now able to cook a decent one for my hubby and toddlers to enjoy on cold rainy days.

rice + cocoa powder + milk + salt + sugar + water = one big pot of hot champorado

It is actually quite easy to prepare as all you need to do is put all the ingredients together to boil and simmer until the glutinous rice is cooked.  The ratio of the ingredients can also be adjusted to suit one’s tastes.  I for one love my champorado really chocolatey so I don’t scrimp on the cocoa powder.  I don’t put too much sugar and milk while cooking as these can be adjusted individually according to the taste of whoever will be eating.  I allow the toddlers as much milk as they would like in their bowl but limit the sugar to a teaspoonful.

Here are the toddlers enjoying their bowls of hot champorado:




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Ten-Minute Cheesy Pesto Linguine

June 20, 2011 by

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No matter how much we try to schedule household activities like clockwork, there are really times when we moms find ourselves pressed for time. I found myself in one such instance (again!) and was in a great rush to prepare a decent meal for my hungry brood. Here’s a really great quick-cook pasta for the family. I initially prepared it for my husband and I but, surprisingly, the toddlers liked it too.

Ok, so this mom needs a lesson in food photography…

All I needed to prepare for the pasta dish was a pack of linguine cooked according to package directions, a few cloves of garlic minced, a tbsp of sliced olives, a tbsp of olive oil, and a pack of Clara Ole Cheesy Pesto Pasta Sauce.

I boiled the water for the pasta before preparing the ingredients for the sauce.  After a few minutes, I added the linguine into the boiling water and started cooking the sauce.

I sauteed the garlic and olives in olive oil then poured in the ready-to-use pesto sauce. I then let it simmer for a few minutes and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  When the linguine was done, I mixed it with the sauce and allowed the flavors to infuse.  A few sprinkles of grated parmesan cheese and we were all set!

The entire preparation and cooking process took only about 15 minutes so this is really a great quick cook meal.  I served it with grilled chicken which had already been marinated early in the morning so cooking it also took only a few minutes.

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On Keeping Hydrated Nutritiously

May 15, 2011 by

We went grocery shopping yesterday and while unpacking our bags at home, I realized that juice, milk, and other beverages account for a huge chunk of our food expenses. However, all these beverages are nutritious (or at least not filled with empty calories) so I really don’t mind spending that much on them.

Among the staples in our beverage supply are the fruit juices and yogurt drinks for the toddlers. Fruit juice is a great way to get fruit into the kids’ systems. I have corporate fruit delivery at work so it’s not difficult for me to have my 5 a day, but they’re not so keen at home. For this week’s consumption we bought 3 TIPCO 1L boxes: Mixed Vegetables & Fruits (P 99.50), Cranberry and Mixed Fruits (P 109.50), and Carrot & other Fruit Juices (P 104.50). The todders love the carrot and mixed vegetables variant. It’ll be their first time to taste TIPCO cranberry juice but I’m betting that they’ll love it as well. Since we still had enough supply of their yogurt drinks, we didn’t get any on this grocery trip. We were out of Yakult (P40/5 bottles) though, so we had to replenish our stock. Both my husband and I grew up Yakult drinkers. Naturally, our kids would be growing up drinking the very same lactobaccili shiroto strain.

Since my husband was diagnosed with fatty liver and has had high cholesterol levels, we have avoided sugary drinks and have opted for juices and health drinks, and knowing when they may be needed. For instance, you may want to know when you should drink green juice to help your health. Among those that have become staples in our pantry is the Del Monte Pineapple Juice with Reducol(26.50 / 240ml can). Aside from being rich in fiber, this variant of pineapple juice contains 1g of Reducol which significantly lowers LDL or bad cholesterol. My husband is also a guzzler of sports drinks, so into the cart went 4 1.5L-bottles of Gatorade (P69.50/bottle). We also bought a box of SwissMiss Fat Free Cocoa(P 114.50/box) which he drinks a couple of times a week for breakfast.

All these together with my staple Milo and Powdered Milk drinks account for at least 25% of our grocery bill. There may be a little less money left for knickknacks and other “wants” but we are assured that our kids (and us too) are getting the nutrients that we need.

Filed Under: Kids At Work, Products We Love Tagged With: ,
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