The Chinese, the Italians, and the Arabs all used to claim having invented the noodle. Then, in 2005 in Lajia in the Chinese province of Qinghai, archeologists unearthed “an upturned earthenware bowl filled with brownish-yellow, fine clay. The quote is from a report entitled “Oldest noodles unearthed in China published on October 12, 2005, by…
Fast cooking doesn’t have to be unimaginative. It doesn’t have to be plain and it doesn’t have to be colorless. My younger daughter Alex wanted pasta for dinner a few nights ago, I obliged but because I had already cooked something else, the pasta dish had to be simple and cooked fast. This was the…
It is difficult to talk about Asian cuisine without touching on the subject of noodle soup. Noodle soup is found across Asian cuisines from our own La Paz batchoy to the Indonesian (also Malaysian and Singaporean) soto ayam to the Japanese ramen and udon to the Korean Ranchi guksu to the Singaporean laksa to the…
There are three important things to remember when making lasagna to make sure that it can be sliced easily and served without the layers falling apart and looking like an incomprehensible mess on the plate. First, a thick meat sauce. Second, enough cheese to bind the layers. Third, the baked lasagna must be allowed to…
Because the catfish in the local market were much too small, I wandered off to a stall selling shrimps and prawns. And they were so fresh and enticing that I couldn’t resist buying half a kilo for tonight’s dinner. Well, to be more precise, for my husband’s and daughters’ dinner. I’m allergic to crustaceans so…
Nine out of every ten people I know would define Pad Thai noodles as a spicy noodle dish made with shrimp, mung bean sprouts, and ground peanuts. But shrimps, mung bean sprouts, and peanuts are not the ingredients that define the Pad Thai noodle dish. The sauce makes the dish and it is called Pad…
Westerners roast their meat bones and vegetables in the oven before dumping them in a pot of water to make broth. Asians don’t do the roasting bit. Except, perhaps, for the South Asian tandoor, traditionally, there are no ovens in Asia. Ovens in Asian kitchens are modern additions during the last couple of decades. But…
My younger daughter, Alex, had been hankering for pasta for weeks so when she suddenly sent a text message yesterday saying she was arriving home in three hours or so, I decided I would cook some spaghetti for her. For those of you who are new here, my daughters are in college and they are…
Why kids love pasta, I have no idea. But they do. Place of bowl of pasta in front of them and most kids will react as though they’re being presented with a special treat. Even adults are not immune from the charms of a beguiling pasta dish. Perhaps, it’s the excitement of twirling the noodles…
My first recipe for spaghetti with meatballs was published on May 10, 2005, after dinner at a pub called The Oarhouse in Malate, a hang-out for photographers, journalists, writers, and expats. We ordered spaghetti with meatballs there, I liked it and did a home-cooked version a few days later. That recipe is on page two…
