North Cotabato chef wins Japan-Philippines Food and Friendship online cooking contest
MANILA, Philippines — A chef from North Cotabato won the Japan-Philippines Food and Friendship online cooking contest with her own dish, Shirashi in Tempura Taco Nori.
At an intimate dinner hosted by Japanese ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko last week, Chef Ana Liezl Quibrantar told Philstar.com that she chose to create the dish to introduce it to Filipinos.
“When I heard about the competition, I actually did a research. I don't want to go to the typical Japanese dishes like the sushi, gyoza or ramen. I wanted to showcase another dish that is not common in the Philippines,” Ana said.
“I researched about this Shirashi which is actually my father's favorite dish. So I’m quite familiar to the dish so I combined it all together with the taco and then the sushi rice and then top it with Shirashi,” she added.
Ana said that the dish is really a combination of Japanese and Filipino food and it’s really a complete meal.
“I don't think other Filipinos knows about this. I wanted also to showcase not just the Kinilaw but the Shirashi to be known in the Philippines because this dish is actually very nice. It's a complete meal for me. It's very simple. The preparation is not that difficult and everything is there like the proteins, you have the vegetable, the rice, the carbs so it’s really complete,” she explained.
Shirashi in Tempura Taco Nori is derived from the classic Japanese dish Chirashi. Ana’s version is prepared with marinated dish, mango, avocado, cucumber and spring onion. It is served in deep-fried nori shell with sushi rice, topped with mayo and Wasabi Tobiko.
The food competition was launched last April as part of the year-long celebration of the 65th anniversary of the friendship between Japan and the Philippines.
