Two quick, easy recipes

There’s this 30-minute lady chef on television. Actually, any homemaker can be faster than she is. We timed these two recipes and you can beat the clock, producing each in about 20 minutes, provided you have all the ingredients prepared, which should not take much time. One, the tamis-anghang prawns, was shared with us by an in-law after we had lunch and found the dish easy to prepare and yes, flavorful. The other was inspired by a meal we had in Cebu, tilapia in coco cream. 

For the first one, you need at least six pieces of prawns (big or jumbo), salt and ground black pepper to taste, half a head of garlic (native) crushed, a tablespoon of UFC’s tamis-anghang banana catsup (about P34 a bottle) and a tablespoon of cooking oil. Prawns are indeed expensive, but if you would go to the wet market you’d find some at less than P500 a kilo. Clean and drain. Season with salt and pepper and let stand for a few minutes or two hours, if not immediately serving. Heat the oil and sauté the garlic. Add the prawns and cook until they are a lovely pink hue. Then pour in the catsup, continue to cook, and voila! You’ve got a most delicious dish in minutes. Serve at once.

For the second recipe, get two big tilapia – they are rather fat these days, their tummies are more like the generously endowed tiyan of the bangus. Clean and season with salt and ground black pepper. Prepare the ginger (julienned), the coco cream (half a cup, not too light, not too creamy). Lay the fish in a casserole dish, add the ginger and pour the cream. Let cook under moderate heat, checking on it after every few minutes, keeping it from drying up. If you like it slightly spicy, cut up one finger chili and add shortly before it is done.

Here’s a bonus third recipe. Salmon is one of our favorites and we could not  resist getting one head from the South Supermarket everytime we go there. They come single or sometimes with a piece of the tail. Price ranges from little over P100 to about P200. The perfect seafood sinigang is what you’d get if you combine prawns with the salmon. The blending of flavors and textures is quite out of this world. With lots of vegetables, this is an ideal one-dish meal.  You can substitute bangus, but be sure to pick the big one.

Sign of the times – black outs in supermarkets. On the same afternoon, two of our most frequented outlets were suffering from disturbing brown-outs. Lights would go off just when we were ready to choose some food stuff. The freezer of one was totally dark and if we did not leave, we were likely to bump into a cart and another shopper.

Anyway, we found a new line of sauces on the racks of the Cash and Carry Supermarket on Filmore street, off Buendia. The brand is Kona Coast, with flavors aloha, island, Hawaiian and Hong Kong ginger. They sell at P194.50 a bottle. They’ve also got Thai Chili Paste for P92 a bottle of 228 gms, Kikkoman Sweet Sour Sauce, P53.30, sun-dried tomatoes at P190 and olives from Turkey.

The last time we were there, we were led to believe that our new-found suki, Jose and Anna’s Trading Post, had moved out. Well, our assistant’s sixth sense led us to the other corner of the area and lo and behold, we found Anna and Jose! They are an amiable couple and would give small but appreciated discounts, considering their prices are much lower than they are in chain stores anywhere else. This is a one-stop store, stacked with imported food items that range from noodles, coffee, chocolates, and canned and bottled goods. They’ve got beauty products as well. We got US produced luncheon meat for P92. Meiji macademia chocolates for P80 per, Japanese Kikkoman at P150.

While the high cost of gasoline might have lessened the traffic on main avenues, this has not rid the streets of daring, kamikaze-type drivers, especially those employed by buses. Because they are big, they weave in and out of lanes, not minding any other vehicle in their paths. One such bus, NSP Luxury Liner, with plate no. MWP 888, nearly side-swiped us on a curve on SLEX. Perhaps, instead of putting his face on tarpolines, the man in charge should post traffic officers who would catch these rascals.

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