Cooking Korean and Japanese

A few days  ago as we were searching for a new bake shop cum Japanese restaurant in the West Gate Center in Alabang, Muntinplua, we saw this street banner announcing that Seoul Market has opened two corners away. We drove over and found a haven of Korean foodstuff. It is called the Han Yang Market, located in the automotive precinct area (tel nos. 659-3021 and 407-7533). Their card also says they deliver. Good. Note that most Korean stores also carry Japanese items and vice versa. This may be a profitable strategy. 

It has been almost impossible to shop well in Korean food stores, mainly because the owners/store keepers hardly speak English. Some seem very unfriendly. Worse is that labels are always in their native language, with no translation. What a buyer should do is look at the pictures on the products, and figure out what they are and deduce the technique for how to cook them.

Since a few years back, in a gated village, the wives of Koreans who came to settle here (for reasons we cannot really understand as their country is much richer than ours) saw the potential of offering their typical food in a small portion at their private homes’ receiving areas. They gained approval and their tribe increased, so to speak. We don’t know if their business was ever registered or if they pay taxes at all. Sign language was, of course, the medium of communication. They progressed anyway and some have found their way into malls and dining strips in the country.

Filipino chains saw the potential, thus some of them established outlets offering Japanese and Korean cuisine. Chains from the two countries also have joined the culinary trek to the Philippines and put up their own “authentic” restaurants.

But the Filipino homemaker is also enterprising and resourceful. It is not cheap to eat out and to those with big appetites, portions are not always satisfying. It could be a big challenge to duplicate dishes offered outside our own homes.

And then, alleluia! As expected, the restaurants spun off to stores, groceries and supermarkets, enticing the homemakers to do their own cooking as the Koreans and Japanese do.

As early as more than ten years ago, Japanese and Korean stores mushroomed and we were delighted.

There was Sakura, a Japanese outlet/restaurant in the ATC, gone now, then the shops in BF Homes, Parañaque. The seafood market strip on Macapagal Avenue had one, loaded with Korean ice cream, Japanese fish and utensils. The supermarkets started offering noodles and sauces, also cooking and table wines.

Actually, it is not difficult to execute Korean or Japanese food, the basics being fresh ingredients, seafood, vegetables and premium meat. The technique is simple, hardly any gisa (sautéing), since they both cook on table hot plates and smokeless built-in griddles. 

The Koreans marinate practically every ingredient required in a dish, the Japanese marinate the main element (but not all the time). They serve different sauces. Korean cuisine normally includes kimchi as side dish, their cuisine being more spicy – really spicy.

Raw food is hardly on any  Korean table. As sushi and sashimi are to the Japanese, so is bulgogi to the Koreans.

Now what does one need to cook Korean or Japanese? Visit any of their stores. They import from their respective countries which are both blessed with land, mountains and sea for perfect harvest and catch. Practically everything they sell are imported. Maybe bring a book with illustrations and show to the non-English speaking store manager/attendant what you want to buy. Luckily, at Han Yang Mart in Alabang, there is a lady who can translate to English. She is very patient, as well, in explaining everything. She can also tell the intensity of the spice in each product. Prices are reasonable. Selection is wide, from noodle soups to various sauces and frozen meat and fish.

Realizing we could not get all that we want from this store in one go, we walked through the exit, after filling up our basket with chapchae noodles, a bottle each of teriyaki, bulgogi and sukiyaki sauces, a piece of daikon radish, a pack of dashi (bonito flakes), freshly made kimchi, fresh veggies for bibimbap, tempura flour and a trio of differently flavored soups. With the meat, fish and chicken we can get from the supermarkets, these are enough to produce a savory Korean or Japanese meal.

We will have a good dinner today!      

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