Use bay leaves (laurel) to repel insects in your pantry
A common ingredient for flavoring Filipino food, bay leaf (more commonly known as laurel in the Philippines) can also be used to keep weevils away from your rice bin.
Kitchen how-tos
Find fully illustrated guides on the preparation of common ingredients. When beating egg whites, for example, how can you tell between soft peaks and stiff peaks? How do you skin and cut mangoes and pineapples? What is the right way to cook rice and how do you make it into congee? When cooking tempura, how should the shrimps be prepped? What's the proper way to wrap spring rolls?
See all how-to guides below.
Is blanching spinach a must?
Of course not. It always depends on the dish it is meant to go into. If the dish won't benefit from the high water content of spinach, here's how to blanch and squeeze.
Cook day-old rice into congee
Leftover rice often ends up as fried rice the next day. But if you want to try something different, try cooking it into congee. And for a richer flavor (and more …
How to make broth for shio ramen
It's all about the broth. The clarity. The lightness. I make broth by simmering meat and bones. Then, I drop a teaspoon of salt into a bowl, pour in broth and add the …
Chili oil too hot? Try this fix.
My daughter’s friend gifted her with a jar of Nepalese chili oil with a warning that it was hotter than hot. She thought that, perhaps, we’d know better ways to use it.
Food too salty? Here are two easy fixes.
Too salty soup or stew is easy to fix. Drop in potatoes and let them soak up the excess saltiness. But what about too salty meatballs?
The smart way to reheat meat and vegetable soup
Meat and vegetable soup is lovely when newly cooked. But, when reheated, the vegetables get overcooked to a mush. How can that be avoided? I have a trick.