Given my food allergies, our recipes are free of dairy, eggs, peanuts, shellfish (and the rest of the Phylum Mollusca) and most nuts. Essentially all of our sweets end up being vegan because of the lack of animal by-products but they taste just as good as the "real" things! Also, our recipes will often pay homage to our mixed Asian-American cultures and we're excited to share some of our favorite family recipes with you.
Mains
I admit I’ve been putting off posting my family’s recipes, as I want to make sure I do my grandparents justice—but there’s nothing like sheltering-in-place to bring out that hankering for your family’s go-to comfort food. Pancit is the iconic noodle dish of the Philippines. It can be made with thin rice noodles (as seen here) or heartier wheat or egg noodles. My family has always gone the rice noodle (stick) route—likely in part, because they’re generally safer for those with food sensitivities—but I think it’s better that way. Few other noodle dishes can achieve its savory yet springy, umami-soaked brilliance.
The annual family camping trip is always a highlight of the summer. We missed it a couple of times over the past few years when we lived in AZ so it was great to be back in CA and able to drive up for it this year. Each household will take a turn cooking everyone else a delicious meal, and there are enough of us that everyone only has to cook once during the trip. It works out really well because the quality of the meals end up being much higher than if each family were to cook their own meals for the entire trip. This was our debut camping trip as an official family (pups included) and it was important to prove ourselves with a killer meal. Allan decided we should try our hand at smoking a porchetta roast and making Roli Roti-style sandwiches. If you ever find yourself in San Francisco on a Thursday or Saturday, do yourself a favor and grab lunch at the farmer’s market at the Ferry Building for a porchetta sandwich. These sandwiches feature slow roasted pork with succulent crispy skin, caramelized onions, and arugula on a fresh bun.
I have severe food allergies to shellfish, peanuts, eggs, nuts, and dairy. Actual allergies—not just intolerances which people tend to get confused—I'm talking full-blown anaphylaxis with body hives, swollen everything, wheezing, etc. It's not cute. My acronym is S.P.E.N.D. and I tell folks that I don't like to "spend" time in the emergency room. Despite my family's and my best efforts to avoid my allergens the past 25 years, I've still ended up using my Epipen a dozen times, riding in ambulances across the country and have even been hospitalized when my oxygen levels couldn't be sustained after a Jamba Juice gone wrong. Good thing Allan is going to be a doctor, huh...Food allergies are a bummer for a number of reasons—which I'll get into in future posts—but the obvious one is that I miss out on a number of delicious novelty dishes, like RAMEN BURGERS!
Here’s the deal, friends: we will only share recipes that we could, in good conscience, recommend you try. Like we said in the About section, we’re not professionals and don't exactly have the street cred or chops to run a food blog in the first place...BUT when we actually do pull something off well, you'll be the first to know. That being said, we're sharing this Asian rice porridge recipe because you can bet your bottom dollar it's delicious.
Sweets
We drove up from Ventura to the Bay Area last weekend to celebrate the wedding of Allan’s oldest pal. Both Allan and I were lucky enough to grow up in great neighborhoods with a set of built-in lifelong friends. Getting married and having to figure out your wedding party makes you grateful for those kinds of friendships. It also happened to be my birthday that weekend and we were able to squeeze in a small family gathering with Filipino food, mahjong and my favorite cake—VEGAN BANANA CRUMBLE CAKE.
At an early age, I was resigned to the idea that I would never eat cake. It was always a given that I wouldn’t be able to partake in any sort of celebratory treat at school, parties, sporting events, potlucks, etc. Dairy and desserts went hand in hand I knew better than to bother asking about the ingredients because those inquiries always ended in disappointment and pity from everyone else as they chowed down. I accepted the notion that I wouldn't get to eat any sort of baked treat unless my mom tried to make something for an extra special occasion—and it typically involved plenty of substitutes that had a tendency to hamper the outcome. Then one day, my brother, who also has dairy and egg allergies, came home from second grade boasting that he had eaten a cupcake at school.
This Japanese style of fried chicken is known for its crispy shell and its succulent center. It can be difficult to achieve these two very different textures but the triple-fry helps to ensure you achieve that crunch-level you crave while protecting the juicy meat inside. Some folks even fry their karaage meat FOUR times (David Chang at Momofuku) but we've found that three is our lucky number.