The most challenging facet of life as a fulltime foreign correspondent was feeding five kids and a husband with meals that they had grown to expect. After all, as a food writer, I am supposed to know what I write about, yes? Here is something I learned from many chefs: They all have shortcuts that cut the time and energy demanded in the kitchen.

Chopped garlic

Many recipes begin with chopped or minced garlic, which entails peeling the garlic cloves, then chopping them by hand on a chopping board or mincing them with a mortar and pestle. Whatever method you use will definitely leave greasy mortar and pestle, chopping board, and knives.

Not a few would-be chefs decide to make fried rice without garlic after facing a sink full of greasy utensils. Here is a brilliant solution: Mince a peeled head of garlic in a blender or food processor with one cup of vegetable oil. Use the oil with a little garlic when cooking. This will keep for many days as long as the garlic stays submerged in oil. Stir the mixture once in a while. Add more oil when necessary. The mixture stays potent as long as there are a few traces of garlic left.

Maximize freezer use

Except for adobo, most Filipino dishes entail a lot of steps. They also don’t take well to being served as leftovers. The solution? Cook and freeze in stages. For example: fish sinigang. Cook a concentrated broth with onions and tomatoes. Freeze in small batches. Prepare the vegetables, such as okra, sitaw, and kangkong, and keep in the ref until needed. Freeze the cleaned fish individually. Ten minutes before the meal, boil the sinigang broth with the vegetables and fish.

Two from one dish
There are some dishes that are almost identical in the first stages of preparation. Bopis and dinuguan aregood examples. To save time and effort, some smart carinderia owners cook a large batch of bopis and serve half cooked with pig blood. The other half gets a lot of pepper. Another two-for-one is pares, which resurfaces as quapao when the shredded meat is stuffed into Chinese steamed buns and served with wansoy.

Meatloaf undercover

Everybody loves meatloaf, no matter how it is disguised. I have layered it with lasagna, tossed it with macaroni, rolled it in
shawarma, drenched it in Japanese curry. It was perfect with anything. So I make a lot since they freeze well, too. For convenience, I freeze individual portions and pack gravy separately.