Australian Chris Urbano Launches Cookbook Featuring Filipino Cuisine
Australian-born but Filipino-at-heart Chris Urbano recently launched his new cookbook entitled “The World of Filipino Cooking” which features his unique take on Filipino dishes. Chris Urbano is an Australian living in Manila who loves the people, culture, and food of the Philippines. In sharing this passion, the Tagalog speaking foreigner piloted the Maputing Cooking program on YouTube in 2013 with a mission to bring Filipino food to a global audience.
He takes this mission one step further as he launched his new cookbook last November 8, 2018 at the residence of the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines in North Forbes Park, Makati. The Hungry Kat was with my friend The Hungry Chef, Nathaniel Uy, to witness this collaboration between the Australian Embassy and Chris Urbano in promoting this shared love for food between Australians and Filipinos.
The media guests were seated at the outdoor veranda beside the beautiful garden. This is also where Chris will be holding his cooking demonstration to let us try some of the featured recipes in his cookbook.
Filipino food is slowly, but surely inching its way on the world stage, and Chris Urbano firmly believes that not only has the cuisine’s time finally come out, but that Filipinos should also enjoy the same quality, fine dining experiences matched with excellent wines that people enjoy around the world. Chris is also a wine merchant so he also suggests certain wine pairings for his dishes.
Before the program started, guests also had the chance to participate in an Instagram contest using all these fine Australian ingredients and brands. The winners were announced later during the day with special prizes from sponsors Maflex (www.masflex.com.ph) and Tuttle Publishing (www.tuttlepublishing.com).
Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Ms. Amanda Gorely opened the program as she also shared her love and admiration for Filipino cuisine. She introduced Australian Chris Urbano and welcomed the launch of his new cookbook.
Chris Urbano then gave a brief introduction about himself and how he grew up in Australia with a passion for food and wine. With two working parents, he learned to cook from the first grade and found food and cooking an amazing way to connect and bridge cultures with people he met throughout his travels in Southeast Asia. His journey brought him to the Philippines where he decided to learn the Filipino language by enrolling in a college and honing his skills in the wet markets. He eventually married a Filipina and now talks in straight Tagalog, to the astonishment of his Youtube audience.
He started his cooking demonstration by making a simple Filipino Style Fruit Punch. This consists of pineapple juice, orange juice, red apples, oranges, lychee, calamansi soda water, and ginger syrup which acts as a sweetener. Chris knows that Filipinos have a sweet tooth so this fruit punch is generally sweeter than its European and American counterparts.
We all got to taste his concoction and it was indeed fruity and sweet, with just the right balance to create a refreshing beverage. With years spent in the streets of Manila, Chris definitely knows his stuff.
Next, he cooked a dish using another recipe from his cookbook. The Streetside Calamares is not the typical calamares you will find in family restaurants. It is more similar to those sold by street vendors with crunchy breading and vinegar.
Chris Urbano is also a wine expert and one of his goals is also to make Filipinos appreciate the beauty of pairing Filipino dishes with excellent wines, especially those from Australia. The guests were able to pair their calamares with some elegant wines from Australia and that is definitely not something you will encounter in the streets.
For his last dish, he prepared something a bit more complex but still easy to prepare at home. The Calumpit Longganisa and Black Bean Rigatoni is a fusion of Filipino and Italian ingredients that surprisingly goes well together, as long as you follow the recipe in the cookbook!
Calumpit longganisa is salty, but it can also be replaced with chorizo or other salty and garlicky longganisa. You can also add some Pinot Noir red wine to give this dish that extra layer of flavor.
The result is a special pasta dish that comes oozing with Filipino flavors. The tasty longganisa bits are balanced by the rigatoni pasta and this is one dish you can easily cook at home to surprise your guests. Chris really knows how to work the Filipino palate.
Ambassador Gorely and the Australian Embassy in the Philippines are supporting Chris Urbano with his book launch as they aim to promote closer ties between the Filipinos and Australians through food. Ms. Gorely was very welcoming to all the guests and I hope to meet her again in their future events.
The World of Filipino Cooking is available at all National Bookstore branches for only P695 each. Guests who bought their books during the launch were also able to have these signed by Chris Urbano at the event. The Hungry Chef also got his own copy signed to add to his collection of signed cookbooks. So grab your copies now at National Bookstore and discover Chris Urbano’s unique take on Filipino cooking.
