Meet Malou:
Malou Nievera is the creative driving force behind the food blog, Skip to Malou, named one of Babble’s Top 100 Food Mom Blogs. She acts as the blog's recipe developer, writer, cook and photographer. She shares her easy and simple recipes in Modern Asian dishes with a focus on Filipino recipes. She also shares her recipes in her YouTube Channel called Skip to Malou's Modern Asian Cooking Series.
Hometown: Tuguegarao, Cagayan, Philippines
Current Locale: St. Louis, MO
Current Gigs: Recipe developer, Caterer, Modern Asian Cooking Series instructor, ALMUSAL (Pop-up Restaurant) owner
Website: Skip to Malou
YouTube Channel: Skip to Malou's Modern Asian Cooking
Instagram: @maloupnievera
Facebook Page: Skip to Malou
Twitter: @malou_nievera
When I first met you, you were living in Southern California. How is the Filipino food culture in St. Louis and how it differs from your previous hometown?
It’s completely different… In San Diego, there’s a Filipino restaurant everywhere. Over here, the only FILIPINO restaurant closed two weeks ago. According to the locals, no Filipino restaurant would last long.
Was there someone in particular in your family or past who inspires you to cook Filipino food?
My mom (being a wife to a politician dad) used to host big parties frequently. I guess being exposed to that kind of scenario made me a “foodie” at a young age. I’ve seen goats, pigs, cows, chicken slaughtered for a big “fiesta” usque parties at home. It was so “provincial.”
When I moved to Manila, I started cooking with the help of our helpers. I used to be the “mom” in our Manila residence, so I am in charge of “what’s for dinner.”
I also got married early and I was married to a family of gourmands. My father in law used to cook a lot during weekends with so much gusto. We would go to the weekend seafood market and would have a feast every weekend.
On the traditional Filipino food fare, I would say that it was my husband’s grandma who taught me a lot of dishes. She made divine leche flan, kakanin, pancit sotanghon, lumpia, dinuguan, you name it. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote about her in my blog:
"Whenever I make traditional Filipino food, it's either I get a 'wow this taste like Mommy Dory's' comment, which means I nailed it, or a 'hmmm, you should ask Mommy Dory how she makes it' from my husband. The latter is my husband's subtle way of saying it's not as good as his grandma's cooking."
What is a special memory you have about adobo?
We had a Manang in Manila who lived with us for several years. She is our laundry woman. When our kusinera would leave for a long vacation, she would take over kitchen as a kusinera substitute. No matter what the cut of meat, or any protein in the fridge, she would cook it as ADOBO. So we would ask her “Manang, what’s for dinner?” She would say porkchop adobo. The following day she would answer pork belly adobo, then chicken adobo and so on and so forth. We were adobo’d out before our kusinera comes back from her vacation.
Tell me about Almmusal:
Almmusal is one of the most exciting culinary gigs that I have right now. To be able to serve the food that I developed and created, and also to be raved upon by the restaurant guests is overwhelming. It gives me utter joy and fulfillment. We hope to do it frequently in other restaurants as well. Being the only FILIPINO restaurant in the St Louis area, we take pride in spreading FILIPINO FOOD love in our vicinity.
Aside from adobo, name a Filipino food that everyone should try at least once: Sinigang: It’s a versatile dish. If you want seafood, go ahead and make sinigang na hipon. If you want pork or even beef, you could make it into sinigang. It’s a sour soup that’s good even in the summer but most comforting during the cold months. Thai’s Tom Yum and the Vietnamese’canh-chua are well represented and accepted why not Filipino sinigang?
If you can share your adobo or any Filipino food with anyone passed on or alive or even a fictional character, who would it be?
I always wanted OPRAH to taste Filipino food, or adobo. I want to cook for her. Why her? Because OPRAH is a good marketing strategy. We want Filipino food to be out there, so why not through the stomach (or mouth) of a famous and well loved American legend.
Now Learn How to Make Malou's Adobo Bites with Mango Slaw
Your children are off to school, but do they often cook Filipino food with you?
Yes,
they do. Without us telling them, they are members of Filipino clubs in
their respective schools. They do cookfests serving Filipino food.
They are as proud as their mom is.
If you had a round trip plane ticket that could take you to ANY 5 destinations in the world, where would you head to? Starting at St. Louis as your destination point, GO!
LONDON, ROME, MADRID, PARIS, TUGUEGARAO
Where do you think Filipino food will go in the next few years?
As they say, Filipino Food is the next big thing. People are beginning to be curious what our food is all about. I think there’s a FILIPINO FOOD REVOLUTION on going right now and we are winning the battle so to speak. It’s a sloooooow victory but it’s getting there.
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Would you like to be a part of Project:Adobo?
Follow this link to submit for your own adobo-file!
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