magic? nah! -- it's saladmaster :p

imagine cooking sinigang without water, and "baking" your favorite betty crocker mix on the stove top without milk nor water.

is that magic? not really.

last saturday, we were invited over a pinoy household to see a cooking demo using saladmaster cookware. a friend's friend asked us to just come over for the free lunch with no obligation to buy any of the products afterwards. free lunch? who says no to free lunch? not us, hehe.

we were first introduced to the products and why we were sitting at the dining area (except for the free lunch) in the first place. the presenter was ms joanne (del rosario), one of only two dealers of Saladmaster products in Singapore, and yes, she is Filipino. (pagdating rito sa sg, nagiging clannish ako, hehe).

joanne

she told us that more than selling the product, she wanted us to learn about how saladmaster can help consumers eat healthy. that was quite believable because we went there just to eat, hehe, and we also learned a lot, some of the things she shared, we already knew but we chose "not to know" because what we do not know won't hurt us, hehe.


i'll just walk you through what was prepared that afternoon, and you could be amazed yourselves :)

joanne was assisted by her husband engr del roasario (the first name slips me as i write this, sorry) and they started with the dessert.

betty crocker's chocolate cake.

1) she poured the cake mix on a mixing bowl
2) then cracked open an egg
3) using the saladmaster saladmachine, she added in shredded zucchini, cabbage and carrots! very fine shreds of vegetables. (we started looking at each other with puzzled looks, we were worried about the vegetables spoiling the taste of the chocolate cake for us :p)
4) as expected, the mixture was dry. but not for long, with constant mixing (chefs call it, fold-in hehe) the magic started and the cake was getting moist every stroke, as though we put water and milk.
5) she pre-heated one of the cooking pots over the stove top (not the oven) before lining the bottom with sliced apples.
6) after pouring the mixture over the apple slices, the no-oven baking started.

that's the cake mixture, lined with thinly sliced apples :)

see how it has gotten really moist?

some 25 minutes later, simultaneously cooking the sinigang and fried chicken. the cake was ready for us to devour.

parang torched creme brulee, pero hindi hehe...

and devoured the cake we did :) naglaho ang mga gulay, even the taste, 100 percent keyk :p

while the cake was baked on the stove top, we saw another magic :) magic sinigang. preparing sinigang the saladmaster way, toss all the ingredients in the pot, just like that, parang salad, hehe. no need for water, if you're using sinigang mix, ibudbod lang rin :) the magic is in the vegetables, niluto sila, hindi sa sarili nilangmantika, kundi sa kanilang sariling tubig. magic nga!

the tomatoes, onions and sili panigang went first

followed by the pork and the other vegetables (labanos/radish, sitao/string beans, pechay)

the sinigang was just left to cook covered, not once, after putting all the ingredients in the pot did they uncover the pot. that way, the presenter said, all the nutrients and flavor are kept inside. see the finished product below, the vegetables were more tasty and flavorful indeed! and the pork was cooked to perfection, malambot at masarap :) hehe syempre pa, pork eh.

if you want more soup, you can boil more broth separately then add to the vegetables :)

sarap ng sinigang!

as we waited for the sinigang, they prepared the fried chicken--cooked using the electric skillet without using oil :)

this electric skillet can also be used to grill :) its special feature, beneath the skillet is a lining of industrial oil that helps even out your cooking

pwede kahit punuin, and you can fry all the chicken in one go (15 minutes on one side and another 15 minutes on the other side, you have to flip the meat yourself, otherwise, magic na talaga un, hehe)

and after 30 minutes, ready na ang fried chicken, crisp and well-cooked hanggang loob :)

may bonus pang oil! that's how much animal fat we got :)
sarap!

the saladmaster has been in business for decades, you can only buy their products through authorized dealers. in sg, one of the two authorized dealers in healthy cooking solutions pte ltd, at 757 geylang road lorong 39, singapore (HP: +65-81983244). they have a different company handling the distribution in the Philippines. joanne went on saying that kris aquino purchased her saladmaster ultimate cooking set in 2007 for a whopping 1 million pi-eytch-pi, hehe! she jokes, ka-level niya si kris since she has the complete set, the same set she uses at home and for work, when she does her demonstrations.

they have the host a dinner/lunch rewards-scheme that gets most moms and cooking enthusiasts in a hosting frenzy. they have gifts for people who open their doors and let the saladmaster cook for them. and i quote from their website --

"Hosting a dinner is easy-and so much fun! Plus, you get rewarded just for opening your home and allowing us to cook for you. We'll cook an entire dinner for you and your friends with absolutely no obligation! We bring the food, do all the cleaning AND reward the hostess with a very special gift from Saladmaster. All you need to do is invite the friends and supply the beverages. It will be a night to remember!"

i think that's how it works even in the philippines. for those interested, i have included links to the website in this entry.

as for me, sarap lang ng free lunch. hehe :)