Tita Fati + Filipino Kalbi

Filipino Kalbi
prepared by Fatima and Elpidio Maglaya

This take on Korean short ribs comes from Fatima Maglaya who emigrated from Legazpi City in the province of Albay.

Fatima was recruited to work as a nurse at a hospital in Michigan, and later moved to Chicago, where she knew not a single soul. Through the new friendships she developed, Fatima was introduced to a handsome, long-haired man in bell bottoms who had just arrived from the Philippines. On one of their dates, he cooked a delicious dish of chicken mami for her. This romantic gesture motivated her to take stock of her own cooking abilities, which she admitted were lacking at the time. Fatima suspected Elpidio knew she did not know how to cook when they began dating, but that did not stop her from doing her best to learn, and it certainly did not stop them from getting married.

Growing up, Fatima had little interest in cooking but fondly recalls the traditional food her family’s maid would cook. After arriving in the US and meeting other Filipinos who all seemed to know how to cook well, she was motivated by necessity to learn. Cookbooks served as her first teachers and she improved upon her skills by asking friends for advice. By the time her two sons came into the picture, she was the primary cook in the family. She can now boast that her dishes are very popular at parties.

This Filipino kalbi recipe is one of Tita Fati’s most sought after. It was given to her by a Korean co-worker with whom she would share lunch daily. She made a few tweaks to the original recipe, adding whiskey and increasing the amount of sugar. She said it better suits her taste as well as the Filipino palate overall, hence adding “Filipino” to the name of the dish.

Her advice for children and grandchildren is simple – just start cooking, “For my sons and grandkids, I would say you should start cooking because that would be one of the best things you can do when you have your family and get together with your friends.”