“I am in Cebu so I am using the ingredients in Cebu to enjoy a Japanese life at affordable price.”, said by Mr. and Mrs. Choya who have been living in Cebu for a year now. They invited to me to come over their house. They said that Cebu is definitely a very affordable place to live. It would be a trouble if it would cost you a lot of money just to be able to eat the foods you used to eat in Japan.

        From the left: Rice cakes (with blue laver), Udon, Natto, and Rice cakes. These are all handmade foods that were made using local ingredients. The only ingredients bought in Japan are the blue laver and Natto bacillus.

　        The rice cakes are made from “Sticky Rice” which is being sold at supermarkets in Cebu. 2kg of “Sticky Rice” costs P40.

　        The ingredients used in Udon are flour, salt, and water only. All these can be bought in Cebu.

        The most interesting of all is the Natto. They said that if you just have Natto bacillus and Soya beans, which can be easily bought anywhere, anyone can easily make Natto. Beans are a bit large in size but the taste and smell of Natto are exactly like that of the beans.

        While I was listening to them and trying to arrange my thoughts, I have realized something. I realized that “a slight idea and enthusiasm” are very significant.

        By the way, all the ingredientsused in making the foods shown on the photo above only cost about P100. But in the market, these foods are usually being sold at high prices.

        Mr. Choya said “Everything is available in Cebu. When I discovered about it, I immediately started to make different Japanese foods using affordable local ingredients.”

        I came from Japan and I am really having a hard time in Cebu since some of the things that I need are not available here. I am just dissatisfied all the time.

        However, for Mr. Choya who has lived in Sri Lanka for a long time before coming to Cebu, he is so most thankful for the abundance of the resources in Cebu. We are both Japanese people and we also live in the same environment but we just have different points of view on Cebu. I say “This one and that one are not available in Cebu. Cebu is just an inconvenient place to live.” He says “Cebu is rich in resources and everything is available here.” Before we complain about anything, let us try to change our point of view and devise a way to get our needs done. In this way, we would be able to live our daily lives more reasonable and comfortable. These are the things I have learned from the couple for three months and a half of afternoon meetings.

• Flour (all-purpose) 1 kg (13-14 people)

• Dissolve 50g of salt in 450cc water to make saline solution. Use 460g of the solution. (It’s a bit troublesome but it is said that this is easy to measure and convenient in making 11% of saline solution,.)

1. Put the saline solution into the bowl with flour and mix well. You might think there is no enough water. But that’s alright. It must be a bit dry.

2. Put the mixed flour and saline solution into a Ziploc plastic bag (large size) and let it stay there for more than 3 hours at normal temperature.

3. Open the Ziploc plastic bag. Step on the plastic bag with your feet, fold it with your hands, step, fold it,… Make sure you do not let the contents to come out of the plastic bag. Repeat doing this for 10 minutes.

4. Close the plastic bag again and let it stay for about 2 hours at normal temperature. If you are going to put it inside the refrigerator, then let it cool overnight.

5. Take it out from the refrigerator to return to normal temperature. Stretch, fold, and cut it according to your desired thickness. Using a vegetable knife is convenient.

* You might be surprised with too much salt content but don’t worry. During boiling, the salt is removed.

Natto

        Soak the soybeans (can be easily bought anywhere in Cebu) in the water overnight. Then “boil” them in a pressure cooker for 10-15 minutes. While the soybeans are hot, put a right amount of natto bacillus. (Natto bacillus is resistant to heat.) Ferment them at 45 degrees for more than 12 hours.

Rice Cakes
1. Soak sticky rice in water overnight. (2kg of local sticky rice costs about P40.) Then put them in a basket. (about 20-30 minutes)

2. Steam the rice using a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Further steam it with the remaining heat.