Chicken Pandan and Maid Frustrations

I bought 10 pieces of Chicken Pandan from SM Supermarket last week at Php11 each. It's normally Php12 otherwise. I try to keep something simple to cook on hand just in case. To wit - when I have plans for the day and have to leave the maid to cook lunch/dinner for the rest of the family, for something easy the maid can cook for my sister's baon, or for midnight cravings. Just deep fry on medium heat until done, about 5 minutes.



Yes, I am culinarily frustrated with my maid. In her first two months, I have tried to teach her to cook. She has had no cooking experience save from cooking rice, frying things, and cooking simple vegetable dishes like sauteed kangkong flavored with Knorr Seasoning. She has a tendency to fry things to death, and her taste tends towards the very salty. Since I am on sabbatical, I have been supervising her cooking meals almost everyday. Everyday I explain why this procedure needs to be done, why we add this ingredient, why we do this technique. We have made simple Filipino dishes to elaborate Continental and Chinese cuisine. Despite all that, leaving her to cook a full meal on her own will invariably result in weird tasting, unpalatable food. And I hate wasting food. Part of the problem is because she has a very poor palate, she can't taste or smell all that well. To her, salty is salty, and she probably can't process complex flavors if her life depended on it. Sigh. One time we were grocery shopping in SM and I gave her merienda. She chose Potdog's lobster balls. When I asked her how she liked it, she said it had no flavor, "walang lasa". I was unbelieving. Really? I liked Potdog's lobster balls well enough for a commercial product. I didn't think it was bland or lacked flavor at all. It was even a bit sweet, the way lobster meat is supposed to be.

Another part of the problem is her lack of exposure and experience. She doesn't eat our food. It's not like we don't give her any. After we eat our family meal, she is free to get her share of food from the leftovers before packing them and storing them in the fridge. But she only takes food she is familiar with. After having made lasagna a couple of times, I asked her if she liked it. She said she never tried it. I said, why not? She just shrugged. I told her to try it next time. So next time we make lasagna, she tries it and tells me, "Ate, masarap pala." (Sis, it's delicious. I thought it wasn't.)

So that's why I have Chicken Pandan and Chicken Torikatsu from SM on hand most times. At least she now understands not to overcook them.