CHEF TATUNG Sarthou recently introduced “Simpol The Cookbook,” his new interactive cookbook which features 101 simple recipes with QR codes, made extra special by surprising tweaks and twists concocted to suit modern Philippine kitchens and taste.
The recipes in the cookbook — a venture for which Sarthou collaborated with makers of food condiments — teach sensible shortcuts, practical applications and innovative modifications to create dishes that are affordable, timesaving and delicious all the time.
It aims to make cooking as simple as A-B-C, and the featured recipes are mostly inspired by Filipino classics and global favorites. It was published by the ABS-CBN Books under Creative Programs Inc.
“What has prompted me to write this book are the many requests by our followers to provide them not just with recipes but a culinary education that is relevant and useful in their own lives,” Sarthou, who wants to be known more as an author, teacher and advocate, wrote in his book.
The pandemic taught people that cooking is an important survival skill as restaurants and fast-food chains could not save them from their cravings and caprices. “We had to do it by ourselves, lest our respective families starved,” Sarthou said.
Born out of a twist of fate, Simpol became a savior to many during this difficult period in their lives, he added. He made the recipes simple enough so mothers could replicate them in their own kitchens to break the monotony of their usual recipes.
As many cooks of this generation have lost track of their own culinary lineage for one reason or another, Sarthou intends to share “part of mine” which he has slowly catalogued in his mind since he was a curious little boy in the kitchen tinkering with ingredients, pots and recipes he reads on the floor behind the kitchen bar.
Simpol is not just about simple recipes as it embraces a more open mindset to be able to focus on what is doable in people’s lives, he said. It does not turn back on traditions but makes these traditions more relevant in this day and age.
“We are not lacking in resources to make delicious food,” Sarthou said, as wet markets and grocery stores provide a whole range of ingredients and people do not have to spend much to make deliciously satisfying and healthy meals for families.
More copies of the hot-off-the-press cookbook will be available on Shopee and Lazada at P350.
