Beef Rendang Curry
Topic: Beef
The first beef rendang that I tasted was in Marawi City and it became one of my favorite during my college years. I never tried to cook this dish ever since that's why I decided to cook one yesterday. I just cooked it with experimentation since that was really my first time to cook one. Fortunately, it was successful, a beef rendang indeed! LOL :) The first step I did was to soften the beef first by simmering it for 40 minutes to 1 hour. I decided to add onions and ginger while simmering so that I can used the broth for another purposes. In as much, my little Azhfaar loves to sip meat soup.

Ingredients:
500 g beef, diced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
salt to taste
water

1 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
2 tbsp. curry paste or to taste
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Chili peppers, chopped (optional)
2 tbsp. cooking oil
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions:
1. Combine 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder and beef. Place the beef, 1 sliced onion and ginger in a medium pot. Add enough water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil, remove scums as it rises. Cover and simmer over low heat for at least an hour. Remove the beef from water, and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add in the garlic, stir fry for a few seconds before stirring in the lemon grass and onions. Reduce heat to medium, stir in coconut milk, curry paste, peppers and turmeric. Mix in the beef, and cover the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat, add carrots. Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes more.
3. Turn off heat, stir in the cilantro just before serving.

Sprouts Open Sandwich
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
I made this last Friday as my breakfast with my son Azhfaar, my hubby was fasting since it was Arafa Day. I made an egg omelet for Azhfaar, that was his favorite, I want to make one for me but when I saw the mung bean sprouts in the fridge, I decided to make a little bit fancy that time...LOL! I know that bean sprouts are great for burgers but I did not tried it with sandwiches. So instead of making egg omelet for me, I made a scrambled egg with bean sprouts and few slices of hotdog on it top with sweet chili sauce, served over a toasted sliced bread...hmmm sounds complicated!

Ingredients:
Sliced bread, toasted
Egg, beaten
Tomato, sliced thinly
Green onions, chopped (white part separated)
Bean sprouts
Hotdog, sliced
Cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
Sweet chili sauce

Directions:
1. Saute white part of green onions in hot oil, add tomatoes and hotdog slices, stir for 1 minute.
2. Add sprouts and stir for few seconds, then add beaten egg and green onion. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the egg are done.
3. Serve on top of crispy toasted sliced bread. Add a little amount of sweet chili sauce on top.

Tips: Spread a few amount of jalapeno cheese over the toasted bread before adding the sprouts and egg sramble on it and taste the big difference! I tried it after taking the picture above and it was yummy!

Raisin Muffin with Chocolate Chips
Topic: Snacks
We were fasting yesterday with my hubby and we were late to go home from our work, it was only less than one hour left for Iftar time, therefore, we must have to cook whatever is easy and quick to prepare. I planned to make Spaghetti but I have to thaw the meat first, so I decided to make Spaghetti ala Pancit since we have some baked chicken leftovers and it would be a great flavor for that. My hubby said he wanted to bake muffins, I told him that we don’t have enough time for it since Iftar time was already near and besides I was already preparing some scrambled eggs as a fillings for the Pita bread that we had and that would be enough for Iftar but he still insisting. He said he can make it on time, I said okay do it if you can even though I knew that he will disturb me by asking how to make it perfectly, it’s okay. The original plan was just a plain raisins muffins but when I saw him mixing the batter, I remembered that we have some chocolate bars so I suggested to add chocolate chips on it by cutting the chocolate bars into tiny cubes and he agreed. He then said, what if we add chocolate syrup on it to have more chocolaty taste? He said that when he finished filling the muffin cups already, lol…! I said, okay next time we will make chocolate muffins Insha Allah. The muffins was done while were in the middle of our Iftar time.

Ingredients:
2 ? cup all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup chocolate chips
? cup milk
? cup white sugar
? cup melted butter (any cooking oil will also do)
1 egg, beaten
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Grease muffins tins, or line cups with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir in milk.
4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Fold in raisins and chocolate chips. Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.

Tips: Do not smooth the top part when filling the muffin cups. Muffins should be lumpy. You can also add more chocolate chips if you like.

Baked Chicken Wings
Topic: Chicken
This recipe was just a product of my cooking adventure last night.

Ingredients:
12 pcs. chicken wings

Marinade:
1 medium onion, minces
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
3 tbsp. water
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
1/3 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Mix together all marinade ingredients.
2. Marinate the chicken wings for 1t least 30 minutes.
3. Arrange chicken in a baking dish, then bake on a preheated 250 degrees C oven for 40 minutes. Brush the chicken with the marinade occasssinally.
4. After 40 minutes, take out from oven and turn over the chicken to darken the other side. Bake for 5 minutes. Serve.

My Mother's Classic Fried Rice
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
This is the fried rice that I ate first at home during my chilhood and it was served early in the morning before I went to school. My mother always prepared our breakfast very early, she did not sleep after Fajr prayer. I always smelled the aroma of tempting breakfast she prepared for us everytime I woke up in the morning. Our usual breakfast that time was fried rice with fried egg, broiled or fried freshly caught fish or shrimps, or Pandesal with noodles, and sometimes rice cakes and suman courtesy of my father's aunt. My mother usually prepared heavy breakfast for us all because she always told us that we should not eat any junk foods at school, that's why she want to ensure that our stomach were full before going to school. I really miss her now. Last Friday morning, I asked my hubby what he wanted to eat for breakfast and he said fried rice if we had rice leftovers. Fortunately, there was leftover when I checked it and I remembered the fried rice for breakfast of my mother way back home, so that's the short story why I cooked this dish. I served it with sunny side up egg, fried mushrooms and chicken franks since that was the easiest for me to prepare that time, I was still sleeepy, LOL :)

Ingredients:
2 cups cold cooked rice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced into strips
2 tbsp. cooking oil
salt to taste
Chopped green onions

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wok, saute garlic, onion, ginger and tomato for few minutes or until aromatic.
2. Add rice, mix well. Cook and stir for 10 minutes.
3. Season with salt, add chopped onions, cook and stir for 1 minute.
4. Serve.

See also:
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice
Garlic Fried Rice