Okra and Spinach Soup
Topic: Soup
Ever heard of okra and spinach soup? Well, now you will. The main ingredients (okra and spinach) were not being processed or blended like any other soup. I just leave it as it was.

Two days ago, I checked all the Filipino supermarket in Kuwait City if they have Kangkong (Chinese spinach) because it's been a long time that we did not able to eat it but unfortunately I did not find any. I really miss my mother's recipe for kangkong soup with okra. Last night I just substitute the kangkong with regular spinach and cooked it with okra. I want to try how does it taste and fortunately, I did not regret of cooking it, it taste almost the same! Then, I also smoked some slices of tuna mackerel and served it with the okra soup for our dinner. My sister said she miss Philipines and our mother's cooking when she saw our meal and my hubby agreed.

Ingredients:
4-5 cups water or vegetable stock
About 20 pcs. okra, trimmed at the end, cut into 2 inches length
1 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1 medium ripe tomato, quartered
1/3 cup dried shrimps
fish sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 bunch fresh spinach, well washed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a cooking pot, bring water or vegetable stock to a boil, add onions, ginger, carrots, okra and dried shrimps. Simmer until the okra and carrots are tender. Add tomato, fish sauce and sugar.
2. Add spinach, season with salt and pepper. Cook for 30 seconds. Turn off heat and cover the pot.
3. Transfer to bowl and serve immediately.

Hubby's Chicken and Potato Soup with Coconut Milk
Topic: Soup
It was my hubby's schedule to cook again for dinner, he didn't cook his favorite Chicken with Milk recipe that night, what he prepared was a chicken and potato soup with coconut milk. Here is it:

Ingredients:
500 g chicken, sliced into serving portions
2 mdium potatoes, sliced into cubes (about 1x1 inch)
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1 medium ripe tomato, sliced thinly
4-5 cups chicken broth or water
2/3 cup thick coconut milk
long green peppers
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder (optional but recommended)

Directions:
1. Combine turmeric powder and chicken slices, mix well.
2. In a medium pot, combine chicken broth or water, onion, tomato and ginger, let it boil.
3. Add chicken slices and potato cubes, let it boil. Add salt, peppers and sugar. Simmer until the chicken and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Add coconut milk, cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve.

Cream of Chicken Soup
Topic: Soup
We are freezing here in Kuwait! We craved for hot soup and hot tea or hot chocolate every night and that was the main reason why I made this soup last night.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast,skinned and diced very thinly
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic,crushed then minced
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 thick cream
5 cups chicken broth
1 small sachet of chicken soup powder
1 tsp. chopped dried parsley
1 tbsp. corn flour dissolved in a little amount of water
salt and pepper to taste
Few mint leaves/sprigs for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat butter in a pot, brown chicken breast for 2 minutes then add garlic and onion, stir until transparent. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add chicken broth and chicken soup powder. Stir to blend well. Let it boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and dried parsley, cook for 2 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat. Stir in the thick cream, mix well.
5. Turn on the heat again and simmer for 3 minutes.
6. Transfer to a soup bowl and garnish with mint leaves. Serve while hot.

Tips: Add more mint leaves and it will refreshen your throat especially when you have colds due to the cold climate!

Clams Soup
Topic: Soup

Clams soup is one of our favorite seafood soup especially when cooked while still fresh and alive. It is very rich with flavors that even you just cook it without any spices, the taste will still be very yummy. When I cooked clams soup, I just simply boil enough water in a cooking pot, put some ginger strips on it, some slices of lemon grass, few slices of onions, a ripe tomato slices and few amount of salt, when it is boiled, I add the clams on it, the clams will open after few seconds or a minute, this means that they are cooked already. Garnishing it with few slices of green onions is also great. Pepper can also be added if desired. Yummy!

Milkfish Soup
Topic: Soup
I started to cook this dish since I was on high school because this is my father’s favorite way of cooking any fish. He likes soup-based dishes so much, that’s why I always miss him whenever I cook his favorites. The other day, I told my hubby that I am cooking the milkfish for our dinner and I asked him how he likes it to be cooked, he said “anything with soup”. Me too, I wanted it to be with soup and in natural way, so that’s the reason why I cooked it this way.

Ingredients:
1 whole medium milkfish, scaled, cleaned and sliced into serving portion
1 medium onion, slice thinly
2 leeks, cut into 2 inches length
1 ripe tomato, quartered
2 tbsp. crushed ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. dried lemon grass (use fresh if available)
1 tbsp. fish sauce
Water, enough to cover the fish
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pot, saute garlic, onion and ginger, stir for few seconds, add the sliced fish and water. Let it boil over medium heat.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until fish are done about 7-8 minutes. Serve.

See also:
Besugo Fish Soup