Crispy Fried Okra
Topic: Vegetables
Yesterday, while I was browsing some Thai websites, I read one recipe which sounds appealing to me, CRISPY FRIED OKRA, wow sounds good!

So last night, I checked our refrigerator if we still have some okra so that I can try it, luckily I found but only few, about 10 pieces only. No problem, I will still try it. Actually, the recipe was very simple, so when I cooked I add some spices to taste even better. The result, wow, very crispy! For those who don't like getting the slimy juice of okra, then this is the solution, very dry and no slimmy juice at all. The best way to eat this recipe is dip it in chili fish/soy sauce with lemon or a plain tomato ketchup.

Ingredients:
1 pound okra, half open lengthwise each
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2/3 cup cooking oil
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Mix all the flours, baking powder, salt, spices and water together. Stir and mix well. Drop the okra in, make sure that all side of the okra will be coated well with the batter.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat.
3. Drop the okra in the pan separately and fry until golden brown.
4. Remove the okra onto a paper towel lined dish.

Serve immediately.

Coconut Fried Shrimp
Topic: Shrimps
This recipe is almost the same with the Deep Fried Shrimp with breadcrumbs, when you look at, it really similar but you will distinguish the big difference when you tasted it. Even my sister Jong who is allergic of shrimp tried it since it was coated with coconut (the antidote of her allergies). Unfortunately I didn't able to take a clearer picture because we were in a hurry that time to attend a meeting, see...it was blurred!

Ingredients:
20 medium shrimps, peeled leaving the tails on
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup shrimp broth (you can make shrimp broth by boiling the shrimps' head with 2/3 cup water for 3-5 minutes)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups dessicated coconut
1/2 tsp. salt
oil, enough for deep frying

Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine egg, 1/2 cup flour, broth, salt and baking powder.
2. Place 1/4 cup flour and coconut in 2 separate bowls.
3. Hold shrimp by tail and dredge in flour, shaking off excess flour. Dip in egg/broth batter, then coat with coconut.
4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Fry 4 or 5 shrimp at a time in oil about 1 minute, turning once, and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.

Bihon Guisado
Mood:  hungry
Topic: Noodles
Friday is my office whole day-off and it is the only day of the week that I have a chance to wake up late but I cannot do it because my appetite is urging me to get up. Yeah, I felt hungry because I am used of eating breakfast early for 6 days of the week. Hence, I have no choice but to get up and see what's there in the kitchen to munch! I decided to cooked Bihon Guisado since it's been a long time that I did not eat it.
Bihon is a rice noodles, it's a kind of Chinese food that being adapted by the Filipinos. Here in Kuwait, it's very hard to find a good quality Bihon but we still manage to cook it whenever we missed eating this noodles.

Ingredients:
200 g dried rice noodles
200 g chicken breast, flaked
200 g shrimp, peeled leaving tails on
1 medium size carrot, cut into strips thinly
2/3 cup baguio/green beans, slice diagonally and thinly
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
1 medium size bell pepper
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 large onion, minced
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp. cooking oil
1 cup of chicken/shrimp broth
pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 5 minutes, drain. Cut into 3-4 inches length
2. Heat the oil in a skillet. Saute garlic and onions. Add shrimp and chicken, stir for a minute then add carrots and beans. Stir.
3. Add the broth, when the broth starts to boil, add the noodles, bell pepper and cabbage. Stir well.
4. When the noodles has absorbed all the liquid, add the soy sauce and pepper. Stir and mix very well to distribute the vegetables evenly.
5. Serve hot with toasted slice bread or French Toast Tuna Sandwich.

Squid Black Soup
Topic: Soup
Black soup, sounds weird and yucky but taste yummy!
Many people don’t include the black ink sac of the squid when they cooked it, even me, I only include it when I miss my Mother’s way of cooking it, she always include the black ink sac, the good taste hide behind those blacks, she said. And I knew she was always right. I only cooked this recipe once in a blue moon because I don’t like those black liquid sticking on my fingers, lol!

Here’s the one I cooked the other day:

Ingredients:
350 grams squids (big variety), cleaned and sliced thinly, reserve the black ink sac
3 cups water
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium ripe tomato, sliced
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
10 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 long green pepper (optional)
2 tbsp. cooking oil
Green onions, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Saute garlic and onions, add tomatoes and ginger and stir well.
2. Add in the squid, peppercorns, bay leaf and fish sauce. Then add water , the black ink sac and green pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Garnish with chopped green onions. Serve hot.

Eggplant Omelet
Topic: Vegetables
To make and Eggplant Omelet or Tortang Talong in Filipino, the eggplant must be pre-cooked either broiled, steamed, boiled or grilled. The last one is my favorite method. Basically, the batter is made of egg and flour, you can also add ground meat or tuna flakes to taste even better. But me, whenever I cooked this recipe, I didn't use flour because I don't want my vegetable to taste like pancakes! hehe...

Here's the simpliest recipe of eggplant omelet,

Ingredients:
3 medium size eggplant (long variety), pre-cooked
2 eggs, beaten
1 small size tomato, chopped
1 small size onions, chopped
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 long green pepper, chopped
1/3 cup of cooking oil
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Peel off the skins of the eggplant, leaving the stems on. Flatten the bodies.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except the eggplants and oil. Blend together until smooth.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet until its starts to smoke. Hold the eggplant in its stem and dip it in the batter. Fry it in the hot oil until golden, turn once to cook the other side. Cook only 1 eggplant at a time to have perfect omelet.