Watermelon Shake
Topic: Drinks
Watermelon is rampant in Kuwait nowadays since it is summer season.
We can found it everywhere and it's also quite cheaper. We bought the other day and we did not able to eat it all, hence I made it into shake last night.
I really miss my mother whenever I make a fruit shake, it's her favorite drink. One thing funny was during the month of Ramadhan, she always had a stomachache if she cannot drink any shake when we broke our fast in the afternoon. So what my father did was to buy fresh fruits daily so that she can make a fruit shake.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. white sugar
5 tbsp. milk powder
3 cups crushed ice
3 cups cubed watermelon, seeded



Directions:
1. Blend all ingredients until mixture is slushy.
2. Pour into glasses and serve.

You can also add crushed chocolate chips or cereals as toppings.

Broiled Fish with Lemon Grass
Topic: Fish
This is one of my favorite way to grill large fish like Milkfish, Maya maya,etc.

Ingredients:
1 750 g whole fish, cleaned, intestines removed
1 stalk of lemon gras, tied like a knot
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 onions, chopped thinly
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lime juice
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. tumeric powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Make a some deep slits in both sides of the fish. Sprinkle and rub both sides with the tumeric powder.
2. Combine half of the onions with grated ginger, salt and pepper and fill each slit of the fish with the mixture.
3. Insert the lemon grass inside the fish (the cavity that contains the intestines which you removed).
4. Grill over a medium heat.
5. While grilling, mix the remaining onions, olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, pepper, galic and ginger powder.
6. Brush the mixture to the fish to avoid drying and grill until done, turn only once.
7. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Tips: Wrap the fish with aluminum foil then grill over low-medium heat so that the liquids will not spill out, it will taste better since the spices will absorb on it. Grill each side for 8-10 minutes. Unwrap the fish, brush the sauce mixture on it then grill again over low heat, 2 minutes each side.

Mix Vegetables Stir Fry
Topic: Vegetables
Stir frying the vegetables is one of my favorite recipe, I always cooked it in crispy way. The best way to stir fry the vegetables is to prepare and cut all the necessary ingredients and make sure that the first vegetable that you stir fry in the skillet is the one that takes longest to cook and so on. I like crispy vegetables so much, that's why when I cooked stir-fry I always used large skillet so that the ingredients will not crowd and it will be easy for me to stir. This recipe should be cooked in a high heat over a short period.

Ingredients:
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 cup snow peas
1 small head of brocolli, cut into flowerettes
1/4 head of small cabbage
1/4 cup black fungus, soaked in water and sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. cooking oil
1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/3 cup chicken broth or water

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and stir for about 15 seconds over high heat.
2. Add carrots, zucchini and black fungus, stir for 1 minute.
3. Add brocolli, fish sauce, sugar, garlic powder, pepper and broth, stir for about 30 seconds then stir in the cabbage and bell pepper, stir another 30 seconds more.
4. Add the snow peas, stir for 15 seconds the add the oyster sauce and stir until the liquids are reduced. Do not overcooked.

Serve.

Water Spinach (kangkong) with Mushroom
Topic: Vegetables
Water Spinach or Kangkong is one of Filipinos' most favorite vegetables and also common in most Asian countries. Here in Kuwait, Kangkong is very expensive, 1 bunch will cost KD 0.400 or $1.5 , in Philippines this will only cost between 5-10 peso.
Last night I cooked it with fresh mushroom (white chanterelle) that I bought from a Thai supermarket and we really had a great dinner out of it. My husband said how he wished that we always cooked it that way. I used only simple ingredients to keep the taste more natural.

Ingredients:
1 small bunch of water spinach, trimmed and washed
10 pcs. white chanterelle mushroom, sliced
1/3 cup black chinese fungus (taingang daga)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 medium ripe tomato
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cooking oil
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Soak the black fungus in water and sliced.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. Add garlic, onions, tomatoes and ginger ad stir fry until the onions become translucent.
3. Add the Kangkong , mushrooms, black fungus and water. Stir fry.
4. Continue to stir-fry just until the Kangkong wilts, about 2 minutes.
5. Add sugar, fish sauce and salt, simmer for 30 seconds.
6. Remove from heat, don't overcooked.

Serve immediately.

Lettuce Salad
Topic: Salad

Sometimes vegetables when prepared in a very simple way are the best. Like salads. My father always mentioned to us before that he really missed the salads in Riyadh, KSA while he was studying there particularly the Lettuce salad. We always tried to buy lettuce there in the Philippines and made it into a salad but my father said that it didn't taste the same. Now, I knew that there must have to be a big difference because the lettuce he mean was the Romaine variety which is very common here in the arab states and the lettuce we used to buy in the Phillipines before was iceberg variety. Now here's the simple way of making lettuce romaine salad.


Ingredients:
1 small bunch of young lettuce
1/2 cup pickled cucumber, sliced
1 large tomato, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp. olive oil
pinch of salt
10 pcs. Croutons or more if you like

Directions:
1. Rinse each lettuce leaf under cold water and shake excess water off the leaves.
2. Cut the leaves into whatever size you think will fit into your mouth.
3. Combine the lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes in a salad bowl. Toss with the dressing until all the vegetables are coated well with the dressing.
4. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
5. Top with croutons.

Serve immediately. Lettuce tends to get soggy about an hour after mixed with the dressing.