Jong's Kutsinta
Topic: Desserts
Kutsinta is very famous in the Philippines and it seems that majority of the Filipinos knows how to cook this food. It is made of rice flour, sugar, water and lye water, it is usually served with freshly grated coconut. Last Eid, my sister Jong decided to make Kutsinta since she saw the lye water that I bought from the Filipino supermarket few days ago. We don’t have fresh coconut so she used desiccated coconut as a topping combined with the sweetened roasted coconut (also made from desiccated).





When she was almost done, she decided to add some chocolate powder to the remaining mixture, she wanted to try how will Chocolate Kutsinta taste like, LOL! The result was satisfying, we had a traditional and chocolate Kutsinta for Eid!

Grilled Shrimps
Topic: Shrimps
We went to seaside last Wednesday,3rd day of Eid, the last holiday, my husband said he wanted to take our lunch there, I was not prepared since he told me late already, almost 11:00 in the morning. So I suggested to drop by at the fish market to buy some shrimps there so that we can grill it and he said it's a good idea. So I brought some seaonings and spices for the grilling.
The weather was very good since it's autumn season in Kuwait nowadays, it's very perfect to grill outdoors. If he told me earlier then probably I can marinate chicken for barbeque but it was already late. Anyway we still had the shrimps to grill. My husband prepared the charcoal while I prepared the shrimps. I made a slit to the back of each shrimps, then I mixed light soy sauce, olive oil, minced garlic, minced onion and red chili powder together. I rubbed the slits of every shrimps from the olive oil mixture, then I grilled it for few minutes until done. We made the remaining mixture as our dipping sauce, then we ate our lunch while savoring the cool yet warm autumn breeze. Our son Azhfaar fall asleep afterwards.

Hot Cucumber Salad
Topic: Salad
It's Autumn season in Kuwait, few days from now we will be freeze with the cold winter, so if you still want to eat salad, then this will be the good summertime salad substitue.

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 tomato, thinly sliced
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. red chili, chopped
1 tbsp. chopped fresh corriander
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Combine cucumber, tomato and corriander in a bowl.
2. Mix together vinegar, sugar, pepper and salt. Pour the mixture over the cucumber, mix well.
3. Chill before serving if desired.

Shrimps and Chicken Stir Fry
Topic: Shrimps
I wanted to cook StirFried Shrimps last night but we had only few shrimps left in the fridge, not enough for our dinner so I added some chicken fillets on it.

Ingredients:
300 g shrimps, peeled
300 g chicken fillet
2/3 cup dried mushrooms, soaked in water and sliced
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 cup baby corn, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 stalks green onions, cut into 1.5 inches length
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tbsp. sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp. tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Salt chicken fillets and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan, fry the chicken until golden brown, then add shrimps, mushrooms, carrots and garlic. Stir until the shrimps turns pink, then add light soy sauce and tomato paste. Mix well.
3. Stir in the baby corn, add salt and pepper. Cook until all the vegetables are done, then add green onions, stir for 30 seconds, turn off heat.

See also Stir Fried Shrimps, Chicken with Black Beans

Lapu-lapu with Coconut Milk
Topic: Fish
One of Moro's specialties in cooking lapu-lapu, the most important ingredients for this is tumeric powder, thus making its soup bright yellow in color. I learned to love this dish also and my hubby always requested for it when we had a Lapu-lapu at home.

Ingredients:
700 g Lapu-lapu, scaled,cleaned and sliced
1 tsp. tumeric powder
1 onions, sliced thinly
2 tbsp. crushed ginger
1 tomato, quartered
2 long green peppers,cut into lengthwise but not separated
2 cups thick coconut milk
2-3 cups broth or water
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix tumeric powder and fish together.
2. Heat oil in a pot, saute garlic, onions and ginger until aromatic. Add fish slices and broth or water. Bring to a boil, then add long pepper, tomatoes, fish sauce and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add coconut milk, bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, turn off heat and serve.