Palitaw
Topic: Snacks
Palitaw is a native Filipino delicacies which is made of rice dough,formed into flattened balls, cooked in briskly boiling water, drained, then rolled into grated coconut, usually eaten with sugar. However, Muslim Filipinos had a different version of cooking Palitaw compared to the Palitaw made in the Northern part of the Philippines. The dough is made of plain glutenous rice flour and formed into balls instead of flats, they put some small cube of brown sugar brick inside the palitaw ball, hence there will be no need to dip or dredge it in sugar when you eat it. The brick of brown sugar melted inside the balls and it is very delicious to eat. One thing I love about Palitaw is it is very easy and quick to prepare, moreover, it is very yummy also. Donna made this Palitaw yesterday as our snack. Dessicated coconut was used since we don't have fresh one.

Ingredients:
3 cups glutenous rice flour
1 1/4 cup water (you can adjust the amount depending upon your desired smoothness)
1 cup dessicated coconut (used freshly grated coconut if you have)
brown sugar brick, cut into small cube

Directions:
1. Combine glutenous rice flour and water. Blend thoroughly until smooth.
2. Shape the dough into small balls, a little bit smaller than the size of an egg.
3. Flatten with thumb, then put a cube of brown sugar in the middle, seal it and form it again into balls.
4. Drop the palitaw ball in a briskly boiling water. The palitaw will float when they are cooked.
5. Take out the floting palitaw using a slotted spoon, roll it to the grated or dessicated coconuts. Serve.

Fried Zucchini
Topic: Appetizers
I posted this dish under the appetizer topic and not in the vegetables because when we ate it yesterday I noticed that it was really a great appetizer. When I served it, my hubby asked me before he tried it if it was a fish fritters or what, I said no, it was vegetable. When my sister Jong tried it, she asked me what vegetable it is, she did not recognized it. After a while, my little Azhfaar said, "Mama chicken" and he was pointing at the fried zucchini, he thought it was chicken nuggets because it resembled the shape of chicken nuggets he always eats. I gave him one piece of it but when he ate it, I think he noticed that it was not chicken at all because he did not asked for more, lol!

Ingredients:
4 pcs. zucchini, sliced thinly and diagonally
1 tbsp. minced onion
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1 tbsp. oil

1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup tempura flour (all-purpose flour will do)
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
Oil for deep frying

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a skillet, saute onion, then add zucchini, chili powder, fish sauce and black pepper. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, set aside.
2. Dredge each zucchini slice into the flour, then dip in egg, then coat with the breadcumbs.
3. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown, drain in paper towels. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Yang Chow Fried Rice
Topic: Rice
We always love fried rice, that's why sometimes I intended to cooked more rice so that I have something to fry for the next meal, even my 2 years old son Azhfaar became a fried rice lover also. Yang Chow Fried Rice is one Chinese Fried rice variations, basically aside from the rice, ingredients like shrimps, egg, meat, various vegetables are usually added singly or a combination of those list. The one I cooked the other day was a combination of shrimps, chicken (from the chicken barbeque leftovers), ground beef, hotdog and green peas. What I like most in this dish is it was almost like a complete meal because I used more amounts of ingredients to the 4 cups of rice only.

Ingredients:
4 cups cold cooked rice (basmati rice if possible)
2/3 cup shrimps, cut into small slices, about 1 cm
2/3 cup chicken barbeque, sliced into small cubes
1/2 cup ground beef
1 hotdog, sliced into small cubes
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup frozen green peas,thawed
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and some of the chopped green onions.
2. Heat half of the oil in a wok, stir fry the garlic, then hotdog cubes, ground beef, shrimps and green peas for 1 minute, stir in the chicken cubes, add dark and light soy sauce and stir for another 1 minute. Sprinkle black pepper powder to the mixture. Remove fro wok and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining oil and lightly scramble the beaten eggs. Add the cooked rice and stir to make sure that each grain of rice is separated, then season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir in remaining green onions with the cooked shrimp and meat mixture. Blend well, remove from heat and serve.

See also:
Shrimp Fried Rice
Chicken Fried Rice
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice

Puri (Deep Fried Bread)
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
This recipe was introduced to us by Donna, she always made it at home but I always forgot to post it here. She said this is an Arabic food bur when I search its name in the net, I found out that it is one of Indian foods, anyway,most of Arabic foods were originally from Indian cuisine. At first, she just only made little of it since we might not like it but when we tried the bread, wow, it's really good and my hubby always requesting her to cook it again.

Puri is an unleavened deep fried puffed bread made of flour dough, butter/oil and salt, yeah, as simple as that and it is very yummy especially when warm. You can eat it as it is or served it with noodles, jam, meat or anything. Sometimes we ate is as our snack but yesterday we served it in breakfast with Spaghetti ala Pancit and it was really good. Never mind about the calories, forget it, just eat! lol :)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Water
Salt to taste
2 tsp. vegetable oil or melted butter
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Directions:
1. Sift the flour and salt together. Add 2 tsp.oil or butter and mix well.
2. Make a well in the flour mixture, add cold water and knead into a hard dough.
3. Divide the dough into 20 equal-sized balls and place them on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a kitchen cloth for 10 minutes.
4. Flatten each ball between the palms to make a disc. Roll out each of them to form a 12 cm disc.
5. Heat the oil in a skillet, deep-fry the discs until they puff up. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

Shrimp with Brocolli
Topic: Shrimps
I forgot that I bought brocolli last week and I just noticed it yesterday in the fridge, luckily it was still crispy and not dried out yet, so that's why I cooked this dish immediately.

Ingredients:
400 g shrimps, peeled, leaving tails on
1 medium head of brocolli,cut into florets
1 cup shrimp broth/water
1 onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cold water
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. sesame seed oil
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, 2 tbsp. water and oyster sauce. Set aside
2. Heat oil in a pan, stir fry the shrimps until the color changes, then add gralic, onion and ginger, stir for about 1 minute. Add salt, pepper, black pepper and sugar.
3. Add brocolli and broth,let it boil and cook until the brocolli are almost done, about 2 minutes or depending upon your desired tenderness.
4. Add the cornstarch and oyster sauce mixture. Blend well. Cook for few seconds or until the sauce are thick and clear. Turn off heat.
5. Stir in the sesame seed oil. Serve.