My Mother's Classic Fried Rice
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
This is the fried rice that I ate first at home during my chilhood and it was served early in the morning before I went to school. My mother always prepared our breakfast very early, she did not sleep after Fajr prayer. I always smelled the aroma of tempting breakfast she prepared for us everytime I woke up in the morning. Our usual breakfast that time was fried rice with fried egg, broiled or fried freshly caught fish or shrimps, or Pandesal with noodles, and sometimes rice cakes and suman courtesy of my father's aunt. My mother usually prepared heavy breakfast for us all because she always told us that we should not eat any junk foods at school, that's why she want to ensure that our stomach were full before going to school. I really miss her now. Last Friday morning, I asked my hubby what he wanted to eat for breakfast and he said fried rice if we had rice leftovers. Fortunately, there was leftover when I checked it and I remembered the fried rice for breakfast of my mother way back home, so that's the short story why I cooked this dish. I served it with sunny side up egg, fried mushrooms and chicken franks since that was the easiest for me to prepare that time, I was still sleeepy, LOL :)

Ingredients:
2 cups cold cooked rice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced into strips
2 tbsp. cooking oil
salt to taste
Chopped green onions

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wok, saute garlic, onion, ginger and tomato for few minutes or until aromatic.
2. Add rice, mix well. Cook and stir for 10 minutes.
3. Season with salt, add chopped onions, cook and stir for 1 minute.
4. Serve.

See also:
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice
Garlic Fried Rice

Our Home-Made Pizza
Topic: Snacks
This is our homemade pizza pie, we always do it at home and it was very simple and easy, even my hubby knows how to prepare it. We like it since we just have to choose what kind of toppings should we add on it. My hubby didn't like to eat black olives, so everytime we dine in at Pizza Hut, our orders are always the same, Hawaian since it has no black olives topping on it. One day, a friend brought 2 large Pizza Hut Meat Supreme at home and the toppings was full of meat and black olives, we are big fans of pizza but we did not able to eat even a half of it since all of the toppings are not our favorite one! We like meat but when combine with too much black olives, then it will lost our appetite. Our favorite toppings are chicken barbeque, mortadella, pepperoni, pineapple, cheese of course, seafoods, bell pepper and mushrooms. We've been cooking this at home long time ago but I have no chance to post it here since everytime we made it, I cannot take a photo out of it. Fortunately, we were fasting when I made this the other day and I took it out from the oven 5 minutes before the Ifar time, hence I have time to take picture on it.

Ingredients:
For the Crust:
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. olive oil
Dried basil leaves (optional)

For the Toppings:
Pizza sauce
Use your favorite pizza toppings, anything you like:
Grated mozarella cheese
Mushrooms
Pineapple
Onions
Bell pepper
Pepperoni
Mortadella
Precooked bacon
Precooked Meat
Pre-cooked Chicken
Precooked Seafoods
Any

Directions:
1. Stir water, sugar and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil and the salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
2. Pat dough into pan using fingers dipped in olive oil. If desired sprinkle dried basil leaves on crust.
3. Bake in a preheated 250 C degree oven for 10 15 minutes.
4. Take out from oven and top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake again for 5 minutes or until the toppings are cooked through. Serve.

(My way of adding toppings on it was spreading the pizza sauce first on the crust surface, then I add grated cheese, then the other toppings, then I sprinkle few cheese again on top)

Squid with String Beans
Topic: Squids
This is one of my simpliest recipe to cook squid with vegetables. Very easy and simple.

Ingredients:
500 g medium squid, sliced into rings
10 pcs. string beans, cut into 2 inches length
1 medium carrot, sliced into strips
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 ripe tomato,sliced thinly
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tsp. sesame oil

Directions:
1. Heat cooking oil in a pan, saute onion,ginger and tomatoes for 3 minutes or until tender.
2. Add squid rings, string beans and carrots, stir for 1 minute then add water and the rest of the ingredients except sesame oil. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste. Simmer until the vegetables are done.
3. When the vegetables are done, turn off heat and stir in the sesame oil. Serve.

Fried Rice with Pineapple
Topic: Rice
This is one of good additions to fried rice, pineapple. I tried it with tuna and chicken before and it was really good. Last night, I cooked it with shrimps and cabbage.

Ingredients:
3 cups cold cooked rice (Basmati rice if possible)
4 slices of pineapple (rings), sliced into small chunks
1 hotdog, sliced into small cubes
1 cup shrimps, peeled and sliced into halves lengthwise
1 medium carrot, sliced into small cubes
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 cups cabbage, shredded
3 tbsp. light soy sauce
3 tbsp. cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped green onions

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wok, stir fry the hotdog cubes for 1 minute. Drain on paper towels, set aside.
2. On the same oil, saute onion and ginger until aromatic, add shrimps and carrot cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook until the shrimps color turns pink.
3. Add cabbage and pinepple, stir and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add rice and light soy sauce (you can add more light soy sauce if desired), stir until all the ingredients are mixed together. Cook for 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the fried hotdog cubes and chopped green onions. Cook for 30 seconds. Turn off heat.

See also:
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice
Yang Chow Fried Rice
Shrimps Fried Rice

Okra with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Topic: Vegetables
This is one of my father's favorite recipe for okra, however we used tomato ketchup or tomato sauce before but last night I tried using fresh ripe tomatoes and it was more delicious!

100 g okra, sliced thinly
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced thinly
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup broth
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
1. Saute garlic, onion and ginger in hot oil for few seconds, add tomatoes and saute for 5 minutes or until tomatoes are tender and juicy.
2. Add okra and broth. Let it boil, season with sugar, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add the oyster and light soy sauce. Adjust the seasoning. Cook until the okra are done.