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.

Fried Chicken Biryani (Pinoy Style)
Topic: Rice
Biryani is a rice dish from the Indian Subcontinent (also adapted by the Arabs) made from a mixture of spices, basmati rice, meat and vegetables. There are many kind of biryanis and each kind has a uniqueness about it. Biryani is very popular here in Kuwait since most of the Arab dishes were originated from India. Most of the Filipinos here in Kuwait likes to eat Biryani but they hate those spicies like cardamons, cinnamons, saffron, etc. the spices that primarily contribute to the taste of original Biryani, unfortunately I am one of those who don't like these spices and this trigger me to cook a Biryani in my own way with the spices that we Filipinos can eat deliciously. I tried it and it was really Pinoy na Pinoy taste!

Ingredients:
3 cups basmati rice (long grain rice)
1 kg whole chiken, sliced into 8
1 big carrot, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 medium onions, minced
2 medium ripe tomatoes, minced
2 tbsp. crushed ginger
1/5 head of garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. curry paste (I used green curry paste)
1 tsp. turmeric powder
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. salt
1 cube chicken bouillon (optional)
1 cup cooking oil

For Garnish:
hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced quarterly
lemon, sliced
1 stalked of green onions,chopped
1 medium onions, sliced
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Soak rice in water for 20 minutes. Drain.
2. Boil 1 liter water with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tbsp. cooking oil. Add rice and cook for 5-7 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
3. Heat the 1 cup oil and stir fry the carrots and potatoes for 2 minutes. Remove from oil, set aside.
4. Use half of the remaining oil to fry the chicken and fry until golden brown.
5. Add the onions, galic, tomato paste, soy sauce, curry paste, tomatoes, ginger, tumeric powder, chicken cube, salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the lime juice.
6. Stir in the carrots and potatoes. Mix and cook for 1 minute. Turn of heat.
7. In a separate pan or casserole, place the 1/3 part of the ccoked rice, then add the half of chicken mixture, then another 1/3 of the rice, add the remaining half of the chicken, then the remaining rice. Cover and cook in a very low heat for 15 minutes.
8. Transfer your new dish into a platter or large serving plate.
9. Prepare the onion-raisin mixture for garnish. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a skillet, fry the onions until brown, add the raisins and soy sauce and cook for 1 minute.
10. Garnish and serve with Lettuce Salad .

Squash with Shrimps
Topic: Vegetables
I cooked this dish in a rush manner because we were hungry that time, we came from fish market and we did not able to take our lunch yet, it was already 3:30 pm. I want to cook one dish only and fastly, so I used garlic and ginger powder as well as tomato paste instead of fresh. I did it in less than 20 minutes!

Ingredients:
350 g squash, sliced
1/4 head of medium cabbage, sliced
400 g medium shrimps
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
green onions for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a skillet, saute onions.
2. Add shrimp, squash and tomato paste, stir until the shrimps color will changed. Add coconut milk, salt, pepper, garlic and ginger powder. Simmer until the squash are tender.
3. Add in the cabbage and fish sauce. Cook for 3 minutes or until the cabbage are done.
4. Turn off the heat and garnish with sliced green onions.

French Toast Tuna Sandwich
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
French toast is made with bread (generally pre-sliced) and eggs; some common additions are milk, water, or orange juice to thin the eggs, sugar, and spices. Whenever I make French toast, I always make it into a sandwich to add some taste to the plain one. Sometimes I used cornbeef, tuna, etc. It is one of our favorite breakfast during weekends.

Ingredients:
pre-sliced sandwich bread
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c milk
1 tsp. sugar
1 pinch of salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 small can of Tuna flakes in oil,drain
1/2 cup mayonaise
1 tbsp. Thousand Island Dressing
1 medium onion, finely minced
Butter cooking spray

Directions:
1. Mix together tuna, mayonaise, salad dressing and onions.
2. Spread the slices of bread with the tuna mixture and top each with another slice of bread.
3. Mix together milk, beaten egg, sugar, salt and black pepper.
4. Dip sandwiches into egg mixture.
5. Place the egg-coated sandwich into a pan previously sprayed with butter and cooked until each side are browned and the egg has cooked through.
6. Serve immediately.