Pad Thai
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Noodles
Pad Thai is a Thai dish which is basically made of stir-fried rice noodles (the flat variety) with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chilli pepper, plus any combination of bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts and cilantro. It is normally served with a piece of lime. It is very common in many Thai restaurants but the best Pad Thai thatI had tasted before was the one cooked by my hubby's Thai friend during our sons' baptismal more than 2 years ago, The combination of ingredients was very perfect, not too sour nor too sweet and he used only few amount of nuts. I tried to cook one last night and wow, I think I made it! LOL :)

Ingredients:
250 g dried rice noodles, 1/8 inch
warm water
200 g shrimps, peeled leaving the tails on
100 4 chicken breast, flakes into small pcs.
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup tamarind juice/white vinegar
2 tbsp. white sugar
1 tbsp. tomato paste/catsup
250 g mung bean sprouts
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 stalks green onions, sliced diagonally about 1 inch long
1/4 cup cooking oil or more
2 tbsp. ground roasted chilies
1/4 cup ground roasted cashew nuts
1 lemon, sliced

Directions:
1. Soak noodles for 15 minutes in enough warm water to cover until flexible but not so soft. Drain.
2. Mix the fish sauce, sugar, vinegar/tamarind juice in a bowl, stir until the sugar is dissolved, and set aside.
3. Heat a wok or non-stick frying pan, add 1/4 cup of oil, add the garlic and stir-fry until
golden. Add shrimps and chicken, stir-fry until cooked. Add the noodles and toss lightly to coat them with oil and to mix well.
4. Add the fish sauce mixture and bring to a boil rapidly, gently folding the noodles without breaking them. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to boil, folding frequently, until the noodles have absorbed the liquid.
5. Lift the noodles gently from one side of the wok or pan. Pour in a little oil, break 1 egg, and slip it in the oil. Break the yolk, and cover the egg with the noodles immediately. Repeat this on the opposite side of the wok with the remaining egg. Allow the eggs to cook undisturbed, over moderate heat, until they are set and almost dry. Additional oil may be added if the eggs or the noodles begin to stick to the wok/pan. When the eggs are set and almost dry, fold them gently but rapidly into the noodles. Try not to break the noodles.
6. Add the bean sprouts and sliced green onions and toss the entire mixture quickly and gently, without breaking the noodles. Cook about 2 minutes.
7. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle ground chilies and cashew nuts over the top and squeeze lemon juice over that. Serve.

Sweet n Sour Fish Fillet
Topic: Fish
Sweet and sour sauce is a popular in Chinese cuisine. It is commonly made with sugar, vinegar, and tomato sauce. The sauce is often added to stir fried meats, seafoods, or chicken. Usually cooked with vegtables, especially onion, pineapple, capsicum, cabbage and tomatoes which is served with steamed rice. Another version of the sauce is a combination of soy sauce, sugar, ordinary vinegar, and ketchup (and saute-ing chunky pineapples, bell peppers, and white onions to the prepared meat and sauce mix). The latter version is my favorite one, however, in this recipe I did not include pineapple chunks because I just used pineapple in Fish in Sweet n Spicy Sauce that I cooked last Wednesday and I don't like our main dishes to taste almost the same in less than a week.

Ingredients:
400 g fish fillet
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, quartered
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup sweet tomato catsup
1/4 cup toyomansi (soy sauce with lemon)
3/4 cup chicken broth/water
Cooking oil for frying

Directions:
1. Fry the fish in hot oil until lightly brown but not crispy. Take out from oil and set aside.
2. Use 2 tbsp. fromo the used oil to saute the garlic and minced onions, saute until the onions' color are transparent.
3. Add carrots and toyomansi, stir, then add broth, tomato sauce, vinegar, catsup, sugar and black pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook until the carrots are almost done.
4. Add in the bell pepper and quartered onions, simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Combine the sauce with the fried fish fillet and serve.

Fish Fillet with Honey Lemon Sauce
Topic: Fish
Whenever we bought large or meaty fish I always make sure that I can reserve some slices to cook it into this recipe. This is best if grilled over charcoal but if you are not quite fond of charcoal grilling like me (my husband always did it when we were barbequeing) then you can grill it on pan with almost the same taste.

The first time I did it was I only used sugar, but then I discovered that honey tasted best with lemons. The best fish that I tasted to be cooked this way is tangegue fish and other scaly white meat fishes, milkfish also taste good but the bones were disturbing unless you will make it boneless. The fish I used in the picture was a medium size Tanguege.

Ingredients:
500 g fish fillet, sliced
1 stalk green onion, sliced 2 inches length
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsbp. honey
4 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
2 tbsp. olive oil or any cooking oil (use this oil to brush the pan)

Marinade:
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Marinate fish fillets for at least 1 hour. Drain.
2. Brush the non-stick frying pan with little oil. Heat and grill the fish fillet until lightly brown, turn and grill the other side. (To avoid sticking, brush the pan again when turning over the fishes). Continue grilling until done. Transfer to a dish and set aside.
3. Combine all the remaining ingredients except the green onions. Heat in a skillet for 1 minute. Stir in the green onions. Turn off the heat.
4. Pour the mixture over the grilled fishes and serve.

Cucumber Salad
Topic: Salad
Our all time favorite salad in the house, always present in the fridge, I cannot remember a week in our life here in Kuwait withour eating cucumber salad, of course with many variations. Sometimes I made it into, Tuna Cucumber Salad, Cucumber with Coconut Cream, Cucumber with Thousand Island Dressing, Cucumber with vegetables, Cucumber with Olives, etc.

Ingredients:
2 medium cucumbers, sliced into small cubes
1 tomato, sliced into small cube
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt
Few slices of lettuce, small and large slices

Directions:
1. Combine cucumber and tomatoes.
2. Combine olive oil, soy sauce, black pepper, sugar, lime juice and salt. Mix well with the cucumber and tomato mixture.
3. Refrigerate for an hour.
4. Mix in the small slices of lettuce leaves and serve on top of large slices.

Shrimp Stew with Water Spinach
Topic: Shrimps
This is one of my favorite recipe when I want the soup to be very natural and shrimpy taste. Sometimes I used cabbage instead of water spinach.

Ingredients:
500 g medium shrimps
1 small bunch, water spinach (kangkong)
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced thinly
1 ripe tomato, quartered
1 stalk green onions, cut into 1 inch length
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 long green pepper, sliced
2 cups water
1 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan, saute garlic until brown, add onions, tomatoes and ginger and stir until smooth. Add shrimps, bay leaf and peppercorns. Cook until the shrimps' color turn pink.
2. Add water, long green pepper, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Add fish sauce. Cook until the shrimps are done.
3. Add the water spinach and green onions, cook for 1 minute. remove from heat and serve immediately.