Pickled Milkfish (Daing na Bangus)
Topic: Fish
Pickled Milkfish or Daing na Bangus is one Filipino's favorite dish. When I was in Philippines, my mother always made it during our fishpond's harvest time, she pickled it first for several hours and then put it under the sun for not more than an hour, then we fried it in the evening. She did it always because my father really liked it until such time that I was overly satiated with it and I didn't want to eat it anymore. Now that I am here in Kuwait, I'm always longing for it, we did not able to try a fresh milkfish here even once, all frozen from Thailand or Taiwan. I tried my best to pickle it like the taste of the one made by my mother but I can't, because that was freshly caught from our fishpond.

Ingredients:
1 Milkfish (bangus), about 750 kg after cleaning
2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed then minced
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
1/4 cup vinegar or lime juice
2 tbsp. Italian Dressing (optional)
Cooking oil for frying

Directions:
1. Remove the fish scale. Cut the fish lengthwise along the back, trying not to damage the skin. Remove the large bones. Place the fish in a shallow dish or marinating container, outer skin side down.
2. Combine the other ingredients, except the oil, and pour over the bangus. Marinate in the refrigerator 1 day or at least overnight. Turn the fish over once to marinate the open side as well.
3. Drain the bangus. (Put it under the sun for at least 15 minutes if you want it to be a little bit dry)
4. Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry the fish until golden brown.

Serve with hot rice and Jackfruit with Shrimp Salad

Jackfruit with Shrimp Salad
Topic: Salad
Since we tasted the canned jackfruit in the Jackfruit Salad that I made last week, my husband bought again the other day, it seemed that he was starting to like the canned jackfruit now, tasted almost the same with the fresh one, that was he said. Now I add shrimp and cucumber to taste different from the one I made before.

Ingredients:
1 can 565 g boiled young jackruit
200 g shelled deveined shrimps
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 cucumber, sliced very thinly
1/2 of small bell pepper, chopped
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 tsbp. fish sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsbp. olive oil
1 lemon, sliced (optional)

Directions:
1. Drain the jackfruit in the can, wash with cold water, thin slice. Squeeze out all the water and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a skillet. Saute garlic and onions, then add shrimps, sugar salt and pepper. Cooked until the shrimps are done.
3. Combine the jackfruit, cucumber, bell pepper, tomato and the cooked shrimps in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Combine fish sauce and coconut milk, add this mixture to the jacfruit mixture and toss well. Adjust the seasoning accoring to your taste.
5. Serve with lemon sliced. (Some people like to add lemon, others may not)

Besugo Fish Soup
Topic: Soup
Besugo is very common in Philippines and it is one of our favorite fish, my father always bought it whenever he saw it in the fish market and asked my mother to cook it immediately while it was still very fresh. We usually broiled it or boiled it with some vegetables. It has a very delicious soup.

When we went to the fish market last week, my husband saw a few of it and he did not hesitate to buy it even the price was 3x more than its price in the Philippines. It is not common here in Kuwait, we rarely saw it in the market and if there were some, then only very few of it.

I know there will be many variations to cook it but I always cook it this way:

Ingredients:
500 g Besugo fish, scaled and cleaned
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium ripe tomato, quartered
1 thumb-size ginger, crushed
2 bay leaves
3 cups water
1 tbsp. fish sauce (optional)
2 stalks green onions, cut into 2 inches length (separate white part)
vegetables of your choice (pechay, chayote, zucchini, lettuce, etc.)
1/4 tumeric powder (optional)
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Combine water, onion, tomato, ginger and bay leaves in a pot. Put over high heat and bring to a boil.
2. Sprinkle tumeric powder to the fishes. (optional)
3. Add the fishes, white part of green onions and fish sauce to the boiling mixture. Reduce heat, simmer until the fish is done, season with salt.
4. Take out the fishes from the soup and transfer to a dish.
5. Add the vegetables of your choice to the soup and cook until the vegetbales are done.
6. Turn off heat and add the green onions. Add the soup mixture to the fish very gently, the fish is very fragile that time. Serve.

Shrimp and Vegetables Guisado
Topic: Shrimps
This is one of my favorite shrimp recipe to cook, there's no need for me to cook vegetables anymore because it's already there. You can add whatever vegetables you like.

Ingredients:
400 g shrimps, trimmed
200 g asparagus, sliced into 2 inches length
1 medium carrot, sliced
1/4 head of cabbage, sliced diagonally and thinly
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 onion, sliced
1 thumb-size ginger, crushed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1/3 cup broth/water
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
3 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Saute garlic, onions and ginger in hot oil until onions become transparent in color.
2. Add the shrimps, asparagus, bay leaves, soy sauce and broth. Simmer until the shrimps are almost done.
3. Add carrots, sugar and black pepper. Stir. When the carrots are half done, add the cabbage, bell pepper and oyster sauce. Cook until the vegetables are done.
Serve.

Chicken with Mung Bean Sprouts
Topic: Chicken
Chicken with mung bean sprouts is very common is Philippines but this recipe was cooked in a Thai way. Sprouts is very quick to be cooked, taste better if not overcooked. It could be done in just 10 seconds to retain the crispiness. This recipe is a combination of sweet, sour and salty, can be serve either main or side dish. There were some sprouts left in the fridge since I did not used it all in the Pad Thai that I cooked the other night, I was afraid it might be spoiled soon so I decided to cook it with chicken and some vegetables.

Ingredients:
500 g chicken, sliced into serving portion
250 g mung bean sprouts
1 medium carrot, julliened
1/4 head of cabbage, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
2 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp. sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp. cooking oil

Marinade:
2 tbsp. soy sauce
3 tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Marinate chicken for 30 minutes. Drain and reserve marinade.
2. Heat oil in a wok or pan, fry the chicken until brown, add garlic and onions, stir. Pour in the marinade, simmer until all the liquids are absorbed by the chicken.
3. Push the chicken to the other side of the pan, put the sprouts to the vacant side and add 1 tbsp. from the fish sauce on it, stir fry for 10-15 seconds,do not overcook, take it out of the pan and set aside.
4. Return the chicken to the center of the pan or wok and add the carrots, cabbage and bell pepper. Stir in the oyster sauce, 1 tbsp. fish sauce and sugar. Cook until the vegetbales are done.
5. Make a space at the side of the pan and break the egg on it, cook until the egg hardens then mix it altogether with the chicken and vegetables.
6. Turn of the heat. Add the sprouts, stir quickly and gently, be careful not to break it. Serve.