Fried Wonton
Topic: Appetizers
Wonton is a type of dumpling common in chinese cuisine. It is made with a thin pastry wrapper and filled with savory minced meat. The filling is typically made of ground meat, coarsely diced shrimp, finely minced ginger, finely minced onions, and soy sauce. Wontons can be served in soup or deep fried with rice or noodles.The deep fried variety are often served as a snack or appetizer. Actually yesterdday was my first time to make wonton and it was a process of experimentation or trial and error stage that turned successful. I made only half cup of ground beef because I was afraid I might not make it good but I got a nice result. This is the recipe of my first fried wonton:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup ground beef
1 tbsp. minced onion
1 tsp. crushed ginger
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. catsup
1 tbsp. sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
Wonton wrappers
Oil for deep frying

Directions:
1. Heat the pan over medium-high to high heat. Add sesame oil, drizzling it down the sides of the pan. When the oil is hot, add the onions and ginger. Stir-fry briefly, then add the meat and cook until the meat changes color and is nearly cooked through.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Remove the mixture from the pan and allow to cool.
3. Lay out 1 wonton wrapper, and place about 1 tsp. of the meat mixture in the middle. 3. With a finger dipped in water, moisten 2 adjacent sides, fold over to make a triangle. With both hands hold the triangle by the 2 widest corners, push down so that the filled center folds up. Moisten one end and pinch the 2 ends firmly together. Continue with the rest of the mixture.
4. Deep fry the wonton in hot oil until they turn golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce or the dipping sauce of your choice.

Chicken Sandwich
Topic: Snacks
I want to make sandwich for our Iftar yesterday but I have no idea what kind of sandwich should I make, fortunately there were chicken leftovers from the KFC chicken that we ate the other day so I flaked it and I got more than I wanted for the sandwich.

There were also still chicken luncheon in the cabinet, so my problem was solve. I add 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup thousand Island dressing, 1 tbsp. chopped onions, 2 tbsp. chopped tomatoes to the 1 cup chicken flakes. I mixed it all in a bowl and season with salt, pepper and few sugar.
Then, I sliced the chicken luncheon into very thin portions, soaked it it beaten egg and fried it in buttered hot pan. I also sliced some cheddar cheese as thin as the luncheon, I plan to include it in the sandwich. This is how I made the sandwich, I spread 1 tbsp. of cream cheese to the one side of the bread,put 2 slices of luncheon on it and some slices of cheddar cheese. I cover it with another bread and spread the surface with the chicken and mayo mixture and cover it again with another bread. I repeat this procedure until all the bread slices are done. Then, sliced the sandwich into 4 parts diagonally, arrange it in a platter and put it in microwave oven for 1 minute before serving, and that's it!

Pasta with Dried Prawns
Topic: Pasta
Weird? No, it's not! Sometimes people said that a dish is cooked in a wrong way since it doesn't have the traditional ingredients, well, it is me who will cook and eat so why should I mind about other people's prejudice? This is my own cooking adventure that I got from my hubby's idea, mixing the unmixable! Some of the ingredients that I added were the chicken luncheon and chicken flakes, all leftovers from the chicken sandwich that I made.

Ingredients:
200 g pasta, cooked according to package direction
2/3 cup chicken breast flakes
2/3 cup ground dried prawns
1/2 cup chicken luncheon, stips
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups broth
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup melted butter
1 ripe tomato, sliced
1 large onion, minced
4 cloves galic, minced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped corriander leaves
grated cheese

Directions:
1. Heat the olive and butter in a pan, saute garlic until aromatic. Add the rest of the ingredients except the corriander and cheese. Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Add the pasta to the mixture and toss to coat the pasta evenly.
3. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with chopped corriander and cheese.

Chicken Chop Suey
Topic: Chicken
Chop suey is a chinese term literally means mixed pieces. What it consists of varies from place to place, but its most common form consists of meat and also shrimp, etc.) cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce, my hubby's favorite sauce. He likes thick sauces so much. This is different with the Vegetable Chop Suey that I posted before, that was served as side dish only and I made this one as a main dish.

Ingredients:
700 g chicken, sliced into serving portions
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 cup baby corn, cut into 1 inch length
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup black fungus, soaked in water and sliced
1/2 cup celery, sliced
1 onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups chicken broth
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cold water
1 tsp. sugar
3 tbsp. oyster sauce
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Stir fry the carrots and cauliflower until done. Set aside.
2. Brown the chicken in the remaining oil. Add garlic, onion and ginger and stir fry until the onions are transparent. Add black fungus, stir, then add broth and sugar . Bring to a boil and simmer until the chicken are done, then add the mushrooms, celery and baby corn. Simmer for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the previously stir-fried vegetables. Add the bell pepper.
4. Blend the cornstarch to the cold water and mix with the oyster sauce.
5. Pour in the corntarch mixture to the vegetables and stir, cook for 2 minutes.
6. Season with salt and pepper.

Sauteed Shrimps (Dry)
Topic: Shrimps
When you want the very natural taste of shrimps aside from grilling, then this is the best way to cook it, very simple way and no strong ingredients to distract its natural taste. My brother came to our home the other night and he brought some shrimps, he requested me to cook it like the way our mother did way back home, "no soup, not too oily and just few spices", that was how he described it. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:
500 g medium shrimps, trimmed
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, grated
1 ripe tomato, sliced
1 stalk green onions, cut into 2 inches length
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan, saute onions and ginger until ginger becomes aromatic, then add tomatoes and saute until smooth.
2. Add in shrimps, salt and sugar, stir ocassionally and cook until done.
3. Stir in the green onions. Turn off heat and serve.