My Sis Jong's Chocolate Cake
Topic: Desserts
This cake was cooked by my sister Jong yesterday, I know the ingredients she used but I don't know the exact amount, I will asked her first and post it later here.

Soto Ayam (my own style)
Topic: Noodles
Soto ayam is a dish of spicy chicken soup with vermicelli, commonly found in Indonesia and Singapore. Besides chicken, the soup is served with hard-boiled eggs and some vegetables. I read one of its recipes last week and it has many ingredients which make it very hot and spicy, some are unknown to me, I'm afraid it might not suit our taste buds especially to my hubby. Then, the other day I decided to cook one with my own style and served it on Iftar time. My sister asked me what I am cooking because she sweated when she smelled it. LOL! My hubby ate almost all what's there in the picture, only few soup were left. After an hour, we decided to go out to buy something, while we were in car we talked about some international foods and then my hubby said he likes Thai dishes so much and hated Indonesian foods. Then, I asked him what he thinks about the food I served on Iftar that night, "it's nice, good" he answered. "Why, was that and Indonesian food?", he asked and I just smiled.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
6 cups water
1 onion, sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1 medium tomato, quartered
3 pcs. lime leaves
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced
1 thumb-sized galangal root
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. tumeric powder
2 eggs, hard-boiled and sliced
1 cup mung bean sprouts, blanched
100 g sotanghon noodles, cooked
some corriander
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. sugar

Directions:
1. Rub the tumeric powder to the chicken breast until all side are coated.
2. In a pot, combine water, lemon grass, lime leaves, galangal root and salt. Bring to a boil.
3. Add the chicken breast and cook until done. Remove from broth, let cool and dry, flake the breasts and remove the bones and cartilage and set this aside.
4. Heat the broth again and add onions, tomatoes, garlic, sugar and fish sauce. Bring to a boil. Adjust the seasoning. Turn off heat when done.
5. In a large platter, place the mung bean sprouts, sliced egg, noodles, chicken flakes and corriander.
6. To serve, take some of all the ingredients from the platter and put it in a bowl. Pour some soup on it, stir and that's it.

Escabechi
Topic: Fish
One of my husband's favorite fish dish, lapu-lapu escabechi, he requested me to cook one yesterday to serve for their Iftar with his friends.

Ingredients:
1 whole medium size Lapu-lapu or any fish
1 large onion, sliced
1 green capsicum, strips
1 red capsicum, strips
1/3 cup ginger, strips
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup oyster sauce
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1/3 cup tomato catsup
2/3 cup chicken broth or water
1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
1 tsp. vinegar
oil enough to fry the whole fish
chopped green onions for garnish

Directions:
1. Salt the fish and fry in hot oil until done. Transfer to a platter and set aside.
2. Take 2 tbsp. from the used oil and heat in a skillet. Saute garlic until lightly brown, add onions, tomatoes and ginger and saute until the ginger are aromatic. Add capsicums, stir for a minute.
3. Add the broth, soy sauce, vinegar and tomato catsup. Bring to a boil.
4. Add the oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and pour the mixture to the fried fish. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve.

See also Fish in Sweet n Spicy Sauce

Beef with Ground Roasted Coconut
Topic: Beef
One of Moro's especial delicacies, usually served on traditional wedding ceremonies and many occassions. I never tried to cook this when I was still in Philippines, then one day my brother asked me if I know how too cook it because he really miss that dish and I said I will try. Then I called my mother in Philippines and asked her how to make Palapa (Ground roasted coconut)because I want to cook beef as my brother requested so. She told me how and it was very simple. It was made of grated coconut and some spices. Since it is very hard to find fresh coconut here in Kuwait, I decided to use dessicated coconut.

Here's how to make Palapa :
Combine some slices of onions, crushed ginger, few galangal root, salt and 1 cup dessicated coconut, place the mixture in a hot skillet over low-medium heat. Stirring constantly, roast until brown. Remove from the skillet, let it cool and grind.
Now, here's the simple recipe for the beef:

Ingredients:
1 k beef, sliced into thin cubes
1/2 tsp. tumeric powder
2 medium onions, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ripe tomato, sliced
1/4 cup ginger, strips
water
soy sauce to taste (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cooking oil

Marinade:
2/3 cup palapa (ground roasted coconut)
1 onion, minced
2 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup galangal root, strips

Directions:
1. Sprinkle tumeric powder to the meat, mix thoroughly, combine marinade together and then marinate for 30 minutes.
1. Heat oil in a pan, saute garlic until lightly brown, add onions, ginger and tomatoes. Saute until the tomatoes are very tender.
2. Add the meat with the marinade, stir to mix well. Then add water enough to cover. Bring to a boil, remove scums as it rises. Lower the heat, season with salt, pepper and soy sauce. Cover the pan and simmer for 1 hour or until done.

Grilled Chicken with Baked Potatoes
Topic: Chicken
Originally my plan was to grill chicken only but when I saw that many drippings were just only wasted in the dripping dish that I place below the chicken, I immediately remembered to bake potatoes and place it below the chicken so that it can catch all the drippings, so the chicken taste were all there in the potato. This is what I did: First, I prepared the chicken for grilling, the whole chicken was sliced into 4 parts, I want to marinate it before grilling but I have no time, our meal time was already near. So, I boiled it for 5-7 minutes with enough water to cover, few salt and peppercorns. While boiling, I ground onions, green onions and ginger together, add some salt and pepper, after boiling the chicken and drained, I rub the onions mixture all over the chicken slices. Then I arranged it in the grill wire and grill it in a preheated 250 degrees oven. When I noticed the drippings, that was when I decided to place some potatoes under it. I immediately cut each potato in half. I scooped out its meat, I add some chopped onions on the potato meat, few bell pepper, soy sauce, salt and pepper. I stuffed the potato cavities with the mixture and I put it under the chicken to catch all the dripping sauce. It takes 1 hour for me to grill and bake but the result was really satisfying.