Beef Fried Noodles
Topic: Noodles
We were fasting with my hubby yesterday and I had no prior plan on what to prepare for our Iftar, Donna cooked rice and she asked me what should we cook for viand, being not used of eating rice during Iftar time it seemed that I was not interested with it so I plan to cook some noodles, and this was what I prepared. Actually this dish was almost similar to Pad Thai that I posted before, however I used ground beef this time, I added carrots and I used sweet soy sauce instead of fish sauce. I did not include vinegar also, I wanted it to be a combination of sweet and salty noodles, no pepper at all. It was really something different.


Ingredients:
100 g flat rice noodles
2/3 cup ground beef
1 ? cup mung bean sprouts
1 medium carrot, julienned
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, minced
3 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. sweet soy sauce
Salt to taste
1 stalk of green onions, cut into 1 inch length

Directions:
1. Soak noodles for 10-15 minutes. Drain, then cut into 4 inches length.
2. Heat oil in a wok, saute garlic and onions. Stir fry ground beef until color changes. Add carrots and salt. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add noodles, stir to mix well. Sprinkle some water if the noodles will tend to stick in the wok. Then add light and sweet soy sauce. Stir gently, be careful not to break the noodles. Cook until the noodles are tender.
4. Add the sprouts and green onions, mix well. Cook for 30-45 seconds then remove from heat immediately.
5. Add lemon and chili powder if desired.

Chicken Noodle Soup
Topic: Noodles
There are many variations in cooking chicken noodle soup, some used egg noodles while others used rice noodles. Adding vegetables was also very common. This is the very basic chicken noodle soup that I cooked the other day for our Iftar.

Ingredients:
400 g chicken, sliced into serving portions
120 g flat rice noodles
2/3 cup carrots, julienned
1/4 head of medium cabbage, sliced into strips
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp. shredded ginger
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. sugar
water or chicken broth (enough to cover the whole ingredients)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped green onions for garnish

Directions:
1. Place the chicken into pan and cover with water or chicken broth if you have. Add the onion, ginger, celery and salt. Simmer until done.
2. Add carrots, cabbage, sugar and fish sauce. Cook until the vegetables are half done, then add noodles to the soup and cook until the noodles are tender, season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and garnish with chopped onions.

Pad See Ew
Topic: Noodles
Pad see ew is a sweet noodle usually served in Thai restaurants. Basically, it is made with sweet soy sauce, garlic, broad rice noodles, chinese broccoli, egg, and some form of meat or chicken. I tried to make one yesterday for our Iftar but I did not able to find chinese broccoli so I used spinach instead of it.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. sugar
1 cup beef, thinly sliced
3 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
250 g flat rice noodles(follow the package direction of cooking)
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. cooking oil
some spinach, trimmed
ground chilli peppers (optional)

Directions:
1. Mix the beef and vinegar.
2. Heat a wok to high heat and then add oil. Drop in the chopped garlic and stir. Add the sliced beef. Stir to cook the beef. When the meat is somewhat cooked, add rice noodles. Stir, add light and dark soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar.
3. Stir to mix the seasonings into the noodles and beef. Open a spot in the middle of the pan, and drop the 2 eggs in. Scramble the eggs until it is almost all cooked (not watery any more). Fold in the noodles and mix them all.
4. Add the spinach, stems first, then the leaves. As soon as the spinach is cooked, turn off the heat.
5. Put on a serving plate and sprinkle ground chili peppers on top. Serve.

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.

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.