Pancit Miki
Topic: Noodles
When talking about fresh miki, I always remember my father because this is his favorite dish to eat for Iftar during month of Ramadan. We used to stock many shrimps in the fridge every month of fasting because that was his favorite flavor for the fresh miki. I still remember one day in month of Ramadan when my mother was not around in the house, we were only two left with my father, I had class in my masteral degree in the afternoon so I did not able to cook for our Iftar, my off was 6:00 pm so by the time I reached home, it was already dark because it was very traffic during that time also. My father is not a big fan of restaurants food, he always prefer homemade meals so he has no choice but to cook for our Iftar. When I reached home, I saw pancit miki cooked in a very perfect way, I tasted it and it was really good, I asked him where did he buy and he said he cooked it, I was surprised since I didn't know that my father knew how to cook that way.

Here in Kuwait, I rarely cook pancit miki because the fresh miki here doesn't taste as good as the one in Philippines. I only knew one source of fresh miki here so I have no choice but to buy it when we were craving for it. I bought few grams of it 3 days ago and I had no time to cook until yesterday.

Ingredients :
200 g fresh miki
2 cups chicken breast, sliced into strips
1 carrot, julienned
? head of cabbage, shredded
1 cup bean sprouts
few dried mushrooms, soaked in water then sliced
1 ? cups shrimp broth (use water if you don’t have broth)
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 small red capsicum, sliced into strips
2 cloves garlic, crushed then minced
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
? tsp. black pepper powder
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sesame seed oil
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks green onions, sliced into 1 inch length diagonally
Hard boiled eggs, quartered (optional)

Directions:
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. For the sauce, combine cornstarch solution, oyster sauce, fish sauce, black pepper powder, shrimp broth, sugar and sesame seed oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok, brown the chicken meat, then add garlic and onion, stir for 1 minute.
4. Add all the vegetables except sprouts. Season with light sauce and stir fry for a minute.
5. Add the miki and toss several times, pour in the sauce mixture, stir until the sauce is thick.
6. Add the bean sprouts, stir for 30 seconds then off the heat.
7. Garnish with the green onions and slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Buko Salad (Young Coconut)
Topic: Desserts
When we were in Philippines, we used to go to our coconut plantations once a month during summer season just to eat fresh buko and that was one of my unforgettable moments there.
Buko salad is one of my favorite dessert and probably the best dessert for me so far. I realy like buko (young coconut) and realy love it so so much, that's it. I bought frozen young coconut the other day from the Filipino supermarket here (oh, how I miss the fresh buko in our farm) with the other ingredients that I want to include like, red and green nata de coco, fruit cocktail and a bottle of halo-halo mixture. I made it yesterday and it was not enough, we craved for more. It is very easy and quick to prepare since all the ingredient were ready, just mixing it unless you will add some fresh fruits on it. When I made it yesterday, I included the buko juice because I want it to be a little bit juicy and since the nata de coco and the halo-halo mixture are too sweet already, I only add a little amount of condensed milk, I used powdered milk instead with lots of cream. I served it with a teaspoon of sweetened purple yum on top of each bowl and wow, YUMMY!

Fish in Sweet Chili Sauce
Topic: Fish
Originally, this recipe was from the label of our favorite Thai sweet chili sauce, I just adjust the amount and replace some ingredients to suit our taste because the first time I made it, I followed it all and I was not satisfied. Now I cook it in my own way.


Ingredients:
Any whole fish
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 shallot, thinly slice
1 tbsp. red chili, chopped
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. lime juice
chopped coriander
oil for frying the fish

Directions:
1. Clean, then salt the fish, set aside for 10 minutes. Fry in hot oil until done. Transfer to a platter, set aside.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients except the chopped coriander. Stir fry in a pan over low heat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture to the fried fish and garnish with the chopped coriander.

See also:
Fish in Sweet n Spicy Sauce
Fish Fillet with Honey Lemon Sauce
Escabechi

Fried Eggs with Tomato Sauce
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
One of my hubby's favorite way of cooking egg is fried in sunny side up style but sad to say that he cannot do it perfecly like what he likes it to be,lol! The eggyolks were overcooked sometimes when he did it and he don't want it to be in that way. Few years ago, he fried an egg and prepared a sauce made of tomato paste and some spices, he said he really likes it so much, I tried it and honestly I was not really impressed since I don't like tomato paste a lot, that's why I only used few amount of it in my cookings or I will add more sugar if I want to increase its amount to neutralized the taste.

Yesterday I tried to cook this dish in my own style, and fortunately it suited my taste a lot.


Ingredients:
4 Eggs
1 small onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed then minced
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup tomato ketchup
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. sweet chili sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
1/4 cup water
chopped green onions
few bell pepper, sliced (optional)
chopped corriander for garnish

Directions:
1. Fry the eggs, sunny side up style. Transfer to a platter, set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except onion, garlic, oil and chopped corriander.
3. Heat oil in a pan, saute garlic and onion until onions are transparent.
4. Stir in the tomato paste mixture and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Pour the mixture over the fried eggs and garnish with the chopped corriander. Serve with rice or any bread.

Cock-a-Leekie Soup
Topic: Soup
Cock-a-leekie soup is a traditional Scottish soup dish of leeks, potatoes, and chicken stock. I encountered this recipe few months ago while I was browsing for an international cuisines, at first I did not able to get what the name implies and it sounds very interesting to me but when I read all the ingredients, there I knew that it was simply made of leeks and chicken stock! Lol  So last night I made my own version of cock-a-leekie soup. Originally, the recipe calls for leeks, chicken, barley, potatoes and raisins, etc. but I did not follow it all, for me as long as it has leeks and chicken stock then that’s it! I used carrots instead of potatoes because I am not a big fan of it when it added to any soup base dish. I also add milk to have more delectable taste.


Ingredients:
700 g chicken, sliced into small portions or chopped
5 leeks, cut into 2 inches length
1/4 tsp. tumeric powder
1 onions, sliced thinly
3 tbsp. crushed ginger
? tsp. coriander powder
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 can 170 g evaporated milk
? tsp. sugar
7 cups water or more
1 large carrot, sliced
Black pepper powder
1 chicken broth cube
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Combine tumeric powder and chicken, mix well.
2. In a cooking pot, combine water, onion and ginger, bring to a boil. Add chicken and cook for 20 minutes with low heat, then add white part of leeks, cook for 10 minutes.
3. Take out the chicken from the soup, discard the bones and skin then return to the pot.
4. Add the green part of the leeks, coriander powder, tomato paste, sugar, black pepper powder and broth cube. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add carrots and milk, season with salt and pepper. Cook until the carrots are done. Serve.