Aroz Mofalfal (Arabian Rice)
Topic: Rice
Arab people are not fan of eating plain rice, they always cooked their rice with spices, vegetables, meat or anything as long as it is not plain. Aroz Mufalfal is made of long grain rice with short vermicelli, sometimes they also called it Roz bi Sha'reh means rice with vermicelli but in this case, the amount of rice and vermicelli to be used are almost the same. I always cooked this rice at home but I always forgot to post it here, anyway, here is it now. To cook this dish, the vermicelli is being fried first so that the color will be a little bit darker from the rice, hence it will be noticeable, other variation is cooking the rice and vermicelli simultaneously without frying the vermicelli first, but for me I always prefer the former version. Sometimes I also include some mixed vegetables (peas and carrots) to add some colors to the rice. This is usually served with fried or grilled meat or chicken on top. I served it with roast chicken last night, the recipe wil be posted later.

Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice
cold water
1/4 cup short vermicelli
2 cups boiled water
2 tbsp. melter butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup mixed vegetables (optional)

Directions:
1. Soak rice in cold water for 10 minutes,rinse and drain.
2.Heat butter in a pot, fry the vermicelli until slightly brown.
3. Add the boiled water and salt, stir and let it boil.
4. Add the rice, let it boil,when the liquids are almost absorbed, stir in the mix vegetables. Cover.
5. Reduce the heat to low and leave to cook for 30 minutes.

Tips: Put a thin layer of tin under the pan to prevent burning. After 30 minutes, open the pot and stir the top part to see if the rice is done, if it still little hard, cover and cook longer.

See also:
Fried Chicken Biryani

Hubby's Moist Banana Cake
Topic: Snacks
This was cooked by my hubby late last night, the recipe is here that I posted few months ago, the only difference was the amount of milk used on it. My hubby increased the amount of milk to make it like a moist cake. He also used 2 eggs completely instead of 1 complete egg and 1 eggyolk.

Hot and Spicy Squid
Topic: Squids
This is one of my favorite way to cook squid especially when I'm on hurry, it's very easy and requires less time to prepare and cook.

Ingredients:
500 g large squid, sliced thinly
1 small red capsicum, sliced diagonally
1 small green capsicum, sliced diagonally
1 onion, sliced thinly
3 tbsp. crushed ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 long green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. hot chili sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cooking oil
green onions for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan, stir fry the squids for few seconds, then add garlic, onion, ginger and soy sauce. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients except oyster sauce and green onions. Mix well, cook until the squids are completely tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the oyster sauce. Cook for few seconds.
4. Turn off heat, garnish with slices of green onions.

Spicy Ground Beef Pinakbet
Topic: Vegetables
I am not a big fan of Bagoong that's why whenever I cooked Pinakbet, expect that there will be no Bagoong on it. Bitter melon was also always omitted becasue my hubby didn't like its bitter taste. But last night I was craving for anything bitter and spicy, I don't know why, maybe it's because I was freezing, it's already winter season in Kuwait right now, hence I decided to cook this dish with bitter melon included and some red chilis on it. I didn't include the measurement of the ingredients below because the amount of the vegetables to be used will depend upon individuals own preference, maybe one will like squash so much so he/she will used more squash on it, etc.

Ingredients:
ground beef
squash
okra
eggplant
bitter melon
string beans
red chilis
broth
onion, sliced thinly
ginger, crushed
tomato, sliced
garlic, crushed
fish sauce
soy sauce
oyster sauce
black pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt
3 tbsp. cooking oil

Directions:
1. Sprinkle some salt to the sliced bitter melon, squeeze it until slightly tender, then rinse with water. Drain.
2. Heat oil in a skillet and saute garlic, onions, tomatoes and ginger until the ginger is aromatic.
3. Add the ground beef, stir until the color changes. Add in the squash and broth and simmer until the squash is tender but not soggy of course.
4. Add the remaining vegetables, red chili, soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked. Add the black pepper powder, stir for few seconds.
5. Turn off heat, stir in the oyster sauce. Serve.

See also:
Fish Flakes Pinakbet

Chicken Fried Rice
Topic: Rice
I've been cooking this recipe since I was married with my hubby and this was the first fried rice recipe that I cooked for him during the early years of our marriage life. What I did not able to include here when I cooked it last night was the long green pepper because we ran out of it the other day. It was not also available in the small supermarket near us. My hubby was also expert in cooking this dish, whenever he was in mood to cook, he always cooked the rice in this way. It was one of his favorites. When we had leftovers like fried chicken from KFC or Grilled chicken from some Arabic Restaurant, I always managed to flake the chicken meat and used it for fried rice. But last night, we didn't have any chicken leftovers that's why I used uncooked chicken breast for this recipe.

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked cold rice
1 small chicken breast,sliced thinly
1 chicken franks, sliced into small cubes
1 onion, sliced minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 cup mixed vegetables
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1 long green pepper,chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 stalk green onion, chopped
3 tbsp. cooking oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat half of the oil in a wok, add the beaten egg and cook until lightly brown, take our from the wok, transfer to a board and chop. On the same wok, stir fry the chicken franks for 1 minute. Take out from the wok and set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil to the wok, fry the chicken breast until lightly brown, add garlic and onion,stir until smells aromatic, then add tomato paste, oyster sauce and fish sauce. Stir.
3. Add the mixed vegetables and green pepper, mix well.
4. Stir in rice and black pepper powder. Season with salt and pepper. Continue stirring for about 3-5 minutes. Off the heat.
5. Add the chicken franks and chopped green onions, mix well. Serve.

See also:
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice