String Beans Adobo (Adobong Sitaw)
Topic: Vegetables
Whenever I buy string beans, the first thing that comes to my mind is adodo because this is my husband's favorite. I always cooked it with chicken or beef but last night was different, I cooked it with tuna mackerel. That was my first time to cook it that way and the result was satisfying, good for non-meat eaters.

Ingredients:
1 small bunch of string beans (sitaw), cut into 2 inches length)
200 g tuna mackerel, sliced into cubes
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. whole peppercorns
1 tsp. vinegar
soy sauce to taste
1 tbsp. oyser sauce
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp. cooking oil



Directions:
1. Heat oil in a skillet, saute garlic until sligthly brown, add onions and stir for few seconds. Add the fish cubes, water, peppercrons, bay leaf, vinegar and few amount of soy sauce. Let it boil, simmer until the liquids are reduced.
2. Add the string beans and soy sauce, simmer until nearly done, then add oyster sauce. Cook for few seconds, then turn off heat. Serve with hard-boiled egg on top.

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