Puri (Deep Fried Bread)
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
This recipe was introduced to us by Donna, she always made it at home but I always forgot to post it here. She said this is an Arabic food bur when I search its name in the net, I found out that it is one of Indian foods, anyway,most of Arabic foods were originally from Indian cuisine. At first, she just only made little of it since we might not like it but when we tried the bread, wow, it's really good and my hubby always requesting her to cook it again.

Puri is an unleavened deep fried puffed bread made of flour dough, butter/oil and salt, yeah, as simple as that and it is very yummy especially when warm. You can eat it as it is or served it with noodles, jam, meat or anything. Sometimes we ate is as our snack but yesterday we served it in breakfast with Spaghetti ala Pancit and it was really good. Never mind about the calories, forget it, just eat! lol :)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Water
Salt to taste
2 tsp. vegetable oil or melted butter
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Directions:
1. Sift the flour and salt together. Add 2 tsp.oil or butter and mix well.
2. Make a well in the flour mixture, add cold water and knead into a hard dough.
3. Divide the dough into 20 equal-sized balls and place them on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a kitchen cloth for 10 minutes.
4. Flatten each ball between the palms to make a disc. Roll out each of them to form a 12 cm disc.
5. Heat the oil in a skillet, deep-fry the discs until they puff up. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

Shrimp with Brocolli
Topic: Shrimps
I forgot that I bought brocolli last week and I just noticed it yesterday in the fridge, luckily it was still crispy and not dried out yet, so that's why I cooked this dish immediately.

Ingredients:
400 g shrimps, peeled, leaving tails on
1 medium head of brocolli,cut into florets
1 cup shrimp broth/water
1 onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cold water
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. sesame seed oil
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, 2 tbsp. water and oyster sauce. Set aside
2. Heat oil in a pan, stir fry the shrimps until the color changes, then add gralic, onion and ginger, stir for about 1 minute. Add salt, pepper, black pepper and sugar.
3. Add brocolli and broth,let it boil and cook until the brocolli are almost done, about 2 minutes or depending upon your desired tenderness.
4. Add the cornstarch and oyster sauce mixture. Blend well. Cook for few seconds or until the sauce are thick and clear. Turn off heat.
5. Stir in the sesame seed oil. Serve.

Chicken Afritada
Topic: Chicken
I always cooked this recipe when I have no prior plan on what to cook for our dinner because all the necessary ingredients are always available at home daily and it is very easy to prepare also. Moreover, there's no need for me to think what to do with the rice because we like it most when served with plain rice. I like to drizzle the sauce to the rice, I learned that from my hubby and it was really good. Our little Azhfaar likes it also.
When I cooked chicken or any meat, I usually sliced it into small portions, (I think you already noticed that in my previous posts here) because we want the sauce to penetrate deep inside the meat. Sometimes the meat vendors here in Kuwait wondered why I let them sliced it into such a small and they were used of the way Arabs sliced it, very big.

Ingredients:
700 g chicken, sliced into sering portions
1 medium carrot, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2/3 cup tomato sauce
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumb-size ginger, crushed
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
3 tbsp. cooking oil
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan, fry the chicken until slightly brown, add garlic, onion and ginger. Stir to mix well.
2. Add potatoes, broth, peppercorns and tomato sauce. Let it boil, lower the heat and simmer until the chicken are done.
3. Add carrots and soy sauce, simmer for 3-4 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients. Adjust the seasoing and cook until done. Serve.

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