Shish Tawook
Topic: Appetizers
Shish Tawook is a Middle Eastern low fat recipe for marinated chicken breast, which can be baked in the oven or skewered and barbequed. Sometimes they served it as appetizer or side dish. It taste great with pita bread but it can also be eaten with Arabian Rice. Usually, the dipping sauce was made of mayonnaise and yogurt mixture but I still prefer plain hot chili sauce, lol :). Sorry, I did not able to take a nice picture of it.





Ingredients:
500 g skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tbsp. plain low-fat yogurt
2 tbsp. tomato ketchup
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. paprika
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
1/4 tsp. curry paste/powder
1/4 tsp. corriander powder
1/3 tsp. salt

Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together oil, yogurt and ketchup. Season with garlic powder, paprika, black pepper and curry powder. Stir in chicken pieces, coating all sides with marinade. Cover bowl, and refrigerate overnight.
2. To make dipping sauce, mix together mayonnaise, yogurt, garlic, and salt. Cover, and refrigerate.
3. Transfer the chicken pieces to a shallow baking dish and bake in a preheated 200 degree C oven for 30 minutes. Serve with Pita Bread and some vegetable salad.

Sauteed Squid
Topic: Squids
When I sauteed the squid I added little amount of water on it because my hubby liked it to be a little bit juicy. I used only the basic spices since we wanted the sauce to have natural taste.

Ingredients:
500 g squid, cleaned and sliced into small strips
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 tbsp. grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 bell pepper, sliced
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1/3 tsp. sugar
1/3 cup water (optional)
1/4 tsp. tumeric powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
1. (Sprinkle tumeric powder to the squid, mix well.)Heat oil in a pan, saute garlic until sligthly brown, then add onion, tomato and ginger, stir until the tomatoes are tender.
2. Add squid and light soy sauce, stir for few seconds then add water (optional). Let it boil, add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve.

See also:
Hot and Spicy Squid

Palitaw
Topic: Snacks
Palitaw is a native Filipino delicacies which is made of rice dough,formed into flattened balls, cooked in briskly boiling water, drained, then rolled into grated coconut, usually eaten with sugar. However, Muslim Filipinos had a different version of cooking Palitaw compared to the Palitaw made in the Northern part of the Philippines. The dough is made of plain glutenous rice flour and formed into balls instead of flats, they put some small cube of brown sugar brick inside the palitaw ball, hence there will be no need to dip or dredge it in sugar when you eat it. The brick of brown sugar melted inside the balls and it is very delicious to eat. One thing I love about Palitaw is it is very easy and quick to prepare, moreover, it is very yummy also. Donna made this Palitaw yesterday as our snack. Dessicated coconut was used since we don't have fresh one.

Ingredients:
3 cups glutenous rice flour
1 1/4 cup water (you can adjust the amount depending upon your desired smoothness)
1 cup dessicated coconut (used freshly grated coconut if you have)
brown sugar brick, cut into small cube

Directions:
1. Combine glutenous rice flour and water. Blend thoroughly until smooth.
2. Shape the dough into small balls, a little bit smaller than the size of an egg.
3. Flatten with thumb, then put a cube of brown sugar in the middle, seal it and form it again into balls.
4. Drop the palitaw ball in a briskly boiling water. The palitaw will float when they are cooked.
5. Take out the floting palitaw using a slotted spoon, roll it to the grated or dessicated coconuts. Serve.

Fried Zucchini
Topic: Appetizers
I posted this dish under the appetizer topic and not in the vegetables because when we ate it yesterday I noticed that it was really a great appetizer. When I served it, my hubby asked me before he tried it if it was a fish fritters or what, I said no, it was vegetable. When my sister Jong tried it, she asked me what vegetable it is, she did not recognized it. After a while, my little Azhfaar said, "Mama chicken" and he was pointing at the fried zucchini, he thought it was chicken nuggets because it resembled the shape of chicken nuggets he always eats. I gave him one piece of it but when he ate it, I think he noticed that it was not chicken at all because he did not asked for more, lol!

Ingredients:
4 pcs. zucchini, sliced thinly and diagonally
1 tbsp. minced onion
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. fish sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper powder
1 tbsp. oil

1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup tempura flour (all-purpose flour will do)
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
Oil for deep frying

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a skillet, saute onion, then add zucchini, chili powder, fish sauce and black pepper. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, set aside.
2. Dredge each zucchini slice into the flour, then dip in egg, then coat with the breadcumbs.
3. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown, drain in paper towels. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Yang Chow Fried Rice
Topic: Rice
We always love fried rice, that's why sometimes I intended to cooked more rice so that I have something to fry for the next meal, even my 2 years old son Azhfaar became a fried rice lover also. Yang Chow Fried Rice is one Chinese Fried rice variations, basically aside from the rice, ingredients like shrimps, egg, meat, various vegetables are usually added singly or a combination of those list. The one I cooked the other day was a combination of shrimps, chicken (from the chicken barbeque leftovers), ground beef, hotdog and green peas. What I like most in this dish is it was almost like a complete meal because I used more amounts of ingredients to the 4 cups of rice only.

Ingredients:
4 cups cold cooked rice (basmati rice if possible)
2/3 cup shrimps, cut into small slices, about 1 cm
2/3 cup chicken barbeque, sliced into small cubes
1/2 cup ground beef
1 hotdog, sliced into small cubes
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup frozen green peas,thawed
1/3 tsp. black pepper powder
3 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and some of the chopped green onions.
2. Heat half of the oil in a wok, stir fry the garlic, then hotdog cubes, ground beef, shrimps and green peas for 1 minute, stir in the chicken cubes, add dark and light soy sauce and stir for another 1 minute. Sprinkle black pepper powder to the mixture. Remove fro wok and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining oil and lightly scramble the beaten eggs. Add the cooked rice and stir to make sure that each grain of rice is separated, then season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir in remaining green onions with the cooked shrimp and meat mixture. Blend well, remove from heat and serve.

See also:
Shrimp Fried Rice
Chicken Fried Rice
Tips on Cooking Fried Rice