Brownies
Topic: Snacks
I'm always a big fan of brownies especially the one from Goldilocks in Philippines, I really miss it already. I hope there will be Goldilocks here in Kuwait someday. I tasted the brownies from Breadtalk here in Kuwait and I like it also, very moist. Here's the brownies that I baked the other day. I know it's not the perfect-Goldilocks-type brownies but at least you can still identify that it was a brownies when you eat it. LOL!

Ingredients:
1/2cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter
3 tnsp. sugar
2 eggyolks
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Directions:
1. Sift together flour, cocoa and baking powder.
2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, then add eggyolks while beating.
3. Add to it the flour mixture alternating with the condensed milk.
4. Pour into greased baking tray.
5. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top.
6. Bake in a preheated 180 C degrees oven for 30 minutes.

Squid Adobo
Topic: Squids
There are many variations of squid adobo, however this is my favorite one.

Ingredients:
500 g squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
1 cup water
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
1/2 tsp. salt
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 ripe tomato, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 stalk green onion,cut into 1 inch length
3 tbsp. cooking oil
1 stp. sesame oil (optional)

Directions:
1. In a medium pot, bring water to a boil along with the vinegar, squid and salt until the squid is cooked. Drain and set aside.
2. In a separate pan, saute garlic in hot oil until slightly brown. Add onions, ginger and tomato, saute until the tomatoes are tender.
3. Add the squid and the rest of the ingredients except green onion and sesame oil. Stir to mix well and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add green onions. Stir for few seconds. Turn off heat. Stir in the sesame oil. Serve hot.

Beef Rendang Curry
Topic: Beef
The first beef rendang that I tasted was in Marawi City and it became one of my favorite during my college years. I never tried to cook this dish ever since that's why I decided to cook one yesterday. I just cooked it with experimentation since that was really my first time to cook one. Fortunately, it was successful, a beef rendang indeed! LOL :) The first step I did was to soften the beef first by simmering it for 40 minutes to 1 hour. I decided to add onions and ginger while simmering so that I can used the broth for another purposes. In as much, my little Azhfaar loves to sip meat soup.

Ingredients:
500 g beef, diced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
salt to taste
water

1 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
2 tbsp. curry paste or to taste
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced thinly
1 thumb-sized ginger, crushed
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Chili peppers, chopped (optional)
2 tbsp. cooking oil
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions:
1. Combine 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder and beef. Place the beef, 1 sliced onion and ginger in a medium pot. Add enough water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil, remove scums as it rises. Cover and simmer over low heat for at least an hour. Remove the beef from water, and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add in the garlic, stir fry for a few seconds before stirring in the lemon grass and onions. Reduce heat to medium, stir in coconut milk, curry paste, peppers and turmeric. Mix in the beef, and cover the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat, add carrots. Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes more.
3. Turn off heat, stir in the cilantro just before serving.

Sprouts Open Sandwich
Topic: Breakfast Recipes
I made this last Friday as my breakfast with my son Azhfaar, my hubby was fasting since it was Arafa Day. I made an egg omelet for Azhfaar, that was his favorite, I want to make one for me but when I saw the mung bean sprouts in the fridge, I decided to make a little bit fancy that time...LOL! I know that bean sprouts are great for burgers but I did not tried it with sandwiches. So instead of making egg omelet for me, I made a scrambled egg with bean sprouts and few slices of hotdog on it top with sweet chili sauce, served over a toasted sliced bread...hmmm sounds complicated!

Ingredients:
Sliced bread, toasted
Egg, beaten
Tomato, sliced thinly
Green onions, chopped (white part separated)
Bean sprouts
Hotdog, sliced
Cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
Sweet chili sauce

Directions:
1. Saute white part of green onions in hot oil, add tomatoes and hotdog slices, stir for 1 minute.
2. Add sprouts and stir for few seconds, then add beaten egg and green onion. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the egg are done.
3. Serve on top of crispy toasted sliced bread. Add a little amount of sweet chili sauce on top.

Tips: Spread a few amount of jalapeno cheese over the toasted bread before adding the sprouts and egg sramble on it and taste the big difference! I tried it after taking the picture above and it was yummy!

Raisin Muffin with Chocolate Chips
Topic: Snacks
We were fasting yesterday with my hubby and we were late to go home from our work, it was only less than one hour left for Iftar time, therefore, we must have to cook whatever is easy and quick to prepare. I planned to make Spaghetti but I have to thaw the meat first, so I decided to make Spaghetti ala Pancit since we have some baked chicken leftovers and it would be a great flavor for that. My hubby said he wanted to bake muffins, I told him that we don’t have enough time for it since Iftar time was already near and besides I was already preparing some scrambled eggs as a fillings for the Pita bread that we had and that would be enough for Iftar but he still insisting. He said he can make it on time, I said okay do it if you can even though I knew that he will disturb me by asking how to make it perfectly, it’s okay. The original plan was just a plain raisins muffins but when I saw him mixing the batter, I remembered that we have some chocolate bars so I suggested to add chocolate chips on it by cutting the chocolate bars into tiny cubes and he agreed. He then said, what if we add chocolate syrup on it to have more chocolaty taste? He said that when he finished filling the muffin cups already, lol…! I said, okay next time we will make chocolate muffins Insha Allah. The muffins was done while were in the middle of our Iftar time.

Ingredients:
2 ? cup all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup chocolate chips
? cup milk
? cup white sugar
? cup melted butter (any cooking oil will also do)
1 egg, beaten
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Grease muffins tins, or line cups with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir in milk.
4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Fold in raisins and chocolate chips. Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.

Tips: Do not smooth the top part when filling the muffin cups. Muffins should be lumpy. You can also add more chocolate chips if you like.