Steamed Fish with Kaffir Lime Leaves
Topic: Fish
This is my another version of steamed fish, I added lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves and this made it different from my previous steamed fish posts.

Ingredients:
1 750 g whole fish, cleaned, intestines removed
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
2 thumb-sized ginger, sliced into strips
1 stalk green onion, cut into 1 inch length
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk lemon grass, tied into knot
light soy sauce
sesame seed oil
pepper

Directions:
1. Rub turmeric powder into the fish inside and out. Insert lemon grass inside the fish belly.
2. Put the fish into a shallow glass dish. Add ginger, green onion, kaffir lime leaves, light soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper.
3. Cover the dish with aluminum foil, steam for 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

See also:
Steamed Fish ala Sinigang
Steamed Milkfish (Bangus)

Instant Pancit Canton
Topic: Noodles
Instant noodles are always part of our grocery list at home, it means that it can be found in our kitchen cabinets daily. We ate it anytime, like breakfast, snacks or even dinner but I always cooked it differently, not just a mere instant noodles, I always tried my best to add something on it. Sometimes they did not recognize it, they thought that it was not an instant noodles at all.

This is one of my variations.

Ingredients:
1 package 70 g any instant noodles
1/2 cup ground/minced beef
1 small onion,thinly sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
about 20 pcs. or more baby bok choy
1 stalk, green onions, cut into 1 inch length
soy sauce to taste
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. cooking oil
pepper to taste
1 tsp. sesame oil

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package instruction, drain, add its spices if desired, then set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or pan, saute onion for few seconds, then add ground beef, stir until color turns brown. Add soy sauce and carrots. Cook until carrots are tender.
3. Add noodles, baby bok choy, oyster sauce, green onions and pepper. Stir and mix well. Cook for few seconds.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the sesame seed oil. Serve.

See also:
Beef Fried Noodles
Vegetable Chow Mien
Pancit Canton

Fish Fillet with Bellpeppers
Topic: Fish
My favorite way to cook fish fillets is grilling but this time I want to try something new, we have some colorful bell peppers at home and I want to make something out of it. And this is what I made:

Ingredients:
5 pcs. Fish Fillets
1 onion, sliced into rings
1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 orange bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 1/3 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp. grated lemon peel
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp. water
salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon, sliced

Directions:
1. Arrange onions rings at the bottom of medium pot. Add lemon peel, lemon juice, broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
2. Arrange fish fillets over the mixture. Add bell pepper strips over the the fishes. Lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 6 minutes or until fishes are done.
3. Transfer the fish fillet into a platter. Set aside.
4. Pour the cornstarch mixture over the broth mixture, stir until thickened. Turn off heat.
5. Pour the mixture over the cooked fish fillets.
6. Serve with slices of lemon at the side.

Mushroom and Raisins Pilav
Topic: Rice
Pilav or Pilaf is a Middle Eastern and Central Asian dish in which a rice is first browned in oil and then cooked in a seasoned broth. Sometimes it also contain variety of meat and vegetables. I always tried my best to cook this kind of dish at home for trial and error cooking and fortunately I learned a lot from my experiments. For the past 2 years, I cooked many variations already before I started this blog and unfortunately everytime I cooked it after I started this blog, either I got a blurred image :D or my camera run out of battery, so I did not able to take a photo of it, lol! I also cooked this dish during my vacation last year, my family and relatives there love it. Sometimes, I just cooked it plainly with butter and onions only or with mixed vegetables (carrots and green peas), in this post I used mushrooms and raisins.

Ingredients:
3 cups long grain rice (basmati rice)
3 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 tbps. grated ginger
1 bellpepper, chopped
1 cup mushroom, sliced
1/2 cup golden raisins
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper powder

Directions:
1. Wash the rice, then drain for 10-15 minutes.
2. Heat 1 tbsp. of butter in a cooking pot, stir fry mushrooms for few minutes or until tender. Take out from the pot and set aside.
3. On the same pot, add the remaing butter, stir fry the rice until slightly brown, about 3-5 minutes.
4. Add onions, ginger and bell pepper. Mix well and stir for 2 minutes.
5. Add chicken broth and salt, bring to a boil and simmer until the liquid are reduced.
6. Cover the pot, lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
7. Transfer to a rice dish and mix in the mushrooms, raisins and black pepper powder. Serve.

See also:
Rice with Fried Cauliflower, etc.
Aroz Mofalfal (Arabian Rice)
Fried Chicken Biryani (Pinoy Style)

Cucumber with Coconut Milk
Topic: Salad
One of our favorite salad at home especially when we had grilled milkfish or any fried fish.

Ingredients:
5 medium cucumber, sliced into thin strips
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 stalk green onions, chopped
1 cup coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix well, chill for few minutes before serving if desired.