Pizza from left-over

Craving for pizza but no available delivery near my place. So I decided to make my own simple homemade pizza.

I used:

• Left over spaghetti sauce that I cooked the other day.
• Sliced breads
• Butter
• Cheese. No choice, only sliced cheese available in the fridge.

So first, butter the slice breads,arrange in a baking sheet and in to the oven for about 10 minutes.

When the breads are toasted, add the spaghetti sauce, top with sliced cheese and put back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes, just until the cheese are melted.

Serve immediately.

Fasolyah Bel Laham (the first attempt)

I came across of this Arabic recipe in Gulfnews’ Food Recipe section and I decided to make it at home.  I however substitute some of the ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil (instead of clarified butter)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 kg lamb (instead of beef), cut into medium-size cubes
• 1 can white broad beans
• 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
• 20ml tomato paste
• 4 cups water, more if necessary
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Cooking direction

• In a casserole, sauté onion and garlic till translucent. Put in the lamb cubes and sear till it turns little brownish.
• Add the tomato paste, coriander, ground pepper and season with salt. Put water, stir and bring to boil. Simmer in low heat till meat is tender. Add more water if necessary to tenderize the lamb.
• Once the meat is cooked, add the white beans and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Serve & enjoy.

Shish Tawook in Rice

Hayati thought of using the shish tawook (marinated chicken) in this dish instead of the usual grilling method. I and Hayati have no idea on the name of this dish so we’ll call it Hayati’s biryani #1.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Basmati rice (cooked as per package instruction)
• 1/2 kg ready to cook shish tawook (marinated chicken)
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 carrot, cut into small cubes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• Some cashew nuts, roasted
• Some raisins
• 3 teaspoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons Arabic mix masala
• 1 cup of water
• Some canola oil
• Salt to taste

Cooking direction:

• In a pan, sauté the onion till translucent. Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, in low fire.
• Add the masala, tomato paste and carrots. Add a cup of water and simmer till the chicken is tender. If necessary, add more water just till the chicken is done.
• Add the garbanzo beans, cashew nuts and raisins. Season with salt cover and cook for another 5 minutes.
• In another pot, arrange the rice & the cooked chicken dish in alternating way. Rice on first layer, second layer the cooked chicken. Again a layer of rice then topmost layer is the chicken.  Cook in low heat for about 5 minutes.
• Serve with yoghurt.

Ikay's first taste of Chopsuey

Wondering who is Ikay? Hubby bought for me a new cooking range which I named Ikay.  It was delivered yesterday and was firstly used in cooking......Chopsuey!

For this dish, I gathered these ingredients:

• 1/4 kg chicken breast, cut into desired chunks
• 1/4 kg cauliflower, separate florets
• 1/8 kg green beans, ends trimmed
• 1/8 kg chinese cabbage, split a leaf into 4
• Some button mushrooms, cut into two
• 1 celery stalk , chopped
• 6 pieces young corn, split to two
• 1 carrot, sliced diagonally
• 1 head of onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped (I grate it to arrive with the smallest possible pieces)
• 1- 1/2 cups water
• Oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

How I did it:

• In a wok, sauté the onion, garlic and celery until translucent. Add the chicken, stir fry for about 2 minutes in a low fire. Pour the water, adjust the heat into high, cover and simmer till the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
• Add the vegetables except the Chinese cabbage. This takes lesser time to cook as compared to the other vegetables hence adding it later.
• Add about 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, mix the vegetables. After about 2 minutes, time to add the chinese cabbage.
• Season with pepper and salt as per your liking then cover and cook till the vegetables are done but still with a crisp.
• Serve while fresh and hot! Enjoy!

(my final dish - Chopsuey)

Friday Brunch

July, on its first Friday - Weekend and that means a brunch meal in the house. As usual, big brother cooks the rice and waits me to get up to cook the dish.  That's what we call division of labor :)

To go with the cured meat (Halal of course), I sautéd some vegetables as a side dish. 

• Couple of asparagus spears, discard tough ends
• Button mushrooms, sliced
• Tomatoes, seeds removed and sliced
• 1 egg (for my big brother)
• Some salt and ground black pepper to taste

I usually cut my veggies right while cooking and just put it into the board, this way less washing needed.

• From the same oil used for cooking the cured sliced meat, arrange the vegetables into sections (i.e. Tomato in one part of the pan, to the other quarter put the asparagus, mushroom on the other side). Of course you'll need a medium pan to be able to do this.
• Sprinkle some salt and pepper.  Stir fry the vegetables in low heat until tender. asparagus should be still crisp.
• Move the veggies on the sides, crack one egg in the middle pan, add little salt and cook till desired doneness.
• Arrange in a plate and serve.
• Remember to Share!

حياتي in kitchen

"Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love."
-- Keith Floyd, A Feast of Floyd --

Hayati invaded the kitchen today and prepared the dinner. Like me, he is also a novice in this field, yet he tried to make a good food. For him, cook on your own way and just enjoy the experience.

For our snack while watching a TV show, a ready to cooked cheese and chicken flavored samosas, which we bought in Spinney's. This popular Indian stuffed pastry I guess is the counterpart of the famous lumpiang shanghai.

And for dinner, we enjoyed his rendition of fried rice with chicken. 

For this dish you'll need:

• 1/2 kg chicken legs (Hayati removed the skin, rubbed with salt and washed thoroughly)
• 3 cups basmati rice (washed and soaked in water for 30 minutes before cooking)
• Carrot, cut into small cubes
• Green beans, sliced to almost same size of the cubed carrot
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• salt to taste
• 1 fresh yoghurt

Direction:

• Cook the basmati rice as per direction specified in the package.
• Heat oil in a pan. Sprinkle salt into the chicken and fry in low medium heat.
• Once cooked, remove the chicken and set aside.
• In a casserole, add little oil and sauté the onion.
• Add the carrots and green beans. Cook for about 2 minutes.
• Then add the beaten eggs and mix slightly.
• Add the cooked rice and chicken. Season with salt and stir.
• Cover the casserole and cook in a low fire for about 5 minutes.
• Serve with yoghurt.

Stewy Wednesday (Bulalo is in the house)

Here's my own way of cooking this hearty, warm & comfy stew (popular as bulalo in Tagalog).

This dish is quite easy and simple to make that even a novice like me :) surely can prepare.

 

A couple of ingredients needed:

• 1/2 kg veal feet (I'm using this instead of the commonly used beef shank)
• 1 head onion, sliced
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut
• 1 stalk of celery, cut roughly
• Chinese cabbage (you may use pechay or just the regular cabbage), wash, just split leaves into two.
• Salt
• Pepper corns

 

My way:

• The veal feet that I bought is already cut into serving portion so I just washed it.
• In a pressure cooker, add water & the veal. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the meat is tender.
• Transfer the tenderized meat in a casserole. Add some more water enough to cover the meat, drop the onion, pepper corns, celery, carrots and continue to boil. While simmering, some scum might float in which you need to scoop out. I also removed some of the oil accumulating just to reduce the fats in the dish.
• Add the cabbage (a good source of Vitamin C and Calcium). Dash some salt to taste. Cook till just the cabbage has wilted.
• Serve hot!

I always prepare a fish sauce (patis) with lemon juice, to go on the side of this dish, for buddies that have more salty taste preference.