Mini Palabok

Whenever I want to eat Palabok, I just buy Palabok Mix and follow the procedures written at the back of the sachet. I’ve been interested in preparing it without the mix so I searched the net and found some recipes from different sources and tried to combine them. Although the ingredients of this one are not as complete as the others’, I still would want to recommend this for those (like me) who want to eat even other ingredients are not available.

Ingredients:

- 2 500gms Super Q Special Palabok cornstarch sticks

Sauce:

- 2 tbsp cooking oil

- 1 medium sized onion

- 2 shrimp cubes

- 1 can Tuna

- ¼ cup Atsuete dissolved in ¼ cup water

- 5 cups water

- 4 tbsp fish salt

- 4 tbsp all purpose flour dissolved in ¼ cup water

Toppings:

- garlic

- 3 eggs

- 1 pack prawn crackers

- 1 pack cooking shrimps

 

Procedure:

Cooking the toppings:

- deep fry the minced garlic until medium brown

- boil the eggs for 20 minutes, and slice

- fry the prawn crackers, then grind

- boil the shrimps until cooked

Cooking the noodles:

- soak the rice noodles in boiling water for about 15minutes or until cooked

- stir gradually

- remove from heat, do not drain yet, and let stay in hot water for about 20minutes

- drain and transfer to service plate

Cooking the sauce:

- heat oil in a pan

- sauté onion

- add the tuna and shrimp cubes, mix well

- add fish sauce and water

- use a strainer and add the atsuete

- add the flour mixture, stir continuously until thick

- remove from heat

Combining them altogether:

- mix the rice noodles with the sauce

- sprinkle fried garlic, and crushed prawn crackers over the mixture

- add shrimp and arrange the sliced eggs

- enjoy!

Microwave-baked Apple Cake

The absence of conventional ovens (gas range) or electric oven limits me from baking cookies, cupcakes, and other fruit cakes. But upon searching the net, I found out that Microwave Oven can be an alternative baking equipment. Simply called Microwave, it is a kitchen appliance that heats foods by dielectric heating accomplished with microwave type electromagnetic radiation that is used to rotate and heat polarized molecules in food (wikipedia). Further information can be read in wikipedia. 

Apple Cake

This is my second time to use Microwave Oven instead of the conventional ovens in preparing a food. First trial was macaroons and since it is only cooked for very few minutes, there was just a little risk with it. Baking in microwave can be a little risky especially if you are not sure whether the container that you’re using is microwaveable or not. In my case, I am not sure about the rectangular container so I divided my baking time with 2 minutes out of the entire required time, so to check every now and then the container itself. But I made sure that the interval will only be a matter of five seconds or less to reach the desired leavening stage without interruption. 

Ingredients:

- 2 pcs apple, shredded (preferably pink lady)

- butter for greasing

- 1 cup sugar

- 2/3 cup oil

- ½ tsp vanilla

- 2 beaten eggs

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- ½ tsp salt

- confectioners sugar (optional)

Procedure:

- get a microwaveable container and grease with butter

- put in the sugar, oil, and vanilla, mix well

- add the beaten egg, mix well

- gradually add the flour, combine well with the mixture

- add baking soda and salt, combine well

- put inside the microwave oven and on medium heat, set the timer to 10minutes

- let stand inside the microwave for 5 minutes

- set the microwave on high heat, and set the timer for 8 minutes

- dust with confectioners sugar if desired

Seafoods Pad Cha

I once tried eating in a Thailand restaurant with friends and I found some Thai foods very delicious. The combination of sweet, salty, and spicy tastes of the foods that we ordered made my tongue crave for the same foods, or just similar to those.

Exploring the net provided me with Seafoods Pad Cha recipe. Pad Cha is a Thailand recipe which also means stir fried recipe with chilies and herbs. I found a lot of variants for this recipe but let me give you the most classic recipe in terms of ingredients. Since some terminologies are not familiar to me like krachai and shallots, I even searched for pictures using Google images just to give me the idea of how these look like and what it really is.

I hope friends from Thailand will accept this although some ingredients which may be significant with Pad Cha are not included here. Constraints include the unavailability of the other ingredients in the nearby grocery stores. 

My version of Seafoods Pad Cha

I also saw variants with very little (or almost no) sauce. But mine has more. I’d better reduce it next time I’ll try.This may not be as presentable as Thailand's original Pad Cha, but the foods that I tasted in the Thai restaurant is almost the same as the taste of this one.

Ingredients:

- 500gms mixed seafood

- 1 tbsp garlic, chopped

- 1 medium sized onion

- 1 medium sized ginger, cut into strips

- 1 tbsp fish sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp sugar

- ½ tsp chili powder

- 1 cup water (or at least ½ cup)

- cooking oil

Procedure:

- In a pan, fry mixed seafoods for 5minutes

- remove from heat, set aside

- on a separate pan, heat oil

- sauté garlic, & onions

- add ginger, and fry for some time

- add mixed seafoods, stir fry for about 3 minutes

- add water and let boil for some minutes

- add chili power, fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar

- mix well and let boil for some minutes

- remove from heat and serve

Chicken Tofu

Try this simple but healthy chicken and tofu recipe with mushroom and broccoli. Just to share with you some health benefits of brocolli, mushroom, and tofu that is why I love to eat them. Broccoli is good for the eyes, it improves our immune system, prevents colds for its vitamin C content, helps build bone mass for its more calcium contents, and since it has high fiber content but low in sugar, it helps fight against diabetes. Both Mushroom and Tofu help lower cholesterol level, they also help in preventing cancer.  

Chicken Tofu

Ingredients:

- Chicken breast, cubed

- Tofu, medium

- 1 medium sized onion

- Garlic powder

-  Brocolli

-  Sliced Fresh Mushroom

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- ½ cup water

- pepper to taste

Procedure:

-  fry tofu till medium brown

-  heat oil in a separate pan

-  sauté onion

- add chicken, cook until color turns brown

- sprinkle garlic powder

- add mushroom and stir fry until cooked

- add broccoli

- add soy sauce, oyster sauce, and pepper, mix well

- add water, let boil

- remove from heat

- transfer to a bowl, combine the tofu and enjoy!