Cheese Kubuz (Flat bread cheese sandwich)

Cheese Kubuz

This is my usual breakfast way back when I was in Abu Dhabi, I can have this almost everyday in the office not because it is my favorite but because it’s the quickest I could have. I am not having breakfast at home for some reasons, okay I admit I am lazy on mornings, so I’m having it in the office. Sadique, the office boy, knows what to buy for me from a nearby bakery. It’s “cheese kubuz” Little did I know that I am gaining weight because of cheese, but I wasn’t that conscious of its fat content. Anyway it is very tasty. Now I’m missing it and making it at home.

I often make flat breads and store them in a tightly sealed plastic in the fridge. I also use the same flat bread for making shawarma. So when laziness kicks in, either hubby or me just grab some and put cheese, pop it in the oven for 5 minutes, sprinkle with salt on top, then that makes a breakfast with a mug of coffee, (without sugar for me please).

Kubuz, Arabic bread, or Chinese pan cakes, whatever they call it, for me it is simply “flat bread” Normally, its dough is made of flour,water,salt and yeast. The dough rests for about an hour so it takes at least 1 hour and half to make it. But I’m fun of shortcuts especially when I’m quite hungry and can’t wait that long. I don’t see much difference with what I’m making at home with the one that from the bakery. Since I don’t rise the dough, I don’t use yeast. I use flour, salt, and warm water. Simply 3 ingredients. I use warm water to develop more gluten from the flour rapidly than that of room temperature.

How to make flat bread? or Kubuz (arabic bread)

To make flat bread:
1 cup flour (sifted)
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup warm water

Mix salt and flour in a mixing bowl. Add 1 Tablespoon water at a time while mixing until it forms rough dough. Add water if it’s too dry, this depends of the strength of the flour you are using, add more water if necessary. Knead the dough in a floured flat surface for about 3 minutes or until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Form dough into sausage shape and cut 1 inch thick. Form each into a small ball and flatten with a rolling pin.

Sinigang sa Miso

Sinigang sa miso
(Fish Soup with Tamarind and Miso)

Sinigang sa miso is not very popular in visayas region in Philippines , however we have somehow similar dish we call “tinola” but we don’t put tamarind in it. I think it originated from Luzon, I’m not sure which region though. Philippines with 7,107 islands, you can imagine how many dishes each island has, assuming each island has 1 special dish, then Philippines itself has 7,107 dishes! Quite a lot huh! Somehow, I’m a stranger to my own country’s dishes. The figure explains it!

I really appreciate the effort of some Philippine companies who come up with easy to use sachets, combination of exotic flavors which all u need to do is pour over your soup. I brought some packs from Phil. Called “Sinigang sa miso” combination of tamarind and miso soup mix. I followed suggested preparation but added some twist.

It’s my first time doing it at home, and I love love love it! Even hubby said I should make it more often. I am so fascinated with this soup, its mild sourness, sweetness and hotness.

Ingredients:

½ kilo fish (I had red snappers)
1 clove garlic (diced)
2 white onions ( sliced in cubes)
4 large tomatoes (quartered)
4 cups water
1 chili
A handful of chili leaves
A handful of green beans
2 Tablespoons oil
1 pack sinigang sa miso soup mix

Procedure:
Sauté garlic, onions and tomatoes until onions are transparent and tomatoes are wilted. Add water and bring to boil. Add fish and bring to the boil again. Add green beans and simmer covered for 1 minute. Add chili and chili leaves and simmer for another minute. Serve hot.

Peixe com mollo de tomate

Peixe com mollo de tomate
(Fish with tomato sauce)

This dish is an influence from our helper here, who is an Angolan, she made me once a very nice fish with tomatoe sauce. We have the same dish in Philippines called sarciado. The difference is sarciado sauce is with egg. Considering of skipping eggs, I think it would be healthier without egg this time as I’m using eggs for desserts, being conscious of cholesterol. :-)

Ingredients:

2 fish fillet
2 onions (sliced in cubes)
1 clove Garlic (finely chopped)
5 large tomatoes (quartered)
2 Tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons tomatoe paste
½ cup water
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons corn starch
Oil for frying

Procedure:

Mix flour and cornstarch in a plate. Coat fish with the flour mixture and fry 2 – 3 minutes each side. Set aside

In a casserole, sauté garlic and onion in 2 tablespoons oil until translucent. Add sliced tomatoes and stir occasionally until tomatoes are wilted. Stir in tomato paste and add water gradually. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until liquid has reduced. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve fish on top of tomato sauce and plain rice. In Portuguese its called “peixe com mollo de tomate com arroz branco”.

Buko Pandan Cake

Buko pandan cake

Inspired with the upcoming holidays, I like to have a green cake. This is a dry run for Christmas huh! So I tried the only green flavor I have at home which is buko-pandan powder. (gotta mention its from Phil.) I made it with the basic chiffon cake and just added the buko-pandan flavor. A lot of people don’t know how to make chiffon cake which I find it very easy. I think I have mastered this first among other cake mixtures. But I failed a lot way back High School days! (wink, wink :-) I have tried all kinds of failure! So, based on experience got some tips below to help those who would like to try making chiffon cake. In this recipe, you can substitute other flavors like vanilla, orange, etc.

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons buko pandan powder flavoring
1 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 eggs
1 cup sugar (devided into 2)
½ cup water
½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Procedure:

Flour circular pan (12 inches diamenter) preferably faked bottom pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees C.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and buko pandan powder and sift all the ingredients together. Set aside

Separate eggs, one bowl for yolks and another for eggwhites. Using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks for 1 minute and gradually add ½ cup of sugar beating egg yolks constantly until pale and thick. Add ½ cup water gradually, beating at low speed until well blended. Add flour mixture. Continue beating until well blended. Set aside.

Add cream of tartar to the eggwhites. Beat eggwhites (make sure the mixer is clean and dry) at high speed until soft peaks forms. At this stage, gradually add the remaining sugar 1 tablespoon at a time beating constantly until stiff. (stiff stage is when eggwhites form peaks and the tips of the peaks don’t bend down).

Add ½ of the beaten eggwhites to the yolk mixture and gently fold-in. Now, fold-in the yolk mixture to the remaining beaten eggwhite until well mixed.

Pour cake mixture into a prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees C.;lower temperature to 200 degrees C and bake 15 minutes further; total baking time 35 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back when pressed at the center. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 45 minutes. Loosen the sides by tracing a metal spatula or knife.

Tips in making sponge cake:

Beating eggwhite is very important for sponge cakes therefore its stages are critical. Always make sure the bowl for eggwhites is dry clean otherwise the egg will not reach peak stage. This is the time sugar is added to hold the eggwhite. Soft peak stage is when eggwhite forms like mountain peaks and peaks are soft that they bend down when you lift the mixer. Stiff stage is when eggwhite forms very still peaks and wont bend down when you lift the mixer. When at stiff stage, you should stop adding sugar and stop beating.

Folding In is also very important to achieve a perfect sponge cake. It is important to fold in gently and quickly. Move the spatula in a circular motion over and under the cake mixture. Do not fold in too long otherwise you will lose the airy texture of the eggwhite, which you will end up like pie texture.

Weekend dog blogging # 11

Hello everyone, my name is Ivor Virlouvet, a rottweiler. I’m the one and only pet of the owner of this website who happens to be my Mom. My mom thinks that I’m cute so she decided to join this blogging event called weekend dog blogging hosted by
Sweetnicks.


Today, I have to talk about myself since I’m given a chance, I love to take the opportunity. I love to pose for photographs and I am the favorite subject of my mom’s passion in photography.

My mom is quite busy lately with blogging on food, I have to mention how grateful I am everyday coz she is the one cooking 1 whole chicken for me. Did I say 1 chicken everyday? Yes! I did. I’m quite big so I can consume that much, are u surprised? Currently I’m weighing about 60 kilos! That’s not a joke, in fact if stand on my rear 2 legs, I am taller than my mom! To compensate my big consumption, I am helping mom in the kitchen. I don’t mess around, I stay in one corner and wait for some graces that would fall from mom’s working area. Especially when she’s chopping meat or whipping cream, I love to lick the floor so mom doesn’t have to clean the floor. Despite from that, I am guarding her all day long. And when Daddy comes, I love to sit in-between them as they watch TV. I don’t know why, but I love the feeling to be cuddled every time. What else can I say about me, I love to drink ‘cointreu” mom’s favorite drink. I love cheese, just like my Dad, I love chips, I love to play my ball specially my new rugby ball and love to annoy Dad if he is not in the mood in playing! I like him to chase me around the table for him to get my ball, is it naughty enough? Well, I do some nasty things sometimes like destroying daddy’s black socks! I love to take them off from him! Lol! I don’t know why! Talking about being nasty, I love to bit butts! Specially black butts! Ha ha ! A lot more being nasty but I wouldn’t tell you.

Well, I could be obedient sometimes. I sit and wait when they say so specially during lunch when my food is ready, I am patiently staying put in one place sitting and waiting for my fried chicken, and hey, I complain if its not well fried huh! I just smell them and don’t eat them, but if they are not giving me something else, I have no choice but to eat what is on the plate! Anyways, I think that’s all folks coz if you let me tell u all about myself, its gonna be long.

If you like to see more pictures of me, you may click here and see how mom makes a whole lot of fun of me! What can I say… Happy Blogging everyone!

Banana Cake

Banana cake is not my favorite but since I have plenty of bananas in the fridge and they are quite over ripe, I have to make something out of it. It is made of basic butter cake recipe and added freshly mashed banana to add flavor.

Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas (mashed)
2 ½ cup all purpose flour (sifted)
1 cup sugar (sifted)
½ cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup milk
Pinch of salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 350 o C. Grease a round pan (preferably with fake bottom) with oil.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one by one, mixing after each addition, continue mixing until mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add alternately flour and milk, mixing after each addition. Continue beating until mixture becomes thick. Add mashed bananas. Mix thoroughly and pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan. Lower oven temperature to 200 o C. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Serve with chocolate syrup. To get the appearance in the picture, drizzle the syrup rapidly over a plate of sliced banana cake in a steady stream, creating a zigzag pattern.

Red Cabbage Salad

Red cabbage sallad

Ingredients:

½ clove of red cabbage (finely shredded)
2 carrots ( grated )
1 white onion ( finely sliced)
2 teaspoons lemon zest (grated)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
6 Tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Blanch shredded red cabbage in salted boiling water for 5 seconds and drain in a colander. In a mixing bowl, mix cabbage, carrots, onion, and lemon zest. Toss with your fingertips to combine all the ingredients. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle olive oil. Toss altogether again until well combined. Serve as side dish.

Garlic Fried Rice

garlic fried rice

Garlic Rice

Another flavor that can be easily infused with rice is garlic. I failed once making crispy garlic. It wasn’t crispy coz it was burned! I think the oil was too hot that when I added the garlic it suddenly turned dark brown and next minute it turned very dark brown and when I tasted it , it was too bitter! Now I know what’s the trick!

Here’s what I did:

10 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Pinch of salt
2 cups cooked rice
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a pan with moderate fire. Once heated, turn the fire to the lowest. Add finely chopped garlic and stir occasionally; continue cooking until garlic turns golden brown. Remove garlic from the pan using a slotted spoon, leaving the remaining oil in the pan. Drain garlic with a kitchen paper (This is important to keep the garlic dry and crisp). Add rice to the pan and toss frequently until rice is turns slightly dark or until the garlic-flavored oil is well absorbed. Season with salt and pepper. Add half of fried garlic to the rice and toss further.

To serve, garnish the rest of the crispy fried garlic on top of the fried rice. Serve with your favorite viand.

Fish in a parcel

Fish in a Parcel

This technique is one of the many influences I got from Jamie Oliver, I am a big fan of him. He has another way of doing the parcel, but I have my own way as well. Very easy and convenient to make and it’s like a surprise when you open the parcel in front of you coming straight from the oven! Each parcel is good for 1 portion, so each person gets 1 parcel on his/her plate.

Here’s how:

Ingredients:
2 Slices of lean fish
2 spinach leaves
1 knob of butter
1 garlic (grated)
Juice of half of a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Roll out a 14 inches long aluminum foil and fold equally into two. Place the foil vertically towards you in a flat surface or big flat plate. Place the 2 slices of fish on the foil ;about 1/3 of the foil allowing the half of the foil to cover and seal after later; add the grated garlic, knob of butter on top of the fish, squeeze half of a lemon unto the fish, season with salt and pepper, cover the fish with spinach and drizzle olive oil on top of the leaves and around the fish. Add a little salt and pepper on top of the spinach. Cover the rest of the foil by bringing the other opposite end. Seal the ends by folding 1 cm of the edges and pressing them forming like an envelope or parcel, taking care not to pierce the foil. Make sure the foil is completely closed to ensure that the steam can’t get out of the parcel. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a hot oven. To serve cut a slit on the upper side of the foil using small sharp knife vertically and horizontally. I’d like to cut the foil with a knife vertically first and use a pair of scissors to cut horizontally to a nice cross cut. Open the parcel by bringing out the four leaves of the foil you just cut to expose the surprise. Serve with plain rice.

Strawberry jelly

Strawberry jelly

One of classic kiddies’ all time favorite. I always have some jelly in the fridge when I was a kid. I buy packs of “jelly ace” and store in fridge. I can easily be bribed with a pack of jelly. Those were the days when things are not so complicated! I didn’t realize that it is that easy to make! Now, I can have loads of flavors! I should have known this before eyyh? I guess I wasn’t that smart and clever yet!

Ingredients:
1 pack (24 g) unflavored gulaman powder
2 teaspoons strawberry flavoring
½ teaspoon red coloring
1 liter water
2 cups sugar

Procedure:

In a casserole, put 1 liter of water (not warm or hot), add sugar, flavoring and coloring. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Gradually sprinkle 1 pack of gulaman powder while stirring constantly until gulaman has completely dissolved. Stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Heat the mixture and stir constantly until it thickens and comes to a near boil. Remove from heat and pour into moulds.

Cookies and Cream with orange segments

Cookies and cream with orange segments

1 pack Chocolate biscuits
100 g. Softened butter
2 teaspoons whiskey
2 cups Whipped cream
1/2 cup Icing sugar

Preparation:
Pound some chocolate biscuits using a mortar and pestle until roughly fine and mix thoroughly with
softened butter. Add 3 Tablespoons of the mixture into a circular cookie cutter and press down creating a base about 1/2 inch thick. Add 1 tablespoon of whiskey to the base. Place each base in a saucer and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Mix whipped cream with icing sugar and place on top of the base
using the same mold. Add segments of orange just before serving.

Virtual Blog Party "The Holiday Edition"

My tastebuds had been traveling around the globe of this virtual blog party hosted by Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness. Brilliant ideah huh!

Thanks to Kai of Bucaio for the info.

I came up with spicy starred mini pizza and Jamie’s Margarita for my entry. Thanks again to Stephanie for the name :-) .Recipe for my entry for the party is here. Inspired by the theme for upcoming holidays.

Cheers everyone!

Eggy Wacky on Congee

Eggy Wacky on Congee

My lasang pinoy entry. I know its kind'a wacky. Need a story and a recipe? It's here.

Cheese Puffs

cheese puffs

I got this recipe from an appetizer mini cookbook, but as usual, I deviated from the original recipe due to unavailability of ingredients. Apart from that, I have changed its proportion as the original recipe seems too plenty for two. I added some flavor like nutmeg and pepper which were not included from the original recipe.I love every bite of these cheese puffs! It’s so cheesy, soft and elastic in the inside but crisp on the outside. Great contrast of texture. Best served while still hot.

Ingredients:

2 Cups grated tasty cheese (flamingo or Gouda preferably)or any cheese that melts when heated.

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 eggs1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Extra bread crumbs for coating

Procedure:

Separate egg yolk from white. Mix egg yolk with cheese, breadcrumbs, paprika, and nutmeg. Beat egg white until stiff. Slowly fold in into yolk mixture. Add black pepper. Form into small balls and coat with bread crumbs. Deep fry few at a time in30 seconds or until golden brown. Drain in kitchen paper and serve immediately.

I love this so much that I lost count of how many I had! (smiles)

Fruit Salad

Gotta have a break from creamy and cheesy stuffs! posted fruitsalad under desserts and I just launched a new category called "fruits around the world".

Herbs and Spices

I have been itching to have a page about spices. I find it very interesting to find some spices that I haven't seen before and now I am using them more frequently than not. I am so amazed with its facts and history how each spice came straight to our dining tables. Now, I am becoming more and more keen on the ingredients I use and eat as well as its medical attributions. I got a new page called

Herbs & Spices

.

Nov. 1- 6 posts

Quite loaded with posts last week huh! It's nice to see them all together! Clockwise starting from upper left corner; rizotto, beef steak, beef sausage, vegetable frittata and mussels (the centerpiece). Mussels is my favorite this week! I love the presentation and tastes great!

Week Nov 1-6 posts

November 1 - 6 posts

The above picture shows (clockwise starting from upper left, beef shawarma, cannelloni, crepe with mushroom filling, sea food pizza, peas soup and vegetable fried rice.

Looks like I am having a photo exibit here!

posts