Grilled Baby Back Ribs

Our most favorite day is Friday which is the start of weekend here in the Middle East. My meat-loving husband convinced me to prepare grilled baby back ribs. I must admit that it's my first time doing it, so we agreed that he will do the grilling and I will make the sauce. Since it was an all meat meal, I blanched frozen mixed vegetables as side dish.

Grilled baby back ribs

Ingredients:

500 g baby back ribs

shredded spring onion and sesame seeds, to garnish

For the marinade and sauce:

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sunflower oil

a few drops of sesame oil

3 garlic cloves crushed and chop into tiny pieces

1 cup water or beef stock

2 tbsp banana ketchup

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire salt

salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions:

1. Marinate baby back ribs in a bowl with vinegar, soy sauce, sunflower and sesame oil and garlic. Cover with a clear film and leave for at least 1 hour inside the refrigerator. Drain the ribs well, reserving the marinade. 

2. Grilled ribs in a microwave with grilling option for 40 minutes, turning once (We used microwave because electric bill in our apartment is included in the monthly bill, so it cost us nothing and it is very convenient). Cut the ribs into serving size and served in a plate.

3. Prepare the sauce by pouring the reserved marinade into a frying pan. Stir in the water, ketchup, oyster sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boil, boil rapidly to reduce to half, add salt and pepper to taste. (You can also add sugar if you want a sweeter sauce, in this case, the sweetness of this sauce came from the banana ketchup).

4. Pour the sauce over the ribs, garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds.

5. Serve with rice and mixed vegetables. Enjoy!

blanched frozen vegetable as healthy side dish

Green Beans with Pork Stir Fry

We live in the time where people are looking for healthier options in the food that they are eating. In my case as a wife, it's a bit of a challenge because my husband loves to eat meat so much as he hates vegetables. So to trick him into eating vegetables, I took-out my magic wand and cooked something delicious that he can't avoid eating those healthy veges.

One of our favorite dish is the Green Bean (French Beans, Baguio Bean) stir fry. It is very easy to prepare and an amateur, wanna-be chef like me can cook it deliciously.

Green Beans with Pork Stir Fry

Ingredients:

200 g lean pork, cut into small cubes
250 g fresh green beans, topped, tailed and cut in half
1/2 cup root ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt
MSG (optional)
sesame seeds (optional)

Cooking Instruction:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Put pork and cook until brown, add small amount of salt and MSG.

2. Add ginger root and stir-fry for a minute or two. Then add the green beans and soy sauce and stir fry for 3 minutes (I love it half-cooked and crunchy so I only cook it for 3 minutes). Garnish with sesame seed.

3. Serve hot and Enjoy!

Chicken Macaroni Soup

Chicken Macaroni Soup

My husband requested me to cook this soup. I haven't cooked this dish before, when I did, it became one of our favorite.

Ingredients:

250 g boneless and skinless chicken breast

2 pieces regular sized hotdog cut into matchsticks pieces

1 cup elbow macaroni

1/2 piece carrot julienned 

1 cup shredded cabbage

4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped

1/4 cup chopped onions

6 cups water

1 cup fresh milk

2 tbsp fish sauce (Patis)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

salt

ground black pepper

Cooking Instruction

1. Cook chicken breast in 6 cups of water for 30 minutes in a rice cooker. Turn-off the cooker, removed the cooked chicken and shred into thin pieces using fork. Reserved the broth.

(Tip: Better to shred the chicken right after removing it from broth, it is easier to shred it when hot.)

2. Brown garlic with olive oil in cooking pan, add onions and let it cook until softened. Add the shredded chicken seasoned with pepper, let it cook for 2 minutes. Then, add Hotdog, patis and oyster sauce, cook for another 2 minutes. Pour-in the reserved broth, bring it to boil and simmer for 2 minutes.

3. Add the elbow macaroni cook it for 3 minutes stirring it regularly to avoid it from sticking into each other. Pour-in milk and cook for another 4 minutes, stir constantly. Add carrot and cook it for 1 minutes. Then add cabbage and salt to taste. Turn-off the heat source and let it stand for 5 minutes.

4. Serve, garnish with pepper and enjoy!

Glutinous Rice Cake (Biko)

biko

One of the most famous and easy to cook Filipino sweets is Biko. Biko is usually serve during birthdays, thanksgiving, Christmas and any other celebrated events in the Philippines.

When my mother taught me to cook this sweets, I have to crack coconuts, grate them and squeeze the juice, not to mention that we used fire woods to cook. But today canned coconut milk is available so the preparation time is shorten.

In cooking Biko you need:

2 cups glutinous rice
2 cups water
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2-400 ml can coconut milk
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cooking Instruction:

1. Cook glutinous rice in water (the same way you cook normal rice in a rice cooker).

2. In a heavy pot, mix coconut milk, sugar and lemon juice and boil in medium heat stirring continuously until the mixture become thick. This would take about 25 to 30 minutes.

(Tip: If you are not sure about the exact thickness of the mixture, you can prepare water in a transparent glass. Drop a small amount of mixture, if it settle perfectly into the bottom of the glass without breaking, then you have right thickness. If it disintegrate at the bottom, then continue boiling).

3. In a bowl transfer about 1/2 cup of the thick coconut milk-sugar mixture (latik), reserved as toppings.

4. Lower the heat and add the cooked rice in the remaining latik, mix it thoroughly making sure that all the rice is coated with the latik. Cover the pot and let it cook for 3 more minutes.

5. Scoop the cooked biko and place it in a serving dish, flatten and pour the reserved latik on top, spread evenly.

6. Slice into serving size, share and enjoy!

Almonds

I love almonds especially when it is inside a chocolate. Eating almond nuts are not just fun but it also have some health benefits. Almond is packed with 26% carbohydrates (12 % dietary fiber, 6.3% sugar and 0.7% starch) which can be a good in between meal snacks. It also contains vitamin E (24 mg / 100 g) which is good for our skin. Aside from that, almonds contain monosaturated fat which is one of the two good fats responsible for lowering LDL cholesterol.

I always have almonds in my drawer

So what are you waiting for? Stock some almonds nut in your drawer to have a healthier snack in your office. I just did!