Garlic Spinach Stir-fry Noodles

From the stove to your plate in 5 minutes FLAT! No kidding

This is the easiest meal you can ever prepare, and probably the tastiest, seriously – how many of you like Indian- Chinese food? You can see my hands way up there J This recipe came about after a pasta meal I’d made the previous day and had some angel hair remaining.

I also had some fresh leaf salad spinach – the big boxes you get at Sam’s! Two hungry kids and one quick thinking mom namely moi (:  and all happy! A whole lot healthier than Maggi and a whole lot yummier too!

Start to finish 5 minutes not taking into account the time to cook the noodles. You can make this individually so it can be served hot (like dosas(:

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INGREDIENTS

Angel hair or thin vermicelli (even if you have no leftovers, this takes 5-10 minutes to cook at the most)

Fresh Spinach leaves

Garlic 1-2 cloves depending on how much you love it

1 Red chili crumbled

1 tbsp sesame oil

1-2 tbsp Schezwan stir-fry sauce (this is vital folks)

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PREPARATION

In a shallow wok/pan heat the sesame oil

Crumble the chili in it

Next, crush the garlic or add crushed garlic

Now throw in the spinach and spin a couple of times. The spinach will almost immediately get soggy

Add the noodles and the sauce over it

Toss a few times until all the noodles are drenched in the sauce

Feel Free to garnish with peanuts!

Put on your plate and dig in hot (:

Optional: you can also crumble some spicy peanut balls on it or add some roasted cashews (it is delicious as is though)

Cheers until the next recipe!

Paneer Manchurian

Paneer Manchurian

This is a dish I make often but never think to blog – like we never end up seeing the local sites of our town, this one has been bypassed by other newer recipes that I’ve either concocted or learned! This is a house fav and gets demolished almost as soon as it is prepared!!! The last time I made it for a party and it was enjoyed by all – If you are looking for a quick, exotic and gourmet Indian-Chinese paneer recipe, look no further! I would like you to make this and give me some feedback! That would be the best compliment of all J

Preparation time: approx 15 minutes

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb. paneer (cubed)

1 tbsp. Maggi Hot and Sweet Sauce

1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp Asian spice mix

1 tbsp. spicy Szechuan stir-fry sauce

2 tsp. honey

1 tsp. sesame seeds

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

¼ cup of: fresh onion chives, fresh garlic chives

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. corn starch

PREPARATION

1)      Heat the olive oil and gently toss the paneer on high heat until slightly brown

2)      Whisk all ingredients except chives and corn starch

3)      Pour over the paneer and lightly turn

4)      Allow to cook on low heat

 In the mean time…

5)      add tbsp. water to cornstarch and mix well

6)      Now, add the cornstarch slowly into the bubbling sauce. It will start to thicken almost immediately

7)      When it has reached the desired consistency, add the chives and toss.

8)      Serve hot with ginger garlic rice (recipe given below)

The ingredients

Whisk the liquid ingredients together

Garlic and onion Chives (homegrown)

Saute the Asian spice mix and the sesame

Add the paneer

Now the sauce

The corn starch and the chives

 Ginger Jeera Rice

Ginger Jeera Rice

Ginger Jeera (cumin) rice is a quick and flavorful rice and is a beautiful accompaniment to almost any kind of Indian-Chinese dish.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups Basmati rice

1 inch of ginger (grated fine)

2 tsp. cumin seeds

3 tbsp. butter (I used garlic and herbs butter)

PREPARATION

1) In a shallow pan, heat the butter and add the ginger, chives, and cumin and sauté.

2) Wash 3 cups of rice, adding exactly six cups of water

3) Now add sautéed ingredients into water with salt to taste

4) Cook in rice cooker for a fluffy and soft texture

Enjoy the aromatic rice with a tongue-tickling Paneer Manchurian….

Broccoli-Cabbage Stir-fry

Zàihuì: (Chinese for hello again)

This was a cautious move on my part – for one thing, my son loathes cabbage and a once completely devoted butter broccoli fan, he is quite averse to it as well. And as we all know, speaking plainly, much as these two green veggies are incredibly good natured for our bodies, they can be quite a combustible combo, iykwim ;)

Anyway, I had a bit of cabbage left over from the vadais I had made and a broccoli head and went Chinese with them. These veggies lend themselves SO well to oriental foods!

I kept it simple, knowing fully well the theme I chose for the blogging marathon was, curry in a hurry – you can have this in 30 minutes or less… I made the stir fry and mixed it in with rice and boy was it ever so good – so please try if you get a chance to!

Ingredients

½ cabbage head small

1 medium head of broccoli

3-6 green chilies *depending on preference

1-2 red chilies * depending on preference

1 tsp Asian Spice mix

2-4 table spoons of Soy Sauce

Some peanuts (optional)

I topped it with some homemade ghatia just for fun

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tsp of sesame seeds (I used white ones)

2-4 cloves of garlic

Preparation

Heat oil on high flame in a Wok, add the garlic, chilies, sesame, and the veggies and allow them to cook until tender but crisp (NOT soft – those are nasty).

Add the soy sauce and the spice mix and stir swiftly

Remove from flame

Add some crushed peanuts if you desire

Cook about 1 cup of rice and allow it to cool a bit before mixing the stir fry with the rice.

Serve Hot… Enjoy this jiffy curry! Zai Jien (see you soon in Chinese)

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Kalyani, Priya Mahadevan, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Priya Suresh, Veena,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Shylaja, Srivalli
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Priya Yallapantula
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast:Aarthi, Vaishali

Indian Chinese Pizza

NO oil was used for this preparation!

I call it this after much deliberation as to what the title should be  - Perhaps Shepherd’s Pie or Quiche? Nah – The first makes me think meat and the second makes me think egg – Since this has neither and is as veggie/vegan as can be I thought I’d call it what it resembles the most. Indian because I used the same Cilantro Chappati atta (give link) that’d I had leftovers of for the base – And Chinese because I used unconventional pizza seasoning and toppings like cauliflower mainly, zucchini, green bell pepper and red bell pepper and green chilies – For seasoning all I used was Fab India’s  Szechuan spice mix – And did it ever taste good! My son went on and one about it and I was needless to say pleased as punch as the desired effect it’d had on him and the rest of the family. So easy, yet so satisfying

Preparation
Grate your veggies as opposed to cutting them/ Add the salt and spices and turn.

Roll out like square/round pizza base. Add the veggies and the cheese (I used Parmesan and Mozzarella. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees - Since I did not use yeast, it did not rise very much, but it was a think crust and tasted like soft on the inside and crunchy like breadsticks around the corners.

Enjoy folks J

Entering this to my blog event,
Fast Food NOT Fat Food,  Spice Ur Senses Treat for the Eyes Event , Srivalli's Kids Delight , guest hosted by me -Click here to check it out and Herbs & Flowers- Cilantro by Krithi's Kitchen And to Only Original Recipes at Nivedita's Kitchen

Chinese Broccoli Soup

We lucked out last week, while looking for spring roll wraps, and found this oriental grocery store where we not only got the wraps which were only 35 calories each, but also some really yummy greens. I was under the impression I was cooking greens until I compared my pictures online with a google search for Chinese greens and found that this was indeed Chinese broccoli – How cool is that J What is it they say about learning something new every day ;)

Simple Soup, takes less than 20 minutes to make

Ingredients

2 bunches of Chinese broccoli (wash thoroughly and cut big)

2 sachets of dry milk powder (Use non-dairy powder if you are vegan)

2 green chilies

2 cloves of garlic

1 small cube of ginger

1 tbsp of crushed cashews (optional)

½ cup of grated coconut

1 tsp of olive oil

Salt to taste

Preparation

Really wash the greens very thoroughly and chop into fairly big pieces since it is to be ground anyway

Dry fry the coconut.

Then add the oil and the rest of the spices and brown a little.

Next add the greens and keep closed

In a vessel, empty the contents of the milk powder add the specified amount of water and mix.

When the greens soften, add the milk and allow the entire soup to cook for about 2-3 minutes

Blend to a smooth consistency and serve with warm bread.

I served it the my Four Flour Medley Masala Bread J

Shrooms and Garlic rice - Chinese style

I made 2 different kinds of this rice, first one I Indianized by mixing in some garlic podi from Grand sweets and snacks. This tasted good, but I think the second was an even bigger winner and deserves a place on this blog - Another healthy recipe with very little oil...so here goes

Ingredients
About 10-12 good sized shrooms (white ones)
Green spring onions - three stems
Garlic cloves- 4-5 crushed
4-6 green chillies (this can be adjusted according to tolerance levels
the juice of 1 medium sized tomato - strained
1 cup of basmati or jasmine rice
1 tsp of olive oil

Preparation
Cook the rice separately and keep warm
Dice and grind the tomato and strain the juice from the pulp
Finely mince the mushrooms, green chillies and spring onions
In  big pan, heat the tsp of oil, crush the garlic directly into it and add the veggies
Sautee for a couple of minutes before adding some salt and I used a dash of  seasoning herbs (I got a schezwan seasoning spice from Fab India on my recent visit) but any other asian seasoning will do just as well
You want to put just a dash literally!
Add the tomato juice and let it simmer for a minute
Break up the rice so it is nice and fluffy.
Add to the sauce and let it cook
The tomato juice will get quickly absorbed by the rice and will look moist but dry
Allow it to cook for a minute or so longer, stirring so it does not get burnt at the bottom

Serve hot with spring rolls on the side or enjoy as is...
Don't forget the key ingredient - Love - to make it and serve it

 The shrooms, onions and chillies vut and ready to go

 the tomato puree

  The crushed garlic sauteeing in the pan

                       The veggies saute

                    The final product

Cauliflower/ Gobi Manchurian with ginger-garlic rice

Today is a happy day with the awards from Priya Yallapantula Mitharwal- wish I felt better physically - have a nasty sore throat 

and sinus infection for the past 3 days. 

But my blog and my baby provide me the comfort I need right now. 

But these awards come are timely as I approach my 50th recipe. 

Today's dinner was cauliflower, Manchurian :-)

 A good one for the blog, I decided.  

I ended up putting a dash of this and a dash of that and i am trying to

 get my mental notes right -

I accompanied this with ginger-garlic sauce which I mixed the rice into.   

I will start with the Cauliflower Manchurian

Ingredients - STEP 1

4 cups of cauliflower florets

For the batter

1 clove of garlic

4 tablespoons of All purpose flour for the batter

2 tablespoons of corn flour

1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 

1 teaspoon garlic salt or plain salt

Enough water to make a bajji-kinda batter or in 

western context, pancake batter consistency

Preparation

Fry the cauliflower

Heat enough oil for frying

Dip the cauliflower in the batter mix and drop them in the oil, frying until golden brown

Remove and place in a paper-towel lined colander

                                                              battered caulifower

                                                                fried

                                                                        Mixed with sauce

STEP 2

Now the sauce for the Manchurian

Ingredients

1 finely cut onion

5 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 tablespoons of spicy Maggi Ketchup

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

1/3 cup of green spring onions (which I did not have, but substituted with green bell peppers)

green chillies (optional)

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Preparation

Get less than a teaspoon of oil heating in your non-stick pan and throw 

in the the veggies and garlic and allow it to

get brown

Mix the vinegar, soy sauce and ketchup and add to the veggies -

It will bubble 

In about a minute after, mix in the fried cauliflower 

and let it all cook and flavors soak into the cauliflower

Remove from stove and serve HOT

STEP 3

For the garlic-ginger sauce

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 teaspoon of ginger powder or 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste 

about 1/2 cup of water

about a teaspoon of sugar

2 teaspoons of white vinegar

2 teaspoons of soy sauce

1/4 cup of finely cut spring onions if you have them

Preparation

In a teaspoon of oil fry garlic lightly along with the ginger powder 

Add the sugar, soy sauce, vinegar to the water and add to the garlic-ginger

Add the spring onions

Cook Basmati or Jasmine rice and keep ready 

Mix into the sauce - add the Manchurian on the side or on top and enjoy

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The Great Q-uinoa Stir Fry

Folks, I am officially excited by this new creation of mine - seriously, when i got the red quinoa at Whole foods this afternoon, I had no idea what I was going to do with it- All if knew was this is health food, and I need to make it an interesting sell for my children and hubby - while they are quite adventurous with food - well d'uh - i know that I stretch some limits, according to them that is, and when I come up with a winner, it feels like I've hit a jackpot - well, close....

So here it is: So simple SO satisfying

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups of The GREAT Qu
2 and 1/2 cups of water

Veggies
Be creative, instinctive about this - or just use whatever veggie is around the house. I am putting down what I used and how much
1/2 cup of mushrooms minced
1 medium sized red onion ( can used green spring onions if you have them)
1/4 of a small green cabbage
1/2  a green bell pepper minced
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
5 green chillies slit lengthwise
2 tablespoons of Spicy Szechuan stir fry sauce
1/2 teaspoon of Maggie chili sauce
1/4 cup crush peanuts
1 tablespoon of olive oil/ sesame oil

Preparation
First Pressure cook quinoa and set aside (allow whistle for a couple minutes before turning it off) - (Open pan cooks in 15 minutes)
Most ALL my preparations are made on non-stick pans so that i do not have to use much oil - At least when frying is not required...
So in a non-stick pan/wok pour that 1 tablespoon of olive oil or sesame oil - your choice
Throw in the veggies and stir on high heat
when they are half way cooked, add the sauce
After a few more stirs, add the quinoa and mix it in with the veggies
Cook for about a minute
I decided to present it in bowl mold and sprinkle crush the peanuts on and around and serve HOT