Singapore Noodles

You would find this noodle dish in almost every Chinese restaurant in India. Not to anyone’s surprise it sure does appease our Indian pallet with the masquerade of spicy Indian flavours in a noodle dish. Traditionally, it is made with rice vermicelli, vegetables or meat and seasoned with curry powder and salt. In my version I replaced the rice vermicelli with egg noodles, as I enjoy the texture and taste of this noodle more.

 

Ingredients

2 cups cooked egg noodles (just follow boiling instructions on the pack)

1 cup julienned cabbage
¾ cup finely sliced onions
½  cup julienned carrots
¼  cup broccoli florets
¾ cup julienned green pepper (you could also add red and yellow bell pepper)
¼  cup mung bean sprouts (the long variety)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp hot curry powder
½ tbsp red chilly sauce (I use Chings)
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger finely julienned
3 dried red chilies
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Tip:

·         When boiling noodles always ensure to add a good amount of salt in the water and always add noodles to boiling water. When cooked always wash under cold water after draining.

·         Noodles are always stir-fried in a very hot wok and not for very long. Ensure the wok does not have a heavy base.

 

Method

·         In a wok (kadhai) 3 tbsp of vegetable oil, add dried chilies once the oil is smoking. Now add the onions and stir fry till it turns light brown. Add the garlic paste and stir-fry for about 30 seconds.

·         Add cabbage and stir-fry till it changes its colour and starts to brown slightly from the edges. Now to this add the carrots, bean sprouts, and broccoli and stir fry for about 2 minutes on a high flame.

·         To the vegetable mix add the bell peppers, curry powder, chilly sauce and stir fry for about a minute. Add salt to taste. Keep in mind that the noodles are boiled with salt and there is soy sauce being added to the dish as well.

Stir-fried vegetables before adding the noodles

·         Add the soy sauce to the noodles in a separate bowl and mix well and add the noodles to the wok stir for about 30 seconds. Switch of the flame and stir in the noodles well into the vegetables.

 

Mushroom Treasure Chicken

I enjoy Chinese food. Given a choice for a meal out or a take away I would usually opt for Chinese. Always Light on the tummy and such wholesome food with fantastic variety!

My all-time favourite pan-Asian ingredients are Sesame oil and Shitake Mushrooms. The nutty and woody flavour mingles well to enhance the taste of any dish. I recently learned that shitake mushrooms have been used by the Chinese for medicinal purposes for over 6,000 years; Never realised this fantastic tasting mushroom was packed with so benefits such as reducing cholesterol and is also an antioxidant.

In this dish I put together some of my favourite ingredients chicken, bell pepper, shitake mushrooms, garlic and sesame oil.

Ingredients

 

1¼ cup thinly sliced chicken breast (about one large chicken breast)

 

Marinade

½ tbsp garlic paste
½ egg beaten up
1tbsp corn flour
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
 

Other Ingredients

¾ cup julienned red and yellow peppers

3 pieces dried black mushroom (wood ear)
4 pieces dried shitake mushrooms
3 tbsp ml Tomato puree
1½  tsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp neutral vegetable oil
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
1½ garlic paste (try using fresh garlic)
½ tbsp cooking Shao Hsing cooking wine
5 dried red chilies
½ tbsp chilly sauce
2 cups water
1 tbsp corn flour
Salt to taste

Any of these ingredients are easily available in gourmet stores. In Delhi the best place to shop for this stuff is INA markets. Always more economical !!

Method

Preparing the Chicken

·         Marinate the chicken in the marinade for about ½ hour

·         In a pan heat about 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Once its smoking, adds 2 dried red chilies and add the marinated chicken. Stir fry for about 1-2 minutes till the chicken changes colour, before it starts turning light brown. Remember, over cooking the chicken will make it chewy. Take out the chicken in a bowl.



The Chicken - just before taking it out in a bowl

 

Cooking the rest of the dish

·         In a bowl take about 1 cup of hot water and soak the shitake and black mushrooms. Once they have been re-hydrated finely slice them. Do not throw the water in which you soaked the mushrooms.

 

Top - Shitake Mushroom , Bottom - Black Wood Ear Mushroom

 

·       In the same pan add 1½ tbsp of vegetable oil, add the remaining dried chilies once the oil is smoking. Add the remaining garlic paste and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add tomato puree and stirfry for about 2 minutes.

·       Add the mushrooms and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Now add the left over water from the mushrooms and let it simmer.

·       Add chilly sauce dark soy sauce and cooked chicken.

·       Take one cup of water and mix 1 tbsp corn flour. Add this to the pan. Mix well. Add bell peppers and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Ensure that you don’t overcook the bell peppers, and they are a little crunchy. Cook on a low flame.

·         Finally, adjust salt and chilies (add more chilly sauce if you like) bring to a boil add sesame oil and rice wine. Your dish is ready to plate!

 

         Serve with either rice or noodles... Enjoy !!!

 

 

Chili Con Carne

Adding on to my last post on Mexican food, here is another favourite Chili Con Carne. In simple words it is a spicy stew containing chilli peppers, meat and beans. There are various stories and debates to where this dish originated. Some say that chili was invented in Mexico during the 1840′s, possibly in Chihuahua, as a complimentary dish served at cantinas for outsiders, who wanted something spicy and cheap. Others contend it was born in Ensenada, Mexico in the 1880′s as a way of stretching available meat in the kitchens of poor Tejanos. Many Texans maintain that it was the invention of Texas cowhands who ate it by the bucketful as the drove their herds across the plains. The most imaginative origin traces its roots back to pre-Columbian Aztec chefs.

 

If you search I’m sure you will find many versions of this recipe, some recipes even  use chocolate! Believe it or not chocolate is a very common ingredient in Mexican cuisine even in savoury dishes!

Well here goes my version of the Mexican Stew.

 

Ingredients

 

1½ cup mutton/lamb mince or minced beef

1½ cup boiled red kidney beans

1½  tsp ancho chilli powder (available in gourmet stores)

1 tsp red chilli flakes (adjust the heat to your preference)

2  tsp roasted cumin powder

1½ tbsp. garlic paste

200 ml Tomato puree

¾ cup finely sliced onions

2 inch cinnamon stick

4 tbsp neutral vegetable oil

1 red bell pepper cut into chunks

¼ cup finely chopped coriander

Salt to taste

 

Suggestion:

·         For a vegetarian version you could use soya keema

·         Ancho chilli powder is made from the sweetest dried chile, and has a moderately spicy but rich flavour. In case you don’t get ancho chilli powder you could adjust the red chillis to keep the heat to as much as you like it or to add a bit of a smokey tang you could add a about 1tsp of Smoked Chipotle Tabasco Sauce.

 

Method

 

For the Salsa

·         In pressure cooker heat oil add cinnamon stick and add onions. Stir fry the onions till they turn light brown. Add garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. (You could also use a regular pan, however the mutton would take longer to cook)

·         Add mince to the cooker and stir on a slow flame till the mince starts to change colour, say about 5-7 minutes

·         Add tomato puree and let it cook on a slow flame for about 5 minutes

·         Add cumin powder, chilli powder (red and ancho), bell peppers, coriander, and about 1 cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook on a high flame till you hear two whistles and then cook on a slow flame for 10 minutes.

·         If you’re cooking in a regular pan, you may need to cook this for about 20-25 minutes (add water if you feel the stew is drying up in open cooking)

 

Serving suggestions –

·         You could serve this either with brown/white rice and a dollop of sour cream;  

·         a slightly dry version of the chilli can even be wrapped in a tortilla along with sour cream and Jalapenos;

·         You could take Nachos and spread a good layer in a baking bowl add chilli on top, grate some cheddar cheese and add some jalapenos and bake in a pre-heated oven at about 200C for 15 minutes till you see the cheese melt and brown slightly
 

 

 

Commentary on Chilli Con Carne sourced from: http://www.squidoo.com/

Mexican Wrap

I have always been very fond of Mexican food. The fusion of the earthy flavour from cumin with coriander, lime and sour cream is just out of this world. Recently I started to experiment some dishes and discovered they were really easy to rustle up and most ingredients were readily available in any Indian kitchen.

Chipotle chilies are commonly used in Mexican cuisine. The mild smokiness of the chipotle chilies adds depth to the flavours of any dish. In the absence of ready to use chipotle chilies here in India, I substituted the good old smoked chipotle Tabasco. It surely does do justice to the dish!

 

Ingredients

Chicken Preparation

2 chicken breasts cut into small pieces
(For a vegetarian version substitute the chicken with 200g Paneer)
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
½ tsp red chili flakes
½ tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
 
Kidney Beans Preparation
1½ cup boiled red kidney beans
5 cloves of garlic coarsely crushed
Salt to taste

Salsa
2 onions finely sliced
2 tomatoes cut into small pieces
1 red bell pepper julienned
½ green bell pepper julienned
1 tbsp smoked Chipotle Tabasco sauce (easily available in any gourmet store)
¼ cup finely chopped coriander
Salt to taste

4 tbsp sour cream

4 tbsp hung yogurt (you could replace this with sour cream)
Handful of sliced Jalapenos
5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 tortilla wraps
 
Note: I have used yoghurt in the recipe to reduce the calories from the sour cream. You can choose to use only yoghurt, but then add a dash of lemon juice to add the tang to the mix.

Method

 
For the Salsa

·         In pan heat 1 tbsp oil, stir fry the onions till they turn light brown. Take them out in a bowl.

·         Now add 1 tbsp of oil in the pan cook the tomatoes till they soften. Add them to the onions.

·         Now add another 1 tbsp of oil in the pan cook the bell peppers till they soften. Add them to the tomato and onion mixture.

·         Add Tabasco, coriander and salt

·       Ensure you cook on a slow flame to retain the moisture of the vegetables. Should they start to dry, sprinkle a few drops of water

 

For the Chicken

·         In a pan add 2 tbsp of oil, add garlic and red chili flakes and stir fry for about 30 seconds, now add chicken and stir-fry on a high flame till the chicken is cooked. Add salt, roasted cumin powder and lemon juice and put aside.

For the Kidney Beans

·         In a pan add half a tbsp of oil, add garlic and stir fry for about 15 seconds now add the red kidney beans and stir fry for about a minute. Season with salt.

the cooked ingredients

 

Assemble the wrap

·         Lay out the tortilla on a plate, first put the Salsa, then chicken and kidney beans. Add as much jalapenos as you like. Top it with a mixture of sour cream and yoghurt. Roll it up and enjoy your meal.  You could also cheddar cheese to this wrap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asian Pan-Fried Fish

This weekend Atul (my husband) got Mackerel and for the life of me I had never cooked a whole fish with bones before. My previous attempts have always been fillets which are easier to cook and there are loads of variations which I have experimented so that was my comfort zone. Now with 6 Mackerels on a plate I started wondering what to do, I knew grilling it or frying it was the best way out, so I started looking up recipes on the internet (my favourite place – BBC Good Food website) and then finally my library. I stumbled upon a book which I picked up in Bali – “The Food of Bali, Authentic Recipes from the Island of the Gods”. I finally settled for the Fish using the Balinese Spice Paste for Seafood. However, my larder was not my best friend today, and I was out of Lemon Grass and Macadamia Nuts and the recipe called for Shrimp Paste which I have never owned. So, with that recipe as my base I started improvising and came through this Balinese inspired Fish. The list of ingredients seems really long but is quite simple to make!

Ingredients

8 Whole Mackerels

The Marinade

4 small onion sliced and sautéed light brown in colour
¼ cup roasted peanuts (I roasted them in regular vegetable oil in a pan)
1 tomato coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon of preserved red paprika (in case you don’t find this you could increase the red chilli powder or add a green chilli
1 tsp red chilli powder (can make it as hot as you like it)
¼ cup of coarsely chopped ginger
10 cloves of garlic
¾ cup fresh coriander
1 tbsp coriander powder
1½ tbsp. fish sauce (optional)
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp butter
1½ tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp tamarind paste
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Vegetable Oil for pan frying the fish
Salt to taste

Note: I have put out a recipe for 8 as the marinade that I prepared would serve 8-9 (9-10 inch fish)

 

Method

·         The thing with Mackerel is that it’s a very smelly fish, so my first task was to get reduce the smell. I used a mix of vinegar (4 tbsp), turmeric powder (1 tbsp) and salt (2 tsp) and let the fish marinate in it for about two hours before I washed off the marinade and pat dried the fish with a kitchen towel.  

 

 

·         Begin with preparing the second marinade - grind all the ingredients in the processor. Check the mixture for salt and chillies and add more if required.
 

 

·         Coat the fish generously with the marinade and leave it for 1 hour. Don’t forget to pop a little inside the fish cavity.

 

·         Heat about 4 table spoons of oil in a large non-stick pan. Once the oil starts to smoke put the fish into the pan. I wouldn’t put more than 2 in a go, as you need place to turn the fish as well. Ensure that the fish is well coated with the marinade before you put it in the pan

 

 

 

·         Cook the fish on each side for about 4 minutes. If you feel the heat is too high, switch between a medium to high flame. When turning, use a flat fish turner, to ensure that the fish doesn’t break and the marinade sticks to the skin. (In the picture below I managed to scrape a little bit off one of the pieces..that's what you have to avoid !)

 

 

·         Carefully transfer to a serving dish. Take some of the marinade mixed with the oil from the pan and pour over the fish. Serve it alone, or with steamed rice.