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Showing posts with label chinese recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chinese recipe. Show all posts

Friday, January 27, 2017

Garlicky Bok-Choy with Dried Shrimp !

Noodles. Fried rice. Manchurian. Chilli. Soups. Ummm. Cantonese. Hummmm. Ummm. Ahh....kung pao. And just when you think that you have exhausted the entire gamut of terms used to describe Chinese food, the real stuff reveals itself. By real, I do mean 'REAL' and not the heavily desi-fied variety that could literally give new meaning to the 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai' sloganeering. I will leave those to some inspiration-deprived Bollywood bloke and his period drama. For now, I will just revel in the new found joy of discovering real Chinese food.

The Chinese are surely masters in the art of stir-frying. A chosen few ingredients, a large cooking surface that allows individual components to actually get fried instead of being steamed and the hottest flame that you can muster up in order to retain the crispness of the veggies are the key components that go into the making of this culinary dream. So, even before you attempt to replicate these stir fry recipes at home, make sure you have the right kind of wok and a really big burner. Else no amount of effort is going to give you the desired outcome.

Here is a real simple recipe to start with. I have stir fried Bok choy with some dried shrimp (as I was out of the fresh ones), lot of garlic and a dash of light soy sauce. Read on for the details -


















Preparation time - 10 mins

Ingredients -
  • 100 gm Bok-choy
  • 1/4 cup dried/fresh shrimp
  • 4-5 garlic cloves (finely minced)
  • 1 tsp light soy sauce
  • red chili (finely chopped)
  • 1 tsp canola oil
  • salt to taste

Preparation - If using dried shrimps, soak them in hot water for about 20 mins. Drain water, wash again with fresh water and squeeze dry.

Wash the bok-choy and chop it into medium sized bits.

Cooking - Take a wide wok. Add the oil and heat it to a high.

Add the minced garlic, red chili and shrimp. Stir fry at a high heat till the shrimp turns crisp. Takes about 3 mins.

Add the bok-choy and stir quickly to let off the steam without making it soggy.

Finally add soy sauce and very little salt . Give a quick stir and remove from the wok.

Serve hot.





































Note - I personally like to have this stir fry with some steamed white/brown rice and a light dal/rasam.



Thursday, December 22, 2016

Fried Forbidden Rice ( Easy Chinese Fried Rice recipe with Black Rice )

Fried rice with black rice ! I could almost imagine a pair of slit eyes fixed on me in a stern stare even as the 'Fu Manchu' mustache quivered ever so slightly in anger. I barely suppressed a laugh as I imagined the receding hairline that lay hidden beneath the Imperial crown. Would he have lunged at me and snatched away my delectable meal ? Or would he have ordered the royal guards to behead me ? After all, I was relishing the 'Forbidden rice' which was exclusively meant for the Chinese emperor.

No, I am not referring to a certain Timur/ Taimur who is once again hogging the limelight after all these years. Nor do I have anything against his infant namesake who might end up being the butt of all kinds of 'lame' jokes. For those who missed the humor, the original Taimur was actually lame as suggests his nickname 'Timur-e-Lang'. The guy is rumored to have perished while trying to get past the great wall so it must have been someone from the Ming dynasty who forbid the peasant class from consuming  black rice. But anyways, the point is that this strikingly beautiful hued rice was once the exclusive forte of the royals. And for a good reason !

Those who have been following my blog religiously must be quite aware that I have been smitten with it for sometime. And though this one is yet another of my experiments with the nutty flavored rice which turns a deep purple once cooked, it made me fall in love with it once again. For the umpteenth time .

Quick, easy-to-prepare and heavenly in taste, this one is a must-try. Read on for the recipe -


















Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -

  • 2 cups cooked black rice
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar ( or rice vinegar )
  • 1 tsp light soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon (heaped) brown sugar
  • 3-4 finely chopped garlic cloves 
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped carrot pieces 
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped spring onions 
  • 1/4 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • salt to taste

Preparation - Take the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, chili powder, 2 pinch salt and 3 tsp water in a cup. Mix well.

Cooking - Heat a skillet. Add the sesame oil.

Once oil is hot, thrown in the garlic and let it release it's aroma.

Add the vegetable and saute on high for 2 mins.

Add the sauce and cook for a minute.

Stir in the cooked black rice. Stir fry on high for 2-3 mins.

Adjust salt.

































Remove from the flame and serve hot with some fried tofu.























Check Out more Black Rice Recipes. 

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Kung Pao Lotus Root

Blog hopping is one of my favorite pastimes . And I find that I get to pick up a lot of stuff off the blogs these days. Being an avid reader myself, I can tell you that a few of them are so well researched that they may as well compete with books but for the fact that they are so concise. However that is fast turning into a advantage as people increasingly look for short reads to fill up the gaps in their schedule.

Be it when you are waiting for the cab to arrive or a friend to show up at the coffee shop, reading a short blog is just the right way to utilize that time. Of course, it is a matter of habit and one can as well read a book in that time, but I prefer to pick one when I am in a more relaxed setting and with enough time to cover a few chapters. Travelling to a foodie event a few weeks back, I was checking out some blogs to kill the time and take my attention off the crazy traffic at MG Road. And I found this blog called 'The Mala Project' . I liked one of the recipes but it was only when I read the brief about this blog, that I truly fell in love with it. Even though I may not be cooking Chinese on a particular day, I just pay a short visit to this blog and enjoy going through the posts.

Kung Pao Lotus Root is the only recipe that I have had the time to replicate in my kitchen and it turned out to be amazing. Even though I did not have a few ingredients mentioned in the list, I hardly found anything to be amiss. Hot, sweet, sour and spicy, this is a great option when you are in the mood to serve some vegan starters to your family .

Read on for the recipe -


















Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients -


  • 100 gm lotus root ( Use one that is unblemished and thick )
  • 3 tbsp chopped spring onions (greens only)
  • 1 tsp chopped garlic (thin slices )
  • 1 tsp chopped ginger ( thin slices )
  • 3 dry red chili peppers ( medium heat ones )
  • 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
  • 1/3 tsp peppercorns 
  • 3 tbsp canola oil


For the sauce -


  • 1 tsp thin soy sauce
  • 2 tsp vinegar 
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp cornflour
  • 1/5 tsp salt (or to taste)


Preparation - Peel and slice the lotus root. Soak in water till you use them.

Take the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and cornflour in a cup . Add 2-3 tbsp water to the cup and mix into a thin paste.

Cooking - Heat the canola oil in a wok.

Remove the lotus root from water and dry them on paper towels. Shallow fry in small batches on medium flame till they turn brown on the edges.

Remove from wok and drain on paper towels.

Drain most of the oil from the wok leaving just about 1 tsp oil. Add the broken red peppers and peppercorns. Once they release their fragrance , add the spring onions, garlic and ginger. Fry for 2 mins without browning them.

Add the fried lotus root along with the sauce. Stir fry till the sauce thickens in consistency.

Finally add the peanuts, give it a toss and switch off the flame.

Serve hot.

















Note - You can check out the original recipe HERE . I have skipped a few ingredients which are not available easily and substituted the chicken stock with vegetable stock to keep it vegan 

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Vegetable Manchurian

Vegetable Manchurian happened to be one of my favorites dishes during the college years. I could have it for evening snacks, then again for dinner and if there was still some leftover ( quite miraculously !! ), it would go into the making of my breakfast the next day. Such was my fascination with this delicious Chinese recipe that there was seldom a week when I did not have it. But as they say 'Too much of a good thing is bad'. I lost my appetite for this yummy dish soon after and it was years before I went anywhere near it. I distinctly remember avoiding it at wedding banquets and office parties where it happened to be one of the popular starters for the vegetarian crowd.

But when I came across it recently while browsing for popular Indo-Chinese recipes. Memories came flooding back and I could not resist trying it out at home. While the ones served at restaurants are good, I just wanted to relive the fun that I used to have when making it with my Mom. And btw, it also happens to be one of my brother's favorite. Here this one is for you Bro. Happy Raksha Bandhan !!!!!!!!

Read on for the easy recipe -



















Preparation Time - 45-55 mins

Ingredients -

For the balls -

2 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
2/3 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped capsicum
1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions (i used both the white and green portions)
1/2 cup finely chopped french beans
2-3 green finely chopped chilis
4 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornflour
1/3 tsp chilli powder ( skip this if the green chilis are hot ..mine had very less heat )
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

For the sauce -

3 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 finely chopped green chilis
3 tsp soya sauce
3-4 tsp vinegar
2 tsp chili sauce
2 tsp tomato ketchup
1 1/2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp sugar
2 pinch garam masala ( only if you like the Punjabi-fied version )
salt to taste
3 tsp vegetable oil ( if you have sesame oil, use it )
2 tsp spring onion greens for garnishing

Preparation - Take all the vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle salt and keep aside for 1 hour. After 1 hour, all the veggies would have left water. Thoroughly squeeze out this excess water.

Add all purpose flour ( 2 1/2 tbsp at first ), cornflour, red chili powder and more salt (if required) to the mixing bowl. Mix everything together. Try to form the balls (use a tablespoon as the measure to get balls of uniform size). If they seem crumbly, then add more all purpose flour.

Cooking - Heat sufficient oil in a wok. Once it reaches the right temperature, place one ball as a test first. [If it does not rise quickly to the surface, the oil is cold and the balls will absorb too much oil. If it turns dark too soon, the oil is overheated. If it starts to break, then it needs more binding agent.]

Once the first ball turns out fine, then add 4-5 of the balls at a time. Do not crowd the vessel as it will cause the oil temperature to plummet . Fry on medium flame till golden brown.

Remove and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil. Repeat the process for the remaining vegetable balls.

Heat 3-4 tsp oil in a separate wok. Add the spring onions, garlic, ginger and green chillis. Fry on medium high, taking care not to burn the garlic.

Add soya sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar and chili sauce to the wok along with the sugar and fry for 1 minute.

Dissolve the cornflour in 1 cup cold water. Add to the wok. Adjust salt. Keep stirring till the sauce thickens.

Add the fried vegetable balls to the wok and toss to coat them evenly. Sprinkle garam masala if using. Turn up the heat for 2 mins. Remove from the flame leaving behind a little gravy (do not worry, it will get absorbed).




















Note - Add more water and increase the quantity of sauces used if you need more gravy.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Chilli Chicken
















Cooking Time Required: 20-25 mins
Cost of Preparation: 45-50 Rupees

Ingredients:
For marinate :
Boneless chicken pieces ( 250 gm ), egg ( 1 no ), cornflour ( 1 tsp ), maida ( 1 tsp ), soya sauce ( 1 tsp ), ajinomoto ( 1/5 tsp ), finely cut garlic ( 1 tsp, heaped ), salt.

For the saute : Capsicum ( 1 large ), white onion ( 1 large ), red chillis ( 5-6 nos ), chilli vinegar ( 1 tsp ), soya sauce ( 1 tsp ), finely cut garlic ( 1 tsp ), pepper powder ( 1/4 tsp), salt, tomato sauce ( 1 tsp ), oil ( 3-4 tsp ).

For deep frying : oil .

Preparation: Mix all the ingredients for marination in a large bowl. Keep aside for 2 hours.

Cut the capsicum and onion into medium/big sized chunks.

Cooking: Heat sufficient oil in wok for deep frying the chicken.

Add the chicken pieces in small batches. Lower the flame. Fry for 3-4 mins.
Remove from wok and keep aside.

Heat 3-4 tsp of oil in a wok. Add the garlic pieces and red chillis . Saute for 30 secs.

Add the fried chicken, capsicum and onion. Fry on high flame for 2 mins.

Sprinkle chilli vinegar, soya sauce, tomato sauce, pepper powder and a pinch of salt. Toss it well. (Add a few teaspoons of water if it is too dry or sticking to the pan )

Serve hot as an appetizer or even a side dish.

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