Broccoli And Egg Stir-fry Noodles

I am a sucker for routines. My husband will swear by this. He, for one, is the complete opposite. Laid back and 'let-things-happen' kinda person. But, I need to have a fixed time for everything. So, after a good eight years of being married we've slowly but gradually found some sort of an equilibrium. I flex my rules and he, his. Still with all this flexing and bending, there's almost no time on weekdays to prepare laborious meals for us. Preparing lunch comes on the close quarters to running a marathon as I juggle all my chores. Yet, I want to give my little son and myself something worth sitting down to eat together. Enter Stir-fries!!

I do not normally use eggs in my stir-fry noodles. But, who cannot do with some extra protein, huh?

Saucy Indo-Chinese Coriander Garlic Chicken

There's definitely something about the fusion of Indian ingredients with Chinese delicacies. Something that makes one wants to go back for more than one serving. And, that's exactly what happened to me when I ate this dish at an Indo-Chinese restaurant. The combination of a garlic-y sauce with lots of fresh corainder all done up into a gulp-me-down chicken gravy cannot be resisted by a die-hard Indo-Chinese food fanatic like me!

A few days after we devoured this, I began getting haunted by the flavours - almost as if they continued to linger over my tastebuds, daunting me. I simply had to try making my version of the same at home - and soon! So, I did and here it is, just for you!

So, quickly prepare yourself some fried rice to go with this and lay the table for a hearty meal!

Chicken Manchurian

I have'nt till date met a person who despises Manchurian - chicken or otherwise. It's no surprise that this dish has found its way to the streets of India. And, as always, we Indians manage to add our 'tadka' to everything that hits our shore - be it food or anything else! Indo-Chinese cuisine is one such product. Like Chinese food itself was'nt hearty and filling, we jazz it up to suit our tastebuds and churn out plate after plate on every other street/restaurant.

I can still feel the heat from the chillies in the Cauliflower Manchurian and Vegetable Noodles I used to eat at least twice a week at the street-food vendor back in my college days. Some metabolism I had, eh?! Oh, that feels like ages ago and I am beginning to feel old saying all this. So , before I get way too nostalgic, let me get down to sharing this scrummy recipe with you!

Ingredients

2 lb Chicken breasts (You can use bone-in or boneless) - Washed and cut into bite sized pieces

1/4th Cup Cornflour dissolved in 3/4 cup of water
5 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2inch stick of Ginger, grated
1 Cup Onions, julienned
3/4 Cup Chopped Scallions (Green Onions)
3 Green Chillies, chopped
1/4 Cup Fresh Coriander sprigs, chopped
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
2-3 tbsp Chilie sauce
1/2 tsp Red Chillie powder
1/2 tsp Ajinomoto (I just use very little to give the dish some authentic Chinese flavour. This is optional. You can use only regular salt, too, if you're not feeling that indulgent)
Oil
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Heat oil in a wok/kadai
- Stir the cornflour in the water to form a thin batter. Add some salt and the red chillie powder to this to give it some flavour
- Dip the chicken pieces in this batter and deep fry. Place fried chicken pieces on paper towel drain any excess oil. Oh, yeah let's try to get a wee bit close to being healthy at least at one step ;)
- Now in a shallow saucepan, heat about 2 tbsp. of oil and add the green chillies, garlic, ginger and onions and stir until the onions are transparent
- Add the coriander and stir further
- Lower the flame and pour in the sauces
- Now add ajonomoto and some more salt and fry for a good minute on a medium flame
- Toss in half the scallions and fry for about 30 seconds
- Add fried chicken pieces and fry until well coated with sauce mixture
- Sprinkle left over scallions and serve hot

SERVES 2-3

Asian Style Fried Rice

We all end up doing some ridiculously dumb things some time or the other. For me, one such time was when I was really out of ideas as to what to make for dinner and I simply cooked up rice and sat wondering what to do next! I wanted to eat something beyond the regular Tomato Rice, Pulao or any other rice preparation that I would normally churn out. I sat watching TV and suddenly like a lightening, it struck me: Indo-Chinese. I mean HOW could I have not thought about it earlier. And, to my luck I had scallions stocked up from my Chicken Manchurian fiesta I had the previous night. The rice had cooled down to room temperature, I had a good stock of soy and chillie sauce...everything was so in sync and yes, and you guessed the rest - Asian Style Fried Rice was born!

Ingredients

1 Cup Rice, washed and drained

1 Bunch of Scallions, washed and chopped

1/2 Cup Onions, julienned

1 Green chillie, slit (Add more if you like things hot :P)

2 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste

1 tsp Fresh Garlic, coarsly chopped (Yes, I love additional fresh garlic in just about anything!)

3 tbsp Soy Sauce (Add more if you desire)

1 tbsp Red Chillie Sauce

1 tsp Ground pepper/Pepper powder

Ajinomoto or Regular salt, to taste

1/4 Cup Oil (You can use olive oil for extra flavour)

Method

- Cook the rice in 1 3/4 cup of water and set aside to cool to room temperature. Spreading the cooked rice over a large plate speeds this process and yields fluffy rice

- In a large wok/kadai, heat about 1/4 cup of oil

- Once it is hot, add the slit green chilli and onions and stir until the onions are translucent

- Add the coarsly chopped garlic and stir fry

- Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for another minute or so

- Throw in half of the chopped scallions and fry

- Now, lower the flame and add the red chillie and soy sauces and stir

- Toss in the rice, salt/ajinomoto and pepper and stir fry thoroughly (Boy, they dont call it 'fried' rice for nothing...all you do is fry in every darn step!)

- Fry (Yea! again) the rice on a medium high flame until it is coated well with the sauces and onions mixture

- Top up with the remaining half of the chopped scallions and serve piping hot with your choice of favourite gravy. I served mine with some tangy, spicy Thai Curry...so you know what is coming next on SSTT! Ah, can't I keep one little secret?

SERVES 3

Quick Veggie Noodles

To say I like Indo-chinese cuisine would be an understatement. It is so much among my favourites of food choices that I could possibly eat it every single day. The flavours and textures transport me into another world. I love the gravies and sauces but have not yet mastered making them myself. But when it comes to noodles, it's all tried and tested. I might not be a professional in this genre of cooking but I know this recipe for noodles can have you asking for more!
Ingredients
200gms Noodles (or as much as you desire)
1/2 Cup Onions - Julienned
1/2 Cup Broccoli florets
1/4 Cup Cauliflower florets
1/2 Cup Bell Pepper (Capsicum) - Julienned
1/4 Cup Carrots - Julienned
1/4 Cup Green beans - Julienned
1/2 tsp Pepper
3 Green chillies - chopped
Oil
And, of course, some salt to taste!


Method
- Heat water in a large saucepan and bring to boil
- Add salt and the toss in the noodles
- Let cook for just about 1.5 minutes (till they become soft and "stirrable" but not overcooked)
- Drain water and flush the noodles with cold water. Drain.
- Sprinkle some oil over the cooked noodles and stir it and set aside
- In a wok/kadai, heat some oil and add the green chillies
- Next add the onions and fry until translucent
- Add all the remaining veggies and stir fry until veggies are crisp
- Sprinkle some more salt to flavour the veggies
- Toss in the cooked noodles and stir using tongs
- Add pepper and stir further


Noteworthy Notes
1. If you like your veggies to be completely cooked then (before you do the stir fry) boil some water, and toss in the veggies for just over a minute to give it a more soft texture. But by doing so, you are running the risk of having mushy veggies in the noodles, hence I avoid this.
2. You can add any variety of veggies/scrambled eggs/chicken/lamb/seafood to this recipe to turn up its volume and taste
3. Use ajinomoto to achieve authentic Chinese restaurant-like taste


SERVES 2