Chili Gobi Manchurian

"GOBI MANCHURIAN"  is one of the most delicious, popular, zestful and beloved food in India. It is an Indian-Chinese recipe. It is deep fried Cauliflower coated with a combined mixture of garlic, chilies, onions, green pepper and a blend of different sauces like soy, vinegar etc. There are basically two stages in preparing this recipe- first is to deep fry cauliflower and second, preparation of sauce. This recipe is time consuming, but it is worth the effort.

Ingredients

1 Medium cauliflower, chopped into bite size florets

5-8 cloves of Garlic, minced

2 Green chilies, finely chopped

Curry leaves

1 Onion, chopped lengthwise

2 Green Bell pepper, chopped lengthwise

Salt

1/4^th tsp Ajinomoto

Oil for deep fry

For the batter

6 - 8 tsp of corn flour

½ tsp of Red chili powder

Salt

Water (as required)

For the sauce

4 tsp Soy sauce

2 tsp white vinegar

4 tsp Tomato ketchup

½ cup of water

Preparation

v  In a bowl, combine corn flour, red chili powder and salt. Add cauliflower florets and mix well. Sprinkle water as required, just enough to coat cauliflower florets (some recipes use food color for appearance, but this recipe doesn’t use food color)

v  Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel and  deep fry cauliflower until they are crisp and light brown

v   In a separate pan, heat 2-3 tsp of oil, add minced garlic,green chilies and curry leaves. Sauté for few seconds and then add onions and bell pepper and mix well. Leave it for a minute in high heat setting until they are partially cooked.

v  In a bowl, prepare the sauce. Whisk these ingredients - soy sauce, white vinegar, tomato ketchup and water (you can also add ½ tsp of corn flour for thick gravy).

v  Pour the sauce over onions and bell pepper. Stir well. In high heat, reduce the sauce into thick consistency. Add salt and ajinomoto

v  Add cauliflower and toss them 

v Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot

Fried Rice 2

This fried rice is an Indo-chinese recipe. This recipe is also for beginners because it is fast, simple and easy to make.
You can make fried rice with left over rice. I have used basmati rice since it is more flavorful  The variation from previous recipe- "Mushroom fried rice" is in the sauce. You can use different combination of sauces in different proportions.

Ingredients

2 cups of basmati rice

1 carrot, chopped

1 Green bell pepper, chopped lengthwise

5-8 Mushrooms, diced

1 cup of scallions

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 Green chilies, finely chopped

¼ tsp Ajinomoto

Oil

Salt

For the sauce

4 tsp dark soya sauce

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp chili vinegar

1 tsp green chili sauce

Procedure

v  Cook 2 cups of basmati rice with 3 cups of water. And let it cool

v  In a skillet, heat oil, add garlic, green chilies, carrots, green bell pepper, mushrooms (or beans, peas). Sauté for 2 minutes in high heat setting

v  In a separate bowl prepare the sauce. Whisk soy sauce, white vinegar, chili vinegar and green chili sauce

v  Pour the sauce over vegetables and mix well

v  In low heat setting, add rice, scallions, salt and ajinomoto. Mix well for 3-5 minutes.

v  Top it off with some more scallions and chopped cilantro

Mushroom Fried Rice

Total preparation time- 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients

100 gms Mushrooms, chopped lengthwise

1 Green bell pepper, chopped lengthwise

½ cup of Cabbage, chopped lengthwise

½ cup of Carrot, chopped lengthwise

½ cup of Beans, chopped lengthwise

3 cloves of Garlic, chopped

2-3 nos. Green chilies, chopped or split lengthwise

4-5 cups of Cooked rice (approx.)

2 tsp Soya Sauce

1 tsp White vinegar

½ tsp Black pepper

Salt

Oil

Ajinomoto

Procedure

v  In a skillet, heat 3 tsp of oil

v  Add garlic, green chilies, mushrooms, cabbage, green bell pepper, beans and carrots. Sautee for 5 min (don’t overcook vegetables. More crunchy, then better taste)

v  Add 2 tsp of soya sauce and 1 tsp of white vinegar and mix well

v  In low heat setting, add white rice (cooked), 1/4^th tsp of ajinomoto, black pepper powder and adjust salt to taste

v  Stir fry in low heat for 5 – 8 minutes

v  Finally add chopped spring onions and serve hot

Paneer Masala

Paneer is a fresh cheese commonly used in South Asian cuisines. To prepare paneer, lemon juice or vinegar is added to boiling milk which separates milk solids (curd) from whey.
Below is a simple recipe of paneer. The steps to make paneer masala is quite simple and easy.

Ingredients

200gms Paneer, cut into cubes

2 Cloves

1 small stick of Cinnamon

½ tsp Ginger, chopped

2 cloves of Garlic, chopped

1 Onion, chopped

2 Green bell peppers, chopped

1 Tomato, chopped

1 cup of Tomato puree

½ tsp Red Chili Powder

½ tsp Coriander Powder

¼ tsp Turmeric

6 tsp Oil

Salt

Procedure

• In a skillet, heat 4 tsp of oil, add panner and sauté them until it turns to golden brown. Then transfer panner into a separate dish and set aside
• In the same skillet, heat 2 tsp of oil, add cloves, cinnamon, ginger and garlic. Sauté for few seconds and then add onions. when onions turn transparent add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes
• Now add tomato puree, and dry ingredients- turmeric, red chili powder and coriander powder. Stir well  and cook for 4-6 minutes
• Add green bell pepper and adjust salt to taste. Stir well and cook for a minute (don’t overcook bell pepper. It tastes better when they are crunchy)
• Finally add paneer. Cover the skillet and cook for 2 minutes
• Serve hot and garnish with onion rings and chopped cilantro

Beetroot Chapathi

I created this recipe when I was bored of eating regular chapathis. The main intention to formulate this recipe is to make it look unusual and funky, and that’s when I taught of making “Beetroot chapathi”. The recipe follows same as regular chapathi , except  that this one has one additional ingredient, that is beetroot.

Additionally, if you can also include other ingredients like ajwain, ground chilli paste, coriander or fenugreek leaves… to add more flavours, robustness and texture to chapathi.

Ingredients

1 Beetroot, Chopped

2 cups of wheat Flour

Water as required

½ tsp Salt

2 tsp Oil

Procedure

Cook beetroot in pressure cooker up to one whistle and puree them

In a mixing bowl, add beetroot puree, salt and 1 tsp of oil. Stir well. Then add wheat flour and knead the dough.

Add Luke warm water if required.  Finally, add remaining  1 tsp of oil and knead the dough again until the dough is very soft. Allow it to rest for 1 hour

Divide the dough into 8 to 10 parts and then roll each piece into a ball. In a lightly floured surface and using a rolling pin, roll out each ball of dough in a circular shape

Fry the chapathis on a hot griddle or a flat pan until it turns golden brown on both the sides. Smear oil if required else you can leave it dry.

Serve hot.

Moong dal Beans Poriyal

This recipe is another version of beans poriyal. It is a South Indian delicacy served as side dish or accompaniments with rice and dal.

Ingredients

½ kg Beans, chopped into 1 cm

1 cup Moong dal

4 Green Chilies

½ inch Ginger

½ tsp Mustard seeds

½ tsp Cumin seeds

Pinch of Asafoetida or Hing

1/4^th tsp of turmeric powder

1/4^th cup Grated Coconut or Desiccated coconut

1 string of Curry leaves

Small bunch of Cilantro, chopped

2 tsp oil

Salt

Procedure

Soak moong dal for 2-3 hours. Cook beans and moong dal along with 3 cups of water in a pressure cooker up to one whistle. Drain excess water (don’t throw away water. You can always use it for kneading dough,or  can be used as vegetable stock in making soups or cooking pilaf…)

Coarsely grind chili and ginger.

In a hot skillet, heat 2 tsp of oil, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds start to crackle add ground chili and ginger paste, curry leaves, asafetida and turmeric powder. Sauté for a minute in low heat

Add moong dal, beans, grated coconut, salt and cilantro. Mix well. Cook for 2 minutes in medium high setting and turn of flame

Dahi Murg Masala

This is an easy recipe for meat lovers. The interesting part of this recipe is cohesiveness of chicken cooked along with yogurt and spice mix and it works very well. Yogurt(called as ‘dahi’ in hindi) is commonly used as  a base for marinating any kind of meat  and mostly used in tandoori recipes, this is because it helps to retain moisture and also tenderizes the meat.

In this signature recipe, I have treated yogurt as the integral element, because it gives creamy texture to the sauce as well as it acts as binding agent that binds chicken and spices and hence the name “DAHI MURG MASALA”.

Ingredients

1kg chicken, thigh portion only

1 tsp. Ginger paste

1 tsp. Garlic paste

1 tsp. Red chili powder

½ tsp. Coriander powder

1/4^th tsp. Cumin powder

½ tsp. Pepper powder

½ tsp. Turmeric powder

2 tsp. Lemon Juice

2 Onions, chopped lengthwise

1 cup yogurt

Handful of Cilantro, chopped

4 tsp Oil

Salt

Procedure

In a large bowl, mix Chicken with ginger and garlic paste, chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, pepper powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice and salt. Marinade for 1 hour

In a large skillet, heat oil, add marinated chicken into hot oil. Fry in medium high for 15 minutes and it leaves out excess water from the meat.  Now add yogurt and chopped cilantro and cook for about 30 minutes in medium low until it forms thick gravy and oil separates out from the masala. Add water if more gravy is needed