Veggie Fried Rice - so easy & quick

Such an easy recipe to cook!

I am sure everyone in my list has tried this recipe at least once and ended up cooking with variations again and again! If not, then try now!

We ordered for some yummy machurian from a restaurant nearby and I wanted to cook the fried rice on my own as I had mostly all the vegetables stocked up in my ref.

We all know how this is made but here is my recipe:

• Handful of Beans - cut half in length to make this thinner & easy to cook
• 2 Carrots  - Sliced
• 2 Onions - Sliced
• 1 Capsicum - Sliced
• Green chillies - Slit & as per tolerance/taste
• Cooked rice
• Salt - as per taste
• Soy Sauce - as per taste 
• Vinegar - as per taste
• Salt - as per taste

Method:

People generally fry the onions first but I like to put in the beans first. It gets cooked well as well as the taste is much better. Then I put in the carrots and capsicum together & soon the onions. Green chillies go in the last with the salt & sauces.
Add the rice when all the veggies are cooked but not soggy.

Hey! your fried rice is ready to eat with your favorite machurian/curry or just like that!

Enjoy!

Note:

• You may add more veggies like green peas, cauliflower, cabbage, brocolli etc
• You could avoid the sauces if you just want them plain

Tangy Paneer Do Pyaza

Hello friends! I have been taking too many breaks from my blogging world. Well, all thanks to my juggling between work & home. But, honestly there is nothing better than spending time with your sweet little one. All the tiredness and worries fly away. What do you say?

With little time & opportunity to cook at length we have been managing all kinds of quick food. Honestly we also often end up eating out during lunch due to meetings or because I did not have had enough time to really cook. So, all these days whenever we get an opportunity we try to eat at home and try eating healthy, easy to cook food.

So, I had gone to the grocery store close by and there is a local chinese food vendor cooking on the street. No, I did not eat there but the aroma was too tempting to resist. So, one thing was sure for today I was to cook something chinese. I quickly picked up a packet of Mother Dairy Paneer (Cottage Cheese) and directly went to the sauce section. There I saw the new brand SAMS sauce, my husband did not want to experiment with the sauces but I did. Its an introductory pack of 3 sauces - Soy, Green chilly & Red Chilly. Reached home within 15 mts & headed to the kitchen to cook the TANGY PANEER DO PYAZA. It is cottage cheese tossed in chunks of onions/tomatoes & capsicum. It is generally cooked tangy & hot.

Here's how you make this awesomely delicious & quick dish.


Get hold of:
2 Onions  - Halve them chop them a little thick
2 Tomatoes - Halve them & chop them same as the onions
1 Big Capsicum - Halve it & slice it the same way
4 Green Chillies - Slit them  (add as much/less as you wish to)
Cottage Cheese - Long Slices as thick as the other items
Turmeric Powder - a pinch (you may not add if you wish)
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Tomato Sauce - 2 Tsp
Soy Sauce - 1 Tsp

Method:
Heat the wok & add oil. As soon as it is about to smoke add all the onions, tomatoes, capsicum & green chillies in. Toss till they are just cooked. Add turmeric powder, paneer, salt, tomato sauce & the soy sauce. Toss for a minute and serve hot with Chappatis/Paranthas/Rotis or Noodles. You may wish to serve them just as a snack.

Note:
You may add some vinegar for tang. But just the tomatoes also worked for me.
I do not like frozen paneer, the Mother Dairy or Gopaljee which are soft are good to use. You could even buy the local paneer available in the Indian shops or make fresh paneer at home.
I used Heinz Tomato Ketchup & SAMS Soy Sauce  - We liked the SAMS soy sauce.

Stir Fried Chinese Green Beans

I remember going to Mainland China to enjoy some authentic chinese food

which I totally freak out on.

When I first tried them at the buffet I knew I had to cook these at home. These lovely fresh looking beans are first steamed & then thrown into the pan along with some delicious flavors. They make a great dish to go with any Chinese dinner, and the best part is... it can be prepared just in a few minutes.

Everytime I indulge in these stir fried green beans which is simply fingerlicking!!! Now I can cook them at home.

The spices are quickly stir fried with the long beans to bring out their flavors so the result is a fiery tasty yummy preparation to awaken your senses.

Let's collect:

• Green Beans (washed & ends trimmed) - half a kilo
• Whole red chillies - Handful
• Soy Sauce - 1 tablespoon
• Brown Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
• Sesame Seeds (White) - 1.5 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil - 1.5 teaspoon
• Salt  - as per taste

Method:

1. Place the green beans over the steamer, cover & allow to steam for 5 mts. Take it off to cool it. You could pass it through cold water & drain again
2. Now take a wok & add the oil. Let it heat to almost smoking point & then add the red chillies & soon add the green beans. Make sure the red chillies dont burn. You need to be quick here.
3. Stir fry vigorously to avoid burning.
4. Now add the soy sauce & brown sugar to this along with the required amount of salt.
5. Continue to stir fry.
6. At the end add the sesame seeds & toss them together.
7. Shift them into your serving bowl & get ready to serve this exotic Chinese dish & enjoy the compliments coming your way!

 Note: 

• You can avoid using the red paprikas/chillies yet enjoy the flavors
• French beans is what I used
• Some add a dash of vinegar too for a tang
• Your wish to use any oil of your taste for the tossing

 

Chilli Soya - Snack Healthy

When graduating from Delhi I lived in an all girls PG on rent.

As none of us could cook we, 'the already burdened half-dead freshers' looked out for all possibilities of feeding ourselves with some good food to stay alive.

We found out some numbers/visiting cards of the tiffin providers & zeroed-in on one of the most inviting visiting cards & called to place our very first mass order for dinner. We liked it. Though, the chapattis (flat breads) looked stale & half cooked, the dal was only coloured salty water, the curd had gone sour, the vegetable was covered with oil, yet we enjoyed it & decided to continue the service.

By the time we got back home for lunch the next day it was 3pm & we were famished. We found the tiffin boxes kept at the entrance & we happily picked it up & got ready to eat when I discovered that the vegetable had gone bad in that Delhi heat outside.

It was time to discontinue the tiffin service & engage a cook for fresh meals every day. She cooked good however took leaves without informing. But that did not put us off as those were the opportunities when we could demonstrate our culinary skills & experiment on each other & the food of course. 

On one such occasion a friend got this extremely dry scrubber like balls which she claimed to be edible & called it Soya. I could not believe it could be edible! But,  the vegetable pulao with the soya chunks just tasted fabulous. It was much softer, juicier & yummy. I then started developing the taste for Soya & have tried many dishes since then. One such dish is what I recommend to all those who like your food spicy yet healthy & that is Chilli Soya.

Ingredients required:

• Soya Chunks - 100 gms
• Shredded Onion - 3
• Thinly sliced Tomato - 1
• Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
• Green chillies - as per tolerance
• Soya sauce - as per taste
• Green chilli sauce - as per tolerance
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - as per taste
• Oil - 3 tbsps

Method:

Take water in a pan to boil the soya & add salt to it. When done take it off the flame & drain it in a colander. Let it cool down & squeeze out all the extra water out of the chunks. Keep aside.

Now, take a wok & pour oil in it. Keep this on high flame & as soon as it gets smoking hot put the shredded onions in it. Saute & add the ginger garlic paste to it when the onions turn pink.

Leave it to cook for 2 mts on medium flame & then add salt & red chilli powder to it.

Continue to sauté for another 20 seconds & add the thinly sliced tomato to this. Let it cook till the tomatoes get pureed.

Add the soya chunks to this & cook for 5 mts.

Lastly add the sauces to it & cover it with a lid for a minute or two & take it off the flame.

Get ready to serve this healthy snack.

Note:

• You could add some diced capsicum too
• If you require some gravy add a spoonful of corn flour to a cup of water then pour & stir for a minute
• If you don’t have green chilli sauce you could use red chilli sauce or just add extra slit green chillies to the dish. All this only if you could tolerate the taste
• The  chilli soya (gravy) is best eaten with fried rice
• The chilli soya (dry) can be added to plain noodles or can be eaten dry as a starter or for snacks