Vegetable Manchurian

Preperation time: 35 min | Cooking time: 45 min

Indian vegetables are not a common commodity available here in Glasgow. I try to make the best out of the ones easily available and that's how this delicacy came into the menu.

Ingredients
For vegetable balls
Finely chopped cabbage-1cup
Grated carrot-1/2cup
Chopped garlic-1tsp
Chopped green chilli-1tsp
Refined flour (maida)-2tbsp
Corn flour-1tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For sauce
Finely chopped garlic-1tsp
Finely chopped ginger-1 1/2tsp
Green chilli-1tsp
Soya sauce-1tbsp
Vegetable stock or water-1cup
Chopped spring onions-1tbsp
Chilli sauce-1tsp
Corn flour-1tsp
Salt to taste
Oil-2tbsp

Method
Take a bowl, mix the grated cabbage and carrot with a little salt and keep it aside for about 15 minutes. Now squeeze the water out from this mixture and add the remaining ingredients. Make small balls out of this and deep fry them until brown. (the water can be used as the stock for the sauce). If the mixture is sticky, add corn flour to make it firm.



Heat oil in a pan and chopped ginger, garlic and green chilli and saute on high flame for 2 minutes. Now add the sauces and the stock, bring it to boil. At this stage add the vegetable balls and mix well. It can be relished at this stage as a dry manchurian. For the gravy, mix corn flour to a cup of water and add. When it starts boiling mix it well and garnish with spring onions.It goes well with fried rice or noodles.

Egg fried rice with Szechuan Chicken

Preperation time: 15 min | Cooking time: 10 min

Fried rice is a prominent Chinese dish that has gone through a lot of innovations as it moved to other parts of the world. For instance, the fried rice from a chinese restaurant in India would be indianised and so forth. In this recipe I've used basmati rice instead of small grain rice or jasmine rice which they use.

Ingredients
Cooked rice-1cups
Chopped carrots-1tbsp
Chopped mixed bell peppers(capsicum)-2tbsp
Chopped spring onions-2tbsp
Chopped garlic-1tsp
Eggs-2
Soya sauce-1tsp
Oyster sauce-1/2tsp
Salt & pepper as per taste.
Oil

Method
Take a wok, add oil and on high flame, add chopped garlic and the vegetables and saute for 5 minutes. Scramble the eggs and add it to this mixture. Mix them well. Season it with salt and pepper. Now add the rice and the sauces, mix it well on a high flame until the rice is hot. Sprinkle the spring onions in the end. Serve hot because fried rice is best eaten that way.

Note: It is always better to use cold rice.

Preperation time: 10 min | Cooking time: 40 min

Szechuan Chicken Ingredients
Chicken breasts(small peices)-500gms
Ginger-garlic paste-1/2tsp
Chopped ginger-2tsp
Chopped garlic-1tsp
Chilli flakes-1tsp
Egg-1
Soya Sauce-3tbsp
Chilli sauce-1tbsp
Tomato ketchup-1tbsp
Onion-1
Tomato-1
Spring onions for garnishing
Corn flour-2tbsp
Pepper-1/2tsp
Oil
Salt to taste

Method
Take a bowl, add the ginger-garlic paste, salt & pepper powder, a tbsp of soya sauce and a egg. Mix well and marinate the chicken in this for about 3 hours. Deep fry the chicken until cooked. Keep it aside.



Heat oil in a pan, add chopped ginger, garlic and onions(thinly sliced) and saute for about 2 minutes. Add chilli flakes and chopped tomatoes, saute for 5 minutes. Now add all the sauces and cook until it is well blend. Add the fried chicken to this and mix well. At this stage you can garnish with spring onions and relish it as dry Szechuan chicken or mix a tbsp of corn flour in a cup of water and add to the chicken mixture to get a thick gravy. The consistency can be adjusted as per individual taste.

Singapore noodles

Preperation time: 25 min | Cooking time: 10 min

Chinese recipes are relished in my family. I often try out chinese dishes and this is one among them. This recipe was very new to me and thought of trying my hands on it.

Ingredients
Dried rice vermicelli-250gms
Cooked shredded chicken-4tbsp
Carrot-1(cut into thin strips)
Onion-1(thin slices)
Chopped ginger-1tsp
Chopped garlic-1tsp
Mix peppers-1 small cup (thin slices)
Coriander powder-1tsp
Chilli powder-1/2tsp
Cumin powder-1/4tsp
Garam masala powder-1/4tsp
Pepper powder-1/4tsp
Soya sauce-1tbsp
Eggs(beaten)-2
Oil for cooking
Salt to taste

Method
Cook the vermicelli as per instructions and keep it aside for cooling. Heat some oil in a pan, add the chopped ginger, garlic and onion. Saute for about 2 minutes then add carrot and continue to saute for another 5 minutes under high flame. Add the shredded chicken and the mix peppers with all the masalas and cook for sometime. Make sure the vegetables are crunchy and retains its fresh colour.


Heat some oil in a pan and add the beaten eggs and scramble them. Add this to the vegetable & chicken mixture and add soya sauce. Mix them well. To this add the vermicelli and cook for about 2 minutes. Server hot