VEGETABLE FRIED RICE

A hot bowl of rice, steam swirling.. wafting a wonderful aroma. It's almost therapeutic. Comforting. Rice spiced with the Chinese sauces and vegetables is deliciousness epitomized. Fried Rice is a delicious way to incorporate vegetable into your diet. It can be had all by itself and goes extremely well with Paneer Chili or Manchurian too. 

I have added the vegetables I like but feel free to add the ones you like. Mushrooms and broccoli taste great too. If you cut the vegetables in advance the cooking time of the dish itself is not more than 20 minutes. 

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped
Garlic - 1.5 tsp
Green Chilies - 1 tsp
Onions - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Carrots - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Green Beans - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Cabbage - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Green Bell Pepper - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Salt to taste
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Soy Sauce - 1 tsp
Green Chili Sauce - 1 tbsp
Red Chili Sauce - 1 tbsp
Ketchup - 1 tbsp
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Green Onion Greens for garnish

Procedure:

1. Boil rice with water, a few drops of oil and salt till almost done. Do make sure not to overcook the rice. 

2. Once done, drain the water and spread the rice on a plate. This way the rice won't stick.

3. In a wok, heat oil. We will be cooking on a high heat throughout. Brown the ginger, garlic and green chilies. 

4. Next add in the onions and again brown them too. 

5. And the carrots. Toss. 

6. The beans. And toss again. 

7. Next goes in the cabbage and too. 

8. The last to go in is the green bell pepper. This is because the green bell pepper cook very fast and we want our vegetables to retain their crunch and not soften. 

9. Time to add toss in the rice we kept aside. 

10. Lets spice it up with the sauces. Add in the green chili, red chili, soy and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Toss well. If you are using a spoon, stir gently so as not to break the rice grains. 

11. Cook for about 3-5 minutes before removing from the flame. Add vinegar and toss.

12. Garnish with spring onions greens and enjoy hot!

VEGETABLE MANCHURIAN

Nothing cheers me up like coming home to a hot bowl of this spicy tangy Vegetable Manchurian on a cold wet night. And if I get to watch a fresh new episode of 'How to Get Away With Murder' with it, that just makes the evening perfect for me. 

Indo Chinese is my favorite cuisine. Spicy, saucy and tangy. It can warm you up or shoo away a running nose. Vegetable Manchurian makes for a great starter, have it by itself or serve it as a meal with Noodles or Fried Rice. There are hundreds of recipes out there for Manchurian. I have tried a few myself before settling down to this one. 

I like to add a lot of vegetables to my manchurian (it gives me the illusion of healthy eating). Also, you will notice that I add sauces to my manchurian too besides coating them in a spicy tangy sauce. This adds that extra oomph to them as there is taste in every bite. 

If there are any leftover, dry up the gravy and cool it down to room temperature. Then stuff it into rolls to make yummy hot dogs for a picnic or to carry as Lunch. Have you noticed that most dishes with Spices or Sauces taste even better when left overnight? Manchurian is just the same. Try it to believe it. 

Ingredients:

For the Manchurian Balls:

Carrots - 1/4 cup shredded

Cauliflower - 1/4 cup shredded

Cabbage - 1/4 cup shredded

Beans - 1/8 cup finely chopped

Salt to taste

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Soy Sauce - 1/2 tsp

Green Chili Sauce - 1/2 tsp

Red Chili Sauce - 1/2 tsp

Tomato Ketchup - 1/2 tsp

Plain Flour - 2 tbsp

Ginger - 1/2 tsp minced

Garlic - 1/2 tsp minced

Green Chili - 1/2 tsp minced

Oil - 1 tbsp

For the Sauce/Gravy:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Ginger, garlic and green chili - 1 tbsp

Spring Onion Bulbs - 6 - 8 stalks

Salt to taste

Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Soy Sauce - 1 tsp

Red Chili Sauce - 1 tsp

Green Chili Sauce - 1 tsp

Tomato Ketchup - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 1/2 tsp

Cornflour - 1 tbsp

Spring Onion Greens finely chopped for garnish

Procedure:

1. Take shredded carrots in a wide bowl.

2. Add the shredded cauliflower.

3. And the finely chopped green beans. 

4. And the shredded cabbage. 

5. Now add the ginger, green chilies and garlic. 

6. Season with salt and black pepper.

7. Finally the sauces, soy, green chili, red chili and ketchup.

8. Mix thoroughly.

9. Use Plain flour to bind it all together. The sauces will add in the needed moisture to knead it into a dough like form. 

10. Heat the appam pan on medium heat. If you don't have an appam pan feel free to grill or deep fry them. 

11. Grease the appam moulds with a little oil. 

12. Shape the prepared mixture into lemon sized balls and place them on the greased moulds. 

13. Flip to cook on both sides evenly. 

14. Once brown and crisp on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside. 

15. For the gravy, heat oil in a wok on high heat. 

16. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilies and saute till brown. 

17. Next add the onion bulbs and toss. 

18. Add in the red chili, soy, green chili sauces and ketchup and toss again. 

19. Throw in the manchurian balls. Toss. 

20. Season with salt and pepper. 

21. Make a slurry by mixing cornflour with cold water. Set aside. 

 

22. Add the prepared slurry to the manchurian in the wok and mix well. You may add water depending on how thick you want your gravy. I added about 1/2 cup water. 

23. Let the gravy thicken. This will take about 3-5 minutes stir in between to ensure the gravy doesn't stick to the pan. Add vinegar and stir.

24. Serve hot garnished with fresh spring onion greens!

VEGETABLE HAKKA NOODLES

Indian Chinese is my favorite cuisine. For those who haven't heard of it, Indians created their own version of Chinese dishes tailoring some of the Chinese dishes and creating some of our own and spicing them up to suit Indian palates. Anyone who likes spicy, tangy food is sure to enjoy this. 

This recipe will make you tangy, spicy, saucy hakka noodles. Just how I like it. This is also my husband's favorite remedy for a sore throat or cold. If you chop the vegetables ahead, Hakka Noodles are ready in no time. 

If you have any leftovers, use them as samosa or a puff or a frankie stuffing. They taste even better the next day ;).

Ingredients:

Noodles, 1 pack boiled following the instructions on the pack. (I used Chings Hakka Noodles)

Sesame Oil, 1 tbsp

Ginger, 1 tsp

Garlic, 1 tbsp

Green Chilies, 1 tsp

Onions, 1 thinly sliced

Cabbage, 1/4 shredded

Carrots, 1 shredded

Green Peppers, 1 thinly sliced

Salt to taste

Pepper, 1 tsp 

Soy Sauce, 1 tsp

Red Chili Sauce, 1 tbsp

Green Chili Sauce, 1 tbsp

Tomato Sauce, 1 tbsp

Vinegar, 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a wok on high heat.

2. Add in the ginger, garlic and green chilies and brown them. 

3. Next drop in the sliced onions and toss. 

4. Next go in the shredded cabbage and toss again. 

5. Now the carrots.

6. Finally add in the green peppers. We add them in the end as they tend to soften quite fast. We aren't really cooking any of these vegetables as we still want them to have a bite and crunch when we bite into them. 

7. Now come the sauces. Add in the soy sauce. 

8. Salt & pepper. Be wary of the salt, as we have already added soy sauce to our noodles. Also, I prefer black to white pepper but you're welcome to use white pepper. And of course, we toss again. 

9. And now time to mix in the boiled noodles. 

10. Next go in the sauces, red chili, green chili and tomato sauce. And the vinegar. Toss to mix well. 

11. Dig in while they're still hot!