Chinese Fish Noodles

After eating Indian for couple of days I was in mood to cook Chinese and as main course noodles seemed best to me, as Im a huge fan of sea food I decided to cook them with fish instead of chicken or veggies. Now one thing I would like to say about cooking, you don't have to cook all the way copy-paste styled, just follow the basics and experiment/discover new stuff, how do you think people years/decades/centuries back invented great recipes :) ??

Now while cooking Chinese noodles, try not to use spaghetti/fetuccini pasta, always buy these noodles from Chinese/South Asian grocery stores as they have the authentic effect/flavor. Those that I have used I bought them from Mcleodganj (hub of His Holiness Dalai Lama and his Tibetan followers) as Tibetan stuff is not much different from Chinese.

So here goes the recipe..

Ingredients

1/2 kg sole cut into little bigger than bite size pieces

For Merinade:

1 egg

2 tbsp corn starch

1-2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1-2 tbsp oil to make the mixture thin

For Noodles:

1/2 noodles

100 gm carrots

100 gm capsicum

10-15 gm thin sliced ginger

Salt, to taste

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp ajinomoto

few drips of vinegar and soy sauce

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for marinade, use little bit of more oil to make it thinner.

2. Add fish pieces and mix slowly. Here one think I don't like about fish is its quite fragile. Cover it and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile boil the noodles. Now anyone can give you the definition of boiling but its good to use the correct procedure. Always cover the pot while water is set to boil, add a spoonful of salt to quicken the boiling (only when you boil chicken/fish/rice/noodles/veggies), add stuff-to-be-boiled only when water is at full boiling temp, do not cover the pot after putting noodles in. See, even I didn't cover while the noodles were being boiled.

4. After the noodles are approximately 90-95% done, take them off the burner and put them in colander or strainer to drain all the water. Wash them with cold water immediately, this stops the noodles from sticking with each other. Set them aside while we get to the fish.

5. Heat some oil in a frying pan and add fish pieces, do not crowd the pieces in pan, it gives every piece enough space to cook evenly. Turn them upside down after 1-2 minutes, this timing depends upon the size/thickness of pieces. Keep the flame on medium to prevent the pieces from burning.

6. Meanwhile cut the carrots and capsicum.

7. Now heat some oil in a wok/kadhai, add ginger pieces and cook them for a minute.

Well many people may find using ginger quite odd in a Chinese dish, even I have never tasted ginger in the noodles our local restaurants serve, but in authentic Chinese cooking they usually put crushed garlic and ginger slices.. don't believe me??? Check 'My China' or 'Cooking with Heart and Soul' by Kylie Kwong.

8. Add rest of the veggies and cook for 2-3 minutes.

9. Add salt, white pepper, vinegar, ajinomoto and soy sauce. Stir well.

10. Turn the flame slow and add noodles. Its better to divide them in 3-4 batches and mix them with veggies one by one. This way we have better result and noodles are mixed evenly. Add fish pieces and mix very gently. Turn off the burner and cover it for a while for flavors to mix.

Aloo Chana Masala

Aloo Chana Masala, now if we have to translate it is ‘spiced potatoes and chickpeas’. This is also a famous Punjabi dish, here first we boil the chickpeas and potatoes (separately of course) and then cook them in spices. It has unique spicy, hot and tangy taste and it usually goes with roti(flat bread), paratha(shallow fried flat bread), puri (deep fried flat bread), naan(flat bread cooked in clay oven) etc.

Since childhood I have this habit of eating left over chana masala with bread slice as midnight snack. Try it, its fun ;)

So friends here is the recipe for Aloo Chana Masala..

Ingredients

½ kg boiled chickpeas

250-300 gm onion paste

2-3 onions, thin sliced

2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

4-5 chopped green chillies

4 medium sized potatoes, boiled and cube cut

150 gm tomato paste

20 ml lemon juice

30-50 ml oil/ghee

2 tsp cumin seeds

2-3 tbsp coriander powder

Salt, to taste

½ tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp chana masala (from Indian grocery stores)

1 tsp chat masala

1 tsp dry mango powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 ½ tsp kitchen king powder

Method

1. Heat the oil/ghee and put the cumin seeds.

2. Add ginger garlic paste when cumin seeds start crackling and sauté for 1-2 mins.

3. Add onion paste and stir occasionally, followed by tomato paste when onions get little bit brown.

4. When oil starts separating from the mixture, add all the spices and lemon juice. Sprinkle some water if mixture sticks at the bottom.

5. Add boiled chickpeas and cook further for couple of minutes.

6. Add potatoes and cook for another couple of minutes till the liquid contents dry.

7. Add onion slices and chopped red chillies.

8. Mix gently and serve hot.

Nargisi Kofta

Nargisi Kofta of Mughlai Cuisine is a very tasty, mouthwatering and attractive dish. It's called Nargisi Kofta because it has resemblance to the flower Nargis(White Daffodils) with its yellow center and white outer part. Here a hard boiled or half-hard boiled egg is wrapped in a layer of mince meat and deep fried. It is served as appetizer and with curry it goes as main dish.

The meat we use here can be either chicken, turkey, lamb, beef or mutton. So here comes the recipe.

For koftas
1. ½ kg mince chicken
2. 8 hard boiled eggs
3. Salt according to taste
4. 1 tsp garam masala (ground cinnamon, brown and green cardamom, cloves, mace, bay leaves, cumin seeds)
5. ½ tsp turmeric powder
6. 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

For gravy
1. 300-400 gm onion paste
2. 250 gm tomato paste
3. 3-4 finely chopped green chilies
4. 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
5. ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
6. 1 tbsp dry fenugreek leaves
7. 1 tsp honey
8. 1 cup curd
9. 1/2 cup cream
10. 50 ml ghee or oil
11. Salt
12. 1-2 tsp garam masala (available in Indian grocery stores)
13. 1 tbsp kitchen king powder (available in Indian grocery stores)
14. 1 tsp chicken masala (available in Indian grocery stores)
15. ½ tsp turmeric powder
16. ½ tsp cumin powder

Method:

1. Boil all the eggs up to full done. Peel them and set aside.
2. Mix salt, garam masala, ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder in mince meat.

3. Apply some oil/water on hands and take same quantity of chicken as egg, flatten it gently and wrap it around the egg. It can be done with half or ¼ cut egg also.

4. Deep fry the koftas and set them aside.

5. Now to prepare the gravy, take a thick bottomed pan and heat the ghee.

6. Add ginger-garlic paste, sauté for 1-2 minutes and add onion paste.

Onion paste

7. Sauté till the mixtures becomes light brown, add tomato paste and keep stirring occasionally.

8. Sprinkle some water if the mixture sticks at the bottom.
9. Add salt, garam masala, chicken masala, kitchen king, turmeric powder and cumin powder. Sauté for a few minutes.
10. Add curd, followed by cream after 3-4 minutes.
11. Add honey and dry fenugreek leaves.
12. Cover the pan and cook on medium flame until oil gets at the surface.
13. Add koftas, cover again for 10-15 minutes and put coriander leaves right before serving.

Aloo Parathas: Popular Punjabi breakfast

Aloo Paratha is flat bread stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes and is favourite of most people who are familiar with Indian/Punjabi cuisine. The reason why it is so popular is that it has a unique relishing and heavenly taste.

Aloo parathas are part of traditional Punjabi breakfast but these days due to our busy life they have been limited to 'sunday brunches' only.

I remember eating these parathas my grandma(mum's mum) used to cook when i was a kid. She used to give little bit of homemade cream/butter or curd with it. After finishing one i used to wait for another and after some moments she would put a fresh one in my plate and trust me im willing to give anything to live those moments again. Ah enough with those 'appetizing' memories. now lets get to the work.

So there are quite so many ways to make an aloo paratha but here i have used quick and easy method which can go quite well with our busy schedules.

Ingredients

2 medium size potatoes, washed and peeled

Dough of wheat flour, kneaded 2-3 hours ago

1 onion, finely chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

Flour

Oil/ghee

salt, according to taste

1 tsp chat masala

1 tsp cumin powder (you can use cumin seeds also)

1 tsp kitchen king powder (available in Indian grocery stores)

2 tbsp finely chopped ginger(I havent but you can also put it in the mixture)

Method

1. Grate all the potatoes and squeeze out all the water, the drier the better!!

2. Now mix the chopped onions, green chillies and ginger(if using) with the potatoes.

3. Mix all the spices separately, NEVER put them in the potato mixture or it will become wettish and our parathas wouldnt turn out so good.

4. Now take a medium sized ball of dough and coat it with flour

5. Take a rolling pin and roll it somewhat flat, apply 1 tsp oil on it and sprinkle a pinch of spices on top, followed by some potato mixture.

6. Seal the edges as shown below, make sure not to leave air bubble inside, you can use fork to prick it.

7. Now coat it again with the flour and flatten it gently with hands. Using a rolling pin roll it slowly.

8. Now put it on the tawa/hot plate/griddle/non stick pan. Parathas are cooked best on medium flame. Turn it upside down after 20-30 seconds with a spatula. Here the timings depend on how high the flame is or what kind of tawa or hot plate you are using.

9. Again turn it upside down, apply 1/2 tsp oil. Repeat this step again with the other side.

10. Give it couple of more seconds and it is ready.

Serve it with butter/curd/pickle/cream/chutney. I have used some green chilli pickle, onions, green chillies and yogurt with some chopped coriander leaves.