Egg Fried Rice

This is my favorite recipe for egg fried rice. Usually it contains only rice, egg and soy sauce. But I like it with thinly cut vegetables too. More like a combination of vegetable and egg fried rice.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Eggs - 2
French beans - 10 nos.
Carrot - 1 large
Green Peas - 1/4 cup
Corn kernels - 1/4 cup (optional)
Green onion (spring onion) - 1 stalk
Ginger - 1 inch, minced
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Soy Sauce - 2 tbsp
Sambal Olek - 1 tbsp (optional)
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Cook rice first. Fried rice works best with refrigerated rice, so if you have rice leftover from your last dinner, you can use that. Basically, the rice needs to be cooled down before frying it. So if you're cooking it now, drain it and let it cool down for a bit (let all the steam come out). Then stick it into the freezer for around 10 or 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop beans finely, cube carrots finely and chop green onions too (including the white part and keep it separate).
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok. The pan you're going to use needs to be wide so that you can work the stir fry properly, or else it will get sticky. Now add the white part of the green onions first and let it soften by stir-frying for a couple of minutes. Then add minced ginger and garlic, fry for 3 minutes. Then add the green beans and carrots. Stir fry for about 5 minutes. Then add green peas and fry for 5 more minutes. Stir often so that the vegetables don't brown. Move the vegetables to a corner of the pan. Break 2 eggs on the other side. Scramble it by mixing constantly. Then combine with the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper/ Finally add the rice and mix well. Pour in soy sauce and sambal (if using). Garnish with chopped green onions and serve with your favorite Chinese side.

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Gobhi Manchurian - Cauliflower Manchurian

This is an Indo-Chinese recipe, that's very popular all across India. Cauliflower is known as Gobhi in Hindi.
I heard a funny story about a pure vegetarian software engineer in India, who was sent to China on an assignment. Being vegetarian, your options are pretty much limited in China. This guy confidently accepted the assignment, thinking that he can order Gobhi Manchurian and survive. To his horror, there is no such thing as Gobhi Manchurian or Gobhi Anything in China! This is a vegetarian dish using common Chinese ingredients and techniques, but only found in India. ;-)

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 medium
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Corn Starch - 1/4 cup
Soy Sauce - 5 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper - 1 tsp
Yellow onion - 1 medium, minced
Garlic cloves - 3, minced
Freshly grated ginger - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Rice vinegar - 2 tsp
Siracha sauce or Sambal Olek - 1 tbsp
Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato sauce - 1/4 cup (substitute: 1/2 cup tomato puree)
Apricot Jam - 2 tbsp (Substitute: 1 tsp sugar)
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp, plus more for frying
Green Onion (spring onion) - 1 stalk, minced

Method:

Wash cauliflower florets. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange the cauliflower on an oiled baking sheet, season with salt and pepper to taste, and roast until just tender, turning once, 12 to 15 minutes total. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and cornstarch. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the coriander, 1/2 teaspoon of the red chilli powder, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce and the water and mix well to make a batter. Add another tablespoon or so of water if the batter is too thick.
In a large skillet, heat a thin layer of oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, dip the cauliflower in the batter, then arrange in the hot skillet. Fry until golden brown, turning once, 4 to 5 minutes total. Optionally, you can also deep fry it. Transfer the cooked cauliflower to the baking sheet and return to the oven to keep warm.
Heat the 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, 1/4 teaspoon salt, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon coriander, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder, and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the 1 tbsp apricot jam, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tsp rice vinegar, Sriracha (or Sambal Olek), Maggi hot and sweet tomato sauce (or tomato puree). Add 3 tablespoons of the Spring Onions and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened and the flavors have blended, about 5 minutes. Add up to 1/4 cup of water is the sauce is too thick. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Return the fried cauliflower to the pan and spoon on the sauce to coat, turning the cauliflower gently to coat with sauce. Serve immediately. Garnish with the remaining 1 tablespoon green onions.

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Beef Fry - Kerala style

This recipe is different from my mom's recipe. It's an adaptation from Vazhayila. But the quantity of spices used for the meat masala seemed a bit too much for me, so I made a few changes here and there. My mom uses a lesser amount of the masala. Both use coconut cuts (thenga kothu). As I wasn't in a position to break open a fresh coconut to cut out the pieces, I used grated coconut from my freezer. Still tasted amazing with steamed rice and kachiya moru.

Ingredients:

For Meat masala powder:
Bowl -1 Roast and Grind
Dried red chili - 15   OR  Chili powder 2 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp   OR  Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Black Pepper corns - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 2 small sticks
Green Cardamom - 5 OR Cardamom seeds - 1 tsp
Cloves - 6
Star anise - 1
Bay leaf - 1
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp Or garam masala - 1 to 1.5 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

To pressure cook:
Beef - 1 kg (chuck works best)
Salt to taste
Meat Masala powder - half of of the recipe above
Curry leaves

To roast:
Shallots chopped - 1 cup
Garlic chopped - 4-5 cloves
Ginger chopped - a small piece
Green chili chopped - 2
Coconut cuts ( Thenga kothu) - 1/4 cup OR Grated coconut - 2 to 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Curry Leaves
Oil

Method:

Heat a small pan and add all the ingredients in the section for meat masala powder, except turmeric powder.
Dry roast it for 4-5 minutes on a medium steady flame , until aromatic and brown.
Switch off the heat and add turmeric powder. Grind it to a coarse powder in a coffee grinder.
This will give you about 5-6 table spoon of meat masala.

Clean and cut the beef into medium cubes and marinate it with half of the prepared masala powder (around 2.5 - 3 tbsp), salt to taste and curry leaves. Fill water till half the level of the beef pieces occupied. Pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed cooking pan and add curry leaves and coconut cuts or grated coconut. Fry for 3-4 minutes. If using grated coconut, it will initially absorb the oil and start to foam. Then it will start to change color and foaming will stop. Do not let it overbrown.
Now add onion. Add crushed ginger,garlic and green chilies.
Saute till they start to turn brown. Add the remaining masala powder (or less if you think its too much masala) and fry for a minute or two.
Add the cooked beef along with cooking liquid if any and simmer until it is dry .
Turn the flame to medium and saute,stirring often and scrape the bottom of the pan to prevent from sticking,until it turns dark and dry. Serve warm with steamed rice and moru. Or another popular combination is to have it with Kerala Parotta.

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Survived Hurricane Sandy

Looks like I haven't posted anything after Hurricane Sandy.
Never saw such a storm in my life! The scariest sounds of the winds blowing, branches crashing against the glass panes. And not to mention, the bizarre lightning that was a strange greenish blue in color.
Glad to have survived it. Life was difficult for one week.
Even for the animals. I wonder what this squirrel was thinking. Hope it did not lose anyone dear.
Maybe it's looking down at the extent of his damaged house?

The house was cold and dark, and I could not even warm a cup of milk. Having electric stoves in the apartment meant we had to eat cold food and drink cold water. And all the food in the refrigerator started to go bad after a couple of days.

But we were the lucky ones to have no damages to the house, and got the power back after a week, on our first wedding anniversary! I had resigned to the fact that there is no celebration on this special day, but our neighbors were too sweet to throw us a surprise party and made us cut a beautiful cake! They fired up the grill and cooked all the defrosted meat we had. It was like an early thanksgiving feast! So it was truly a day to remember.

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Kovakkai Poriyal - Ivy Gourd Stirfry

This is the first guest post on this blog, from one of the biggest followers of my blog, my dear husband!
Now that he has started trying his hand in cooking, he surprised me one day when I came back from work, by cooking up this beautiful poriyal. I have never tasted anything like it before and it was scrumptious! He even plated it and took photos for me to post this on the blog. How sweet! Hopefully there will be more guest posts on the way.
This recipe is followed from Solai's True Chettinad kitchen blog.

Ingredients:

Ivy Gourd/Kovakkai/Tindora-1/2 kg
Big onion- 1 (cut length wise)
Garlic - 2 cloves
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Chana dal (roasted and powdered) - 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Mix the sambar powder and salt needed with the kovakkai and keep aside for 15 minutes. Now keep the kadai (wok) in the stove. In one table spoon of oil, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the onions and garlic, fry till golden brown. Now add the kovakkai pieces and sauté in the oil itself for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of water, mix well, close the kadai, reduce the flame and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Check in between if there is enough water in the wok. When you feel that the veg has been cooked till soft, increase the flame and let all the water content evaporate. The oil you added in the beginning will come out at this stage. Now add the Bengal gram mix kept ready and mix well. If you cook for another 2 to 3 minutes stirring continuously, the Bengal gram powder will form a coating on the kovakkai and it will get roasted well. If you don’t have Bengal gram powder, paruppu podi (toor dal powder) can be used.

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Hummus (Hummous)

Hummus or pronounced as Hummous in the Middle East, is a ground chickpea, tahini dip that goes great with almost anything! As a child, my dad would bring home Arabian Barbecued chicken or Chicken Broast on days we decide to eat takeout. In Riyadh, Chicken broast was a popular local fast food. A popular fast food joint was Maccoys, where the queues are sometimes so long, it goes far out of the store. Hummus is always a free accompaniment with any item on the grill.
After I left Saudi Arabia, I missed hummous so much that I started making my own. It comes close to what I used to get there, but I guess it will never match upto the magic of food back in Riyadh.
This is more of a taste and go recipe. You keep tasting it as you're grinding the ingredients and add whatever you feel the hummous needs more of.
If you're wondering what tahini is, it's a paste of ground white sesame seeds. I used to make my own tahini as well while I was in India, but you can find them easily in most grocery stores in the US.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas - 1 cup, soaked overnight in water (about 8 hours)
Tahini - 2-4 tbsp
Garlic - 1 large clove, minced fine
Lemon juice - from half a lemon
Water - 3 cups (for boiling chickpeas)
Extra virgin Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Paprika - a pinch (optional)

Method:

Boil chickpeas with enough water in a pressure cooker, for about 6 whistles. Drain and store some of the remaining water. In a mixer, add the boiled chickpeas, tahini sauce, garlic, 1/4 cup drained water, salt and lemon juice. Grind till it becomes a coarse paste. Add olive oil and grind a bit more. Don't make it too fine like peanut butter, its good to have a few chunks of chickpeas for texture.

Store in a bowl. Sprinkle with smoked paprika and drizzle more extra virgin olive oil.

Hummous can be used as a dip for carrots, cucumber sticks, or pita chips, tortillas and crackers. Or as I said, you can eat it with fried or grilled chicken. Falafels and hummus are a killer combination! Smear it on toast or shawarma sandwich. Serve with accompaniments such as olives, pickled radishes, turnips, cucumbers, feta cheese. The choices are endless!

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Seekh Kabab

Seekh kababs are my favorite variety of kababs. Grilled on skewers also known as seekh, until juicy and succulent, they're just mouth watering.
The seekh is a round metal skewer, however I used bamboo skewers that have been soaked in water (to prevent them from burning when grilling).
You can use any kind of ground meat for this - beef, lamb or chicken. But it should not be too lean, or it will become too dry. So make sure it has some amount of fat in it. They will melt into juices when its cooking, and the excess will drip down.
This weekend, our neighbor took us to a meat packing company at Sussex, NJ. I bought a pound of ground sirloin (beef). It looked so beautiful, that I decided to try out seekh kababs for the first time.
Since I don't have an outdoor grill yet, I broiled it in the oven. They need to be cooked at the highest temperatures possible. Traditionally, seekh kebabs are grilled in a tandoor (clay oven), that has temperatures as high as 800°F. As ovens cannot be this hot, crank it up to the highest possible.
Another thing to note is that the final mixture should not be too moist, or it will not hold onto the skewers. So make sure you absorb most of the moisture from the ground meat in some kitchen towels.
This recipe was inspired by vahchef.

Ingredients:

Ground beef - 1 lb (500 gm)
Red onion - 1/2 medium
Garlic - 4 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Green chilli - 1 or 2
Grated cheese - a handful (optional)
Parsley or Cilantro - small bunch, about 10 sprigs
Mint leaves - a handful
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp or to taste
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Egg - 1
Lemon juice - from half a lemon
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs - optional (see note)
Bamboo skewers, soaked in water - 10

Method:

Preheat oven to the highest temperature or on broil.
Chop onion, garlic ginger and green chilli finely. Or run it through a food processor. Collect it in a mixing bowl. Add grated cheese, finely chopped parsley or cilantro (or use small amounts of both), finely chopped mint leaves, red chilli powder, garam masla and coriander powder and mix it. Add ground meat and thoroughly mix everything together by hand. This is so therapeutic, trust me! Sprinkle enough salt, squeeze lemon juice, and break an egg into this mixture. Continue kneading this mixture.
Note: If you feel that the mixture is too moist, add bread crumbs or chickpea flour (besan) to this. It will help making the mixture more dry.
Let the mixture marinate for about 15 mins. If you want, you can prepare this in advance and allow it to marinate overnight.
Take a lemon sized ball of the mixture.

Push it through a skewer.

Using your fingers, work it along the length of the skewer to form a long kebab.

Place these skewers across a rectangular cake pan, or on a baking sheet.

Place it on the top rack of the oven, and cook until done, around 12-15 mins. You can also grill these beauties on an outdoor grill.
Serve with lime wedges and coriander-mint chutney mixed with yoghurt.

Or serve over a bed of cumin rice.

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