Vegetable American Chopsuey Yummy!

American-Chopsuey, originally uploaded by gems7882.

Super yummy...

I love Indo Chinese.As I mentioned earlier...Its our favourite. And American chopsuey is the most favourite of them all. And being here in US it is very difficult to find authentic Indo chinese. I love this restaurant in Artesia named Tangy Tomato. Its the best Indo chinese food I had after coming to US.And their American chopsuey is just yum!. So here I am trying to re create the Tangy Magic.

Ingredients for noodles:

Ramen noodles : 2 packets

For the sauce :

Garlic - 8 cloves minced
Tomato sauce / Ketchup - 1 cup
Soya sauce - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Cornstarch / Cornflour - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For the Vegetables :

Onion - 1 sliced
Green Bell Pepper - 1 (sliced thin)
Cauliflower - 1/2 cup (chopped)
Carrots - 2 (sliced like matchsticks)
Green beans - 7 to 8 French cut
Soya suace - 1 tbsp
Crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Garnish :

Green Onions - 2 to 3 stalks

Method : Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.Break the 2 packets of noodles into small pieces and spread it on a cookie sheet. Spray some cooking oil on the noodles and place them inside the oven for 10 minutes. Take care not to burn the noodles.Keep moving the noodles every 3-4 minutes to avoid them from getting burnt.

For the sauce : Heat the oil in a pan and fry the garlic for a minute.Add the tomato sauce, red chilli powder, salt, soya sauce and sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix well and let the whole thing come to a boil.Mix the conflour with a tbsp of cold water and pour it in the sauce while stirring.Cook for another minute or so on low flame. The sauce should be thick and shiny now.keep aside.

For the vegatables :I use a wok for this process as I need to stirfry the veggies and not cook them completely. The veggies should be crunchy.First microwave or blanch the cauliflower /brocolli n and keep aside.See that u dont overcook it. Now in a wok take some oil and heat it up well. Add the onions and stirfry for a minute. Now add in the bell pepper, carrots, Green beans, cauliflower and stirfry again. The veggies should be cooked yet crunchy.Now add Salt, pepper and soya sauce. Toss well. Remove from heat.

Assembly : When ur ready to serve, In a dish place the toasted noodles. Top that with the veggies and the sauce. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve hot. This is yummy with fried rice, roti or even as it is..:)

Vegetable Sushi Rolls

Yum Yum! I am kind of in love with this japanese delicacy. Its so simple and tasty, yet so flavourful and very easy to make.And surprisingly DH "R" is also liking it. He is not a great fan of the seaweed or the smeel or Rice vinegar yet.. he gulped down a good amount of these little cuties (sushis).

Firstly I wanna appologise to all my dear readers for dissappearing from the blogosphere without any warning sign or post. There were so many things going on in my life that my little blog took the back seat in my journey through life. Now that things seem better I am back again to cook and blog about it. In this gap that I had.. I cooked many delicious recipes....some my own creation and some from fellow bloggers. I even took loads of snap... but just couldnt blog about it. Hopefully I can share with u all the lovely trial, failures and learning experience I had in my cooking world.

Anyways coming back to my sushi recipe. I have been wanting to try this (eating as well as making) from the time I saw this in a local food store about 3.5 yrs back, but never could as I wanst sure if they r pure vegetarian. Few years back I had seen this recipe of the vegetarian Sushi somewhere on youtube and was eager to try it out. It turned out pretty good and it was so easy to make as well..(provided u watch some youtube videos which will teach u how to roll the sushis well :) Like i did )

Source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgw0ODfWSOs

I made changes according to my taste.


Ingredients for rice:
Sushi rice : 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Rice vine vinegar - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method : Making this rice properly is the most important part of sushi making. Clean the rice well under cold tap water until water runs clear. Dont over rinse the rice.Spread the rice on the sieve or colander and leave it there for 30 mins until dry.

Place the rice and 1.5 cups of water in a rice cooker and cook well.

While the rice is cooking mix the vinegar, salt and sugar together and heat in the microwave for 25 sec or less. See that the mixture should boil or overflow.Set aside and alow to cool.

Once the rice is cooked. Remove it to a big bowl (wide one preferably) Spread the rice gently in the bowl. Dont throw ur rice cooker insert in the sink yet... its work is not over yet. Dont over mix or break the grain or even mash the rice. "Be gentle" is the key. Drizzle the dressing on te rice and slash the rice with the edge of ur laddle...(sort of like cutting the rice) mix well so that rice is coated well with the dressing and has a gloss.

put ur rice back into ur rice cooker and keep it on warm...until ur ready to roll ur sushi.


Ingredients for the sushi :

Roasted Nori sheets - 1 pack (mine had 10 sheets. If u don't get roasted one, u can always buy a regular one and then roast it on a griddle or on direct flame.)
Avacado - 1 sliced
cucumber - 1 small julliened*
carrot - 1 small julliened*
Wasabi - 2 tsp (or any other condiments - horseradish, pickled ginger etc)
1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

(* Julliened - cut into think long strips)

Tools :

" Bamboo sushi mat " this is an essetial tool for making sushi. This makes it easy to roll the sushi into those beautiful tight rolls.This is very inexpensive and easily available in asian store. I got mine from Ikea.

"Sushi rolling video" How much ever I explain to u how to roll it, it will be advisable to watch a sushi rolling video for better understanding.

Method :

Cut ur Vegetables in strips and keep this covered in the refrigerator.

Place ur sushi mat on a flat work surface. Your dining table will do. Place the nori sheet -shiny side down on the mat with the lines on the nori aligned with that on the bamboo mat.

Dip ur fingertip in the bowl of rice vinegar and then take around a handful of sushi rice and place it on the lower end of the nori sheet(closest to u). spread it evenly on the lower half of the nori sheet, leaving a margin of an inch on the top.Using ur hand. lightly press it to stick the rice to the nori. Dont put too much pressure.

Spread a small strip of wasabi to the centre of the rice. Place the veggies on the rice as shown in the video above. You can use any combination of veggies u like. Tofu, red pepper, tempeh, mushroom anything u like.

Now roll the Nori sheet to form a cylindrical roll (refer the video for the technique).
Cut the roll into slices and serve along with soy sauce or tamari sauce.

This awesome delicacy is ready to be relished with ur family. Enjoy !

Fresh Corn Upma.

Corn-Uma-2, originally uploaded by gems7882.

Hello Hello Hello....:) Guess today I am too excited about updating my almost dead blog...:P Its been like 2 months I have not updated my blog or added any new recipe. So Lets make this a fresh start hoping I will continue adding new recipes to my space. This recipe which I am going to post now is called fresh corn upma and its my favourite. I ate this first at a gujrati friends place...when I was in Mumbai...around 10 yrs back. It was so creamy n yummy. I always wanted to try making this dish... but simply forgot about it as time went buy.

One day my DH got some fresh corn from the grocery stores...which were directly dumped in the fridge...for later use. Few days back when I was cleaning my fridge i found these poor ignored things.... I was wondering maybe I can make a soup.... hmm but soup with 3 corn on cob will be too much for 3 people.... so Soup wont do.
Whatelse can I make with this? That when I remember this yummy recipe for Corn upma. I have tried to remeber a 10 yr old recipe and tried it. It turned out pretty good. If u have any suggestion of additions I can make to this recipe... Please do suggest...:)

Ingredients :

Fresh corn peeled n cleaned and Grated - 3
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Carrot - 1/2 cup grated or finely chopped
Mustard seeds
Garlic - 1 tsp (optional)
green chillies - 2 to 3 chopped
Ginger - 1 tsp chopped
Potato - 2 small grated
Milk - 1/2 cup
Oil
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/s tsp
Sev and Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
Lemon juice or wedge.


Method :

Heat a pan and oil to it. Add the mustard seed at let it crackle. Add the Onion, carrots and potato and stir cook for few minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies and stir. Cover and cook for few minute until the potato cooks a bit. Add corn, salt, turmeric powder, milk. Mix well. Cover and cook for 12 minutes stirring in between.Add little water if u feel the the mixture is too dry. Heat until the corn cooks up and gets thick like Rava upma.

Remove from flame. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with lemon wedges, Sev and Coriander leaves.

Serve as a filling and yummy evening snack. Enjoy

Mushroom Masala

Mushroom-Masala2, originally uploaded by gems7882.

I made this for lunch yesterday and it turned out so well, I couldnt stop myself from blogging (read bragging) about this. It was just like the mushroom masala we get in Indian restaurants and It was literally onion free ( U dont count 2 green onions :P) Here is the recipe for the same.

Ingredients :

Mushroom - 1 big box.
Ginger - 2 tsp
Garlic 1 tsp
Tomato paste / puree - 1 small can
Bellpepper and onion - 1/4 cup each (optional)
Salt to taste.
Turmeric pwdr - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli pwdr - 2 tsp (we like it spicy) u can substitute with green chillies if u wish.
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Whole spices (cardamom -1, cinamon- small piece, Star anise- 1 leaf, Bay leaf - 1, cloves 2)
Milk - 3/4 cup
Constarch - 2 tsp
Fresh coriander garnish

Method :

Method : Take oil..add the whole spices to it...add garlic and ginger saute for a minute... then add the bell pepper and onion and saute. Add salt, turmeric, garam maslaa and the mix well.

Add the tomato paste and above a cup water and let ...it boil well...so that the tomato cooks. once the tomato cooks and the gravy thickens a bit....add the milk mixed with constarch to the gravy. mix well and let it cook. Add some crushed methi leaves for the lovely smell. Let it thicken and gel well.

In another saute pan add the chopped mushroom and sprinkle some salt and pepper. cook on high flame and stir for 2-3 minutes. off the gas and keep it aside. Let it leave some water... then drain the water and add the mushroom to the gravy. Take care about the salt u add to the gravy as u will be adding salt seperately for the mushrooms.

Add mushrooms to gravy.. mix ad cook for 5-6 minutes. Off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves.

Your Mushroom Masala restaurant style is ready to be eaten with, naan, phulkas or parathas.

Enjoy!

Vankaya Kothimira Karam

This Curry was taught to me by my Jyothi Akka. It tastes awesome and is a delish side for Chapati, roti or just with plain steamed rice. I make this anytime I have an excess of Coriander leaves in my refrigerator. I have tried this curry with Okra, Potatoes and even raw banana... and it always tastes so good.

Here goes the Recipe

Ingredients:

Small Indian Brinjal/ Eggplant : 6
Green chillies : 2-3 (depending on the spiciness of the chillies)
Ginger : small piece
Coriander leaves : 1 medium bunch
Jeera : 1 tsp
turmeric pwd : 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For tempering

Mustard seeds :2tsp
Urad dhal : 1 tsp
Oil
Dried whole red chilli : 2


Method :

Clean and roughly chop the coriander leaves. Add it to a blender and blend into a paste along with ginger, green chillies and jeera and little salt. Keep aside.

Clean and cut the eggplant lenghtwise. In a deep bottomed pan add oil. Put the jeera and urad dal and wait till the jeera crackles. Now add the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the cut eggplant. Add salt and turmeric and cooked covered till the eggplant becomes tender ad cooks well. Dont worry if the eggplant becomes mushy.thats Okay. if u dont like it mushy... cook the eggplant without covering and keep stirring..:)

Once the eggplant is cooked, add the coriander paste to it and mix well. Allow it to cook for 8 mins more and turn off the heat. Cover and leave until ur ready to serve.


This is an awesome curry and the best part about it this is... its naturally favoured. The smell is so tantalising.... just yummy....:D do try it and give me ur review on it...:D

Pani Poori - for the Indian Cooking Challenge

Hello friends...here I am after a long long back.... and with my second recipe in this year and also as a fresh new member of the ICC - Indian Cooking challenge. This is my first participation in the ICC... and I just loved this experience. This months topic was Pani poori (an indian snack) my favorite street food. Loved making it...:) Here is the recipe for the pani poori.

Ingredients :

For the Pooris (altered recipe by me..)

Sooji (Semolina) - 3/4
All purpose flour - 1/4 tsp (APF)
Cooking soda - 1tsp (optional - skipped it)
little water for kneading the dough. -1/4 cup approx
Salt to taste
Oil for Frying

The method is so simple.. I never thought it cud be so easy to make these pooris. It does need some work...like rolling out the dough into small pooris and then fryin it on medium high...maybe 3 or 4 at a time... hmm.. it did take me a lot of time....hence I made it a day before. These can be easily stored in a nice air tight container...and will stay fresh for weeks...:) Please note that u allow the poori to cool down completely before u put them in a container. For the method : Mix the sooji, salt, APF into a tight dough. it should be pliable yet firm... cover with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 10 mins.

Arrange for 2 damp clothes. One to put the rolled Pooris on and other to cover them. After 10 mins... roll the pooris out. Once u have rolled them all... now fry them.

** Tricks I learnt.... Instead of rolling individual small pooris.. u can roll a big sheet and using the lid of any bottle or cookie cutter... u can cut out the round shapes. Please keep in mind that the poori have to me medium size. Something u can put in ur mouth whole.

Dont keep flipping the poori when fry. Put the poori in... let it be there for 5 secs... flip it.. and then gently press it with ur laddle... ur pooris will puff up well that way...:) It did for me..:D

I tried this poori twice..once with soda and once without it. I liked it better without the soda. As i felt it puffed better... and I also increased the proportion of maida to sooji... in the second trial... and wow! my poori were more lighter and puffy :) I will share both the pics with u... so u can see the difference..:d

pic one and two r the trials with less maida and soda. Pic three is with more maida and no soda.

For the Spicy Pani


Mint Leaves - 1 1/2 cups chopped well
Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup
Tamarind concentrate - 1 1/2 tbsp
Green Chillies - 3
Ginger - 1 " piece
Black salt - 1 tsp
8 to 9 cups of water
Pani puri Masala - 2 tbsp (optional)

The actual recipe called for roasted cumin... I skipped it and yet it was just awesome...:)

Method : Blend the green chillies, coriander, mint and ginger, tamarind... into a fine paste using little water. Add this mixture to the water. Add salt and ur pani is ready. (alter the salt according to ur taste...)

I added some pani poori masal also to it... just coz I am habituated too...:P But i guess it will taste good... even without it..:D

I made 2 different types of fillings...

1. The Potato filling : mix together mashed potato, salt, red chilli powder. Mix well and ur filling is ready.

2. Chana filling : Soak and pressure cook Chana / Garbanzo (u can even use canned). Put the chana in a pot and cook it with a little water. Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder, Garam masala to it. Cook well till the masala smell goes off. Ur filling is ready ..:)

Tamarind Chutney

Take 3 tbsp tamarind concentrate and mix it with around 3/4 cup of water. Add sugar/jaggery, a pinch of red chilli powder. Boil it well so that it reduces to almost half. Ur chutney it ready too...

And so r u I guess to indulge in this super famous ...real tangy and yummy snack... yumm!

Hope u liked the recipe.. will post more soon..:d

Baigan mirchi ka salan

Baigan ka salan is a very famous Hyderabadi dish which is eaten along side biryani. I wanted to try this from a long time but just now got the time. When I saw searching for this authentic recipe I came across this site. Got this awesome recipe and I had to try it. I made this salan as a side for phulkas. The main recipe calls only for baigans (eggplants) but I also went ahead and added some green chillies for the perfect combination of Mirchi (chillies) & Baigan (eggplant) Salan...:)




Ingredients :

Indian Small Eggplant - 10
California chillies - 2 or 3 (or u may use any less spicy chilli)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Onion -1 chopped and blended into paste
Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
Salt
Tamarind - Soaked and strained
Tomato Puree -1/2 cup (try to use fresh tomatos for puree..)
Masala / Roasted Peanuts -Fistful
KhusKhus -1 tbsp
Jeera or Cummin seeds-1/2 tbsp
Methi seeds or Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp
Dry coconut - 2 tbsp
Dry Whole red chilli - 2
Dhaniya or Coriander seeds -1/2 tbsp
Seseme seeds - 1 tbsp

Method :

Prepare by washing the eggplants and green chillies well. Do not cut the stem off from eggplants. Make 4 slits on the sides of the eggplant but do see that u dont cut them off there stem. The Eggplant should remain in one piece after slicing in 4 parts. Slit the green chillies in the centre and remove the seeds if u wish. Cut the chillies into half and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a flat pan and once the oil is hot add the cut egglpants and cover with a lid. Let the eggplants cook on medium heat or till they become tender and somewhat brown in colour.Keep aside. Do the same for the green chillies and keep aside.
Now for making the masala we have to grind few ingredients.If using unroasted peanuts see that u dry roast them well. (I used roasted ones for ease) Dry roast the khus khus and sesame seeds. Dry Roast Fenugreek and cummin seeds together. Add coriander seeds after the two are half roasted. Once you start smelling cummin seeds, turn off the stove and add dry coconut. Let everything cool down completely. Now, make a paste of this and keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the onion paste. Saute it for few minutes and then add the ginger garlic paste. Mix well until it starts browning. Now add the tomato puree and fry until the raw smell of tomato goes away.

Now go ahead and add the ground masala. Mix well and cover the pan. Let it cook for few minutes and add salt and red chilli powder. Stir for 1 minute or so and add the fried eggplants and green chillies. Mix well. See that ur gentle and u dont mash or break the eggplants off their stems. Add the tamarind and let it simmer a little while.Check for salt, chilli powder and tamarind and add it according to your taste. The masala can be made and frozen for future use and it will taste equally good as the freshly ground. Ur Baigan Mirchi ka salan is ready to be relished..:)







Enjoy with hot phulkas, parathas, rice or biryani.

Masala Utthappam

You all must have eaten masala dosa...but have u ever tired masala uttappam? I ate this first time in a restaurant near my place back in Thane. It was so tasty and yummy. So anytime u have the masala filling and dosa batter why not try this than the conventional Masala dosa..:)


Ingredients :

Dosa batter
Oil for cooking
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Chaat Masala - 2 tsp


For Spicy masala

Potaoes - 5 boiled and mashed
tomato - 1 chopped
Green chillies - 3 finely chopped
Ginger - 2 tsp
Garlic - 1 tsp (optional)
Fresh corinader leaves
Mustard seeds
oil
Salt to taste
Kitchen king masala - 1tsp (optional)

Method :

Firstly we will make the masala. Now this masal is similar to the masala dosa masala preparation. U can even use the leftover masala from masala dosa to make this. Anyways, In a kadhai take some oil and put in the mustard seeds. Let it splutter and add the green chillies, garlic and ginger. Go ahead and put in the chopped tomatoes along with all the powders. Mix well. Cook till the tomato is tender and the masala is cooked. Add in the boiled mashed potatoes and add to it a cup of water. Mix well and let it cool well. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Now ur spicy masala is ready.

Assembling the Masala utthappam. Pour a big laddle full of batter on the pan and spread it to make a nice thick dosa. Sprinkle the chaat masala and chopped onions. Let it cook for 1 minute and scoop in a spoonful masala on the utthappam and flatten it. Pour oil on the sides on the dosa. Let one side cook completely well and then flip it over to cook the other side. Pour oil to the other sides too and cook well. Ur masala Utthappam is ready now to relish.

Enjoy ! Have fun.