VEG MANCHURIAN

INDIAN-CHINESE FUSION

VEG MANCHURIAN
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS FOR MANCHURIAN BALLS
Carrot (grated) 3
Maida 1 tbsp.
Cauliflower (grated) 1
Ajinomoto ¼ tsp.
Raw Papaya (grated) 1
Black pepper and Salt ½ tsp. each
Small Cabbage (grated) 1
Corn flour 2 tsp.
Green chilly (finely chopped) 2
Oil for deep frying

INGREDIENTS FOR MANCHURIAN SAUCE

Oil 2 tbsp.

Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp.

Ginger (paste) 1 tsp.

Tomato sauce 1 tbsp.

Garlic (paste) 1 tsp.

Vinegar 2-3 tsp.

Green chilly (finely chopped) 3-4

Salt 1 tsp.

Onion (finely chopped) 1

Black pepper ¼ tsp.

Soya sauce 2 tbsp.

Corn flour 1½ tbsp.

Preparation Method
METHOD FOR MAKING MANCHURIAN BALLS

Put 1 tsp. salt in grated cabbage and leave it for 15 minutes. After that squeeze it. Mix all the ingredients for manchurian balls(as given above). If the mixture is too soft, add more maida. Make balls of oval shape. Roll the balls in dry maida. Heat oil in a kadahi. Fry the balls to a golden brown color.

METHOD FOR PREPARING THE SAUCE OR GRAVY
For preparing manchurian sauce
heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a kadahi.
Add ginger and garlic paste and fry it for one minute.
Add the sauces, vinegar, salt and black pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add 1½ cup of water. Boil it and simmer for 2 minutes.
Mix 1/2 cup of water in corn flour and add while continuously stirring it.
Cook till it becomes slightly thick.
Remove from flame and keep aside.
While serving boil it again and put the balls in it.
Cook for one minute and serve hot.

Tip :
1. Keep the fried Balls seperately and only when you are serving add it to the gravy like it is given in the recipe. otherwise the balls will beocme very soogy and also there wont be any gravy left while serving as the balls will absorb all the gravy.
2.While buying Chinese Sauces abroad or in India always check behind for the ingredients. Many of the sauces have non vegetarian ingredients for added flavour.

Please refer to my post on "Worcestershire Sauce is actually of Indian Origin" in the "Culinary Stories" Section of My Blog.

DRY VEG MANCHURIAN
Ingredients
Spring onions (Onions and the leaves chopped finely) - 1/2 cup
Ginger Paste - 2 tspns
Garlic (Finely chopped) - 1tbsp
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp.
Vinegar 1-2 tsp.
Oil - 2-3 tbspns
Salt to taste
Method
Use the above procedure to make the Machurian Balls. Keep aside.
In a wok, Take some oil, Add ginger paste, chopped garlic,Spring onions and their leaves and Saute. Add the manchurian balls. Mix well. Add soya sauce, vinegar and salt to taste. Stir on a high for 2-3 minutes till u feel the balls are properly coated with the masala.
If the balls are more and the masala is less, fry some more masala and add to the manchurian balls.
Garnish with finely chopped spring onion leaves.

VEGETABLE FRIED RICE

INDIAN- CHINESE FUSION

Chinese Recipes with an Indian touch. Man's passion for food and his hunger to taste new delights have always made him very innovative in food, so here is presenting you guys with some Indian-Chinese Vegetarian delights which means Chinese food altered to Indian tastes and suiting Indian palette.
Here's the Recipe for

Vegetable Fried Rice
Ingredients
Rice 2 Cups (Preferably use Basmati Rice)

Onions (finely chopped) 1 cup
Ginger Paste - 1 tsp
Chilly Paste - 1 tsp
Spring Onions and their leaves - 1/2 cup

Oil 4 tbsp.

Green peas - 1/4 cup

Carrot (cut into strips) ¼ cup

French beans (cut into small cubes) ¼ cup

Capsicum (cut into small cubes) ¼ cup
Ajinomoto - ½ tsp.
Vinegar 2 tbsp
Soya sauce 2 tbsp.
Salt to taste.
Preparation Method
In a Wok(Kadhai), Take Oil, Saute the onions, spring onions(onions and the leaves as well) with the ginger paste and chilly paste until the onions are transparent, then add the vegetables, Add the Ajinomoto, some salt and stir fry.
Dont overcook the vegetables, as Chinese vegetable are always half cooked and crisp.
Now wash the rice nicely and drain the water completely.
Add the rice to the Vegetables in the wok and stir fry for a while till all mixes well. Add some Soya sauce and vinegar. Add salt according to taste. Mix well. Add water, just enough to cover the rice and vegetables. Basmati rice doesnt require much water to cook. Close the wok with a lid and wait for the rice to cook in the steam. After 5-7 minutes check if the rice is done.
If the rice is done. Mix well and Stir fry for 2-3 minutes on high flame while continuously stirring it.
Incase you feel, the salt is less, dont add salt , add soya sauce as soya sauce is used to make the dishes salty in chinese cuisine.
Serve hot.

Tip : Use Light Soya Sauce, As Dark Soya sauce will make the rice very dark in colour.

VEGETARIAN CANAPES

VEGETARIAN CANAPES
This is a Continental vegetarian snack or starter
Ingredients
6-7 rusk biscuits/Cracker biscuits
6-7 cheese slices
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely choped ginger
1 small onion sliced fine
1 large capsicum chopped into tiny pieces.
1 tsp pepper( freshly ground)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

For garnishing
Chopped parsley or mint leaves(optional)

Method
Heat the butter and the oil in a pan, add the chopped garlic and ginger and fry. Now add the onion and sauté and then the capsicum and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the pepper and keep aside.

Place a slice of cheese on each rusk biscuit, trim the cheese slice to the size of a biscuit.
Top with a little of the prepared mixture and garnish with chopped parsley or mint leaves.

If you want it more cheesy and you can afford the calories. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top and keep in a warm oven till the cheese melts. Serve hot immediately. Serve topped with: grated cheese

Note : You can avoid the cheese slices completely and Add the grated cheese and keep in the oven till the cheese melts. Or you can avoid keeping in the oven and just add the grated cheese on top of the mixture and serve.

Tip: Any left-over preparation like cooked beans or carrots can also serve as a topping and help make this snack in a jiffy!

PAL PAYASAM

PAL PAYASAM

Category : Dessert

In Kerala : Dessert cum part of the main course

Lets talk about one of Kerala’s most famous sweet dish (dessert) the traditional payasam). Which is not only served at the beginning of the meal on the plantain leaf but also in the middle of the meal in massive quantities. Before serving the thair (yogurt) normally the payasam is served. Where the food was served traditionally in weddings and occasions the server at the weddings would pour it on the banana leaf and people used to relish this delicacy by trying their best not to allow it to cascade out of the banana leaf, it would be a scoop and a lick action….first the payasam must be deftly scooped with the hand and then licked or slurped out of it….and I have seen people enjoying it so much, although I prefer mine in a kinnam (a small bowl) as I don’t like the sweet to mix with the salted remnants of the sambhar or rasam after which course the payasam is usually served. Nor do I like the sweet remnants of the payasam stuck to my elai (plantain leaf) which will spoil the taste of my thair chadam (curd rice / yogurt rice). But I know people who would swear by how it tastes when eaten right out of a banana leaf….so slurpy and so yummy, tickling and tantalizing your taste buds.
All payasams are generally made in the Urali (a traditionally used wide mouthed flat & thick bottomed pan) and they are stirred and stirred until they get a faint pink colour.

PAL PAYASAM
Ingredients:
Milk – 1 and ½ litre
Rice - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom Powder – a teaspoon
Cashewnuts - 1 tbsp broken into slivers
Raisins – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Method:
Boil the one litre milk in a vessel and once boiled remove from fire.
Take the half litre milk in separate vessel. Add washed rice to the boiling milk and cook for 5 to 10 minutes stirring once in a while. If the rice gets cooked in the milk slowly, the payasam tastes better , you must cook the rice till it is soft and mashed well,
but if you want to quicken your cooking time,
Add your washed rice and half litre milk in the cooker and cook upto 2 whistles(or as per your normal rice cooking time). One this rice is cooked.
Take an Urali, add the rest of the milk i.e the boiled one litre milk and the cooked rice and milk and keep stirring constantly.
Add sugar and stir till it is dissolved. Keep stirring on a low flame till the Payasam gets a faint pink colour. Once done, remove from fire.
In a small pan. take some ghee, fry the cashewnuts, raisins and cardamom powder and pour on top of the Payasam.
Your Pal Payasam is ready.

This is a Quick recipe, as using condensed milk reduces the cooking time of the Payasam.
Ingredients
Milk -1 Litre (since we are using condensed milk, we can reduce the quantity of milk)
Condensed Milk ½ Cup
Rice -1 Cup
Sugar - 1 Cup
Cardamom Powder – a teaspoon
Cashew nuts 1 tbsp broken into slivers
Raisins – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Method
Cook rice in pressure cooker till 1 whistle. In an Urali, Take the milk, add the cooked rice and sugar and stir till the sugar is dissolved. Add the condensed milk. Keep stirring on a low flame till the Paysam gets a faint pink colour. Once done remove from fire.
In a small pan take some ghee, fry the cashewnuts, raisins and cardamom powder and pour on top of the Payasam.
Your Pal Payasam is ready.

Tip : Since condensed Milk is already sweet, the sugar can be reduced to ½ a cup, as many people don’t like very sweet Payasam. Also after adding the condensed milk, if you feel more sweet is required u can always add sugar and stir till it dissolves. I always recommend the taste and cook method.

ABOUT BLOODGROUPS

Did You Know?

Blood type and Rh How many people have it? O + 40 % O - 7 % A + 34 % A - 6 % B + 8 % B - 1 % AB + 3 % AB - 1 % Does Your Blood Type Reveal Your Personality? According to a Japanese institute that does research on blood types, there are certain personality traits that seem to match up with certain blood types. How do you rate? TYPE O You want to be a leader, and when you see something you want, you keep striving until you achieve your goal. You are a trend-setter, loyal, passionate, and self-confident. Your weaknesses include vanity and jealously and a tendency to be too competitive. TYPE A You like harmony, peace and organization. You work well with others, and are sensitive, patient and affectionate. Among your weaknesses are stubbornness and an inability to relax. TYPE B You're a rugged individualist, who's straightforward and likes to do things your own way. Creative and flexible, you adapt easily to any situation. But your insistence on being independent can sometimes go too far and become a weakness. TYPE AB Cool and controlled, you're generally well liked and always put people at ease. You're a natural entertainer who's tactful and fair. But you're standoffish, blunt, and have difficulty making decisions. MOST IMPORTANT INFO NOW: You Can Receive If Your Type Is O- O+ B- B+ A- A+ AB- AB+ AB+ YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES AB- YES YES YES YES A+ YES YES YES YES A- YES YES B+ YES YES YES YES B- YES YES O+ YES YES O- YES

AAMTI (Lentils cooked in Maharashtrian style)

AAMTI (Lentils cooked in Maharashtrian style)
My mother-in law usually cooks plain toor dal with a little salt and asafetida for the morning to be mixed with the rice and ghee and the same dal(varan) is converted into the most mouth-watering Aamti for dinner.

Ingredients
Toor dal – 1 cup
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Green chilies – 3-4
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Asafetida – ½ tsp
Dried Kokam(Amsul) – 1-2 pieces
A small piece of jaggery (optional)
Maharashtrian Goda masala or garam masala – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Oil – 2 tsps

Method
Soak the toor dal for around half an hour. Rinse the toor dal well and then Pressure cook the dal with a pinch of asafetida and ½ a teaspoon of turmeric powder till soft. Remove from the cooker and mash it.
Finely chop the onion, tomatoes and chilies.
In a kadhai (wok), heat 2 teaspoons of oil, add the mustard seeds and when they start to crackle, add cumin seeds, the Dried kokam(amsul), asafetida and turmeric powder.

Add the green chillies and curry leaves and let it fry, now add the Onions and fry until transparent, Add the chopped tomato pieces and fry again till tomato pieces turn soft. Add the mashed dal, mix well and then add 1 cup water. Stir and cook on a high flame till you see the Aamti simmering. Once it starts to simmer, reduce the flame and add salt, jaggery and goda masala. Mix well and allow it to simmer for a while. Your Aamti is ready, Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve it with plain rice, or chappatis.
You can add Brinjals or drumsticks to the above recipe.

Kerala Iyers

Hi Members,
The advantage of being a Kerala Iyer or a Pattar as we are so called in Kerala is that we get the best of both worlds...I mean Tamilnadu and Kerala, as we are normally from the border areas. this also goes for the cuisine.
The pattars have always enjoyed a wider fare......
Breakfast or tiffin includes idly(steamed rice cakes), dosai (a pancake made from a batter of rice) and lentils crisp fried on a pan, vada(deep fried doughnuts made from a batter of lentils), pongal (a mish mash of rice and lentils boiled together and seasoned with ghee, cashew nuts, pepper and cummin seed), uppuma(cooked semolina seasoned in oil with mustard, pepper, cummin seed and dry lentils.) and also a typical Kerala breakfast may be puttu, which is rice powder and grated coconut steam cooked together, idli and sambar, dosai and chutney, idiappam (string hoppers), or the most delicious of them all, the appam. Appam is a kind of pan cake made of rice flour fermented with a small amount of toddy (fermented sap of the coconut palm) which is circular in shape, rather like a flying saucer, edged with a crisp lacy frill. It is eaten with vegetable stew. Kanji (rice gruel) and payaru (green gram), kappa (Topioca) are traditional favourites of Keralites.
Just talking of food makes your mouth water......the white fresh coconut grated on top of the puttu and the crunchy banana chips and jackfruit chips fried in pure coconut oil can anyday give the Mc Donalds French fries a run for their money.
I remember my grandmother always doing all her cooking in coconut oil. and never remember my grandparents suffering from cholestrol or heart ailments or blood pressure, they were very healthy, had a balanced diet, never short of anything.....they both went on to live their grand old age and died of old age minus sickness.
My grandma used to say that coconut oil was natural and very good for health. why, she used to even fry the papadams and crunchy vadaams in coconut oil and wow what it used to taste.
Memories...........ohhhh so good.....

Verum Arishi Adai (Only Rice Adai)

Hi Members,
Coming abroad changes a lot of things....it makes you crave for our Indian food, specially the home food which we actually never cared for or appreciated about.
Here is the recipe for Verum Arishi Adai which is slowly slipping out of our lives.
My grandmother used to dish out some of the most crispy and tasty verum arishi adais.

Verum arishi adais.
Ingredients
one cup boiled rice
a small quart of raw rice
salt
fresh grated coconut
a teaspoon of edible coconut oil

Method
Verum arishi adai is also known as kal kanji dosai.(kal as in stone)
You have to soak par boiled rice one cup and a small quart of raw rice. then grind this into a fine paste, add some salt and fresh grated coconut.
Now take a kadhai(pan) and pour one cup water, take 3/4ths of the batter and stir with the water in the kadhai on a low flame till u get a slight kanji like taste. , add a teaspoon pf the coconut oil.
Tip :Mind you, the flame should be very low and u should keep constantly stirring lest it form lumps
The reason we take only 3/4ths of the batter is, incase the consistency becomes very watery u will have the 1/4 batter to mix with it. Then as usual u must pur some oil on a tava and pour the batter of verum arishi adai and cook it both sides until crisp.
Tip : You cannot roll it like the conventional dosai on the tava....it will be like how we make maida or rava dosai.so u must pur it on a round shape without leaviong much gaps and then try to shape it on the tava.q1qj
It can be served with some coconut chutney or molagapodi (popularly known as gunpowder).
This preparation is very good for health, very easy to digest and lip-smackingly tasty.

This journey will continue.....and there will be recipes galore....until then chao

HAAQ - A Spinach Curry

HAAQ
Haaq means Spinach or Greens in Kashmir. This is a simple everyday Kashmiri dish. It is very nutritious and the fennel gives the dish a completely different flavor. Kashmiris use Mustard Oil and using Mustard oil gives a more authentic taste to the dish.
Ingredients
Spinach – 1 bunch
Ginger – a small piece
Green chilies – 1-2 (as per spice required)
Dried Red chilies - 1-2 (Use Kashmiri Chilles which are less in spice and give a very red color)
Crushed fennel seeds (saunf) – 1 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Oil – 1tbsp
Salt as per taste

Method
Clean and wash the Spinach and chop them into pieces and keep aside. Dry roast fennel seeds and Keep aside. You can alternatively use roasted fennel seeds. In a Kadhai(wok), add oil, Once the oil is hot, add a pinch of asafetida, the roasted fennel seeds, red chilies, green chilies, and ginger and fry till you see the red chillies become plump and the green chillies change the color. Now add the chopped spinach, Add salt as required and cook covered. Once the spinach is cooked. Mix well and Serve hot with Chappati or Rice.

Note : Reduce the number of chillies as per spice required.

Poem - THE WORLD IS MINE

Hi Members,
I received this lovely poem as a forward and I couldnt help but share it with you'll
Please read on and thank god for all that he has given us.

The World is Mine

Today, upon a bus, I saw a very beautiful woman.And wished I were as beautiful.When suddenly she rose to leave,I saw her hobble down the aisle.She had one leg and wore a crutch.But as she passed, she passed a smile.Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.I have two legs; the world is mine.

I stopped to buy some candy.The lad who sold it had such charm.I talked with him, he seemed so glad.If I were late, it'd do no harm.And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you,you've been so kind.It's nice to talk with folks like you.You see," he said, "I'm blind."Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.I have two eyes; the world is mine.

Later while walking down the street,I saw a child I knew.He stood and watched the others play,but he did not know what to do.I stopped a moment and then I said,"Why don't you join them dear?"He looked ahead without a word.I forgot, he couldn't hear.Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.I have two ears; the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I'd go.With eyes to see the sunset's glow.With ears to hear what I'd know.Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.