Chinese Bhel

Chinese Bhel is a famous Mumbai roadside dish. Fried noodles are tossed with veggies and sauces to give a nice texture and taste.
As part of swapping ingredients through mail, The second ingredient I received through mail from my fellow blogger Archana is noodles. So, I thought of making this snack which is loved by all ages.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Serves : 4-5

Ingredients:

Dry Hakka noodles : 2 cups
Carrot : 2 cut into julienne
Cabbage : 1/2 cup cut into thin strips
Capsicum/ Green bell Pepper: 1/2 cup sliced
Red bell pepper: 1/2 cup sliced
Chili garlic sauce: 1 cup
Tomato ketchup: 2 tablespoons
Cilantro/ coriander leaves: 1/2 chopped to garnish
Spring onions/scallions: 1/2 cup chopped
Salt to taste

Method:

Add 6 cups of water in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add salt and noodles and cook for 5 minutes or 75% done.
Drain the water and coat the noodles with some oil.
Heat oil for deep frying and add the noodles and fry till they turn golden. It took me 6 minutes.
Take the noodles into a plate.
Heat oil in a wok and add white part of scallions, cabbage, carrots and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add red and green peppers and sauté for another 3 minutes.
Add fried noodles, ketchup and chili garlic sauce. Toss well and cook for 5 minutes.
Turn off the stove, garnish with scallions and cilantro.
Serve immediately.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#73

Natukodi Vepudu/Country Chicken Fry

Natukodi/Country chicken is where the chickens are raised in the houses or farms. No commercially processed feed is fed to them. Hence the chicken taste is distinct from the regular chickens. The meat is a little tough hence needs extra time to cook.

I got natukodi from our farm and made curry and fry with it. There is no comparison with the chicken we get it from the shops. Everyone in the family loved it.
Normally Country chicken is burnt and cooked with the skin to enhance the taste.  I took the skin off as we don't like the texture of it.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes 

Cook Time: 45 minutes 

Serves : 4-5

Ingredients:

Natukodi/Country Chicken: 1 kg

Onion : 3 sliced thinly 

Ginger garlic paste: 2 teaspoons

Fresh ground coconut : 2 tablespoons 

Red chili powder: 2 teaspoons

Chicken masala powder : 2 teaspoons
Turmeric: 1 teaspoon
Water : 1/4 cup

Salt to taste
Cilantro/coriander leaves: To garnish.

Method:

Clean and Wash the chicken well. Add salt and Turmeric to the chicken and mix well. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add onions. Sauté them till they turn translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 1 minute.
Add the fresh ground coconut and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add chicken, mix well and cook for 15 minutes. Simmer, Add water, red chili powder, chicken masala powder, mix well, close lid and cook for 25-30 minutes while stirring occasionally until the chicken is done.
Turn off the stove and garnish the chicken.
Serve hot with Rasam/sambhar rice or as a starter.

Szechuan Potatoes

This time for Blogging Marathon, we were given a challenge to cook with the ingredients that came through mail where Valli paired us up. I got paired with Archana who is from Goa, I received amazing ingredients to cook along with some Goa special cashews for the kids.
The first ingredient I chose to cook with today is the Szechuan sauce. I made these crispy Szechuan potatoes and kids loved them.
The dish is super simple to make and it works well as a starter or a side dish.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Boil Time: 7 minutes
Cook Time: 7minutes
Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Potatoes: 4 medium cut into wedges
Cornflour : 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Garlic : 2 cloves minced
Dry Red chilies: 2 broken in half
Scallions/green onions : 1 chopped finely
Szechuan sauce: 1/4 cup


Method:

Wash and cut the potatoes into wedges with skin.
Add them to water and bring it to a boil. Parboil the potatoes. It took me 7 minutes.
Drain the water, add salt and cornflour to the potatoes. Mix well.
Deep fry them for 4-5 minutes until they turn crisp.
Take them out into a plate.
Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan, add red chilies, garlic and white part of the scallions.
Sauté for 1 minute. Add Szechuan sauce and potatoes, stir well and turn off the stove.
Top it off with scallions and serve hot as a starter or a side dish.


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#73

Gajar Halwa/Carrot Halwa

Both my kids love carrot Halwa. It's been a while I didn't get a chance to make this Halwa. I found Delhi Red Carrots and was really tempted to make Halwa using them as it's a beautiful color and they are really juicy.

Final outcome of this Halwa was just amazing. Loved it.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes 

Cook Time: 50 minutes 

Serves : 5-6

Ingredients:

Grated Carrot: 4 cups (1 kg)

Ghee : 2 tablespoons 

Milk: 4 cups

Khoya/Khova; 2/3 cup

Sugar : 2/3 cup

Cardamom powder : 1 teaspoon 

Nuts : 1/3 cup (cashews, almonds and pistachios)

Method:

Heat ghee in a pan and add grated carrots and sauté for 5-6 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Add milk, mix well and bring it to a boil. Cook until all the water and milk is evaporated. It too me 40 minutes. (It depends on the carrots)
Keep stirring occasionally and make sure to scrape the sides and the bottom.
Add Khova and stir to blend. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add sugar and let it melt, stir frequently.
Add cardamom powder and let the halwa thicken. (It should take another 4-5 minutes)
Turn off the stove. Heat ghee in a small pan and fry almonds and cashews.
Add them and pistachios to the halwa and stir.
Serve warm or cold.

Spicy Garlic Roasted Potatoes

I found these cute little baby potatoes in the supermarket, so bought them immediately. Love roasted potatoes, made them spicy this time.
It's a super easy dish to make. It's going to a family favorite soon.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 25 minutes
Serves : 4-5

Ingredients:

Baby Potatoes: 1 kg
Fresh red chilies: 4
Garlic: 8 cloves roughly chopped
Ground Cumin : 1/2 teaspoon
Fresh rosemary: 5 sprigs (If using dry rosemary, 1 teaspoon)
Olive oil : 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Method:

Take red chilies and ground cumin in a blender and make into paste.
Heat oil in a pan and add roughly chopped garlic. Fry for 1 minute.
Add red chili paste and rosemary and fry for 1 minute.
Add washed and cleaned potatoes, salt  to the pan and toss well.
Turn off the stove and add these potatoes to a greased baking pan.
Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake the potatoes for 25 minutes.
Serve hot as a side dish.

Western or Denver Omelet

Denver Omelet is a thick omelet made with onions, green peppers and ham.  I substituted the ham with broccoli. It's made in a frying pan, so really easy to make. Kids loved it as breakfast.

Found this amazing recipe in joy of baking 75th edition cookbook. I'm sending this recipe to Cooking from a cookbook challenge. 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes 

Cook Time: 15 minutes 

Serves : 2

Source : Joy of baking 75th edition 

Ingredients:

Butter : 1 tablespoon

Onion : 1 medium chopped finely

Green bell pepper: 1 medium chopped finely

Broccoli: 1/2 cup chopped finely

Eggs : 4 large

Milk : 1 tablespoon

Ground black pepper: 1/2 teaspoon 

Salt : 1/4 teaspoon 

Method:

Heat butter in a fry pan, add onions, green peppers and sauté for 8-10 minutes until they are soft. 

Add broccoli and sauté for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, add eggs, milk, salt pepper and beat gently.

Add this egg mixture to the veggies and leave it for 30 seconds.

Use a wooden spatula and slowly move the egg mixture to the middle.

Cook for 2 minutes and flip the omelet and cook it for 1 minute.

Don't let the omelet brown. Turn off the stove and serve hot.

Chayote Squash/Chow Chow curry

Chayote is a fruit that belongs to gourd family. It's also called as chow-chow. Chayote is a good source of vitamin C. Chayote fruit is used mostly cooked forms. It can stir fried but I made a curry of this fruit.

The skin has to be peeled off before cooking. Once the skin is peeled, it's really slimy. So, grease your hands before peeling. When peeled and cut in half, remove the seed.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes 

Cook Time: 15 minutes 

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Chayote: 1 cup peeled and chopped

Turmeric: 1/2 teaspoon 

Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon 

Coriander leaves/cilantro: to garnish

Water : 1 cup

Salt to taste 

To Roast and grind :

Oil : 1 teaspoon 

Red chilies: 8
Chana dal : 1 teaspoon 

Urad dal : 1 teaspoon 

Cumin seeds : 1/2 teaspoon 

Onions : 3 medium chopped 

Tomatoes: 2 large chopped 

For Tempering:

Mustard seeds : 1 teaspoon 

Red chilies: 2 broken 

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Method :

Take chayote, turmeric and salt in a sauce pan with water and cook till they are soft. Now, drain the water and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add all ingredients listed under roast and grind. Roast them for 2-3 minutes and turn off the stove.  Add onions and sauté till they turn light brown. Add tomatoes and cook till they are soft. Cool them off, add the mixture in a blender and grind into a powder. Add little water and grind again to make a coarse paste.

Heat oil in a pan, add ingredients listed under for Tempering and fry for 30 seconds.

Add cooked chayote and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the ground masala, salt and water. Bring it to a boil and cook till the gravy is thick.

Turn off the stove and garnish with cilantro.

Serve hot with rice or roti.