Vegetable Chowmein

Perfect Sunday afternoon lunch, is how I describe Chowmein. Having Daal (Lentil), rice, Chapattis (Indian Bread) daily drains my energy eventually leads to loss of interest! (I am just exaggerating a bit here :P). Nevertheless, I really love the Indian version of Chinese food which includes vegetarian or chicken Manchurian, Manchow Soup, Fried Rice, Chili Chicken and of course Vegetarian Chowmein. I read on Wikipedia that Chinese food in India was developed by the Chinese community living in Calcutta/Kolkata for over a century now. Chow mein is essentially stir fry noodles with vegetables and sauces like Soy souce and Chili sauce. You can read more about the types of Chowmein, how if differs from country to country by following the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow_mein

I have tried Chow mein at Yum's express at the College Park Market place which is just next to Star Bucks. I usually get some Chinese packed from Yum's on days when I really do not want to cook and also crave for some Chinese food. If you plan to try it, make sure that you tell them to make your meal extra spicy ( This advice is for spice lovers )! You can find the address for Yum's at the following link:

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Yums.Express.301-313-0828


However! this is my version of everyone's favorite Vegetable Chowmein.

Ingredients:

Boiled Noodles
Spring onion ( substitute : Red Onion)
Carrots ( Cut into matchstick shapes)
Capsicum ( Cut into matchstick shapes)
French Beans ( Chopped )
Cabbage ( Chopped)
1/2 - 1 Tsp Green Chilli Sauce
2-3 Garlic ( Chopped )
Soya Sauce
1-2 Tsp White vinegar
Pepper
Olive Oil

Method:

1) Heat some Olive oil in a wok, add cut garlic and stir fry until the oil realy gets perfumed with garlic fragrance.

2) The add all the chopped vegetables and salt according to your taste. Keep on low fire until the vegetables are about half cooked. Sprinkle some red chili pepper flakes.

3) Now add about a tablespoon soya sauce to the vegetables and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Then add about 1/2 teaspoon green chilli sauce, 1 Tablespoon vinegar and stir fry for 4-5 minutes.

4) Add the boiled noodles to the vegetables and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add more soya sauce if needed.

For people who are wondering where to get all the sauces from, here is some more information:

Soya Sauce: Any grocery store in the international section, or from the Indian grocery store.
Green Chilli Sauce: Indian Grocery Store (Patel's)
White Vinegar Any Grocery store

Try this recipe and let me know of how it turned out to be!

Go green!

Green beans! Does 'Green' sound scary, boring, tasteless ? You should definitely try this green bean recipe with coconut. This is a south Indian recipe. My mom used to make it when I was a kid and my dad was posted in Bangalore. This dish is healthy, easy to make and really tasty! I used cut frozen beans, and I had a packet of shredded coconut ( It is easily available at any Indian Grocery store).

Ingredients:
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp Dhaniya seeds
1 Whole Red Chili
1-2 Green Chillies
3-4 Curry Leaves
2 Tsp Urad Daal
1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
3-4 Tsp Shredded Coconut
Cut Green Beans ( I used 1 medium sized frozen beans packet)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok, add mustard seeds, dhaniya seeds, Urad daal and let them splutter.

2. After the seeds get brownish, add Red chilli, and curry leaves, and let them splutter for about a minute. Add a Little turmeric powder and add the green beans and salt according to your taste.

3. Saute the vegetable on medium gas for 2-3 minutes and then cover for about 5 minutes. Then check to see of the vegetables are partially cooked, if they are , then add the shredded coconut and mix.

4. Keep on medium flame and saute for about 3-4 minutes till you think the vegetables are almost cooked. Do not over cook.

And its done! It took me about 20 minutes to cook this. I had this with Cumin and onion flavored rice with some 'Daal Makhani'. I can post The recipe for rice and Daal Makahni the next time I plan to cook them.

Love for fruit cream!

Caution: Not healthy!! Lot of fat and calories!! This is a valentines day special recipe. I don't think there can be anyone who is not in love with fruit cream! And imagine, it is extremely easy to make. So here it goes:

Ingredients:
1. Cream ( I used Richfood heavy whipping cream which is easily available in Shoppers near the milk section)
2. Fruits! ( Strawberries, kiwi, apple,orange. You can also put grapes, bananas etc.
3. Sugar



Method:
Whip the cream with sugar in the blender. Be generous and add a lot of sugar, taste and keep adding sugar until you feel perfection! And then add and mix all the cut fruits in it. Keep it in the refrigerator for about an hour, so the fruit flavor gets blended in the cream. And its done!

Kung Pao Tofu!

I finally got enthusiastic about cooking dinner, and cooked tofu. This is a correction to my earlier post where I mentioned that I will plan to cook teriyaki tofu, it turns out that I have Kung Pao sauce in my fridge! Now this recipe is not authentic Kung Pao, it is basically to save time! I would give it 8/10.

Ingredients:
1. Tofu ( I used Firm tofu ) You can get Tofu in Indian supermarkets too. My mom has seen Sanjeev kapoor use Tofu in his cookery shows, so I am sure it is available, otherwise chicken/paneer is obviously a substitute.
2. All your favorite vegetables: Mushrooms, carrots, green pepper, spring onion, brocolli ( My favorites)
3. Ginger and Garlic cut into the shape of match sticks
4. Kung Pao Sauce ( I used dynasty spicy hot Kung Pao sauce)
5. Olive Oil
6. Any kind of oil (e.g. peanut oil or any vegetable oil) to make the tofu cubes golden brown in color

Method:
1. Cut the Tofu into cubes. In the frying pan, put some oil and put the tofu cubes into it to make them golden brown in color. Keep it aside. ( See Picture)

2. Heat the olive oil in a wok, put the ginger and garlic for about 1 minute so the oil gets perfumed.

3. Add all the vegetables and saute and then add salt according to taste. The ideal thing is to add the harder vegetables like carrots first, cook them for 2-3 minutes and them later add vegetables that cook easily. This preserves the vitamins.
4. After the vegetables get cooked, add the golden Tofu and some Kung Pao sauce according to the desired thickness. Let the tofu and the vegetables absorb the sauce so stir fry for about 3-4 minutes.

Voila! your Kung Pao Tofu is ready. I think it was pretty decent for the first time. I felt that may be after I make the tofu golden brown, I should put it in the sauce so that it gets marinated, but not sure about this! You guys might want to experiment and let me know!!

Penang

Penang Malaysian Cuisine

4933, Bethesda Ave.
Bethesda, MD - 20814

Ambiance: 9/10
Food: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Price Range: Medium

Today was a friend's birthday, so the plan was to have a nice Sunday Malaysian lunch at Penang, Bethesda. It is a good place, I have been there before, and it is definitely not a place to be missed !! Most of the food is very close to Indian cuisine in taste, so a bliss for my spicy lover Indian friends. For the vegetarians, the good news is that most of the entree's in the 'House Special' section of the menu can be made vegetarian. You just have to tell them to substitute chicken/beef/lamb by Tofu. Tofu is a vegetarian ingredient, you can Google and get more information on it. The place is a little bit expensive for the student community since most of the entree's are $9.95 to $20.95, but I think special occasions do call for a treat!

So now it is the time to order ! In drinks, I have always ordered a lichi drink, which I think is the best non-alcoholic drink. In appetizers, 'Roti Canai' is simply too good and is exactly like the menu says 'IT's A MUST'!! In the main course I ordered 'Kambing Rengdan' which is basically lamb cooked in coconut milk. Now this was not a very good choice. It was not that bad, but I feel that the meat was a little hard, and there was not much curry. It was tasty, but its chicken counterpart which is 'Ayam Rengdan' (picture at the left) is much better. In case veggie lovers are feeling disappointed, remember the option to convert your dish into a vegetarian dish! Also, they might want to try the 'Kari Sayur' which is the best vegetarian dish in my opinion. Other popular choices are the mango based entree's such as 'Thai Mango Chicken/tofu' which is a little bit sweet, so not for the spice lovers!

But lunching today with friends was great! I loved the ambience and the people are also very nice. A tip for a better experience is that if you plan to go there in a group of 9-10 people, then just take the round rotating cricket, its pretty neat, you can rotate it and sharing is easy! A funny tip, but trust me its the best table there.

I am so full now, that I am thinking of skipping dinner. This actually means procrastinating cooking the Tofu!

A few lines..

Compulsory blogging for a course that I have taken in my final semester. Sounds like fun? It sure does to me! obvious, since I did not drop the course!! For a change I am going to forget the usual network protocols, routers, switches and blah blah and actually write about food and all the awesome and sometimes not so awesome restaurants that I have been to. I also plan to post recipes of all my favorite food, and you all might want to try some and give me your reviews :) There is just so much to talk about!!

On my trip back home (Delhi, India) during the winter break (2007), I decided to get my old recipe books, and planned to cook and try out new recipes. For example, soon I plan to cook Tofu, which I have neither cooked before nor have I ever had any Tofu dish. I am more of a Non-vegetarian fan ( Most of my Indian friends would not appreciate me for this!). I have read about tofu being a very healthy food, so I bought it this time as a substitute of paneer (Cottage cheese)/chicken. So, I am sure you all will wait eagerly for my next post which is going to have picture of my first Tofu and Teriyaki sauce recipe ( success or failure I am going to post the pictures!!)

Cheers!