Baby Corn Manchuria

While I was in India we used to go to a restaurant named “Southern Spice” very often, they have some real wonderful dishes like chicken fry and baby corn Manchuria; I love the baby corn Manchuria that they serve; During that time I did not know that all these food can be prepared at home and whenever I feel like eating I used to have it from restaurant;

But after moving to US, mostly preparing everything possible at home using online recipes considering the taste/cost that the hotels food has; Big thanks to the online recipes that we have these days;

Baby corn Manchuria is one such tempting indo-Chinese appetizer that I learned from online recipes and I usually prepare it for evening snack;

 Ingredients:

1.    Baby corn cut into 1.5” pieces, wash and keep aside - 10

2.    Medium sized onion + 2 green chilles, make fine paste

3.    Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp

4.    Salt, to taste

5.    Corn Starch – 2 ½ tbsp

6.    All purpose flour – 1 ½ cup

7.    Garlic Cloves, chopped into small pieces - 4

8.    Onion, sliced thin – 1

9.    Green chillies, slit length wise – 3

10. Bell Pepper (capsicum), cut into cubes – 1

11. Red Chilli Ginger paste – 2 tbsp

12. Ketchup – 4 tbsp

13. Soy Sauce – 2 tbsp

14. Spring onion – 2 tbsp

15. Oil, for deep fry

Method:

1.    Take all purpose flour, 2 tbsp of corn starch, onion+chilli paste, ginger garlic paste salt into a bowl and make a thick paste; Adjust salt per taste;

2.    Heat oil in a kadai for deep fry; Once oil is hot, dip washed baby corn into the batter and make sure it’s well coated; Drop these coated baby corns into oil and deep fry until they turn golden brown;

3.    Repeat the same process for remaining baby corns and transfer fried pieces into a oil absorbent paper;

4.    Heat a heavy bottomed vessel, add 1 tbsp of oil, add chopped garlic and make sure garlic turns golden brown color;

5.    Then add onions and green chillies, fry them for 6 mins; Add capsicum to it and cook for another 4 mins;

6.    Add soy sauce, red chilli ginger paste and ketchup; Mix them well and cook for 2 mins; Adjust salt if necessary;

7.    Add fried baby corn pieces to this mixture and cook for 3 mins on low flame;

8.    In a small bowl or cup, take 2 tbsp of water, add ½ tbsp of corn starch, mix well; Spread this corn starch liquid on top of baby corn pieces; This helps the sauce to get thick;

9.    Cook it another 2 mins and turn-off stove;

10. Garnish with spring onions;

Yummy baby corn Manchuria is ready to be served; Hope you will try this at you home and get nice compliments;

Chilli Chicken

We have invited couple of our friends over for dinner; Hubby and I came up with long list of items (jus like any other time), of these I have prepared chilli chicken and Baby corn Manchuria for appetizer; Both of them came out really nice; I am posting the chilli chicken recipe now, will post the baby corn little later;

When I first started experimenting with food, Chilli chicken is the first one that I made with the recipe/instructions from my sweet little sister; My sister prepares any non-veg item wonderfully and this is one of her best; I used the same recipe that I got from my sister for the preparation;

 Ingredients:

1.    ½ lb chicken cut into 1’ pieces, wash and keep aside

2.    Egg – 1

3.    Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp

4.    Pepper powder – ½ tbsp

5.    Chilli powder – ½ tbsp

6.    Salt, to taste

7.    Corn Starch – 1 ½ tbsp

8.    Turmeric – ¼ tbsp

9.    Soy Sauce – 3 tbsp

10. Garlic Cloves, chopped into small pieces - 4

11. Onion, sliced thin – 1

12. Green chillies, slit length wise – 3

13. Bell Pepper (capsicum), cut into cubes – 1

14. Red Chilli Ginger paste – 2 tbsp

15. Ketchup – 4 tbsp

16. Spring onion – 2 tbsp

17. Oil, for deep fry

Method:

1.    Take chicken into a bowl, add egg, ginger garlic paste, pepper, chilli powder, salt, 1 tbsp of corn starch, turmeric, 1 tbsp of soy sauce and mix well; Keep it aside for 30 mins;

2.    Meanwhile place kadai on stove, add oil; Once oil is hot, add above chicken pieces into oil, cook them well on medium flame until chicken turns into golden brown;

3.    Repeat the same process for remaining chicken and transfer fried chicken pieces into a oil absorbent paper;

4.    Heat a heavy bottomed vessel, add 1 tbsp of oil, add chopped garlic and make sure garlic turns golden brown color;

5.    Then add onions and green chillies, fry them for 6 mins; Add capsicum to it and cook for another 4 mins;

6.    Add remaining soy sauce, red chilli ginger paste and ketchup; Mix them well and cook for 2 mins; Adjust salt if necessary;

7.    Add fried chicken pieces to this mixture and cook for 3 mins on low flame;

8.    In a small bowl or cup, take 2 tbsp of water, add ½ tbsp of corn starch, mix well; Spread this corn starch liquid on top of chicken pieces; This helps the sauce to get thick;

9.    Cook it another 2 mins and turn-off stove;

10. Garnish with spring onions;

Transfer the chilli chicken into a serving bowl and serve it with onion slices on side; you will surely get great appreciations :)

Matar Paneer

These days I am including Tofu (replacement for Paneer) in our daily food to get required protein and calcium; Tofu is low in fat, excellent source of high quality protein, is rich in B-vitamins and contains a lot of calcium;

We usually get fresh peas from the farmers market, so I have prepared delicious Matar Paneer by using Peas n tofu to serve it with chapathi for our evening dinner; Curry came out very good, hope you like it;

 Ingredients:

1.    Tofu, cut into cubes – 1 lb

2.    Peas – ½ lb

3.    Onion, cut into cubes – 1

4.    Green Chillies – 3

5.    Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp

6.    Tomatoes, finely chopped - 2

7.    Salt, to taste

8.    Chili powder – ½ tbsp

9.    Turmeric – ¼ tbsp

10. Coriander powder – 1 tbsp

11. Kasuri Methi – 1 tbsp

12. Water – 1 cup

13. Cooking oil – 2 tbsp

14. Half&Half – 3 tbsp

15. Cilantro – 2 tbsp

Method:

1.    Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat 1tbsp oil, add tofu and fry for couple of mins until tofu turns light golden brown; Transfer tofu into plate;

2.    Add remaining oil to the pan, add green chillies and onions; Sauté for couple of mins until onions turn soft;

3.    Add ginger garlic paste, mix well and cook for 2 mins;

4.    Add tomatoes, stir it and cook for 6 mins until tomatoes turn soft;

5.    Reduce flame, add turmeric, salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and mix well; Cover with lid and cook for 3 mins;

6.    Turn-off stove, allow these mix to cool and grind to a fine paste;

7.    Transfer the grinded paste to same pan, add cup of water and allow it to boil;

8.    Add green peas and cook for 8 mins;

9.    Add Tofu, kasuri methi and cook for 5 mins;

10. Add half&half and allow it to cook for another 5 mins or until you get desired curry consistency;

11. Turn-off stove and garnish with cilantro;

Notes:

1.    Even if you do not fry tofu (step1 that I mentioned above) that will be fine; Sometimes I don’t fry tofu and jus directly adds;

2.    Allow curry to sit for sometime before serving, this makes the gravy thick;

3.    If you do not have half&half handy, you can replace it with Malai;