Veg Hakka Noodles | 660 Curries

This is a different take on Veg Hakka Noodles by Raghavan Iyer. I always have a standard recipe for Indo-Chinese items and was glad to see a different set of veggies and sauces used :). I could actually taste the sweet-hot-sour combination in this dish in a subtle manner and loved the choice of paneer, cauliflower and carrots for this chinese noodles against the usual cabbage-capsicum-carrot trio. A thumbs up for this dish from 660 curries.

Dump a few ladle full of this noodles in your favorite bowl , carry along a glass of chilled lemonade and relish this dinner watching your favorite program on TV. Completely de-stresses you on a bad day. :)



Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - mild but flavorful
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 10 min

Veg Hakka noodles pack - 110 gms
Tomato ketchup - 1/8 cup
Light Soy sauce - 1/8 cup
Cider Vinegar - 1/2 Tbsp
1/2 Tsp cayenne [ground red pepper] mixed with 1 1/2 Tsp sweet paprika
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Panner - 60 gm , cut into medium sized cubes
Cauliflower florets - 1/2 cup, cut into medium sized pieces
Carrot - 1 medium sized, sliced thinly
Garlic cloves - 2 finely chopped
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup , finely chopped
Tomato - 1 medium sized , cored and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Spring onions - 2 , green tops and white bulbs , cut into 1 inch lengths
Ginger - 1 inch piece, cut into thin strips
Bean sprouts - 1/2 cup [ I did not use this]
Salt - as per need

How do you do it

1. Bring a large saucepan filled with 3/4 water and 1 tsp salt to boil, add the noodles and cook as per packet instruction until cooked al-dente.

2. While the noodles are cooking , microwave the cauliflower florets with 1 cup water, a pinch of turmeric and salt for 3 minutes. Stir well and drain the water and keep the cauliflower aside. Drizzle 1/2 tsp oil on a pan and toast the paneer pieces until both sides are lightly browned. Keep aside

3.Drain the noodles into a colander and run cold water through them to cool and stop the cooking process.

4. Whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar ,ketchup , cayenne-paprika mix, 1/2 Tsp salt in a bowl.

5. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wok. Add the cauliflower, carrot, garlic, half the chopped coriander. Stir-fry until the veggies are browned and crunchy - 5 minutes.Add the paneer pieces now and stir in well once.

6. Fill a large bowl with warm water and dunk the noodles into it to to provide moisture needed to quickly re-warm them. Drain them again and add it to the wok. A little dripping water is alright. Don't omit this step, this keep the noodles soft and moist. Cook, stirring the noodles, until the noodles are warmed through - 3-4 minutes.

7.Add the sauce mix now and stir well so the noodles and veggies are coated well. Add in the tomatoes, ginger and spring onions now. Stir for 2-4 minutes. Check for salt now and add more if needed.

8. Top with remaining coriander leaves and bean sprouts [if using] and serve.

 
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Gobi Manchurian

I have been sleeping so much this week and here I am awake at 2.30 am browsing TV channels and there is nothing interesting to watch, also Divya requested this post soon so she could try it over the weekend :). So I thought I might as well compose this post and put it up.

Gobi Manchurian needs no introduction, atleast in India it doesn't ;). I wonder why this dish is so popular here and nobody gets bored of this dish. Have you seen that map picture where they mark the china area as "Gobi Manchurian" ? These days Gobi Manchurian reminds me of that map picture and  I go he-he!.

A favorite restaurant starter order for many, but its quite easy to make it at home as well. If you make Indo-Chinese at home often, you must already be having all the ingredients for the sauce. So make Gobi 65 and the sauce, dunk the Gobi 65 in the sauce and your Manchurian is ready.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 20 min

Make Gobi 65 for a medium sized cauliflower.

For the sauce

Spring Onion white part [bulbs] - 5 , sliced thinly
Spring Onion green part - 3-4 Tbsp
Garlic cloves - 5 chopped finely
Capsicum - 1/2 , chopped thinly 1 inch pieces
Green Chilli - 2 , chopped finely
Soya sauce - 1 Tsp
Tomato Ketchup/Sauce - 2 Tbsp
Green Chilli sauce - 1 Tsp
Red Chilli Sauce - 1 Tsp
Corn flour - 1 Tsp mixed with 2 Tbsp water
Salt - as per need
Oil - 3 Tbsp


How do you do it

Make Gobi 65 as done here and keep aside

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the chopped garlic and saute on medium heat for a minute. Add the spring onion white part , chopped green chilli and saute for 3-4 minutes until it starts to sweat. Add the capsicum pieces and saute for a couple of more minutes. Now add the soya sauce,tomato ketchup, green chilli sauce,red chilli sauce, salt and mix well. Let it heat for a minute. Add the corn flour paste now and mix well. Add the gobi 65 and spring onion green part now and wrap well. Saute for a minute more and switch off flame.

Garnish with spring onion greens and serve with any variety rice of your choice or with roti/naan.


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Vegetable Fried Rice

Vegetable fried Rice is somewhere near the top of the list when it comes to S favorite food.I have tried this a couple of times before, but wasn't able to nail the flavor and color exactly.We wanted the flavor to be mild, the rice to retain its white color. Yesterday's try was a winner. :)


Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients


Serves - 2
Spice Level - Mild [Keep it that way please ! ;)]

Cabbage - 1/3 cup, sliced thinly
Carrot - 1 Medium, Julienne cut
Green Capsicum - 1/2, sliced thinly lengthwise
Beans - 15 , sliced thinly.
Spring Onion white part - 3 bulbs, sliced thinly
Spring onion greens - 3 Tbspn, chopped finely , to garnish
Garlic cloves - 5 , finely chopped
Basmati Rice - 1.5 cups

Soya Sauce [Preferably Light soy if you have] - 1 Tspn
Green Chilli Sauce - 3 Tspn
Salt - as per taste [2-3 Tspn approxm]
Olive oil - 4 Tbspn

White Pepper powder - 1 Tspn [optional]

Method

Firstly, cook the rice in 2.25 cups of water for 15 minutes. Once the rice is done, spread the rice on a large plate/bowl and cool it completely. It needs to be cooled, so when you add rice to the veggie mix in the wok and saute it, the rice will not get mashed.

Heat a deep wok with olive oil.Add the spring onion white parts and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add all the vegetables -cabbage,capsicum,carrot,beans and 2 tspn salt.Increase the flame to high.Saute for 3 minutes on high flame. Switch the flame to medium now. Add soya sauce, green chilli sauce and saute till the veggies are half cooked [slightly crunchy]. Now sim the flame and add the cooked rice into the wok and add one more Tsp of salt. Mix the rice with the veggies well to incorporate all the flavor into the rice. Be careful not to mash up the rice when you do this.Once the rice is well mixed, taste to see if there is enough salt. Add more salt and mix if necessary.You can add 1tsp of white pepper powder at this point if needed and mix well with rice. Saute the rice for 2 more minutes and switch off fame.Add 2 Tbsp of spring onion greens and mix well.

Transfer rice to a serving bowl .Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of spring onion greens on top. We had this rice with paneer masala curry and a glass of cold Pepsi. We absolutely loved it. :)

Notes

1.Once the rice is cooked, within 5 minutes , remove it from the bowl, and spread on a large plate.If you leave the rice to cool in the cooker vessel, the rice will clamp up, and you will have difficulty in getting to separate the rice while adding to the wok.

2.While trying to mix the rice with veggies, you may switch off flame,take a few extra minutes to ensure the rice is mixed well, and then saute on high flame later.

3.If you are using dark soy sauce, be cautious. Dark soy has a strong flavor and color and can spoil the appearance of the dish. Hence use anywhere between 1/2 tsp to 1 tspn dark soy for 1.5 cups of rice, adjust according to flavor/color.


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