Honey Sesame Tofu with Vegetables

When I started blogging a few years ago, the number of posts I did every month was enormous. I somehow had the energy and time to do it all. As time passed, I have reduced the number of posts. But that meant that the quality of the dishes and the presentation has improved a lot. But after those first couple of years, last year was a big low in the blog. I was having loads of commitments in my personal life, enjoying life and the events. Then the break seemed to be too long to get back to blogging. Thanks to the support and love from around the world, I am back to being a regular blogger. :-)

Satay Noodles - Stir fried Noodles in a Peanut Sauce

When I made the Satay Peanut Sauce as a dip a few weeks ago, I knew I will be using this sauce in many other forms. My first thought was to add to Noodles. I was right. It was just perfect. The only thing that I will change to this recipe is to add some crushed Peanuts or may be use some chunky peanut butter sauce instead of creamy. Lip smacking goodness!!



Ingredients

Noodles/Spaghetti 250 gm
Cabbage 1/2 a small one (about 2-3 cups)
Carrots 2 grated
Spring onions - to garnish
Oil and salt to taste

For the sauce
Onions 1
Garlic 4 pods
Ginger 1 inch piece
Peanut butter 1/4 cup
Chilli powder 2 tsp (less for milder version)
Sugar 1 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Soy Sauce 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
Water 1.5 cups



Method of Preparation

1. Heat some water in a big pot. Bring it to boil. Salt it. Add the Spaghetti (broken to 2-3 pieces). Give it a stir. Cook for 11-13 min (follow package instructions). Drain and keep aside. Work on the rest of the dish while the noodles are cooking.

2. In a wok/pan, heat some oil. When it is hot, add the shredded (I kept it 2-3 inches long) and grated carrots (use big size grater). Saute for a few minutes till it is wilted, but still slighty crunchy. Remove from pan and keep aside.

3. Heat more oil in the pan. Add sliced garlic and ginger.

4. When it sizzles, add the sliced onions. Saute till it turns brown.

5. Add the peanut butter, sugar, salt and chilli powder. Give it a stir.

6. Add 1 cup of water. Mix well. Add the other half cup (or more) if need be. I used 1.5 cups of water. Bring to boil. Switch off.

7. Add soy sauce and lemon juice. Mix. Sauce is ready.

8. Now toss in the cooked noodles. Once mixed, add the cabbage and carrots and mix well. Garnish with spring onions. 

Pepper Tofu

Tofu is used in our house quite often. When I first moved to US, I used to hate the slimy tofu. But over the years I have learnt to love it. This dish though will win the heart of even the most ardent tofu hater.



Ingredients (Serves 5-6)

Tofu 2 blocks
Red Pepper 1
Green Pepper 1
Onion 1
Soy sauce 2 tbsp
Tomato sauce 4 tbsp
Pepper powder 1.5 tsp
Garlic 2 pods
Ginger 1 inch piece
Corn flour 2 tsp
Whole Pepper 2 tsp



Method of Preparation

1. Drain water out of the tofu. Place it in a paper towel and keep it like that for 15 minutes to drain off any excess water. If tofu does not come in a water pack you can skip this step. Cut the tofu into small pieces.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the tofu pieces and fry till it is browned on all sides. Keep aside.

3. Heat some oil if needed. Add the chopped ginger and garlic.

4. Add chopped onions (cut into squares).

5. After a couple of minutes, add the peppers (cubed again).. Saute for a couple more minutes till it wilts a little, but still has it crunchiness.

6. Add the fried tofu, mix well.

7. Now add the soy sauce, tomato sauce and corn flour mixed with a little water.

8. Add the pepper powder and coarsely crushed pepper. Add some salt. Remember sauces have salt it. So adjust accordingly.

9. Switch off after a couple of minutes.




Linking this to the Spring Event hosted by Radhika and Anusha.

Peanut Sauce - Satay Sauce

If you are looking for a recipe for some spicy peanut sauce, this is a keeper. If was finger licking good. I plan to make this again and use it in some gravies or with noodles. Found this recipe here and had bookmarked it a long long time ago..

When Groovy Gourmets decided to make dips/spreads this month, I knew I had to make this. I am sooooo glad I tried it.



Ingredients

Onion 1 finely chopped
Garlic 2 pods finely chopped
Peanut Butter (creamy) 1/4 cup
Sugar 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
Soy Sauce 2 tbsp
Salt 1/4 tsp
Water 1/2-3/4 cup (as preferred)
Oil as required



Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and saute till it is starts to brown.

2. Add the garlic and saute till onions and garlic are slightly browned.

3. Add peanut butter, water, sugar, salt and chilli powder and mix together.

4. Once it comes to a boil, simmer for a minute or 2 and switch off.

5. Add soy sauce and lemon juice. Mix well.

Serve as a dip for Spring rolls or for skewers.

Chinese Restaurant Style Egg Fried Rice

Chinese food served in different countries have different taste. I have made a lot of Chinese food and posted in my blog. They are what is popularly known in India as Indo Chinese food. Do check out that Fried Rice here.

The fried rice available in take out restaurants in US and UK have a different taste (not like the indo chinese fried rice). When I saw a site with the recipe for it, I knew I wanted to try it.



Handy tips

1. Never make fried rice with freshly cooked rice. Make it the night before and keep in fridge.

2. Never mix the sauces to the vegetables. Mix it to the rice.

3. Do not make every thing in one go. Stir fry the veggies, egg and rice separately and then mix.

Ingredients

Cooked Rice 6 cups
Onions 2 chopped
Green Pepper 1 chopped
Carrots 2 chopped
Peas 1.5 cups
Garlic 6 pods
Ginger 1 inch piece

Soy Sauce 3 tbsp
Chilli Sauce 2 tbsp

Eggs 4

Vegetable oil
Sesame oil

Green Onions a little to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil (sesame and vegetable combination) in a pan/wok. Add chopped onions, ginger and garlic when the oil is smoking hot.

2. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the peppers, carrot and peas. Saute for a few minutes and then transfer to a bowl.

3. Heat a little more oil in the pan. Add the eggs and scramble it. Transfer to the bowl.

4. Clean the pan and then add some more oil. Add the rice to it. Mix.

5. Add the soy sauce and chilli sauce. Mix well.

6. Now add the veggies and eggs back to the pan along with some salt. Mix everything together and stir for a couple of minutes.

Serve with spring onion garnish.

Hot and Sweet Stir Fry

Indo Chinese/Chinese recipes are every Indian kids favourite. Growing up, when we went to restaurants, my brother and I used to order noodles or fried rice with manchurian. Those days we never made these at home. If only my mom knew how easy it was to fix these :-)

Check out an extensive collection of (Indo) Chinese in my blog
Gobi Manchurian
Vegetable Lomein - Noodles
Vegetable Fried Rice
Vegetable Manchurian

Tofu and Veg in a ginger garlic soy sauce

Ingredients

Tofu 1 block (about 2 cups)
Mixed Stir Fry Veg 3 cups (my pack had some peppers, carrots, bean sprouts, greens and onions)
Garlic 10 pods
Ginger 1 inch piece
Soy Sauce 1 tbsp
Tomato ketchup 3-4 tbsp (you can use some chilli sauce here)
Corn Flour 2 tbsp
Water 2.5 cups

Oil and salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Drain water out of the tofu. Place it in a paper towel and keep it like that for 15 minutes to drain off any excess water. If tofu does not come in a water pack you can skip this step. Cut the tofu into small pieces.

2. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the tofu and fry till all the sides are nicely roasted stirring and turning in between. Keep aside. I use non stick pan for this. Otherwise, tofu will stick to pan as it gets roasted.

3. In a small cup, add the corn flour and add water (about 1/4 cup). Mix well. Also add the soy sauce and tomato ketchup to this. Chilli Sauce makes it spicy. But mine was not as I wanted to make it tasty for my little one.

4. Heat the pan used earlier to a high heat. Add a little more oil if needed. Add the ginger and garlic slices. Saute till it starts to brown a little.

9. Add the vegetables and give it a stir. Once it starts to cook, add the tofu as well.

10. Add the corn flour, tomato sauce and soy mix along with a little salt. Remember soy sauce adds salt to the dish. So hold the salt. Mix well without breaking the tofu. Add a little bit more water if needed.

11. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Tofu and Vegetable Stir Fry in Ginger Garlic Soy Sauce

My husband is a vegetarian. I have serious issues with egg, cheese and many dairy items. When I try to make stuff from other cuisines, I always find it challenging as making things that are vegetarian and without egg/cheese is not always an easy thing. I recently found a book Easy Vegan from the library. This book was an answer to my problem. 

It has various chapters divided by course like soups, starters, salads, mains, desserts and drinks. Has an array of dishes in each category from different countries. The photos are there for all dishes, and they are very clear as to how the finished dish will look like.

Perfect book if you are looking for vegan dishes from different courses and cuisines. One of the things I really loved is that this book does not use any meat substitutes. I am not looking to recreate a meat like taste but trying to enjoy vegetarian food as it is.

We @ AGC are going Chinese/Indo Chinese for this week. I have made many Indo Chinese dishes in my blog. But never made a proper chinese dish. So I decided to make this. Though I did not quite follow the recipe from the book, I took inspiration from a dish in that book.

I have not quite captured the taste of the dish in the photos.. It tasted awesome....

Check out other (Indo)Chinese dishes in my blog

Gobi Manchurian
Vegetable Lomein - Noodles
Vegetable Fried Rice
Vegetable Manchurian

Ingredients
Tofu 1 block (about 400gm)
Broccoli 1 head (about 300 gm)
Asparagus 2 bunches (about 150 gm each)
Scallions 2tbsp chopped
Ginger 2 inches thinly sliced
Garlic 2 pods thinly sliced
Soy Sauce 2 tbsp
Corn 4 tsp

Oil and Salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Drain water out of the tofu. Place it in a paper towel and keep it like that for 15 minutes to drain off any excess water. If tofu does not come in a water pack you can skip this step. Cut the tofu into small pieces.

2. Chop the asparagus. I learned this trick a long time ago from Racheal Ray (a cook show in food network). Hold it at both ends. Bend it a little. It will snap at 2/3 rd from the tip. Discard the bottom. Place the bundle on a cutting board with the tips aligned. Place the one that you snapped as well along with it. Cut off the rest of the bottoms based on the snapped one. Discard the bottom (or use it to make stock). Chop it into around 2 inch pieces. (3-4 pieces as per the size of asparagus)

3. Prepare the broccoli as well. Pluck big chunks out of the head. You can cut into 2/3 if needed. I like big pieces.

4. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the tofu and fry till all the sides are nicely roasted stirring and turning in between. Keep aside.

5. In the meanwhile, heat a pot of water. When it comes to boil, add the broccoli to it. After a minute or 2 remove from water and add to a bowl of cold water. This stops further cooking.

6. Add the asparagus as well to the same pot and remove after a minute or so. Add to the cold water.

7. In a small cup, add the corn flour and add water (about 1/4 cup). Mix well. Also add the soy sauce to this.

Now all the prep is done. Do not do the last step till you are ready to serve. It will take only a few minutes to put everything together.

8. Heat the pan used earlier to a high heat. Add a little more oil if needed. Add the ginger and garlic slices. Saute till it starts to brown a little.

9. Add the broccoli and asparagus and give it a stir. Add the tofu as well.

10. Add the corn flour and soy mix along with a little salt. Remember soy sauce adds salt to the dish. So hold the salt. Mix well without breaking the tofu. Add a little bit more water if needed.

11. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Serve on a bed of rice

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S

Linking this to Show me your hits - event by Sangee, hosted by Kaveri

Vegetable Manchurian

Another Indo-Chinese Preparation from my kitchen. This time I decided to do the Manchurian with vegetables. I did not quite have all the vegetables that I wanted. I would have liked some cabbage and spring onions. But this was good never the less... try your choice of vegetables.



Ingredients

For Manchurian balls
Cauliflower 1 small chopped
Carrots 3 chopped
Green Pepper 1
Maida 3/4 cup
Bread Crumbs 3/4 cup
Corn Flour 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Salt a little

For Gravy
Red Pepper 1
Onions 2
Soya Sauce 3 tbsp
Tomato Chilli Sauce 1/2 cup (I used 1/4 cup tomato chilli sauce and 1/4 cup tomato ketchup so that it is mild for my little one)
Corn Flour 2 tbsp

Other ingredients to add (I skipped)
Garlic 6 pods sliced
Ginger 1 inch piece sliced
Red Chilli Flakes 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Chop all the vegetables finely. I used only half the green pepper. reserved the rest for the gravy.

2. In a bowl mix maida, bread crumbs, corn flour, chilli powder and salt. remember bread crumbs might also have salt in it.

3. Mix in the vegetables and add water little at a time and make a dough. Roll into small balls. I made about 25 balls. This might sound like a lot. Believe me you will eat quite a few before it gets to the gravy...



4. Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry them a few at at time. I used a big pan and fried about 8 at a time. Cook in medium flame as you do not want the outside to brown and inside dough to be half cooked.

5. Drain into a tissue paper and keep aside. Just look at this golden beauties.. are you not tempted to grab a few?



6. In a small bowl, add the corn flour (2tbsp) and add a cup of water. Combine well. Combine the soy sauce, chilli sauce to the same bowl. Keep aside

7. In another pan, heat a little oil. When it starts to smoke, add the ginger, garlic and chilli flakes (if using). Add the onions (sliced) and saute for 3 minutes in high heat.

8. Add the sliced green pepper and red pepper. Saute for another 3 minutes.

9. Add the combined sauce. Add some salt if needed. Bring to boil and simmer for 2 more minutes. Add more water if you need a gravy.

10. Add the fried vegetable balls and mix well.

Garnish with spring onions for the perfect taste. I did not have any :-( Still it tasted good.

Don't forget to check the other Indo Chinese recipes in my blog

Gobi Manchurian
Vegetable Lomein - Noodles
Vegetable Fried Rice

Vegetable Lo Mein/Noodles

We are big fans of Indo Chinese food. I always look forward to eating some when we go to restaurants. Since I started blogging, the whole going to the restaurant has lost its charm. Do check out the Gobi Manchurian and Vegetable Fried Rice recipes in my blog.



Ingredients

Spaghetti 1/4kg (I had a 1kg packet and used 1/4 of it)
Vegetables
               I used 3 carrots, 1 cup of Shredded cabbage, 1/2 cup peas and 1 onion sliced. I would have liked to use peppers and some scallions. Did not have any.
Soy Sauce 2 tsp
Chilli Sauce 1 tbsp
Ginger 1 inch piece sliced
Garlic 4 pods sliced

Oil and Salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Heat water in a pot and cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the packet.

2. In a pan, heat oil till it is smoking. Add the onions, ginger and garlic. Saute for a minute.

3. Add the rest of the vegetables. Saute for 4 minutes.

4. Add the soy sauce and chilli sauce. Mix and cook for another minute.

5. Add some salt and the cooked noodles. Toss well. Garnish with scallions if using.

Vegetable Fried Rice

When I finished making my Gobi Manchurian, I knew I needed Fried Rice to go with it. Nothing can be a better combination for Manchurian than Fried Rice

Once the rice is cooked, it took me 5 minutes to cut the vegetables and 5 minutes to toss all of this together. I cannot stress on the easiness of the recipe




Ingredients

Basmati Rice 2 cups
Onion 1
Red Pepper 1
Yellow Pepper 1
Carrots 2
Spring Onions 3 tbsp
Garlic 1 pod
Peas Handful
Soy Sauce 1.5 tsp
Chilli Tomato Sauce 1 tbsp
Pepper powder 1 tsp

Salt and Oil to taste





Method of Preparation

1. Fry the rice in a little oil or butter and pressure cook. I used 1:1.5 water instead of the usual 1:2 so that it does not stick.

2. Transfer to a big bowl and cool a little and separate the grains.

3. Slice all the vegetables and keep ready.

4. In a pan, heat some oil. Keep the pan hot all the time. Add the onions and garlic. Saute for a minute.

5. Add the peppers, peas, carrots and spring onion. Saute for 4 minutes.

6. Add the say sauce and chilli sauce along with some salt and pepper. Toss well.

7. Add the rice and switch off. You can garnish with some spring onions.

Serve with side of your choice. We enjoyed it with Gobi Manchurian.





Linking this to Lets Cooks - Rice event hosted by Radhika

Gobi Manchurian

We are a big fan of Indo Chinese food in our house. When we were in Boston, we would hunt for restaurants that served this. It was not very common and those which served it did a sloppy job. When we go to Saravana Bhavan in London, we always order some. I have never tried making it though it has been in my list for quite sometime now.

The only downside is, I don't think it is anywhere close to being healthy :-( But I guess it will be better than eating in a restaurant.

I was looking for a good recipe for Manchurian and I saw this recipe in Sarah's Vazhayila. Though I have seen the recipe in many sites, this one looked perfect. Believe me it tasted perfect as well.

I followed her recipe and did not make much changes to it.



Ingredients


To make the Cauliflower
Cauliflower  1 medium size. I had an extra large. so used only 1/2 of it.
Maida  1/2 cup
Corn flour  3 tsp
Chilli powder  1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Onion 2 sliced
Capsicum 1 sliced
Ginger 1 inch piece thinly sliced
Garlic thinly sliced 3 cloves
Dried red chillies seeds 1 tsp
Spring Onion 3 tbsp
Soy Sauce 1.5  tbsp
Chili tomato sauce 1/4 cup (I used maggii hot and sweet chilli sauce)
Corn flour  1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Cut the cauliflower into florets and steam it. I kept in microwave for 3 minutes.

2. In a bowl take maida, corn flour, chilli powder and salt. Mix with water to make a batter of bajji maavu consistency. 

3. Add the steamed cauliflower and mix well to coat the batter on the florets.

4. Heat oil and deep fry them. Keep them aside on a paper towel.

5. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot and smoky, add the onions, ginger and garlic. Saute for a minute. 

6. Now add the capsicum and spring onions and saute for 3 minutes. 

7. Mix the corn flour in 1/4 th cup of water. Add the soy sauce, chilli sauce, corn flour mix and salt. 

8. Add the fried cauliflower and chilli flakes and mix well. Simmer for a couple more minutes.

Garnish with some spring onions and serve with Vegetable Fried Rice or some warm rotis.