Chinese Stir fry Vege with curry Laksa

Last thursday our dinner. Sometimes for a change we make noodles and stir fry vege. Curry laksa is noodles dipped in curry which is lightly spiced with a elegant flavour of coconut milk.

Laksa (Chinese: 叻沙; pinyin: lèshā) is a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore. The name may originate from the Sanskrit word laksha (लक्ष), meaning “many” and referring to the soup’s many ingredients; the word is also the origin of the Hindi term lakh.for more look at here

Let me come to the recipe first for Laksa.  My pictures are not clear at the very right moment my camera battery went low phew! So i took all pitures in my handphone which came handy at the right time. My daughter and H werein a hurry to eat with tofu and bean sprouts not left for the photo …..
 

 

All you need

Laksa boiled thick soft white rice noodles – 1 packet

bean sprouts – 2 cups

boiled egg – optional

fried tofu cut into triangles

spring onions/coriander for garnish

Thick coconut milk -1 cup

 

Make a raw Paste of the following

shallots – 4

red chillies – 8

ginger - 2 inch

garlic pods – 4

lemon grass bulbs – 2

coriander powder – 1 tsp

turmeric powder – 1 tsp

 

• Take oil in a kadai fry the paste until fragrant
• Add 1 glass of water and the noodles, salt boil until soft
• Add coconut milk, tofu pieces  simmer for 2 minutes care not to put in high flame
• Take a serving bowl add the soup nooddles, bean sprouts, boiled egg
• Serve with spirng onions garnished. Yumm noodles is ready

Note: Can substitute milk for coconut milk, some of my friends did say even one of the recipe link at the wikipedia has a similar recipe.

Stir Fry Vegetables

This is my contribution for Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. This is a very easy to stir, stir and serve hot.

 

All you need

carrots – 1 cup

asparagus – 1 cup

brocolli – 1 cup

baby corn – 1 cup

snow peas – 1 cup

garlic pods – 5 (cut finely)

soya sauce – 2 tsp

garlic- chilli-ginger- shallot -sauce – 2 tsp

salt and sugar to taste

seseme seeds – 1 tsp

olive oil – 2 tsp

• Take oil in a pan, add seseme seeds fry until light brown
• Add garlice fry until fragrant
• Add all vege cut into long strips, soya sauce, salt and sugar
• Stir fry in high flame until all vege just crunchy
• Stir in the sauces and serve hot

So this is going to Meeta

ಮೇತಿ ಪನೀರ್/Methi Paneer with Rajma

After long time again i was in time to get some fresh methi leaves last week. Being sunday i can’t just be doing normal methi sambhar or fry, it must be some tangy curry that goes for puris/parotas.  So i thought of mixing methi with one can of kidney beans which had been lying for quite a few months. I mixed up to be in favour of all our of us kidney beans for my H, paneer for kids and methi well for me …. the curry turned out quite tasty than expected.

All you need

methi /fenugreek leaves – 1 bunch

kidney beans – 1 can

paneer/cottage cheese cut into cubes – 1 cup

ginger paste – 2 tsp

garlic paste – 2 tsp

onion  cut finely – 1

1 onion and 2 tomatoes made into paste

milk – 1/4 cup

cream – 1 tbsp

corainder powder – 1 tbsp

kitchen king masala – 1 tbsp

chilli powder – 2 tsp

salt to taste

• Take a kadai het oil, add (anise, cloves, bay leaves, cinamon stick) fry until nice aromo spreads
• add onions and fry until tansclucent.
• Add ginger garlic paste fry remove raw smell
• Add washed methi leaves, fry until the leaves wilt
• Add tomato onion paste, masala powders, salt and let the mixture simmer for few minutes
• Add kidney beans, do a taste check let the mixture come to boiling point now add paneer cubes either fried/baked.(I do not fry or bake i use as it is)
• Add milk and stir for few secs and mix cream and turn off fire.
• Serve hot with puris/parotas/chapatis

note: Canned kidney beans has sugar and salt.

ಬಸಳೆ ಹಶಿ/Spinach Raita

Havyak food never ends without a delicious raita. This raita is very simple can be made even with methi leaves. To avoid bitterness in methi add some jaggery to it. As a young girl i would love basale (spinach) greens. These greens may be little sticky depending on the varienty of Basale just like lady’sfinger. There are a few varieties of these green leaves small greens, large huge red stalk with green leaves, large green leaves and also one more is very thin greens all belong to the same family.  The last variety is very tastier i love the most. Though i do not find it here.  These can be grown nicely in your backyards. To know the health benefits of spinach read here. This is my entry for JFI greens hosted by Indira of Mahanandi and Green Blog Project hosted by Mandira from Ahaar.

small potted spinach just for fun

few spinach leaves from my plant

Spinach Raita

All you need

Basale  – 1 bunch

onion – 1 cut finely

grated coconut – 1/2 cup

green chillies – 1

yogurt/curds – 1 cup

tempering

mustard seeds – 1tsp

urad dhall – 1 tsp

hing – 1/4 tsp

red chilles – 2

• Wash and chop spinach finely
• Cook spinach with water and salt until soft let it cool
• Grind green chillies, coconut with water to a fine paste
• Add the coconut paste, chopped onions and curds to spinach and mix well
• Prepare for takda, add red chillies, hing urad dhall, mustard to hot oil
• Allow mustard to splutter, pour it to the spinach mixture.
• Serve with rice.

ಪಡವಲಕಾಯಿ ಕೂಟು/Pudalangai Milagu Kootal/Snake Gourd kootu

Introduction to Tamil cuisine was when i first came to Singapore. Though i did have Tamilian friends our life was not centered to food.  We make kootu, sambhar (tamil) style, kozambu as part of our weekly menu atleast once a week.Basically kootu can be made from any vegetable/greens, kootu with spinach is very tasty and we prefer eating it this way. This is the fist time i tried Kootu with snake guard taste was awesome. This is my contribution for Lakshmi’s RCI

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snake guard – 1

masoor dhall – 1/2 cup

turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

coconut oil – 2 tsp

mustard seeds- 1tsp

red chillies  -2

curry leaves – 1 sprig

Paste

grated coconut – 1/2 cup

rice – 1 tsp

cummin seeds – 4tsp

red chillies – 4

• Fry red chillies and grind to a paste with coconut, rice and cummin seeds
• Pressure cook dhall until soft ( 3 whistles)
• Cut snake guard to medium size
• boil snake guard with some water and salt until half cooked, add the dhall  and mix well let it cook for 2 minutes
• Add the coconut paste cook until the snake guard has boiled turn off fire
• Prepare for takda, with coconut oil mustard seeds, chillied, hing and curry leaves and add to the koot
• Serve hot with rice

For the paste you can substitute red chilli with green chillies for spinach and dhall you can use moong dhall for masoor dhall.

ಗೊಜ್ಜು ಅವಲಕ್ಕಿ/Gojju Avalakki

I am sharing one of the my favorite Avalakki’s. This type of avallakki is famous nearby bangalore and mysore haven’t heard anywhere in north kanara.This is also called Hulli avalakki. This is mom’s recipe, i  love any type of avallaki from vogarne, batata poha /allugadde avallaki  the list goes on…….
 

All you need

Beaten rice/poha (thick/medium) – 1 cup

tamarind paste – 2 tsp

jaggery – 2 tsp

rasam powder – 1 tbsp

curry leaves – 1 sprig

groundnut – 10

coriander leaves – 1 tbsp

coconut grated – 1 tbsp

• Powder poha to a coarse powder like rava

• wash poha in water, add tamarind paste, jaggery, salt and rasam powder and mix

• let it rest for 10 minutes

• If the poha is dry sprinkle some water

• Take a kadai, fry groundnuts in oil , mustard seeds, hing, curry leaves

• Add poha fry for a minute until mixed well

• Add grated coconut and coriander leaves and serve hot /cold

rasam powder

coriander seeds – 1 tbsp

jeera  – 1 tsp

pepper – 1/4 tsp

chillies – 4-5

fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp

hing – a pinch

dry roast the above and powder it

Vegetable Biryani

This is another series of Rice pulavs. One of my daugther’s favorite pulav she calls it red pulav. My pulav did not turn out red may be due to the chillies. Rice pulavs are one of top for our weekend lunchs. You can prepare the gravy and Rice separely and bake in oven with layer of rice and gravy alternately for 10 mins. Garnish with spring onions and coriander to have colourfull layered rice. I did not have much time to do the same today.

Ingrediants

Vegetables(carrot/beans/cauliflower/cabbage/capsicum/peas of your choice)

onion thinly sliced- 1big

curds/yogurt – 2 tbsp

saffron/kesari  threads-  1/4 tsp

tomato – 1

ginger paste – 2 tsp

garlic paste – 4 tsp

Basmati rice – 2 cups

(star anise,cloves,cinamon) – for tempering

Coriander leaves – 1 cup

Ghee/oil for frying

masala powder

red chillies – 5-6

coriander seeds - 4 tsp

cummin seeds - 2 tsp

cinnamon – 1 inch

cardomom – 1 -2

cloves – 4

nutmeg/jajikayi – 2 flakes

• Soak Rice for half an hour

• Dry roast all the ingrediants for masala powder and powder it

• Heat ghee/butter in pressure pan add the whole garam masala fry for a minute

• add onions fry until translucent, add ginger garlic paste fry until raw smell dissappears

• Add masala powder tomatoes, fry until tomato is fried well

• Add curds and saffron mix and fry until all masala blend well

• Add rice vegetables (except cabbage/capsisum/cauliflower) mix well

• Add water and salt let it boil taste for salt now add the remaining vege mix well add coriander leaves and close the pan for 2 -3 whistles

• Garnish with fried cashews and serve hot with raita

 

 

ಕರ್ಜುರ ರೋಲ್ಸ್/CoconutDates(Tumr Bel Nargine)

This is very simple dessert and one of the popular snacks with a hot cup of tea from Saudi Arabia.  It is one of the common desserts. Dates are sugary yet not very sweet. I had two boxes of Dates lying in the fridge for almost more than a month. This dessert just came as a good choice for a tasty dessert. The taste of the Dates with coconut was fabulous.

This is my entry for Meeta’s Monthly Mingle inspired by Sia and Asha thanks to both of them

 All you need

Pitted Dates – 1 cup

whole Almonds peeled and Blanched - 10-15

cardamom powder – 1tsp

Butter/ghee – 1 tbsp

Grated coconut – 1/2 cup

• Heat butter and fry dates until soft and coated with butter with a glazy look

• Add cardamom powder  mix and let it cool

• Deep Fry in oil /roast Almonds in oven until light brown

• Mix and mash the date mixture roughly

• Take a lemon size ball/enough to stuff an almond, stuff the almond and cover the date dough

• Roll the date roll in grated coconut and serve with a hot cup of tea with some spicy chips

CholeMasala

This is one of my favorite side dish for pooris and baturas. There is very funny but yet to say a initiative to try new recipes.  This was during the first fews months after my marriage, i had an immense liking to try new recipes. At that time there was one cooking series at the local channel and that week hosted for one type of cholle I can’t remember the name. The recipe called for using tamarind paste. Due to my interest I did not want to go wrong with this dish so i recorded the whole procedure. But to my utter disappointment i ended up with a very very sour cholle. My H ended up pouring water and even then the sourness was dominating. I ended up throwing the whole cholle .  This made me realise i can watch/read cooking series does not mean i have to follow exact measurements of the all with blogging it is different. What we see may not be used and also the variations is different quality of ingrediants used, gives us different tastes and also matters on individuals.

Until today when i prepare this dish my H never forgets to refresh us with those days .

 All you need

Chick peas – 1 cup(soaked overnight and boiled until soft)

potato – 1(boiled)

onion- 1(cut finely)

cholle masala(everest) – 2 tsp

turmeric powder – 1 tsp

pav bhaji masala- 1 tsp

fennel seed powder – 1 tsp

coriander powder – 1tsp

chilli powder – 1 tsp(optional)

garlic paste – 2 cubes

ginger paste – 2 cubes

paste1

corainder leaves – 1 tbsp

mint leaves – 1 tbsp

green chillies – 1tsp

paste 2

onion- 1

tomato – 2 ( depending on sourness)

coriander leaves for garnishing

 

• Take a kadai , add whole garam masala cloves/cinnamon/star anise, fry until nice aroma spreads

• add cut onions fry until translucent, add ginger garlic paste fry until raw smell disappears

• Add onion- tomato paste , add all the dry powders fry until the oil releases

• Now add mashed potato, boiled chick peas add 2 glass of water and salt . Check for taste.

• Simmer the mixer until a thick gravy forms, now add the coriander-mint-chilli paste let it mix with the rest and boil for another 2-3 mintes.

• Serve with puris/baturas/parotas.