vegetable manchurian

I have had Manchurian at several places, and till I first made it at home, I always thought it is a special dish which cannot be made easily at home. But after trying it for the first time, I found to my surprise, that its not only a quick dish, but also not difficult at all.

ingredients
cabbage, grated
carrots, grated
spring onions, chopped
green chilies, finely chopped
fresh garlic, chopped
corn flour
dark soy sauce
ajinomoto (optional)
salt, pepper
sugar
oil

garnish
spring onions

recipe
Take the grated cabbage and carrots and mix in a bowl. If they have extra water, squeeze out. Add 3 spoonfuls of corn flour and mix well. Make small balls from these. If the corn flour seems less for binding, put a bit more. Use only enough corn flour as is needed for binding. The idea is not to soak the grated mixture in a heap of corn flour which makes the dish very heavy and thick to the bite.

Now heat oil in a deep pan. Do not put oil as is usually put for deep frying. We only need to fry the manchurian balls so that the corn flour is cooked. No need to soak them in oil. Put an inch of oil, bring to a heat. Now put the manchurian balls in oil and let one side cook. After a while, turn the sides and leave for cooking again. As the corn flour cooks, the balls will turn brown. Take them out after squeezing extra oil. Place on a kitchen paper towel.

Take a saucepan and add 2 teaspoonfuls of oil. Heat it and then add the freshly chopped garlic, green chilies and spring onions. Toss them for 1 minute, then add water. Water should be added according to the total quantity of gravy required in the dish. Now add salt, pepper to taste. Add a pinch of ajinomoto and half a teaspoon of sugar. Add 2 teaspoons of dark soy sauce and bring to a boil.

In a small bowl, mix a teaspoon of corn flour in cold water and add to the manchurian gravy. The gravy will thicken. Repeat this process till you achieve the gravy in a consistency you desire. Now add the fried manchurian balls in the gravy. Let it mix for 1 minute.

Serve hot with a garnish of spring onions.

note
mix the manchurian balls in the gravy just before you’re ready to eat. If you still have other dishes to cook, then do not mix the manchurian balls in the gravy as they turn too soggy.

broccoli & baby-corn stir-fry in red onions

this dish is a healthy and nutritious one, but at the same time it tickles the taste buds. the primary ingredients are simple tossed in seasonings to give a delightful flavor to the dish. this dish can be eaten as a quick healthy snack or a salad substitute.

broccoli is one of the most nutritious vegetables. broccoli has much more vitamin C than an orange and the same amount of calcium as a glass of milk. it is also a very rich source of vitamin A. it also has high fiber content and has cancer-fighting components.

ingredients
broccoli florets, keep the entire stalk as well
baby-corn
red onions, very finely sliced
fresh garlic – very finely chopped, else paste can also be used
salt, pepper
red chilly finely chopped, else use red chilly powder
sesame seeds
extra virgin olive oil

garnish
lime or olive oil

recipe
Take a deep pan and put inch of water in it, depending on the quantity of vegetable being used. The vegetables once put in the water should not be fully immersed in it, so keep the water level lower than vegetables. Heat it and add the broccoli florets and baby corn in it. Cover the pan with a lid and leave it for 4-5 minutes. Check when the vegetables are soft but still crunchy. Do not over cook. Once done, drain any extra water and leave aside.

On a separate saucepan, put a teaspoon of olive oil. Add the sesame seeds to hot oil. Once these splutter, add the freshly chopped garlic or the garlic paste. Add the red chilly or red chilly powder. Now add the sliced red onions and toss. Let the onions soften for 1 minute, then add the broccoli florets and baby corn and toss well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss for 3-4 minutes.
Serve hot with a dash of lime or olive oil on top.

variations
paprika – the red chilly or powder can be substituted with paprika
sesame oil – if you do not have seeds, but have the oil, then cook the dish in a teaspoonful of sesame oil. Garnish with the olive oil.

simple potato salad

while fancy foods and the silver-platters delight us all, i am a big eat-healthy-but-tasty-foods person. i do not think that unless we're professionally into cooking, we bake each day, or roast chicken every meal, or make five sumptous foods for each meal all the time. we do not always eat an elaborate spread when we also have 9-5 jobs to keep. so i strongly suspect that my blog is going to have a lot of food that we really eat with the readily available home ingredients.

i'm starting with a very quick simple hot potato salad which can be dished up anytime, either as a quick snack, or as a side dish with a meal.

ingredients
potatoes - boiled (take as many as you need depending on if it's for a side dish or a salad meal). cut the boiled potatoes into square small pieces
chopped oninons, not too fine
chopped tomatoes, not too fine
chopped cucumber, not too fine
salt, pepper
chaat-masala
lime

garnish
finely chopped coriander (optional)

recipe
take a tawa (pan) and put a table spoon of oil. when the oil is hot, add the onions and toss. keep the flame high. toss for 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes. toss for 1 minute and add the cucumber. now add the potatoes and toss again. add salt and pepper to taste. add a pinch of chaat-masala and keep it on high-flame for 2 minutes. keep tossing continously so that none of the ingredients cook too much, and remain crunchy. squueze some fresh lime on the salad and garnish with coriander.
the salad is ready !

variations
the best part about this salad is that apart from the basic potatoes, onions, tomatoes, a lot of ingredients can be added depending on individual tastes and availability. a few options are listed.
chopped carrots can be added - add this if you like carrots or a sweet flavour in your foods.
chopped peppers - peppers have an individual flavour, but go very well with this recipe. if you are not a peppers person, very finely chop them so that they do not rebel in the food but you still get the flavour.
peanuts - they can be either crushed and added or put as whole nuts.
red chilli powder or finely chopped green chillies - if you want to spice up the salad, add either/both of these

how the food blog was cooked up

today in a random mail i wrote to S, i wrote 'few things you wouldn't know about me, part 1 - food'

as simple as it gets , she suggested me to start a food blog. i said 'let me pull together a few recipes and i'll start one'. knowing how lazy i am and how 'i will do this and that...' leads me nowhere, she said 'this means it's never starting'. so i decided to go ahead without any prep work, any thought-of-recipes, any intended well designed fancy template, and just start the blog. all the nuances can be whipped later on....

so thank you S. let me whip up my first online recipe : )