Flavour Diary: April 2016

Chicken Fried Rice Recipe | IndoChinese Recipe | Flavour Diary

In India we can find Indo chinese food joints on the streets and they are very much crowded too during evenings. These street food joints they make awesome food naming it chinese food with Indian tadka to it. We can find many dishes like manchuria, egg fried rice, veg fried rice, spring rolls and so on. Standing on street and waiting for the order to come and once you get the order and trying out hot hot is a wonderful experience, which i frequently miss it...sometimes it make you sick staying far from motherland. Apart from Indo Chinese food, i miss Chat bandi wala food...they are mouthwatering tooo...typing it itself makes my mouth watering....blah blah....
Today's recipe is Indo Chinese fried rice dish which is easy to make and make use of all the leftover veggies, chicken and rice in the cupboard and fridge.Increase and decrease the quantities as required and to taste. Check out the ingredients and steps for the recipe.
You may also be interested in other Indo-Chinese recipes and here are few.

American Chopsuey

Gobi Manchuria / Cauliflower Manchuria

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Level: Easy

total Time: 25 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Cooked Rice: 2 cup
Chicken: 300gm (small pieces )
Egg:2
Green Chillies: 1 or 2
Vegetables: 1/2 cup (carrots, corn...use veggies as you wish)
Spring Onion: 2
Onion: 1 small
Garlic: 4 cloves (finely chopped)
China salt: 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
Oil: 2 tablespoon
Vinegar : 1 teaspoon
Light Soya Sauce: 1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoon(for chicken)
Black Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Directions
Mix Chicken and 2 tablespoons of soya sauce and keep a side.
In a big pan add 1 tablespoon of oil and add soaked chicken and fry it until cooked takes approx 8 mins. Take it aside.
Now in the same pan add 1 tablespoon of oil and add finely chopped onion, Slit green chilli, garlic and veggies and fry until onion is transparent and veggies are cooked/soft.
Now add 2 beaten eggs to the veggie mixture and scramble it.
Once eggs are cooked, throw in chicken, chopped spring onion, cooked rice, 1 or 2 tablespoon of soya sauce, vinegar, china salt,black pepper, normal salt to taste. Mix well and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve hot

Tips
Increase or decrease the quantities to taste.
You can use freshly cooked rice or leftover rice too.

You might be interested in other Rice recipes, here are few

Lemon Rice / Ginger Lime Rice

Jeera/Cumin Rice

Hyderabadi Mutton Taheri

Wanna try....let set go...

Chicken Fried Rice is going to be part of #foodiemonday #IndoChinese #bloghop recipes

Garlic is one of the super foods and contains vitamins C and B6, manganese, selenium and other antioxidants (notably allicin).More recent evidence-based research suggests garlic may be effective against high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, colds and some cancers.Today's recipe is Dry Garlic Chutney which is easy to make and can be stored in fridge for 15 days.

If you like to know how it is made ... click on below

Dry Chutneys /Podi recipes are quite famous in South India as these are served at anytime of the meal. We have many varieties in Podi's which are combined with ghee/oil and served in breakfast (Idli, Dosa, Upma and on on).

On daily basis in south indian people have first few bites of rice with podi by mixing it with a teaspoon of podi(Garlic,Curry leaf ...) and add ghee and have it. This is one healthy way of having essential vitamins and minerals.

Level: Easy
Prep time: 5mins
Cook Time: 10mins
Makes: 1/2 cup
1 cup:250 ml

Ingredients

Garlic/Lahsun: 100gm
Dessicated Coconut: 50gm
Oil: 1 teaspoon
Chilli Powder : 3 tablespoons(to taste)
Salt to taste

Directions

Peel the garlic and chop it roughly.
In a small pan heat oil and add the garlic. Once it turns light brown add dessicated coconut and fry till raw smell of coconut is gone. Keep it a side and let it cool.
Once the mixture is completely cooled, blend the mixture to fine along with salt and chilli powder.

Serve along with hot steamed rice with ghee/butter or serve it with Idli, Dosa, Upma are any south indian breakfast.

Tips

Increase and decrease the quantities to your taste buds.

Wanna try....let set go..

Other Yummies

Paneer Coconut Halwa

Red Kidney Bean/Rajma Salad

Broccoli Aloo Paratha

Dosa or Indian Pancakes are most popular breakfast among south India. We can find more than 50 variations in dosa with different stuffings or with different lentils. Dosa are basically gluten free and of course we have gluten variety too in the big collection. Today's recipe is one of the beautiful dosa with taste....it has got beautiful pink color because of beetroot.
If you have a little princess like mine who is crazy about pink then here is a breakfast for the little one. I gave my little one a surprise of pink breakfast and she was top of the world, She was handling her breakfast soo carefully and smiling looking at it. Even though she is fussy eater...she happily had her portion...Magic of colour make kids eat...happy baby happy mommy.
Check other Dosa Recipes here and few of them are

Egg Dosa

Pesarattu/ Green Moong dal Dosa

Level: Easy

Total time: 20 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients

Idli Dosa Batter**: 2 cup

Beetroot: 1 medium (boiled and peeled)
Green Chilli: 2 or 3 (to taste)
Ginger: 1/2 inch
Cumin Seeds: 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Finely chopped Onion for stuffing

**For making 1 cup basic dosa batter at home take 1/4 cup of urad dal and 3/4 cup of Idli rice/normal rice, wash and soak for 4 hours and drain water and add 1/3 cup of water and blend to fine paste. Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for instant use or you can let it sit overnight for fermentation. Add 1 teaspoon of salt before use. Dal to Rice ratio is 1:3.

Directions

In blender blend beetroot,green chillies, ginger,cumin seeds to fine paste.

Add the beetroot paste to Dosa Batter.

Heat the pan and drop a ladle full of batter and spread to sides making circular motion and form a circle.
Once the wetness on the surface is gone, Add 2 tablespoons of finely chopped onions and drizzle oil.

Fry till the sides gets lifted up or it turns brown. Now fold in half and take out of the pan and serve hot with your favourite chutney.

Tips

You can add raw beetroot too.
You can make big batch of dosa batter and keep it in fridge for min 3day and upto a week.

You may be interested in other breakfast recipes, here are few among them

Uggani/ Spicy Puffed Rice

Bedmi Poori

Bread Bonda

Sabudana Khichdi

Wanna try....let set go....

Madeira cake is a classic English sponge cake which is delicately flavoured with Almond and lemon and is great as a tea time snack. Madeira cake is dense, firm yet light textured and tastes awesome.
This Madeira Cake got its name from Madeira Wines, portuguese wine which was famous in England and was served along with cake. This cake is different from Madeira Islands traditional Madeira Cake (bolo de mel) which is dark, spicy honey cake.
You may also like to check other tea time cake recipes

Eggless Chocolate Ragi Cake

Orange Cake with Orange Syrup

Stove Top Swiss Roll

Level: Easy

Total time: 60 mins.
Makes: 1 loaf or 7" round cake

Ingredients

Butter: 175gm
Sugar: 175gm
Self Raising Flour: 200gm
Ground Almond: 50gm (blend the almonds to fine powder)
Eggs: 3 large
Zest of lemon: 1 (optional)
Milk as required (approx 30ml or more)
Vanilla extract: few drops(optional)

Directions

Preheat your oven at 170c/150c fan/gas 3.Grease the loaf pan and line the paper.
Beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy.
Add egg one by one and Add vanilla extract and zest of 1 lemon.
Now beat in the flour and Ground Almond until you have a thick batter. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the batter is loose enough that it falls off a spoon.
Pour the batter in loaf pan and bake in middle rack for 50mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let it cool on cooling rack.Slice and enjoy with cup of tea.

Tips:
Once batter poured in pan, make a little well in the middle of the pan.This will make cake to raise almost at the same level.

Try other tea time Savoury snacks

Crispy Bread Bonda

Lauki ki Puri

Oats Spinach Pakoda

Wanna try....let set go....

#MadeiraCake is going to be part of #foodiemonday #bloghop #picnicfood #picnictheme

Broccoli is not so popular in Indian cuisine but by looking at the benefits, i started to include broccoli in on daily cooking.Broccoli does not taste great but it healthy and has lot of health benifits. Broccoli helps in improving digestion and acts as a natural detoxification. Broccoli is high in vitamin K, which improves bone health by improving calcium absorption.Broccoli has many cancer fighting elements in it.
Today's recipe is basic version of broccoli which i use it as a side dish along with plain boiled rice and dal/rasam. Its a very simple dish to make its just boiling or steaming the broccoli and give tadka to it with besan. This is one easy way to have it...even if you don't like have it, because having it has many benefits to it.
You might be interested in other daily cooking recipes..

Crispy Bhindi Fry

Aloo Fry with Onions

Tinda/Dondakaya Coconut Fry

Level: Easy

Total time: 30 min

Ingredients

Broccoli: 1 head

Besan/Gram Flour: 1/3 cup
Onion: 1 medium
Turmeric Powder: 1/4 teaspoon

Chilli powder: 1/2 teaspoon or to taste

Salt to taste

Tadka:

Oil: 2 tablespoon

Cumin seeds/jeera: 1 teaspoon
Asafetida/Hing: 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves

Directions

Wash and cut the florets of broccoli in bite size pieces.
Bring 2 cups of water to boil and add salt and broccoli and boil for 5 mins until broccoli is 75% cooked(Or steam the broccoli florets). Drain the water and run cold water on it.

Now in a pan add oil, once hot add cumin seeds,asafetida,curry leaves and add finely chopped onions. Once onions is translucent add turmeric powder and broccoli to it. Stir fry for 1 min on high flame and then add Besan/Gram flour, chilli powder. Mix well and close the lid and on medium flame let it cook for 5- 8 mins until the raw smell of the gram flour is gone completely.

Tips

you can add Amchoor powder or lemon juice along with besan for tanginess.

Wanna try....let set go....

Carrot Cabbage Kofta Curry

Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan

Paneer Butter Masala

Today's recipe is one of the rarest and hidden recipe from Hyderabadi Cuisine and its called as Shahjahani Meetha. An unusual Halwa recipe which is made using tomatoes...yes you read it right it's made with less tangy tomatoes or salad tomatoes and milk. This halwa/Meetha is super easy, made with few ingredients and delicious and have all the goodness of milk and its is best for kids.
It's easy to make if you have readymade Mawa/Khoya or just make it at home just like i did, if you are serving for few people. I recommend you to use store bought mawa if you are preparing in larger quantities as it takes huge lot of time to prepare huge quantity of mawa.
Surprise your guests and let keep them guessing of what this halwa made of. And of course you can enjoy making it during fasting days and enjoy it after you break the fast.
You may also be interested in other unusual halwa recipes

Coconut Moong Dal Halwa Truffle

Sweet Corn Halwa

Here are few health Benefits of Tomatoes:

As tomato contains large amount of lycopene, an antioxidant which is highly effective in fighting cancer. Tomato helps in reducing blood cholesterol, which in turn prevent heart diseases. It is a rich source of vitamins and minerals. It is natural antiseptic hence it help protect against infections.

Level: Easy

total Time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Salad Tomatoes: 300gms (less tangy tomatoes)
Full Fat Milk: 500ml ( or use 75gm mawa)
Sugar: 50gms
Cardamom powder: 1/8 teaspoon or a pinch
Red Colour: 1/8 teaspoon(optional)

Directions
Making Mawa/khoya:
In a wide nonstick pan add milk to boil and keep stirring and scrape the edges until you get thick consistency dough just like in picture.Make sure the heat is high and you stir continuously. And your Mawa is ready in 15 mins.

Making Meetha/Halwa:
While your mawa is getting ready, on other stove take a pan add tomatoes and water and cook on high flame until tomatoes are cooked,approximately it takes 7-8 mins .(I mean simply blanch tomatoes).

Drain water and peel the tomatoes skin off. Mash the tomatoes using potato masher or with spoon.

Now in a pan add mashed tomatoes and cook until the water is gone and then add sugar,red food colour, cardamom powder. Once sugar melts cook for 2 more minutes and then add prepared Kova/Mawa and cook for more 4 to 5 mins. Now your shahjahani meetha is done...serve with chopped dry fruits.

Tips
The whole process of making shahjahani meetha/halwa. is done on high flame and your supervision is always required.
Make use of salad tomatoes or less sour tomatoes for making this halwa otherwise you will end up with tangy sweet halwa meetha.
If you are using store bought mawa then skip the steps under making of mawa.