Vegetable Hakka Noodles And Chilli Paneer

Every now and then, I have this craving for Indo-Chinese and sadly there are just one or two places in the bay area where I can get something very close to what you get in India. So at times, I slog it out in the kitchen to recreate some of my favorite dishes. The first ever taste of noodles I had was from a Restaurant in Hyderabad near my home called Reddy's and they used to pack these awesome hakka moodles with a salan-like gravy. I know you are probably thinking gravy with noodles??? But trust me, this was the tastiest accompaniment to the noodles and it tasted even better when reheated the next day. Sadly that place closed down and I have never found an equivalent of it since then. I didn't fathom it back then but that was my first taste of fusion food :) . Another tasty haunt for indo chinese is the road side stalls where they cook up the food with fire rising from the wok. The downside to these places is that you never really know what you are eating and the upside is that whatever is on your plate will please your taste buds. My initiative of cooking Indo-Chinese food started with my desire to get my mom to taste some of it since she is a hard core vegetarian and very apprehensive about trying chinese food. So I started with fried rice and vegetable manchurian and was delighted when she ate it and loved it. The recipe I have in this post for Chilli Paneer was an outcome of a weekend I spent at my friend Renuka's place in Chicago. She introduced me to mushroom soy sauce which is a thick and rich variety of soy sauce and adds wonderful flavor to all chinese food. It is high in sodium but then you cannot afford to pay much attention to the sodium and oil content of Indo-Chinese food if you don't want it bland. I have used this sauce for making alu 65 with tater tots as my friend did and it is a very easy and tasty dish to make for a pot luck. The chilli paneer version with this sauce is easy as well and a perfect accompaniment to any fried rice or noodle dish that you whip up. I could go on and on about Indo-Chinese food but I should probably stop here so that I have more to write next time:)

Vegetable Hakka Noodles Recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Hakka Egg Noodles - 1 packet, boiled and strained (I get this pack in the India store)
2. Ginger - 2 inch piece chopped finely
3. Garlic - 10 cloves, finely chopped
4. Carrot - 1 cup, cut into thin long strips
5. Beans - 1 cup cut diagonally and thin
6. Cabbage - 1 cup, chopped long
7. Spring onion - 1 cup
8. Salt
9. Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Vinegar - 1/t tsp
11. Mushroom soy sauce - 1 tsp
12. MSG or ajinomoto - 1/4 tsp
13. Red chilli flakes - 1/4 tsp
14. Oil - 1 tbsp

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok and when it gets very hot, add the ginger and garlic.
2. Once the ginger and garlic are fried, add the sprint onions and cabbage.
3. Saute on high heet for a min and then add the carrot and beans.
4. Once the veggies are cooked slightly (don't let them overcook), add the noodles, salt, pepper, chilli flakes, msg, vinegar, soy sauce and mix well.
5. Let the noodles cook on high heat for a couple of mins and they are done.

Chilli Paneer Recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Oil - 1 tsp
2. Ginger - 2 inch piece, finely chopped
3. Garlic - 10 cloves, finely chopped
4. Spring onion - 1 cup, chopped
5. Jalapenos - 2 , sliced diagonally
6. Paneer cubes - 1.5 cup
7. Mushroom soy sauce - 1/2 cup or more as needed

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok and when really hot, add the ginger and garlic. Let it cook for a couple of mins.
2. Add the spring onions and paneer and stir fry until the paneer browns lightly and starts turning crisp.
3. Add the jalapenos and cook for a couple of mins. Add the mushroom soy sauce and cook for 2 mins.
4. Add more soy sauce if you want a little sauce in the dish. Garnish with some sprint onion and enjoy hot.

Alu - 65

This is an amazingly simple recipe that my friend Renuka introduced me to during my recent trip to Chicago. It is a shortcut recipe which cooks really quick because you use tater tots instead of taking raw alu and cooking it. This recipe is slightly high on salt but it is yum yum yummy. Thanks Renu!

Ingredients:

1. Tater tots - 1/2 a bag
2. Olive oil - 2 tsps
3. Garlic - 7-8 pods chopped
4. Green chillies - 3-4 chopped
   
5. Soy sauce or mushroom - 3 tbsps (you can use low sodium)
6. Red chillie paste - 2 tsps
7. Cilantro - 2 tbsps chopped
8. Lemon - 1/2

Directions:

1. Thaw the tater tots and bake them at 350 for 20 mins. Then broil then to make then darker in color.
2. Heat the olive oil and add the garlic and chillies until the garlic turns brown.
3. Add the tater tots, soy sauce, chilli paste and sautee on high heat until the potatoes are coated well with the sauce.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantra and lemon juice and enjoy!
   

Gobi Manchurian (Funchurian)

I renamed this dish "Funchurian" because my hubby and I had a lot of fun making it:). For those struggling to get the right consistency for the batter, here are some tips
1) If you are using corn starch (not corn flour) mix some besan into it and it will get a better consistency.
2) You can add some chilli powder to the batter to make it look closer tot he kind we are used to.
3) Nothing beats corn flour or starch for this dish, but if you don't have either, try mixingup maida and besan for the batter. Let me know if this works ok.


Sweety, this is for you!


Ingredients:

1) Cauliflower
2) Corn Flour (enough to make batter for the cauliflower)
3) Green chillies
4) Ginger (2 inches long)
5) Garlic (6-7 big cloves or 10-12 small ones)
6) Chopped spring onion
7) Soy Sauce
8) Oil to fry
9) 1 cup water for the gravy


Directions:

1) Make a batter with the corn flour and water. Cut the cauliflower into 1-2 inch pices and dip it int he batter and deep fry. Keep the fried cauliflower on a tissue so that it absorbs excess oil.

2) In a pan heat 2 tsps oil and add chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute for a min or two.

3) Add the water to the sauteed mixture and let it come to a boil. Add enough soy sauce so that the mixture is a deep brown. No gently pour in 2-3 spoons of the left over corn flour batter and keep stirring. Once this mixture comes to a boil and the corn flour batter is mixed it, the consistensy will start thickening.

4) Add the fried machurian to the gravy and take it off the heat. Garnish with some chopped spring onion and serve hot with fried rice!


Note: My motivation to learn this dish was to get my mom to try manchurian. She shied away from it because it resembled non-vegeterian dishes and the only way I could convince her to eat it was to make it at home. She loved it and now never hesitates to eat it even when we eat out. :) . Unfortunately this time when I made it, my hubby and I gobled it up before I could take a pic. So maybe next time!