Chicken Hakka Noodles

 ( I had made this post on my instagram page around two months back but never got around to posting it here. The weather is not exactly as described , right now. ) 


After four days of gloriously bright sunshine , a clear blue sky and crisp, cold breeze, the day started dull and gloomy and foggy again.

Though it is difficult to call this city's weather gloomy. Even cloudy foggy days are beautiful. I woke up late as I slept very late last night ... was at the fag end of a book and just didn't want to keep it away ... and even though I woke at my regular 6 am, seeing the weather outside, promptly buried myself back into the covers.
Skipped breakfast and just sipped on the hot kadha that I make everyday.
While both of us agreed that such a weather calls for some spicy, deep fried food, we decided we won't indulge in any.
But we did not want the regular meals of rice or roti too.

I had ordered vegetables yesterday and since had almost everything I needed, we zeroed in on some quick stir fried Hakka noodles .
I sliced the vegetables and brought out some frozen pieces of chicken that I had saved from an earlier stew.
Made B's vegetarian version first and then made mine.

Stir fried the shredded chicken with chopped ginger and garlic, green chillies and threw in the vegetables.
After tossing them together, added boiled noodles , a little vinegar, sliced onions and spring onions greens.
Added some crushed black pepper and mixed everything well.
I did not add any sauce as I have given up eating packaged products.
Would have loved some soy and chilli sauce with it😊.

Turned out great.
The noodles were perfectly al dente, the vegetables held their crunch since I cooked them on high heat and just for a little while .... never cover and cook vegetables for Chinese food ... nothing is worse than soft, sagging vegetables in a stir fry.... and the green chillies had the right zing for balance.
.

 Vegetarians can add paneer , tofu or soya chunks for the protein content. 
Or else, just the vegetables work fine too. 

Enjoy!! 

A vegetarian meal of Methi paratha and Matar ki sabzi

We had gone for a drive to the outskirts of the city and after crossing a very high and undulating ghat, came down to a little village that had just a few houses and lots of vegetable fields.
As far as the eyes could see, there were rows and rows of cauliflowers, cabbage, methi / fenugreek ,  radish and so on.There were also fields of fresh green jowar and ripened golden wheat. We also saw lemon orchards at some places.
And on the narrow road, next to the fields sat people with fresh vegetables plucked right then.

I just couldn't not get such fresh vegetables and bought a lot of methi, tender spinach and lots of green peas.The peas were so sweet that I gave in to temptation and ate a lot of them while shelling.
☺️
Yesterday, I made these Methi paratha and Matar ki sabzi .
The Methi parathas are slightly different from the regular ones that I make. 

To these, I added pounded garlic and green chilli to the chopped methi and kneaded it.
And some ajwain too.
The aroma, while frying them, was so good ... rustic and flavourful.

The curry  is too simple ... pressure cooked green peas, chopped potatoes and tomatoes in a tempering of jeera and hing.
Added some green chilli and coriander leaves. That's all.

I did not add any masalas and the sweetness of the peas and the tartness of the tomatoes shone through ... of course balanced by the green chilli and salt.

On the side was my #oilfree #lemonpickle . 
 I also cut up some of the fresh radish as a salad.

Had a satisfying meal while watching one more movie of the WW 2 genre ... my favourite genre for movies and books.

Another look. 
Wholesome freshly cooked meals nourish not only the body but also the soul, filling us wiht positive and happy vibes. 

So eat homely meals, stay safe and stay happy. 

You can find more Paratha recipes here. 

 

Posto diye Lau shaak or Bottle gourd leaves cooked with poppy seeds paste

Among the very few vegetarian food that I would eat when young,  was the shaak or green leafy vegetables . 
We used to have different kinds of shaak everyday on our lunch plate. Among the other compulsory things on the plate like a little Ucche or anything bitter, some Bhaate / boiled and mashed, a piece of lemon, etc. there would be a small pile a leafy vegetable everyday. 
And no, we could not skip it and move on to the rest of the sides like chenchra or chorchori or the main jhols of fish or meat. 
We had to wade through the bitter and the leafy things first. 

The kind of shaak would be varied too. 
One day it would be the Notey and the Kolmi on the other. Sometimes we would get the Gima, a favourite of mine with its slightly bitter taste. 
Then there would be the Shushni shaak, Paat shaak, Palong  and Methi in winters, and lots more. 
Staying away from home in a place where we do not see more than 3 or 4 varieties, I have started to even forget the names. 

The leaves of creepers would be used too. Kumro pata / pumpkin leaves, Lau pata / bottle gourd leaves, Ucche pata / bitter gourd leaves .... and so on. 
The bigger leaves like the former two would be used to paturis / wraps and also for making mixed veg dishes or chorchoris. 
The smaller ones would be used for a stir fry or to make Boras / deep fried dumplings. 

My favourite, however, is the way Ma cooked the Lau pata .... with posto or poppy seeds. And I loved it best when she added some jackfruit seeds too. 
Quick to cook, she would often cook it last, just before we sat down for lunch. 
When she brought the bowl of the steaming hot dish to the table,  I would take a deep breath of that sweet aroma of posto. 
And would take helpings after helpings, ignoring any meat or fish on the table that day. 
I loved to chew on the sweet, soft dnaata slowly, savouring the juicy bits of joints with a happiness that no meat or bone would be able to give. 

I got some Lau pata a few days back and soaked some posto immediately, having this dish in mind. 
And so made it for lunch. 

Need : 

Lau pata / Bottle gourd leaves 

Potatoes - cut into small cubes 

Chopped onion
Grated Ginger
Green chillies, broken 

Bori - I used my home made ones 

Poppy seeds paste 

Paanch phoron / Bengali five spice (a mix of fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, fennel seeds, celery seeds. mustard seeds ) 

Oil  ( I use ghee ) 

How to : 

Soak poppy seeds and make a paste with very little water. 

Soak the leaves in salt water and wash well. 
Chop roughly and keep aside. 

Heat oil / ghee in a kadahi. 
Lightly fry the boris and keep aside. 

Heat oil / ghee. 

Add the paanch phoron .

Add the green chillies and the sliced onion. 

Fry and add the potatoes. Stir fry till half done. 

Now add the chopped leaves and cover. 

It will release water. After it has wilted, give a mix and add the boris, a little salt and the poppy seed paste. 

Mix well and cook till water is absorbed and everything is done. 

It will not be completely dry. 

Serve steaming hot. 
Here is a look of my lunch plate. 

Can you guess the fry on the side? 
More on it later. 

Till then, take care and stay safe. 
Do mask up and stay away from crowded places. 

 

Besan chila ki dahiwali sabzi ..... part of a vegetarian meal plate

I spent most part of the last week relaxing and catching up with my reading, knitting and some bingeing on some light series on Netflix. They are mostly light romances or just simple stories with a backdrop of a small town and the people there. I had loved Virgin River and am right now on Good Witch.
Somewhere in between, I binged on the K drama Heaven's Garden. And was totally smitten by it. I will start on Crash landing on you soon.

The other day I was reading an article about this current craze for kdramas / Korean tv serials .
If you ask me the reason, I will happily give mine.
For starters, they are extremely well made.
The actors are fine, the stories clean and realistic, beautiful locations and above all, you can watch them forever without having a cringe inducing scene jumping right at you or a burst of foul language that will push you to seek for the fast forward ⏩ button.

Honestly I am totally over our desi series.
They are unnecessarily gory, filled with foul language and over the top crime and extremely distasteful scenes of physical intimacy.
I actually check out the ratings first and then decide if they are 'safe' for me to watch 😄

However I am very much a desi when it comes to home cooked food .
This lunch plate has  -  

Besan cheela ki sabzi : 

Make a thin batter with besan /  gram flour, salt, cumin seeds, hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and water. 

Make cheela / crepes on a flat pan or tawa like so. 

Cut into thick strips. 

Beat curd with a little besan and water in a bowl. 
Add turmeric powder, salt. 
Heat a little ghee. 
Add cumin seeds and hing. 
 
Add the curd and cook on low heat till it starts to simmer. 

Let in the chila strips and cook till they soak up enough liquid. 

Serve hot. 

Kale chane ki sabzi : 

Soak and boil black chickpeas. 
Cut potatoes into cubes. 
Chop onions and green chillies. 
Heat ghee. 
Add jeera and the onion. 
Stri fry till pink and add the potatoes. 

Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. 
Cover and cook till just done. 

Add the boiled chickpeas, red chilli powder and the green chillies. 

Cover and cook till everything comes together. 

Sprinkle a little garam masala powder and serve hot. 

My oil free Hing ka achar : 

Mooli ki bhuji 

Cut radish / Mooli into strips. 
Heat oil .... I use 1 tsp of ghee. 
Add jeera / cumin seeds and hing. 
Add in the radish strips and turmeric powder + salt. 

Stir and cover. Cook till done. 

Another look of the full plate. 

 You can see the post here too.  

And here too. 

Enjoy!! 

Soupy noodles with vegetables and Chilli oil

The last few days have been very cloudy.
Not the huge, 'raring to go' kind of cumulus; but the quiet , grey ones. Slowly spreading across the sky, overcasting the city with quiet deliberation. The air has turned colder ... well it was cool all these days, but now it is positively colder.
The ghee in the kitchen has solidified.
And we have taken out the light Jaipuri covers to snuggle under.
So that is a sign.

I decided to make noodles  for lunch a few days back but B wanted something hot and soupy to sip on.
So I made this noodles soup that my youngest maasi used to make and I have grown up eating.

How to : 

Boil the noodles till they are half done.
Drain them and keep aside. 

Stir fry chopped garlic, ginger, carrots, green chilli and add some water.
You may use vegetable or chicken stock too. 

Bring to a boil.

Add salt and a little vinegar.
I added lots of crushed black pepper too .... you can add according to your liking. 

Add in the boiled noodles and a little of the water the noodles were boiled in. 

Serve topped with chilli garlic oil. 

For the Garlic chilli oil, I fried lots of chopped garlic in hot oil. 
Added chilli flakes at the end and removed from heat. 
Done! 

It makes for a great topping on any plain dish. 

 You can add pieces of chicken too , while stir frying the vegetables. 
Or drop in beaten eggs when it is boiling and make it an egg drop soup. 

Whatever way, it makes for a great hot meal. 
Perfect for any cold weather ..... damp oor otherwise. 

Enjoy!! 

Dal Baati Churma Thali or Rajasthani Thali ...... a full meal of delectable vegetarian food

I have been getting a lot of requests to post full meal plans on the blog. 
While I do post my daily meals regularly on Instagram as well as on my FaceBook page, I have not been regular in posting here because of the lack of time. 
To post here, I will need to be armed with complete details of the food. 
How, when, why, and then the full recipe. 
Which makes it easier for me to ignore. 

But the guilt overwhelms. 

I started off with the blog first, after all. 
So no matter how difficult it might be, I will try to post my full meal plates henceforth. 

Starting off with the much loved, glamorous Dal, Baati Churma thali that I cooked for B on his birthday last month. 
I make dal baati meals regularly at home ..... it is a huge relief getting a break from rolling out and cooking rotis. 
I just make the dough and set them in the oven to cook. 
Saves loads of time. 

On my plate here is - 

Gatte ki shukhi sabzi 

Cook the Gatte by following the recipe here. 

Cut them up into medium pieces. 
Temper ghee with jeera, hing and add the gatta pieces. 
Toss with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, amchur powder and salt, till all the spices coat the gattas well and everything comes together. 

Chatpata Kaddu / Spicy Pumpkin sabzi : 

This is a family favourite.
Fresh sweet pumpkin pieces cooked with dry spices to make it spicy and tangy.
You will find the recipe here. 

Aloo bhindi ki sabzi : 

Temper oil ( I use ghee ) with jeera + hing + ajwain and add sliced potatoes. 

Stir fry on high, add turmeric powder and red chilli powder and salt. 

Add cut okra pieces and cover and  cook till everything is done. 

Add some dhania powder, mix well. 

Gulab Jamun : 

You will find the recipe here. 

Jeera Rice : 

Heat ghee in a heavy kadahi. 
Add a big dose of jeera ... more than you would add to a sabzi .... and black cardamom. 
Add sliced onions and fry them on low heat till almost brown. 
Add washed and soaked rice, salt and fry for around 5 minutes. 
Add water, cover and cook till the rice is just done. 

Churma : 

You will find the recipe here. 

Makke ka Dhokla :  

You will find the recipe here.  

Another look. 

 How to serve Dal baat : 

Pour the dal into a serving bowl. 
Break a couple of baatis on it. 
Top with a dollop of ghee. 

Enjoy!!