Szechuan-Style Stir Fry

I make stir fry about 2 times a week. It's a great, simple and tasty way to eat your daily vegetable requirement. The recipe below includes all the veggys I used but you can modify it according to what you like-you can even add chicken/beef etc, whatever tickles the pickle.

Serves 2-3

What we need:
Veggys:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 sliced onion
2 diced garlic cloves
1 tbsp thinly sliced ginger
2 thinly sliced carrots
4 diced mushrooms
1 sliced green pepper
1 small flower broccoli
8-10 baby corn
1 small can sliced water chestnuts
1 tbsp sesame oil (optional)
Szechaun Sauce-In a bowl add together:
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp szechuan sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp chilli sauce
Pinch of salt & pepper

How we do:

• In a wok on medium-high heat, add 3 tbsp olive oil . Once hot add the garlic, ginger and onion. Stir.
  
• Now add the carrots, pepper and mushrooms. After 2 minutes, add the broccoli. Stir constantly.
• Add the baby corn and water chestnuts at this point and drizzle on the sesame oil. Mix well.
• Add the Szechaun Sauce mixture to the vegetables.
• Put on high heat and stir well until sauce thickens.
  
• Serve with rice or noodles
• Balle Balle! You're ready to chow down!
  

Vanilla Cupcakes

I've been experimenting with cup cake recipes for a while and these are by far the simplest recipe I've come up with. Have a go with it..let me know how it works out for you!

What we need:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 egg whites
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Vanilla frosting
Sprinkles/Topping of your choice

How we do:

• Preheat oven to 350*F/180* C and line cup cake pan with cup cake liners
• In a bowl, cream the butter with the sugar
• Add the flour, salt, and baking powder and mix together
• Now add the egg whites and vanilla essence. Slowly add the milk and beat well until batter is smooth
• Bake for approx 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cupcake comes out clean
• Let cool and apply vanilla frosting and sprinkles. Best served warm with ice cold milk.
  
• BALLE BALLE! How easy was that? Enjoy!
  

2 Minute Mint Chutney

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated my blog- I have been swamped with projects and exams and such. Regardless, I'm back and equipped with many a recipe to catch you all up on! Thank you to everyone who has left me comments, I really appreciate it! Now the formalities are done, I feel the need to talk about today's recipe. It's a quick, delicious mint chutney recipe which I learnt from my Madre and modified slightly ( like most of my recipes). You can use it as a dipping sauce, I have it with my Sunday roast. Oh and I love it on my cheese sandwiches. It's a great way to jazz up regular recipes and it takes 2 minutes to make. Check it out:

What we need:

Handful washed mint
Handful washed coriander
Half onion
1/2 green chilli (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp tomato ketchup (original recipe uses tamarind paste-both work well)
2 tbsp water

How we do:

• Add all of the ingredients into a food processor
• Once grinded into a smooth consistency, taste for salt. If more is needed, add now.
• BALLE BALLE! You're done.
  

Ikea Hotdogs

So this past weekend I had a terrible time as my car broke down...poor Sheila. It was not nice and amidst the towing and trying to get parts and such, my bro asked me a question which brightened my up my whole weekend and made everything better... 'Wanna grab a hot dog from Ikea?'. My answer without a doubt was YES PLEASE. Okay so let us take a couple steps back...why the enthusiasm for hot dogs sold at the cafe of a Swedish furniture store? Well the answer is that they sell quite possibly the tastiest hot dogs for 50 cents! Sure, you may say well for 50 cents i'm sure you're raving but they're all beef and taste hella good.
I know it's not my regular protocol to review food but I felt the need to let this out. Try em out!

Menu Project

I took a class this semester called 'Quantity Food Preparation'. Sounds complex but it's really a class where we learn how to cost, prepare and cook food in a commercial kitchen etc. At the beginning of the term, we were assigned a Menu Project in which we, in groups, had to come up with a menu theme for a 5 course meal. We had to cost it, analyze the nutrients, prepare it and finally cook and present it to a panel of judges. My group's theme was that all of our dishes were to be made using tea. After an 8 week period of researching and experimenting, today was the day we had to cook our meal and present it. Everything went really well and turned out we won not third, not second BUT first place! Really enjoyed the whole process. A lot of work went into our 5 item menu..can't imagine the work that goes into comprising a complete restaurant menu. Anyway, check out the pictures below:

Smokey Dumplings with Cream Cheese and Lapsang Souchong tea filling

Green Fruits Salad in Jasmine Tea Syrup

Mushroom Barley Soup & Peach and Ginger Glazed Chicken

Broiled Pineapple with Creme Anglaise Sauce and Chai Tea Ice Cream

We won!

Khichdi-Indian Comfort Food

Kichdi (pronounced kichery) is an Indian rice dish made from rice and lentils. It is commonly considered to be India's comfort food and it's probably one of the quickest Indian meals to make. For being so simple I find it surprising at how tasty it turns out everytime its made. Read on:

Serves 2

What we need:

2 tbsp butter
1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1 black cardomom
1 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 cup rice, washed
1/2 cup of moong dahl, washed
1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
2 tsp salt
5 cups water

How we do:

• Heat a pressure cooker and add the butter
• Add the cumin seeds and cardomom. When begins to sizzle, add the ginger
• Cook for 1-2 minutes until light golden
• Add the rice, dahl and water. You can also pop in the salt and haldi
• Taste the water to see if it has enough/too much salt. Adjust accordingly
• Mix everything together
• Close the pressure cooker. Cook on high heat and let the pressure build.
• Once it does, reduce heat and cook for 3 minutes
• Now, remove from heat and let it to cool on its own allowing all the steam to escape. Then carefully open the lid.
• NOTE: If you do not have a pressure cooker, follow the above steps using a pan and once everything is mixed together let it cook on medium heat for 20 minutes until dahl and rice are very soft.
  
• BALLE BALLE! You're done. Best served with yogurt, diced cucumbers and tomatoes and a sprinkle of coriandor. Oo and mango pickle!
  

The Perfect Chicken Sandwich

Below is the recipe for the best chicken sandwich in the world. Follow Carefully:

What we need:

Driving license
Car
$3.79
How we do:

• Get in your car
• Drive to your nearest Chick Fil A
• Order an Orignal Chicken sandwich
• Balle balle! You're done. Enjoy the most perfect chicken sandwich ever!