Posts by Hazeena Seyad | Saute Fry N Bake

chinese egg plant stir fry

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Chinese egg plant stir fry , a recipe I came across in the telly where a Chinese chef prepared this dish with chicken powder and cooking wine as ingredients . I have substituted chicken powder with chicken stock cube and omitted the cookin…g wine . tweaked the recipe to suit our times . so I guess my version must be a bit different in taste from the original version but not to complain at all . I did take note of one thing , every time I post a recipe with egg plant the number of likes the post gets is just in single digits . Well , I am not ready to give up as this local produce is a staple through out our country in all regions and things have changed from the way we eat to think about food . Even if it’s a simple family gathering or a grand celebration in any corner of the globe , we Indians are sure to find the egg plant in the menu adding to every moment of it … Isn’t it ????

Chinese egg plant stir fry

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Big violet egg plants	2 cut into finger size long pieces
Dry red chillies	6 to 8
Vinegar	1 1/2 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon
Sugar	1 tablespoon + 1 /2 teaspoon
Oil	to deep fry + 1 teaspoon
Ginger	1 /2 inch piece cut into thin strips
Garlic flakes	3 cut into thin strips
Spring onion	1 teaspoon chopped + 1 teaspoon chopped to garnish
Cooking wine	3 teaspoons ( optional – I , myself didn’t use it )
Chicken or vegetable stock	1 cup
Salt	to taste
Chicken or vegetable stock powder	1/2 cube
Light Soya sauce	1 teaspoon
Corn flour	1 1/2 teaspoon diluted in 1/4 cup water

Method

Marinate dry red chillies in 1 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar for an hour . Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and grind to a smooth paste . Heat oil to deep fry .
Deep fry the egg plant fingers to a golden brown colour and crisp . Drain and set aside .
Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a non – stick wok . Add the ginger , garlic strips and chopped spring onion 1 teaspoon and toss well for 20 seconds .
Add the red chilli vinegar paste and stir fry for 30 seconds . Pour cooking wine over ( optional ) along with one cup of the chicken stock .
Bring to boil , add the fried egg plant strips , sugar 1/2 teaspoon ,the chicken or vegetable stock cube and light soya sauce . Cook for two minutes in low flame .
Taste and adjust seasoning as we have not added salt yet but be careful with salt as the chicken or vegetable stock cube and soya sauce contain a lot of salt .
Pour the diluted corn flour and let the gravy thicken and stick to the egg plant strips . Garnish with chopped spring onion and serve hot as a side dish .

Notes

Vegetarians can stick on to vegetable stock and vegetable stock cube for the vegetarian version .

winter pumpkin soup

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

As usual , I was just going through one of the foodie groups I am a member of ( chef at large ) and came across a post where they had baked bread cups to serve soup in . Just went head over heels with the idea , scrolling down another post …with a soup bowl made with buns . This version seemed better practically , visually and make cooking fun . Already it was soup and sandwich for dinner so just added the soup bowl bun as well . Made the soup bowl with burger buns and did a little thinking to get the bun crisp and a bit hard to stand and hold the soup in it . Finally brushed with butter and baked to crisp and it worked perfect . I recommend these soup bowl buns to impress your guests . Made pumpkin soup to celebrate the short span of winter we have at my place as its cold now . ( I know it sounds wired as Nellai and the word cold are far apart from each other ) . The pumpkin soup recipe is Donna hays which I had hastily transcribed from one of her telly shows . The soup was warm , smooth , velvety and a perfect comfort winter soup . The caramelised Ingredients mingle beautifully with the slight sweetness of the honey .The hot soup just gets soaked in to the side walls of the soup bun giving a soft gooey melt in mouth bread and breaks down to bits of crisp bread that can be dipped into the soup and had . Who ever said ” stylish meals have to cost the earth ” try out this versatile winner with oohs and aahs guaranteed .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Pumpkin	2 wedges seeds removed
Onion	1 large whole with the skin
Olive oil	1 tablespoon
Salt	to taste
Garlic flakes	3 whole with the skin
Chicken stock	4 1/2 cups , ( dilute 2 chicken stock cubes ( i used maggi chicken stock cubes ) in 4 1/2 cups of warm water )
Cream	1 cup
Honey	1 tablespoon
Pepper	to taste
Coriander leaves	to garnish
Sour cream / hung curd	to garnish

Method

Apply olive oil over the cut pumpkin , onion and garlic flakes .
In a greased baking tray , place the pumpkin , onion and garlic . Sprinkle salt to taste over and bake in a pre heated oven at 220 degree Celsius for one hour .
The pumpkin , onion and garlic should be caramelised nicely . Scoop out the flesh of the pumpkins . Peel the onion and garlic flakes and set aside to cool .
Blend the pumpkin flesh , onion , garlic with one cup of chicken stock to a smooth gooey textured purée .
Pour the purée into a non – stick sauce pan and add the remaining chicken stock , cream and honey . Mix well and bring to boil .
Keep stirring . Season with salt and pepper to taste .
Serve hot with a garnish of coriander leaves and sour cream .

Soup Bowl Buns

Cut the top of a burger bum horizontally to get a thin lid .
Scoop out the inner flesh of the buns lower part creating a hollow well but with a thick base and sides .
Butter the lid on both aides and the hollow bowl of the bun inside , out , all around , bottom and the base .
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius and bake the buttered buns and lid for 10 – 15 minutes until the lid and hollow base gets crisp and a bit brown .
Remove and keep covered in a foil paper until required to serve .
Pour the hot soup and garnish , serve and enjoy .

Note

Can grease the Bun with olive oil as well .

kumbliappam

Preparation Time : 40 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 minutes

Serving : 6 members

Description

Kumbliappam . An authentic kerela sweet recipe that I first got to know about through the face book page notes from a Mallu kitchen where a picture was posted with out a recipe . This authentic sweet did excite me a lot as it was the first… time I got to see such a dish that I have never heard of before . Once on my visit to Cochin to bid bye to my brother Darvesh and family who were returning back to London after their 2 weeks holiday in India , my uncle jaffer chacha got a huge parcel from a local small tea stall ( thattu kada / potti kadai ) full of kumbliappam made with ripe bananas . All of us just gobbled it up in minutes . Even then none of us knew what the name of the dish was . I did take note of the recipe from not sure where in one of my hand written recipe book and did try it out at home when we had a huge jack fruit at home from our farm . Not having the vazhana leaves which is used authentically , I substituted the poo arasa maram Leaf ( don’t know the english name , sorry ) instead which I got from my neighbours house . Made this for breakfast when my daughter anisha was here . The clarity and perfection of the jackfruit speaking for itself in the dish was a dose of freshness .Fussy Anisha didn’t fancy it much , but it was devoured by the rest of us . I just could not control myself to stop eating it and forcefully had to parcel the rest to my in – laws place ) . I made up my mind to post this recipe last night but not knowing the name of this dish , how is it possible to post . Well I had to re – check by logging into notes from a Mallu kitchen to get the name . Thanks to notes from a Mallu kitchen to have introduced me to yet another authentic Kerala dish . Although trends come and go , these sort of authentic treats never fail to impress and we all finally get back to our roots .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Ripe Jackfruit Bulbs(chopped finely)	2cups
Jaggery(scraped)	1 cup or to taste
Freshly grated coconut	1cup
Rice flour (iddiappam rice flour )	2cups
Cardamom powder	1/2tsp
Vazhana Ela or Banana leaves	as required

Method

Melt jaggery in 1/2 cup of water.Remove the impurities.
Make a smooth paste of jackfruit pieces without adding any water in a food processor .
In a big bowl add jackfruit paste,jaggery syrup and coconut.Mix well with your hands.
Add rice flour little by little and make a smooth dough.It should not be too thick or too loose.
Now take the leaf(Vazhana leaf or banana leaf) and make cones with it and fill the dough inside.
Bend the top of the leaves and press inside to cover the top or Use toothpicks to keep the leaves closed.
Steam it around 30 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean .

Notes

* You can prepare this appam with Chakka varatti /jackfruit jam as well ( available in all super markets , i recommend double horse brand ) add some rice flour and grated coconut to the chakka varatti and follow the above recipe .

If jackfruit is not available ,try this recipe with ripe bananas.*

channa pulao

Preparation Time : 30 minutes + soaking of chick peas over night and pressure cooking them.

Cooking Time : 30 minutes

Serving : 4 to 6 members

Description

Channa pulao . Once in a while I do serve boiled white chick peas for breakfast . On a similar day as such, my mother – in – law sent over some katti rolls and the boiled white chick peas were un touched . Wanting to use the left overs in …a new way as I only make channa masala or kadala curry with them . Out of a sudden , I thought why not make a pulao ? Surfed through the world wide net and found most of the recipes to be just like ghee rice with boiled chick peas added . finally liked one recipe which was to my likening that I got from Sify . Com . Experimented and the results were awesome with fragrant flaky rice with soft boiled chenna and the flavour of coconut milk high lighting the pulao . As hubby dear does not have a liking towards pulaos , it was left to me to relish and enjoy . This pulao is ideal for us home cooks , when we look to Russell up a meal of comfort food for the family or host a gathering .

Ingredients for Main Dish	Quantity
Basmati Rice	1 cup
white kabuli channa	1/2 cup
tomatoes	3
onions	2 (medium sized)
garlic	8 flakes
green chillies	4
Coconut milk	1 1/ 2 cups
kasoori methi	1 tablespoon
Garam masala powder	1/2 teaspoon
Sugar	1/4 teaspoon
cinnamon	1 inch piece
cardamoms	2
cloves	2
bay leaf	1
Ghee	3 teaspoons
Salt	to taste
coriander leaves	1/ 4 bunch chopped

Ingredients to Grind	Quantity
Onion	1 Large
Dry Red chillies	8
Cumin Seeds	1 Teaspoon
Garlic	5 Flakes
Grated fresh coconut	2 tablespoons

Method

Soak channa in water for 10 hours or over night and then pressure cook it.
In a pan, take a teaspoon of oil and fry red chillies, cumin seeds, garlic and onion for few minutes .
Allow it to cool down and then grind it along with coconut and keep aside.Blanch tomatoes in hot water for few minutes and remove the skin .Grind it into a smooth paste and set aside .
Peel garlic and chop them finely.Soak rice in water for 10 mins and then drain it completely.
Heat one teaspoon ghee in a pan and fry the rice for few minutes till all the moisture is absorbed.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and bay leaf.Add the chopped garlic and fry till brown.
Now add slit green chillies and finely chopped onions and fry for few minutes and then add the ground paste.
Simmer and fry till the aroma rises.
Now add tomato paste, kasoori methi, salt, little sugar, garam masala powder and allow it to boil for few minutes . Then add the cooked channa and 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk to it.
When it starts to boil, add the rice and mix well.taste and adjust seasoning . Now close the pressure cooker and allow it to cook up to one whistle. (timing can vary on different parameters).
Wait till the whistle subsides and then Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves .serve hot with potato chips and onion raitha .

Notes

*Can garnish with fried cashew nuts as well . I didn’t do so to reduce the calorie content in the dish.