Thai Chilli Basil Chicken

300 gms breast boneless chicken cut into small strips.

10 cloves of garlic finely chopped

8-10 thai bird chillies sliced

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce

½ teaspoon sugar

handful basil leaves

1 tablespoon Nam Prik paste if available

1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the garlic and chillies.
2. Add the chicken and stir fry till it’s cooked.
3. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and Nam Prik paste. Mix it well.
4. Add the basil leaves. Stir fry till they soften and wilt.
5. Serve with rice and egg on the side.

Easy Caramel Custard

200ml condensed milk
400 ml regular milk
4 eggs
200gm sugar
a little vanilla extract

1. Take 2 steel bowls and add 100 gms of sugar to each bowl. Add a little water.
2. Place the steel vessel on the gas to caramelize the sugar.
3. Once the sugar is caramelized, coat the bowl with the caramelized sugar and let it cool.
4. Beat the eggs well. Add the condensed milk and the regular milk and again beat the mixture.
5. Pour the egg and milk mixture into the 2 bowls.
6. In a pressure cooker boil some water. Once the water comes to a boil keep one bowl in the cooker and wait for the whistle to blow once.  Turn the gas to the lowest and cook further for 15 minutes.
7. Cool it in the refrigerator and serve.

Chinese 5 Spice Powder

I add a few pinches of this 5 spice powder while boiling rice. Serve this with Stir Fried Vegetables.

4 teaspoons Schezuan peppercorns (tirphal)
16 whole star anise (chakri phool)
12 cloves (lavang)
10 cinnamon (dalchini) sticks
2 tbsp fennel seeds (saunf)

1. In a dry pan, roast the Schezuan peppercorns over low heat until the aroma is released. Keep aside.
2. Roast together the other ingredients for about 3 minutes on low heat till the aroma is released.
3. Grind together all the ingredients in a blender. Sieve the mixture.
4. A coarse powder of the spices will be left behind. Grind it again to make a fine powder and sieve again. Discard the coarse powder left behind or grind it again.
5. Store the sieved powder in an air-tight jar and use as required.

Falafel & Pita Bread Rolls

Got the basic recipes from some websites and after adding some touch of my own the falafel & pita bread rolls turned out to be absolutely fantastic!


Falafel

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh corriander leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon dried chilli powder
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-6 tablespoons flour
vegetable oil for frying

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight and then drain them.
2. In a blender put the drained uncooked chickpeas, onions, corriander, salt, chilli powder, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.
3. In this mixture add in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour. You want to add enough flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.
5. Deep fry in oil and drain on a paper towel.



Pita Bread (Makes 10 pitas)

3 cups flour (1 cup wheat and 2 cups maida)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or shortening

1. Mix all the ingredients to form a ball. Knead well for 10 min. Proof for 2 hours till it doubles in size
2. When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
3. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C.
5. Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes.


Tahini & Yoghurt Sauce

1 small tub of plain yoghurt
2 heaped tablespoon of tahini (sesame seed paste)
2-3 clove of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
A little water, to thin down the sauce
Salt to season

Blend all the above ingredients together.




Finally to make the roll, take a pita bread. Add lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, jalapenos, falafel and the tahini yoghurt sauce.

Strawberry Crumble

Nigella Express inspired recipe (serves 6)

1 kg strawberries
2 tsp corn flour
7 to 8 tbs powdered sugar
100 gms amul butter
10 tbs cooking oats
6 tbs flour (maida)

Slice the strawberries. Add the cornflour and 2 tbs sugar and mix well.
Melt the butter, mix in the oats, maida and the remaining sugar. Knead well.
In a baking dish arrange the strawberries, spread the oats mixture over it lightly. Don't press.
Bake for 25 min at 200 deg. C.

*Serve with vanilla ice-cream

Basic Stir Fry Sauce

One of the easiest things to create (and impress your guests!) with leftover vegetables is a simple stir fry. I use mainly veggies normally seen in Chinese cuisine such as zucchini, mushroom, baby corn, pokchoy, carrots, broccoli etc.

Here's a recipe for a simple stir fry sauce:
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp broth (or plain water!)
1 tbsp cooking wine such as shao hsing wine
1 tbsp vinegar
Pinch of sugar
Chilly sauce as needed
1 tsp corn starch for thickening

Use a wok for best results. Pour a few tablespoons of oil in a wok, add the vegetables, toss around for 2-3 mins and then add the above stir fry sauce and toss for a minute or two. Voila - your stir fry is ready!


PS: Nowadays, there are quite a few shops selling international foods in your city. Try getting a good brand of soy sauce (such as Lee Kum Kee or Kikkoman) and Shao Hsing wine.