Mushroom Pepper Chili (It's Delicious!)

 You have no idea, how much have I fallen in love with this dish! Mushrooms have become the star guest on the grocery list, ever since this was made for the first time in my kitchen. And you know you like it a lot when you have already eaten most of it from the plate and still trying to go for the last piece (even though you know the other person wants it as bad.) J

And you will know why I am raving so much about this once you make it too. If you love Indo-Chinese food, go, get the mushrooms NOW! J . I am not sure if the exact same dish is served in restaurants, but I do know chilly paneer, chili chicken are similar in some ways.  But quite frankly, this beats them all. For one, it tastes good, second – it’s super healthy. Seriously, give it a try!

I write too much, cause I love sharing the story behind every dish/ recipe. And each time I try to just move on to the recipe, I recollect what else I wanted to share. J . Ok this recipe happened purely because one of my vegetarian friends told me that he eats this mushroom recipe at some place in Bangalore and it’s called Pepper Mushroom and raved a lot about it. And the name sounded so fascinating that I just made something assuming what 'could' it be like. So never know, I could be horribly wrong in replicating that recipe, but it sure does work for me!! J

And one last bit. I usually share recipes with my friends to get their reactions/feedback before posting here. And one of my very good friends/ critics, Shaan had this to say:

“Truly a great dish...esp if u love indo-Chinese cuisine! Pls pls post this and help poor souls like us..:-) we are enjoying it with d-coke! I added all three types of peppers as well...”

You need: (should serve 3 but with me around, it’s good for 2 only!)

Button Mushrooms – 8 Oz or 250 grams

Cornflour – 3 Tbsp

Rice Flour – 1 Tbsp (for crunch)

Salt – to taste

Pepper – about a tbsp. (fresh coarse ground)

Oil – about 2 tsp (can use more if no restriction J )

Ginger – 1 tsp grated, ½ inch cut into juliennes.

Garlic paste– 1 tsp

Onion – 1 no. medium (fine chopped)

Onion – ½ medium size (with layers cut into square shape)

Long green chilies – 5-6nos. (the variety that has absolutely no heat, slit them)

Small green chilies – 1-2 nos (slit and seeds removed, adjust to taste)

Capsicum/ Bell Peppers – 1 Nos (cut into squares, can use colored peppers too)

Dark Soya Sauce – 1 Tbsp

Vinegar – 1 Tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 1 Tbsp

Lemon Juice – 1 tsp  (optional)

Spring Onion – only green part cut into 1 inch pieces (optional)

1. Dunk the mushrooms in hot water for a minute and run under cold water and decant all water. Let the mushrooms remain a little moist so that the flour mixture sticks well to the mushroom.
2. In a bowl, mix cornflour, rice flour, a 2-3 pinches of salt, and about a 1tsp of ground pepper and mix well. 
3. Now coat all mushrooms with the flour mix. I usually coat them well once and wait for a few min and repeat the process with the remaining flour that didn’t stick the first time. This helps as the first layer soaks all the moisture and then second layer sticks even better but will be a little dry-ish adding to the crunch.. 
4. In a wide non stick pan, add about 1 tsp of oil and pan fry the mushroom on medium high and then on low flame to make it crispy. Pan should be wide enough so that mushrooms have space to fry well, else the moisture will make them soft instead. And if you are generous with oil, you don’t have to worry about all this. J
5. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate once they are brown from all sides.
6. Also fry squarish shaped layers of onion pieces and the bell peppers (typically the kinds u get in chinese gravy) in the same pan and transfer to another bowl.
7. In the pan add remaining 1 tsp of oil. 
8. Add grated ginger and garlic paste and fry well. 
9. Now add fine chopped onions and slit green chilies both big and small. Fry till onions get translucent. 
10. Now add soya sauce, tomato ketchup and vinegar. Fry till a little dry.
11. Now add mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, ginger juliennes and give a quick stir and add the remaining freshly ground pepper.
12. And if you are adding the greens of spring onions, do it now. 
13. Serve on a nice looking plate and squeeze lime if you wish to add some zing!

 *I sprinkle very little, ready ‘very little’ water after I coat the mushroom with flour mixture the first time. This helps more flour stick to mushrooms. But be careful to not make it gooey.

**You can always be generous with oil while frying mushrooms. And infact mushrooms taste very good even as simple stir fry like this.

***If you are not sure about the tang bit, try squeezing lime juice on a small portion only. Only then on the rest if you like.

****The black pepper quantity can be adjusted to suit your liking.

*****I feel this recipe will work well with paneer and boiled potatoes too.  

Tomato Egg-Drop Soup

So my friend Sahana (who has been helping me proof-read my blog and championing salt.pepper.chili) calls me early one morning and comes straight to the point (we have always been like that with each other, having known each other for 14 years now!) - "you know what, your blog has just 1 soup and a very few sandwich recipes! You need to have more!". And this got me thinking. Why had I ignored something, which most of us love, but end up eating completely packaged or processed version most of the time. We feel we are giving our kids (and ourselves too) something really healthy, but are packaged/ canned soups really as healthy as you think? With all the preservatives and salt content, well... probably not! 

So next time you feel like having a nice healthy soup, take some fresh ingredients and make your own. And you will not regret it! I will be posting a few of my favorite, quick and easy recipes!So lets start with a very popular chinese style soup we all love! The sweet, tangy soup with this lovely egg ribbons. Just the way they serve in restaurants!

And if you have spent a little time reading this blog, you would know my love for dimsums/momos! I suffer from dimsum fanaticism, yeah that's true :).  So after a few continuous days of indulgences, soup - dimsum - focaccia bread would be such a nice combo! Since I already had lots of the amazing Tuscany Pane bread at home, decided to toast and slather it with soft butter! 

You need: Serves 2

Oil - 1 Tbsp

Ginger - 1/2 inch (finely chopped)

Garlic - 2-3 cloves (finely chopped)

Tomatoes - 2 medium size (Finely chopped/paste) 

Onion - 1/2 medium size (Finely chopped)

Egg - 2 

Tomato ketchup - 2 Tbsp (if you want spicy, replace 1 tbsp with tomato chili sauce)

Vinegar -  1Tbsp

Corn flour - 1 Tbsp

Fresh Coriander/ Cilantro ( including stems) - 6-7 sprigs (chopped finely)

Black Pepper powder -  to taste

Salt to taste

Sugar - 3/4 - 1 tsp (adjust to taste)

Vegetable/ Chicken stock - optional (can replace with water)

1. Break the eggs in a bowl and whisk lightly. Set aside. 
2. Mix the cornflour in 1/2 cup of water. 
3. Heat the oil in a wok or a pan, add ginger and garlic and stir-fry for half a minute.
4. Add onion and continue to stir-fry it it turns lightly translucent. You don't have to brown it. 
5. Add the tomato ketchup (or half tomato ketchup, half tomato chili sauce for a spicy soup) and chopped tomatoes and cook on high heat for about two to three minutes. Cook till its all pulpy. 
6. Stir in the remaining vegetable/ chicken stock or water and bring it to a boil. Add the salt, sugar, black pepper powder. 
7. Stir in the cornflour mixture and cook for a minute or until soup thickens, stirring continuously. 
8. Add the vinegar and cook for a min. Taste the recipe for salt sugar etc at this stage. 
9. Pour 1/4 of the whisked egg at a time from a height in a steady stream. Stir gently 1-2 times to form egg threads. REpeat with the remaining eggs. Allow the egg to coagulate and come to the top. Don't stir too much as you will get all scrambled eggs and no lacy eggs in the soup. 
10. Serve hot garnished with the fresh coriander. Coriander is indeed important.

Veg Hakka Noodles

Making the restaurant style Hakka noodles is a fairly simple task. Follow the basic rule - Cook on high flame and be quick. Like most chinese recipes, the preparation time is way longer than the actual cooking time.

You need:

Hakka noodles - Boil in lots of boiling water (should be al dente/semi cooked/ firm)

Onion- 1/2 medium size ( fine slices)

Carrot - 1 no. (juliennes)

Cabbage - 1 cup (finely chopped)

Capsicum - 1/2 medium size (juliennes)

Thick soy sauce - 1 Tbsp (vary as per taste)

Ground black pepper - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 2 Tbsp

Spring onion - Just the green ends to garnish

1) Heat oil in a wide wok.

2) Add onions. Stir for 30 sec. Now add carrots, cabbage. Stir for another 30 sec. Now add capsicum, noodles, soya sauce, salt pepper, vinegar. Quickly stir and add add green ends of spring onions. Hakka noodles are ready!

* Add the noodles in hot boiling water and remove when still 3/4 done. Immediately rinse in cold water to stop cooking any further. Keep it in a colander. Just before adding it the wok, run it under cold water again and squeeze any excess water. This will separate the strands well.

** Keep all your ingredients handy and always cook on high flame to get best results. Else the noodles will become soggy.

Chili Chicken - Indo- Chinese style ;)

Don't think this dish requires any introduction! :)

You need:

Boneless chicken - 250 grams ( cut into 1/2 inch thick strips)

Corn starch - 1Tbsp

Black pepper

Egg- 1 no.

Thick soy sauce - 2 Tbsp approx.

Garlic - 2 tsp (fine chopped)

Green Chili - 3-4 (slit and de-seeded)

Onion - 1/2 medium size (square chunks)

Capsicum - 1/2 (square chunks)

Red chili-garlic sauce - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 2 Tbsp

Sugar - 1 pinch

1) Marinate the chicken with corn starch, salt, pepper, egg, soy sauce for 30 min. Deep fry on high. Remove when the chicken takes light brown color. Keep it aside. Important thing is to not cook the chicken completely while frying as we will cook it again with the sauce later.

2) Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped garlic, followed by green chili and onion. Stir it for 20- 30 sec and add then capsicum. Stir again and add dark soy sauce, chili- garlic sauce and a little water to make it moist. Quickly add the chicken, corn starch dissolved in 2 tbsp of water, salt and vinegar. Add a pinch of sugar and give it a quick stir.

3) Remove from heat once you get the desired consistency and garnish with chopped green ends of spring onions.

* Using chicken thigh piece is recommended in this dish since thigh pieces remain tender/ succulent even after frying or cooking.

** Add more water in the end to make chili chicken with gravy

*** Always cook on high flame to get restaurant taste and texture.

A Tangy ...Chinese dinner Combo

Often when I tell my friends about some recipe which is quick and easy to make, they come back complaining that it took a lot of time chopping the veggies.My dear friends...love your knife and use it smartly.Perhaps i will cover that topic some other time.Right now ..back to the tangy dinner!

So the dinner consists of steamed rice with orange-lemon chicken and vegetables in a tangy sauce.

Orange-Lemon Chicken
All you need is: Boneless chicken cut into thin strips about 200 grams.
Minced garlic about 1 Tbsp (can increase or decrease depending on your garlic quotient)
Fresh young ginger cut into thin slices (again as per your taste, i add around 6-7)
Orange juice about a cup
Orange zest about 1 Tsp
Lemon zest about 1 Tsp (please note its lemon and not lime)
Lime juice about 1 Tbsp (can increase/decrease depending now sour the orange is)
1 Tsp sugar
1 Tbsp light soya sauce
Salt to taste
Corn starch (about 1Tsp should be enough to thicken the sauce)
Dried red chilies
Spring onion (green part only)
Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger garlic and red chilies. When the garlic gives a good aroma add the chicken and cook it on high till the pink color disappears.Now add all the other ingredients but for the corn starch.When the chicken is almost done add the corn starch dissolved in water and cook for further 1-2 minutes add the spring onion just before serving.

Vegetables in Tangy Sauce

For this you need:
Veggies of your choice chopped into big chunks(i use beans,carrots,capsicum,aubergine,shallots)
3 Tbsp tomato puree
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1Tbsp vinegar
dried red chilies
1Tbsp honey
corn starch
salt to taste
Ginger
Garlic

Heat oil in a wok. Add ginger garlic paste followed by the shallot petals cut into squarish shapes. when they become crisp add beans and cook for 1-2 minutes on high. Now add all the other veggies and cook briefly. Don't overcook them as they become gooey and don't taste that good. now add all the other ingredients leaving only the corn starch. When almost done add the corn starch dissolved in water. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and piping hot.

Steamed Rice

Most simple to make yet difficult to make it "perfect" is the steamed white rice. Everyone has their favorite way of doing it. Mine is as follows:
Basmati Rice 1 cup
1 3/4 cup water

Wash the rice atleast 4-5 times to clean and remove all the starch that makes it sticky. Now soak the rice in water for about 30 min. You will see the rice becomes a little brittle and pearl white in color. Now drain the water and add 1 3/4 cups of water and let the rice cook . You can also add a little salt . This steaming hot rice is perfect with just about anything!!

Veg - sweet & sour + fried rice

Serves two.

Ingredients for the sauce:

1/3 cup white vinegar
1/6 cup sugar
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp MSG - (Monosodium Glutamate / Ajinomoto)

Stir fry chopped ginger, garlic and onion till translucent.
Add the vegetables that you want and stir fry on high heat till vegetables are crunchy (80% cooked)
Mix all the above in a bowl and pour into the fry pan.
Bring to boil while stirring.

To thicken sauce, you can add cornflour.

For the fried rice:
Cook rice so that grains stay separated.
Heat oil, add dried red chillies, ginger and garlic and finely chopped onions and sautee till golden brown.
Add soy sauce, salt and ground pepper.
Add rice and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Optional - scrambled eggs added to the fried rice for eggie lovers !

Just before serving, add some chopped green spring onions.